by Jacoby Nolnaho

Topps VS Donruss

Everybody knows the baseball card tyrant of Topps. Being the “Exclusive Trading Card Partner of MLB” and all, they make some pretty great products. But often overshadowed by this big name brand is the low key Donruss. Donruss makes trading cards with players but they airbrush any logos and team names out (They lost their licensing deal years ago). The following review is of Topps Series 1 and Donruss Baseball. Remember, these are my opinions only, so don’t go on ranting. The goods of each product get a thumbs up 👍 and the cons of each product get a thumbs down 👎.

Topps:

👍 Good job incorporating players’ Instagram and Twitter feed on the back of the card. This should bring in younger fans who love social media.

👍 Great colors on the back of the cards, makes it very easy to tell which team the player is on.

👍 Manu-relics look incredibly nice making them easy to collect.

👍 Certain inserts are cool such as the 1987 subseries and the 5-Tool subseries.

👎 Thumbs down to the standard relics. They are white and mostly colorless, making them boring to collect.

👎 The card stock is kind of flimsy easy to bend.

👎 The borderless design is kind of annoying because is the cards get damaged, it is pretty obvious.

(Four up, three down)

Donruss:

👍 The design for Donruss is great with the white and simple lines and dots.

👎 👎 The printing on the back is very low end and is blurry.  It looks like I could off printed them from a public library printer.

👍 Good job to the inserts. The numbered ones are very cool.

👍 Autographs are cool and I like how the relics are vertical unlike the traditional Topps horizontal format.

👎 The packaging is very cheap and papery. It is easy to puncture and is not appealing. It is white and appears dirty.

(three up, three down)

Overall, Topps secured the win. With appealing packaging and cards over cheap printing, it is pretty clear that Topps is the winner.

by Jacoby Nolnaho

BP Report With Jacoby Nolnaho: Dingers

On April 28, 2017, I went to my third game of the season. Everything went right. It looked like I wasn’t going to make the train, but it was late, and switched to the train I currently was on. When I got to stadium, I was able to get the fleece blanket. I made a beeline to left field. I missed the Yankees’ BP, but not the Orioles’ BP. I expected a lot of home runs to come to left field. A matter of fact, there was only one lefty in the Orioles’ lineup. After a disappointing BP,  I got my food, and watched the game.

I had free seats in the upper deck, so I decided to get up and walk around. I went to the Toyota Terrace to watch the rest of game. It looked like the Yankees were going to lose. They were down 9-1!  But after Jacoby Ellsbury hit a grand slam and later, when Starlin Castro hit the game tying home run, we were back in it. In the beginning of the tenth inning, Aroldis Chapman was warming up. When he was done with his warmups, bullpen catcher Jason Brown threw me the ball. Overall, it was a great game. I got a ball, made it on the jumbotron, made it on TV three times, and got a pressed penny for my pressed penny collection. The Yankees ended up winning 14-11 on Matt Holliday’s walk off homer.

by Jacoby Nolnaho

BP Report With Jacoby Nolnaho: Zack Hample

On April 16, 2017, I went to my first game of the 2017 MLB season at Yankee Stadium. After some train mixups, delays, and cancellations, I ended up at the stadium five minutes before the gates opened. Thanks to Clear, I was able to get on the fast line and get a Peeps purple plush. They are huge! After putting the plush in my backpack, I ran down to right field. Things got off to a slow start. Tommy Layne and Tyler Clippard threw nothing into the stands. After a disappointing Yankees BP, the Cardinals took bat. My friend caught a Matt Carpenter home run and gave it to me. Later, Zack Hample showed up. For those of you who don’t know who Zack Hample is, click here. Zack and I had a nice talk. We both had our umpire hats on and red shirts. He told me he caught 8 balls today. He signed my ball. On the ball, he put 9,535. This stands for 9,535 lifetime balls. I only have four!

For the game, the Yankees won 9-3 over the Cardinals.

by Jacoby Nolnaho

Autographs in my Collection

As of the release date, I have two autographs in my collection. I have a Johnny Bench autograph from Donruss Signature Series of 1999. It is numbered 1973/2000. I also have a John Franco autograph from Topps Archives 2015. It is numbered 38/50. I hope to get more autos in the future.

by Jacoby Nolnaho

Topps Products

Here is a list of products that the Topps Baseball Card Comapany makes (excludes Bowman products):

  • Series 1
  • Series 2
  • Update Series
  • Topps Chrome
  • Topps Heritage
  • Topps Heritage Minor Leagues
  • Topps Finest
  • Topps Archives
  • Topps Triple Threads
  • Topps Museum Collection
  • Topps Tier One
  • Topps Inception
  • Topps Strata
  • Topps Now
  • Topps Holiday Box
  • Topps Five Star Baseball
  • Topps Opening Day
  • Topps Pro Debut
  • Topps Clearly Authentic
  • Topps Gypsy Queen
  • Topps Living Set
  • Topps Big League
  • Topps Bunt
by Jacoby Nolnaho

How To Properly Handle a Relic Card

It drives me crazy when people on YouTube mishandle relic cards. Relic cards, for those of you who don’t know, are thick baseball cards that contain usually part of a player’s jersey, bat, hat, glove, or ball. Here is what you should do if you pull a relic from a pack of cards:

  1. Don’t touch the relic. Touching the relic could stain it. Your hands contain oils, and touching the relic could damage it. Touching it can also include the sides. As usual wear and tear on the sides brings down the value of the card.
  2. Put the relic in a penny sleeve. Doing this will protect the card from fading and wear and tear.
  3. DO NOT FORCE THE RELIC INTO A TOPLOADER. The relic most likely won’t fit. Trying to force it into a toploader will cause damage to it.
by Jacoby Nolnaho

How To Properly Case An Auto-Card

In recent years, Topps and other baseball card companies have been inserting on card autographs in their packs. This means the player signs on the card. Some people do not know how to case them. Here is how to properly case an auto-card.

  1. Do not touch the corners! This can cause damage!
  2. Carefully insert the card into a penny sleeve. A penny sleeve is a thin piece of plastic that prevents the cards from getting nicked up.
  3. Put the penny sleeved card into a toploader. A toploader is a hard piece of plastic that protects the card from acids and fading.
by Jacoby Nolnaho

Topps Royalty

Topps is the only baseball card brand in 2017 that is actually associated with MLB (Topps owns Bowman, so Bowman doesn’t count). Panini, Donruss, and other brands are not officially licensed by MLB. Each year, Topps makes a lot of common series such as Series 1, Series 2, Update Series, Topps Heritage, Topps Chrome, and Allen & Ginter. What some do not know is that Topps also releases other series that are more expensive and rare. These are usually Hobby Shop exclusives, but they are still popular. Topps High Tek, retailing around $50 dollars, use new card technology to make the cards transparent. Topps Finest, retailing at about $99 dollars a master box, features players of all years and two autographs or relics per mini box. Triple Threads, retailing at about $200, contain extremely high chances of autographs and relics. Topps Museum Collection, retailing around $250-$300, contains 20 cards for each master box. Each Master Box is divided into four Mini Boxes with five cards per mini box. But what makes these cards so expensive? Well, each mini box contains either a autograph or relic. In total, each Master Box has one on card autograph, one normal relic, one special relic (one double, triple, or quadruple relic), and one auto-relic. These cards are sometimes refered to as Topps Royalty because of their expensive price and high odds.