Airbrushed Fridays: 2008 Topps Finest #89

I'm not sure who came up with the hexagonal baseball card design, but I think it needs to be retired immediately.

Troy Glaus was a four-time All-Star third baseman who is best known for being one of centerpieces to the Anaheim Angels successful run to the 2002 World Series. While not officially retired, he has not played this season and has opted to "spend more time with his family", which I believe is agentspeak for "no team offered him a major league contract."

Why did Topps airbrush Troy's photo? After Troy's Angels run was over, he spent a year in Arizona followed by two seasons in Toronto. The Blue Jays and Cardinals hooked up for an increasingly rare "match trade" in which the teams exchanged third basemen straight up. Toronto got Scott Rolen and his perpetually damaged shoulder out of the deal. Oddly enough, the deal just about balanced itself out. The Cards got an extremely productive '08 out of Glaus, who also displayed some surprisingly stellar glove work at the hot corner while Rolen had an anemic '08 at the plate. 2009 saw Rolen rebound with an .846 OPS before he was dealt to Cincinnati while Glaus made just 32 plate appearances in a hobbled state.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? There is no number on the jersey front, which really bugs me. The Cardinals went with this look in the late '90s for a couple of seasons (think McGwire era) and I am annoyed every time I see a Cardinal card or photo where there's no jersey number on the front. It just looks wrong. The Cardinals have a good history of rarely messing with their jerseys, which have essentially been the same since they ditched the polyester and stripes era in the early '90s and returned to the navy blue road caps.

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.

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #16

I may have made a real mistake here with this series. By the time I finish things out, it may very well be more than a year since I officially ranked this list. I know that, for example, I don't dislike the Houston Astros even half as much as I once did. They're much too hapless to feel anything for.

The Rangers are another team that I don't feel much for, aside from the Nolan Ryan late career fever that swept through baseball around my high school collecting days. As a side effect, I still have something like 200 Nolan Ryan cards, some of which are featured in this post. I usually try to shake things up a bit more, but this is one of those teams whose cards seem to automatically get sorted into a pile to send to a fellow blogger.

Favorite current Rangers player: Arthur Rhodes. As much as I'm tempted to vote for @str8edgeracer, Arthur Lee Rhodes is a tough old dude who was born in the '60s. Yes, those '60s!

Least favorite current Rangers player: Josh Hamilton. This was a tough choice, because I really don't care about Hamilton one way or another. Michael Young used to annoy me (most likely because he cost the NL an All-Star Game or two) but it's easy to be on his side now that we see the sacrifices he's made for his team. Elvis Andrus has a stupid name, but that's probably not his fault. I'm going with Hamilton because I'm tired of hearing about his story.

Favorite Rangers player of all-time: Nolan Ryan. I can't really reconcile this choice with present-day Nolan Ryan, who seems to almost constantly be in the spotlight when it comes to the Rangers. What he did in his playing career was astounding, however, especially while in his 40s. And there's always the whole Robin Ventura incident.

Least favorite Rangers player of all-time: Alex Rodriguez. To me, the A-Rod cash grab that made him a Ranger was the best example of a talented young player chasing the big bucks and leaving a franchise that could have made him one of the most beloved players in baseball. I dislike A-Rod the Ranger a lot more than A-Rod the Yankee. By his Yankees years, we all knew him as an overpaid superstar who would likely be sold to the highest dollar. Seeing him wearing Texas gear is a reminder of the era of the bloated contract.

The Texas Rangers are here and clear at #16 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them on October 4th, 2010. All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

Cardinal Card Pageantry

It was a cerebral evening in the land of Major League Baseball, even though the game itself was a tad bit on the depressing side thanks to multiple tributes to tragic losses of life and Joe Buck's apparently virus-stricken pipes. (No, apparently he doesn't always sound that way.) Nevertheless, I figured this was as good of a time as any to break out a few gems I had been holding on to for one reason or other.

The card at the top of the post is just my second "1 of 1" that I've managed to get my hands on. It's almost hard to remember the crazy Albert Pujols card I pulled in a group break awhile back. I'm not even going to link to it because for some reason I think it has prevented me from ever participating in a team-based group break ever again. This quirky little Chris Carpenter gem, upon first glance, looked like 2008 Goudey. I did not recall that set having printing plates, however.

It turns out that this design is actually something Upper Deck had visited just two years previous to that Goudey release, even on down to the "Ken Griffey Jr. says..." thing on the front. 2006 Fleer Tradition has been a staple of the repack game for awhile now, but I had never seen or heard of the Goudey Greats inserts that were apparently a pretty tough pull in their own right. If you remove a couple of the design elements, you basically have the same set. How strange. If you haven't guessed by now, this came to me as part of the Smed's Spring Cleaning extravaganza. I think I need to find out how I can live in a place where I find diamonds in my couch instead of pocket lint and pennies when I'm doing a little cleaning of my own.

Another quirky card was included in the lot that I overlooked the first couple of times I laid my eyes on it. This is a 2002 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion insert of brief star Bud Smith. Gold parallels are pretty familiar to the Fleer Ultra brand, but apparently this year the prospects cards were also serial numbered to 100.

This one is clearly strange, however, as there is no number before the "/100" on the back. Has anyone else run across a weird numbering gaffe like this? The only other example I could find on eBay of a prospect Gold Medallion card from this same set had normal serial numbering.

Finally, in the spirit of the All-Star Game, here's a card that I am trying to make myself feel better about overpaying for. It's one of your garden variety 2008 Upper Deck jersey cards, but it's Yadier Molina so it's automatically awesome. Don't listen to the haters out there (you know who you are, you Braves-loving blogger types.) Yadi is great. Despite coming off of the bench in the big hype fest of a game, he was the most visible Cardinal and got the most playing time of the three representatives. I snagged this particular card at a card shop because I felt weird about going there for the third time and basically not buying anything besides supplies yet again. The place is just not very inviting for someone like me who likes to dig through boxes and search for bargains and buy cheap packs. Oh well... whatever pays the rent.

Here's to a huge "second half" where a certain team donning the Birds on the Bat gets to make good use of the home field advantage gained by their league tonight.

Talkin' Junk

I'm still in catch-up mode on the trade posts right now. Aren't we all? I have a few stacks of cards ready to go out as soon as I find some usable padded envelopes as well, but that doesn't keep me from wanting to keep this whole trading game going.

Along those lines, I recently exchanged packages with the The Junk Blog. The Henchmeister, who might just still be drunk over the Boston Bruins capture of the Stanley Cup, sent me some Topps Heritage set needs along with a few Cardinals for good measure.

Hey, it's just an ordinary every day garden variety Grady Sizemore card. Sizemore is a three-time All-Star, but has been absolutely brutal in the worst way since his last All-Star appearance, although injuries have contributed quite a bit to that.

Ahh... here we go. Jackpot! It's a dice game variation, making it just my second if I am thinking clearly. While this isn't as rare as some of the crazy variations that I was lucky enough to get from the 2009 Heritage set, this is still very cool and not something that I tend to see every day.

About half of the package turned out to be 2011 Heritage cards, but this was my first Rookie Parade short print. Floating heads are all over this set and I'm not one to stand in their way. I don't think I know who any of these guys are except for Hughes, possibly, but that doesn't make this card any less fantastic.

And now it's on to the Cardinals portion of the package, represented here by Jim Edmonds being Serious. Henchmeister must have been checking out my Zistle Jim Edmonds collection because this wasn't on the list. You've been checking it out, too, haven't you?

No Albert Pujols in the All-Star Game? Are you kidding? This pretty much sums up what's going to happen to the rest of the league in the proverbial second half. As in, you are dead... death by Pujols.

Previewing the Past

Way back in the past during the time when Y2K reigned supreme, Upper Deck decided to put out the latest version of their Collector's Choice line, which by this point they were calling UD Choice. They also decided to release a preview of it in pack form for some reason. Who knows why anyone does anything? All I know is that I got some dust-covered packs from a guy at a card show who seemed to be big on the flea market scene. Flea markets might appeal to me, except that whenever I've been to one I've always felt like people that sell at those things have an even worse demeanor on average than your regular card show dude. It's too bad.

Pack 1:

90 - Jeff Bagwell (I can't imagine any team with Bagwell would be as bad as the Astros have been this year.)

126 - Bobby Abreu (Still active!)

104 - Mark Loretta (Milwaukee's unis were pretty hideous back then.)

148 - Quinton McCracken

72 - Frank Thomas (Nice shot.)

152 - Juan Gonzalez

Pack 2:

58 - Cal Ripken Jr. (It's weird to see 3B as Ripken's position.)

74 - Pete Harnisch

138 - Bill Mueller

66 - Kerry Wood (This would have probably made decent trade bait back in '99.)

48 - Chuck Finley

112 - Brian McRae

Pack 3:

76 - Manny Ramirez

98 - Gary Sheffield (Who won the Piazza/Sheffield trade?)

62 - Nomar Garciaparra

143 - Alex Rodriguez (This is from back in the day, when people didn't universally hate A-Rod.)

90 - Jeff Bagwell (There's only 55 cards in the set, so there was bound to be some duplicates.)

56 - Greg Maddux (Chicks dig the long ball.)

Pack 4:

146 - Rolando Arrojo (I had never heard of this guy, but apparently he was a Cuban defector who became Tampa Bay's first All-Star before he flamed out spectacularly after his first season.)

74 - Pete Harnisch

58 - Cal Ripken Jr. (There's a big goofy blank space on the back of each card that I'm sure was reserved for something.)

138 - Bill Mueller

66 - Kerry Wood

48 - Chuck Finley

Smed's Non-Junk

Is anyone else getting mail on Saturdays? I can't remember the last time I got something in my mailbox on a Saturday. I seem to get mail almost every other day. I know the Postal Service was talking about dropping one of their delivery days, but I never heard anything officially decided about it.

On an unrelated note, here's a bunch of the cards I received in Smed's Spring Cleaning dealie. I had separated these into a stack of stuff that was either newer or a set I knew I had a want list for. It was really difficult to pick just five cards for this post, so I went with ten... which also proved to be rather difficult. There are some great cards in this bunch!

This ESPN set was my first reintroduction to baseball cards back in 2005. I think the only inserts I ever pulled were Eric Chavez cards. I think I have a lot of Eric Chavez cards.

Mini Ozzie! I love it.

Here's a borderless Kimball Champions Carp card. Carp is on the hill as I write this for the Cards, a victim already of another terrible defensive gaffe. I still haven't decided if I'm collecting this set or not. The card isn't actually borderless, by the way, but my scanner thinks that it is.

Here's a Yadi rookie Cracker Jack sticker. That's a lot of things!

I received not one but two Matt Holliday serial numbered blue border Opening Day parallels. I've had a hard time laying off the $2.99 Opening Day jumbo packs, especially since a drug store just down the street sells these.

This is no ordinary Yadi 2011 Topps card. Check the logo! I really need more of these Target throwbacks. I just wish there was another way to get them.

Refractors are always welcome at Cards on Cards.

Chipper Jones is lousing up this perfectly good OPC card.

I had no idea Trading Card Day was going on back in 2004. Did we even have one this year? Or last year? I guess there's Topps and only Topps now, so it may as well be National Topps Day.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps #611

A long long time ago, in a land not far away from where the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim play now was a team known as the California Angels. They played in a place called Anaheim Stadium, which sounds remarkably similar to the current team's venue, Angels Stadium of Anaheim. Legend has it that there may have also briefly been a team known as the Anaheim Angels who played in a similar area, although they may have been a fictional team developed by Walt Disney Co.

Rick Stelmaszek was a catcher who spent parts of three major league seasons with four teams. He's perhaps best known for being the longest tenured (and still active) coach in Minnesota Twins history, serving currently as the bullpen coach.

Why did Topps airbrush Rick's photo? Stelmaszek (just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?) spent parts of just 22 games on the field in an Angels uniform after being acquired in May 1973 in a five-player deal with the Rangers.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Rick's cap isn't quite a magic hat, but it looks like it's disappearing into the clouds. The top of the halo on the logo should loop around the top of the 'A' but it is drawn to stay behind it here for some reason. Side note: doesn't he just look like a coach already at this point?

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.