'52 Rookies that are actually rookies

The Bench has an interesting thread that lists all the cards in the Topps '52 Rookie Card set that are actually rookie cards and not just MLB-approved logo cards. I'm not sure where Mr. Auburn Tax Man got his list, but it is greatly appreciated.

2006 '52 Rookie Card RC list

7 Pat Neshek RC
10 Rafael Perez RC
12 Jon Huber RC
13 Jordan Tata RC
15 Norris Hopper RC
20 Carlos Villanueva RC
21 Craig Hansen RC
23 Mike Pelfrey RC
24 Matt Smith RC
29 James Shields RC
35 Mike Napoli RC
37 Jeff Karstens RC
39 Kurt Birkins RC
42 Jim Johnson RC
46 Jack Hannahan RC
50 Phil Barzilla RC
54 Chris Barnwell RC
55 Henry Owens RC
57 Jonah Bayliss RC
58 Josh Sharpless RC
59 Eliezer Alfonzo RC
63 Fabio Castro RC
64 Casey Janssen RC
65 Mike O'Connor RC
67 James Hoey RC
69 Peter Moylan RC
72 Boone Logan RC
86 Mike Thompson RC
87 Brian Wilson RC
89 Sean Green RC
91 Jason Childers RC
93 Ty Taubenheim RC
95 Reggie Willits RC
98 Brandon Fahey RC
106 Chris Sampson RC
121 Melvin Dorta RC
124 Joey Devine RC
125 Sendy Rleal RC
133 Robert Andino RC
134 Chris Demaria RC
136 Alay Soler RC
142 Josh Kinney RC
145 Jason Bergmann RC
152 Joe Inglett RC
153 Manuel Corpas RC
156 Jeff Fulchino RC
164 Jeremy Accardo RC
169 Carlos Marmol RC
171 Edward Mujica RC
176 Josh Rabe RC
178 Shane Komine RC
182 Emiliano Fruto RC
185 Ryan Roberts RC
190 Cory Morris RC
197 Kenji Johjima RC
203 Chris Coste RC
204 Chris Iannetta RC
206 Ryan O'Malley RC
209 Brandon Harper RC
210 Ryan Theriot RC
214 Craig Breslow RC
219 Ron Flores RC
229 Roy Corcoran RC
230 Tim Corcoran RC
236 Scott Feldman RC
237 Luis Figueroa RC
239 Alejandro Freire RC
250 Jeff Harris RC
252 Chris Heintz RC
261 Ryan Jorgensen RC
266 Juan Mateo RC
272 Eric O'Flaherty RC
285 Danny Sandoval SP RC
287 Chris Schroder SP RC
303 Jon Lester SP RC
305 Brian Myrow SP RC
306 Anderson Garcia SP RC
312 Steve Stemle SP RC

RIP MVP

Godspeed Lew.

'52 Rookie Card Short Prints

Topps sure has had an obsession with the '52 Topps design lately. Football Heritage swiped the design this year (although admittedly they used up 6 of the nicer football designs last year) and Basketball got their own '52 themed set. Now the 2006 rookie class get their own retro cards in the 2006 Topps Rookies - 1952 Edition set.



When I first heard about this set my first reaction was a stifled yawn - how many more times do they need to rehash that design? Actually seeing it for myself changed my opinion. Instead of simply fading the player photographs to make them look more retro like they did for the Football and Basketball sets, Topps airbrushed/photoshopped the pics to make them look more like the original set. The results are quite attractive, most cards I've seen do have an original '52 feel to them. Concidering a number of the subjects probably debuted in September for a late season cup of coffee, the fact they were able to turn this set around so quickly is impressive. Even more impressive is the fact that 311 players made their major league debut this year. That's a lotta rookies.



The set has 312 cards, 311 rookes plus a Mickey Mantle rookie reprint. Parallels include Chrome (numbered to 1952), refractors (numbered to 552) and Gold refractors (numbered to 52). There are two insert sets, Dynamic Duos featuring two prospects on one card (but no Braves - booooooo) and Debut Flashbacks where a veteran's Topps rookie card photo is transmogrified into the '52 design. the Flashbacks also can be found with the Chrome, Refractor and Gold parallels. Finally there's a healthy bunch of Autographs to be found and a Relic set featuring a ticket stub from a prospect's debut game. Don't count on finding one of these relics at Wal-Mart though - 16 subjects numbered to 10 each means very long odds.



Of course, since it's a heritage set that means there's short prints. SP's pack out at a 1 in 5 ratio, not bad concidering a 300+ card set is being sold in 6 card packs. Anything less would make the SP's more common than the commons. There are also 15 variation cards in the set. Ok, ok, Bowman Heritage collectors calm down... these variations aren't slight differences in the dithering algorithm used when printing the cards. No, this time they have 10 rookies with the old 1952 logo and 5 Mantle cards with different colored backgrounds. OBVIOUSLY different backgrounds that is. The short prints are also mercifully segregated to the back of the set, numbers 276-312 to be exact.

Beckett has the SP list here, but I'm gonna list 'em out anyway.

2006 Topps Rookies - 1952 Edition set Short Prints
276 Miguel Perez
277 Paul Phillips
278 Omar Quintanilla
279 Guillermo Quiroz
280 Darrell Rasner
281 Kenny Ray
282 Royce Ring
283 Brian Rogers
284 Ed Rogers
285 Danny Sandoval
286 Joe Saunders
287 Chris Schroder
288 Mike Smith
289 Travis Smith
290 Geovany Soto
291 Brian Sweeney
292 Jon Switzer
293 Joe Thurston
294 Jermaine Van Buren
295 Ryan Garko
296 Cla Meredith
297 Luke Scott
298 Andy Marte
299 Jered Weaver
300 Freddy Guzman
301 Jonathan Papelbon
302 John-Ford Griffin
303 Jon Lester
304 Shawn Hill
305 Brian Myrow
306 Anderson Garcia
307 Andre Ethier
308 Ben Hendrickson
309 Alejandro Machado
310 Justin Verlander
311 Mickey Mantle
312 Steve Stemle

2006 Topps Rookies - 1952 Edition Variations
37 Jeff Karstens Old Logo
52 Willy Aybar Old Logo
88 Matt Cain Old Logo
107 James Loney Old Logo
163 Paul Maholm Old Logo
178 Shane Komine Old Logo
216 Melky Cabrera Old Logo
217 Jonathan Broxton Old Logo
225 Cole Hamels Old Logo
233 Chris Duncan Old Logo
311 Mickey Mantle Yellow Background
311 Mickey Mantle Red Background
311 Mickey Mantle Green Background
311 Mickey Mantle Orange Background
311 Mickey Mantle Black Background

I'll never figure out the new rules and regulations on rookie cards. How exactly does Kenny Ray get an official MLB rookie logo when he played 13 games for Kansas City in 1999? Surely Bowman or somebody put out a card of him back then. Oh well, mine is not to question why, mine is but to go and buy. Speaking of buy, it might be best to pick this up sooner rather than later. I'm not seeing much of this stuff out there, and they do have a tendancy to create shortages of 'hot' products like this (Allen & Ginter, anyone?). It depresses me that I've been thoroughly trained by the marketing weasels though. Oh well, worst case scenario I eBay the Braves and save my pennies for the 2007 Topps release.

Congrats

Congratulations to new Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn. Here's hoping you get some company this summer.

More 2007 Topps schtuff

Sorry I'm being slow on the Bownam Heritage posts, but work is kicking my butt this week. Here's some neat info from the Beckett Forums on 2007 Topps baseball.

Inserts look nice, but the checklist scares the hell out of me. With that many insert sets my guess is that it would be pretty good odds to pull one out of a pack, and maybe will even have Fleer-like 'insert per pack' odds. I really like the fact that Josh Gibson is getting his own insert set, even if the HR sets are starting to get out of control. Mickey's set is continued, A-Rod starts his own HR set and Generation Now appears to list several players' HRs including Ryan Howard, David Wright and Justin Morneau. Barry Bonds is conspicuously absent, but to be fair, he hasn't hit any more home runs since the Update and Highlights set was released.

The Distinguished Service insert set, honoring players who served in World War II, also looks great and will probably be one I'll try to complete.

Sell sheets are up at Georgetown Card Exchange, check 'em out.

2006 Bowman Heritage Short Prints

OK, it looks like the even numbered cards from 202-300 are the short prints and not the list given to Beckett by Topps. Pretty odd decision there, looking at the checklist the top 50 cards would have made a good selection of SPs. Numbers 251-300 include 25 stars and 25 top rookies. Maybe there was a mixup at the printers. Maybe the Topps design team needs to quit taking so many 6-martini lunches. Maybe Al-Qaida has a sleeper cell in Brooklyn dedicated to confusing set builders. Who cares, at least now Mickey Mantle's not an SP.

SPs are seeded 1:3 packs, the White variation is 1:6 packs, plus the Prospects insert set is also listed as having White variations at 1:6 packs as well. The average per box is 6 SPs, 4 White main set parallels and 4 White insert set parallels. That is assuming you can figure out exactly which ones are the parallels. To help things out a bit, the SP/variation/autograph card has been located right behind the foil or relic card in all the packs I've seen. If in doubt, sleeve that card and try to convice someone that it actually is a White variation. It's not like they'd know in any case. Your guess is as good as mine on the Prospect insert variations, I haven't actually recognized one as such yet, so I couldn't say for sure if it would be the first or second one in the pack.

Here is the complete list of SP's for 2006 Bowman Heritage:

202 Alay Soler
204 Mike Napoli
206 Mike Pelfrey
208 Josh Willingham
210 Willie Eyre
212 Scott Thorman
214 Boof Bonser
216 Justin Huber
218 Jason Bartlett
220 Francisco Liriano
222 Ricky Nolasco
224 Scott Olson
226 Martin Prado
228 Kevin Thompson
230 Josh Johnson
232 Tony Gwynn, Jr.
234 Taylor Tankersley
236 Jeremy Sowers
238 Adam Wainwright
240 Russ Martin
242 Tony Pena
244 Darrell Rasner
246 John Lester
248 Chad Billingsley
250 Justin Verlander
252 Hank Blalock
254 Mike Mussina
256 Jason Giambi
258 Carlos Beltran
260 Pedro Martinez
262 Melvin Mora
264 B.J. Upton
266 Gary Sheffield
268 Ryan Zimmerman
270 Johan Santana
272 Brandon Webb
274 Michael Young
276 Jonathan Papelbon
278 Melky Cabrera
280 Josh Barfield
282 Lastings Milledge
284 Jose Capellan
286 Jason Botts
288 Sean Marshall
290 Stephen Drew
292 Kuo Hong Chih
294 Angel Guzman
296 Fausto Carmona
298 Matt Cain
300 Kenji Johjima

Pretty nice selection of players in that list, although it would be interesting to see just how many of those rookies are actual rookie cards and not just 'MLB approved' rookie cards.

I just broke a box, so as soon as I can start scanning I will share some examples of the White parallel variations. When you see them side by side it's pretty obvious, but by themselves it's diffcult except in some situations (you'll see what I mean when I post the A-Rod White variation). I looked all over the front and back for any indication that the card was a variation, but no dice. Disappointing, as there are several different variations in the original set that could have helped out with this, including the obvious 'name on front' variety and the script/print variations of the names on the back. Or they could have even switched up the placement of the logos on the back in homage to the ads on the back of the original '49s. Or, heck, even put ads for MLB rings and baseball banks on the back! I don't really want a ring, but I wouldn't mind sending Topps all my wrappers for a plastic MLB game with mini players that can be ued as a bank. Oh well, at least now sharp-eyed scroungers might be able to find a few White variations in common bins.

2007 Topps

Designs for the '07 Topps products are trickling out. Apparently Ryan Howard is the company's spokesman this year.

2007 Topps looks quite interesting. I actually prefer the traditional white borders for Topps' base set, but the black (or is that navy blue?) could be very nice. Topps hasn't done black on a border since 1986, and no full black border since '71, so they are overdue (the past decade of Bowman designs notwithstanding).Of course if it is navy, then we got a '94 Score thing going on, which is a bit more dubious if you ask me. I'm also not too sure about the little colored squares or the foil though, although it probably looks better than that squinty little picture would make it seem. And why no position on the front of the card? It's no fun to sort that box into little fantasy teams when you have to flip the card over to see if Aubrey Huff is deemed a third basemen or outfielder by Topps' crack statistician. All these nitpicks are overshadowed by one single bit of awesomeness: the replica autograph! When's the last time you saw a pre-printed scribble on a Topps card, 1982?

2007 Heritage is just... oh my God. Click on that link. Click on it now. Just look at that. Look at it! Even though the image is squished down to a quarter size that is one gorgeous card. Bright colors, good head shot of a great player, and a design that absolutely nails the 1958 set. The '57 Heritage set, while good, did have problems, and the '49 Bowman set is looking like a bit of a mess, but Topps may have knocked this one out of the park. I can't wait to see the sell sheet on this one and hopefully they don't mess up the short prints or variations. A little hint, you Topps designers, the original set had Yellow and White team name variations. Don't just make the background a little bit pastel looking when compared side by side to a regular card. The original 1958 set took a long time to grow on me (I preferred the 1956 and 1960 sets to be honest) but I'm really looking forward to this one.

Hall Of Fame Ballots Rolling In

The annual 'look at me, I can vote for the Hall Of Fame' columns are starting to trickle in as Election day is less than two weeks away.

The big brouhaha on this year's Hall of Fame ballot is whether Mark McGwire gets in or not. CBS Sportsline has takes on both sides of the issue, yea and nay. The big knock on McGwire? He has the audacity to be on the ballot for the first time right in the middle of a steroid hysteria. Ok, fine, he crapped the bed during the Congressional hearings. You go in front of Congress during a full blown witchhunt with Jose Canseco insisting to anyone who will listen that you turned him into a newt and a team of lawyers jabbing you in the ribs if you even think about answering any question and see how calm and collected you are. The man has a ring, 583 home runs, is a 12 time All Star, 3 time Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove winner. Even his detractors have to admit that he was a big part of the game's recovery from the '94-'95 strike.

I personally think he should get in eventually, but I'd like to see quite a few others get in first. If there's any silver lining to the paranoid pharmeceutical phreakout happening in the sport right now, hopefully it is that more 70's and 80's players will finally get their fair due. Of course, they might have used greenies at some point (oh noes!) so the drug panic might zap them as well. Realistically there's not much chance of anyone snubbed in the past actually getting voted in anytime soon unless there is a sea change in the thinking of the current voters. Too much elitist snobbery among the voters for that to happen. At least this year we have two locks in Gwynn and Ripken and won't have to sweat that no one will get voted in this time around. It would be nice if one or two more got swept in on their coattails, but I'm not holding my breath. At least we'll get the Frick award winner and maybe a veteran's committee selection or two as well.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll post any ballots made public that I can find and bump the post as needed. It would be refreshing if one was written by one of the idiot fools more discerning voters who left his ballot blank. Seriously, I'd like to hear the rationale...

"Ripken was no Phil Rizzuto and Gwynn was just too fat. How could I possibly vote for them with a clear conscience?"

I'd definitely link to that and also the followup article describing the resulting lynch mob.

The Ballots:

Bill Madden
The article illustrated with cards gets the top spot.

John Heyman
The Good: Nine players on his ballot. Hooray! The Bad: No Bert Blyleven. Yaargh!

Scott Miller
Note to Scotty: Since you would have loved to have voted for Fernandez and Caminiti, guess what? You had three choices left on your ballot! You could have done so and thrown on Andre Dawson for good measure!

Ken Rosenthal
Solid ballot, one of the few I can't make fun of.

Tom Verducci
The 4 players most likely to get in plus almost 2 pages of McGwire Congressional Testimony hand wringing.

Joe Posnanski
Murphy and Buck O'Neil love, no Rice or Hawk.

Mark Bradley
Big Mac gets a vote, not sure who else does. I'll try to find a better link.

Bob Smizik
Another vote for Mac and not much else.

Mike Nadel
No Blyleven plus Rex Grossman is the jock of the year. Wait, what??

Dan Shaughnessy
Rice, yes. Dawson, no. Homer.

Joe Gross
Harold Baines gets some love. Another ballot with 9 checkmarks.

Peter Kerasotis
Over-reverential first-timer with a sparse ballot.

Ann Killion
The 4-vote ballots aren't bugging me as much as the fact that on every one the non-lock votes are completely different from all the other 4-voters.

Mike Lopresti
Respect for closers, but why is Rice handcuffed to Parker?

Andy Call
A no vote for Mark, but non-disclosure on his other selections. If any blank ballots show up, this is the guy. In related news, Jim Souhan voted for Denny Hocking?

Don Bostrom
Hot and heavy for a unanimous election, so I'll go out on a limb and assume he voted for Tony and Cal.

Steve Kelley
Another anti-McGwire voter too chicken to say who did make the ballot.

Pedro Gomez
Goose & Rice yea, Bert & Mac nay. #5 on the all time strike out list isn't good enough, but Jack Morris might make his ballot. Guuh.

Mike Downey
Oh Mike, you're so coy. At least Hawk gets another vote even if the other votes are obfuscated.

Bill Ballou
Minimalist Hall voter, but he at least has the stones to post an actual scan of his ballot for all to see. And point and laugh at. Ha Ha!

Jerry Green
Nine votes on your ballot means you are GUILTY!!!!! of being AWESOME!!!!!

Drew Olson
I can always respect a procrastinator.

Jack McCaffrey
Busts on self-important moralizing voters: Yaaaay! Submits a FULL 10 player ballot: JOOOOY! Leaves off Goose Gossage to write in... Pete Rose?!? AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Lynn Henning
When a Detroit sportswriter refuses to vote for Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, you can forget them getting elected this year.

Dan Coughlin
No on McGwire. If he votes for everyone else in the article it would be a good ballot.

No unanimous election due to this asshat in Chicago.

MLB.com lists out all their votes, it looks good for Ripken, Tony and Goose. Hawk's got a chance while Rice and Bert are still getting shafted.

David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a ballot, but is not allowed to vote due to the AJC's asinine policies.

Gregg Patton voted for Big Mac, but Knoxville News Sentinel is a subscription site so no article for you.

Cleveland Plain Dealer gives their voters' up or down on Mac votes.

2006 Bowman Heritage

I am a sucker for all the various retro and heritage sets that have been steadily pumped out in the past few years. I absolutely love vintage cards, and any set that blatantly panders to that love will get my cash. In fact, Upper Deck's decision to make Origins a high-dollar gambling set was the final straw that really put me off their product and got me to finally focus on Topps sets.

Topps has done wonderful stuff with their back catalog. When you have close to 60 years worth of material to build on, it's not hard to put out great cards that pay homage to vintage sets. Bowman Heritage has always been the red-headed stepchild of the heritage sets however. Stuck as one of the last sets of the year, it sometimes seems as just an excuse to pack as many last-minute rookies as possible in a set to 'scoop' the competition. However, after the blah Black & White initial set and the lackluster '54 model (pastel did not look right on baseball cards in the 50's and it doesn't look right now) the Bowman Heritage line had some winners with the '55 set, the what if? '56 set and last year's excellent '51 tribute. Another plus for the Heritage set in recent years has been the fact that unlike Topps Heritage, it was fairly reasonably priced, and you didn't have to pay a ridiculous mark up if you were unlucky enough to miss grabbing a box the moment it was released. Plus, the boxes were loaded, netting 2 relics and an auto, when other products couldn't even promise one big hit a box.

This year they update the 1949 set, and unfortunately a promising set has been hampered by some bizzare coices by Topps. Once again, the set has short prints, but no one can quite figure out which cards are actually short printed. Beckett reports from Topps that high numbered cards are short printed, but case busters report otherwise. This means that either cards 251-300 are shorted or that even numbered cards from 202-300 are. To further confuse matters, there is a 'White' variation inserted 4 per box. The sell sheet shows an example of a 'Black' which shows the card has a black background. However, no one is finding any cards with white backgrounds, only slight color variations that could only be spotted with the two versions side by side. I haven't actually seen any hobby packs yet, but I'm assuming the 'white' variation doesn't refer to the card stock as surely that would have been reported on by now. This choice on Topps' part to make a virtually invisible parallel set is bewildering considering that the '49 set already has the 'name on front' variation built in to the original set.

Nevertheless, it's a Heritage set and I gotta have it. After checking several different places, Bowman Heritage finally hit the local Wal-Mart, so I snagged a couple of packs to hold me off until I can finnally pick up a hobby box. Here's what I got in my first pack.

First off, I have to stress that this is not a typical pack. The retail packs have the mini parallel in the front of the pack and it was quite obvious that this pack had an extra mini when I picked it up.



I absolutely adore these kinds of mini parallels and I wasn't going to pass up on an extra. My pack had Brian Roberts, who would be a Brave right now if not for Peter Angelos meddling in his GM's affairs, and Tony Gwynn Jr., who gets to see his dad elected to the Hall of Fame next week.



Next in the pack are the two 'prospects and draft picks' cards that are now banished to their own seperate insert set due to the MLB marketing deal that put that tiny little logo on Tony's card up above. I got Wyatt Toregas, a catcher for the Indians and Andy Sonnanstine, pitcher for the Devil Rays. Lord only knows if these will eventually be considered rookies or XRC's or whatever when the whole rookie card debate is finally settled.



Next up is the 'rainbow foil' parallel card which I suppose would be rainbow if you held it up to a TV test pattern or a gaudy sweater. It looks like easily dingable boring plain ol' foil to me, but hey, I'm not a marketing manager for Topps Inc. I have Bobby Livingston, a rookie pitcher for Seattle who is labled as an outfielder on the reverse. Maybe Topps has openings in their proofreading department if not the marketing department...



Hot Dog! A redemption card! I guess that extra mini was to tip off the hot pack. With my luck it was meant for a spy and I'll end up getting a shipment of Polonium nibbles instead of my auto. Good luck convincing the interrogators at Gitmo that all you wanted was an autograph of a minor league catcher...



Yawn. Here's the boring common part of the pack. Of course between parallels and the prospect insert set you only get 4 boring commons per pack. Three if you're unlucky enough to pull an auto. My commons are boring indeed with Alou and Pierzynski.



Now we get to the fun mysterious part of the pack. Is this a short print? A boring old common? A washed out parallel? At the very least it's a Jared Weaver O-Fish-Al MLB rookie card (2005 sets be damned!) and a pretty good cap to my weird mutant pack.

Quick Thoughts on Zito

Barry Zito is going to the Giants for a whopping $126 million over 7 years. I have liked Zito since he came up with Oakland, but I wasn't really expecting him to get the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history. At least Hampton is now off the hook. What I think I think:

1) As Solid as Zito has been, this is way too much money for too many years.

2) Giants needed to do something after losing Schmidt and getting outbid for every other free agent they targeted.

3) Assuming Zito stays healthy (big assumption) The Giants should have a damn good rotation in a year or two.

3a) The fact that he's rated most similar to Mike Hampton the past three years of his career should scare the hell out of the Giants.

4) At least the Giants invested in someone under 30 for once.

5) Maybe he can mellow out Barry.

5a) Peter King writes entirely too much about bad coffee.

6) At least now I won't have to hate him for becoming an evil Met.

Good Grief

It took three days for me to realize I misspelled the freakin' title.

Still no digital imaging capability, so no pics for you. Not yours.

Me gots scanner! Pics galore ensues!

Turkey Red Short Prints & Variations

Ok, still no scanner so here's a list of Turkey Red Shortprints for the 2005 and 2006 sets. Like many of their other old timey sets, Topps decided to continue the numbering scheme on these sets, picking up at #316 for the 2006 edition. As confusing as it might be to have several cards with a 'first year' label in the first set and a 'official MLB rookie card' label in the second set (oh yes I will gripe about this at a later date, don't you worry) but it makes a lot of sense for one simple reason: The 2005 and 2006 series designs are both are completely identical. Anyone who tries to sort through a pile of mixed year Topps Archives cards or through 2005 and 2006 Turkey Red Football will know what a collossal pain in the rear looking for the tiny copyright date on the back of the card can be just to differentiate between the different sets.

I'll post a list of variations for the set in the near future, maybe even with... *gasp* a SCAN of the cards! I haven't actually gotten desperate enough to start swiping scans from eBay yet, but give me time...

Topps Turkey Red Short Prints

1 Barry Bonds – Road Uni Variation
5 Roger Clemens
5 Roger Clemens - Orange Sky Variation
10 Sammy Sosa
10 Sammy Sosa - No Name Variation
16 Mike Piazza – Blue Jersey Variation
20 Manny Ramirez
25 Carlos Beltran
28 Rich Harden
30 Richie Sexson
55 Roy Oswalt
59 Wily Mo Pena
60 Magglio Ordonez
70 Jim Thome
75 Ichiro
75 Ichiro - No Name Variation
78 Troy Glaus
83 Eric Chavez – Night Sky Variation
85 Scott Rolen
87 Joe Mauer
90 Alfonso Soriano
100 Alex Rodriguez
100 Alex Rodriguez - Glove Variation
102 Adrian Beltre– Road Uni Variation
106 Miguel Tejada
110 Hideki Matsui
115 Curt Schilling
120 Vladimir Guerrero
120 Vladimir Guerrero - Swinging Variation
125 Randy Johnson – Night Sky Variation
130 Ivan Rodriguez – Batting Helmet Variation
132 Carlos Delgado
149 Jason Bay
150 Albert Pujols
155 Pedro Martinez
160 Johan Santana
160 Johan Santana - Throwing Variation
170 Tim Hudson
175 Nomar Garciaparra
181 Gustavo Chacin
184 Felix Hernandez
185 Zach Day
193 Jose Capellan
195 Steven White
199 Joel Guzman
214 Mike Gonzalez
220 Scott Kazmir
225 Mark Prior
225 Mark Prior – Blue Sky Variation
230 Derek Jeter
230 Derek Jeter – Night Sky Variation
233 Brandon Backe
266 Steve Finley
270 Todd Helton
270 Todd Helton – Night Sky Variation
316 Alex Rodriguez - Texas Rangers Variation
316 Alex Rodriguez - Seattle Mariners Variation
317 Jeff Francoeur
325 Magglio Ordonez
332 Joe Mauer
338 Jake Peavy
339 Carlos Delgado
339 Carlos Delgado - Toronto Blue Jays Variation
343 Richie Sexson - Milwaukee Brewers Variation
348 Preston Wilson - Florida Marlins Variation
350 Ichiro
351 Mike Piazza - New York Mets Variation
357 Chris Shelton
358 Chone Figgins
364 J.J. Hardy
375 Derrek Lee
390 Jim Edmonds
392 Morgan Ensberg
395 Greg Maddux
400 Barry Bonds
405 Johnny Damon
410 Andruw Jones
411 Jhonny Peralta
416 Josh Beckett
418 Noah Lowry
422 Felix Hernandez
430 David Ortiz
430 David Ortiz - Minnesota Twins Variation
444 Jose Reyes
449 Nick Swisher
450 Derek Jeter
451 Scott Kazmir
455 Ken Griffey Jr. - Seattle Mariners Variation
459 Xavier Nady
460 Randy Johnson - Houston Astros Variation
465 Ryan Howard
466 Tim Salmon
467 Mark Buehrle
476 Nick Johnson
476 Nick Johnson - New York Yankees Variation
481 Ryan Madson
489 Chase Utley
493 Tadahito Iguchi
497 Jorge Cantu
501 Alfonso Soriano
501 Alfonso Soriano - New York Yankees Variation
508 Tim Hudson - Oakland Athletics Variation
521 Ervin Santana
524 Adrian Gonzalez
528 Joe Crede
532 Scott Rolen
535 Mark Teixeira
541 Ronny Cedeno
561 Livan Hernandez - San Francisco Giants Variation
565 Jonny Gomes

P.S. - A quick note to my heckler - I actually have three digital cameras, one has a dead battery and the other two take pictures that resemble snapshots of Jimmy Hoffa and Bigfoot at a Cubs World Series game. You should know better than to expect me to have anything cutting edge like a camera phone. Hell, I'm still playing Tecmo Super Bowl and NHL 95 on my old Super Nintendo!

Starting off on the right foot

Two posts in, and already I have technical difficulties.

This post was supposed to show off the card that started me on the road to ruin, a 1980 Topps Mike Schmidt, but my scanner is making some really interesting grindy noises so that's on hold for a while. Concidering both my printer and scanner were around during the Clinton Administration, perhaps it's time to invest in one of those newfangled printer/fax/scanner contraptions with the $50 replacement ink cartridges. For the time being, imagine an '80 Topps Schmidt that has spent far too much time in a little kid's back pocket.

In lieu of Schmidtty dog-eared goodness, here's an excellent article on Hall of Fame voting, by the man himself. I'm glad to see that at least one of the Veteran committee voters has had a change of heart and that maybe there will be someone actually elected this time around. Like Mike, I still can't figure out how Kaat isn't in already and it sure would be nice if some '80's stars like Rice, Hawk and Murph finally got their due. Seriously, if Sutter's a Hall of Famer, how can Goose Gossage and Lee Smith not be?

Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and will have some beautiful ratty old abused cards scanned and posted for your enjoyment and edification.

Update!

The dead scanner has been replaced with a fancy brand new Epson printer\scanner\copier\juicer\slicer\dicer\turnip twaddler\time machine combo platter so here for your amusement is the VERY FIRST CARD I EVER OWNED: (drumroll)





Beautiful, isn't it??

This was actually one of two 'first' cards for me as I first found this card in my grandparents' basement in an old desk along with an '80 Bob Horner. Bob was my favorite player growing up (along with Knucksie) so that card was my 'first card ever' for a while, at least until I brought the cards to school one day and someone swiped the Horner but left the Schmidt. Go figure.

Howdy

My name is Dayf, and I'm a cardaholic.

It has been said about me that I do not collect baseball cards so much as hoard them. My basement looks like Al Qaida set off a dirty bomb at the National Card Convention. I cherry picked packs for inserts long before it was cool. My doubles rival the inventory of many professional card sellers. If Topps bubble gum was heroin, I'd be the cast of Trainspotting. In short, I got too many damn baseball cards.

I admit, I have a problem. I also admit I'm not going to be doing anything to resolve that problem any time soon. So as long as I'm going to be an addict, I might as well be an attention whore as well and splash my debauchery on the intarwebs.

Since my drug of choice is manufactured by Topps, there will be a distinct slant toward their products on this blog. Quite frankly, I've never been all that interested in Upper Deck and their trendy shiny holgrams, give me the ratty old dog eared cards made out of actual paper and not some chemical compound any day. I'll mix it up from time to time and talk about other brands and sports and even non card related items since I have the attention span of a flea with ADD, but expect to see a lot of Topps baseball cards here.

Now granted, a blog about the obsessive compulsive behavior of an anonymous internet nerd... made by an amateur... perhaps of interest to only two or three people... may not seem very exiting to you, but quite frankly this is really just an excuse to post pictures of my collection. I mean, hell, everyone and their mother posts pics of their cats online, no one will mind me posting my '53 Mathews or '81 Niekro. Besides, since Topps refuses to post lists of all the short prints and variations they put in their heritage sets, a blog is a good way to plop it all in one spot so I don'thave to wade through 8 billion ads in a google search just to see which Turkey Red Preston Wilson is the short print.

Now, on with the show...

Allen & Ginter Full Size Inserts Wantlist

2008 World's Greatest Victories

WGV1 Kerri Strug
WGV2 Mark Spitz
WGV3 Jonas Salk
WGV4 Man Walks on the Moon
WGV8 Gary Carter and the '86 Mets
WGV9 The Battle of Gettysburg
WGV10 Deep Blue
WGV11 The Allied Forces
WGV12 Don Larsen
WGV13 Truman Defeats Dewey
WGV14 The American Revolution
WGV15 2004 ALCS
WGV16 The Battle of Thermopylae
WGV17 Brown v. Board of Education
WGV18 Team Orange
WGV19 Bill Mazeroski
WGV20 Cinderella


2009 Allen & Ginter's Highlight Sketches

AGHS1 Aaron Boone
AGHS2 Ken Griffey Jr.
AGHS3 Randy Johnson
AGHS7 Manny Ramirez
AGHS12 New York Yankees
AGHS13 David Wright
AGHS15 Jon Lester
AGHS16 Alex Rodriguez
AGHS17 Chipper Jones
AGHS18 Derek Jeter
AGHS19 Albert Pujols
AGHS24 Mariano Rivera
AGHS25 Evan Longoria


2010 Baseball Highlight Sketches

AGHS3 Derek Jeter
AGHS7 Carl Crawford
AGHS11 Andre Ethier


2011  Baseball Highlight Sketches

BHS-5 Albert Pujols
BHS-11 Trevor Hoffman
BHS-15 Aroldis Chapman
BHS-23 Mark Teixeira
BHS-24 Jason Heyward
BHS-25 Ichiro

Floating Fortresses

FF3 Henri Grace a Dieu
FF7 Mahmudiye
FF17 USS Texas
FF20 USS Pennsylvania

The Minds that Made the Future

MMF8 Granville Woods
MMF9 Elisha Otis
MMF15 Isaac Newton
MMF16 Marie Curie
MMF22 Ada Lovelace
MMF23 Florence Nightingale
MMF24 Nikola Tesla
MMF32 Robert Koch
MMF35 Jagadish Chandra Bose
MMF36 Aristotle

The Ascent of Man

COMPLETE


2012 Historical Turning Points Insert Set Checklist

HTP2 The Battle of Waterloo
HTP4 The Reformation
HTP11 Signing of the Magna Carta
HTP16 The French Revolution
HTP17 The Great Depression
HTP18 On the Origin of Species
HTP19 Sputnik I
HTP20 The Agricultural Revolution

World's Tallest Buildings Insert Set Checklist

WTB1 Burj Khalifa
WTB4 Willis Tower
WTB6 Empire State Building

Baseball Highlights Sketches Insert Set Checklist

BH-1 Roger Maris
BH-3 Ichiro
BH-6 Frank Thomas
BH-8 Derek Jeter
BH-9 Ryan Braun
BH-11 Nolan Ryan
BH-12 Justin Verlander
BH-13 Matt Moore
BH-14 Mickey Mantle
BH-18 Ozzie Smith
BH-19 Carlton Fisk
BH-20 Jose Bautista
BH-21 Willie Mays
BH-22 Joe DiMaggio
BH-24 Roberto Clemente

Murder in Willow Cove

People:
Bob Levinski
Chase McMurphy
Chuck Snider
Cynthia Pritchard
Dan Proot
Don Givens
Greg Keeley
Jack Guttman
Jackie Pritchard
Joey Furts
Kerry Fulder
Larry Mudlin
Price Laughton
Sheriff Dave Kring
Sigmund "Skip" Buttle
Trudy Givens
   
Evidence/Places:
Bloody rag
Bowling trophy
Footprints
Givens Residence
Klugman Residence
Second scrap of paper
Shattered display case
Skudlow Park Gazebo
Vacant Lot
Willow Cove High School


2013 Civilizations of Ages Past Set Checklist

COMPLETE

Curious Cases Set Checklist
COMPLETE

Martial Mastery Set Checklist
COMPLETE

One Little Corner Set Checklist

COMPLETE

Palaces and Strongholds Set Checklist

COMPLETE

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Air Supremacy

AS-18 MiG-15

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Coincidence

AGC-03 1895 Car Crash in Ohio
AGC-11 4th of July: Jefferson, Adams, and Monroe

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Festivals Fairs
COMPLETE

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Fields of Yore

COMPLETE

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Natural Wonder
COMPLETE

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball World's Capitals
COMPLETE

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Ancient Armory
COMPLETE

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Great Scott
COMPLETE

Keys to the City 

KTC-8 The Space Needle - Seattle
KTC-9 Welcome Sign - Las Vegas

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball Menagerie of the Mind

COMPLETE

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball What Once Was Believed
COMPLETE

2015 Topps Allen & Ginter Baseball What Once Would Be
COMPLETE

2016 Natural Wonders

NW-1 NW-3 NW-5 NW-8 NW-9 NW-10 NW-11 NW-19 NW-20

2016 Baseball Legends

BL-1 BL-3 BL-6 BL-7 BL-9 BL-10 BL-11 BL-12 BL-14 BL-16 BL-17 BL-18 BL-19 BL-21 BL-24 BL-25

2016 Mascots in the Wild

MIW-2 MIW-3 MIW-5 MIW-7 MIW-8 MIW-9


2017 Revolutionary Battles

RB-1 Battle of Lexington
RB-2 Battle of Bunker Hill
RB-5 Battle of Trenton
RB-8 Battle of Cowpens

2017 Sport Fish and Fishing Lures

SFL-5 Salmon
SFL-7 Trout
SFL-11 Spotted Sea Trout
SFL-14 Giant Trevally
SFL-15 Bluefin Tuna
SFL-16 Yellowfin Tuna
SFL-19 Barracuda

2017 World's Fair

WF-7 Diesel Engine Exposition Universelle
WF-12 Unisphere 1964/1965 World's Fair
WF-15 Ferris Wheel World's Columbian Exposition
WF-16 Biosphere Expo 67
WF-17 Statue of Liberty Exposition Universelle
WF-19 Habitat 67 Expo 67


2018 Baseball Equipment of the Ages

BEA-1 Vintage Glove
BEA-2 "The Catch" Glove
BEA-8 Batting Gloves
BEA-11 Vintage Baseball
BEA-20 Rosin Bag
BEA-21 Batting Shin Guards
BEA-22 Catching Shin Guards
BEA-26 Radar Gun
BEA-28 Eye Black
BEA-29 Baseball Sweater


2018 Magnificent Moons

MM-3 Io
MM-7 Phobos
MM-10 Ganymede


2018 World's Greatest Beaches

WGB-4 Roatan
WGB-7 Venice Beach
WGB-9 Cozumel


2019 Incredible Equipment Set Checklist

IE-1 Thor's Hammer
IE-2 Robin Hood's Bow
IE-3 Pecos Bill's Lasso
IE-4 Paul Bunyan's Axe
IE-5 Old Stormalong's Harpoon
IE-6 David's Slingshot
IE-7 Rosie the Riveter's Work Gloves
IE-8 Don Quixote's Lance
IE-9 William Tell's Crossbow
IE-10 Achilles's ArmorIE-11 Hermes's Sandals
IE-12 King Arthur's Sword
IE-13 Heracles's Club
IE-14 Merlin's Staff
IE-16 Cupid's Bow
IE-17 Santa's Sleigh
IE-18 Pied Piper's Pipe
IE-19 Odin's Throne
IE-20 Johnny Kaw's Scythe


2019 Mares and Stallions Set Checklist

MS-1 Arabian Horse
MS-2 Quarter Horse
MS-3 Thoroughbred Horse
MS-4 Tennessee Walking Horse
MS-5 Morgan Horse
MS-6 American Paint Horse
MS-7 Appaloosa
MS-8 Miniature HorseMS-9 Andalusian Horse
MS-10 Kentucky Mountain Horse
MS-11 Clydesdale
MS-12 Cleveland Bay Horse
MS-13 Irish Cob Horse
MS-14 Mustang Horse
MS-15 Holsteiner Horse


2019 The History of Flight Set Checklist

HOF-1 Wright Flyer
HOF-2 A Vlaicu III
HOF-3 Demoiselle Monoplane
HOF-4 Supermarine S.6B
HOF-5 Me 262
HOF-6 Sikorsky R-4
HOF-7 B-17 Flying Fortress
HOF-8 DH 106 CometHOF-9 Boeing 707
HOF-10 Bell X-1
HOF-11 Harrier Jet
HOF-12 SR-71
HOF-13 Concorde Jet
HOF-14 Shuttle Discovery
HOF-15 Shuttle Endeavour