I've seen some hot takes that people aren't happy with the commemorative batting helmet cards included as bonuses in 2022 Topps Series 2 blasters.
I've only ripped one blaster of Series 2 and my manufactured relic was of current MLB RBI leader Pete Alonso and my pick for the player who had the best rookie season ever.
I'm personally a big fans of these and I really like the texture of the helmet and the shininess of the metal on the inside of it that really catches the light when the card is in hand.
But honestly, I'm a sucker for just about every Topps manufactured patches that have filled blaster boxes with over the past decade or so. Here are some of my favorite examples from over the years.
As a patch collector, I still pick these up whenever I see them at a card show. This beauty showing the Minneapolis and St. Paul twins shaking hands on the old Twins logo was included in the 2011 Topps Update Series.
These All-Star Game patches were found in 2010 Topps Series 1 and they created some odd combinations where you have a Bob Gibson card with a Minnesota Twins logo on it. It's something you don't see every day and I'm pretty happy with the patch quality on these.
I always love cards featuring the Expos, especially in French, so this card from 2009 Topps get my approval. Yount had the best season of his career in 1982. He was an All-Star and went on to win the American League MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.
Topps kept riding the All-Star Game patch train for years as this Fred McGriff patch from the 1994 game was included in 2013 Topps Update Series. It honored McGriff winning the All-Star MVP award after hitting a homerun with two RBIs in the midseason game.
While most of these patches float in the middle of an open area on the cards, the hat logo patches that were in 2010 Topps Series 1, filled every inch available and some of the cards have the feel that the logo could burst out of the card they were so big.
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For anyone upset about the name change to the Cleveland Guardians this season, they really don't know the history of the franchise. Since 1894, the team has had two locations (Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cleveland) and seven different names (Rippers, Lake Shores, Bluebirds, Bronchos, Napoleons, Indians and Guardians). This Bob Feller card was among those included in 2011 Topps Series 2 and featured logos of teams, including many that no longer exist. This one highlights the Napoleons era that ran from 1903-1914. The franchise was renamed in honor of their player/manager and future Hall of Fame member Napoleon Lajoie.  |
Patches eventually made way for medallions and pins. This win honors Craig Biggio's first career home run hit on Aug. 22, 1988 at Wrigley Field. It is sort of a weird stat to honor for a player not known for his power, but I'll take it. These super heavy cards are from 2015 Topps.
Pitchers who have thrown no-hitters were honored in 2016 Topps Series 1. Phil Niekro threw his lone no-hitter on Aug. 5, 1973 against the Padres, winning 9-0.
This was a cool idea if Topps would have done the autograph stitching in the way the players actually signed rather than the same standard font for each card. I pulled this one from my 2012 Topps Series 1 blaster.
The 2018 Topps Series 1 blasters featured these MLB Players Weekend patches, which is another version of these that I could do without, outside of maybe one of your favorite player. This card also loses points for having "This commemorative patch was not worn during the 2017 MLB Players Weekend." on the damn front of the card.
We will end on perhaps the oddest overall choice for these sort of patches that comes from 2008 Topps Series 1. Members of the All-Star teams -- the Twins Justin Morneau in this example -- were featured with mini jerseys. Topps definitely improved upon this general idea in future releases.
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