My Thoughts on 2016 Topps Series II based on a Hanger Box

It's been almost a month since 2016 Topps Series II was released, and while I've seen plenty on YouTube and the blogosphere, I didn't actually get my hands on any until July 5th. My wife got me a hanger box for my birthday.

I thought I'd give a quick review, based on the cards I got from the hanger box.

I mentioned that I opened it on my birthday and I happened to pull a card of a player that shares the same birthday; Tony Cingrani. I'm going to make July 5th birthdays a mini collection of mine. Expect it to show up on the blog from time to time.

The Home Run Derby is today and the All-Star game is tomorrow.  Michael Saunders; a.k.a. "Captain Canada", will be taking part in the All-Star game. He was the A.L. winner of the fan vote. I don't want to talk about the N.L. vote.

The nickname "Captain Canada" is fitting because the native Canadian is now playing in Toronto.

Here's a look at the front...

...and the back.

Speaking of Canada and the All-Star game; the Futures Game was yesterday and the World Team beat the USA Team, 11-3. That got me thinking, so I checked the cards from my hanger box.

There were lots of players born outside the U.S. from places you might expect like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Taiwan. 

But there were a couple others that were interesting; Germany and England. 

While I was looking for birth countries, I found an interesting birth city name. Washington Court House, OH. 20 characters is pretty impressive.

Let's take a look at a couple of inserts that are unique to Series II.

This Tribute to the Kid card doesn't scan well due to the foil, but it looks great in person and is my favorite card from the hanger box. Griffey is my favorite player of all-time and he'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame in less than 2 weeks.

Here is a Chasing 3K Ichiro insert. As the All-Star break, Ichiro is just 10 hits away from 3,000. I think it would have been great to have Ichiro in the All-Star game, but alas it was not meant to be. 

Let's take a look at some more base cards.

I don't have any tattoos myself and don't ever plan on getting one, but I thought this card did a good job showcasing Gary's last name on his arm.

Here's a great looking horizontal card, but what sticks out to me is "BOWSER". It immediatly made me think of Mario Bros.

Here is a great shot of Avisail Garcia robbing Didi Gregorious of a homer on 8/1/15. 

My overall thoughts on 2016 Topps Series II, I like it. That's not surprising though because I like most baseball cards.