The First White Sox Card Of 2013 Is...

 One of the most anticipated days of the year is finally here. The first release attributed to the new year; Topps Series One. The flagship series of the only major card company to be fully licensed. I'm still at odds with that aspect of the hobby, but it is nice to have a breather from being barraged by endless releases by multiple companies. Still, I'm waiting for Topps to become complacent, being essentially the only game in town. I'm not willing to stand for complacency by any company in the hobby.

It's nice to see a decent design on the flagship cards. Not great. Not memorable. Not horrible either.

I planned my outing for the early afternoon, right after my quiz for psychology class. I would end up at two different places to get a sampling of the product.

My first stop was Target. I searched for the blaster box, but was unable to find it right away. Then I noticed something peculiar. The boxes were there, but my eyes passed them by because they packaging is smaller. I always wondered why card companies wasted so much space in the blasters. Now, I needn't wonder about that again. A quick look at the rest of the product on the shelf confirms that the newer blasters are all smaller. It's a nice thing to see.

I picked up a blaster and two loose packs from Target. There were no opened boxes on the shelf, but there were plenty of loose packs in a hanging bin. I grabbed two and went to the movie section. I found a nice bargain on a Hunger Games blu-ray, so I grabbed that as well.

As luck would have it, the first White Sox card came from the blaster. It was an Emerald Foil parallel. It was one of my favorite players that I don't have a player collection for. It was...

 A.J. Pierzynski!

My first White Sox card is of a player no longer on the White Sox. A.J. isn't even on my 2013 White Sox calendar. Tyler Flowers looks like he's about to throw a runner out or toss the ball back to the pitcher with too much annoyance on his face, adorning my wall for January. In fact, in a White Sox calendar first, every player featured on a month is still with the team.

It might be because green is my favorite color, but I absolutely adore this parallel! The chances were one in six that I get an Emerald Foil parallel and this was the only one I got in the blaster. It turns out that this would be the lone White Sox card from Target.

I was off to the hobby shop, Baseball Card King #2, right in the heart of my hometown. My task was simple. I was to browse around and then pick up two jumbo packs. I was able to find a 2011 Topps Target Throwback card of Edwin Jackson for fifty cents, so I picked that up. It makes me sad that I never bring a list because I wasn't sure about it, but lo and behold, I needed it.

Out of two jumbo packs, containing fifty cards each, I would up with one White Sox card.

Addison Reed strikes again. At least Topps graced the card with a slightly different picture than the 2012 Topps Heritage disaster of four rookie cards for the Sox closer.

As I look through the packs, I can spot one of the "Out of Bounds" variations of Rajai Davis. Since I received one, they mustn't be too difficult to obtain.

A pleasant experience, to say the least. I sampled the new release and I came away with a good feeling. How many days before pitchers and catchers report?