Sunday Edition - 2017 Topps

2017 Topps finally arrived at my Target this week.  "Finally" probably isn't a fair way to term it, because it's actually the earliest it's ever arrived.  So it was less late, which is an improvement.  Last year I bought two packs of each series and opted instead for a complete set.  I thought about that approach this year, given I wasn't wild about the promo shots of this year's set, but in the end I just couldn't go another year without opening packs.  I like these cards better in hand than I did in pictures, but overall I'm not giving it much more than a "C-" grade.  The backs are a complete "F" for me.  Complete career stats have been a staple since '72, and as far as I'm concerned they should have stayed that way.

The Alex Bregman is a card I was looking forward to.  He's the bit of a local legend having come out of an Albuquerque High School, and though I'm not a true New Mexican, I still like to see people from the area make it out.  They're few and far between.

I'm not much of an insert guy, and once again I find this year's offerings pretty bland.  I'll give the Rediscover inserts some credit as a cool idea.  While they don't do much for me, I can see how these would be very appealing to younger collectors (and do I sound snobbish to say "educational") and that's a good thing.  For my purposes, I'd rather just get two extra base cards, because completing these sets is hard enough without getting most of this crap instead of set needs.

Speaking of set needs, I feel like this year is worse than normal when it comes to doubles.  I've bought $64 dollars worth of cards (2 packs, 5 hangers, and 2 jumbo packs).  Last year my complete set cost me about $60 (or something like that).  So for about the same investment, I have zero series two cards, and still need 128 cards from series one.  I also have 158 duplicates.  This is what 158 duplicates look like:

I did the math, I pulled 380 base cards, 222 were set needs, 158 were duplicates.  That works out to 41.6% duplicates.  That's ridiculous.  There's got to be a better way to do this.  If they can figure out how to put a "platinum autograph" one in every 86,400 packs, Topps should be able to figure out how to spread 350 cards out in a little bit better fashion.  Look at my binder, it's a mess of blank spots in the pages:

If you've run into a similar issue, email me on gmail at 22Stackhouse.  I'd be happy to try to trade.  Here's what I'm looking for:

2017 Needs: 2.4.8.9.10.11.12.13.25.31.32.39.43.44.45.46.48.52.53.57.58.63.64.66.68.69.70.71. 72.74.77.78.80.83.84.85.87.88.93.94.100.101.104.106.108.109.110.118.123.128.130.133.136.141.
146.153.154.159.161.162.163.166.168.171.172.173.175.177.182.184.189.192.198.200.201.204.
206.210.213.214.218.220.221.222.224.226.230.231.238.242.246.248.251.253.254.258.261.262.264.
265.266.267.268.272.278.285.289.290.297.298.304.306.314.317.318.319.320.322.323.326.327.328.
330.332.337.339.345.349