The World Baseball Classic Gets It Right

As I sit here watching the championship game of the World Baseball Classic between Team USA and Team Venezuela from Miami, Florida, USA, I couldn’t help getting drawn in by the opening ceremony.

In the US, these ceremonies are filled with celebrity performances of national anthems, seventh-inning stretches, and pregame performances. It is all fine, but to me, it distracts from what we are there to watch, a baseball game. This is where the World Baseball Classic (WBC) got it right.

The producers of the WBC had three clear goals. First, they wanted to celebrate baseball and the tournament. They did this with music, dance, and highlights of how we got to this evening’s game. For television viewers, we got graphics and video of each WBC host location, each highlighted with key game moments, accompanied by music fitting to each location. A country music intro for Houston, a Latin drum introduction for Puerto Rico, an Okedo-daiko (drum) with Bachi (wooden sticks) intro for Tokyo, and, of course, a party DJ introduction for Miami. This entire intro celebrated the game, the tournament, and put the “world” in World Baseball Classic.

Goal number two, the WBC celebrated the players as each team marched out from the outfield foul lines, with the team captains each carrying the flag of their country. Aaron Judge led Team USA as Salvador Perez led Team Venezuela. It was a slow march to home plate for each team as the players had their moment celebrating their achievement. Then, each starting lineup was introduced to the delight of the crowd, especially the Venezuelan fans, who American fans could learn a thing or two about baseball passion, myself included.

Finally, after team introductions, goal number three was met. Each national anthem was played to celebrate each country. No celebrity performances, they left that to the fans. It was a spectacular celebration of country pride on both sides.

It was a perfect set-up for what ended up being a great baseball game with Venezuela winning 3-2. I hope more classic sports games, such as the MLB All-Star Game, World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, and others, use this as an inspirational model for celebrating their respective sports. Congratulations to Team Venezuela and the fans and people of Venezuela. They celebrated national pride through the game of baseball.  

Topps Bunt Top 5 of 25

This post finishes up the series of Top 5s of three Topps Digital platforms. The Topps Bunt sets are massive compared to Marvel Collect and Star Wars Card Trader. I found that it is much more challenging to pick a top 5 in Bunt than on the other platforms. Generally, I flip through my sets and add to the favorites that I already marked throughout the year. With Marvel and Star Wars, I usually end up with 8-9 favorites that I need to weed down to the top 5. With Topps Bunt, I had over 20 cards in the favorites that needed to whittle down to a top 5. I left a lot on the cutting room floor, but I hope you agree this is good top 5 list and as a bonus I always include my lowest card count card of the year. So, here we go with my top 5 Topps Bunt of 25.

5. Rickey Henderson, Topps Chrome 25, Series 1 - Ultraviolet All-Stars, Super Rare, Card Count 2515

This groovy card stands out! There isn’t a single player style that I don’t like, but Rickey Henderson is a classic. When a baseball card looks like the next baseball card, this one brings it. I love the classic action shot of Henderson with the circle cut-out with a face image, and his name shooting out of the top of the wavey checkerboard is his name Rickey Henderson.

4. Pete Crow Armstrong, Creature Feature 25, Series 1 - Moonlight, Rare, Card Count 11,355

Holiday cards are a ton of fun, and this creepy motion shot with the broken screen, static view, vampire castle in the background of this PCA card is great. What more is needed for some Halloween spooks?

4. Riley Greene, 12 Days of Topps 25, Special Event - Relic, Super Rare, Card Count 1,419

Seems like I made a mistake and have a tie. I mean, I did say it was hard to narrow down to the top 5. It is fitting however, because they are both special event, holiday cards. Like the Halloween card, this card is a motion with snow falling and every now and then Santa flies by on his sleigh pulled by reindeer. It even comes with a little present uniform patch in the card.

3. Tarik Skubal, Postseason Match-ups 25, Wild Card Round - Gold, Super Rare, Card Count 909

There is so much cool stuff happening on this card. First the text, making it feel like the playoffs with “The Matchups,” “Tigers Vs. Guardians,” and the Wildcard Logo. Yes! This is a playoff card! The feature player, Tarik Skubal, prominently displayed on the front and in the back a Guardians opponent waiting for the pitch. This design does exactly what it is supposed to do, build anticipation in the playoffs.

2. Greg Maddux, Icons of the MLB 25, Series 2 - Bronze, Uncommon, Card Count 25,780

Yes, clearly this top 5 is heavily dominated by Tigers and Cubs (don’t worry, #1 isn’t either). But, it really is more about the design of the card than the subject…until this card. This is all about the subject. I love this entire set that celebrates some of the best from the past like Carlos Delgado, Trevor Hoffman, Larry Walker, and Frank Thomas. I chose the Greg Maddux card because he is one of my top 3 pitchers of all time. I really like the late 1980s uniform and his high kick delivery. This card is also a motion card where the boarders slide in to frame the Icon of the past.

1. Squirrel, Topps Now 25, August - August 22, Uncommon, Card Count 24,041

I promised that the number one card of 2025 would not be a Tiger or Cub, so here you go, it is the cute squirrel that snuck into Yankee Stadium on August 22. I don’t recall if they caught him or he got away, but this Topps photographer caught the whole thing. This has to be one of the most unique cards celebrating the human or natural side of the game. It is my #1 Topps Bunt card of 2025.

Bonus Entry: Lowest Card Count of 2025

Jason Varitek, 1990 Topps Baseball 25, Series One - Gold Signature, Legendary (Super Premium Pack Exclusive), Limited Edition Count 50