#108 Marcus Stroman - Toronto Blue Jays

Player: Marcus Stroman (Baseball Reference) (Wikipedia)

Card Number: 108 (Trading Card Database)

Team: Toronto Blue Jays

Division: American League East

Position: P

Jersey Number: 6
RC/Future Stars/Topps Rookie Cup: No

TORONTO, ON - JUNE 28: Marcus Stroman #31 of the Toronto Blue Jays delivers a pitch in the first inning during MLB game action against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on June 28, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Game Date: June 28, 2017

Opponent: Baltimore Orioles
Stadium: Rogers Centre
Home/Away: Home
Game Outcome: Blue Jays 4, Orioles 0
Win/Loss: Win
Player Game Line: 7.2 IP, 5 Hits, 1 BB, 8 K's, 0 Runs, Win
Photographer: Tom Szczerbowski (Website) (Instagram)
New Team/Photoshopped?: No

Birthdate: May 1, 1991

Birthplace: Medford, NY

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

MLB Service Years: 4

Social Media Handles: (Twitter) (Instagram)

This is Stroman's third Opening Day appearance and second consecutive.

Stroman was omitted from Series 1 but this horizontal card was in the Blue Jays Factory Team Set. It'll be interesting to see which card Topps uses for Series 2.

Something I learned because of this card: I didn't pay much attention to the World Baseball Classic but he helped bring home the gold medal for Team USA as the Classic MVP. Also, as a shorter guy myself, I found it interesting that Stroman is listed as one of just 6 pitchers under 5'10" in the 21st century to start a game.

#105 Kendrys Morales - Toronto Blue Jays

Player: Kendrys Morales (Baseball Reference) (Wikipedia)

Card Number: 149 (Trading Card Database)

Team: Blue Jays

Division: American League East

Position: DH

Jersey Number: 8
RC/Future Stars/Topps Rookie Cup: No

DETROIT, MI - JULY 16: Kendrys Morales #8 of the Toronto Blue Jays bats during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on July 16, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers defeated the Blue Jays 6-5. (Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Game Date: July 16, 2017

Opponent: Detroit Tigers
Stadium: Comerica Park
Home/Away: Away
Game Outcome: Tigers 6, Blue Jays 5
Win/Loss: Loss
Player Game Line: 1-3, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 1 Run, 1 RBI, 1 K
Photographer: Mark Cunningham (Instagram)
New Team/Photoshopped?: No

Birthdate: June 20, 1983

Birthplace: Fomento, Cuba

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

MLB Service Years: 11

Social Media Handles: None?

This is Morales's sixth different year as part of the Opening Day set. He has a pair with the Angels in 2010 & 2011, a pair with the Mariners in 2013 & 2014 and most recently, a pair with the Blue Jays in 2017 and this year.

Morales was in Series 1 and the Blue Jays Factory Team set, but with the photo above instead.

Something I learned because of this card: If you go back up to the 2010 Opening Day card, you'll see his name is misspelled as Kendry, omitting the "s" from the end of his name. Maybe this was a big deal back then, but I hadn't yet returned to collecting cards so I had no idea what was going on there. A quick search on the google machine led me to this article that explains the misunderstanding.