I'm not going to sit at a computer all day on the weekend, but I'll still post these as I rip 'em. Cause I gotta rip 'em.
Pack 17:
178 Dustin Pedroia AL Rookie of the Year
275 CC Sabathia AL Cy Young Award winner
61 AL Home Run leaders - Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Pena & David Ortiz
183 Paul Byrd
53 Hank Blalock
AR52 Ryan Zimmerman All-Star Rookie Team
TCH15 Hideki Okajimi Trading Card History 1965 Topps
Rookie Cup ad
239 Richie Sexson
114 Mike Fontenot
43 Ryan Dempster
Three subset cards to start off the pack. The photo on the Pedroia card has him crouching in the exact same position aas his base card. I had to go back and look to make sure they weren't the same photo. Carlos Pena hit 46 freaking homers for the Rays last year. Who woulda thunk it? Didn't he get physically thrown out of the Tigers organization by a bouncer a couple of years ago? The CC Sabathia card has some nifty stats on the back. I'm still thrilled that OPS is now a legit stat on the back of cards. They even reference it on the factoid on Hank Blalock's card. OPS+, VORP and Win Shares can't be far behind. Speaking of factoids, apparently Mike Fontenot's nickname is "Chicken". Must. Resist. Pedro joke... Richie Sexson sucked last year. I'm still picking him up in the late rounds of my fantasy draft if he's still there. Not only are there two inserts in this pack, but they both rock. Hideki is featured on a '65 Topps Card and Zimmerman has the '60 Rookie cup design. That is a NICE freaking set. This years inserts are so much better than last year's it isn't even funny.
Pack 18:
28 Kyle Kendrick
117 Boof Bonser
45 Dontrelle Willia
166 Andy Sonnanstine
124 Bob Geren
AR37 Boog Powell
73 Gold Foil Mike Napoli
Checklist 2
241 Ervin Santana
316 Scott Hatteberg
204 Rafael Furcal
Dontrelle Willis gets the airbrush treatment too, but his is a whole lot better. I'm glad he's out of the NL East. I don't care what anyone says, I think he's going to be a dominant pitcher. The Rafael Furcal card isn't photoshopped, it just looks that way to me. Somehow I got another All-Star Rookie card in this pack. So far in the box, the inserts have been dropping in a pattern. First pack has one insert, the next pack has a different one and a Gold Foil card, the third has the same insert as the first pack, and the fourth has the same as the second plus another foil. My pattern is broken! I was wondering how they were going to get these in at 1:5 packs with a strict pattern like that. It does my heart good to see a little anarchy in this box rip. It's a good thing Kevin is getting his Jumbo box soon, or he'd probably be jealous over this awesome Boog card. Mmmmm... I feel like barbecue for dinner tonight now.
Pack 19:
295 Tim Wakefield
54 Victor Martinez
276 Brad Ausmus
272 Anthony Reyes
127 Steve Pearce RC
AR9 Mark Ellis All-Star Rookie Team
TCH12 Joey Votto Trading Card History 1887 Allen & Ginter
11 Yorvit Torrealba
36 Brendan Harris
1 Alex Rodriguez
Wow, three for three on All-Star Rookies. Another Trading Card History card too, although I don't know anything about Joey Votto. Paging our resident Cincinnatti Reds expert... you're wanted on the white courtesy phone... Got card #1 too, can ya believe A-Rod's been arond so long that there's only room for stats on the back? Tim Wakefield need to teach his pitch to someone soon. Major League Baseball needs to have at least one knuckler in the league at all times.
Pack 20:
261 Josh Barfield
107 Shawn Green
209 Andy Phillips
192 Jim Edmonds
69 Bobby Cox
AR53 Jeff Francoeur All-Star Rookie Team
261 Gold Foil Josh Barfield
David Wright TotC
95 John Lackey
290 Edgar Renteria
245 Dan Haren
FRENCHY! Best card in the box so far, hands down. Plus there's a card of Bobby looking like a cranky overripe tomato in his Sunday alternate uniform. They more than make up for the Josh Barfield silver/gold foil combo. There would be three Braves in the pack had Topps not done another Tiger airbrush job on Renteria. Dan Haren's still in an A's uniform though. Slackers! Lohn Lackey was inexplicably card #1 in last year's set. He wins 19 games and leads the league in ERA, so they dump him down to card 95. What the hell?
The box so far:Base cards - 166
Checklists - 5
Dupes - 0
Parallels:
Gold Foil - 10
Gold #/2008 - 4
Inserts:
Own The Game - 4 - Howard, Webb, Penny & Berkman
Mantle Home Runs - 2 - 531, 533
Mantle History - 2 - 48, 49
Trading Card History - 2 - Santana, Mauer, Okajima & Votto
All Rookie Team - 2 - Anderson, Willis, Zimmerman, Powell, Ellis & Francoeur
Year in review - 2 - Everett & Reyes
4 comments:
I hate that they photoshopped DTrain and Miguel. They should have put them in their Marlins uniform one last time!
Votto is the No. 4 prospect in the Reds system and will be in the Majors this year
"borrowed" from redsminorleagues.com :
Votto was last years Hitter of the Year in the Reds system. This year (2007) he began his season in Louisville and he struggled big time in April, as he hit just .192/.347/.346. The problem was, Votto needed glasses, but he didn’t get them until May. Well, he caught fire in May as he hit .402/.496/.618 with 6 HR and he just continued to hit the rest of the way as he finished up the AAA season with a .294/.381/.478 line before getting his call up at the start of September. Playing some left field mixed in with some time at first base, Votto showed that he was ready for the big leagues as he hit .321/.360/.548 with 7 doubles and 4 HR in his Cincinnati debut. For the season combined he hit 26 HR with 75 walks, 125 strikeouts, 18 steals and a .299 batting average. Votto is a complete hitter, as he uses the entire field when he is at the plate, which can be seen by looking at the ball distribution he had on the season (74 balls to LF, 74 balls to CF and 78 balls to RF) who has both patience and the ability to hit his pitch when he gets it. Unless something unexpected happens, look for Joey Votto to be starting at first base next March as the Reds open up their season.
That is an awesome Boog card! That's back when he was still a left fielder. I also love that Okajima card.
The frustrating news is that UPS showed up after my roommate got home Friday but before I did. He was napping in his room and didn't hear them knock, so I have to wait until Monday! Rrrrggghhh...I've had time to cool off. Plus, today I got an email from former Orioles reliever Dick Hall about my NumerOlogy website, which is the most awesome thing to happen to me all week.
Life is good again when you can bust open a new Topps pack and pull a Boog Powell. It's like having fresh new 10 cent 1974 packs back on the store shelves again!!
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