Cup Collection: 30 in Review

Now that I have attended all MLB stadiums, I can unveil my final Souvenir Cup Power Rankings for the 2013 season. New for this edition are the Pirates, Mariners, Braves, and Diamondbacks cups. I acquired the Pirates and Mariners cups from my most recent trips. Although I did not start collecting souvenir cups until my 3rd stadium, a friend was able to pickup a Braves cup for me. Short one cup of an entire set, I emailed Chase Field and they were kind enough to send me a souvenir cup free of charge.

Final Rankings:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Pittsburgh Pirates
5. Philadelphia Phillies
6. Seattle Mariners
7. Atlanta Braves
8. Houston Astros
9. New York Mets
10. Cleveland Indians
11. Colorado Rockies
12. Washington Nationals
13. San Diego Padres
14. Miami Marlins
15. Texas Rangers
16. Oakland A's
17. Tampa Bay Rays
18. Los Angeles Dodgers
19. Boston Red Sox
20. Baltimore Orioles
21. Minnesota Twins
22. Milwaukee Brewers
23. Los Angeles Angels
24. San Francisco Giants
25. Chicago White Sox
26. Arizona Diamondbacks
27. St. Louis Cardinals
28. New York Yankees
29. Detroit Tigers
30. Chicago Cubs

Notes on rankings:

• There are two major components to the rankings: the base cup style and the cup design. Considering 17 out of the top 19 cups use the same base cup style, the base cup style has proved to be the dominating factor.
• The Mariners cup is holographic. As a souvenir cup for the city of Seattle it would be great but its only tie to baseball is the word Mariners spelled out in the background.
• The Pirates and Braves cups both feature star players. I ranked the Pirates cup higher because it has two action shots of Andrew McCutchen and has some of his accomplishments. The Braves cup has two images of the same action shot of Jason Heyward and a large Coca-Cola banner down the side.
• The Diamondbacks cup isn't the same base cup style as the top cups in the power rankings. The base cup is more rigid than some of the other lower ranked cups. It has some slogans printed across the cup but no players, schedule, or large team / stadium logos. 

Cup Collection: Denver, Sunshine, & Ohio

Five more stadiums down and five more cups to add to the Souvenir Cup Power Rankings. The new souvenir cups are from Rockies, Rays, Marlins, Reds, and Indians games. Since all of these cups were acquired on trips where I attended two or fewer ballparks, they are in black font. 

Rankings after the Ohio trip:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Kansas City Royals
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Houston Astros
6. New York Mets
7. Cleveland Indians
8. Colorado Rockies
9. Washington Nationals
10. San Diego Padres
11. Miami Marlins
12. Texas Rangers
13. Oakland A's
14. Tampa Bay Rays
15. Los Angeles Dodgers
16. Boston Red Sox
17. Baltimore Orioles
18. Minnesota Twins
19. Milwaukee Brewers
20. Los Angeles Angels
21. San Francisco Giants
22. Chicago White Sox
23. St. Louis Cardinals
24. New York Yankees
25. Detroit Tigers
26. Chicago Cubs

Notes on rankings:

• All five of the new cups are of the same style as 15 of the top 16 cups. As mentioned in previous Cup Collection posts, this cup style is superior from others in that it is structurally sound and has a large design surface.
• The Rays, Marlins, and Reds cups all included one free refill. The Indians cup had $2 refills, and the cup itself was one of the more inexpensive cups in the collection.
• The Rockies cup is a collage of tiles in the shape of the numeral "20", in honor of the Rockies' 20th year in existance. Each tile is has the date and opponent of a game along with a picture of current or former Rockies player. However, neither the tiles or the "20" are overly easy to read. The idea behind the design is well-intended but the execution was slightly lacking.
• The Reds cup is holographic and features star first baseman Joey Votto.
• The design on the Indians cup is a portrait of League Park, the Indians' home from 1900 - 1946.

Cup Collection: Heart of America & Detroit

I have updated the Souvenir Cup Power Rankings to include cups from the five most recent stadiums I have attended. These are cups representing the following teams: Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers. The four cups I acquired on the Heart of America trip are in green font while the cups I will acquire from trips where I attend two or fewer ballparks will all be in black font.

Rankings after the trip to Comerica Park:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Kansas City Royals
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Houston Astros
5. New York Mets
6. Washington Nationals
7. San Diego Padres
8. Texas Rangers
9. Oakland A's
10. Los Angeles Dodgers
11. Boston Red Sox
12. Baltimore Orioles
13. Minnesota Twins
14. Milwaukee Brewers
15. Los Angeles Angels
16. San Francisco Giants
17. Chicago White Sox
18. St. Louis Cardinals
19. New York Yankees
20. Detroit Tigers
21. Chicago Cubs

Notes on rankings:

• The Royals and Astros cups are the same style as 6 other cups. I feel this cup style is superior to the other cup styles in terms of structure and space for graphics. Consequently, all 8 cups of this style are ranked in the top 11 of the latest rankings.
• The Rangers have two cups: one that was refillable and one that was not. I bought the one that was refillable and someone in my section left the non-refillable cup. The refillable cup is a 3/4 scale replica of the style of the Royals and Astros cups. I like the design and colors of the refillable cup. The non-refillable cup is pretty non-desrcript but it isn't terrible.
• The Cardinals also has two cups: one for pop and one for beer. These cups are exactly the same style as the Yankee cups. After just using the pop cup, a few creases developed near the neck of the cup. I wrestled back and forth weather to rank the Yankees or Cardinals higher. I like the Yankee pop cup more than the Cardinal pop cup but I prefer the St. Louis beer cup over the Yankee beer cup just enough to rank the Cardinals higher.
• My hometown team, the Detroit Tigers, has a terrible cup. The design on the cup is not bad but could be better by using actual players instead of generic baseball players. The style of the cup is what gives it a No. 20 ranking on the list. The cup is the same style as the Cubs cup and is reminiscent of a large cup that you get at McDonald's or Taco Bell. The only defense I make for the cup is that it was not officially listed as a souvenir cup. However the cups were displayed on top of the pop dispensers to market to guests.

Cup Collection: Lake Michigan

Another trip down means another update to the Souvenir Cup Power Rankings! I have previously ranked and posted photos of the cups after both the West Coast trip and the East Coast trip. In this newest edition of the power rankings, cups from my recent Lake Michigan trip have been added to the cups acquired on the West Coast and East Coast trips. Additional details and photos are included for the newly added cups.

Rankings after the Lake Michigan trip:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. San Diego Padres
6. Oakland A's
7. Boston Red Sox
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Baltimore Orioles
10. Minnesota Twins
11. Milwaukee Brewers
12. Los Angeles Angels
13. Chicago White Sox
14. San Francisco Giants
15. New York Yankees
16. Chicago Cubs

Notes on rankings:

• The Twins, Brewers, and White Sox all use the same cup style. The Angels also used cups style. While I have criticized this cup style as being a little flimsy, I have a little better opinion of the cup now. This cup style has small ridges along the bottom and a large printed area. I think having four cups of the same style unintentionally forces me to view theses four cups as a group.
• The Twins cup also has the schedule on the backside. This is what elevated the Twins cup over the Brewers.
• The Brewers cup says Cerveceros because I attended on Cerveceros Night. Cerveceros Night was the game where the Brewers thanked the hispanic community of Milwaukee for their support of the team.
• The Cubs cup is very, very flimsy. The graphics on the cup would put it in the bottom half of the rankings but the lack of structural integrity of the cup are what places it in last place.

Cup Collection: East Coast

This blog is exclusive home of the 2013 MLB Season Souvenir Cup Power Rankings! I have previously written about the cups from the west coast. I have now updated the rankings to include the cups from my recent east coast trip. I have also color-coded the rankings based on trip: East Coast and West Coast. Pictures and notes for the cups acquired on the east coast trip are included below.

Rankings after the east coast trip:

1. Toronto Blue Jays
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. San Diego Padres
6. Oakland A's
7. Boston Red Sox
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Baltimore Orioles
10. San Francisco Giants
11. New York Yankees
12. Los Angeles Angels

Notes on rankings:

• The Blue Jays, Phillies, Nationals, and Red Sox all use the same cup style. It is also the same style that the Padres and A's used I have a personal preference for this style since the graphic extends the length of the cup.
• The Red Sox cup was good for unlimited refills and the Blue Jays cup was good for 1 free refill.
• The Phillies cup has some biography information about the Phillie Phanatic written on the inside of the cup.
• The Mets cup is the souvenir draft cup since the souvenir soda cup was really small (about 12 oz). 
• The Yankees had 4 different cups for sale. My ranking is based on a combination of the two cups I have: the souvenir cup and souvenir draft. I did not get the souvenir jumbo or souvenir soda (12 oz).
• The Orioles cup is larger than all the other cups - roughly the same size as the Yankees jumbo cup which I did not buy.
• The Yankees and Orioles cups are low on the list because they are not as rigid as the other cups, giving it a cheap feeling. This is the main reason why these two cups (along with the Angels) rank in the bottom four.

Cup Collection: West Coast

I got souvenir cups at five of the six ballparks I attended on my West coast trip. I have uploaded pictures of these five cups because it is interesting to compare the different styles. Three of the five cups (Dodgers, Giants, and Angels) feature star players. Also three of the five cups (Giants, A's, and Padres) have the team's schedule on the cup. The Giants and Dodgers have the same style cup while the A's and Padres have the same style cup. The Angels cup is noticeably more flexible than the other cups so it feels cheap.

Finally, the souvenir cup power rankings:

1. A's
2. Padres
3. Dodgers
4. Giants
5. Angels