Fookie Isn't There

We're mere minutes away from the first pitch of the Cardinals first counting game of 2013. Rafael Furcal isn't going to be there. There are a couple of question marks in the lineup right now, and most of those types of conversations begin with a guy named Pete Kozma who for now is the starting shortstop. Furcal should have gotten surgery eons ago, but the final decision didn't come down until spring training was well underway. He probably won't see any action in 2013.

Mark Kaz sent this jersey card to me awhile back. I wish there was some sort of Cardinals logo somewhere on it, but I'll have to settle for Rafael in Royal Blue instead.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #413

Since this is officially 2013 Topps Week, it would have been appropriate for me to post one of the cards from the new set here. I guess you'll have to wait on that. Has anyone seen any ridiculously Photoshopped cards yet? Let me know in the comments.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Frank Francisco is a Dominican-born right-handed reliever who has spent most of his career as a setup guy and part-time closer. He's never been particularly amazing, but he's had his moment and won't usually make a team worse. According to Fangraphs, he's amassed 5.7 WAR in his career. That's not great, but it's serviceable.

Why is this a thing? Francisco spent most of his career with Texas, but after a one year stint with Toronto, the Mets gave him his first big payday to the tune of a 2 year/12 million dollar deal. Topps seems to produce Series 2 cards at the same time as Series 1, just holding them back for purely financial reasons, so Francisco probably hadn't taken the field with his new team while this card was developed.

Airbrushed Fridays is a regular, weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and a bunch of expired 2012 Topps Golden Giveaway codes, but you never know!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #554

Welcome to an afternoon edition of Airbrushed Fridays. While people are still getting worked up about Mike Trout being snubbed in the MVP vote in favor of the first Triple Crown winner in 45 years, I present to you another example of why the entire awards thing is a farce. It's not worth getting worked up over when it's this ridiculous, you know.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Okay, I don't know much about this Twitter thing, but check this out. Since the link probably won't make sense after a couple of days, I took a screenshot.

So, Raul Ibanez, a 40 year old part time outfielder (384 ABs) with more or less an average OPS for a 4th outfielder/DH type, gets an MVP vote. Granted, it's a 10th place vote, but apparently there were only 9 players in the entire American League more valuable last year than a guy that spends half his time on the bench? I don't want to sell Raul short. He had a very nice and very long career. He may not even be done with the game at his age. That's great. I just don't think they short put sportswriters in charge of anything anymore.

Why does this card exist? Ibanez had his worst season as a full-time player at age 39 and the Phillies were done with him by the time 2012 rolled around. The Yankees signed him as a free agent. He had a nice little playoff run and stepped in for the perpetually disappointing Alex Rodriguez and hit some HRs.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and a "writing" gig for Bleacher Report, but you never know!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #533

Are you a team collector who wants to stick it to The Man for putting out an expensive addendum to the 2012 Topps Heritage set? Do you just like baseball cards? Participation? Join the Padrographs Heritage High Numbers Group Break now. There are some teams left and you can complete an otherwise annoying team set.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Ian Stewart is a struggling third baseman who showed a bit of promise early in his career before bottoming out in Denver.

Why does this card exist? The Rockies shipped Stewart to the Cubs for the similarly struggling Tyler Colvin. Colvin bounced back quickly and Stewart did not. This card is a Photoshop disaster of epic proportions, by the way. They tried to reconcile the fact that Stewart's uniform is a bit wrinkled by making the Chicago logo letters "wavy" in a weird way. It doesn't work. Also, I'm pretty sure his uniform number is threatening to cut into his arm.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and some voided election ballots, but you never know!

Odds & Ends & More Trade Bait

I have cards flying in and out the door these days at a high rate. I'm still making good headway with Listia, despite my 0% success rate in referrals. I picked up this fake-o Bob Gibson patch and a couple of certified autos from the 2003 Bowman's Best set recently, one of which (should become obvious) is up for grabs. I also bought a few more packs of Update at Target and took advantage of a loose pack sale which strikes me as the first time I've ever seen that store do anything of the sort.

This is the "up for grabs" card. I couldn't tell you who Eider Torres is, but he came with the card I was really bidding on. Hopefully I can make a super hardcore Cleveland fan something slightly more favorable than indifferent with this card someday.

This is my second certified auto of Tyler Johnson won from Listia. He was a key member of the bullpen on the rag-tag Cardinals crew that won the 2006 World Series. These autos are on card, which is always nice.

Nothing remarkable emerged from the three Update packs, aside from one of my packs containing two Golden Giveaway code cards. I finally earned myself a $10 shoptopps.com code. Hooray!

I like the Target parallels well enough, but I should take some time to hit one of the other big box stores if I want any variety in my pack ripping life.

So the big Target sale was on loose packs of 2012 Topps Series 1 and 2. Not only were they 50 cents off, knocking the initial price down from 1.99 to 1.49, but it was also a "Buy 3 Get 1 Free" sale. 8 packs of Series 2 ended up costing me just $9, which is a nice deal. Somehow, I actually struck out in the code department, but I did get another pile of inserts and parallels that are fully up for grabs.

George Brett is a guy. He's on a card. You can have that card if you want.

I swear this is the fourth time that I've pulled this card and I really haven't bought all that much Series 2.

Just imagine that the ball is a taco.

It's sad because Galarraga's career has gone nowhere but south since this game.

Dillon Gee's hobbies include hunting and golf!

What's worse, breaking your ankle in the ALCS at Jeter's age or going 0-for-13,000 like A-Rod?

I hate these cards. I am fearful that Topps will come up with something even worse than the gold sparkle and diamond vomit for next season.

Cameron Maybin. On acid.

I should mention that there was also a dearth of Cardinals cards in these packs. I still need to go over my want lists and add some things to them, especially in the Topps base department.

There's a lot of wasted space on this card, especially in that red area.

I've heard of this guy!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #395

Chris Carpenter is back, but the Cardinals bullpen is not. Rough loss to the Cubs today, though one could say any loss to the Cubs this season should be considered "rough" no matter what the circumstances.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Rod Barajas is a journeyman catcher who has bounced around the league, often serving as a backup, since 1999. He's got a little bit of power with the bat, but not much... you could call it "catcher power", I suppose.

Why does this card exist? The Pirates signed Barajas last offseason after he spent a year and change in Los Angeles with the non-Anaheim Dodgers of California. For some reason, whoever Photoshopped this card decided that the Pirates name and the uniform number needed to be so close that they're almost touching. Good job, otherwise. So close.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and some candy corn Oreos, but you never know!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #476

There's just a few more weeks left in this baseball season. I'm still feeling relatively good about the Cardinals chances this year, but I really wish there was only one wild card spot available as in years past. I can't stand the thought of an entire six month's seasons worth of games played nearly every day coming down to some arbitrary 9 inning affair. If you are a wild card play-in game loser, do you even consider yourself a playoff team? Will you remember that your team made it ten years down the road? Will there be baseball cards featuring photos of your team in the playoffs under the lights? Will Joe Buck care? (Probably not.)

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Ramon Hernandez is an offense-first catcher who has bounced around the league a bit and is currently at the twilight of his career. He was an all-star in his final season with Oakland, the team that drafted him.

Why does this card exist? After several successful seasons with the Reds, Hernandez was signed by the Rockies this past offseason. He has floundered in Colorado while threatening to set career lows in nearly every category while being used sparingly. This card continues the trend of Topps using Photoshopped images liberally in its Series 2 product. Let's hope they change this next year, although seeing that they're rehashing some of the same design concepts for their base set next year that they've used going on some six years now, I have my doubts.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and the orange dust from the bottom of a Doritos bag, but you never know!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #588

Sure, Allen & Ginter is still fresh on the shelves, but aren't we already at the point in the year where there's almost nothing left to come out? Aside from the Update set, is there anything else to look forward to on the release schedule? I really wanted to make this the year of working on old sets, but I haven't done the greatest job so far. I suppose there's another 5+ plus months left to go, however.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Mark Ellis is an average, unremarkable but also inoffensive second baseman. Like many of his Oakland teammates (Eric Chavez also comes to mind), he's not someone I really ever paid attention to. He just plays baseball and continues to get paid to do it. Ellis is like the Gin Blossoms were in the grunge era: palatable, but not terribly interesting.

Why does this card exist? Ellis ended his 10 year career with the Athletics last season with a brief stay in Colorado. This past offseason, the Dodgers signed him as a free agent because they are the Dodgers. In the past couple of years, they have given homes to quite a bit of MLB flotsam. This year's roster alone has included the likes of Juan Uribe, Adam Kennedy, Mike "Mac the 9th" MacDougal, Bobby Abreu and Todd Coffey, just to name a few. Don Mattingly must have the same fondness for the "scrappy veteran" that Tony La Russa had.

Airbrushed Fridays is a weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and some cancelled postage stamps, but you never know!

5 on the 5: 2012 Topps Series 2

I finally took the plunge and ponied up for some 2012 Topps Series 2 packs as I mentioned recently. Here we are in late June, and I've only bought something like 15 total packs of the flagship Topps series. I should be proud of myself, I guess. Unlike with Series 1, however, I didn't get in on a group break so I am going to have to do a lot more chasing to get the Cardinals cards I need for my collection. These packs managed to help a little bit, though.

Pack 1:
419 - Cameron Maybin (Maybin started to show some life last year as a useful, productive player when he stole 40 bases, but he's really not been a lot of help to my fantasy team this time around.)

402 - Allen Craig (It's nice to hit a Cardinal so early on. This is a nice shot from last year's World Series. My favorite photos are when the baseball is captured mid-flight.)
450 - Justin Upton
556 - Stephen Strasburg
584 - Daric Barton (The one-time Cardinals prospect has been the ultimate Moneyball player. He walks a lot and is still relatively cheap, though he's had a rough time since his 2010 breakout season.)
445 - Ramon Santiago

399 - Brian McCann Golden Parallel (Well, Yadier Molina has finally surpassed this six-time All-Star as an offensive player. For now. I'm crossing my fingers.)

GF-37 - Jordan Walden Gold Futures (I believe this is a new-to-Series 2 insert set. I'm guessing there are relic versions of these with the relic replacing the team logo.)
517 - Francisco Liriano
486 - Jerry Sands
521 - Ruben Tejada
627 - Justin Smoak (I wonder if he'll ever put it together.)

Pack 2:
421 - Heath Bell
389 - Alexi Casilla
449 - Shane Victorino

507 - Norichika Aoki (I think with the arrival of Aoki, Cespedes and others this season, the novelty of the international prospect has finally worn off. These players are being judged for what they do on the field now.)
534 - Hector Gomez

GM-9 - Ryan Howard Golden Moments (Howard is making 20 million dollars this season. I wonder if he has any more Subway commercials in him.)
GGC-12 - Felix Hernandez Golden Giveaway Code (It's time to see what I get with my first code from Series 2... Detroit Tigers team coin!)
608 - Paul Goldschmidt
563 - Alex White
525 - Paul Maholm
510 - Randall Delgado
536 - Kendrys Morales

Pack 3:
398 - Buster Posey

415 - Rafael Furcal (Fookie!)
519 - Gio Gonzalez
465 - Michael Schwimer
484 - Hisashi Iwakuma

540 - Dustin Pedroia Golden Parallel (He's flying.)
GGC-14 - Clayton Kershaw Golden Giveaway Code (Another code! And it's... a David Ortiz coin! I also passed some sort of threshold that affords me a free code, which for some reason showed me a graphic of a certain Angels first baseman on a gold coin wearing a Brewers cap and looking like Ryan Braun. And my bonus prize is... an Adrian Gonzalez coin!)
569 - Travis Hafner

371 - Jim Thome (Word up.)
611 - Neftali Feliz
596 - Freddy Garcia
545 - Randy Wolf

Pack 4:

407 - Torii Hunter (Hunter continues to have some of the most entertaining baseball cards out there.)
567 - Mike Stanton
655 - Ryan Doumit
337 - Glen Perkins
568 - Jason Castro

CD-18 - Robinson Cano Career Day (This is another new-to-Series 2 parallel, but I actually like the design.)

355 - Mark Buehrle Target Red Parallel (The Cards start a series against the Tacky Fish tomorrow, but they'll miss Buehrle.)

490 - Chris Carpenter (Get well soon, Carp!)
471 - James Shields
395 - Jonathan Lucroy
485 - Carlos Marmol (I think I stepped on a marmol once.)
549 - Kelly Johnson

Pack 5:
403 - Bronson Arroyo
334 - Anthony Rizzo (The super-hyped Rizzo is supposedly making his debut with the Small Bears on Tuesday.)
447 - Jair Jurrjens

530 - Cliff Pennington (I like the throwback uni.)
538 - Wilson Betemit

GM-30 - Mark Teixeira Golden Moments

GGC-19 - Derek Jeter Golden Giveaway Code (Nice to get three codes in five packs. I'm a bit past the point of being excited about virtual coins, however. I got a Lou Gehrig HOF coin.)

376 - Carlos Quentin (A non-Photoshopped player in his new uniform!)
590 - Humberto Quintero (Don't tell Topps or anything, but Quintero was traded before the season even started yet appears in his former Astros uniform here.)
426 - Eric Hinske
467 - Juan Francisco
350 - Evan Longoria

Everything here is up for grabs aside from the Cardinals card and the flying Pedroia, because Erin likes the flying guys.

Photoshopped or Not: Paul Maholm

Sometimes it's really hard for me to identify a Topps touch-up job. I initially scanned this card from Series 2 with the intent on using it for yesterday's Airbrushed Fridays post. When I examined the card itself, it looked like a fraud. Often times on Photoshopped images, the lettering and logos look all stretchy and weird. And it seemed like the 'C' on Maholm's chest just about runs into his glove. After I scanned the image and looked at it all zoomed in, I started to have my doubts. A quick Google search led me to this image of Maholm's card from the Cubs team set, which is clearly 'Shopped. The thing is, it's doubtful (though not impossible) that Topps would have used a new photo for Series 2 if it wasn't the real deal.

Weigh in with your thoughts about this fairly insignificant card of a fairly anonymous Cubs pitcher in the comments section.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps #421

On this date ten years ago, my favorite pitcher in baseball died suddenly and tragically. MLB Network is going to air a special about Darryl Kile at some point next month. If you don't know much about him, or even if you do, I highly recommend you check it out. I know that I'll be watching.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Heath Bell is the current Miami Marlins closer. He struggled mightily at first, adapting to his new surroundings, but he has not allowed a run in his last 9 outings. Bell came into his own as a late innings reliever with the Padres and grabbed hold of the closer role when the great Trevor Hoffman moved on. Miami seemingly shelled out big bucks to anyone and everyone who would listen this offseason and Bell was one to sign on the dotted line.

Why does this card exist? I broke down and bought some new Series 2 packs when I realized that many of the cards are Photoshopped. In this case, it's more Topps Laziness on display here, as they used this same photo in the Opening Day set. Usually, you would expect more out of Series 2, which is where you're supposed to see your favorite players in their actual new uniforms. Maybe they don't allow photographers in that new eyesore of a stadium that they have going on in Florida.

Airbrushed Fridays is a regular, weekly feature as the name seems to imply. If you know of a card with an altered photograph that you'd like to see featured, please contact me. You probably won't win anything other than a hyperlink and a stack of 1990 Pro Set football cards, but you never know!