I didn't even know this stuff was out yet. I just went into the card shop to kill some time and there it was. I was only planning to pick up some plastic sheets and look for a 2003 Ultra Barry Bonds Moonshot insert card to mock the fate of his #756 ball, but I couldn't resist snagging a few packs.
No 186 Yovani Gallardo RC
No 95 Derek Jeter
No 167 Mickey Mantle
No 15 Ichiro
No 126 JD Drew
No 170 Hanley Ramirez Chrome #1017/1999
No 19 Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengel
No 129 Jack Wilson
Two Mantles in a pack? What's up with that... I guess one of them is technically a Casey Stengel card though and I'll take them all day. No mention of Casey anywhere on the card although that's obviously the Ol' Perfesser pointing something out to Mick on the front. Both Mantles, the Jeter and Ichiro card are Dick Perez paintings, and they all look very nice. They are a change of pace from the regular portraits that have a computer generated feel to them. The paintings look a whole lot like the ones on the original Turkey Red cards, Dick must have done his homework for this set.
Topps stuck a chrome parallel inset in this set and I don't really like them. Chrome just doesn't feel right for this set. They also didn't add the outline that's usually found on chrome cards so it looks too shiny and flat. When I first pulled it I thought it was a foil card like in '06 Bowman Heritage. I guess a serial numbered Hanley Ramirez card isn't bad though.
This was a pretty good pack, with the stars, rookie and numbered insert but I'm still not sold on this set. It looks like there are a bunch of Mantle cards and that does not bode well when there are only 200 cards total. Plus there are 35 short prints and 15 variations according to the sell sheet. Lord only knows which ones they are or when Topps will deem us worthy to be blessed with this information. Still it's nicer than a lot of the junk out there and it's cheaper than A&G and Goudey by a couple bucks a pack.
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