Although the MLB Network has its share of Hall of Famers like John Smoltz, “Rookie Cards” for some of the other names who bring you the highlights begin arriving on Feb. 1 in packs of 2017 Topps Series 1 baseball cards.
A 10-card release begins a set that will continue in Series 2 and Update later this year and this series will include Lauren Shehadi (RC), Kevin Millar, Mike Lowell, Greg Amsinger (RC), Ryan Dempster, Sean Casey, Harold Reynolds, Dan Plesac and Smoltz as well as an MLB Tonight card.
A number of that crew’s members already have cards as players (click to view a Buzz archives piece) — but there will be several debuts in the forthcoming releases. Meanwhile, a number of them haven’t had many autographs and all nine found in Series 1 will have ink.
The MLB Network stars aren’t the only unusual cards coming in packs of Series 1. There will also be a 20-card First Pitch set that spotlights celebs’ ceremonial performances as part of the game.
Among the names there are William Shatner, Judd Apatow, Jeremy Piven, John Goodman, Joan Jett, Stephen Colbert and Jon Lovitz to name a few. You can see them all below. Colbert threw out a first pitch as hot dog vendor “Donnie Franks” last year.
>> Related: Check out our First Buzz preview for 2017 Topps here.
The World Series champion Chicago Cubs have their own auto Relic set as well as an autograph set in this one that includes Albert Almora, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Jason Heyward, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Willson Contreras in both. A World Champions Relic set will include those players as well as Aroldis Chapman, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Ben Zobrist, Dexter Fowler, Jake Arrieta, John Lester and Jorge Soler.
Click here to view the 2017 Topps Series 1 baseball card checklist.
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