(National Baseball Card) Day Tripper

Most group breakers offer spots in group breaks of cases or boxes of baseball cards. Fellow blogger Kerry of Cards on Cards held a rather unusual group break back in the middle of May. Rather than breaking cases or boxes of cards, Kerry offered up spots in a bunch of 2019 Topps of the Class packs. These 5-card packs were originally distrubuted by card shops to kids who brought in their report cards. Apparently some shops had extra packs.

Some packs even had a serial-numbered insert card inside. So I signed up for Kerry’s group break and was lucky enough to claim the Dodgers. Even luckier, I came away with the only insert card of the break (the Clayton Kershaw card above #’d 252/299). Of the four Dodgers featured in the base set I got two of them (Kerry also sent a bonus 2019 Allen & Ginter insert #BSS-34 Kershaw):

Well, you certainly can’t go wrong with Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler. The other two Dodger base cards that I did not get are Clayton Kershaw and Cory Seager. As you may have noticed, the base card design is based on the 2019 Topps Big League design. Of course the product logo and numbering have been changed. Looks like I just may have to go try to complete this set.

But the fun at Kerry’s blog doesn’t end there. Kerry has also been hosting Free Stuff Fridays, too. Kerry has not only offered up some great cards but also hobby magazine card panels/sheets and even entire boxed traded sets. So a couple weeks ago, I saw that he was offering some more Topps of the Class, a few 2018 National Baseball Card Day and a Topps flagship insert. Of course I had to take him up on these:

A big thank you and a big Stadium Fantasium standing ovation go out to Kerry. So far I’ve got about a half-dozen cards from Kerry’s want lists set aside for him. As soon as I find a couple more, they will be sent on their way to Kerry’s mailbox. I’ve updated a couple of my want lists and will add want lists soon of the sets mentioned above.

Speaking of National Baseball Card Day, Topps has announced details of the 2020 National Baseball Card Day promotion. On Saturday August 8th, customers at participating hobby shops will receive one free pack of cards. Additional bonus cards of Peter Alonso (Week 1) and Yordan Alvarez (Week 2) will be available with an additional $10 purchase. Around this same time, Target and Walmart stores will also be selling 2020 Topps Chrome hanger boxes with a free pack of NBCD cards inside.

In past years, Topps would also distribute packs of team-specific NBCD cards at MLB games across the country. So far it is not clear if we will see that this year. The Topps announcement does have a “Topps NBCD MLB Stadium Giveaway Dates” link but as of this writing, it links to a list of 2019 dates. (Somebody’s trippin’.)

I do like Topps NBCD cards and it’s likely I’ll go after this set too.

Will you be trying to obtain 2020 National Baseball Card Day cards in August?

Stay tuned…

6 thoughts on “(National Baseball Card) Day Tripper”

Well, two issues. One is, will I feel comfortable going to stores in August when I don’t have to? I hope so…I’m in an area that got his early and appears to be getting better. But people are being too cavalier about it, so it could easily get worse.

The other thing is that last year, I headed out to a bunch of shops in my area that Topps listed as participating, but only one of them actually was. Most of them had no idea what I was talking about. One was the home address of an online dealer! (Fortunately, it was obvious enough that there was no shop that I didn’t, like, ring his doorbell or something. I didn’t find out that an online dealer lived there until I got home and did some research.) Left a bad taste in my mouth, but we’ll see. Always up for another Alonso card!

Ooh, I do like that Kershaw. You beat me to Kerry’s giveaway!

No I won’t be pursuing the NBCD giveaway. I know this is a big thing for some collectors, every year I hear about it constantly on Twitter. But those are all people who can stop by a shop 10 minutes away. I don’t have that, and never really have.

If there are A’s, Padres, or guys like Keston Hiura on the checklist… then I’ll happily add them to my collection. But I doubt I’ll go to my LCS on that day. Maybe I’ll pick up a blaster of Chrome. Maybe. That’s assuming I can find myself a box out in the wild, but since I only go there about once every 4 to 6 weeks… I’m not sure the odds are in my favor.

There are no card shops near me, so if I want in I’ll have to go the Wal-Mart/Target route. Last year I bought a pack of Bowman and the NBCD cards were just previews for the upcoming Gallery set. Depending on what’s in the Chrome, I may pass.