Cards From Cards on Cards (Say that 5 Times Fast)

    About two weeks ago I got my first packs of 2025 Topps Series 1. My friend Kerry from over at Cards on Cards sent them, as a prize from his annual College Bowl Pick 'Em. I was surprised that I won it, but my mother is big into college football, so I guess it was an advantage.

    Anyway, besides the Topps blaster box, Kerry also sent me a bunch of cards from teams I like, as well as some PC help.

    I think I'll note every card in the blaster box, with images of the better/special ones. It's probably more boring that way, but I would like to keep an inventory of these cards since I am currently waiting on the binder for them to come. This is also my first in-hand taste of 2025 Topps, so I'll be providing my commentary on that too. I opened and posted on each pack individually, writing about them as I went along.

Pack 1:

First card of 2025: #205 Rhett Lowder RC

    The card backs look familiar to me, though I am unsure why. It resonates with the front of the card pretty well. And at least you can read what it says.

-#276 Jarred Kelenic
-#165 Joey Ortiz
-#33 Jose Berrios

-#131 David Peterson 

    This is a good photo to be shown horizontally. There have been some questionable image proportions in the past, but for the most part they've done pretty well (at least to what I've seen).

-#202 Keibert Ruiz

-#255 Dodgers Swagger 

    Unsure why the border is black for this card. And, we've reached out first little problem. Under the Dodgers Swagger text there are some more words, which are difficult to read. It's not so hard in hand, but on the computer, good luck.

-#66 Logan Gilbert
-#350 Francisco Lindor
-#287 DJ Herz RC

-#179 Ryan Pepiot Silver Crackle Foil

    This is a beautiful card. While looking up just what kind of card this is, I was brought to realization that there are so many foil variations that have similar characteristics. I already knew this to a degree, but when it's brought to light, it can be a real pain when it comes to card identification. 
    It's also a little bit difficult to see Pepiot's last name, but it is not so at all on the card. I guess these just don't show up to well on camera.

-#SMLB-21 Rafael Devers

    The more I see it, the more I'm liking this year's Stars of MLB design. 

    That was a very good first pack by my standards. No Rangers yet, but I'm sure things'll look up soon.

Pack 2:

-#260 Jose Altuve Spring Training Parallel

    I'm not entirely sure how I feel on the prospect of these Spring Training parallels. Though I think Topps makes too many parallels, I do like the look of these ones more than others.

-#96 Seattle Mariners
-#46 Tanner Houck
-#149 Jeff McNeil
-#254 Kyle Finnegan
-#95 Gavin Sheets
-#292 Clay Holmes
-#204 Justin Wrobleski RC
-#307 Jeremy Pena
-#138 Isaac Paredes

-#35 Anthony Volpe

    Nice picture for this card. Another great horizontal shot.

-#FP-8 First Pitch Adrian Beltre

    I'd never thought I'd see the day where Adrian Beltre's official position is pitcher. Does this count as my first Ranger? Either way, I really like this insert. I hope he threw a strike.

-#SMLB-19 Brooks Lee

    I think the days of SLMB are over. I wouldn't call Brooks Lee a star. Not yet, at least. I think he's got the potential to be a sneaky good player in 2025, but it's still a little bit early to call him a star of MLB.

    My favorite card of the second bunch has to be Beltre throwing out the first pitch.

Pack 3:

-#184 Bronx Bombers 
-#190 Miguel Vargas
-#7 Alec Bohm
-#320 Drew Thorpe
-#181 James Wood
-#102 Jonathan India
-#327 Bryan Woo
-#94 Nick Sogard
-#290 Pete Crow-Armstrong
-#312 Dub and Drench

-#302 Los Angeles Dodgers Gold (1677/2025)

    This is the only serial-numbered card in the bunch. The gold parallel definitely looks interesting on the new design, and the little positional dot just says 'Team Card' on it.

-#SMLB-5 Julio Rodriguez

    Another Stars of MLB card. There's a little bit too much space left in the card. Surely they could have found a better action shot?

    The third pack wasn't as impressive as the first two, but it did yield a serial-numbered card, which was pretty cool.

Pack 4:

-#111 Randy Arozarena Spring Training Parallel

    We've already had a Grapefruit League parallel, and now we have the Cactus League one. The more I look at these, the more I like this insert.

-#227 Ty France
-#113 Marco Gonzales
-#36 Greg Jones RC
-#42 Andrew McCutchen
-#269 Justyn-Henry Malloy
-#164 Tanner Bibee
-#52 Will Benson

-#250 Bryce Harper

    Bryce is a favorite. He's a must have in this post.



-#37 Spencer Steer
-#233 Brandon Marsh

-#T90-78 Manny Machado 

    The 1990 reprint looks really good. It far exceeded my expectations for this year.

-#SMLB-12 Gunnar Henderson

    Very nice card of a player I love. I wonder if he'll get a crack at an MVP award sometime in the near future. He's got the talent, but also a very competitive league featuring Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt as frontrunners. Only time can tell.

    This was a good pack, as shown by the four cards who were worthy to be shown on the blog. 

Pack 5:

-#139 Jordan Beck

-#125 Jackson Merrill

    I don't know if I've ever been more ecstatic about pulling a base card. The photo used is perfect; in fact, I think I've used the very same photo before, both in a post and as my email address's profile picture. The color scheme on the Padres card is a little bit strange, but I guess brown is their main color. Haha, I'm one of the weirdos who actually likes the City Connect uni.

-#341 Ronel Blanco
-#83 Anthony Rendon
-#284 Oneil Cruz
-#253 Hurston Waldrep RC
-#256 Jake Cave
-#309 Adam Mazur RC
-#230 Colton Cowser
-#27 Angel Martinez RC

-#62 Jon Gray 

    And now, we have the first Ranger of 2025! It took a minute, but Jon Gray finally showed his face and gets the bragging rights.....although I doubt that anybody cares :)

-#SMBL-24 Christian Yelich

    I sure hope Yelich can stay healthy for 2025. He's been getting back to his true form, and I want to see another great season out of him. He's in his age 33 season -- plenty of time to show us how it's done, but not enough time for injuries.



    Yet another solid pack. And we're on to the last two. This post took forever to make, I'm sure that for those reading the whole thing, it's taking an eternity to read.





Pack 6:

-#68 Hunter Feducca RC Spring Training Parallel

    We have our third Spring Training parallel. These are really nice. It's something different from colored borders -- which I have nothing against. It's very unique. I've probably said that three times now.

-#338 Mitch Garver
-#84 Kameron Misner RC
-#238 JJ Bleday
-#172 Otto Lopez
-#195 Michael King
-#336 Jorge Alcala
-#122 CJ Abrams
-#170 Baltimore Orioles
-#328 Eugenio Suarez

-#GH-5 Nolan Arenado

    This is a nice card, though I think the back can explain it better than I can...

-#ATT-1 Aaron Judge

    I really like the look of this card. There's plenty going on without an excess of things going on. I sympathize with those set collectors who can't stand all the inserts. There are a lot of them. But as a person who doesn't really build sets, it doesn't bug me too much.

-#SMLB-30 Dylan Crews

    Gee, I really hope this one comes true.

    Another very good pack.

Pack 7:

-#50 Leody Taveras
-#76 Houston Astros
-#316 Chris Sale
-#75 Colin Rea
-#18 Orelvis Martinez RC
-#180 Colt Keith

-#221 Matt Chapman

    Matt Chapman was such a good pickup by the Giants (my second team). I didn't realize just how good it was until 2024, when he was quietly such an awesome piece at third base. I think he's really one of the better and underrated players in the game.

-#5 2024 American League ERA Leaders

    Here's to hoping Skubal repeats.
    I like what they did with the player ERAs coming up the side of the card. Well done.

-#304 Raisel Iglesias
-#239 Freddie Freeman
-#179 Ryan Pepiot

-#SMLB-15 Corbin Carroll

    I'm not really a D-Backs fan, but as one who hates to see talent squandered, I want a 2023 Corbin Carroll, one such Corbin Carroll as we saw at the end of last season.

    All seven of my packs ended with a Stars of MLB insert. Is that the way each pack of '25 Topps has been rounded out, or is it just some crazy coincidence? These are the only cards I've gotten thus far, so I wouldn't know.

    So rounds out the 2025 Topps Blaster box. Overall I'm very happy with it (aside from the fact that it was free), with literally zero dupes; a great start if I were trying to build the set. I may end up building the Stars of MLB set.

    Overall, the 2025 design is....decent. There are some really nice aspects, and some not so much. The base cards have a bit of a shine to them, which is alright with me. The darker text on the cards isn't much of a problem in-hand, but  once photographed (or scanned, I've seen), it gets a bit illegible and looks a bit strange. I think the design would look a whole lot better to me had it not been the immediate successor to 2024 Topps, which was a grand slam design. Overall, I would probably give it a 7 out of 10. I think that's a fair rating.

    Kerry sent me a good number of more cards individually, but this post has already been far and away my longest ever, and I've got a few more longies to go in the near future. So I'll wrap it up here, and save the rest of the cards for part two. Thank you Kerry for the amazing cards, and thank y'all for bearing with me to the end -- this took over a week to write -- and happy collecting!