Opening Night for 2012 Topps Cards

Tonight after church, I drove to Wal-Mart and picked up two standard 12-card packs and two jumbo 36-card packs of the brand new 2012 Topps Series One cards. When I got home, I let my son Braden pick one of each type pack and we opened them at the same time. It was a cool experience and reminded me of opening a brand new pack of cards with my own dad. It's been a while since I've bought him any cards, so I was surprised when he spent a few minutes spreading his best finds out on the coffee table and placing a few into his album.

Of course the Cardinals cards are the ones we're really looking for and together we netted three standard cards for Yadier Molina (#174), Jon Jay (#258), and Kyle Loshe (#26), as well as a 2011 World Series Game 6 card for David Freese (#291).

For me, the best Cardinals card was a nice Gold Standard one for Stan "The Man" Musial (#GS-2), which highlights his 3,000 hit at Wrigley Field on May 13, 1958. It's great that Topps introduces younger collectors to superstars from the past, and even though this one was part of my packs, I gave it to my son. He really liked it.

Another old-school hero Braden found was Mickey Mantle (card #7 of course!). Again, a great way to introduce younger fans to stars from the past. Plus it's a really sharp-looking card!

There were a nice surprise in these packs. We found two "mini" cards based on the 1987 Topps set, which meant a lot to me because it was the first Topps cards I ever collected. (I remember buying the jumbo packs at the local Kroger in my hometown of Jackson, Tennessee.) They were Mariano Rivera (TM-36) and James Shields (TM-41).

Hopefully Braden and I can have a few more moments of tearing into a few packs this season!