2010 Topps Series 2: A Case Study in Three Parts

After much whining, sniveling and general self-pity, I finally ran into a plethora of available 2010 Topps Series 2 product on shelves after sneaking out of work early last Wednesday night. Unfortunately, I was unable to contain my excitement and walked out of Target with $40 worth of the stuff. In an effort to save some face (with myself, primarily) I decided to present this as a research opportunity for future retail dwellers to learn from and make better informed decisions.

Today, I present to you a summary of results of 5 loose packs from Target. These packs contain 12 cards each and one has the opportunity to pull Target-exclusive Red Back inserts. For $9.95, that's a total of 60 cards including 5 Topps AttaxTowns and other assorted inserts. (I posted the very first pack here at A Pack To Be Named Later.)

I cannot believe how amazing and awkward this card is. It actually took me several days to believe that this was really Griffey partaking in what appears to an elbow pat by one Ichiro Suzuki. The number on his back threw me off briefly, until I remembered that this was probably from Jackie Robinson Day where everyone wears #42.

Here is my first Vintage Legends insert, one of the three brand new inserts in Series 2. Series 1 was already stuffed full of inserts, and I'm not sure if they added even more or just replaced a few of the bad ideas. I don't think depicting a legendary player on card design from a fairly dubious era makes sense.

Oh, the Cards Your Mom Threw Out. Little did she know that a John Smoltz card from 1997 would be worth 11 cents one day.

Here's another one of the newbies. Until I discover some Cardinals in this insert set, I'm going to say that it's terrible. (Please tell me that Adam Wainwright or at least Darrell Porter is a part of this.)

Rangers fans, rejoice! I guess this guy isn't all washed up after all.

Topps made an attempt to salvage the Topps Town idea and I guess it makes sense. They look better this way for some reason.

The Legendary Lineage cards either work or they don't, depending on the combo. I think they should just stick to players from the same franchise like this one.

Ah, you knew I couldn't leave out the Turkey Red. Jackie's card is a little too cartoonish looking for me, but this is still nice.

The Results:

Base Cards: 43

The Cards Your Mom Threw Out (1:3): 3 (No "Original Backs")

History of the World Series (1:6): 1

Legendary Lineage (1:4): 1

Million Card Giveaway: 2 (I was the proud recipient of a Jason Giambi 2006 card with my first code. I am understandably hesitant to redeem further codes at this point.)

Peak Performance (1:4): 1 (I still don't like these.)

Target Red Backs (1:4): 2

Topps AttaxTown: 5

Turkey Red (1:4): 1

Vintage Legends (1:4): 1

Cardinals: 0 (Shut out. Ouch. This is the most important category of all.)

Lessons Learned: Well, as my number one option for Series 1, I think that loose packs still provide the best ratio for pulling inserts including the Turkey Red cards that I want the most. That being said, the no Cardinals thing isn't sitting well with me at the moment.

Next up: Something that stays crispy... even in milk!

Airbrushed Fridays: Contest!

This week's airbrushed wonder comes highly recommended from reader Scott once again. I honestly don't know how I've overlooked this card up until this point. Since this has left me nearly speechless, I thought I'd open up this forum to you, the reader.

As you may well know, each week I ask myself and answer the following questions: Why did Topps airbrush [Player]'s photo? What's wrong with this picture, anyway?

Your mission is to answer those questions in the most creative, hilarious, informative and/or interesting way possible. Whoever leaves a comment with the "best" answers will be the proud recipient of a prize that I have yet to determine. You can expect it to contain a healthy stack of baseball cards from the winner's favorite team as well as a memorabilia-related card from the winner's favorite team or player. (I reserve the right, of course, to not attempt to deliver a jersey card of a player that retired before I was born. Likewise, you may be out of luck if you request someone who spent 15 years at AAA or if you say "Stephen Strasburg" at any point.)

Here are two disclaimers: One, obviously no amount of math, sabrmetrics or spoonful of liquid sorcery will be able to produce an objective winner. I will, however, consult with my girlfriend Erin for input during the judging process. Secondly, any attempt to bribe me with baseball cards will not factor into my decision whatsoever... although I certainly won't turn any spare Cardinals away.

I will be out of town for the duration of the weekend, so I am setting a deadline of 9:00 PM PDT on Sunday night, June 20th. Any entries received after the deadline will not eligible for anything but possible ridicule.

Caught Up!

For the first time since I started trading cards through this blog, or at least since sometime in 2008, I am finally completely caught up with trade posts. I still have several things in the works and I probably owe something to someone, but for now I have no stacks of cards anywhere in my dwelling that I need to write something on the internet about. This latest package came from Play at the Plate. We've traded quite a few times and I usually just send whatever Rangers/Will Clark stuff has accumulated in my collection recently. This time, some Cy Young Topps Cereal Box inserts were claimed.

Woody! Shiny Woody! Honestly, I'd be excited about any Cardinals refractor card. A refractor Aaron Miles? That would be pretty awesome. I'd even take a Dave Duncan refractor, if such a thing existed. I'm not sure if they make cards of pitching coaches, however.

We interrupt this post to tell you about how terrible the All-Star/Home Run Derby jersey that Big Mac is wearing is. It's terrible. It is.

I didn't know Stan the Man could hoop it up like that!

This is... seriously... a prepaid phone card made by a baseball card manufacturer. Do you remember phone cards? I don't really, either. It's funny that the concept of unmeasured out-of-area calling was such a pricey thing at one point. This is definitely a monumental addition to my Ozzie collection.

I still have a soft spot for Rick Ankiel As A Pitcher cards, even though he's moved on from St. Louis and his career as an outfielder is not in great shape.

I also received a healthy amount of 2010 Turkey Red inserts. I was feeling pretty good about the progress I was making until Series 2 came out.

Finally, I unexpectedly found a Fernando Tatis jersey card from 2001 SP something-er-other. This is now one of my oldest relic cards and definitely my first from this era.

Thanks again to Play at the Plate!

Old Standby Blaster

First off, before you read further, I want to tell you about the group break going on over at Cardboard Collections. Only a handful of teams have been claimed so far, and the whole thing only costs ten bucks a team and there are discounts for multiple teams claimed. I frequently either get beaten to the punch when people hold these things or determine that it's totally out of my price range, so this is a good opportunity for some of you to get some baseball cards for half the price of a blaster.

Meanwhile, to no great surprise, I have been completely unable to find any of the new products at the retail stores that I've visited lately. I can't really afford to get into buying World Cup stickers, but it would make me happy if I at least saw them on the shelves and maybe saw a few kids with packets in their hands. I am not going to complain about Bowman all that much because it sounds like with Strasburg fever breaking out everywhere, I'd be better served just trying to slip a few dollars to the chumps that are breaking case after case open and literally have several rooms full of "crappy" base cards. I do want the Cardinals, you know. The thing that bugs me the most is that I have yet to see Topps Series 2 and it's already mid-June. I was even prepared to buy a blaster if no loose packs were available. However, I reallocated that $20 towards an old standby: the 2010 Topps Heritage blaster.

Pack 1:

235 - Will Venable

288 - Carlos Zambrano (The Cubs are kind of a mess this year and so is Zambrano. My heart bleeds.)

237 - Alexei Ramirez

290 - Joba Chamberlain (A good example of why I have no interest in collecting prospects.)

283 - Cleveland Indians

388 - John Smoltz (John Smoltz was a Cardinal? Was it all a dream?)

365 - Todd Helton (Helton hasn't topped 20 HRs since 2004, but he has maintained a great Batting Average.)

470 - Hanley Ramirez All-Stars (First pack out of the box holds a short print. Nice.)

Pack 2:

94 - Zack Greinke

35 - Gordon Beckham

37 - Curtis Granderson (Granderson has been in sharp decline since his breakout 2007 season, but apparently the Yankees were oblivious to it.)

38 - Rafael Furcal

417 - Garrett Atkins

C76 - Roy Halladay Chrome 1892 / 1961 (Can't complain about this one.)

54 - Daniel McCutchen

422 - Dioner Navarro

Pack 3:

342 - Daniel Murphy

344 - Homer Bailey (The Cards have tied the Reds in the standings, so it's safe again to show a Reds card here for now.)

74 - Russell Martin

NAP1 - Justin Upton New Age Performers (There's an "Uptown" section at the Diamondbacks stadium. How is anyone supposed to think of anything but Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" when they see that?)

189 - Checklist

8 - Rajai Davis

393 - Ryan Braun

362 - Brandon Allen

Pack 4:

219 - Charlie Manuel (Charlie Manuel seems like he's about 100 years old and not completely aware of his surroundings. Has anyone else had that impression?)

152 - Prince Fielder

154 - Shane Victorino

96 - Randy Johnson (I should have scanned the back of this card. Randy's stats are completely unreadable because of the way they tried to get all of them in and the cartoon panels for whatever reason.)

233 - Ian Kinsler

332 - Ryan Langerhans (There was an official Ryan Langerhans Sighting last night when he hit a pinch HR off of Ryan Franklin.)

120 - Chipper Jones (Chipper's considering retirement, so says an extremely whiny and sappy article.)

457 - J.D. Drew (Nobody really knows what J.D. Drew does. He just shows up, punches the clock and takes up space. He doesn't even wear a hat.)

Pack 5:

36 - Glen Perkins

132 - Ozzie Guillen

134 - Jim Riggleman

162 - Johnny Cueto

228 - New York Mets

56 - Mickey Mantle (This made me do a major double take. Apparently this is a rather limited variation. The "normal" card 56 is actually Jake Peavy.)

As you can see, the back of the card has white stock like the short prints. The sensible side of me wants to sell this card because it's commanding more than $40 on eBay right now, but now that I know that it's actually possible to get these gimmicky Heritage variations, it's hard for me to let it go.

315 - Brandon Webb (I wonder if Webb will ever pitch again. Arizona fans had better hope he is more Chris Carpenter than Mark Mulder.)

84 - Garret Anderson

Pack 6:

160 - Andy Pettitte

280 - Tobi Stoner (Duuude.)

292 - Koji Uehara

336 - Francisco Rodriguez

18 - David Huff (Anyone who can take a liner off his head is alright in my book.)

373 - Boston Red Sox

129 - Ian Desmond (Desmond has had a solid rookie campaign so far, but he needs to cut down on those errors. 15!)

452 - Cliff Pennington (Third SP of the box.)

Pack 7:

95 - Miguel Cabrera

153 - Scott Baker

97 - Chris Dickerson

155 - Luis Valbuena (You learn something every day. Such as, Luis Valbuena is a Major League Baseball player...)

151 - Brad Kilby (Kilby is an interesting looking guy.)

NF9 - Vostok 1 News Flashbacks

246 - Johnny Damon

316 - Kevin Youkilis

Pack 8:

72 - Matt Cain

287 - Juan Francisco

289 - Carl Crawford (All-around good guy, blogger favorite...)

221 - Terry Francona

307 - 2009 World Series Burnett Outduels Pedro

BF2 - Warren Spahn Baseball Flashbacks (What if the Braves had stayed in Milwaukee and what if Bud Selig had owned them and then hastily moved them to the American League? What would you think about that?)

245 - Ryan Howard

179 - Chase Utley (Start hitting again, Utley! My fantasy teams are mired in a pit of suckitude.)

I will update my 2010 Heritage list shortly. If you have contacted me about a trade for anything from this set recently, we should probably touch base again. I'll review my e-mails as soon as I can get to it.

Quick Trade with Ginter, Gardner & Game-Used

I'll be brief here and I'm sure that you don't want to hear (read) me complain. I'm working extra hours this week and also decided that this was also the perfect week to reorganize/streamline my music collection. For those of you born before 1989, I'm talking about these crazy circular objects called compact discs. Boy, do those things take up space when you've been buying them relgiously since you graduated from high school.

Here's a quickie trade post/sworn testimony in which I swapped baseball cards with Tommy from Ginter, Gardner & Game-Used.

I am not going to complain here about the Heritage Then & Now inserts. They've had these going for a fairly lengthy time and, while a relatively safe and easy concept, I don't really hate them. That being said, I don't really see the need for the same players to be used on multiple cards in the same year. I'm pretty sure both of these guys appear on other Then & Now cards between the 2008 main set and the High Series thing. It makes it hard for me to remember which cards I need from sight, and I depend a lot on my memory lately.

I still need a ton of SPs to complete the 2007 Turkey Red set, so I am extremely grateful when I can knock off anything that I'm missing. I may have to break down and buy some singles on one of those websites that are all the rage these days.

Thanks again to Tommy!

Longoria y Longoria

Technically, I believe we have been told that it's possible to get a Stephen Strasburg Team USA autograph from retail packs of 2008 Timeline. With that in mind (okay, not really), I set off for the local Dollar Tree to pick up 10 packs of the stuff at (of course) $1.00 each. My hope was to get at least one of the 4 Cardinals cards from my want list, and amazingly enough I actually succeeded. Rather than go through all of the gory details, I thought I'd just highlight some of the more noteworthy cards.

Evan Longoria was the big rookie for 2008, and there are plenty of Longoria cards to choose from in this product. I really like the Timeless Teams design as I recently mentioned.

I still think Max Scherzer will end up being a very good starting pitcher despite his difficulties so far. I'm not sure that his move to the tougher-on-pitching league was the best career option for him. We'll see.

Here's the lone Cardinal from my want list. I'm down town needing just 3 now. Pujols has been fairly erratic this year. I'm waiting for him to have another crazy good week... anytime now, okay?!

As obnoxious as this set must be to put together, having two different sets of parallels must be really aggravating. Here's a card only a Howard player collector could love.

I don't get how I don't have about 10 of these Matt Holliday cards by now as it's just a base card. It's easy to accumulate tons of cards 1 through 50, especially if you're buying retail.

Here's an example of the other pointless parallel, but this is a good card nonetheless. I'm holding onto this one to see if a certain Troll might need it. Otherwise, it goes onto the trade pile with most of the rest of these.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1986 Topps Traded #131T

I got the 1986 Topps Traded set for my 11th birthday. Despite internal and external warnings that opening or touching anything could potential diminish the value of a complete factory set, especially one in the Year of the Rookie (Jose Canseco! Wally Joyner! Will Clark!), I couldn't wait to rip the thing open and put the cards in plastic sheets so I could stare at all of the players. My 11 year old self instantly recognized that there was something seriously wrong with many of the photos in this set.

Paul Zuvella was a journeyman reserve infielder for much of the '80s who logged just 545 plate appearances in 9 MLB seasons. Apparently, his true claim to fame is that he was shown in TV footage of a game that is playing in a bar in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Why did Topps airbrush Paul's photo? Zuvella was part of a late June trade that brought Ken Griffey to the Braves. Honestly, the fact that they had any stock photos of Zuvella was probably quite an accomplishment.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? If there's one thing I've learned from doing these posts, it's that Yankees logos and gear absolutely cannot be fabricated without looking ridiculous. You know what isn't ridiculous, though? That mustache.