Earlier this year, though, with Eric Thames drawing all kinds of attention to himself, I decided that I would indulge just as soon as he got a card. I didn't have to wait too long. On April 18, they honored his 5th straight game with a homer, which tied a team record. The record-setting blast was a doozy, an opposite-field dinger off John Lackey that caused the pitcher, and Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio, so say some real dumb shit that hinted at Thames being a PED user. (By the way, Bos and Lackey, how's third place feel?)
Anyway, a few days later, I got my card. It came in a folded-over bubble mailer than I assumed was a trade package or something I'd bought off eBay. You'd think that mailing these out at such a high volume, they'd figure a better way of packaging them. Perhaps single card purchases are the except rather than the rule. This might explain why you can almost always find NOW cards on eBay the day after at a discount. Anyway, I found a nice little two-side box with the Topps NOW logo inside the big mailer. Inside that was a small plastic case that probably could have held 5 or more cards. To keep Thames in place, it was fit with a little piece of foam. Again, kind of weird.
The card itself is pretty quality. I wasn't sure what to expect, being it is a print-on-demand item. It has a different feel that a Topps base card, a little thicker and with an odd gloss. The backside features a rainbow effect, which is very weird, but also kind of a nice touch. The write-up on the back is kind of sloppy, with at least three things that a good editor should have caught (most glaring is his ".1000" slugging percentage).
Topps issued another Thames card a few days after this one and I considered pulling the trigger, but decided against it. I'll bide my time until Keon Broxton finally completes a cycle. But, given the history with this set, I'll probably need to wait until the Brewers hold a Derek Jeter night.
I'll write more about this on my blog in a couple of days when I post mine, but the card quality year over year and the shipping you encountered is far, far better than it was last year. The card thickness is greater (last year's were basically nothing more than the glorified equivalent of a flagship card) and that refractor-ish back is very new. The shipping materials are also much improved -- likely to reflect the fact that people are dropping $10 (if they buy a single) on a card and should get better than what they did last year...which was a cardboard envelope like the ones that the old AOL CDs came in.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I'll say more on my own post. And, I'll keep up my complaints about their ignoring the Brewers.
Interesting. I was half-expecting something like those custom Donruss cards they used to sell at stadiums - where you'd get your picture taken for the front and have you name printed dot-matrix style on the back.
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