Thanks, Topps, For Making Things Even Worse

Okay, Topps, how am I going to clear up this misconception when you make things like this George Sisler National Chicle card? As you probably know, Hall of Famer George Sisler was never a Cardinal, but he played for an MLB team in St. Louis known as the St. Louis Browns. To confuse even more, the Cardinals were actually the Browns at one point - briefly - but the Browns were never the Cardinals. At least, not George's Browns. Not the Browns that he played for that roamed the ball fields of the American League. I've received quite a few Sisler cards over the past couple of years. I can't complain about getting Hall of Fame type cards, but I don't collect Sisler or Browns cards unless they are somehow connected to the Cardinals franchise. The Cardinals began their life as the Perfectos before spending the greater portion of the 1890s as the Brown Stockings (Browns for short.) Most of the cards and photos you see, however, are for players that played for the A.L. franchise that was founded in 1894 was... wait for it... the Milwaukee Brewers! They were the Browns for 52 years beginning in 1902 before becoming the Baltimore Orioles that you know and love, but mostly just know, today.

All of this leads me to a nice little package from The Card Chop. Topps got a little silly with the National Chicle set that they put out this year (remember, there were Chipper Babe Ruth Atlanta Braves cards, after all) and after I purchased the basic team set at a card show I ended up with an unnecessary Sisler card. I even see Sisler misrepresented as a Cardinal in databases and even on Beckett's website, so this was no great surprise. The card I received in this trade was a big surprise, however. Apparently it's a short print and, despite all my outrage, I am reluctantly glad to own it... if that makes any sense.

Here's a card with a bit less controversy and even more awesome. This is one of those funky cereal box refractors which are normally limited to "legend" type players. Pujols is a living legend, though, so he gets one.

I really like the black minis from Allen & Ginter. This Colby Rasmus mini is better in person than it looks here, not helped by the fact that my scanner cut off one of the borders.

I received a nice little stack of 2010 Turkey Red inserts. I'm slowly whittling down the list as the release date for Topps Update draws nearer.

And here we come to this trade's instigating card: the very final Topps 2020 insert that I needed. Yes, let it be known that on this day in October (okay, fine, I actually received this box last month) I have now completed something... yes, something... for the first time. I have removed this small set forever more from my want lists.

Finally, here's a Colby Rasmus Topps rookie card with the "classic" MLB Rookie Card logo (2006-2009.) I did a double-take, however, because this is no ordinary 2009 Topps card.

It's actually a JC Penney exclusive factory set insert! Nice! I didn't even know JC Penney was still in business, let alone putting out baseball card exclusives. Way to go, department store chain!

Thanks again to The Card Chop. I need to get your package in the mail posthaste.

"O" No!!! A Bunch of Cards I Needed

No!!! I made a terribly tragic trade with Ryan of "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog a couple of weeks ago and here are the shocking results!

I sent off a bunch of wayward Orioles cards and in return I got a bunch of these ridiculous looking Sportflics ripoffs! Not only that, but all of them have creases in them! No!!! If I get 7 more of these, I will end up having the entire set!!!

No!!! This is just cruel! It's Ryan Ludwick, formerly of the St. Louis Cardinals. My interest in somewhat re-piqued in the Padres right now as they are the recipients of Ludwick's baseball services, but I also can now safely identify them as a threat to the Cardinals once the stretch run and the ensuing postseason occurs.

What is this?! Buster... Posey? He must be terrible. He sounds terrible! Dick Perez would be ashamed. I bet he is the new Chris Brown! (No, not the rapper singer.) If I get another couple dozen of these Turkey Red cards I might have them all, too!

Da Vinci? No!!! I went to his exhibit at the local science museum last year with my girlfriend, and, man... I know quite a few people who could design better contraptions than him. What's Italian for O-ver-ra-ted?

Brad Penny! A Cardinal!! No!!! What happened to his arm?! Curse you, Topps, for ruining Penny's season by correctly predicting that his arm would fall off... or something would detach from his person. Jerks!!! I ended up with like 80 of these Allen & Ginter cards. I'm running out of space in here! Why do people keep sending me these cards? No!!!

Fredbird and Other Mailbox Stuff

I recently received a package two packages from reader Patrick in MI, in a fun Tigers-for-2010 Topps needs and assorted Cardinals swap. I still have my second package to send out (tomorrow, I swear!) full of more Tigers cards, but in the meantime here's a look at some more stuff I've received lately from the great state of Michigan.

By the way, does anyone think it was really necessary to put "MASCOT" below the Cardinals logo on this Fredbird Opening Day card? Is anyone going to mistake Fredbird for a shortstop?

This is a pretty sweet (yes, I said "sweet") Ryan Ludwick parallel from series 2, which includes a nice plug for MLB 2K9. 2K9 was the last of the series that I bought for my PS2. I refuse to shell out the money to buy a new system, though I also recently purchased a DS and bought the 2K10 game for it just for fun.

Has anyone ever wondered what Ozzie Smith would have been like if he was in his prime in 1969? Me neither. This insert set is definitely a notch in the "miss" column among the hit-or-miss concepts that Topps has run with this year.

I don't mind these so much, as long as there's a clear theme. At least Lou Brock and Carl Crawford are heading in the same direction, presumably off to steal a base.

Patrick sent over Turkey Red cards in both packages. I'm doing much better than I was doing with last year's stuff at this point in the year, but I'm still a long ways away. If anyone has any extra Turkey Red stuff laying around, please check out my want lists.

I also have made solid progress with the new 2020 insert set. There's one really strange thing I've found with these cards, however. Every single card I've seen so far has been damaged. Haven't noticed it yet? Check out the back of the card under some direct light. There's a crease or sometimes multiple creases on the back of every card. I believe it must have to do with how flexible the cards are and the way they come off of the production line or something like that. Either that, or pack searchers bend packs way too much and every card that has been traded to me has been affected by those jerks. Either way, it's pretty weird. I wonder if there will be a market for graded versions of these cards.

2010 Topps 2020 Inserts

Want List:

Complete!

Trade List:

T3 Andre Ethier

T7 Ryan Howard

[updated 09/27/10]