Good Job, Topps

I don't mind the stupid stuff you do as long as you fix your mistakes.

Steven Strasburg RC Card #661 will be found in 2010 Topps Update.

I think Topps has finally learned you don't f$%# with the base set. Good job. I'm proud of you. May the road rise with you. May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house. May the seed of your loin be fruitful in the belly of your woman. Yay Topps!

I'm happy to see this too.

drooooooooooooooooool..........

WBC Redemption

(Originally scheduled for 9/7/09)

MY WBC REDEMPTION CARD BETTER BE HERE TODAY GODDAMNIT

Oh, well lookie here, it is!

This came over the weekend. I saw Tristar Fullfullment on the return address and began to hope that it was my Jesse Ventura Feather Boa relic, but alas, it was only my WBC redemption card. I wonder if the reason Topps is taking so long with Jesse is that I've whined so much about really wanting a feather boa relic (and I want it SO BAD) that they're trying to track down a feather boa to put in the card to shut me up? Well they knocked out the WBC redemption a month and a half early so I should cut 'em some slack. Here's my card:

Jin Young Lee Chrome refractor. Looks pretty good! Too bad I don't know who Mr. Lee is. I don't even remember who won the WBC now that I come to think of it. The refractor is really purdy though. Thanks Topps! You did good on this one! I'm still not buying any more of your base set this year after the Black Border debacle, but Good Job on this!

(note to all who were waiting all weekend to see what I meant about the 2009 Topps - get your wantlists ready. That is all for now.)

Proper Crop Props

Mario's right, (Beardy too) there's too much negativity. I've been busting Topps' chops over some lackluster photos that could use a bit of editing while ignoring the fact that this year's product has the best photography the flagship has had in years. To make amends and accentuate the positive, I offer to you 10 cards out of a jumbo pack I just purchased less than an hour ago (well, now about two hours since it took me a while to write and scan) because I was looking through the card aisle and accidentally broke the tab at the top of the pack that keeps it on the rack. I had to buy it, it was the only honorable thing to do at that point. I was rewarded.

Closely Cropped

Just like Walter Sobchak's noggin.

Nelson Cruz

Did he beat the tag?!?

Brian Duensing

The glare from the pitcher as a fastball comes straight at you.

Joe Girardi

The skipper cheering on the troops.

Medium Crop

You don't need an extreme closeup when there is additional context available.

Victor Martinez

Candidate for card of the year. Why? The hand reaching out to catch the ball VMart is tossing into the stands.

Alfredo Aceves

Great use of the horizontal layout with the high leg kick.

Jacoby Ellsbury

An unconventional shot of the bench but hey, that's why it works.

19th Century Smut

AKA: Ankle showing. You get to see EVERYTHING.

Pitch

Now, if you crop this one tight, it's just a guy straining during a follow through.

Hit

You can never have enough of Howard connecting.

Field

Oddly enough, I just sent this card to Andy of Traded Sets this morning. I'll probably send this one to Canuck.

By the way, check out the contest at Traded Sets. Mind bending!

Run

Chris Young takes a long lead with Tulo shadowing him to the left and Barmes holding at second. At least I think that's who those Rockies are.

And Finally: The Most Perfectest

Sometimes that little tab at the top breaks for a reason.

Topps cares!

They care a lot!

Found in my e-mail this morning:

Dear Consumer.

This email is to inform you that the Topps Company is currently beyond the 15 week processing time allocated for the following redemption card:

PIN #: Product: Card/Player Name
AHRW4UK9DE American Heritage Jesse Ventura American Celebrity Relic

Our staff is working diligently to process and ship your redemption card as soon as possible. Please continue to check your Online Redemption account for updates regarding the status of your card.

If you no longer wish to wait for the redemption card, please contact our Consumer Relations team in order to place a substitution request for a card of equal Beckett value.

Do not hesitate to contact our Consumer Relations department via phone at (phone number) or via email at (email address) for assistance. A consumer relations representative will be available to assist you Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30 pm (ET).

Sincerely,

Consumer Relations
The Topps Company, Inc.

So Topps hasn't forgotten about me and they are feverishly working on finding that feather boa and figuring out how to incorporate it into a relic card. It's an interesting offer though, All I have to do is ask for a replacement and I'll get one. I can be patient and wait for Jesse, or go for instant gratification and roll the dice for something of 'equal Beckett value'. Wait... how does Beckett know the value when the card doesn't exist yet? I shall have to ponder this mystery carefully.

At least Topps is watching out for the consumer. Amazing how a simple e-mail can make the customer happy. Good job Topps, I almost feel bad for busting your balls yesterday with that scheduled post that I completely forgot about until I started getting comments on it. Almost. But Topps does care. A lot.

18 Years Ago Today

So 18 years ago, after a whole lot of scouting by this guy:

the Braves decided to draft and sign this guy:

because Tony thought Chipper was capable of doing this:

Here's that kid today:

Looks like Tony was right. Good job Tony!

THANK YOU UPPER DECK

UD made amends for their colossal Hillary card f$@k up from Series 1 by inserting this into Series 2:

Card PP-7B. It ain't Morganna, but everyone's smilin' and happy and Hillary still has a big fat butt and it fills up that empty bottom left corner in a plastic sheet full of Presidential Predictors. There are also 10 more Predictors cards in Series 2, Five of Obama and McCain and the same five with Hillary and McCain. AND THEY'RE ALL FIGHTIN! I think Upper Deck realized that the most popular Predictor card was Jon Stewart and Bill O. scrapping like Nolan and Robin so they took the basebrawl theme and ran with it . And looking at the early eBay listings it seems that NONE of them are super short printed! HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Upper Deck for not bullshit gimmickizing this set any more than it already has been. That's more than I can say for a certain other company that shall remain nameless. In honor of your noble deed (and since I haven't found out about your actual gimmick yet) June 2008 is going to be Upper Deck Month on Cardboard Junkie. Each Card of the Week will be from an Upper Deck Product that I really like and that set will be featured on the blog for the rest of the week. In amongst the Topps wax rips of course.

Upper Deck, for not completely screwing up my favorite insert set of the year not having to do with Trading Card History, I say to you:


UPDATE: Ok, so there is a gimmick card. Upper Deck also created a card where Hillary is jumping into Obama's arms and UD decided to 'hand pull' the cards from the set and it worked about as well as last time. So there's yet another super rare Hillary card on the market for Series Two. I was convinced that Upper Deck wouldn't go to the exact same well twice in one year, but they did. Ya know what? I don't mind. I'll never get card PP-7 or PP-7A, but by all indications card PP-7B is inserted in normal quantities. And that's what I've been craving since the set came out in February. A card #7 that I can put in the lower left pocket of the plastic sheet in my inserts binder. That's all I wanted - a complete set of these great looking, funny cards. Not so much with Topps, who have made three of the most desirable rookies for Series Two into short printed WBC cards so we'll have to spend out the nose to chase these rookies. They also managed to screw up my '08 Campaign Candidate set as well with the stupid 2012? Aaahnold card. So Upper Deck is up 4-1 on Topps right now and as far as I'm concerned they are still (relatively) deserving of the "Good Job!" clip art. I'm not gonna run out and buy a box or anything but they still get their Upper Deck Month especially since I've picked out the sets and everything already.