Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps Update Series #US197

Well, that was as satisfying of a victory as I've seen in awhile. Oregon jumped on Kansas State from the outset in last night's Fiesta Bowl with De'Anthony Thomas putting two touchdowns on the board before the Wildcats were settled in. The seniors (Kenjon Barner and Michael Clay in particular) came up big and Chip Kelly - should he choose to go that route - goes out on top. Not bad, Quack Attack, not bad. I now get to turn my full (sports) attention towards the NBA and, eventually, the MLB. The NFL is still just a bit of a roadside attraction to me, one I can't really take all that seriously even though there are some good looking playoff matchups this year.

Who is this week's victim, and why do we care? Cody Ransom is a power hitting shortstop who hasn't made much of an impact at the major league level, despite bouncing around 25-man rosters since 2001. His most notable achievements came during the 2008 season as a member of the Yankees, where he was the first in franchise history to hit HRs in his first two ABs and where he also registered the final putout in Yankee Stadium history.

Why does this card exist? After a surprisingly hot start to 2012 with Arizona, Ransom showed signs of fading early and was waived in late May. He was picked up by Milwaukee, where he failed to produce. Ransom actually returned to the still-in-contention Diamondbacks right before the trade deadline, but he's found on this card in faux-Milwaukee attire.

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 some stale Tostitos, but you never know!

Even More Update Trade Bait

I probably shouldn't be doing this considering how far behind I am in trades, but I got the craving for some cards tonight and once again have some Update inserts and parallels for the grabbing if anyone is interested.

I used to practically get harassed by Cubs collectors because there are or were so many out there. Things have been quiet lately. In the meantime, I have accumulated a few Cubs cards.

I got two League Leader gold parallels, but unfortunately neither of them featured Cardinals.

The back of this card lists Brad Penny as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, who he hasn't played for since 2010. This card honors achievements in the National League only, however, and he didn't rejoin the better league until he (unsuccessfully) became a Giants reliever this summer.

Hmm. Gold Tribe.

"Yes, I am going to throw a ton of innings, more or less toss the concept of the 'pitch count' out the window and people are still going to make fun of my weight. Such is life."

Leave out an 'm' and he's a flower's reproductive organ.

These aren't quite as bad as the vomitfractors of last season, but they're pretty unpleasant. I wish I wasn't so drawn to parallel cards and could exclude them from my team collecting needs. I can't.

Strop like "stop" with an extra letter or like "strope" with an invisible "e"? I think it's the latter?

Da, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Chicken Man!

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!

More Update Trade Bait

The MLB playoffs this year have been a blink and you'll miss it affair, at least for me this year. We're already two games deep into the ALCS with the Yankees down 2 games and about to hit the road while Jeter lies in a broken heap. Meanwhile, the Cardinals sent Lance Lynn to the mound to start Game 1 and he didn't last long. Considering he's been used primarily out of the bullpen since the playoff madness started, it's not that surprising that he ran into a tough inning. The Cardinals built a big lead early and were once again able to ride their bullpen to a victory on the road. Game 2 is tomorrow and I can't wait.

In other news, I picked up a few packs of Update at Target yesterday along with a jumbo rack pack. I'll spare you all the gory details, but here are some images of the more tradeable cards.

This has to be one of the more boring inserts of recent memory. It reminds me of some of the Ultra and Upper Deck inserts from around 2006-2007.

Cain is scheduled to take the hill for Game 3 at Busch if I recall.

This is a painful trade to think about if you're a Cardinals fan. St. Louis has been on the right side of a lot of big trades, but not this one.

I know him! He pitched tonight. This is a Target exclusive parallel. I might lower my standards and hit one of the other big box stores soon for more of these.

Carlos Corporan joined a long line of head scratching roster filling players that wore the Astros jersey this year.

Nice retro uni.

This feels Photoshopped to me. That number seems large and it is sitting at a weird angle. Anyone else care to weigh in?

If only I knew a Rangers fan... oh wait, I do.

Pretty sure Obama won't take Kentucky this year. I somehow completely missed the news that these Presidential Predictor cards would be included. It seems like the odds on me getting one weren't very good.

I won a Twins virtual coin. Yay?

This was a good set of packs if you're an Angels fan.

I don't have much to say about the Reds. I'm still getting used to them being the Cardinals primary rival, and it's weird.

Just drop me an email or a comment if you're interested in any of these or anything else from my trade bait posts.

5 on the 5: 2012 Topps Update Series

I hit the Target card aisle yesterday in search of the new stuff. You know the drill. I seem to buy more of the Update set than Series 1 and 2 every year because I always get irrationally excited about baseball again this time of year for some crazy reason. Most of these cards will be up for grabs as I usually don't put together sets of this stuff.

Pack 1:

US92 - Chone Figgins - Figgy is my first Update card of the year. Figgy wants to "update" his team (and Twitter status?) soon so he can put the pieces of his career back together again.

US115 - Jason Grilli - YAHHHHH!
US121 - Johnny Damon

US95 - Edward Mujica - My first Mujica Cardinals card! And it's a great photo from the 1982 World Series anniversary weekend. I honestly wasn't expecting him to have any cards. The Mujica trade ended up being an unexpectedly great move.
US322 - Jordan Danks - The younger brother of John Danks.

BB-19 - Ryne Sandberg Blockbusters - I'm not sure that this trade would have been considered a blockbuster at the time. Ryno was just a prospect getting poached from another team.

GG-89 - Lou Brock Golden Greats - These are back. I'm not too fond of these. I'm fond of Lou, though.
US17 - Joe Smith
US197 - Cody Ransom
US268 - Craig Kimbrel All-Star - Braves cards are banned from the blog for awhile until their fans can start being a little more rational again. Blame Bud Selig for creating this madness, in any case.
US143 - Jose Veras
US135 - Clay Hensley - Former Portland Beaver!

Pack 2:
US25 - Joe Mather - Former Cardinal! His full major and minor league stats are included on the back, even though there's like 65 lines of them. It's probably because they couldn't think of anything interesting to say about Mather.
US13 - Matt Lindstrom
US41 - Juan Francisco

US288 - Maicer Izturis
US180 - Roy Oswalt - Now With Rangers
US53 - Omar Infante

US15 - Justin Verlander All-Star Golden Sparkly Nonsense
US83 - Carlos Lee

US87 - Andrew McCutchen All-Star - It'll take more than McCutchen's brilliance to save this doomed franchise.
US327 - Chris Sale All-Star
US148 - Paul Konerko All-Star - A couple of White Sox stars.
US325 - Joel Hanrahan All-Star

Pack 3:
US94 - Kevin Slowey
US43 - Michael Bowden - Bowden was the Cubs return for Marlon Byrd.
US310 - Kelly Shoppach
US254 - Jason Marquis - The Padres won the Where Will Marquis Land? contest this year, I guess.
US136 - Reed Johnson

US244 - Matt Downs Gold 0796/2012 - Gold parallels make their return for this set. I honestly didn't even know they were missing from Series 1 and 2, and I even like these. They no longer say 61 Years of Collecting (or however many years that it's been) on it, so that's a break with tradition. They are pulling a "cognac" from last season and golding up all of the cards from Series 1 and 2 as well. They are still using the cheap and ugly black serial numbering, this time obscuring them in top of the card above the player name on the back, which can be difficult to read with some of the darker team colors.

BB-6 - Jay Buhner Blockbusters - Jay Buhner? Wow! Topps really dug into the vaults for this one.
- Topps Pennant ad card

US237 - Prince Fielder Home Run Derby - That is a large mammal.
US195 - Chad Qualls
US274 - Jeff Gray
US166 - Chipper Jones All-Star Game - I have a feeling some will find this card iconic. Chipper Jones has always struck me as the same kind of smug - sort of an Atlanta version of Derek Jeter.

US129 - Giancarlo Stanton All-Star

Pack 4:
US296 - Henry Rodriguez
US19 - Jonathan Broxton - Who would win in a fight, Prince Fielder or Jonathan Broxton?
US31 - Esmil Rogers
US171 - Rhiner Cruz - I think Topps is just making up names now.
US232 - Andrelton Simmons

588 - Mark Ellis Gold 1688/2012 - Here's a Gold card from Series 2.

BB-28 - Johan Santana Blockbusters
US126 - John McDonald

US262 - Matt Kemp Home Run Derby - In this increasingly annoying contest, Matt Kemp was on the disabled list and participated... like a guy who was on the disabled list.
US194 - Brad Lincoln
US312 - Craig Stammen

US168 - Yu Darvish Rookie Debut - I'm not sure what to make of Darvish yet.

Pack 5:
US240 - Ronny Paulino
US193 - Henry Blanco
US122 - Logan Ondrusek
US4 - Matt Treanor - According to the back of the card, Treanor helped Chris Capuano to return to All-Star form. Those are two names I certainly didn't expect to still be around in 2012. Also, the fact that Capuano was once an All-Star was something I had totally forgotten about. His Brewers teammates? Derrick Turnbow (!) and Carlos Lee.
US317 - Marco Estrada
US160 - Marco Scutaro

US28 - Matt Albers Target Red - Just another parallel. Nothing to see here, folks.

GM-U2 - Mike Trout Golden Moments - Golden Boy Trout is certainly a hot commodity these days.

GGC-27 - Trevor Bauer Golden Giveaway Code - Trevor Bauer has his own code card? I don't even know who he is! Let's see if he's lucky... Ty Cobb coin. Probably not.
US206 - Cole Hamels All-Star
US256 - Joe Nathan All-Star
US37 - Billy Butler All-Star - Nice run of All-Stars.

US72 - Carlos Beltran Home Run Derby - Great way to end it! Beltran was up to his usual postseason tricks today, knocking two out of the park in a rout of the Nats.