It's an amazing achievement, but I feel a little bummed for Steve. It sucks to have a record held by a player from your favorite team broken. Then again, William is pretty happy right now so it all evens out I suppose.
1952 Red Man Chewing Tobacco. Red Man did not significantly change the design from 1952-1955 when they inserted them in pouches of chewing tobacco. If you've seen one Red Man card, you've kind of seen them all, but then again, the design is so good it didn't really need changing. You'll notice that the Gordon card has a little tab on the bottom while Earl here does not. You can see why on the back:
Ok, we've had a nice weekend to cool down from all the anger and controversy and fighting and anguish and disappointment. But enough about the DNC rules committee hearing, what about those bastards at Topps sneaking FIVE freaking short prints into this product! What the hell! And I can't even exchange this box for some Upper Deck so I can boycott Topps like all the cool kids! Oh well, time to move on and open my now tarnished box of mediocrity.
Hey, Rico! I wondered what happened to him. Back in 2000 I bought am opened set of 2000 Topps Traded so I could get the Rico Washington autograph that came with it. I figured with a name like that, he couldn't miss. It took 8 years, but he didn't miss! I'm happy to pull a card of Cecil Cooper after all these years. Coop is doing a pretty good job managing the Astros this year. Topps jinxed Endy Chavez by putting "Endy ... has not made an error since [the Mets] signed him after the '05 season" on the back of his card. Oops. The Beckett insert is shiny and good looking and will end up in a box with all my other half-finished Topps Stars insert sets. If I don't scan and post the Adam LaRoche card, Brian will drive down from Canada just to strangle me, so here it is.
Pack 10:
Well I finally got my Mark Teixeira Topps Braves card where he's not wearing a mu-mu. I am not disappointed either, that's a kick ass card. Of course it's the gold foil version so I still need to chase one down for the set. Derek Lowe is signing a baseball on his card. Don't use a sharpie to sign a baseball Derek! I got two junk cards again in this pack. Speaking of junk - Rich Hill: optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Jeff Weaver: still hasn't been called up to the Brewers' rotation. Matt Morris: dumped by Pittsburgh, now retired. The Topps bump is really screwing up the photography in this set something fierce. Josh Beckett is tiny on his card and Aaron Rowand looks like he's squatting down to avoid bonking his head. This is the first pack with no inserts, odd since there are a ton of insert sets in this product. I guess the gold parallel is technically an insert though. I'll finish up with an Austin Kearns for Joe, wherever you are...
Pack 11:
Eh, ok pack. I'm getting bored with this box already which is not good. I wonder if the UD Blasters have relics in them again? David Ortiz insert and a Maddux make the pack. I wonder how many trees Topps has killed with their junk cards. I better go to the next pack before a certain Giants pitcher forces me to link to a Barenaked Ladies song. Aw, dammit.
Pack 12:
Here's the big hit in the box! Of course you already knew that because I posted the image at the top and didn't even put a spoiler warning. I'd say this is a pretty damn good jersey card. Chase has 20 homers already, there's a stripe on the jersey and there's even some stitches in there. Aw yeah, this is a premium jersey card! This card and about 5 bucks will get me a small espresso. Too bad this ain't 1998. This card would be worth something. Topps crammed all the inserts in this pack. Moises is still hanging on in New York, not bad for a cup winner from 1992. I got another Campaign card, this time William "Big Daddy" Taft vs. William Jennings "Golden Boy" Bryan. I could write all day about Bryan so I won't. He lost three or four elections so I might get another chance at it later anyway. He had no chance against Taft though for two reasons: One, Taft had an epic mustache. Sure there was peace and prosperity after a wildly popular Roosevelt administration, but seriously, it was the mustache. The second and most important reason though is that Taft absolutely did not want to be president. Aversion to elected office is the most desperately needed quality in every politician and the fact that it is completely ignored by the voting public is why this country is in the state it's in. Basically, Roosevelt wanted to go on a safari, so he said to Taft, hey buddy, will you be president for me for a while? And Taft was his best friend, but he was all like, man, I don't wanna do that crap job. And Teddy was like, dude, I've already bought the tickets to Africa! And Taft reluctantly agreed and TR went on his safari and when he came back he was all like, Dude WTF? You screwed up my country! And Taft was like, I didn't want this job anyway at least don't bug me while I'm doing it! And they had a big slap fight and Roosevelt ran against Taft in the next election and they both lost and Taft because a justice on the Supreme Court which is where he wanted to be in the first place. Sadly their friendship was ruined and there were no more late night Wii parties at Teddy's house after that. Wii parties were much different in 1908. I guess I'd better talk about the base cards a little or else Topps will think they're not important anymore. Oh wait, they already think that! There's a whole lotta cards of players with cool shades in this set. I'm looking at you, Craig Monroe. There are two manager cards in this pack, but John McLaren's card has Ichiro on it so that's cool. And how did Gary Sheffield get so old so fast? Sad. Before I go I have to note that I was right. Topps is taking advertisements in their cards now as we see by the FatHead 10% off ad. I can't wait to rip some 2009 Golden Palace Casino Topps Series BankOne brought to you by Viagra.
Former Brave prospect Matt Belisle has done pretty well for himself since moving over to the Reds. Well, until he got sent to Triple-A this week. Oops. Hiroki Kuroda isn't exactly Dice-K, but then again I don't have to chase 4 different variations of his card either (I hope). Both 50th Anniversary cards I've pulled so far elicited yawns. I'm sure I'll pull a good one eventually, but so far, meh. There's two blatant ads in the background of a couple of cards. Vernon Wells has a Mega Millions lottery ad and Erick Aybar has the AT&T Death Star looming behind him. Stats on the back time: Mariano Rivera had an ERA of 3.15 last year, which was the first time since his rookie year in 1995 that it was over 3.00. Pretty impressive.
Pack 6:
Woohoo! My first campaign card. General Grant versus Benjamin Franklin being strangled by a ferret. This card is a Democrat's nightmare: A Republican matched up against a Liberal Republican. In other words, McCain vs. Hillary. This election was a slaughter for Grant, 286-3. It didn't help that Greeley died right before the electors voted. The three dingbats who voted for a dead guy were from Georgia. Imagine that! Ok, back to baseball. In other heated rivalries, Brian Bocock and Randor Bierd are both fighting for the "most awesomest rookie name" nomination for Series Two. The winner will face off against Radhames Liz in the general election. There are two managers in the pack, Dave Trembley who will probably get fired next time Peter Angelos gets a bad case of heartburn and Dusty Baker who is the worst good manager ever. John Patterson gets his 2008 Topps card a week after getting cut from the Rangers, who picked him up when he got dumped by the Nationals. When you get cut by the Texas and Washington, and you're a pitcher, it's time to look for that broadcasting gig. Andre Ethier saves this pack from oblivion.
Pack 7:
First damaged card in the box - Jacoby Ellsbury got caught in the wrapper and now has a nice scalloped bottom edge. I'll set him aside. Once again the Checklist is the most interesting card in the pack. Card number 447 is a Classic Combo card of Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira. Aaaaallll Riiiiight! So has Homer Bailey turned into Tom Seaver yet? He's in Triple-A you say? He just got passed over for promotion to the bigs in favor of Josh Fogg you say? Good 'ol Dusty Baker... Mark Kotsay has a bead on a ball tossed by the photographer's assistant. At least he didn't have to throw the ball up in the air himself like Grady Sizemore had to one card earlier. Oddly enough Jason Giambi is stretching for an actual throw in a rare appearance at first base for the Yankees. Yes, I definitely like the photography better in Series Two. I wish Topps would go back to the tight close ups they used in the 60's and 70's for the portraits instead of the medium shots they are using, but overall things are looking nice. The Topps Indent™ is wreaking havoc with the photo cropping though. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS AGAIN NEXT YEAR. Speaking of mugshots, John Russell's card could be featured on The Smoking Gun. I think they swiped this photo from the Pirates' media guide. Whenever you get depressed about bad photography though, just says these words to yourself: Fausto Carrmona. Make sure you roll the rrrs for the full soothing effect. Fauuusto Carrrmoona... Ah, that gets me in such a peaceful place. Now, if you pronounce it Foostow CARmuna you deserve the stress.
Pack 8:
PRONK ALERT!!! Ok, more checklist fascination... One one more of these to go and you don't have to hear about checklists anymore. There is sadly no Chipper Jones Shea Stadium commemorative patch. Brian McCann has a 50th Anniversary relic card though, sweeeeeeet. Presidential Stamp Cards that I want: Teddy Roosevelt, James K. Polk and Chester A. Arthur. And finally, the best Dual Cut Signature in the set is Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan. The most expensive one will be the JFK/Nixon one, closely followed by Hillary/Obama. The coolest cut auto card in the set is Elbridge Gerry and DeWitt Clinton by far. If I knew what document they cut those autographs from I'd have a heart attack though. The one I would end up pulling if I were to ever pull such a card? Ralph Nader and Joe Lieberman. BLECH. Can you say the 2008 National League Rookie of the year Jair Jurrjens? I knew you could. This is a perfect example of the better photography in this set. Jair looks like a giant SuperPitcher about to crush the puny stadium underneath his mighty cleats. Favorite card of the set so far. If I have to pull a gold foil card I guess Ryan Zimmerman is a good one to pull. I remember when Tom Kelly retired and I thought no way could someone replace someone like him. Now I can't see anyone other than Gardenhire managing the Twins. Lidge has been lights out for the Phillies and that scares me. Once again there are two inserts in the pack. The Topps Stars card is shiny and glowy and gold and boring. It's a nice card but not my thing. I was all ready to mock the faux retroness of the bland Markakis photo fuzzed and photoshopped to make it look old when I pulled out my '61 Braves set to compare and realized that there really wasn't that much difference. Players did actually smile occasionally for the camera back in the 60's though.
The box so far:
Ok, I'm doing the same drill as last time. I'm ripping the box one layer at a time and posting those four packs. Then I'll do something else and then rip the next four packs. This way the box lasts about a week and I get 9 posts out of the deal. Here's the first four because I'm sure my readers are all frothing at the mouth in their lust for new wax. Last time I got two "hits" - a black parallel and a Presidential stamp card. Will I do better or worse this time? Let's find out.
First pack I pull a Brave insert. Ok, so it's Wil Ledezma. IT'S STILL A BRAVE. Edinson Volquez is the first card to elicit a "cool!" reaction from me. The Reds picked him up from Texas in the Josh Hamilton Trade and he's leading the league in ERA. I'm pretty sure he's pitching against Tom Glavine tomorrow. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that with the Braves' inability to hit on the road and Edinson's ability to pitch lights out at home, the Bravos are in for a long night. I'm surprised this isn't his rookie card though. I did get three RC's in the pack including what they are trying to pawn off as Jayson Nix's rookie card. I say Bull. I have a Topps Heritage card of him from 2002 for Pete's sake. I pulled my first ToppsTown junk card. It's got some kind of a code on back. Hooray, I get to register for Topps' website and forget the password after 2 months again. Troy Percival in a Rays uniform is kinda cool. Did you know he has 14 saves for them so far this year? He's also posing in the back yard of some dude apartment. I've seen this same apartment building on about 10 Topps cards now dating from last year at least. WHOSE APARTMENT IS THIS??? It's driving me a little nutty. Last card in the pack is Ozzie Guillen. I hope Ozzie manages the Sox for as long a time as Bobby Cox has managed the Braves. The second time around mind you, not the first time when he got fired by Ted Turner for no apparent reason.
Pack 2:
If you were hoping that Topps would ditch the gold foil cards for series two, you were disappointed. The foil on Hideki is kind of scroungy like the cards from my last box, so maybe we'll see no foil errors again. The Gregor Blanco card is sweet. I've been waiting impatiently to pull his card this year. Kerry Wood's card is nifty looking, there's a beautiful cloudy Arizona sky behind him. Yadier Molina is card #660 for the second straight year. This I do not understand unless the Topps checklister is a Mets fan who tries to leave him out of the set but is forced to put him back in as the last card instead. Angel Berroa gets a 50th anniversary card. K-Rod's Trading card history card is going to inspire a post. The back says "1952 Baseball Card" but it looks like a Red Man tobacco card to me. The card looks great either way and it's going straight in the binder. The checklist card is the most interesting though, it has the Home Run Derby Checklist (Chipper's the only Brave), the Silks checklist (Chipper, Smoltz, Tex, Hudson and Frenchy) a bunch of autographs I'll never get and the tail end of the Campaign Matchup card. that's the really interesting part. The card for 2008 is Barack vs. Hillary and is labeled 2008D. No McCain at all. If Topps has to have a gimmick card in this set, sneaking in a super short printed McCain vs. Obama card would win back some of my lost respect from the Giuliani stupidity.
Pack 3:
Three packs, three Braves. Good start. So far I'll say this: The photography is better than in series 1. the action shots are a little more interesting than the "Pitcher throwing" "Hitter hitting" all from the exact same angle shots we've been getting. Juan Pierre's card is especially nice looking as he swings away with the crowd and the first base coach in the background. BJ Upton is chillin' by the batting cage. Even the posed portraits are getting a little better as they aren't slapped up against a blank wall or some Olan Mills dropcloth. Mike Scioscia has fluffy clouds behind him and is flanked by a palm tree and the Angels' Halo A on either side. Joakim Soria has an interesting pattern of seats as a backdrop. Denard Span has nothing interesting behind him and is pissed off about it. Another ToppsTown card, another Year in Review, another 9 cards for the set. Next pack.
Pack 4:
Cliff Floyd is still in the league?? Awesome! Topps is teaching me new stuff all the time. I'm starting to buy Joe Torre in a Dodgers uni. He'll probably get fired as soon as I'm really comfortable with it though. I got my first Gold Parallel, too bad it's a Dodger reliever. Could be worse, coulda been Gagne. I bet writers regret not giving Smoltzie his due back when Gagne was juicing up the world in '02 to '04. Four packs in and I'm tired of ToppsTown. The Mantle card looks good on the front, but the back was a bit of a shock. I'm used to seeing cartoons on the back of '56 Topps cards and there's just a wall of text talking about Don Larson's perfect game. I know people are kind of tired of The Mick in Topps products, but I really hope they continue this Mantle Story set through his '69 card design. I'm in kind of a pickle here, I pulled both Andrew Miller who is Mario's favorite and Micah Owings, beloved of Dinged Corners. Looks like I'll have to post them both!
The box so far:
It's in my hands right now. I softly caress it's plastic shrink wrap. The wrap that will momentarily be ripped from the box and discarded on the floor as I tear into this box. Watch this space, I'll post the wrappings and box toppers and such in a little while. I just need a little alone time with my box first.
No Barry Bonds logo, thank God. Hopefully we're done with him. Mantle's back in full force though. I never noticed it before but Mickey's logo says "BRAND MANTLE". Mickey was a MAN, not a brand! How do you think his kids feel knowing their daddy was a brand. Then again they're getting all the licensing fees so brand away I suppose.
The sell sheet prominently featured A-Rod so I'm pleasantly surprised to see Pujols as the Series Two spokesman. No circles on the wrapper this time, just Albert in front of a solid field of red. Topps is really pushing the red this year. Red belongs on wrappers and not borders so I'm cool with it. I tried about ten times to scan the odds on the back of the wrapper, but this is the best I could do:
It's a pretty terrible scan, don't even bother clicking. I'll type out the odds instead:
Matt Chico of the Washington Nationals. Oops, make that the Columbus Clippers. This box is starting off hot!
You know how I feel about the base set design. I really like the circles motif, the foil is unobtrusive and I'm slightly disappointed in the photography. The set is 330 cards numbered 331-660. It looks like Johnny Cueto is the hot rookie in the early goings. I haven't seen any Jay Bruce cards yet so it looks like Topps jumped the gun on the sell sheet. I also haven't seen any weirdness, short prints or gimmicks yet, but give it time. It's Topps base cards. Ya like it or ya don't. I like it.
Trading Card History is back with 25 more cards, numbered 51-75. Cards 26-50 are giveaways at hobby stores and have about a month and a half to go to complete the set.
The Year in Review continuity set returns with cards 61-120.
All Rookie Team 50th anniversary continues with cards 56-110 along with the related parallels autos and relics.
The Mickey Mantle Story is now in the 1956 design with 10 more cards and a bat relic version numbered to 56.
2007 Highlights Relics and Autographs. These are the one per box things that are required nowadays.
Presidential Stamp Collection. Those plastic cards holding a postage stamp with a president's face on it are back. They book pretty well and are something different so good for Topps on bringing this strange set back.
Dick Perez inserts - I thought these were Wal-Mart exclusive, but I've seen two or three auctions for the suckers. Maybe some blasters fell off the back of a truck. Part of me wants to run out to the store to see if they're in, but it's seriously too dang late to be doing that. My guess are T205 cards come back at Target as well. There better be a Brave in one of these sets or I'm gonna cause a ruckus.
Topps Stars - a 25 card set on shiny foilboard. This is the insert set that always replaces Own the Game.
Historical Campaign Matchups - 55 cards with the two rivals for each presidential election. This continues the political theme in Topps this year. If there is an Obama - McCain card, Hillary's gonna be PISSED. There's also a junk card encouraging kids to vote on Topps.com.
ToppsTown - Garbage fillers.
Also new is that hobby boxes finally have one "hit" per box. Most will be low-tier relics and the occasional prospect auto but they are there. Topps had to do something to counter Upper Deck's multiple hits per box strategy this year.
