Stickering It To The Man: I Busted a Box of Topps Stickers

I recently posted about my trip to the Tokyo area card show "Festa" - a bit of a disappointment for what I know of as Tokyo's only baseball card show - and mentioned that I had a couple other things to show. One of those was my first box purchase in Japan. Normally, I don't bust boxes (it's too expensive) and I wouldn't go with stickers either, but this box was only 500 yen (about $5) for a 50-count box of 2012 Topps Stickers. Okay, so they're a year old, but they're still fun. I still need stickers for my 2011 set (NOTE: I do not have any for trade!) and I need a few from this year (list at the bottom).

I get the feeling Topps intended to put a full set in each box, or pretty close. I ended up with almost the full set. I am missing 8 (one full pack). Let's look at some of the cards.

 The Orioles are the first team in the set, and Nick Markakis is from my "hometown" (at least, as far as my high school/college years are concerned). It's highly possible I've met him in person, since it's not exactly a big town and he could have stopped in one of the places I worked at during that time. But that was before he became a star.

 When I started this blog in 2011, I started paying more attention to baseball, and quickly got an appreciation for Verlander. I like the Tigers - they are one of my teams - so it's not just a "superstar pitcher bandwagon" thing. Or is it?

 Every time:

Heh. I still love that.

 Chipper!

Do you get the reference? (I'm never going to Hooters for my birthday. That's just too embarassing.)

 He's still playing? The design is simple but nice. However, I think Topps should go with a full-bleed or designed border that blends in with the page somehow. For example, the swooping road continues on the page in the sticker book, etc...

 My man! He's a pretty solid second baseman if you ask me. I first saw him play last April on one of the Astros' farm teams, and he shot up to the majors pretty quickly.

 I bet he's thinking right now "Hah, I got away with it!" And then, one year later...

 In addition to player stickers, there are team logo stickers, two per card. Some of the pairings seem to be rivals, but not always.

 Each team has either a mascot or legend. The mascot cards are quite strange. Why? Well, look at the name. The Orioles mascot is titled "MASCOT"...

 The Red Sox mascot is titled "WALLY THE GREEN MONSTER™"...

 The Blue Jays mascot is titled "BLUE JAYS® MASCOT" (with the superscript ®)

 The Royals mascot is titled "KANSAS CITY ROYALS®" (with an inline ®). The variety is mindboggling. Don't all the mascots have names? Why weren't they used? And why wasn't a consistent format used if the mascot names couldn't be used? Argh! So that's why I like...

 The legends. And I'm glad Clemente doesn't have an ® or ™ after his name.

 The last few cards in the set are some of the gimmick SP ideas used in prior years' Topps flagship products. Here, a pie in the face.

 And the Gatorade dump.

 And another Gatorade dump.

Perhaps the bunny ears is my favorite. Actually, a few fun casual shots around the field are great. Remember the Christie Brinkley insert set from Pinnacle back in the 1990s? Or the Iooss Collection from Upper Deck? These artsy or casual shots generally from on the field were great additions as inserts then, and I'd certainly go after them today.

Don't confuse that with a whole set of studio shots with nothing to set a tone or tell a story (or even remind of a story or nickname). Ah, Panini or Topps, you should hire me on as a photographer for some variety in your sets.

Anyway, as I mentioned above, I need 8 cards/stickers. They are:
37, 40, 52, 58, 87, 136/159 (dual-sticker card), 182, 194.

I have plenty of extras for trade. They are:
1 6 9 11 13 14 15 18 20 24 28 29 32 35 41 42 44 47 49 53 55 57 59 60 63 64 66 69 71 76 77 78 80 85 86 88 91 92 98 101 107 108 110 112 113 114 116 119 121 122 123 127 129 130 133 135 138/145 139/161 150/143 151/159 152/160 153/162 174 178 181 187 187 189 193 195 197 201 202 205 208 209 211 214 215 221 225 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 235 237 239 244 247 248 249 252 253 255 259 260 263 272 273 277 278 281 282 287 293 298 299 304 305 307 309

Remember, these are 2012 stickers. Give me some help! I'll trade multiple stickers for just one or two off my list. And remember that I live in Japan - you can ship to my US address but with my current schedule and international costs I'll be using PWEs and it might take me a week or two to get to the post office here (I found one that's a lot closer so it's not as tough to get there). If you're interested in some Japanese cards I can send some those your way too!