All Star Ballot part 3

Balloting is over for the real All Star game, but the All Star Baseball Card All Star game is completely made up so I can drag this out as long as I want. Which is good, 'cause I'm lazy. A Moose, a Bull, a slugger and a gold glover get the nod in the third installment of my All Star Ballot.

NL Third Baseman: Mike Schmidt

What, you say? The Braves homer isn't voting for Eddie Mathews?? What devilry is this? Well, if he was up against Ken Boyer or Ron Cey then yeah, he'd get the vote. The best third baseman of all time is a little tougher competition. Besides, I checked off 3 Braves (and 3 others who played for them at some point in their career) on my ballot, so I don't really need to go overboard. Poking around the archives will also show a few more reasons why Mike gets my vote. Oh go ahead, I don't even have 50 posts yet. it won't kill ya.

AL Third Baseman: Brooks Robinson

American League third baseman wasn't any easier of a decision for me. Brooks or Brett? How do you choose? I suppose I could have went with Frank Malzone, but that would have been a cop out. Seriously though, how do you choose between the best fielding third baseman and the best hitting third baseman? The Pride of Baltimore or the King of Kansas City? They both have a bushel off All Star appearances and an MVP. Brooks has the truckload of Gold Gloves, but George has one too, plus 3 Silver Sluggers. Thankfully 1974 Topps bails me out with their dual All Star cards. One thing George does not have is a card with Ron Santo! Santo should be in the Hall with George, Brooks, Mike and Eddie, but missed out by five stinking votes in the Veterans committee voting this year. Of course the fact he wasn't voted in long before now is inexplicable considering he was easily one of the top 5 third basemen of all time when he retired. Of course playing out his career for a lousy Cubs team doesn't do much to garner votes. Playing in the shadow of Ernie Banks also probably didn't help. Having your playing days overlap with Eddie and Brooks' careers wasn't the best of timing either. Then coming up on the ballot while Schmidt and Brett were tearing up their respective leagues, well, that's just not fair. Hopefully whatever permutation of the Veterans' committee gets trotted out next gets their heads out of their collective asses and votes the guy in next go-around, whenever that is. Of course we will probably see Brooks post on his blog long before that ever happens.

NL First Baseman: Orlando Cepeda


Baby Bull gets the 1st base vote on my ballot. I don't give a crap about the drug charges, I don't care that he only went 1-27 batting in the All Star Game (he's due!!!) and all the nitwits who consider him a member of the Hall of Very Good can take some advice from President Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain for all I care. Cha-Cha could knock the cover off the ball and deserves a much better legacy than he's gotten. If 30 months in prison is excessive for obstruction of justice, then so is 10 months for possession of a goddamn plant. [editor's note - political comment deleted, post it on DU you hippie and get back to the card snark] . Did you know Jack Davis did the cartoon on the back of this card? Oh wait, I did that shtick already. I'm sorry folks, I'm just not myself today since Smoltz got bombed at Chavez Ravine last night. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled silliness before too long.

AL First Baseman: Moose Skowron


Mooooooooooooose! The Yankees' stout 1st basemen was actually named after Benito, not Bullwinkle. Moose was clutch in the postseason. After recording the last out in the 1957 World Series, Skowron returned the following year to pwn the Braves with the winning hit in game 6 and a three run bomb in game 7 to help the Yanks to victory. Then in 1962, Moose scored the only run in the classic game 7 between the Yankees and Giants. As a reward, he was shipped off to the Dodgers and promptly hit .385 in the Series to help beat his former team. Moose is one of those players that makes the need for a Hall of Damn Good Blue Collar Players and Not Elitist Pricks Like What They Got in That Other Place so very obvious. A Hall of Fame for players like Santo. And Al Rosen. And Hank Bauer and Elroy Face. Alan Trammell, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso. Dale Murphy, Bill Freehan, Rocky Colavito. I'll even invite Orlando and all the other players the Hall snobs want purged. Hell, if I had my way Joe Morgan and the rest of the obstructionist Veterans committee members could sit all alone in that other place giving each other the stink-eye, each certain that he is the better player while Ty Cobb chases the members of the BBWAA around the joint, spiking the crap out of anyone who ever sent in a blank ballot. In the meantime all the worthy players can party in the Blue Collar HOF.

Honorable Mentions:
1982 Pete Rose
1975 Dick Allen
1960 Eddie Mathews
1982 George Brett

Next up: Dayf enters his Happy Place and lists Outfielders without excessive whining and griping

Card of the Week 7/2

Baseball milestones are being passed right and left lately. Sosa's 600th. Chipper's 2000th. Big Hurt's 500th. Hoffman's 500th. Smoltz's 200th. Biggio's 3000th. Howard's 100th. Barry's 750th.

Roger Clemens was working on his 350th win as I composed this post and probably has it if the bullpen didn't let him down.

Then there are a bunch of impending milestones: Griffey's 600th. A-Rod, Thome, Manny and Sheff's 500th. Griffey and Sheff's 2500th. Glavine's 300th. Not to mention THE Milestone.

Last week, while the Braves were in the process of being completely dismantled by the Detroit Tigers' pitching staff, another milestone was reached. Bobby Cox got booted from the game trying to protect his catcher Brian McCann from being tossed for arguing balls and strikes. The boot was unfortunately in vain as McCann got the thumb as well, but it was significant as his 131st career ejection tied Bobby with the great John McGraw for most in a career.

Bobby already claimed the record for most ejections for a manager, as 14 of Little Napoleon's ejections came as a scrappy third sacker for the Orioles, Cardinals and Giants. The temperaments of the two managers could not be any more different. McGraw was an intense competitor who who was not above a little verbal or even physical abuse as long as it resulted in a win. After he was run out of the American League a few years earlier for his ungentlemanly play, Muggsy even refused to play in the 1904 World Series just to stick it up AL president Ban Johnson's butt. Bobby is the exact opposite, never criticizing a player and maintaining a good rapport with the umps even as he gets tossed. Bobby is more of a cheerleader who just happens to have a habit of lobbing an F-bomb from the bench every so often.

This is a record that will also not be easily broken. Tony LaRussa, the next closest active manager, is a full 58 ejections behind. The current manager most closely associated with being ejected, Lou Piniella, only has 58 career ejections himself. This does make sense, as the sheer effort involved in many of Piniella's ejections would demand they be used sparingly. Bobby just chugs along and plays Michael Caine to Pineilla's Pacino, efficiently turning out performance after performance instead of chewing the scenery.

In honor of this achievement, Cardboard Junkie's Card of the Week is Bobby's Topps 205 Drum mini card, a design that the great McGraw was once on himself.

All Star Ballot part 2

Well, you have about 4 hours left to stuff those ballots, Here's part two of my All Star Baseball Card ballot. Two Daves, a Robin and a Rod.

NL Second Baseman: Dave Lopes


What, you expected this guy? Not on my ballot. Davey gets my vote, even though 1981 might have been his worst year in the bigs. Still made the all star team though!

AL Second Baseman: Rod Carew


Ha! I cheated! That's not a 1976 card that's from an archive set! Well it was either that or have Joe Rudi as the representative from the 76ers. This way he can play second where he belongs instead of having to man first in an Angels uni. Besides, there was no way Rod wouldn't make my ballot. Dude is immortalized on both Sure Shot by the Beastie Boys and Adam Sandler's Hannukah Song. Urban myth or not, Rod's alleged conversion to Judaism makes him the MLB's version of Walter Sobchak. No rolling on Shabbos!


NL Shortstop: Dave Concepcion

Hey, he won the All Star Game MVP once, why not again? Dave is one of the many players ignored in Hall of Fame voting during the Steroid era that will eventually be put in the Hall of fame by a revamped Veteran's committee. You know, once they get this guy the hell out of there so there is no more cock-blocking of deserving candidates.


AL Shortstop: Robin Yount


The pride of Milwaukee, Yount gets the nod at short for the Junior Circuit. Too bad he was just an awesome player who went out and did his job well, I can't think of anything snarky to say about him at all. Well, other than the fact that he looks a lot like Sam the Eagle in that picture. Robin almost got zapped by the 1976 mess, I was very close to putting Bert Campaneris in his place. For fun, all you conspiracy theorists out there interested in the statistical anomalies of the steroid era should check out the home run totals from 1970 for Bert. I'm not casting any aspersions now, I'm just saying it goes to show what talent and a small sample size can do...

Honorable Mentions:

1983 Manny Trillo
1981 Paul Molitor
1975 Larry Bowa
1976 Bert Campaneris

Up next: Hall of Famers at the Hot corner, and other various ungulates.

DO NOT WANT

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are giving away a free Infectious Diseases trading card set at their visitor center. The set includes veterans Rabies, Anthrax and Tuberculosis; Up and comers HIV, SARS and Ebola; and features the long awaited rookie card of Cryptosporidiosis. Sadly, the "protect the children" crowd have forced changes to the set, resulting in a rare variation where Anthrax's photo got swapped from a woman's rotting eyeball to a more genteel dead zebra. Even so, apparently the set is very popular among the middle-school crowd, and the CDC is having problems keeping them in stock. If you aren't able to grab a set of your own, you can download the PDF here and print them up yourself! A Bleeding Ulcer trading card is just what I need to complete my Atlanta Hawks Draft Pick collection.

Series 2 will reportedly feature food borne illnesses. Can we dare to hope for an official 1997 NBA Finals Michael Jordan Game-Used barf relic card??

Procrastination

OK, ok, I admit it, I haven't filled out my All Star Ballot yet. I'll get to it, I promise! Besides, the voting doesn't look good for my Braves anyway, what with Chipper covered in boo-boos, Andruw under the Mendoza line and Smoltzie lobbing grenades about the clubhouse.

To help me continue to avoid doing my civic duty (seriously though, have you tried going on mlb.com using dialup? Even if I started loading the page now, the voting would be over by the time all the video finished downloading) I will instead fill out my ballot for the All Star Baseball Card All Stars. My ballot only has players from 1958-1983, mainly because I also procrastinated on getting this post ready and I don't have time to scrounge through 25 more years of sets in my collection looking for All Star cards. In the time honored MLB spirit of fairness, I'll also try to vote for at least one card from each year with an All Star subset so everyone gets represented. Well all of them except 1961, 'cause I don't have any 1961 All Stars. Stupid expensive high series.

We'll start off with the Skippers:



The Old Perfessor manages the American League, while the Nationals are led by a man who got fired by the Braves for having the nerve to lose to the Dodgers in a three game playoff in 1959. After finishing in first place for three straight years. Yes, the same Braves that didn't win another playoff game for 32 years.

NL Catcher: 1960 Del Crandall



What? Not Johnny Bench, you say? Well this is my ballot and I can stuff it with Braves if I wish. Besides, Crandall was an 8 time All Star with 4 Gold Gloves, not too shabby. Besides, Del has something Johnny doesn't:



A Jack Davis illustration on the back of his card! That beats the hell out of the Baseball Bunch any day.

AL Catcher: 1979 Carlton Fisk



Pudge! This was the easiest decision on the AL side. Especially since Yogi doean't have an All star card.

Honorable Mentions:
1962 Johhny Roseboro
1958 Sherm Lollar

Up next: Middle infielders

Card of the Week

Or the month, depending on when I get my act together and post something new.

Cardboard Junkie's inaugural card of the week is the card I've been wanting since I first saw the Distinguished Service insert set in Series 1 Topps, Warren Spahn.

Baseball's winningest lefty almost ended up with a lifetime record of 0-0. After a cup of coffee with the Braves in 1942, Spahn entered the military into an engineering unit. Spahn's unit was involved in the Battle of The Bulge and was instrumental in keeping the Ludendorff Bridge up long enough for US troops to cross it into Germany. The Bridge collapsed after several German efforts to destroy the bridge, killing 28 engineers. Spahn narrowly avoided this fate and was awarded a battlefield commission. Spahn returned to the Braves in 1946 to begin a 19 year run with the team. Spahn would anchor the Braves' pitching staff and lead the team to 3 world series appearances including a victory over the Yankees in 1957.

More thoughts about Series Two

Now that's I've busted open a few more (ok, a LOT more) packs of Topps series two, here is some more of my thoughts toward the set.

The variation cards are kind of neat, and I like that they are actually obtainable unlike the Wal-Mart variations from series 1. However it would be nice if Topps would let us know what cards had variations for once. Maybe with a press release or heck, even on the checklist.

Since Topps won't tell ya, I will:
411 Jason Bay - no signature
437 Paul LoDuca - no signature
481 Jim Thome - no signature
630 Daisuke Matsuzaka English front - no signature
630 Daisuke Matsuzaka Japanese front with signature
630 Daisuke Matsuzaka Japanese front - no signature
634 Alex Gordon - no signature
660 Yadier Molina - no signature


Even with 3 different variations, I still can't pull a Dice-K to save my life. Plus I'm convinced the Bonds card is a figment of my fevered imagination.

We finally get Alex Gordon's RC (which I also can't pull). In my perfect world, Topps would take all those 2006 Gordon cards they had to yank from packs and insert them into this set. Then I could finally fill in that hole in my 2006 set. Sure, Keith Olbermann would take a bath on the ones he bought up, but he's getting good ratings right now, he can afford it.

Seriously, that one card missing from series one bugs me. I'm tempted to take the scans I saved from Beckett's online article and print one up on my color printer just to complete the set. I would have done it already if the printer ink cartridges weren't more expensive than the actual card.

The 1st edition parallel is useless. The only reason I can think of for its continued existence is that Topps already paid for the die to stamp the logo onto the cards, so they're going to use it as long as they can. Kind of like how Pacific dropped a million bucks on the Pacific Crown Die-cut machine and then had to have Die Cut Crown cards in every set they produced until they folded.

The Hit Parade inserts look like the love child of 1996 Topps Pro-Files and Fleer Lumberjacks inserts. I'm also convinced that the Stars insert set is actually surplus from an old MVP or Pros and Prospects set that they bought off of Upper Deck.


The Opening Day set is completely irrelevant, unless you are a hard core collector of a certain team. Even then, 14/15ths of the set is irrelevant to that particular collector.

I like the 1953 design on the Mickey Mantle Story cards. Of course if Topps put out a "Great Moments in Welsh Chartered Accountancy" set with the '53 design I'd probably buy it, so maybe I'm not the best one to judge these things.


As I feared, the Joe D Streak before the Streak cards are all the same except for the number. The actual Streak cards have the date, opponent, pitcher and type of hit though. The design is very attractive as well. This would be a good set for any DiMaggio fans out there that couldn't afford the hit streak set from Play Ball that came out a few years ago.


The Generation Now inserts initially irritated me. Too many damn cards, and why did Topps need another 'count down the stats' insert set? But now that I look at it if you ignored the numbers and focused on just collecting one of each the players it's not a bad little set. It does have a good player selection as far as up and coming players are concerned, and collecting one of each (or all of one if you're the player collector type) would be much easier on your sanity than trying to track down all 394 in the set.


Finally, the Wal-Mart 120 years of baseball card history set is probably my favorite insert set in quite some time. I love old obscure cards and this set seems to have them all. Dice-K on an old Japanese card design is brilliant and it doesn't get better than Manny's big noggin on a 1938 Goudey card. I'm looking forward to Updates and Highlights when they will have to start really scraping the bottom of the barrel for vintage card designs.

28 Packs Later

Apparently some strange things are afoot in the blogosphere today. I blew it off as some kind of viral marketing for a new zombie flick and picked up a few more packs of series 2 from the local addiction enabler.

To my horror I realized it was all true. Zombies are indeed among us. HERE IS PROOF:


Run! Run for the hills with the children before it's too late!

Series 2 is here

Went to the card shop not expecting to find much and lo and behold Topps Series 2 is out! Fearful that they may have photoshopped Joe DiMaggio and Rudy Guiliani into the background of the Kei Igawa rookie, I got a few packs before the price skyrocketed. Here is my take from 5 packs:

Pack 1
553 Ramon Martinez
598 Arizona Diamondbacks
604 San Diego Padres
331 Kelly Johnson
424 Dan Haren
DS25 Ted Williams Distinguished Service
345r Joe Borowski
534r Terrmel Sledge
429 Carlos Zambrano
391 Kelvim Escobar


Not a bad pack, a couple of stars, a Brave and Teddy Ballgame. The team cards are complete with walls o' doom again. I don't understand why they can't just sign the batboys to a contract. Maybe it violates the new Rookie Card agreement.

Pack 2
617 Ned Yost
599 Kansas City Royals
594 Angels
344 Kenji Johjima
518 Esteban Loaiza
JDSF28 Joe Dimaggio
394r Aaron Hill
421r Melky Cabrera
536 Tom Gorzelanny
451 Bobby Jenks
Checklist 2 of 3


I know the Royals' payroll is low, but this is ridiculous. The Joe D card is neat, but the blurb on the reverse references the 49th game. Hopefully this isn't the Josh Gibson set redux with the fronts and backs all being the exact same save the number. The Mantle cards at least give a little info like the date, score and pitcher who gave up the homer. The checklist card has some interesting tidbits. Looks like Spahn finally gets a distinguished service card. Too bad there are only 10 cards in the subset. Thankfully Topps finally gave up and didn't list every single Joe D and ARod continuity card. Pretty much one whole side of the checklist is all Generation Now cards though.

Pack 3
635 Juan Lara RC
629 Levale Speigner RC
494 Orlando Hudson
356 Curtis Granderson
GN281 Russell Martin Triple #3
444r Josh Beckett
646r Devern Hansack RC
406 Ryan Madson
428 So Taguchi
429 Carlos Zambrano


First double of series 2 and it only took me 3 packs. At least it's Zambrano. Carlos will hopefully cost the Yankees so much money this offseason they won't have enough left to sign Andruw Jones away from the Bravos. The Generation Now card is quite frankly, ridiculous. Triples?? Are you serious? Do we really need a trading card commemorating triples by a catcher? Finally, the artsy fartsy wrinkly red background on every single Red Sox card since the update set is really starting to bug me. Maybe Upper Deck does need to gobble them up if they insist on using Olan Mills as their house photographer.

Pack 4
638 Cesar Jimenez
603 Los Angeles Dodgers of Anaheim
596 Texas Rangers
515 Josh Phelps
556 John Patterson
OD15 Opening Day - Giants vs Padres
612r Ozzie Guillen
615r Lou Piniella
538 Wily Mo Pena
370 Troy Glaus


This pack made me seriously reconsider my decision to collect cards instead of coins when I was a kid. Troy Glaus in a Jays uni does not a successful pack make. I haven't decided yet if the Opening day design is pretty or ugly. No wait, it's just pretty ugly. Foil stipes? Um, no thanks. I did get a chuckle out of the red parallel cards though. I'll take batshit insane managers for 1000, Alex. Daily Double!!

Pack 5
644 Jared Burton RC
624 Jeremy Brown
399 James Shields
TP18 Gary Sheffield Trading Places
GN274 Delmon Young Multi Hit Game #10
527r Randy Winn
505r Jose Bautista
382 Kevin Millwood
458 J.J. Hardy


Ok, this pack makes me feel better. Two inserts and actual star players. The Burton rookie has more glamour shot wankery, but at least they used neutral colors on this one. A pastoral winter backdrop would look nice for series 3. Gen Now highlights Delmon's multi-hit games. I will not rest until I pull a Generation Now Pete Orr Defensive Replacement insert. The Trading Places insert set is a nice idea, but damn if poor Sheff doesn't look forlorn. One card shows the transition from "I'm the king of the world" to "What the hell just happened to me" quite clearly. Maybe it dawned on him that he's going into the Hall of Fame with a Marlins cap now.

Bonus Card of the Week: FF21 Trevor Hoffman
On the week of his 500th save no less. Nice.

All in all, typical series 2 Topps, too many team cards and the inserts are a little less thrilling, but hey, you dropped all that money on series 1 chasing that Jeter so you might as well complete the set. Look on the bright side, at least it's not 5 bucks a pack like Upper Deck!

RIP Clete

The best fielding third baseman you never heard of.

Yummy Retro Goodness

Dammit, Upper Deck may actually get a good chunk of my money this year.

Via Stale Gum, it looks like Allen & Ginter gets a sequel, Turkey Red will keep on going and Upper Deck will jump into the fray with a Goudey themed set.

Allen & Ginter looks like it will be a winner again, hopefully prices will stay sane long enough for me to have a real shot at a set this time. It killed me last year when my local Target got 5 more Box Blasters in after it had been long gone for a few weeks and I had the proverbial moth flying out of my wallet. Alas, with Official Ken Jennings Costco Shirt Relics, I'm certain we'll be looking at 15 dollar packs within days of release. Turkey Red will probably be the product they ship in late November during the "season's over, but we can't put out a 2008 set till February" dead period. I wonder if it will be the set Topps dumps late season rookies in since it looks like they thoroughly murdered Bowman Heritage last year. I'm rooting for a '53 Rookie set myself.

The Goudey set intrigues me, it looks like UD is going to attempt to make it somewhat affordable for us bottom feeders so it can compete with Topps. Hopefully it will be released in retail boxes as well so it will still be available when the hobby prices go through the roof. I've already seen it online preorder for $150 a box. Ugh! I need to scrounge around for a sell sheet, this could be a truly awesome set if done correctly. Considering butt-ugly Origins in a $90 tin is a big reason why I gave up collecting Upper Deck products, this is a step in the right direction.

Ya see, this is why we need at least two companies fighting it out in the industry. We don't need one giant ToppsUpperFleerDeck crapping out a handful of lame base sets and a dozen $100+ gambler products with a guaranteed snippet of a utility infielder's jersey and the auto of a prospect who will never make it past AA per tin. Hopefully if (when) UD gobbles up Topps into its vortex of suck, Donruss will have time to lobby to get its license back.

Seller's Remorse

An excellent article from a Boston alt-weekly wonders if the wrong team may have left town.

Barry's Back

Topps signed him up for 2007, so it looks like we'll get more Home Run cards in the series 3 Updates & Highlights set. Oh goody.

Round Two: #1 2007 Topps vs #4 seed: 2007 Fleer

Topps vs Fleer base set brawl.

The packs:

2007 Topps (Target)
309 Mark Teixeira Gold Glove Award
287 Jose Garcia RC
34 Paul Konerko
284 Jerry Owens RC
235 Reed Johnson
169 Todd Jones
ARHR15 Alex Rodriguez
OTG6 Jermaine Dye
Checklist #2 of 3
42 Livan Hernandez
76 Lastings Milledge
160 Justin Verlander
275 Greg Maddux

2007 Fleer
243 Jason Michaels
256 Freddy Garcia
166 Julio Lugo
112 Bobby Crosby
334 Vinny Rottino mini
354 CarlosMaldonado RC
356 Phillip Humber RC
6 Brian Schneider
RS-JH Jeremy Hermida Rookie Sensation
CA-FT Frank Thomas Crowning Achievement

Number of Cards:
Topps has slightly more cards, but is slightly more expensive as well. They threw in a checklist and a head of the class card as well so let's just call it even.

Topps 10 Fleer 10

Number of cards that are actually good:
Topps delivers 2 inserts and a handful of stars. Other than the inserts and rookies, Fleer is pretty lackluster.

Topps 17 Fleer 14

Inserts and Short Prints:
Both packs deliver 2 inserts, Topps by chance, Fleer by design. Fleer adds a mini parallel to the mix. Topps wins on quality over quantity however, as Thome & ARod trump The Big Hurt plus two rookies.

Topps 25 Fleer 21

Attractiveness of the design:
Both sets have a really nice look to them, I especially like the symmetry of the design between the front and reverse on the Fleer card. I actually prefer Fleer's simple design, but black borders, better stats and shinier inserts help out Topps.

Topps 30 Fleer 26

Best card in the pack:
Topps: 309 Mark Teixeira Gold Glove Award
Fleer: CA-FT Frank Thomas Crowning Achievement
Jason Michaels' art of the bunt might have won were it not for Big Hurt. The sad thing about Frank's card is now that he looks so natural in an A's uniform (I know it sounds like blasphemy, but he does) you look down and see... a Blue Jays logo. I'm sorry but there's no way I'm going to ever get used to that. Teixeira's card can be described in 4 words: "Holy crap! a UFO!"

Topps 35 Fleer 30

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Ryan Howard vs. Ken Griffey Jr. This one is tough. I gotta give it to The Kid. Sorry Ryan, call me when you have 500 home runs.

Topps 38 Fleer 35

Intangibles:
Topps' pack reminded me of a few things that irritate me about them. First of all check the last 4 cards of this pack and the last 4 of the first Topps pack I opened. I can think of worse doubles to have than Maddux, Milledge and Verlander, but still. Not cool. Secondly, while the A-Rod card is nice and shiny and all, how many freaking Home run countdown cards do you really need? At least the Ted Williams set is tracking batting average. Finally, thanks to the Jeter photoshop freakout the Konerko card makes my head hurt. I'm almost positive someone stuck in a photo of their girlfriend or brother in law in that crowd somewhere and now I have to find them. This coming from the company that feels compelled to add a freaky black Wall O' Doom to all their team cards so they don't have to get permission to show the batboys on the card. Those faces in the crowd are pretty darn clear, I hope you got signed release forms. Now that I have that off my chest, I must say Fleer didn't really impress me with this pack. Not much star power and inserts get a bit cheapened when they are in every pack. Not even the doubles can save fleer this round.

Final score:

2007 Topps 38 2007 Fleer 36

Round Two: #2 '07 Upper Deck Hobby Edition vs #3 2007 Topps Heritage

Upper Deck overpriced hobby edition vs the best set concept in the history of trading cards. Yep, we're fair and balanced on this here blog.

The packs:

2007 Upper Deck Hobby
8 Josh Fields RC
290 Brandon Phillips
93 Travis Hafner
158 Joe Nathan
468 Chad Cordero
143 Jered Weaver
344 Dan Wheeler
205 Jorge Cantu
247 Stephen Drew
115 Justin Verlander
89UD-DR Don Drysdale
333 Aubrey Huff
485 Brandon Webb \ Diamondbacks Checklist
69 Dustin Pedroia

2007 Topps Heritage (Hobby)
412 Billy Wagner
215 Ben Broussard
241 Mike Gonzalez
275 Jorge Posada SP
MHRC4 Mickey Mantle
84 Kazuo Matsui
220 Shea Hillenbrand
120 Greg Maddux

Number of Cards:
Upper deck had 7 more cards but the hobby pack also cost 2 more bucks.

Upper Deck 15 Heritage 14

Number of cards that are actually good:
Upper Deck's pack would make a good rotisserie team. You'd at the very least win the saves category and it has quite a few Keeper league gems. Heritage sports a Brave, an ex-Brave, a hall-of-famer and two all stars. Not bad.

Upper Deck 22 Heritage 19

Inserts and Short Prints:
The Don Drysdale 89 Upper Deck retro card is nice and all, but for 5 bucks I feel a little cheated. Heritage has an insert and a short print, and the short print is actually someone good. Every pack I've pulled a Mantle Home Run card (or an A-Rod home run card for that matter) from had a bonus SP card in the pack. I guess Topps is starting to feel bad for inserting so many Home Run countdown cards that all look alike and decided to throw us a bone.

Upper Deck 23 Heritage 24

Attractiveness of the design:
The silver borders on UD's regular design doesn't look as good to me as the gold ones in First edition. Using foil for the names also looks blah and is very hard to read. When the 5 buck a pack product looks worse than the buck a pop cheapo knockoff, you've got problems. 58 Topps is 58 Topps. Contemporary UD is no match for Classic Topps.

Upper Deck 24 Heritage 29

Best card in the pack:
Upper Deck: 333 Aubrey Huff
Heritage: 120 Greg Maddux
The second I opened the pack, I knew Aubrey Huff in the retro Rainbow Astros uniform was the winner hands down. Poor hassled Greg Maddux in his heavily (and badly) airbrushed Padres duds can't even compete with that.

upper Deck 29 Heritage 32

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Upper Deck has Cal Ripken Jr. up for a standing O on the front of their pack, while Heritage features a nondescript line drawing of a pitcher, possibly from the Kansas City A's bullpen.

Upper Deck 34 Heritage 33

Intangibles:
I realize I've whined incessently about this, but when you open a five dollar pack of cards, you shouldn't end up bored. Sure, I'd be a lot more excited if I pulled a jersey or auto or something, but the cards are still bland and as nice as the Drysdale insert is, it wasn't worth the money. I like collecting more than gambling and the Heritage pack had a lot more value in my opinion. UD would probably beat Heritage if I was opening boxes with their guaranteed hits, but individual packs are much more of a crapshoot. Upper Deck goes out with a yawn.

Final score:

2007 Upper Deck 35 2007 Heritage 38

#2 '07 Upper Deck First Edition vs #7 '07 Topps Opening Day

Upper Deck retail gyp product vs Topps cheapo 'ya know, for the kids' product match up in the final battle of the first round.

The packs:

2007 Upper Deck
234 Jonathan Broxton
4 Devern Hansack RC
40 Cesar Jimenez RC
90 Todd Jones
52 Brandon Fahey
277 Ray Durham
178 Adam LaRoche
176 Luis Vizcaino
136 Willie Bloomquist
FPA-BW Brandon Webb

2007 Opening Day
76 Rocco Baldelli
124 Mark Teixeira
58 Miguel Cabrera
2 Mike Piazza
61 Alfonso Soriano
184 Jeff Salazar RC
Meet Mr. Wright contest card

Number of Cards:
Even with the bonus David Wright Contest card, Opening Day comes up short to First edition.

UD 10, Opening Day 7

Number of cards that are actually good:
UD has Adam LaRoche, a Webb insert and a couple of rookies I've never heard of before. Opening Day is packed with stars, including heavily airbrushed Piazza and Soriano cards.

UD 12, Opening Day 12

Inserts and Short Prints:
Upper Deck's insert per pack nets a Brandon Webb First Pitch Aces card. UD encroaches on Topps' turf by sneaking in an insert set dedicated to opening day starters. Opening Day had no inserts except for the David Wright contest card. It's a neat looking card, but will probably get annoying once you've pulled your twentieth copy.

UD 15, Opening Day 13

Attractiveness of the design:
Both sets basically swiped the base set's designs and tweaked them slightly. Topps reversed the background from white to black and added gold foil and an opening day logo. Upper Deck changed the Borders from white to gold and slapped a first edition banner on the bottom. The UD design is actually much better than the white bordered product, the gold frames the design more effectively. Opening Day looks more like a traditional Topps design, although the floating tiny squares are a little more eye bending with the white background. The backs are a push, UD has a bunch of wasted space, but at least they didn't recycle the front photo for their tiny headshot.

UD 19, Opening Day 16

Best card in the pack:
Upper Deck: 4 Devern Hansack RC
Opening Day: 2 Mike Piazza
The rookie with the All-Star name started a couple games for the Sox last year and managed a 1-1 record. He also had a much more respectable ERA than Cesar Jimenez's 14.73 scorcher. Yipe. Mike Piazza looks like a deranged leprechaun in his beautifully airbrushed Kelly green A's uni.

UD 20, Opening Day 21

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Poor Topps. They put David Wright on the pack and even hold a contest to let a fan meet the guy, and he still gets bumped off the back of the tabloids by Derek Jeter.

UD 25, Opening Day 24

Intangibles:
This one's tough. Opening Day is a nice pack, but it's still the product you blow a 10 dollar bill on in April and forget about by May. Upper Deck First Edition is actually what I wish Upper Deck regular edition would be. Paying a buck for 10 cards from a 300 card series is much more appealing to me than dropping 3 bucks for 8 cards out of a 500 card series. If Opening Day had netted a puzzle piece or a mascot it might have pulled this one out.

Final score:

2007 Upper Deck First Edition 27, 2007 Opening Day 26

#4 '07 Fleer vs #5 '06 Bowman Heritage

Classic Fleer brought back from the dead by Upper Deck vs. classic Bowman brought back from the dead and susequently beaten right back to death by Topps in our third contest.

The packs:

2007 Fleer
224 Jeff Francis
238 Jhonny Peralta
115 Frank Thomas
25 Hank Blalock
306 Adam LaRoche Mini
367 Shawn Riggins RC
331 Ryan Sweeney RC
RS-RG Matt Garza Rookie Sensation
RS-JW Jered Weaver Rookie Sensation
391 Ryan Howard Checklist

2006 Bowman Heritage
193 Jose Valentin mini
BHP96 Pedro Beato
BHP97 Kyler Burke
167 Zach Duke foil
292 Hong-Chih Kuo RC SP
74 Ronnie Belliard
162 J.D. Drew
241 Joe Inglett RC
Checklist 1 of 3

Number of Cards:
Fleer not only has 10 cards to Bowmans 8, but the pack is half the price.

07 Fleer 10, Bowman 4

Number of cards that are actually good:
Fleer nets a Ryan Howard checklist, a LaRoche mini, Big Hurt, and even an extra Rookie Sensation as a bonus. Bowman thanksfully has a short print as the Zach Duke foil, Jose Valentin mini and JD Drew are kinda lackluster, to say the least.

07 Fleer 15, Bowman 6

Inserts and Short Prints:
Fleer has not one but TWO Rookie Sensations and Weaver and Garza aren't bad ones at that. A mini Parallel ups the count to three out of 10 in the pack. Bowman has the two 'insert' draft picks, two different parallel sets and the Kuo short print. While the extras are nice, it's hard to build a 300 card set when half the pack are inserts.

07 Fleer 19, Bowman 9

Attractiveness of the design:
Like I said before, Upper Deck has done a good job making their Fleer product look and feel like a Fleer set. Clean, simple design on the front and decent info on the back, even though there's a lot of wasted space. Bowman enlists cutting edge 1949 technology with their design. While Topps went overboard (or underboard as the case may be) in creating faded, off register fronts with random printing glitches in an attempt to look like an authentic '49 card, it actually works really well on some cards, especially on the minis. If only thay had put an ad for an official Major League Baseball Game and Bank on the backs. Oh, and not butchered their White Parallel cards. Seriously, Topps, what were you thinking??

07 Fleer 24, Bowman 11

Best card in the pack:
Fleer: 306 Adam LaRoche Mini
Bowman: 292 Hong-Chih Kuo RC SP
I don't know what it is, but these Fleer mini cards fascinate me. We've all seen cheesy parallel issues where a little divot was die-cut off the base card to make it special, but I don't think there's even been a case when the entire border was hacked off. An enterprising soul could make an entire mini set with a pair of scissors and a steady hand. I really wanted to give the best card award to the mini card in Bowman, but I can't give it to Jose Valentin. The SP wins by default once again.

07 Fleer 28, Bowman 13

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Fleer sports Ken Griffey Jr., still a Hall of Famer despite the DL stints. Bowman has a couple of refugees from a Monopoly Community Chest card playing a game of catch that defies the laws of physics. You have been drafted by the Pirates, collect $10.

07 Fleer 35, Bowman 14

Intangibles:
Ok, even if Bowman hadn't already been lapped by Fleer, Intangibles is really not their category this year. Seriously, your 1:4 pack parallel set is marked by a slightly different shade on the background color? When the actual '49 had no less than 3 different variations to choose from?? C'mon how hard is it to put a name on the front. And don't give me that "printer error" crap, you guys half-assed this one. I really hope there is a 2007 Bowman Heritage set because it would suck to end on this note. Fleer doesn't even mind it loses points for not numbering their insert sets.

Final score:

2007 Fleer 33, 2006 Bowman Heritage 7

#3 '07 Topps Heritage vs #6 '06 Topps '52 Rookie card

Straight up Heritage vs. weird mutant Heritage we won't know what box to file in 5 years from now in our second matchup.

The packs:

2007 Topps Heritage
30 Ichiro
160 Richie Sexson
368 Travis Hafner
79 Cory Patterson
280 Mark Grudzielanek
11 Rob Mackowiak
453 Akinori Otsuka
55 Felipe Lopez

2006 52 Rookies
190 Cory Morris
170 Bill Bray
182 Emiliano Fruto
TCRC85 Jim Johnson
215 Eude Brito
227 Shin-Soo Choo


Number of Cards:
Heritage edges out 52 Rookies eight to six.

Heritage 8, 52 Rookies 6

Number of cards that are actually good:
Heritage charged out of the starting gate and then completely derailed. Ichiro, Sexy and Pronk aren't bad though. The Rookies pack had a bunch of people I never heard of before, but according to this thread the Morris, Fruto and Johnson are true rookies. Well the Johnson would be if it weren't an insert, that is.

Heritage 11, 52 Rookies 9

Inserts and Short Prints:
This is literally the first Heritage pack I've seen without an insert or a short print. To add insult to injury, Grudzielanek is in the money spot of the pack. Rookies delivers with a Chrome card of Jim Johnson numbered 0836/1952. Ut oh, 52 Rookies is threatening an upset...

Heritage 11, 52 Rookies 12

Attractiveness of the design:
1958 Topps is a brilliant design, simple and eye catching. 1952 Topps is a classic design more for the historical value than anything else. It doesn't help that the design has been waaaaay overused lately. The design on the back are remarkably similar, except that the 58 version is much more efficient. 58 manages to fit in the exact same amount of information while still adding a cartoon that takes up about a quarter of the card. Plus '58 has fielding stats, beat that!

Heritage 16, 52 Rookies 14

Best card in the pack:
Heritage: 30 Ichiro
Rookies: TCRC85 Jim Johnson
Ichiro takes the crown in Heritage, good looking card of a great player. Mr. Suzuki normally ends up short printed in these sets, so it's nice to actually pull one. Oddly, Suzuki is the only card in the pack whose background color is not Yellow. Johnson Chrome wins for the Rookies pretty much by default.

Heritage 20, 52 Rookies 19

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
No spokesmen because they didn't do that sort of thing back in the 50's. Heritage has a faithful reproduction of the original '58 design, while 52 Rookies has a weird evil shadow version of the 1952 wrapper. Seriously, that thing looks sinister. Bonus points for 52 Rookies.

Heritage 22, 52 Rookies 23

Intangibles:
Topps must have wanted to get a little more use out of the photo transmogrification program they use to retro the players' mugshots. They use it more subtly on the Heritage cards, Ichiro looks like he got put through the soft focus lens they used on Bette Davis in the 40's. Not sure why this is necessary, since Topps was using real live photos on their cards in '58. The job on the 52 Rookies is a bit more hit and miss, the Morris card looks very much like it could pass in the original set, while the Bill Bray card just looks like crap.
While the two packs are at a dead heat (more due to the lousy pack I got than anything else) Heritage has one last trick up their sleeve. The little smiling baseball dude that holds the card number on the back of the 58 design has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Besides, Heritage has gum.

Final score:

2007 Heritage 25 52 Rookies 24

#1 '07 Topps vs #8 '06 Topps Updates & Highlights

Old vs. new in our first battle, as Topps faces off in a fight to make the final four.

The packs:

2007 Topps
124 Huston Street
26 Jason Jennings
103 Pedro Feliz
330 Ryan Howard
106 Ryan Garko
130 Albert Pujols
WM16 Albert Pujols
204 Juan Rivera
42 Livan Hernandez
160 Justin Verlander
76 Lastings Milledge
275 Greg Maddux

2006 Topps Update & Highlights
UH142 Anibal Sanchez RC
UH158 Russell Martin RC
UH150 Stephen Drew RC
UH138 Matt Kemp RC
UH170 John Maine RC
UH130 Dave Bush
UH122 Ronny Cedeno
MHR183 Mickey Mantle
UH255 Scott Rolen All Star
UH216 National League Strikeout Leaders
UH294 Braves Team Leaders
UH310 Orioles Team Leaders

Number of Cards:
Both packs have 12 cards, so this is a push.

07T: 12, 06TU&H: 12

Number of cards that are actually good:
The 06 pack netted a Mantle Home run insert, a Scott Rolen All Star card, 2 team leaders (Orioles & Braves), National League strikeout leaders, 5 Rookies (Anibel Sanchez, Russell Martin, Stephen Drew, Matt Kemp & John Maine) and 2 boring ol' commons.
The 07 pack turned out to be the Pujols pack. Albert's base card turned up along with his Wal-Mart Baseball history insert. Other notables include Ryan Howard, Greg Maddux and Justin Verlander (with rookie cup!).
06 Topps gets credit for 2 Smoltz cards (team leader & league leader cards), the Rolen All-Star, Mickey and one of the rookies. I'm too lazy to check if any of them are legit rookies so I'll assume 1 of the 5 probably is.
07 Topps gets 5 for the stars listed above, unfortunately the rest of the pack is commons and minor stars that just don't quite cut it in this tourney. Sorry Lastings Milledge, call back when the Mets trade you or actually gives you some PT.

07T: 17, 06TU&H: 17

Inserts and Short Prints:
No short prints in Topps, so the Mantle and Pujols inserts go head to head. Mickey hit his 183rd home run against Pedro Ramos of the Washington Senators on May 29th, 1957. Unfortunately it was a meaningless solo shot in the 9th inning of a 6-2 loss by the Yanks.
Pujols' insert is a replica of the 1949 Bowman set and is just as blurry and off-register as any in the Bowman heritage set. Advantage: Albert.

07T: 22, 06TU&H: 20

Attractiveness of the design:
Weird squares notwithstanding, black borders kick ass. Plus the more I look at it, the more I think Topps went overboard on the foil last year. 06 gets bonus points for having cartoons on the back. I really like the grass & dirt motifs on the back of the 07 Topps cards though. 2007 gets major points for actually having the card number being the same size on every card. I hate the weird random font changes on the card numbers on the 06's. And c'mon, dude, black borders.

07T: 27, 06TU&H: 20

Best card in the pack:
06: Atlanta Braves Team Leaders #UH294
07: Albert Pujols #130
I'm a diehard Braves fan, so any card with Andruw and Smoltzie wins. Dear Jesus, please let Liberty Media open the pocketbooks enough to keep at lease one of them here next year...
The Pujols card is pretty sweet though, the only way it could look any better is if Stan Musial and Scooter Libby were photoshopped into the stands.

07T: 30, 06TU&H: 25

Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
07 Topps has the MVP, Ryan Howard on the front of the pack. Interstignly, the photo is the same one used on the base card.
06 Topps gets a needed boost by having not one but three players on the front of the pack, Pujols, David Wright and Big Papi. Sorry Ryan, three is better than one in this case.

07T: 32, 06TU&H: 30

Intangibles:
Poor 06 Topps. They claw their way back in the game only to be slaughtered in the last 2 minutes. First of all it's Topps TRADED, not any of this Updates and Highlights gibberish. And the UH prefix on the card numbers is just silly. Just make this Series Three this year, number the cards 661 to whatever and do us all a favor. Five rookies in a pack is nice, but it would be nicer if they were legit First Years and not the new 'maybe' RCs. It's gonna take 5-10 years before you can be reasonably sure a card with a MLB Rookie Card Logo is really the guy's first card. Assuming you just ignore all the Bowman 'Insert' cards, that is. It was actually a relief to not see any Rookie logos in the 07 pack. Plus Huston Street has an awesome looking signature. This category is uglier than the Georgetown - North Carolina overtime.

Final score:

2007 Topps 40 2006 Topps TRADED 30

March Madness

For the first time ever, I've managed to pick the final four correctly in my bracket. If Florida can beat Georgetown in the championship game, I'll have my own trophy to put up on the shelf. Now as long as no one finds out I filled out my brackets 15 minutes before the tipoff on the first game (and actually flipped a coin on about half the first round's games), I can play it off like I actually know what I'm doing. Good thing no one reads this blog!

So, inspired by my dubious achievement and by the Baseball Card Blog's live pack blogging and team card bracket, I've decided to have my own baseball card mini-tourney to coincide with the fun in Atlanta this weekend. I've got 8 packs of cards lined up to go head to head to see which one takes the prize as the best product released by opening day that I could actually afford. And no, I don't have 40 bucks to drop on a mini box of Finest right now, and I sure as HELL ain't buying a box of Upper Deck Ultimate for whatever ungodly amount that costs. Ok, so a few 2006 packs got shuffled in the mix. Not my fault they stopped releasing the next year's product weeks before thanksgiving.

Here are my contenders:

#1 seed: 2007 Topps (Wal-Mart pack)
Jeter photoshop freakout cements Topps' #1 ranking.

#2 seed: 2007 Upper Deck First Edition
I'm dubious about this First Edition/Predictor Edition stuff, but it's Upper Deck, so they get a bump in the polls.

#3 seed: 2007 Topps Heritage
It's Heritage, so automatically a favorite to make the championship game.

#4 seed: 2007 Fleer
I have to give Upper deck credit, their take on the Fleer brand is very... Fleery. That's a complement, I think.

#5 seed: 2006 Bowman Heritage
Surprisingly high seed considering what a mess this product turned out to be.

#6 seed: 2006 Topps '52 Rookie card
Would have rated higher if most of the 'rookies' didn't have legit cards floating around already.

#7 seed: 2007 Topps Opening Day
I wonder it Target will have the monster packs of Opening Day with the Jersey card inserts again this year. Or was that Topps Total? Man, all these cheapo products kinda blend together after a while.

#8 seed: 2006 Topps Updates & Highlights
The basement dweller came down to a choice between this pack and a pack of '06 Fleer Tradition languishing at a Quik Trip. The Topps pack was dustier and had a bit of sticky schmutz on the side so it got the nod.

Winners will be determined using the following criteria:

~ Number of cards in the pack
~ Number of cards that are actually good
~ Number of inserts and short prints pulled
~ Attractiveness of the design
~ Best card in the pack
~ Spokesman on the pack wrapper
~ Intangibles, so I can screw over Upper Deck, whom I hate

When a pack advances to the next round I'll buy another pack to open for the next matchup. This gives me a convenient excuse to buy six more packs of cards. Like I really needed one. Plus I can milk this for 8 more blog posts! It's a win-win for everybody.

Predictions

No, I didn't really pick Kansas City to win the World Series. It's just a joke. To reward you for clicking however, here's a 2008 Allen & Ginter prototype card of Kari Byron.



Enjoy.

2007 Heritage short prints and variations

Beckett has the list of '07 Topps short prints and variations up on the site. Short prints appear to be one in two packs, variations are one in six.

2 Roger Clemens YT
4 Ronny Paulino
5 Derek Jeter
8 David Eckstein YN
11 Rob Mackowiak YT
13 Wilfredo Ledezma
13 Wilfredo Ledezma YT
14 Bobby Abreu
20 Robinson Cano YT
22 Jason Kendall
23 Mark Kotsay
23 Mark Kotsay YN
24 Yadier Molina YN
30 Ichiro YN
31 Beltran Perez
32 Brad Hawpe
33 Jim Thome YT
35 Woody Williams YT
40 Francisco Cordero
41 Anthony Reyes
46 Joel Zumaya YN
49 Willy Taveras
50 Mark Buehrle
50 Mark Buehrle YT
52 Jason Bay YT
53 Jose Valentin YN
57 Kelvim Escobar YN
58 Nick Swisher
58 Nick Swisher YT
59 Kevin Millwood
60 Preston Wilson YN
61 Mariano Rivera YN
65 Chris Narveson YN
67 Melvin Mora
68 Jason Jennings
70 Magglio Ordonez YN
76 Cole Hamels
76 Cole Hamels YT
77 Rafael Furcal
77 Rafael Furcal YT
78 Ryan Theriot YN
79 Corey Patterson YT
81 Stephen Drew YT
85 Omar Vizquel
85 Omar Vizquel YT
86 Fred Lewis
87 Shawn Chacon YN
92 David Wright YN
94 Xavier Nady
95 Bill Hall
97 Jeff Suppan YN
98 Ryan Zimmerman YN
100 Jose Contreras YT
101 Miguel Cairo YN
103 Carl Crawford
104 Mike Lamb
108 Hanley Ramirez YT
112 Marcus Thames
113 Brian Burres
121 Jay Payton
122 Jacque Jones
130 Manny Ramirez
131 Howie Kendrick
139 Ryan Braun
140 Johnny Damon
149 Jose Vidro
150 Alex Rodriguez
158 Cleveland Indians
159 Chris Ray
167 Brian Stokes
168 Albert Pujols
176 David Weathers
177 Jermaine Dye
185 Aaron Hill
186 Scot Shields
194 Derek Lowe
195 Russell Branyan
203 Kendry Morales
204 Rafael Soriano
212 Ty Wigginton
213 Brandon Inge
221 Josh Fields
222 Pat Neshek
230 Chase Utley
231 John Nelson
239 Doug Davis
240 Jason Giambi
248 Adam Wainwright
249 Matt Thornton
257 Aaron Cook
258 Cliff Lee
266 Andy Pettitte
267 A.J. Pierzynski
275 Jorge Posada
276 Jeff Conine
284 Doug Mientkiewicz
285 Ken Griffey Jr.
293 Ryan Garko
294 Miguel Batista
302 Angel Sanchez
303 Freddy Sanchez
311 Aaron Harang
312 Boston Red Sox
320 Kenny Lofton
321 Vladmir Guerrero/Ivan Rodriguez
329 Craig Monroe
330 Paul Lo Duca
338 Todd Walker
339 Jarrod Washburn
347 Boone Logan
348 Jimmy Rollins
356 Bernie Castro
357 Eric Stults
365 Fernando Rodney
366 Chris Duncan
374 Jose Mesa
375 Michael Young
383 Eduardo Perez
384 Scott Moore
392 Shane Youman
393 Melky Cabrera
401 Jose Reyes
402 Juan Encarnacion
410 Francisco Rodriguez
411 Ian Kinsler
419 Scott Kazmir
420 Norris Hopper
428 Cincinnati Reds
429 Ramon Hernandez
437 Vernon Wells
438 Vladimir Guerrero
446 Franklin Gutierrez
447 Mark Redman
455 Chien-Ming Wang
456 Shawn Riggans
464 Jose Garcia
465 Pedro Martinez
473 Lastings Milledge
474 Brian Sanches
482 Edgar Renteria
483 Derek Jeter
491 Ivan Rodriguez
492 Brad Penny

YN = Yellow Name Variation
YT = Yellow Team Name Variation

'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.