Favourite Card of 2019

Even though P-Town Tom has decided not to host a card of the year contest, it'd just feel a bit weird without a post dedicated to what I felt was the best that 2019 had to offer in card form. In years prior he'd cut off the contest on the 7th or 8th, we'll assume that he would've ended it around then again this year and that this entry would've been a late one again.

2019 featured the return of Luis Torrens to the MiLB team issued genre, his first MiLB card since 2014 as a member of the Staten Island Yankees. This Amarillo Sod Poodles card actually has a lot going for it. In addition to it being the first Torrens MiLB card in five years, it's also got him featured as a member of the inaugural Sod Poodles team. The team that won the league championship in its first year existence at that. There's a bunch of unique points to be awarded for that.

There was also this wonderful custom Storm piece made by Gavin which filled a massive hole in my collection as Lake Elsinore never released a card set for Torrens in 2018. Gavin did a wonderful job here because this pairs pretty well with the Sod Poodles card above.

In addition, there was this custom that Gavin made that honored Torrens' time as a Cincinnati Red, all two seconds of that time. After I created my "thoughts on all 30 MLB teams" post, I've really dug deep and thought, "wow, the San Diego Padres are a lot more likable and interesting than the Reds and I'm glad that's where Torrens landed". The Reds still have nazi-owner stink on them while the Padres have a ton of fun guys like (insert Padres players here). That team will be a lot of fun to watch going forward. Meanwhile with the Reds I feel like their hopes and dreams will live and more likely die with Nick Senzel's health.

Anyway any one of these could've easily been favorites to win my card of the year contest. But, did they pull it off?

Let's do a countdown from my top 5 and see which card took the number 1 spot.

5). 2019-20 Upper Deck Henrick Lundqvist

Nothing like seeing the King in action.

4). Gavin's custom showing Torrens as a Red

3). 2019 Grandstand Luis Torrens

2). Gavin's custom showing Torrens as a Storm

Yes, Gavin's card got as high as the silver medal and even a fourth place entry, but it was one again usurped by a running gag another card.

1). 2019-20 Upper Deck Jesper Fast

Yes, a hockey card has once again thwarted the hopes and dreams of every baseball card ever made in 2019. One of the best things about hockey cards is that you can take a lot of unique shots because it's in a more condensed/enclosed area than a baseball diamond is. You can have shots like this where you can see parts of the arena from a low angle view.
This is clearly a shot of Fast that captures parts of Little Caesers Arena in Detroit. I really liked this card from the minute I saw it in mid-November. It captures an entire section while also showing alternative captain Fast looking bewildered, almost astonished that a card of his could win the best of 2019. The photograph was originally taken by Dave Reginek on March 8th, 2019 and can be found on Getty Images.

It might seem like an cop-out made for the sake of keeping a running gag going, but I do believe that this was one of the best cards 2019 had to offer and at least the best it had to offer to me. Only a card like this could take down multiple special Torrens cards.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).