update has arrived

earlier this year, i would have told you that 2020 topps update was the product i was most looking forward to. the primary reason for that was the fact that the 2020 all-star game was going to be held in dodger stadium, and i was hoping for some great dodger stadium background shots on the various home run derby, all-star game, and all-star access cards. but then 2020 did what 2020 does, and the game was cancelled. i still pre-ordered a box of update, and while it is not yet here, i did find a hanger box at target this morning while out running a couple of errands.

i hadn't perused the big box card aisle for quite some time, so i don't know when they added the "due to high demand for sport cards there is a limit of 1 per customer" sign to the shelves (and i have no idea if they are even enforcing it), but there was a single 67-card box of update hanging out among a few football and hockey packs.

i am sure by now you have all seen the checklist, and it is not good. to make up for the lack of the all-star game and home run derby, topps has included cards of players from previous years' midsummer classic festivities. in addition, topps has included cards of "active leaders", but not in a way similar to 2012 flagship where the cards looked more like a league leader card.  plus, there is no matt kemp card in the set, but there is a card of tyler white. white was a guy included in series 1 who didn't change teams or play at all in 2020. kemp was not in series 1 or 2, but played the entire season with the rockies.

i'll have more about that beef in a future post - believe me, i have a bigger gripe about this set coming up.  here are the cards that i found in my box:

alex blandino

a lot of the photos, like blandino's, come from 2019.

mike king

dustin garneau

yordan alvarez (rookie debut)

the rare "rc" and rookie cub combo.

jose altuve (all-star)

i'll count this as a double play turn.

alex avila

aaron judge (home run derby)

jordan montgomery

pete alonso (home run derby)

neil walker

mike moustakas

devin williams

edwin encarnacion

cy sneed

jose peraza

daniel hudson

kole calhoun

taijuan walker

joey votto (active leaders)

jason castro

the angels' 2020 photographer loves the helmet rack. it does make for a good looking card.

now for my gripe. up until this point, all of the cards have backs that are upside down. that is to say that when i hold the cards upright and turn my wrist toward my body to see the back, just as i have been doing since 1978, the text is upside down.  here's what the back of blandino's card looked like when i turned it over to see the back:

similarly, here's the back of altuve's card when i did the same thing:

what the cuss, topps? i freaked out as a 10-year old when fleer and donruss had upside down card backs, but i never expected topps to forget how to put their cards together.

it wouldn't be quite as bad except that this next group of cards had their backs oriented the "correct" way.

ronald acuna jr (all-star)

and here's the back when i turned my wrist towards my body:

sigh.

aaron bummer

and bummer's back when i turn the card as i have done with topps cards for the last 42 years:

heavy sigh.  on with the cards.

joel kuhnel

steven souza jr

yoshi tsutsugo

kevin pillar

joe jimenez

trayce thompson

old friend trayce, who didn't play in 2019 or 2020 gets a card. 

lane thomas

mike trout/justin upton (combo)

here's a dodger stadium card, just not the subject matter i was expecting.

cameron maybin

randy arozarena

postseason beast rookie card.

sandy leon

deivy grullon

alec mills

ian miller

ryan weber

starlin castro

kevin plawecki

now we've reached the point where we get to the horizontal image cards, and the card backs flip back to being upside down.

andrew mccutchen (all-star)

happy for collecting cutch to have a new topps pirate card to chase!

albert pujols (all-star)

grayson greiner

keury mella

joey votto (all-star)

david ortiz (all-star)

zack greinke (active leaders)

peter lambert

clayton kershaw (all-star)

the only dodger in my box. here's the back (turned right side up for your benefit)

kershaw has a couple other cards in the set.

jesus tinoco

brett anderson

sean murphy (rookie debut)

and now we are back to vertical card images, but the backs are still upside down.

ken griffey jr (all-star)

1992 may be as far back as topps went for these all-star games. it's too bad - i would have liked to have seen ken griffey sr. on a 1980 all-star game card.

josh fuentes

max scherzer (active leaders)

jordan lyles

topps still peddling the globe life inaugural season logo to cover up for their series 1 checklist snafu.

gleyber torres (all-star)

mookie betts (all-star)

i didn't expect to see a mookie red sox card in update this year.

nestor cortes

adeiny hechavarria

and now for the inserts:

yasmani grandal (rainbow foil)

the grandal is a classic update card - new team and a 2020 photo. and the back is right. good job topps.

ozzie smith (a numbers game)

i might have thought about collecting this set of retired numbers if the design were better and if some of the featured players were lesser known franchise greats.

willie stargell (1985 35th anniversary)

weird to see pops on a 1985 card. no jim palmer though, so i am still waiting on a 1985 design card of palmer for my final tribute collection.

andy pettitte (turkey red)

ron santo (turkey red)

luis robert (turkey red)

john smoltz (turkey red)

turkey red is a dead horse by now, isn't it?

dylan carlson (1989 prospect)

and there you have it. no decades' best or short prints or jeter-bation cards - just a straight forward hanger box.  still, even with all the mistakes and missteps, i do believe my favorite dodger card of 2020 comes from update, and i'll show that off in a future post.  seriously though i want topps to be better as there aren't any other options for licensed cards. i hope it happens.