The Living Daylights

The Topps Living Set keeps on going, and I have been diligently adding the Twins as they come up. Mitch Garver was penciled into the Living Lineup following the end of last season, and I picked up his card direct from Topps. I'm torn a bit on this, because I feel like they are overpriced for what you get with the Living Set, but I also don't want Topps to stop making them, so I still order the Twins straight from the horse's mouth.

Garver had a monster season in 2019, and was the AL Silver Slugger at the catcher position. His 31 homers were the Minnesota franchise record for round trippers by a catcher. He led all AL catchers in OBP, SLG, wRC+, and WAR.

Mitch Garver made his MLB debut in 2017 as a 27 year old, so he's already entering his age 30 season. He will be the primary catcher again for the Twins in 2020 as Jason Castro has moved on to the Angels. The Twins have Alex Avila and Willians Astudillo on the 40 Man Roster to help Garver stay fresh over the course of the season. Maybe the most impressive part of his 31 homers was that he achieved it in fewer than 100 games played. The Twins had an effective rotation between Garver and Castro behind the plate, which might be tough to match again.

Got in on the ground floor with this one! I think this card came to me courtesy the Luis Torrens fanclub a couple years ago.

LIVING to the Max

The Topps Living Set continues to grow, but the number of deserving subjects remaining, it can be a long wait between representatives from your favorite team. The Minnesota Twins now have seven cards in the set, two coming in the last two months.

Rod Carew is the first retired Twin to be featured. 1967 A.L. Rookie of the Year, a seven-time batting champ, 1977 A.L. MVP, eighteen-time All-Star, Hall of Fame Inductee, and the only member of the 3,000 hit club from Panama. Carew was in the Twin Cities earlier this season to attend the retirement of Joe Mauer's jersey number, and he continues to be an ambassador for the game. He also hosts an annual golf tournament in California to benefit Pediatric Cancer Research, which was held last weekend at the Pelican Hill Golf Club. He also partners with the American Heart Association to raise awareness about heart health.

This season Max Kepler has taken a big step forward. His 35 home runs are a career high, and he's slugging 100 points higher than his previous career best mark. He signed a 5 year contract extension with the Twins during Spring Training.

This dugout quiz artwork is a red herring - the flag says "Highest Batting Average" but the question is about Runs Batted In! Also, you'll notice that there's an asterisk on both cards for the lifetime totals. On Carew's card it is explained that his career totals are complete "as of 6/24/2019," but Kepler's card does not have a similar caveat. I think Rod's totals are probably not going to change much the rest of the season, but Max is likely to add on even more (he led off Saturday's game with a home run, the 91st of his career)!

A Year of Living Dangerously

Topps is back for a second year with The Living Set, but the truth is that it never really stopped. Felix Jorge is the just the 3rd Minnesota Twin featured in the set, and it turns out that shortly after this card was produced, Jorge was waived by the Twins and became a free agent.

Still just 25 years old, Felix made his debut for the Twins jumping several levels in the minors. His promotion had a good deal to do with the other available arms in the Twins' system - Jorge was able to be added to the 40-Man roster, then the 25-Man MLB roster without being overly concerned about service time. After being DFA'd, then outright released, he would still re-sign with the Twins, but became a free agent again at the end of the 2018 season. Jorge is currently playing for the Billngs Mustangs in the Cincinnati Reds minor league chain.

The first Twin of 2019 in the Living Set? Jake Odorizzi, who is currently in the middle of 20 inning scoreless streak, is having a very good second season with MN.

That cartoon choice is strange... Both cards mention Jose Berrios, who was the first Twins player featured in the Living Set. Odorizzi will be looking to extend that scoreless innings streak later this week!

Finally, the most recent Topps Living Set entry featured Mr. Boomstick himself, Nelson Cruz. He joined the Twins in the off-season, and will be the team's primary DH, the biggest veteran free agent bat the Twins have added since Jim Thome.

Cruz is one of the few MLB players older than me left, so I am happy to have him on the team to feel a little less old. It doesn't hurt that he's been hitting well in the middle of a very potent Twins lineup. The team currently leads all of baseball in slugging percentage.

Cruz brings the total number of Twins in the Living Set to five - Berrios and Joe Mauer were added in season in 2018, and these three guys since the end of last season. Is your team well represented in the Living set? Manny Machado already has two cards in the set on his own (and now that he's with a new team, will probably get a third one before too long).

I'm looking forward to cards for some retired Twins greats - like Killebrew, Carew, Blyleven... or current players like Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, or hey, Willians Astudillo??? Maybe wishful thinking there.

LIVING in a Material World

Topps has launched The Living Set, which is an online-only set that in theory will never end. Topps releases 3 cards a week for this set, including both current and retired players.

I held out as long as I could, but there was no way I was passing up on Ichiro. This week has a Bartolo Colon card, but I have to be honest and say that it looks rushed. That one is the first card in the set that isn't a headshot - the Colon card is a waist up portrait. The plan for now is to feature all of these on the 1953 design.

Unpopular opinion time. . . I don't like the 1953 design. I have great respect for the skill that went in to making it, but to me it is boring. With the exception of a handful of cards, they all look like the same card to me. There's a lot more diversity in facial hair, hair cuts, and of course a more diverse population of players, so I guess it will be more visually interesting in The Living Set. But I think they should be willing to break from the headshot only pose more often. I also hope they just change the design periodically (maybe once a year?), because I can't imagine wanting to look at this same design forever.

I ended up getting the whole 3 card set from Ichiro week. The 2nd card is the White Sox Yoan Moncada. I think he's going to be a fantastic player, but I probably will be sending this one to Jeff at 2x3 Heroes as soon as I can get organized enough to send out cards to folks. I've got lots of haphazard boxes with trade bait in them, I think things are finally calming down so I can get some work done. 

The third card was a Twin, so that made the decision easy to get all three. Berrios has been hot and cold this season, all a part of his maturation and development as a big league pitcher. He's one of my favorite Twins and I hope he's going to be leading the rotation for years to come.

I will say that the cards are really nice in hand - they are printed on a vintage style stock, much better than the recent Topps Archives set that used the '53 design. The choice to buy or not buy will rest almost entirely on the player selection. I will more than likely collect the Twins, and will make special trips for players I really like to collect.

Anyone else take the plunge on these yet?