Tag Archives: P.J. Conlon

2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Posted by on 30 June 2018 Comments Off on 2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Well, that happened

The 2018 Mets included Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, and Austin Jackson. Someone really needs to tell Fred and Jeff that it’s not 2011 anymore. No wonder Jose Reyes started 48 games… Maybe half of the 2018 newcomers will be back in 2019, so is it even worth going over who did what to whom? A good number of them will probably never get a Rookie Card, much less an autograph card, so they’re largely irrelevant anyway. The back half was just Jeff McNeil and a bunch of random guys, so let’s just leave it at that. Sadly, that might also describe Mets Rookie Card offerings for the first half of 2019…

Adrian Gonzalez Todd Frazier Anthony Swarzak Jose Lobaton
29 March 2018 29 March 2018 29 March 2018 13 April 2018
Gerson Bautista* Corey Oswalt* P.J. Conlon* Devin Mesoraco
17 April 2018 25 April 2018 7 May 2018 8 May 2018
Luis Guillorme* Buddy Baumann Jose Bautista Tim Peterson*
11 May 2018 16 May 2018 22 May 2018 30 May 2018
Scott Copeland Chris Beck Drew Smith* Kevin Kaczmarski*
31 May 2018 15 June 2018 23 June 2018 24 June 2018
Tyler Bashlor* Drew Gagnon* Jeff McNeil* Austin Jackson
25 June 2018 10 July 2018 24 July 2018 27 July 2018
Bobby Wahl Jack Reinheimer Daniel Zamora* Eric Hanhold*
2 August 2018 15 August 2018 17 August 2018 4 September 2018

*MLB Debut

Read more »

Product Spotlight: 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

Posted by on 31 December 2017 Comments Off on Product Spotlight: 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

Who needs Aaron Judge when you have Tim Tebow?

I’m never really sure what to make of the minor league edition of Topps Heritage. I love seeing the variety of team names that can be found in the minors and there are always a few interesting oddities that show up, but the nostalgia factor doesn’t quite work as well as it does for the big league product. It’s not like the Binghamton Rumble Ponies had any vintage 1968 cards (or even 2016 cards). Retro style cards of players with little or no major league experience seems a tad bit presumptuous, especially considering how many of them will go on to careers in the big leagues of scouting, coaching, car sales, or plumbing rather than baseball. Minor league baseball toys with your expectations to the point of cruelty sometimes, as does this incarnation of Heritage. Every once in a while though, things pan out.

Read more »

Product Spotlight: 2017 Bowman

Posted by on 31 May 2017 Comments Off on Product Spotlight: 2017 Bowman

Too much of a good thing or just too much?

The base Bowman franchise is one of the cornerstones of the Topps product line. As such, it is a rock, always there, yet always changing in subtle ways. It’s frustrating sometimes, refreshing sometimes, but always there. 2017 Bowman is no exception – it’s there, there’s a lot to like, and there’s a lot that just makes no sense.

In 2015, Topps seemed to be headed in the right direction. 2014’s excess of confusing and unnecessary parallels yielded to the order of 2015 Bowman’s sensible parallel structure. 2016 Bowman did away with the ice parallels and wave refractors introduced in 2012, which was probably due, but it introduced full-size shimmer parallels in green and gold, numbered the same as their non-shimmer counterparts. 2016 Bowman Draft turned this concept into blue and gold wave refractor autographs. And 2017 Bowman combined both ideas and cranked it up to 10 – 10 shimmer refractor parallels, 5 base and 5 autographed. Double the autographs, double the fun?

Read more »