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.

'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.