2014 Topps Series Two Box Break

I don't have the energy for an intro. On to the haul...

Base Card Notables!

Matt Garza. I know the Brewers are were in first place and everyone is excited panicking. And they do have an exciting team and I think they are going to be a contender sooner than people might think, but this ain't their year. Part of the reason they've gotten off to such a hot start is because Dr. Matt Garza has been pitching like an ace. He will regress and the pitching staff will trouble this team all season long. 

Josh Willingham. 'Ham has actually been out of baseball since 2014. I'll admit though, I had to check to see if he was still around. He has a career OPS+ of 120, which is far better than I would have guessed. Why did I post a card of a guy about whom I am so ignorant? I liked the picture. 

Andrew McCutchen MVP. Cutch has dropped way off since his '12-'15 run of four straight top-3 finishes in the MVP voting. It's a shame. He's an exciting player and seems like a good guy. 

J.A. Happ. Nothing sensational about this card, but I was looking for an excuse to mention that I went on a couple of dates with Happ's cousin. She was nice and all, but we were not a good match. I met her at this real dirt-bag bar in Milwaukee, but she ended up not being a dirt-bag kinda girl. C'est la vie. Our first date was to dinner, where she told me her cousin was a Major Leaguer. I will, somewhat ashamedly, admit that the only reason I asked on a second date was because her cousin was a Major Leaguer. Why she accepted, I have no idea. We went to a movie and never talked to each other again. 

Corey Hart. An unfamiliar uni Brewer! Hart missed the entire '13 season with an injury before catching on the Mariners. He didn't do much there, or in Pittsburgh, where he finished up his career. 

INSERTS!

Let's get the stuff I covered in the series one post out of the way first.

Mutilated Minis. These look even worse than the series ones. Although I did get a Yount and a Braun, which I will put into my Brewers collection. Up for grabs, Tulo (56) and Dom Brown (86)

Future is Now. Wacha (31), Billy Hamilton (36), Xander (41), Walker (44), Jarrod Parker (50), Freeman (52), Gausman (58)

Power Players - Chris Davis, Tex, Josh Hamilton

Red foilies - Prado (349), Reyes (356), Reddick (416), Verlander (450), Corbin (611), Blanks (640)

Gold, #/2014, I got a lot of these for some reason, no Brewers though :( - Ed Jackson (361), Ryan Zimmerman (378), Ed Lucas (387), Gentry (477), Kobernus (443), Morrison (490), Rasmus (571), Josh Hamilton (575), Jenrry "Grounded for Life" Mejia (591), Aliva (633)

 Slate/black/whatever - Addison Reed (551), 8/63

Saberstars - 2014 was the first year that Topps added WAR to the back of the base cards. I like the move and would welcome more advanced stats as well. To celebrate, they put out this pathetic insert set that lists a player's war and discussed it a bit on the back. so, fine, whatever. But can we talk about the design here? Sabermetrics... so, like, computers? Yeah! But what people from 1977 thought computers would look like in the future. Oh, and that dial in which the WAR number is shown? Yeah, that dial does not relate at all to the number. Matt Carpenter has a seven and his goes up to about 9 o'clock. Robby Cano had a six and his runs almost to 11 o'clock. Let's just call this the "BEEP BOOP BEEP" set. Cutch (4), Donaldson (5), Carpenter (6), Cano (7), Miggy (8)

Future Stars that Never Were. 2014 also saw the return of Future Stars. I wasn't wild about its use in the base set (it was a foil stamp, I wanted a big ugly colorful graphic), but this is a really cool idea - to go back and retroactively assign Future Star status to old cards. These are the hella-thick insert of the set, I like the others from this break, I think they are the best-looking inserts in the bunch. I got a Schmidt and an RA Dickey, as well as a gold-bordered Jose Canseco numbered 80/99. 

Buybacks. Two more here, and two pretty decent players as well. Bill Madlock (55) and Ron LeFlore (80), both from 1980. Series 2 uses a bigger 75th Anniversary stamp, which is easier to read and looks nicer than the little ones in series one. Both are up for trade. 

Barf relic. In the FIRST DAMN PACK I found this thing. I dislike closers in general and, even though he's a Brewer now, I have no use for this thing at all. I'd like to do a box break and pull an auto, just once. I'll pulled autos, but never from a box. 

SP. I think this is the only one I got in the bunch. I've reserved time at the local observatory so I can use one of their NASA-grade telescopes to read the tiny code numbers on the back of each card, so I'll know for sure then. The only reason I noticed this one is because it's a series one card that showed up in my series two box. Is that normal? Anyway, it shows him in his Futures Game uni, which makes it rare. Anyone interested?

So, there you have it. My three boxes of fun and fury. Now I gotta find some money for 9-pockets to hold all these beauties. Blood bank, here I come!!!