A Royal Visit to the Card Aisle

Today was one of the worst workdays I've had in quite some time. I was stressed about an issue walking in the door and the day just snowballed. It ended up with me spending 2+ hours with a dear friend(and coworker) of mine at an urgent care and eventually the ER. From the ER, it was back to work for another 2 hours, where I was unable to be very productive due to the events of the day. So, when I finally left the office, my car kinda drove itself to the local Target for some potential retail pack therapy. I would up picking out a variety of products to open, but for tonight I'll focus on the most unexpected.

Once again, I am apparently out of the loop on release dates. GQ officially releases tomorrow, but as is sometimes the case, I found some blasters on the shelf and some 'Value Packs' hanging on the pegs a day early. Not shown in this picture, there was a coupon for a free pack of Opening Day attached to the front of this package. Let's take a look, shall we?

Here are a few favorites from the three packs. Of course, I love the Tanaka. The Trout is already re-homed, but it's a nice 'art-card'. That concept seems a bit lost on me for a set like GQ though. I mean, can you really tell a huge difference between these drawn cards and the artistic likenesses that always grace the fronts of the Gypsy Queen set? I included Kirby Yates because he was one of my favorite Durham Bulls a few years back. Then he played with the Yankees for a short while. The Reyes and Swanson were the only RCs I pulled, but they're pretty good ones to pull. It's a shame Reyes got hurt. The Quintana shows of the design of the backs. Overall, I think I like the design a bit better than in most years past. It's probably not a product I'll open much more of, but it was a fun rip nonetheless. Now. On to the exclusive green bordered pack.

Not to shabby. A rare cardboard Wieters sighting, Andrew Miller(even if it is in an Indians jersey), and a promising young hurler from Philly makes for a decent pack. I really like the way the green border works with the design and it's a bonus for me that these are not done as 'colored frames' like in years past. My free OD pack was not my first exposure to the 2017 version of the brand. I had picked up a blaster and jumbo pack the day before they officially released. The goods from that break have been scanned and a post is about halfway written, but I haven't gotten a chance to finish it. Maybe I will sometime soon. Anyway, on to the free pack.

Of course it was not nearly as good as my last free pack(series one yielding the Bryant photo variation SSP), but it was a fun addition to my therapeutic break for the evening. I scanned the V-Mart because you don't often see him playing in the field on cardboard these days. The Bregman RC should speak for itself. I always dig the mascots in OD, maybe one year, I'll put together the set. The Sano was my first Opening Day Stars in hand. I like the design, but I'm not sure I'll ever get past the idea that Topps is no longer using the lenticular design on this insert. There were a few other packs that were part of my pack therapy, but they'll have to wait for another post. I'm so glad that cardboard is my 'go-to' vice on difficult days like today. Thanks for reading.