bdj610's Topps Baseball Card Blog

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1989 Topps Traded #108T Juan Samuel

2013-05-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, May 21, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1989 Topps Traded #108T.
Player Name, position, team: Juan Samuel, outfielder-second baseman, New York Mets.
Major League Debut: August 24, 1983.
Last Line of Statistics: 1988 stats (Phillies): 157 G, 629 AB, 68 R, 153 H, 32 2B, 9 3B, 12 HR, 67 RBI, 33 SB, .380 SLG, 39 BB, 151 SO, .243 AVG.
Any special information about player: Signed with the Phillies as a Free Agent 04/29/1980. Traded by the Phillies to the Mets 06/18/1989. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 12. This is his eighth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "His first 6-RBI major league game: 6-23-86."
Commentary: Juan Milton Samuel could well be the reason why the Phillies traded Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs. They probably felt that "Sammy" would make be the Phillies' second baseman of the future, and with Mike Schmidt entrenched in the hot corner for the Phils (remember, Sandberg was a primarily a third baseman), there was no place to put the man who would soon be known as "Ryno" anywhere. But Juan Samuel was no slouch at the plate either, and for six plus seasons, gave Phillies fans someone to cheer (or whatever it is they do in Philadelphia). He would hit a cumulative .263 with 100 home runs, 413 rbi's, steal 249 bases, was so fast that he even hit 71 triples, leading the league twice and had five straight years of double digit three-baggers. He was a two-time All-Star with Philly, and won a Silver Slugger in 1987 (probably his best season at the plate). But in 1989, with the Phillies going nowhere in the division, traded Samuel, who by now was playing centerfield instead of second base, to the Mets for outfielder Lenny Dykstra, pitcher Roger McDowell and a PTBNL on June 18. In 86 games for the Mets, Samuel would hit .228 with 3 home runs, drive in 28 rbi's, and steal 31 bases. Samuel would be traded off to the Dodgers at the end of the season for outfielder Mike Marshall and pitcher Alejandro Peña. He would play for LA for three seasons, returning to second base and be named to his third and final All-Star team in 1991. Juan Samuel's final Topps card as a player would come in the 1992 Topps set, and I'll be honest, I thought that he was done when he didn't appear in the 1993 Topps set. But Samuel continued playing until 1998. After being released by the Dodgers on July 30, 1992, he signed on with the Royals, finishing the season in KC. He would sign a one year deal with the Reds for 1993, and another one with the Tigers for 1994. He signed a second one-year deal with the Tigers for 1995, but was traded back to the Royals for a PTBNL. After a second stint with KC, he signed with the Blue Jays, spending three seasons with Toronto before calling it a career. But from 1993 to 1998, Topps didn't include him in any of their sets. He has since continued in baseball, coaching or managing at different levels over the years. He even managed the Orioles on an interim bases in 2010. In 2008, Samuel's contributions to the Phillies were recognized as he was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame at the new Citizens Bank Park. He joined the Phils as their third base coach in 2011, where he held the job until 2013. Why? Because in 2013, the Phillies promoted their AAA manager to a coaching job at third base. Samuel was more than happy to move over to the first base coaching box to accommodate the promotion. Oh, the guy that is now the third base coach for Philly? Some guy named Ryne Sandberg.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 28 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1980 Topps #385. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1980 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2006 Topps #100 Barry Bonds

2013-05-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, May 20, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2006 Topps #100.
Player Name, position, team: Barry Bonds, outfielder, San Francisco Giants.
Major League Debut: April 20, 1986.
Last Line of Statistics: 2005 stats (Giants): 14 G, 42 AB, 8 R, 12 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 0 SB, 9 BB, 6 SO, .667 SLG, 1.071 OPS, .286 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Giants #1st, June 1985. Signed with the Giants as a Free Agent 12/08/1992. Bats: left. Throws: left.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 23. This is his twenty-second Topps card.
Blurb on the back: n/a.
Commentary: As with the time his 2003 All-Star card was featured as a Card of the Day, I am not going to discuss the controversies, the scandals, the court trials for this reason: I am no expert on any of those things and so much has been written already about them, there is no need for me to repeat them or add anything that hasn't already been speculated on about the career of Barry Bonds. Instead, today's post will just be a brief review about his 2005 and 2006 seasons. After winning his fourth consecutive NL MVP award (and his seventh total...this would be his final one), his 2005 season was marred by a knee injury, multiple surgeries, and lenghty rehab. He did return in September, and the numbers you see in the "Last Line of Statistics" were his totals for the month. While it did put a dent in his quest to break the home run record, his 2006 season would make up for lost time. Even at 41 years of age heading into the 2006 season, Bonds still showed that he could hit...and hit well. Yes, he hit .270 with 26 home runs and 77 rbi's, the first time since his arrival in the Bay Area that he hit lows in both categories (not counting the 2005 season), but he still was a feared hitter, so much so that he led the league again in walks with 115, which contributed to a league leading .454 OBP. In 2006, he would pass Babe Ruth for second on the All-Time HR list, and Hank Aaron for the NL record for homers. It wouldn't be until August 7, 2007 that he would finally break the MLB record, hitting his 756th home run against the Washington Nationals. Barry Bonds would retire from the game after the 2007 season. He finishes as MLB's all-time leader in homers (762), walks (2558), and intentional passes (688).
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.40-$1.00.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 167 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1989 Topps Traded #108T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #141 Sean Ratliff

2013-05-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's Minor League Monday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #141.
Player Name, position, team: Sean Ratliff, outfielder, Savannah Sand Gnats.
Level-League, Team Affiliation: A-South Atlantic League, New York Mets.
Minor League Stats (stats with team depicted only): 122 G, 468 AB, 64 R, 124 H, 28 2B, 7 3B, 15 HR, 68 RBI, 11 SB, 31 BB, 131 SO, .451 SLG, .312 OPS, .265 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mets #4th, June 2008. Bats: left. Throws: left.
Major League Debut: n/a.
Baseball America Organizational Ranking After Season with Team: New York Mets #22 prospect after the 2009 season.
Blurb on the back: "Sean was drafted by the Mets in 2008 out of Stanford, where he led the team in home runs and RBI. The strapping, powerful outfielder was assigned to short-season Brooklyn. He blasted nine doubles and seven home runs in 59 games, then moved up a notch in '09 to become a South Atlantic League All-Star."
Official Topps Rookie Card: n/a.
Commentary: Sean M. Ratliff was one of the Mets' more promising prospects, and one that had the potential to be a future slugger and run producer. In three minor league seasons, a journey that began with the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2008, continued with Savannah (the team he is pictured with on his card), and then the FSL St. Lucie Mets and AA Binghamton Mets, Ratliff hit for an impressive .274 average with 43 home runs and 176 rbi's. Defensively, he committed only 14 errors in 642 chances (.977 fielding percentage), had 19 assists and participated in 6 double plays. His was on the quick path to the majors until he was struck in the face by a foul ball during a spring training game (a freak accident as he was standing on deck when the ball came towards him), breaking six bones. The injury ended his 2011 season. Although he managed to make a comeback, appearing in 7 games for the St. Lucie Mets, after hitting .136 (3-22) with a double, Sean Ratliff retired from the game as an active player on April 22, 2012.

Next week's featured card will be: 2012 Topps Pro Debut #141. Post will arrive at 9:00 AM CST. Hope you enjoyed this week's installment of Minor League Monday.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1973 Topps #78 Richie Scheinblum

2013-05-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, May 19, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1973 Topps #78.
Player Name, position, team: Richie Scheinblum, outfielder, Kansas City Royals.
Major League Debut: September 1, 1965.
Last Line of Statistics: 1972 stats (Royals): 450 AB, 135 H, 21 2B, 4 3B, 8 HR, 67 RBI, .300 AVG.
Any special information about player: Signed with the Indians as a Free Agent before the 1964 season. Contract purchased by the Royals 10/21/1971. Bats: both. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 8. This is his seventh Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Richie enjoyed his finest season in majors in 1972. Acquired by Royals after leading Amer. Assn. in Avg; Rbi's, Triples & Total Bases in 1971, he led AL in Batting much of the year."
Commentary: The 1973 Topps set may have white borders on the front of the card, but its the back of the cards, thanks to its primarily black borders, that makes it one of the harder sets to find in excellent to near mint condition. And after perusing the cards in the BCCM, it looks like centering is a major league issue (see what I did there...) as the back of the sample card of Richard Alan Scheinblum (yes, they put his full name on the back, something I think should be done with today's cards) is so off-center there is no right border whatsoever. Now Schienblum wasn't a Royal heading into the 1973 season. But during his first stint with KC (he would experience the best season of his MLB career. Put it this way, if he was part of the 2002 Topps Archives set (the Best Years one), his 1972 card would appropriately be the one they'd include. On the strength of a .324 average, 7 homers and 43 rbi's, Scheinblum was named to his first (and eventually only) All-Star team. Anyway, after the 1972 season ended, the Royals traded him and pitcher Roger Nelson to the Reds for future Royals megastar Hal McRae and Wayne Simpson. However, Scheinblum's career with the Reds lasted only 29 games as he was traded off to the California Angels for players to be named later. He finished the year with a combined average of .307 with 4 homers and 29 rbi's. He was traded back to the Royals in 1974, but after 36 games and a .181 average, Scheinblum's contract was sold to the cross-state Cardinals. Although the six games he appeared for the Cards were to be his last in a major league uniform, Scheinblum continued his career in Japan, playing for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for two seasons.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.20-$0.50.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 0.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 2006 Topps #100. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1983 Topps Traded #79T Dale Murray

2013-05-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, May 18, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1983 Topps Traded #79T.
Player Name, position, team: Dale Murray, pitcher, New York Yankees.
Major League Debut: July 7, 1974.
Last Line of Statistics: 1982 stats (Blue Jays): 56 G, 111 IP, 8-7, 48 R, 39 ER, 60 SO, 32 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 11 SV, 3.16 ERA.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Expos #18th, June 1970. Traded by the Blue Jays to the Yankees 12/09/1982. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his eighth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Was credited with Victory in 8-4 win vs. Rangers, 4-27-82. Hurled scoreless ball for Win June 1, 1982."
Commentary: Dale Albert Murray (not to be confused with Braves legend Dale Murphy) was an extremely effective relief pitcher who pitched in the mid-70's through the mid-80's. He even led the league in games pitched with an unbelievable (probably at the time) 81 games in 1976, meaning that he made at least one appearance in half of the Expos' games that season. The native Texan really enjoyed his time in Canada as he played for both the Expos (1974-76, 1979-1980) and Blue Jays (1981-1982), combining for a 30-28 with 201 strikeouts, an ERA of 3.17, and a 1.355 WHIP. In between his stints with Montréal, he spent time with the Reds and Mets. The Blue Jays traded Murray and minor leaguer Tom Dodd to the Yankees in exchange for outfielder Dave Collins, pitcher (and future MLB traveller Mike Morgan), and a first baseman prospect named Fred McGriff. In Murray's first year in the Bronx, Murray appeared in 40 games and 94.1 innings of work. He earned a 2-4 record with 45 strikeouts and an ERA of 4.48. He stayed with the Yankees until 1985, when he was released and subsequently signed with the Texas Rangers. But after one game in which he allowed 3 runs (2 earned) in one inning of work (what would wind up being his final major league appearance), he was sent down to the Rangers' AAA team in Oklahoma City, finishing his career with the 89ers and retiring after the season ended.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 9.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1973 Topps #78. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1997 Topps #108 Frank Thomas

2013-05-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, May 10, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1983 Topps #269.
Player Name, position, team: Frank Thomas, first baseman, Chicago White Sox.
Major League Debut: August 2, 1990.
Last Line of Statistics: 1996 stats (White Sox): 141 G, 527 AB, 110 R, 184 H, 26 2B, 0 3B, 40 HR, 134 RBI, 1 SB, .626 SLG, 109 BB, 70 SO, .349 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the White Sox #1st, June 1989. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 20. This is his eighth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "His home runs make the headlines, but Frank's astounding ability to reach base pushes the envelope of baseball believability. He was aboard in the first 52 games of 1996 and through the All-Star break, had not endured consecutive hitless games. On June 4, he was walked five times, missing the ML record by singling on a 3-2 pitch in his final PA."
Commentary: Many of Topps' designs since 1991 look fantastic when utilized horizontally. The 1997 Topps set is one fantastic example of this. The only drawback? When putting these cards in a nine pocket page, if you're trying to be consistent by having the cards line up on the back, the name on the front will be upside down. Now I know that I could easily flip the card over so that the name on the front appears right side up (and on top of the picture), but aesthetically, it would just throw off the look of the page. You can put the cards any which way you want. I'll just have to live with reading the name upside down. On an unrelated note, somebody just pointed this out on the Twitter feed yesterday. But Frank Thomas was an All-Star five times, from 1993-1997. For some reason, he was never selected to another All-Star team for the rest of his career. What??! Maybe the talent pool for first basemen in the AL was deep, but to me that's a slight. Okay, granted that Thomas' hitting numbers took a bit of a dip in 1998, and he no longer led the league in any of the major hitting stats after 1997. But there was no doubt that the Big Hurt was one of the best players to come out of the 1990 MLB Draft, if not THE BEST PLAYER. He was Mr. White Sox for me, long before he was supplanted by his replacement, Paul Konerko. Now Paulie has made a name for himself on the south side, and no doubt will be considered for HOF status when it is his time. But it would be a major travesty. A huge travesty, if in January of 2014, that this man does not make get inducted into Cooperstown. Okay, back to the point. By the time the 1997 season started, Frank Edward Thomas was a mega star! A four-time All-Star, a two-time MVP (1993-94), three-time Silver Slugger, and so feared by opposing teams that he led the league in intentional passes twice (29 in 1995 and 26 in 1996), which contributed to very high OBP's. In 1997, Thomas was named to his fifth All-Star team, and led the league in the slash categories (I heard the term "slash statistics" used to describe the OBP, SLG, and OPS statistics - because the numbers have a "/" after them when typed. Batting average can be considered a slash category too, if applied first. That's cool. I'll use that going forward). Okay, so he didn't lead in slugging (.611), but he did lead in the other averages: .347 batting average, .456 on-base percentage, and 1.067 OPS. He also hit 35 home runs, drove in 125 rbi's, and scored 110 runs. By the time he left the White Sox after the 2005 season, he was the all-time team leader in almost every hitting category. In 16 years, he hit 448 homers, 1465 rbi's, had a cumulative hitting average of .307, slash numbers of .427/.568/.995, scored 2136 runs, and walked 301 times more than he struck out (1466 to 1165). He also became a World Series Champion. Okay, I'll admit it, that other team won...only because Big Frank was a part of the team in 2005. He didn't play a single postseason game. So yeah, the "2005 season didn't happen" still applies. After a season with Oakland, and two with Toronto, Thomas retired on February 12, 2010. The White Sox retired his #35 uniform on August 29, 2010, and unveiled a bronze statue of the Big Hurt a year later. He presently runs W2W Records, a record label that he founded and was working with during his off-seasons. Now that he's retired, he is able to give the company his full attention.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.20-$0.50.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 141.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1983 Topps Traded #79T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2008 Topps #205 Gil Meche

2013-05-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, May 16, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2008 Topps #205.
Player Name, position, team: Gil Meche, pitcher, Kansas City Royals.
Major League Debut: July 6, 1999.
Last Line of Statistics: 2007 stats (Royals): 34 G, 216 IP, 9-13, 98 R, 88 ER, 156 SO, 62 BB, 34 GS, 1 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 1.30 WHIP, 3.67 ERA.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mariners #1st, June 1996. Signed with the Royals as a Free Agent 12/07/2006. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his eighth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "The Royals scored only 12 runs while Gil was on the mound in his 13 defeats in 2007. "I think you could conservatively say he could have won 16 to 17 games the way he's pitched," manager Buddy Bell said."
Commentary: Regardless of how you feel about the 2008 Topps set, you have to admit that both the appropriately team-colored circles and the large letters above the picture made it easy to sort cards by team. I just wish that the Topps logo didn't dip into the picture (they could have done it like the NBA cards where the dip was at the bottom of the card and the name could be inside the picture) and they could have done away with the facsimile autograph too. But I digress. After six productive seasons in Seattle (when he was healthy - he was felled by shoulder injuries and subsequent surgeries took him off the field for the entire 2001 campaign), where he went a combined 55-44 with an ERA of 4.65, 575 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.439, Gilbert Allen Meche signed a five-year deal with the Royals. In his first year with the Royals, he was named the team's representative to the 2007 AL All-Star Team. In 2008, Meche led the AL in Games Started with 34 (he led the AL in the same stat with 34 starts as well the year before), and had his best statistical season in KC with a 14-11 record, a career high 183 strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.317, and an ERA of 3.98. But beginning in 2009, he began re-experiencing shoulder and back problems that affected his performance for most of the year, and in 2010, he spent more than 3 months on the DL due to the aforementioned injuries. He returned as a reliever at the end of the year. In 2011, the final year of his contract, he opted to retire instead of going in for another shoulder surgery to continue his career. He would finish with an 84-83 record, a 4.49 ERA and 1050 strikeouts.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 24.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1997 Topps #108. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

A Letter from Jason Fry of Faith and Fear in Flushing

2013-05-16T10:20:00.001-05:00

I received a letter from Jason Fry, one of the writers of the Mets blog Faith and Fear in Flushing sent me a nice email last night:

Hey Jaybee,

Thanks on behalf of myself and everyone who doesn't say it for your annual checklist of Topps team set cards.

Question for you -- it may be impossible to answer, but if anyone knows I bet it will be you: Is there a list of cards from these sets that doesn't appear in that year's regular Topps series? By random example, Joe Smith has a card in the 2011 Indians set, but doesn't seem to have one in the regular set.

Do you know of such a resource?

Jason, you aren't the first person to ask me this, as Rich Mueller, the editor of Sports Collectors Daily (namedrop much???), asked something similar a few years ago.

At the time, I told him I could rattle off a few examples that came to mind, but I never thought to come up with a complete list of cards of players that don't appear in the regular Topps set (are you also including the Updates & Highlights/Update Series sets too)?

When I started doing the Random Team sets of the Week segment on this humble, little blog, I've made sure to note which players don't have a card at all. For example:

Jason Kendall does not have a card in either the 2006 Topps or U&H sets, but is included in the 2006 Oakland Athletics team set.
Jenrry Mejia does not have a card in either the 2011 Topps or Update sets, but is included in the 2011 New York Mets team set.
Both John McDonald, and Scott Richmond had no cards in either the 2010 Topps or Update sets, but both are included in the 2011 Toronto Blue Jays team set.
Rich Harden does not have a card in either the 2012 Topps or Update sets, but is included in the 2012 Oakland Athletics team set.
Both Matt Diaz and Daniel McCutchen had no cards in either the 2011 Topps or Update sets, but both are included in the 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates team set.
Both Tommy Hunter and Brandon Webb had no cards in either the 2011 Topps or Update sets, but both are included in the 2011 Texas Rangers team set.

There are also cases where a player does have a card in the update set, but in a different uniform than what was on the team set (and had no card in the regular set). For example:

Jon Rauch started the 2008 season with the Nationals and has a card in the retail set. He was traded to the Diamondbacks during the year, and is in the 2008 U&H set as a D-Back, but he does not have a card in the regular set.
Alex Gonzalez finished the 2009 season with the Red Sox, and signed with the Blue Jays in 2010. He appears in the 2010 Blue Jays set. However, he was traded to the Braves, and is in the 2010 Update Series set in an Atlanta uniform, but he does not have a card in the regular set.
Mark DeRosa is in the 2009 base set in a Cubs uniform, and the U & H set as a Cardinal. But he's in the 2009 Topps Cleveland Indians set, so he has three cards from the same year, wearing three different uniforms.

Those are just some of the prime examples I could pull from my previous blog posts. It would take some doing to do a full list comparing everything, but it can be done if I had some time (and since I have all the cards). I just haven't had the opportunity to do so, but I'll see what I can do.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2012 Topps Chicago Cubs

2013-05-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Team Set of the Week:

Team: 2012 Chicago Cubs
Record: 61-101, fifth place, NL Central Division.
Manager: Dale Sveum
Card on the Top: Starlin Castro

The checklist consists of the following players:

CHC1 Starlin Castro
CHC2 Reed Johnson
CHC3 Alfonso Soriano
CHC4 Ryan Dempster
CHC5 Darwin Barney
CHC6 Kerry Wood
CHC7 Marlon Byrd
CHC8 Matt Garza
CHC9 Geovany Soto
CHC10 Randy Wells
CHC11 Carlos Marmol
CHC12 Bryan LaHair
CHC13 Anthony Rizzo
CHC14 David DeJesus
CHC15 Paul Maholm
CHC16 Ian Stewart
CHC17 Wrigley Field

The cards in order from the set (the checklist at the end was cut from the back of the package. What, you don't do that?):

Key differences between the team set and 2012 Topps eponymous set:

I wonder why Alfonso Soriano's retail card looks like it's photoshopped? I mean he's been with the team for years. Maybe it's just the way the picture looks. But compare it to his base card...:

While Darwin Barney is flashing his eventual Gold Glove arm in the retail set, he's showing his Superman impression in his base card:

Here is Kerry Wood as I'd like to remember him...in happier times...on his base card:

Carlos Marmol on the Fourth of July (the picture was shot in Washington, D.C.) throwing what I'm hoping is a strike against somebody as depicted on his eponymous card:

I was so happy that Bryan LaHair was voted by the players to be a 2012 All-Star. It's a shame that his playing time was cut off (although the Cubs did get an upgrade). I hope he's doing well in Japan. But here's his base card...and no, it's not the same as what was used in the retail set:

David DeJesus' card uses the same picture on both retail and regular cards, but is cropped just ever so slightly:

Okay, you can see the blatant photoshopping used on Paul Maholm's base card:

I really hope that what's on Ian Stewart's jersy on this card is infield dirt...:

So of the 16 players included in this set, there are seven cards that feature a different picture in the retail set that was used in 2012 Topps set (and one slight crop job). If you're a fan of variations, you're going to have a field day with this set. If you are a team collector, you have to get this set (I know Wrigley Wax did as he talked about this set last year in a couple of posts)

Next week's featured set will be the 2012 Miami Marlins. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Update Series (and as it's the Marlins, there will be a lot to discuss).

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1980 Topps #385 Enos Cabell

2013-05-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, May 15, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1980 Topps #385.
Player Name, position, team: Enos Cabell, third baseman, Houston Astros.
Major League Debut: September 17, 1972.
Last Line of Statistics: 1979 stats (Astros): 155 G, 603 AB, 60 R, 164 H, 30 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 67 RBI, .272 AVG.
Any special information about player: Signed with the Orioles as a Free Agent 09/22/1968. Traded by the Orioles to the Astros 12/03/1974. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 17. This is his ninth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Enjoyed the longest hitting streak of his major league career with 14-game performance, 1978. Was selected as Astros' Most Valuable Player for 1978 campaign."
Commentary: Note how the Topps logo is conspicuously absent from the cards from Topps' 1980 set, one year after it was prominently featured the year prior. It would also be the final year that Topps would remain the lone major player in the baseball card wars as the following year, Donruss and Fleer became Topps' first competitors since 1956. It would be another 30 years before Topps would become the sole licensee for MLB Properties. The 1980 set is remembered mainly as the set that houses the rookie card of Rickey Henderson. But what this set gets right in some cases, is the proper team colors for the borders on the cards. Look how the yellow border on this card matches the yellow on the jersey of Enos Cabell, who was recently featured as a subject for the Card of the Day back in March.As his career (which lasted 15 seasons in the majors) was previously discussed, today's commentary will be a recap of his 1980 season. Two years removed from his best season to date (and ultimately the best season of his career), Cabell was still manning the hot corner for the Astros, and hit .276 with 2 home runs, 55 rbi's, 21 stolen bases, and a .656 OPS. Defensively, he committed a career high 29 errors, which contributed to a .927 fielding average. It would be his final year with the Astros (he would return to the team years later as we all know), as he was traded to the Giants for Chris Bourjos and Bob Knepper on December 8, 1980.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.25.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 15.

Tomorrow's card will be 2008 Topps #205. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2001 Topps #750 Draft Picks David Krynzel & Grady Sizemore

2013-05-14T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, May 14, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2001 Topps #750.
Player Name, position, team: Draft Picks David Krynzel, outfielder, Milwaukee Brewers; Grady Sizemore, outfielder, Montréal Expos.
Major League Debut: September 1, 2004 (Krynzel); July 21, 2004 (Sizemore)
Last Line of Statistics: 2003 stats: Krynzel (Ogden, Rookie-Pioneer): 34 G, 131 AB, 47 H, 1 HR, 29 RBI, 8 SB, .359 AVG.; Sizemore (GCL Expos, Rookie-Gulf Coast): 55 G, 205 AB, 60 H, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 16 SB, .293 AVG.
Any special information about players: Krynzel: Drafted by the Dodgers #1st, June 2000. Bats: left. Throws: left.; Sizemore: Drafted by the Expos #3rd, June 2000. Bats: left. Throws: left.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): Krynzel: 2. This is his first card; Sizemore: 10. This is his first Topps card.
Blurb on the back: n/a.
Commentary: First thing of note regarding this card is that Krynzel's statistics on the back indicate that he also played for the Expos GCL team in 2000. That is incorrect, making this card a error card. Another note is that because Topps decided to gradually change the color contrast on the back of the card from a light gray to black, it becomes really hard to read the numbers at the bottom of the card (WHAT??!) David Benjamin Krynzel played in a grand total of 21 games over two seasons in 2004-05. He hit .188 with 3 rbi's. While that may not be too much to talk about, he was a minor league veteran of ten seasons, continuing in the Brewers' system until 2006. He also played for the AAA teams of the Diamondbacks and Orioles before calling it quits in 2009. In his 10 seasons in MiLB, he hit .267 with 57 home runs, 339 rbi's, 218 stolen bases, and an OPS of .739. On the other hand, Grady Sizemore was of four players traded by the Expos to the Indians on June 27, 2002 (All-Stars Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips, along with Lee Stevens were part of the package). After a cup of coffee with the Indians, he became the Tribe's centerfielder and leadoff hitter. In his 8 years with Cleveland, he hit a cumulative .269 with 139 home runs, 458 rbi's, 134 stolen bases, an OPS of .830, not to mention three All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger, earning all three after the 2008 season.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.60-$1.50.
How many cards of each player do I own?: 2 (Krynzel); 65 (Sizemore).

Tomorrow's card will be: 1980 Topps #385. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1980 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

A Letter from the Sports Card Blogroll

2013-05-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Dear JayBee:

What happened? You last updated me back in March when your kids were home because of a snowstorm (in March??!). I know you and your family have been busy lately, but you haven't updated me since then. Why??! I have blogs past seven months of inactivity and I'm due for an update. Please help.

Sincerely,

The Sports Card Blogroll

Okay, so the above letter didn't really magically show up in my e-mail. But it is true, while I've added blogs to the big SCBR since March, I haven't removed any. That will change now.

At last count in March, the blogroll ended with exactly 350 active sites. As of right now, before any sites are removed, we are at 370 blogs. That means in the past two months since the last update, 20 blogs have been added to the active roster. The SCBR now removes the following sites due to six or more months of inactivity:

Dropped Third Strike
BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet
Baseball Card Collectors
Canadian Cardboard
Troll Might Rule!!! (some may know this blog as the Collective Troll)
Juuust a bit outside (JABOs) (good luck to you JABO)
Panini Basketball Blog
Box Fresh Vintage
no one's going to read this blog
Sports Card Report
Fossil Cards and Collectibles
oh my o-pee-chee! (oh mon o-pee-chee!) (this site will now be moving to the "Retired but Relevant section of the SCBR)
2012 Topps
7 Hours from Tampa
The Amazing Shea Stadium Autograph Project
Rickey Henderson Collectibles

That's 16 sites being removed from the active list, with one going to the RbR sidebar. That brings us down to 354 active blogs on the main section of the SCBR, for a two month net gain of +4.

As always, if you or somebody you know has a blog about the Hobby that we all love (that of Sports Card Collecting), and you don't see it on here, please e-mail me at bdj610@hotmail.com. If your site has been removed from the site and you plan on making a comeback, please let me know as well.

Okay, now that this bit of business is resolved, it's time to go back and focus on the Random Cards of the Day segments that everybody loves.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

The Final and Official Post about the 2013 Topps 17-Card Team Sets.

2013-05-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

Back in January, I posted the preliminary checklists for all 32 of the 17-card team sets that Topps was going to come out with after the 2013 season would commence. Needless to say, lots of roster changes happened after the 11th of January, and in the middle of April, the new team sets were popping up in stores and Internet sites everywhere. The source I use for pictures (really good pictures) had 29 of the 30 teams' sets up on their site (once again, the Padres were the lone hold out, which was the reason why my 2011 post ran so late).

But since then, two developments occurred that is allowing me to write this post. The first was that the site has finally added the Padres team set to their site (I'll get to the second development after this long post...it will be long...trust me).

For those who don't know why I obsess over these sets (like the Random Team Set of the Week posts weren't enough), here is a "brief" background of my history with the sets:

Since 2006, as a way to bring kids back to the Hobby, Topps began issuing Team Sets for each of the 30 MLB teams. And they could be found EVERYWHERE!!! From big box stores like Target and WalMart, to your local Supermarket, these blister packed sets contained at least 14 cards of your local team's heroes. No leafing through pack after pack to get cards of the team you root for, it's all here in easy-to-carry-to-the-register-package.

While many cards had pictures similar to those found in the 2006 base set, there were a number of cards of players who were pictured in different uniforms, had different pictures than what was used in the base set (photoshop was used in more than one instance), or players who were left of the base set included, meaning that they were only found in these retail only sets. These must have sold very well because in 2007 and 2008, these 14-card packages returned to store shelves. In 2009, a bonus 15th card was added to each of the sets. These bonus cards could have been of the stadium, the manager, the team mascot, a bonus player, or even a President or two. In 2010, two more cards were added to the blister packs, so each set contained an astounding 17 cards. In 2011, Topps introduced AL and NL All-Star Team Sets ;along with the 30 team sets. Of course I had to get those as well.

For the record, I have been insane enough to buy not just one set, or even two. I have bought ALL 30 TEAM SETS for the last SEVEN YEARS (plus the two All-Star Sets from 2011 AND 2012).That's 214 team sets, roughly 3308 cards total, that I have added to my collection. What can I say, I wanted to collect them all...

Without further ado, here are the final checklists for all 32 team sets (including the All-Star sets):

Arizona Diamondbacks
ARI1 Ian Kennedy
ARI2 Gerardo Parra
ARI3 Wade Miley
ARI4 Trevor Cahill
ARI5 Paul Goldschmidt
ARI6 Miguel Montero
ARI7 Jason Kubel
ARI8 J.J. Putz
ARI9 Martin Prado
ARI10 Patrick Corbin
ARI11 Brandon McCarthy
ARI12 Adam Eaton
ARI13 Aaron Hill
ARI14 Didi Gregorius
ARI15 Cody Ross
ARI16 Tyler Skaggs
ARI17 Chase Field

Atlanta Braves
ATL1 Craig Kimbrel
ATL2 Justin Upton
ATL3 Jason Heyward
ATL4 B.J. Upton
ATL5 Tim Hudson
ATL6 Brian McCann
ATL7 Kris Medlen
ATL8 Dan Uggla
ATL9 Freddie Freeman
ATL10 Brandon Beachy
ATL11 Jordan Walden
ATL12 Andrelton Simmons
ATL13 Mike Minor
ATL14 Julio Teheran
ATL15 Juan Francisco
ATL16 Paul Maholm
ATL17 Turner Field

Baltimore Orioles
BAL1 Adam Jones
BAL2 Manny Machado
BAL3 Nick Markakis
BAL4 Jim Johnson
BAL5 J.J. Hardy
BAL6 Jason Hammel
BAL7 Dylan Bundy
BAL8 Wei-Yin Chen
BAL9 Chris Davis
BAL10 Brian Roberts
BAL11 Jake Arrieta
BAL12 Brian Matusz
BAL13 Nolan Reimold
BAL14 Nate McLouth
BAL15 Miguel Gonzalez
BAL16 Chris Tillman
BAL17 Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Boston Red Sox
BOS1 David Ortiz
BOS2 Jacoby Ellsbury
BOS3 Dustin Pedroia
BOS4 Jon Lester
BOS5 Will Middlebrooks
BOS6 Clay Buchholz
BOS7 Koji Uehara
BOS8 Stephen Drew
BOS9 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
BOS10 Joel Hanrahan
BOS11 Shane Victorino
BOS12 Ryan Dempster
BOS13 John Lackey
BOS14 Felix Doubront
BOS15 Jonny Gomes
BOS16 Mike Napoli
BOS17 Fenway Park

Chicago Cubs
CHC1 Anthony Rizzo
CHC2 Starlin Castro
CHC3 Alfonso Soriano
CHC4 Matt Garza
CHC5 Scott Feldman
CHC6 Carlos Marmol
CHC7 Scott Baker
CHC8 David DeJesus
CHC9 Jeff Samardzija
CHC10 Tony Campana
CHC11 Darwin Barney
CHC12 Welington Castillo
CHC13 Edwin Jackson
CHC14 Brett Jackson
CHC15 Travis Wood
CHC16 Ian Stewart
CHC17 Wrigley Field

Chicago White Sox
CHW1 Chris Sale
CHW2 Paul Konerko
CHW3 Jake Peavy
CHW4 Adam Dunn
CHW5 Addison Reed
CHW6 Alejandro De Aza
CHW7 Alex Rios
CHW8 John Danks
CHW9 Alexei Ramirez
CHW10 Gavin Floyd
CHW11 Jeff Keppinger
CHW12 Matt Thornton
CHW13 Dayan Viciedo
CHW14 Gordon Beckham
CHW15 Jose Quintana
CHW16 Tyler Flowers
CHW17 U.S. Cellular Field

Cincinnati Reds
CIN1 Joey Votto
CIN2 Aroldis Chapman
CIN3 Johnny Cueto
CIN4 Brandon Phillips
CIN5 Jay Bruce
CIN6 Mat Latos
CIN7 Jonathan Broxton
CIN8 Chris Heisey
CIN9 Ryan Ludwick
CIN10 Shin-Soo Choo
CIN11 Todd Frazier
CIN12 Bronson Arroyo
CIN13 Homer Bailey
CIN14 Zack Cozart
CIN15 Ryan Hanigan
CIN16 Mike Leake
CIN17 Great American Ball Park

Cleveland Indians
CLE1 Asdrubal Cabrera
CLE2 Chris Perez
CLE3 Drew Stubbs
CLE4 Carlos Santana
CLE5 Jason Kipnis
CLE6 Justin Masterson
CLE7 Ubaldo Jimenez
CLE8 Brett Myers
CLE9 Mark Reynolds
CLE10 Michael Brantley
CLE11 Lonnie Chisenhall
CLE12 Vinnie Pestano
CLE13 Mike Aviles
CLE14 Nick Swisher
CLE15 Trevor Bauer
CLE16 Zach McAllister
CLE17 Progressive Field

Colorado Rockies
COL1 Carlos Gonzalez
COL2 Troy Tulowitzki
COL3 Michael Cuddyer
COL4 Todd Helton
COL5 Jhoulys Chacin
COL6 Chris Nelson
COL7 Jordan Pacheco
COL8 Juan Nicasio
COL9 Josh Rutledge
COL10 Jorge De La Rosa
COL11 Rafael Betancourt
COL12 Wilin Rosario
COL13 Dexter Fowler
COL14 Tyler Colvin
COL15 Tyler Chatwood
COL16 Drew Pomeranz
COL17 Coors Field

Detroit Tigers
DET1 Justin Verlander
DET2 Miguel Cabrera
DET3 Doug Fister
DET4 Max Scherzer
DET5 Andy Dirks
DET6 Drew Smyly
DET7 Omar Infante
DET8 Jhonny Peralta
DET9 Phil Coke
DET10 Austin Jackson
DET11 Joaquin Benoit
DET12 Alex Avila
DET13 Victor Martinez
DET14 Prince Fielder
DET15 Anibal Sanchez
DET16 Torii Hunter
DET17 Comerica Park

Houston Astros
HOU1 Jose Altuve
HOU2 Chris Carter
HOU3 Brett Wallace
HOU4 Brandon Barnes
HOU5 Carlos Pena
HOU6 Lucas Harrell
HOU7 Bud Norris
HOU8 Jordan Lyles
HOU9 Philip Humber
HOU10 Matt Dominguez
HOU11 Jason Castro
HOU12 Alex White
HOU13 Justin Maxwell
HOU14 J.D. Martinez
HOU15 Dallas Keuchel
HOU16 Fernando Martinez
HOU17 Minute Maid Park

Kansas City Royals
KCR1 Billy Butler
KCR2 Alex Gordon
KCR3 Mike Moustakas
KCR4 Jeff Francoeur
KCR5 Lorenzo Cain
KCR6 Alcides Escobar
KCR7 Johnny Giavotella
KCR8 Eric Hosmer
KCR9 James Shields
KCR10 Bruce Chen
KCR11 Ervin Santana
KCR12 Jeremy Guthrie
KCR13 Salvador Perez
KCR14 Greg Holland
KCR15 Aaron Crow
KCR16 Wade Davis
KCR17 Kauffman Stadium

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
LAA1 Josh Hamilton
LAA2 Mike Trout
LAA3 Albert Pujols
LAA4 Jered Weaver
LAA5 Mark Trumbo
LAA6 Tommy Hanson
LAA7 C.J. Wilson
LAA8 Joe Blanton
LAA9 Ryan Madson
LAA10 Ernesto Frieri
LAA11 Jason Vargas
LAA12 Chris Iannetta
LAA13 Howie Kendrick
LAA14 Erick Aybar
LAA15 Peter Bourjos
LAA16 Alberto Callaspo
LAA17 Angel Stadium of Anaheim

Los Angeles Dodgers
LAD1 Adrian Gonzalez
LAD2 Matt Kemp
LAD3 Clayton Kershaw
LAD4 Andre Ethier
LAD5 Carl Crawford
LAD6 Hanley Ramirez
LAD7 Mark Ellis
LAD8 A.J. Ellis
LAD9 Zack Greinke
LAD10 Kenley Jansen
LAD11 Josh Beckett
LAD12 Chad Billingsley
LAD13 Dee Gordon
LAD14 Ted Lilly
LAD15 Brandon League
LAD16 Luis Cruz
LAD17 Dodger Stadium

Miami Marlins
MIA1 Giancarlo Stanton
MIA2 Juan Pierre
MIA3 Justin Ruggiano
MIA4 Greg Dobbs
MIA5 Adeiny Hechavarria
MIA6 Rob Brantly
MIA7 Ricky Nolasco
MIA8 Logan Morrison
MIA9 Donovan Solano
MIA10 Steve Cishek
MIA11 Jacob Turner
MIA12 Henderson Alvarez
MIA13 Nate Eovaldi
MIA14 Wade LeBlanc
MIA15 Placido Polanco
MIA16 A.J. Ramos
MIA17 Marlins Park

Milwaukee Brewers
MIL1 Ryan Braun
MIL2 Carlos Gomez
MIL3 Norichika Aoki
MIL4 Jean Segura
MIL5 Rickie Weeks
MIL6 Aramis Ramirez
MIL7 Corey Hart
MIL8 Yovani Gallardo
MIL9 Marco Estrada
MIL10 Wily Peralta
MIL11 Mike Fiers
MIL12 Jonathan Lucroy
MIL13 John Axford
MIL14 Chris Narveson
MIL15 Mat Gamel
MIL16 Martin Maldonado
MIL17 Miller Park

Minnesota Twins
MIN1 Joe Mauer
MIN2 Justin Morneau
MIN3 Josh Willingham
MIN4 Darin Mastroianni
MIN5 Chris Parmelee
MIN6 Ryan Doumit
MIN7 Jamey Carroll
MIN8 Brian Dozier
MIN9 Scott Diamond
MIN10 Trevor Plouffe
MIN11 Glen Perkins
MIN12 Vance Worley
MIN13 Liam Hendriks
MIN14 Pedro Florimon
MIN15 Kevin Correia
MIN16 Mike Pelfrey
MIN17 Target Field

New York Mets
NYM1 David Wright
NYM2 Johan Santana
NYM3 John Buck
NYM4 Ike Davis
NYM5 Daniel Murphy
NYM6 Ruben Tejada
NYM7 Jordany Valdespin
NYM8 Jonathon Niese
NYM9 Dillon Gee
NYM10 Matt Harvey
NYM11 Jenrry Mejia
NYM12 Bobby Parnell
NYM13 Mike Baxter
NYM14 Lucas Duda
NYM15 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
NYM16 Justin Turner
NYM17 Citi Field

New York Yankees
NYY1 Derek Jeter
NYY2 Robinson Cano
NYY3 Alex Rodriguez
NYY4 CC Sabathia
NYY5 Mark Teixeira
NYY6 Brett Gardner
NYY7 Curtis Granderson
NYY8 Mariano Rivera
NYY9 Hiroki Kuroda
NYY10 Andy Pettitte
NYY11 Phil Hughes
NYY12 Ivan Nova
NYY13 Francisco Cervelli
NYY14 Kevin Youkilis
NYY15 David Robertson
NYY16 Eduardo Nunez
NYY17 Yankee Stadium

Oakland Athletics
OAK1 Yoenis Cespedes
OAK2 Josh Reddick
OAK3 Bartolo Colon
OAK4 Ryan Cook
OAK5 Tommy Milone
OAK6 Jarrod Parker
OAK7 Seth Smith
OAK8 Josh Donaldson
OAK9 Brett Anderson
OAK10 Jed Lowrie
OAK11 Grant Balfour
OAK12 Chris Young
OAK13 A.J. Griffin
OAK14 Scott Sizemore
OAK15 Derek Norris
OAK16 Brandon Moss
OAK17 Coco Crisp

Philadelphia Phillies
PHI1 Cole Hamels
PHI2 Roy Halladay
PHI3 Cliff Lee
PHI4 Ryan Howard
PHI5 Jimmy Rollins
PHI6 Chase Utley
PHI7 Kyle Kendrick
PHI8 Jonathan Papelbon
PHI9 Michael Young
PHI10 Delmon Young
PHI11 Carlos Ruiz
PHI12 Darin Ruf
PHI13 Domonic Brown
PHI14 Ben Revere
PHI15 Erik Kratz
PHI16 John Mayberry
PHI17 Citizens Bank Park

Pittsburgh Pirates
PIT1 Andrew McCutchen
PIT2 Starling Marte
PIT3 Travis Snider
PIT4 Jose Tabata
PIT5 Pedro Alvarez
PIT6 Neil Walker
PIT7 Garrett Jones
PIT8 Clint Barmes
PIT9 A.J. Burnett
PIT10 James McDonald
PIT11 Wandy Rodriguez
PIT12 Russell Martin
PIT13 Alex Presley
PIT14 Jason Grilli
PIT15 Josh Harrison
PIT16 Jeff Locke
PIT17 PNC Park

St. Louis Cardinals
STL1 Matt Holliday
STL2 Adam Wainwright
STL3 Carlos Beltran
STL4 Chris Carpenter
STL5 Shelby Miller
STL6 David Freese
STL7 Yadier Molina
STL8 Rafael Furcal
STL9 Jaime Garcia
STL10 Jason Motte
STL11 Daniel Descalso
STL12 Jake Westbrook
STL13 Lance Lynn
STL14 Jon Jay
STL15 Allen Craig
STL16 Trevor Rosenthal
STL17 Matt Carpenter

San Diego Padres
SDP1 Chase Headley
SDP2 Yonder Alonso
SDP3 Logan Forsythe
SDP4 Yasmani Grandal
SDP5 Carlos Quentin
SDP6 Cameron Maybin
SDP7 Everth Cabrera
SDP8 Clayton Richard
SDP9 Edinson Volquez
SDP10 Andrew Cashner
SDP11 Casey Kelly
SDP12 Jason Marquis
SDP13 Huston Street
SDP14 Jesus Guzman
SDP15 Nick Hundley
SDP16 Will Venable
SDP17 Petco Park

San Francisco Giants
SFG1 Buster Posey
SFG2 Matt Cain
SFG3 Pablo Sandoval
SFG4 Madison Bumgarner
SFG5 Ryan Vogelsong
SFG6 Tim Lincecum
SFG7 Barry Zito
SFG8 Brandon Belt
SFG9 Brandon Crawford
SFG10 Marco Scutaro
SFG11 Sergio Romo
SFG12 Gregor Blanco
SFG13 Angel Pagan
SFG14 Hunter Pence
SFG15 Santiago Casilla
SFG16 Jeremy Affeldt
SFG17 AT&T Park

Seattle Mariners
SEA1 Felix Hernandez
SEA2 Dustin Ackley
SEA3 Kyle Seager
SEA4 Kendrys Morales
SEA5 Hisashi Iwakuma
SEA6 Jesus Montero
SEA7 Justin Smoak
SEA8 Michael Saunders
SEA9 Jason Bay
SEA10 Franklin Gutierrez
SEA11 Casper Wells
SEA12 Michael Morse
SEA13 Brendan Ryan
SEA14 Blake Beavan
SEA15 Erasmo Ramirez
SEA16 Tom Wilhelmsen
SEA17 Safeco Field

Tampa Bay Rays
TAM1 Evan Longoria
TAM2 David Price
TAM3 Ben Zobrist
TAM4 Yunel Escobar
TAM5 Fernando Rodney
TAM6 Matt Joyce
TAM7 Matt Moore
TAM8 Jeremy Hellickson
TAM9 Desmond Jennings
TAM10 James Loney
TAM11 Alex Cobb
TAM12 Jose Molina
TAM13 Sam Fuld
TAM14 Kelly Johnson
TAM15 Jake McGee
TAM16 Jeff Niemann
TAM17 Tropicana Field

Texas Rangers
TEX1 Yu Darvish
TEX2 Adrian Beltre
TEX3 Elvis Andrus
TEX4 Ian Kinsler
TEX5 Matt Harrison
TEX6 Lance Berkman
TEX7 Alexi Ogando
TEX8 Nelson Cruz
TEX9 Derek Holland
TEX10 Mike Olt
TEX11 Jurickson Profar
TEX12 David Murphy
TEX13 Craig Gentry
TEX14 Joe Nathan
TEX15 A.J. Pierzynski
TEX16 Mitch Moreland
TEX17 Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

Toronto Blue Jays
TOR1 Brett Lawrie
TOR2 Jose Bautista
TOR3 Brandon Morrow
TOR4 Edwin Encarnacion
TOR5 Colby Rasmus
TOR6 Ricky Romero
TOR7 R.A. Dickey
TOR8 Casey Janssen
TOR9 Adam Lind
TOR10 Rajai Davis
TOR11 Jose Reyes
TOR12 Melky Cabrera
TOR13 Josh Johnson
TOR14 Mark Buehrle
TOR15 J.P. Arencibia
TOR16 Maicer Izturis
TOR17 Rogers Centre

Washington Nationals
WAS1 Bryce Harper
WAS2 Stephen Strasburg
WAS3 Ryan Zimmerman
WAS4 Gio Gonzalez
WAS5 Jordan Zimmermann
WAS6 Ian Desmond
WAS7 Dan Haren
WAS8 Jayson Werth
WAS9 Drew Storen
WAS10 Steve Lombardozzi
WAS11 Denard Span
WAS12 Adam LaRoche
WAS13 Rafael Soriano
WAS14 Danny Espinosa
WAS15 Ross Detwiler
WAS16 Kurt Suzuki
WAS17 Nationals Park

American League All-Stars
AL1 Prince Fielder, 1B, Detroit Tigers
AL2 Derek Jeter, SS, New York Yankees
AL3 Robinson Cano, 2B, New York Yankees
AL4 David Price, SP, Tampa Bay Rays
AL5 Adrian Beltre, 3B, Texas Rangers
AL6 Jose Bautista, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
AL7 Justin Verlander, SP, Detroit Tigers
AL8 Josh Hamilton, OF, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
AL9 Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers
AL10 Albert Pujols, 1B, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
AL11 Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
AL12 Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Mariners
AL13 Jose Reyes, SS, Toronto Blue Jays
AL14 Chris Sale, SP, Chicago White Sox
AL15 Miguel Cabrera, 3B, Detroit Tigers
AL16 Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays
AL17 Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston Red Sox

National League All-Stars
NL1 Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals
NL2 Matt Kemp, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
NL3 Clayton Kershaw, SP, Los Angeles Dodgers
NL4 Matt Cain, SP, San Francisco Giants
NL5 Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers
NL6 Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado Rockies
NL7 Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Colorado Rockies
NL8 Stephen Strasburg, SP, Washington Nationals
NL9 David Wright, 3B, New York Mets
NL10 Pablo Sandoval, 3B, San Francisco Giants
NL11 Cole Hamels, SP, Philadelphia Phillies
NL12 Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants
NL13 Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins
NL14 Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds
NL15 Craig Kimbrel, RP, Atlanta Braves
NL16 Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
NL17 Ryan Braun, OF Milwaukee Brewers

A few thoughts:

It turns out that it is the Athletics and Cardinals (not the Phillies) that will not include a card of the stadium (opting to include Coco Crisp and Matt Carpenter respectively as their card #17.
Pablo Sandoval and Craig Kimbrel replace David Freese and Matt Holliday on the NL All-Stars team set. This also means that the NL has the lone relief pitcher on either set. Somehow the Cardinals get the shaft on this deal.
Neither Ryu Hyun-Jin (Dodgers) and Zack Wheeler (Mets), players who had not made his major league debut at the time but were initially included in these checklists, do NOT appear to have a card in their respective team's retail sets.

Finally, I mentioned at the beginning that there were two developments that occurred that made this post possible. The first was having all the images ready. The second?

I now have all 32 of the 2013 Topps Team sets. They arrived over the weekend, and after ensuring that all were included in the package, I have something to tide me over until Series 2 arrives in June. Time to add another 544 cards to the ever growing collection.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1994 Topps #548 Dave Nilsson

2013-05-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, May 13, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1994 Topps #548.
Player Name, position, team: Dave Nilsson, catcher, Milwaukee Brewers.
Major League Debut: May 18, 1992.
Last Line of Statistics: 1993 stats (New Orleans, AAA-American Association): 17 G, 61 AB, 9 R, 21 H, 6 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB, .492 SLG, 5 BB, 6 SO, .344 AVG.
Any special information about player: Signed with the Brewers as a Free Agent 01/28/1987. Bats: both. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his fourth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Bothered by shoulder problems much of the year, Dave snapped back to hit .301 in his last 33 games."
Commentary: You have to love it when players are depicted in a throwback uniform. I think the "Turn-Back-the-Clock" trend started with the White Sox in 1990 (see Topps '91 cards of Robin Ventura and Sammy Sosa, along with cards from the other companies). In the 1994 set, both Billy Spiers and today's subject are wearing the uniforms of the American Association Milwaukee Brewers from the 1920's (more info about this can be found here). Now I don't get it. I understand Topps' non-official rule of including the complete minor league stats of a player if he has less than four lines of MLB stats. But why did Topps put his minor league stats at the end of the stat box instead of his MLB stats. He certainly stayed on the big league roster for most of the year (well, there was that exception from the middle of May through late June when he was on the DL and then rehabbed with Zephyrs for 17 games. His MLB stats were: 100 G, 296 AB, 35 R, 76 H, 10 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 3 SB, .375 SLG, 37 BB, 36 SO, .257 AVG. The Brewers in the mid 90's had two native Aussies on their roster: Geelong-born pitcher Graeme Lloyd (1993-1996) and Brisbane-native catcher Dave Nilsson. Both men made history on April 14, 1993, when Lloyd appeared in the ninth inning of a game against the California Angels. It would be the first time that MLB would witness an All-Aussie battery. Nilsson had a pretty good year at the plate for the Brewers in 1994. Before the strike, he was hitting .275 with 12 home runs, 69 rbi's, and an OPS of .777. As Milwaukee switched leagues to accommodate the arrival of both the Diamondbacks and Devil Rays, Nilsson found National League pitching more to his liking. In 1999, he hit a career high 21 home runs to go with 62 rbi's and hit above .300 for the second time in his career (.309) to go with a career high OPS of .954. He even made the NL All-Star team that year, becoming the first Australian MLB All-Star. He could have continued his career with the Brewers, or with any of the other 29 clubs for that matter. With the money he earned in the US, he bought the Australian Baseball League in 1999, renaming it the International Baseball League of Australia. Speaking of Australia, with the Olympics being hosted by Sydney in 2000, he opted for Free Agency and after a stint with the Chunichi Dragons, led all Olympic baseball players in batting average with a high .565 and .957 slugging percentage (an international best for Nilsson). Although he was out of MLB, he remained active as a player, first with Telemarket Rimini in the Italian Baseball League in 2003, then with the Braves after signing a minor league contract with the franchise in 2004. He left the Braves after a month to prepare for the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Aussie team shocked the world by beating a Japanese "Dream Team" 1-0 and eventually took the Silver Medal at the Games. Although the IBL of Australia eventually went bankrupt, Dave remained active developing players in his home country. In 2010, a new Australian Baseball League was formed and Nilsson was tabbed to manage the new Brisbane Bandits. Dave Nilsson is a Hall of Famer, inducted to the Sports Australia Hall of Fame in 2008. The SABR's BioProject has a page on the man known as "Dingo."
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 12 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2001 Topps #750. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week: 2011 Topps Pro Debut #156 Jiovanni Mier

2013-05-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's Minor League Monday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2011 Topps Pro Debut #156.
Player Name, position, team: Jiovanni Mier, shortstop, Lexington Legends.
Level-League, Team Affiliation: A-South Atlantic League, Houston Astros.
Minor League Stats (stats with team depicted only): 131 G, 493 AB, 83 R, 116 H, 31 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 53 RBI, 15 SB, 63 BB, 107 SO, .314 SLG, .637 OPS, .235 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Astros #1st, June 2009. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Major League Debut: n/a.
Baseball America Organizational Ranking After Season with Team: Houston Astros #5 prospect after the 2010 season.
Blurb on the back: "Mier was the first high school shortstop drafted in 2009 and, after a year of short-season ball, played for Lexington in '10. He started slowly, but finished with 31 doubles, 63 walks and 15 stolen bases while playing his usual stellar brand of defense."
Official Topps Rookie Card: n/a.
Commentary: Jiovanni James Mier has been slowly but surely making it up the Astros' minor league ranks, even as his ranking by Baseball America has dropped from #5 to #22 after 2011 and #33 when the 2012 season ended. In 2011, he split the season with Lexington and the High-A Lancaster JetHawks of the California League. Although he was placed onto the DL for a bit with a sprained knee, he played in 57 games each with both teams, and hit a combined .239 with 7 home runs and 52 runs driven in. His 2012 campaign with the JetHawks was setback by a hamstring injury, but he was hitting .309 with 2 homers and 13 rbi's before being placed on the shelf. He returned in August, contributing one more HR, 12 rbi's and finishing with a .292 average. He's only 22 years old (going into the 2013 season), and is presently with the Corpus Christi Hooks. As of this writing, he has a low .179 average, but has hit 4 home runs, 14 rbi's, and stolen 4 bases in 32 games.

Next week's featured card will be: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #141. Post will arrive at 9:00 AM CST. Hope you enjoyed this week's installment of Minor League Monday.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1965 Topps #474 Cookie Rojas

2013-05-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

(Happy Mother's Day to all Moms, Moms-to-Be, Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers, Foster Moms, Stepmoms, and Just-Like-Moms out there.)

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, May 12, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1965 Topps #474.
Player Name, position, team: Cookie Rojas, infielder-outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies.
Major League Debut: April 10, 1962.
Last Line of Statistics: 1964 stats (Phillies): 109 G, 340 AB, 58 R, 99 H, 19 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 31 RBI, .291 AVG.
Any special information about player: Signed with the Redlegs as a Free Agent before the 1956 season. Traded by the Reds to the Phillies 11/27/1962. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 16. This is his third Topps card and first as a coach.
Blurb on the back: "Last season, Cookie played 70 games in the outfield, 20 at second base, 18 at shortstop and 1 game at third and one behind plate!"
Commentary: I would love to see how next year's Topps Heritage will figure out how to add long team names (or will they even do it) like Diamondbacks. Or will they just be D-Backs? I like the pennant element in the 1965 design. It really hasn't been used since (although ribbons have made constant appearances over the years). I'm trying to figure this out. Maybe it was a nickname he gained in his youth. Maybe his family back in Cuba were in the baking industry or owned a bakery. But I can't seem to find any articles that explain how Octavio Victor Rojas was gifted the nickname "Cookie." He isn't the first "Cookie" that I'm aware of (Harry Arthur Lavagetto, Arthur Joseph Cuccurullo...okay, that last one makes sense). Rojas became the Phillies regular second baseman in 1965 and made the head honchos of the Phillies organization look good by hitting what would eventually be a career high batting average of .303 with 3 home runs and 42 rbi's. He would also be named to the first of five All-Star Teams, but the only time he'd be on the NL squad as a Phillie (he was named to the AL All-Star team four years in a row 1971-74 with the Royals). You know how the blurb on the back says that Rojas played all those positions in 1964? Well, in 1965, he was inserted in all positions except third and pitcher. It would be in 1967 that Rojas would appear in at least one game where he played everywhere, including pitching against the Giants on June 30, 1967. In seven seasons with the Phils, he appeared in 880 games, hit a cumulative .262, with 29 home runs and 252 rbi's and 27 stolen bases. After being traded at the end of the 1969 season to the Cardinals (in the infamous Curt Flood trade that would eventually lead to free agency), Rojas struggled as a Cardinal, hitting a low .106 (5-47) in 23 games. He was traded to the Royals to provide a much needed veteran presence on such a young team. With the Royals, Rojas himself became rejuvenated. As with the aforementioned four All-Star appearances, in his eight years with KC, he appeared in 880 games (just as many as he did in Philly), hit 25 home runs, drove in 332 rbi's, stole 46 bases, and hit for a .268 average and .660 OPS. He was released by the Royals after the 1977 season, and even though he signed with the Cubs in September the following year, did not get into a game and opted to retire as a player. After a long and prosperous coaching career (including managing the Angles in 1988...hence appearing in the 1988 Topps Traded set, my lone Cookie Rojas card), he is now the Spanish language commentator for the Miami Marlins.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $6.00-$15.00.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 1.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps #548. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1998 Topps #68 Butch Huskey

2013-05-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, May 11, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1998 Topps #68.
Player Name, position, team: Butch Huskey, first baseman-outfielder, New York Mets.
Major League Debut: September 8, 1993.
Last Line of Statistics: 1997 stats (Mets): 142 G, 471 AB, 61 R, 135 H, 26 2B, 2 3B, 24 HR, 81 RBI, 8 SB, .503 SLG, 25 BB, 84 SO, .287 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mets #7th, June 1989. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 8. This is his fourth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Butch hit three dramatic homers - two as a pinch-hitter - in a single week last May. All were late-game decisive blows in narrow victories. None, however, inspired the sheer awe of the one on Sept. 15 in Philadelphia. His moonshot was the first ever to the 600-level (deep in the 26-year-old Vet's third deck) to leftfield. Only Willie Stargell had ever matched that distance in right. "I got chills," Huskey said. "It gave me goose bumps watching it.'"
Commentary: Robert Leon Huskey was one of the last players in MLB to wear the number 42. When the number was officially retired throughout baseball, Huskey was among the players present at Shea Stadium when it was announced. He would go on to have his best offensive year that season. However, in 1998, he couldn't maintain the productivity he was expected to provide. Huskey hit .252 with 13 home runs, 59 rbi's, stole 7 bases, and had an OPS of .707, which would make for a pretty good season for a guy who appeared in 113 games. But it wouldn't be enough for him to keep a spot on the roster. He would be traded to the Seattle Mariners on December 14, 1998, leaving the Mets after five very good seasons. With the Mets, he hit a good .264 with 55 home runs and 214 rbi's. He would begin his journeyman career with the Mariners in 1999, but was traded to Boston in a deadline deal. Granted free agency, he signed on with the Minnesota Twins for the 2000 campaign; but was then to the Twins in another deadline trade. He signed with the Indians in 2001, but when he didn't make the team, decided to retire as a player at the age of 29.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 8.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1965 Topps #474. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Welcome to the Majors, Derek Dietrich. Mr. 18,000 (According to Baseball-Reference).

2013-05-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I said I wouldn't be doing these posts very often, but this one is special. According to Baseball Reference, there are presently (as of May 10, 2013), 18,000 players to have made at least one appearance in a Major League Baseball game. The question now becomes, who can lay claim to be the 18,000th player to make his Major League Debut? Meet Miami Marlins second baseman Derek Dietrich.

Full Name: Derek Richard Dietrich
Position: Second Baseman
Bats: Left, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 0", Weight: 200 lb.
Major League Debut: May 8, 2013 vs. San Diego Padres

Dietrich started the game at second base for the Marlins, filling in for the Fish's regular second baseman, Donoval Solano, who was placed on the 15-day DL. He was penciled into the seventh spot of the lineup by manager Mike Redmond. Dietrich went 1-3 that afternoon, hitting a single in his first major league at-bat against Jason Marquis leading off the third inning. He would make it to third on a double by catcher Miguel Olivo, and was forced out at the plate when Adeiny Hechavarria grounded into a 1-2-3 double play (as depicted by the picture used on the card). Dietrich would later line out to rightfielder Will Venable in the fifth inning and strike out swinging with two men on base to end the seventh inning.

His official game line: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI, 0 BB, 0 SO, .333 BA, 1 PO, 1 A

Welcome to the Majors, Derek Dietrich.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1983 Topps #269 Ron Oester

2013-05-10T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, May 10, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1983 Topps #269.
Player Name, position, team: Ron Oester, second baseman, Cincinnati Reds.
Major League Debut: September 10, 1978.
Last Line of Statistics: 1982 stats (Reds): 151 G, 549 AB, 63 R, 143 H, 19 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 47 RBI, 5 SB, .359 SLG, 35 BB, 82 SO, .260 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Reds #9th, June 1974. Bats: both. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his fourth Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Ron celebrated his 26th birthday by collecting 2 Singles and a Triple with 2 RBI's vs. Astros, May 5, 1982."
Commentary: Wouldn't it be great if every team in baseball could make a more concerted effort to draft and sign homegrown talent, akin to what colleges do? Many college programs try to recruit heavily either within the state or at least in the cities that they are based. I'd find it interesting if a team of 25 Chicagoans took on a team of 25 Cincinnatians for example for some real bragging rights? Then again, I'd think the Cincinnati team would win. The Reds have done a fantastic job scouting local talent, many of whom eventually make it as a member of the Reds. Barry Larkin is a prime example of a native of the Queen City to make an impact with the Reds. Pete Rose? Yes, he was born in Cincinnati too. Another Cincinnati-born Red was Ronald John Oester, who manned second base for the Reds for most of his thirteen years in the majors. While not a power hitter or a flashy fielder, he quietly did his job at the plate and on the field. He would reach what would eventually be career highs in both home runs (11) and rbi's (58) in 1983. He also hit career highs in strikeouts that year too (106) while hitting .264 with an OPS of .707. In 1987, Oester's season was ended by a torn ACL caused by a combination of a collision and getting his cleats caught in the artificial turf utilized at Riverfront Stadium. It would be more than a year before he returned to action. He won the Hutch Award in 1988, which is given to a player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire." By 1990, he was relegated to the bench as Mariano Duncan took more of the starts at second. He still hit a good .299 and drove in 13 rbi's in 64 games. He was added onto the Reds' playoff roster, and as a pinch hitter, went 2-4 with an run driven in as the Reds won the 1990 World Series. It was a nice sendoff for Ron, whose major league playing career ended after the season was over. He finished his career with a .265 average, 42 home runs, 344 rbi's, 40 stolen bases, and an OPS of .679 in 1276 games played as a Red. He presently is an infield instructor for the Chicago White Sox.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 14.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1998 Topps #68. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2003 Topps Traded & Rookies #T137 Dallas McPherson

2013-05-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, May 9, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2003 Topps Traded & Rookies #T137.
Player Name, position, team: Dallas McPherson, third baseman, Anaheim Angels.
Major League Debut: September 10, 2004.
Last Line of Statistics: 2002 stats (Cedar Rapids, A-Midwest): 122 G, 499 AB, 71 R, 138 H, 24 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 88 RBI, 30 SB, .427 SLG, 78 BB, 128 SO, .277 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Angels #2nd, June 2001. Bats: left, Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 4. This is his first Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Everything Dallas does on the diamond is Texas-sized. A big, strong third baseman, he takes mighty rips and often hits the ball a mile. After posting a fat .395 batting average for Provo (R) in 2001, McPherson put up huge numbers in the Midwest League (A) in '02. His 15 home runs and 88 RBI paced Cedar Rapids. Dallas, a former fireballing pitcher, also owns a powerful arm at the hot corner."
Commentary: If the MLB Properties rule of today was applied 10 years ago, and the licenses Topps has now were in effect as well, Dallas McPherson would not have been included in the base set, but in a Topps Pro Debut set. But on the heels of his outstanding performance in the minors in 2002, Topps included him in the base set, in hopes that collectors (and prospectors) would gobble up his cards. If they did, and sold quickly, their gambles would have paid off handsomely. McPherson was the Angels #1 prospect in 2003, and after hitting a combined .310 with 23 home runs and 86 rbi's for both Rancho Cucamonga (A-California) and Arkansas (AA-Texas), was also named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. He became a two-time winner of the award in 2004 thanks to a combined .317 average 40 home runs, and 126 rbi's between Arkansas and Salt Lake (AAA-Pacific Coast), earning a callup to Anaheim in September that year. He made it onto the Angels' roster in 2005, and after 61 games in which he was hitting .244 with 8 homers and 26 rbi's, his season was ended by a hip injury in July and subsequent surgery in August. He returned to the squad the following year after regaining his form in the minors. But in 2007, McPherson had to go through back surgery to fuse two vertebrate in his back, leaving him on the DL for the entire year. When the Angels did not offer him a new contract, Dallas became a free agent and signed a minor league deal with the Marlins. After hitting .275 with 42 home runs and 98 rbi's with the AAA team in Albuquerque, he was called up to the Marlins roster in September. But back problems re-emerged in 2009, and by the end of March, the Marlins released McPherson. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants, but the back problems kept him off the field for the full year. In 2010, he spent the season with Oakland's Triple A-team and in 2011, it was on to Charlotte, where McPherson hit well enough to earn a callup with the White Sox. But after 11 games, and a .199 average, he was designated for assignment and returned to Charlotte. After a year-plus with the Knights, Dallas was eventually released. He finished the 2012 season with the Pirates, and in 2013 signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers. But he was released on March 20, and is now currently a free agent.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 7.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1983 Topps #269. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2006 Topps Arizona Diamondbacks

2013-05-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Team Set of the Week:

Team: 2006 Arizona Diamondbacks
Record: 76-86, fourth place, NL West Division.
Manager: Bob Melvin
Card on the Top: Luis Gonzalez

The checklist consists of the following players:

The cards in order from the set (the checklist at the end was cut from the back of the package. What, you don't do that?):

Key differences between the team set and 2006 Topps eponymous set:

On Conor Jackson's base card in the 2006 Topps set, the newly established Rookie Card Logo appears on the bottom left of the card. Not so on the team set:

Brad Halsey was traded by the Dbacks to the Athletics on March 26, 2006. I guess we now know how Topps was able to get a picture of him in an A's jersey:

I don't know about you, but I think I like the retail card of "El Duque" better than the card used in the base set, even if it looks like another photoshop job:

Same opinion goes for Johnny Estrada's card...the team set would have been better used as well:

So of the 14 players included in this set, there are two cards that features a different picture in the retail set that was used in 2006 Topps set, one that was eventually used in the base set (but under a different jersey), and one slight variation to the card found in the base set.

Next week's featured set will be the 2012 Chicago Cubs. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Update Series.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2000 Topps #324 Mike Stanton

2013-05-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, May 8, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2000 Topps #324.
Player Name, position, team: Mike Stanton, pitcher, New York Yankees.
Major League Debut: August 24, 1989.
Last Line of Statistics: 1999 stats (Yankees): 73 G, 62.1 IP, 2-2, 30 R, 30 ER, 59 SO, 18 BB, 1 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 4.33 ERA.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Braves #13th, June 1987. Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent 12/11/1996. Bats: left. Throws: left.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 14. This is his seventh Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "Mike made 552 relief appearances before his first MLB start."
Commentary: That one start that the Topps card was referring to would also be his only big league starting assignment (a May 9 game that the Yankees won 6-1 over the Mariners, and Stanton left after the fourth inning ended). Maybe it's a good thing that the young Marlins slugger with the same name with today's featured player decided to go with his real first name Giancarlo instead of Mike. There are three players who shared the name Mike Stanton in the annals of baseball: Michael Thomas Stanton, who pitched in the early 80's, most notably with the Mariners; Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton, the aforementioned young hope for the Marlins; and William Michael Stanton, the relief pitcher whose career began with the Braves all the way back in 1989. From the day he was called up through the day he called it a career, Mike Stanton was reliable relief pitcher called upon to take over games from the likes of Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine of the Braves, to Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and David Cone of the Yankees. After seven fantastic years with the Braves (in which he went 18-21 in his decisions, saved 55 games and struck out 223 batters in 289.2 innings of work), Stanton was traded during the Braves' run to their eventual World Series to the Red Sox in exchange for two minor leaguers to be named later. A year later, he was sent off to Texas in another midseason trade. He signed with the Yankees after they won the 1996 World Series, and from there, he found the dominance that eluded him from his early days with the Braves. From 1997 through 2002, Stanton appeared in 428 games, went 30-12 in his decisions, had an ERA of 3.65, saved 15 games, struck out 395 batters, and had a WHIP of 1.316. He also made his first and only All-Star Team in 2001. As for his 2000 campaign, his numbers included a 2-3 record, a 2.58 ERA, and 75 K's. He signed with the cross-city Mets for the 2003 season, but did not find as much success as he did on the other side of town. After two lackluster seasons, he was traded back to the Bronx in December of 2004. Unable to find the magic from his first run with the Yankees, the team released him on July 1, and Stanton took off on a journeyman career that saw him playing for Washington, Red Sox (second run), San Francisco, and Cincinnati before deciding after being cut by the Cubs during spring training in 2009 that it was time to hang it up. He retired as baseball's all-time leader in holds (266), and was recently on the ballot for the Hall of Fame.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 16 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be 2003 Topps Traded and Rookies #137T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1997 Topps #226 Todd Worrell

2013-05-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, May 7, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2007 Topps #567.
Player Name, position, team: Todd Worrell, pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers.
Major League Debut: August 28, 1985.
Last Line of Statistics: 1996 stats (Dodgers): 72 G, 65.1 IP, 4-6, 29 R, 22 ER, 66 SO, 15 BB, 0 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 44 SV, 3.03 ERA.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Cardinals #1st, June 1982. Signed with the Dodgers as a Free Agent 12/09/1992. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his tenth and final Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "So complete has been Todd's comeback from four years of arm woes that his saves totals the last two seasons are the two hightest in Dodger franchise history."
Commentary: If and when the 2046 Topps Heritage product finally comes out (this is the one that should be honoring the 1997 design), I wonder if Topps will put the Astros players in red backgrounds and the Brewers green backgrounds to signify their present league allegiances. Will they honor their original legacies by leaving them as they were in 1997, or will they do a mix of both, creating SP variations? I'll be seventy by then, probably long out of the Hobby. I hope someone would tell me about it though when the time comes. Most young players who are called up to the majors and are told that their role will be to replace one of the best closers in the game would either prevail or panic. When future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter left for Atlanta for the 1985 season, the Cardinals relied on a "closer by committee" bullpen with Jeff Lahti and Ken Dayley doing most of the wok, and they did very well (19 and 11 saves, 1.84 and 2.76 ERA's respectively). But when Todd Worrell was called up to the majors, Whitey Herzog believed that he had somebody special. Earning five saves down the stretch and striking out 17 of the 88 batters he faced, Herzog tabbed Worrell to be the closer during the Cardinals' run in the postseason. In seven postseason appearances, Todd went 1-1, finished three games, saved one in 11 innings of total work. The following year, he was named the teams regular closer. Still a rookie under the rules, Worrell went 9-10 with an ERA of 2.08 and a saved an NL leading 36 games. He was named the NL Rookie of the Year in 1986 (also won the Rolaids Relief Man Award), and by 1988, became the first pitcher ever to save more than 30 games in his first three full years of MLB service. All went well for Todd until September 4, 1989, when he felt a ligament snap during the game. He underwent elbow surgery which took him out for the 1990 season, and then was diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear which ended his 1991 season. By then, the Cards had signed Lee Smith as their closer. So when Worrell came back in 1992, he moved over to be the teams' top set-up pitcher. Wanting to return to the closer role, he signed with the Dodgers before the 1993 season. He struggled initially in his first two years with LA, but in 1995, pitched well enough to be the Dodgers' closer. After two solid years in the role, in which he saved a combined 76 games and earned two All-Star berths, Todd's final season in the majors was not necessarily the best, but still effective. Worrell went 2-6 with an ERA of 5.28, but saved 35 games and still struck out 61 batters. Since his playing days ended, Worrell has been active with both the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the ProHunt Charities . His brother Tim was a pitcher for 14 seasons, doing most of his best work with the Giants from 2001-03. All three of his sons were baseball players for Indiana Wesleyan University. Todd also owns the Firesteel Creek Hunting Lodge in Plankinton, SD, the site can be accessed by clicking the link here.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 18.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2000 Topps #324. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 2000 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

On This Day, May 6, 1998...

2013-05-06T15:39:00.000-05:00

By the time this post comes out, it will be 15 years to the day that Kerry Wood struck out 20 hitters, leading the Cubs to a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros.

1999 Topps #204 Kerry Wood Season Highlights

Wood struck out every batter in the Astros lineup at least once, fanning the 3-4-5 hitters (Jeff Bagwell, Jack Howell, and Moises Alou) three times each. Even the lone pinch-hitter, Bill Spiers, took a seat (not after fouling off several pitches to stay alive). The only Houston player to get a hit was Ricky Gutierrez, who singled to lead off the third inning. Wood also struck out the side in the first, fifth, seventh, and eighth innings.

Not to be outdone, Shane Reynolds, who was the starting pitcher for Houston, struck out 10 Cubs batters, and matched Kerry out for out in the first inning, striking out the side (all in swinging fashion) in the first inning. He is also credited with a complete game, allowing 2 runs, one earned, in his 8 innings of work.

The 20 K's tied the MLB record for most strikeouts in a nine-inning game (set by Roger Clemens, April 29, 1986; tied by Clemens, September 18, 1996; and Randy Johnson, May 8, 2001...although he left after the ninth inning and his game went into extras), and broke the NL record (19 by David Cone, October 6, 1991) and the record for most strikeouts by a rookie (18 by Bill Gullickson, September 10, 1980).

The Cubs went on a 21-9 run after the game, which helped get them into playoffs (albeit via a play-in game) for the first time since the 1989.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1989 Topps #515 Barry Larkin

2013-05-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, May 6, 2013:

Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1989 Topps #515.
Player Name, position, team: Barry Larkin, shortstop, Cincinnati Reds.
Major League Debut: August 13, 1986.
Last Line of Statistics: 1988 stats (Reds): 151 G, 588 AB, 91 R, 174 H, 32 2B, 5 3B, 12 HR, 56 RBI, 40 SB, .429 SLG, 41 BB, 24 SO, .296 AVG.
Any special information about player: Drafted by the Reds #1st, June 1985. Bats: right. Throws: right.
Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 18. This is his third Topps card.
Blurb on the back: "His first 4-Hit major league game: 9-10-86."
Commentary: I think one of the reasons why I haven't done anything with the Archives project in such a long time is not because I'm out of ideas. There will always be players I could choose. But I think it's because I've invested so much into the commentaries of the CotD segments that it becomes repetitive. If you've actually read these things, I include the entire career of the player. That wasn't really the idea. Having the commentary gave me a section to write what I thought of the card and then a brief summary of that player's season. That evolved over time. Because I've written so much about how I absolutely love the 1989 Topps set, it would become too repetitive to say the same things about it that I like. And because I've previously discussed Barry Larkin's career in an Archives project post, it would be unproductive of me to copy everything over. So instead, today's commentary will be a quick review of the Hall of Fame shortstop's season in 1989. How awesome was it for another Cincinnati native to play for his hometown team and do so for nineteen seasons? Before all of the accolades (12 All-Star Teams, 9 Silver Sluggers, 3 Gold Gloves, and 1 MVP Award) Barry Louis Larkin had to fill the shoes of another long-time Cincinnati shortstop, Dave Concepcion, who held down the post himself for 19 seasons (1970 through 1988). Larkin was actually the second player tabbed to play short for the Reds after Concepcion, with Kurt Stillwell taking most of the starts in 1986. But by 1987, it was Larkin getting most of the starts, and by 1988, showed enough prowess at the plate to be named to his first ASG...in Cincinnati. In 1989, he was hitting a comfortable .340 with 4 home rns and 32 rbi's before injuring himself in relay competition before the All-Star Game (which is probably why MLB holding it). He returned in September in a pinch-hitting role, hitting 4-10 with 4 walks (one intentional) in 15 plate appearances. The next year, with all the injuries and controversy behind them, and with manager Lou Piniella at the helm, Larkin and the Reds would go on to shock the world and win the 1990 World Series. It would be the crowning achievement in his eventual Hall-of-Fame career.
Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.
How many cards of this player do I own?: 54 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1997 Topps #226. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama