2009 Topps Cardinals Team Set: A Closer Look

The other day I solicited some input on one of those Topps team sets that a fellow blogger was kind enough to send me. The team set collector in me won out, and all of these cards will be going into my binder. Plus, I've just never been one to admire things inside a sealed container. I used to really like Hot Wheels as a kid, but you can be certain that I didn't keep any of them sealed inside of their plastic casings. Here's a look at the cards and how they differ from their regular Topps counterparts, with the team set cards on the right where applicable.

STL1 - Albert Pujols (Pujols was a Series 1 inclusion, though it's hard to imagine any series without Albert. Topps opted to use the photo from his 2008 NL MVP card rather than the regular one.)

STL2 - Chris Carpenter (Carp's team set card is a bit better than his oddly cropped Series 2 card, although I'm never a fan of seeing the spring training combo of red caps and grey road jerseys. I didn't dig them up to scan, but this photo looks like it was probably from the same shoot as his 2008 Bowman and 2008 Topps cards. )

STL3 - Ryan Ludwick (It's a crazy photo, but the team set card clearly outshines his Series 2 effort. It's clearly from 2008, which blows my theory of Topps recycling old photos for every card as you can see Aki Iwamura in his new style Rays jersey.)

STL4 - Adam Wainwright (Again, I love the team set photo. You can see how immensely tall Wainwright is. He was a serious pinch-hitting option off the bench especially during the lean bench years following the 2006 title which I clearly don't bring up often enough. It remains to be seen if Wainwright will be allowed to hit more than is necessary when he returns from his Tommy John surgery sometime in 2012, but I always enjoyed watching him bat.)

STL5 - Yadier Molina (Same as Series 1.)

STL6 - Chris Duncan (Same as Series 1.)

STL7 - Rick Ankiel (I don't really have a preference for either card, but I'm starting to find the pattern here. It looks like different photos are used for every Cardinal that eventually would end up in Series 2, like Ankiel.)

STL8 - Joel Piñeiro (The Series 2 action photo beats the posed photo usually reserved for rookies and players who just joined the team. Piñeiro was entering year 3 with the Cards when this came out.)

STL9 - Troy Glaus (Both photos are of the awkward, off-balance variety. I'll give the nod to the team set card again because it's of a fairly normal baseball move that you don't see captured on baseball cards all that often.)

STL10 - Chris Perez (The team set photo was taken at a much earlier time than the Series 2 card's, but I'm not sure I could pin down when exactly. The Cardinals don't wear their Sunday hats during spring training games and it certainly doesn't look like a spring training crowd, yet this looks like a pre-2008 photo and Perez didn't make his big league debut until 2008.)

STL11 - Brendan Ryan (I miss Boog's defense and his personality... maybe not so much his hitting, though. He's one of the reasons I'm keeping an eye on the Mariners this year. The Series 2 card gets the nod as his team set card is lacking the striped socks.)

STL12 - Todd Wellemeyer (Same as Series 1.)

STL13 - Skip Schumaker (I'm embarrassed to say that I'm actually missing Skip's 2009 Topps base card. If you look at this Amazon scan, you'll notice that his Series 2 equivalent is the same photo but with less cropped. If you want to talk about embarrassing, though, just check out how they bungled his last name on the team set card.)

STL14 - Khalil Greene (The team set card is Photoshopped.)

STL15 - Fredbird (And Fredbird's always a nice way to end things, as the "Bonus Card".)

If anyone has that pesky Skip Schumaker (#534), please let me know.

Another Dilemma

First off, I promise that this blog isn't turning into my Personal Collecting Dilemma/Impromptu Poll/How To Fix My Life blog this week. It just seems like it. Secondly, I'm still not convinced that an iPhone is capable of taking a decent picture. (The first picture was from the phone and the second was from my scanner. They both suck.) I am, once again, soliciting your advice if you're reading this and - here's the important part - if you're a team collector like I am.

This 2009 Topps Cardinals team set was a gift from Rhubarb_Runner, who is conveniently located in alignment with my collecting interests. This was part of the box o' fun I received awhile back that I threatened to use for several future posts. This is one of those posts. Here's the issue: I want these cards in my Cardinals binders. They are unique. Well... unique enough that they have their own numbering scheme. A few of the cards from these team sets are previews of Series 2 card photos, but there's always one or two cards that ends up being its own entity. Sometimes a player never makes one of the sets or is traded before the next series is released. Sometimes it's just... Fredbird. I mean, come on... I have no 2009 Topps Fredbird cards in my binder. What can I do? The problem is that these teams sets have their own cool little display to them and would look nice stashed away somewhere if I left them alone. I guess I could buy another one.

There's no dilemma about this card. Dan Haren will forever be known as the one that got away, even if Brett Wallace continues to be a singles and doubles machine like he has been in 2011. Haren is one of the upper crust of starting pitchers in baseball, but he was one of the heap of players that was shipped off to Oakland for a two-time All-Star lefty whose name shall not be mentioned.

It's a classy touch that this jersey card is numbered 39 out of 100. I don't often scan card backs here, but I had to show off the rare instance where a "hit" card actually looked like it had some thought put into it. There's a second photo that shows up only on the back. Sometimes it's all about the little things for me. Actually, that's probably most of the time. I deliberately held this card out of my previous post, but I felt like it was a good time to show it now. Maybe it will make up for my blurry team set photos.

I'm far from done with the box o' fun. That's just a warning. Hey, at least it might make up for all of the basketball posts last month, right?

For way more info on Topps team sets than I could possibly provide, check out JayBee's blog on all things Topps.

Our Long National Nightmare is Over

... and Ty Cobb is pleased. Somewhat.

I picked up a Topps cereal box (remember those?) from way back in the halcyon days of 2009 for the discounted price of $5.99 on Saturday during a trip to an area K-Mart. Going to K-Mart is a really weird experience, perhaps only surpassed by the reactions of friends seeking an explanation as to why you went to a K-Mart and the realization that such a place still exists.

Here's some things I found in the box:

Base cards! Lots of them... like Clayton Kershaw. I don't remember this card at all, really, but it's a nice photo. Series 1 was a striking success in Topps photography. Series 2, if I recall, was a bit of a mixed bag, favoring the shocking action photo over focus.

I seem to recall there were a lot of these types of shots as well. There's a lot of pitcher and not much else in the frame.

WBC inserts come around in every other cereal box. Fu-Te Ni signed with the Detroit Tigers for the 2009 season but has struggled to stay with the parent club ever since.

Michael Jack! This card is a reminder that the Phillies were not always so hate-able.

I have to say that I was looking forward to the Turkey Red insert in the box more than anything else, but it's also not really a smart economic decision to spend $6 on the chance that I'll get one card that I need. Oh well. I did need this card, thankfully.

Follow Todd Helton... to freedom!

Of course, there were the requisite Cardinals cards. I got Colby's "official" rookie card along with a Khalil Greene card. I wonder what Khalil is up to these days.

I was hoping for Bob Gibson, of course, but my cereal box refractor prize ended up being Cy Young. Why should I have expected anything different?

Airbrushed Fridays: 2009 Topps #537

This week's post is brought to you by the lovely and talented Erin, who weighs in about a misstep featuring one of her favorite subjects. Enjoy!

To those that know me, it is no surprise I would be writing about an Anthony Reyes card. This is a player I have had to defend to my family of die hard Cardinals fans time and time again. Great Cardinals fans as they are, my family never gave Anthony Reyes a fair shake. (Of course, the same could be - and should be - said about the Cardinals organization.) I could go on about that, but you're reading this to check out the card and not read about how Anthony Reyes was completely mishandled and perhaps had his baseball career derailed to the point of no return. I surely hope the latter is not true.

Anthony Reyes is THE 2006 World Series Game 1 Winner. (And, of course, a member of the World Series Champions, St. Louis Cardinals.) In his lone start, he went 8 innings, defeating Justin Verlander and the Tigers in Detroit. It was rather tough feat, in a game the Cardinals entered without high expectations from their young pitcher.

Why did Topps airbrush Anthony's photo? There really isn't any (good) reason why this picture is airbrushed. Reyes was with Cleveland the year before this card debuted, albeit late in the year, after a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals in late July 2008. He clocked in 6 starts in 2008, giving the Topps team ample photo opportunities. (Especially considering this card is not from series one, it is from series TWO.) That's flat out lazy, Topps. Pathetic. Shameful. And so on.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? If one merely glances at this card, they could easily overlook the photoshopped elements. However, I noticed right away something was off. It is more than possible that my keen eye decided to present itself because this is an Anthony Reyes card. It seems people that photoshop baseball cards are unaware of how fabric should MOVE. Check out the end of the name "Cleveland." Not only does the "land" look compeltely straight and stiff, the "nd" is riding on Anthony's shoulder. If Anthony stood up straight, that uniform would look mighty ridiculous, as the letters would be completely off kilter.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

Part of This Complete Breakfast

At some point I will either stop buying Topps cereal boxes or I will run out of silly breakfast-related blog post titles. In any case, I bought a box of this stuff, Series 2 style, and have chosen this moment to reveal its contents. I haven't bought any cards in awhile, mostly due to budget constraints, so I can't remember exactly when I purchased this. My primary memories of the day involved delicious tacos made with handmade tortillas purchased from a cart on SE 82nd & Holgate.

As usual, in Series 2 there is one legendary refractor of a legendary player or some such thing. Unfortunately, they used some of the same players they used in Series 1 and I now have two different Cy Young cards and no shiny Cardinals.

Here's the rest of the box:

388 - Humberto Quintero

622 - Kurt Suzuki

535 - Ryan Doumit (Three catchers in a row to start things off.)

611 - Jeremy Hermida

652 - Doug Davis

360 - Jorge Posada (One leg at a time...)

393 - Alex Cintron

360 - Nick Markakis

538 - Carlos Guillen (According to the back of his card, Guillen just owns Esteban Loaiza. Frankly, though, who doesn't?)

512 - Steve Pearce (Pearce is finally get a serious shot at the majors this season at age 26.)

458 - Jeremy Bonderman

435 - Carlos Lee

392 - Brandon Phillips (I have it on good word that Phillips walks up to the plate to "Turn My Swag On" by Soulja Boy.)

347 - Jason Bartlett

501 - Jeff Suppan (Suppan faces the Cardinals later today. He has a 7-3 record against his former team and has turned in some pretty frustrating/dominant performances. Hopefully the Hitting Cards show up.)

404 - Matt Capps

473 - Jered Weaver (Do you still think that Jeff Weaver causes more eye-strain of the two brothers?)

457 - John Maine

405 - Todd Helton

343 - Ian Snell

380 - Aramis Ramirez (I'm hoping his return from the DL won't spark some sort of Cubs rally within the division.)

428 - Jamie Moyer (A magnifying glass is recommended if you want to read his stats on the back.)

547 - Jack Cust (Cust is a pretty unique player. He walked as many times as he recorded a hit last season - 111. He struck out 197 times and only hit .231, yet had a pretty decent OPS because of all of the walks.)

602 - Carlos Gomez

620 - Ryan Zimmerman

346 - Mike Cameron (Cameron struck out 1642 times going into this season.)

BCS20 - Bernie Williams World Baseball Classic (Bernie is one of my all-time favorite Yankees. I was pretty excited to see him play in the WBC, though he didn't get a ton of playing time.)

LG-FT - Frank Thomas Legends of the Game (I realize Topps is trying to add more contemporary players to the "Legends" mix, but I think I enjoy getting retired Hall of Famers in this insert set more... unless it's Pujols, of course.)

TR100 - Honus Wagner Turkey Red (So this is something like 3 down and 47 to go with these Turkey Red inserts from Series 2. It seems like the coating on this card is shinier than usual. Well, at least I didn't get a third Jay Bruce card.)

TTT47 - Carlos Beltran Topps Town

470 - Lance Berkman (Speaking of coating, I feel like the Series 2 regular cards have less UV gloss than usual. I read somewhere that someone felt they almost had a blueish tint to them, but I am not seeing that. I do think that they skimped on the UV coating and went for a budget style or something.)

456 - Jason Kendall (This is becoming a Brewer-heavy box.)

365 - Mark Buehrle

356 - Ervin Santana

382 - Wily Mo Pena

424 - Jorge Campillo (I'm trying to think of something to say about Campillo, but all I can think of is that I had no idea he used to be a Mariner.)

498 - Kyle Davies

556 - Brendan Ryan (I'm pretty surprised that Ryan has become the primary SS for the Cards in 2009. He's probably played the best infield defense on the team, gold glovers inclusive.)

653 - Nick Evans

333 - Jeremy Sowers / Aaron Laffey Chief Lefties

396 - Alex Cora

477 - Josh Willingham

579 - Rocco Baldelli

387 - Adam Everett

658 - Rick Porcello (RC)

486 - J.J. Putz (Something tells me that I should have cashed in on the bargain rack Putz Mariners shirts last winter.)

474 - Franklin Guiterrez (I was trying to think of something interesting to say about Gutierrez when I looked at the back of his card...)

Well, I'm pretty sure his name is not Jose. Gutierrez is a Seattle outfielder, so I'm guessing his "niche in history" is actually Jose Lopez's. I would try to do some research on this card to find out of it's some crazy rare error card, but I'm pretty sure that card companies these days do not correct any errors with their cards. They only seem to "correct" their intentional gimmicky errors.

613 - Kendry Morales

642 - Ken Macha (Ha, ha, ha! The Brewers lost last night. You can stop laughing now!)

543 - Travis Ishikawa

367 - Bobby Abreu

644 - Alfredo Aceves (RC)

660 - Jacoby Ellsbury

361 - Alex Rios / Vernon Wells Power Jays (Erin tells me that Vernon Wells has a case of the suck this year, because apparently he is doing a disservice to her fantasy team.)

555 - Joe Girardi

How Topps Defeated Upper Deck in 2009: Exhibit A

I threw my wantlist into the ring awhile back and Scott from Hand Collated sent over a few 2009 Cardinals that I needed, including my first "rookie cards" of NL ROY candidate Colby Rasmus. For some reason, Upper Deck chose a cheesy spring training "signing autographs for the fans" shot for their first look at Colby. It's a strange choice, if you ask me, because this seems to be sort of a cliche photo choice usually reserved for superstar players. At this point, Rasmus had yet to appear in a counting major league game.

I think the Topps card is perfect, however. I'm admittedly a sucker for the photos where you can see the ball suspended in mid-air. This card just looks great, though. I like that you can see the coach observing his young prodigal player in the background. Colby seems a little different than a lot of young players. He did not walk once in the entire month of June and claims that he isn't interested in walking, only hitting. I am also not impressed with his arm, having seen him hit the pitcher's mound at least twice now with a throw from the outfield. But he does have a lot of talent and he did hit the big walkoff HR in Wednesday night's game. I will be rooting for him, of course, because he's a Cardinal.

I also picked up my first two Ring of Honor cards in the trade. These apparently are hobby-only inserts, which would explain why I was lacking in that department. I don't think I like the design, but anything honoring the World Series Champion Cardinals is alright in my book.

Of course, I'm not sure how this would constitute a trade if I don't actually send something back in return. Oops. I'll be poring over the want lists and will have something in the mail soon, I promise.

Jumbo! Topps

Nothing fancy here - just a jumbo pack from 2009 Topps Series 2. This was part of my first and only purchase so far of Topps Series 2 product. (I haven't bought any cards in a week and a half. Be proud of me.) If you look closely, you can see the legendary Bobby Crosby peeking through the plastic.

464 - Bobby Crosby

426 - Pablo Sandoval (Sandoval has hit at every level so far, but the Giants are still trying to figure out what position works best for him.)

386 - Jonathan Papelbon (At least he's not squatting.)

340 - Joe Mauer (I think I like any card featuring that helmet. I'm so glad I didn't trade Mauer on draft day.)

354 - Mike Aviles (This is the card with the lousy photoshopped rookie cup that I don't feel like showing because I've seen it a bunch of times on other blogs.)

539 - Miguel Olivo

384 - Bob Melvin

606 - Nick Johnson (Horizontal cards seem to come in a pattern. This is the third in a row. I'm not sure why that is.)

LGCB-JR - Jackie Robinson Career Best Legends

466 - Wilson Betemit Gold 0716/2009 (I'll have to toss this in with a White Sox trade or something. Betemit sure seems to float around a bit.)

TTT42 - Kevin Youkilis Topps Town

477 - Josh Willingham ("A high school shortstop who was drafted as a catcher, he can help Washington as either an outfield or first baseman. Since '06, he's hit the seventh-most homers of NL leftfielders." Dude, pick a position!)

579 - Rocco Baldelli (Bleh, I know... a Red Sox card. I'm not used to Baldelli being on that team yet, though, and I like the picture.)

387 - Adam Everett

335 - Chris Young the outfielder

624 - Ben Francisco

475 - Chipper Jones (Wearing the silly orangey-red alternate uniform the Braves sometimes wear.)

494 - Gary Matthews

462 - James Loney

562 - Cecil Cooper (Being that he's the Astros manager now, I kinda feel bad for him.)

578 - Adam Kennedy (Ugh, get this guy out of my face. This card catches him in his short-lived Rays career. Now he's putting up some ridiculous 1.000-ish OPS for Oakland.)

618 - Brandon Backe (Get him out of my face, too, please. I'll sic a Pujols card on him, I swear.)

410 - Lou Pinella (Both Chicago managers are basically cartoon characters.)

517 - Kevin Frandsen (I have no idea what's going on here, but it looks awesome.)

555- Joe Girardi (More horizontal cards. This is the first of four straight.)

433 - Coco Crisp (I wonder if Kaufmann Stadium has breakfast cereal giveaways. Feel free to pay me, if you can afford it, if you use my idea.)

516 - Brian Anderson (Another will-he-or-won't-he shot here. I'm going to say that he swings and misses.)

594 - Milton Bradley (I love the Cubs getting rid of stable players and getting guys like Bradley. I'd cross my fingers and hope that they got Manny Ramirez, too, but he'd probably do really well at Wrigley if he wasn't suspended.)

TR76 - Jay Bruce Turkey Red (Argh... 50 Turkey Red cards possible in the set and I already have this one!)

333 - Sowers & Laffey Chief Lefties (I get it.)

396 - Alex Cora (I always get Alex Cora mixed up with Joey Cora and think that he's been around for 20+ years.)

447 - Freddy Sanchez

646 - Chris Iannetta

590 - Johnny Damon

502 - Yovani Gallardo (Great photo here. I might have to cool it with the Brewers scans, though, as the Cardinals are locked in with them in a tight race.)

421 - B.J. Ryan (Woo!! Blue Jays Forever!!!)

I also have a cereal box to post another time.