Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps Opening Day #150

We're down to the Final Four in that college basketball tournament thing, with the semifinal games scheduled for tomorrow. Stats on the Back is sitting in the drivers seat right now, with the venerable Colonel Panic sitting in 2nd place with the most potential points overall. Tenets of Wilson has locked up last place, assuring bragging rights for years to come.

Jose Bautista is one of the game's premier power hitters. As if by magic, he suddenly flipped a switch at the end of the 2009 season and started hitting balls out of the field of play like he was transformed into a new slugging mechanical man. If you take a look at his numbers leading up to the past two seasons where he combined for 97 HRs, he struggled a lot more than he slugged. In 2004 alone, he played for four different MLB teams, scraping by for plate appearances wherever they could be found.

Why did Topps airbrush Jose's photo? By now, you've all probably seen the atrocious Marlins Photoshopped cards from this set, so I thought I'd go with a lesser known Blue Jays version. For some reason Topps has focused on trying to get a new uniform/logo look on their players for the Opening Day set. And I get why some people support this, but I think it just looks tacky. Of course, Bautista didn't change teams, but it was apparently really important to get an approximation of this year's return-to-quasi-retro Jays look. (Don't get me wrong, I fully support this logo change.)

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? I guess I explained this above. It was Photoshopped.

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.

Some Inserts

I don't have a lot to say about 2012 Topps, but I know some people like to collect the inserts. Whether you're a team collector, a player collector or a set completist, inserts usually offer something for everyone. Drop me a line if you need any of these.

I'm not wild about these. Why is there a bunch of white stuff at the bottom of the design? Is this symbolic of the "golden moment" memory fading away?

These, on the other hand, look much better to me than some of the duo inserts of past years.

These are great.

Was I smart for drafting Posey on one of my fantasy teams this year, or did I take a huge risk? I feel like I took a number of risks this year, and I even went for some old geezers that I usually stay far away from (Jeter, Ichiro...)

Do you think anyone called Gehrig "King of the Slams" in his day? What an awkward title.

 Roidy, Princey and Crazy Jerky?

Rick Ankiel is Not Impressed

Opening Day, or a reasonable facsimile, is rapidly approaching us so I thought I'd check in on some former Cardinals to see what they're up to these days. All of these cards came to me courtesy of Six-4-Three DP in a trade that went down last month.

Rick Ankiel still figures into the Washington Nationals plans after going through a pretty dreadful season in the nation's capital last year. Washington re-signed him, I can only presume, for his defense. I was a huge fan of Ankiel the Pitcher, and he really did put together a brilliant season-and-a-quarter for the Cardinals in his reincarnation as an outfielder. Unfortunately, it's not 2008 anymore.

Brian Barton is an actual rocket scientist, and was also the first Cardinals Rule V draft pick of recent memory, or at least since I understood what a Rule V pick meant. Erik Komatsu, incidentally, looks like a candidate this year to stick with the big club. He would be the first Rule V'er to break camp with St. Louis since Barton. Meanwhile, according to his own very strange but elaborate website, Brian Barton is playing in the Mexican League this year.

Joel Piñeiro signed a minor league deal with the Phillies but didn't make the team. No one misses Dave Duncan and His Amazing Traveling Circus of Pitching Wonder more than Piñeiro. There are so many mediocre and terrible pitchers out there, however, that I would be surprised if he didn't catch on with someone sometime this season.

Anthony Reyes was once a big deal. He had a couple of fleeting moments of brilliance with the Cards and was off to a promising start in Cleveland after being cut loose. Now, when I type his name in to Google's news search engine, someone named "Anthony Rendon" comes up instead no matter what I do. That can't be a good sign.

Joe Mather was never more than a fringe player/occasional call-up for St. Louis, but it appears that he's about to break camp with the Cubs. I'd be happy for him, but it's the Cubs, so I guess I will just shrug my shoulders and hope he doesn't break out any Aaron Miles-esque quotes about being ready to "play baseball the right way."

Better Than a Blaster: Bazooka Blasts

I'm trying to make a conscious effort in 2012 to reallocate what I feel I would normally spend on a blaster on something I'm a little more interested in. Now that Heritage is apparently out, I'm sure I will spend some cash on that set, but there isn't much else being released this year that I'm truly excited about. I've only purchased a grand total of 5 base 2012 Topps packs this year and I did break down and buy some Opening Day cards.

As mentioned earlier on this blog, I bought some loose hobby packs of 2006 Bazooka online - 10 to be exact. I went back to the same seller and picked up 10 more. This time I will spare everyone the gory details and just post a few images here and there rather than the blow-by-blow account.

Here's Michael Morse from his previous life as a Mariners organizational spare part.

It seems really weird to get Barry Bonds cards in packs now. This was at the most ridiculous point in Barry's career, where he apparently was so fatigued from being hulked up all the time that he couldn't bear to stand on his own.

Fausto is now known as the much less interesting Roberto Hernandez, and may or may not pitch again for the Tribe. I wonder if Bazooka Joe was sad to learn of the fate of one of his 220 favorite players.

It's equally as weird to get Clemens cards in this day and age. I wonder if and when Clemens will be welcomed back into baseball in some capacity.

Chipper Jones is one of the few players still around that was drafted when I was in high school. It looks like this season will be his last, which means he'll get to do that whole farewell tour thing that Bobby Cox did awhile back.

It's actually kind of frustrating that Roy Oswalt decided to play chicken with the Cardinals (and others) only to eventually settle on sitting out the first couple of months of the season. I'll just cross my fingers and hope that Lance Lynn is good and the rest of the back of the Cardinals rotation is not terrible while we wait on the end of Chris Carpenter's indefinite hiatus.

Stickers! On a card!

This is a pretty good "hit" as far as 2006 "hits" go. I could have easily ended up with Mark Prior or something. This makes two hits in the 20 packs I've purchased from this seller. It's nice to know that someone out there isn't searching their packs, not that there's probably much of a market for 2006 Bazooka memorabilia.

It's time to update the want list again.

Kirby Puckett Wants YOU to Play Fantasy Baseball

It's that time a year again! It's the time of year where all your based-ball related fantasies play out over tables of meticulously scrutinized data, all for mere bragging rights over your friends-turned-enemies. To make a long story short, some friends of mine are short a few participants in a fantasy baseball league that we do every year and time is running short. Please leave a comment here or send me an email if you might be interested in joining up with a NL-only, head-to-head league that ohbytheway just happens to be holding its draft tomorrow night. Before you go off all commenting half-cocked, here are some things to think about in bulletpointed fashion:

• Like any good fantasy league, in order to be successful you must actually commit to playing out the full season. This is probably the most difficult thing about fantasy leagues in general.
• You'd just be playing for bragging rights over people you've probably never met and never will meet. That being said, there's something to be said for "winning the internet" as the kids say these days.
• If you are interested, it's possible that the slots will fill up anyway and we won't be able to invite you. That being said, all participants are welcome. I will try my best to get back to you by the end of today if there is a spot for you, so you have some time to prepare for tomorrow night's draft (7:15 PM PDT). I appreciate everyone that reads and comments on the blog (especially you, mighty spambot overlords) and it would be fun to be able to compete against you over the next six months.

Now that that bit of business is out of the way, here are some trading cards brought to you by reader Kary from WI. Kary sent over some crucial 1985 Fleer needs, including Kirby Puckett's rookie card, Mike Schmidt and Dale Murphy. There were more, too, but I'm just name dropping here.

The other half of the package was a bunch of Blazers basketball blasts from the past. It's been a rough season for the current Portland squad, but that doesn't stop these late '70s/early '80s gems from being a funky smash. Also, there really needs to be a retro uniform night featuring the classic lowercase home jerseys.

Here's a sweet sky hook from Ronnie Brewer's father, Ronnie Brewer.

Who doesn't miss the Sonics? Downtown Freddie Brown forever!

Airbrushed Fridays: 1976 Topps Traded #649T

Official baseball games are less than a week away, with the start of an oddly scheduled opening series in Japan between the Mariners and the A's, while everyone else is still in spring training. The Cardinals then open their title defense against the newly minted and hideously attired Miami Marlins a week later... while everyone else is still in spring training. And then, I suppose, there's Opening Day?

Dave Roberts was a left-handed starting pitcher who famously pitched for 11 teams in his 13 year career. Despite this card's suggestion, he did not play for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals. He passed away in 2009, a victim of lung cancer.

Why did Topps airbrush Dave's photo? It was hard to capture Roberts sitting around any one franchise for too long, as evidenced by how many times he changed uniforms over the course of his career. In this case, he was shipped by the Astros to Detroit as part of a 7-player swap, including such luminaries as Gene Pentz and Mark Lemongello (actual name.)

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Dave is a wistful man without a team to identify with. And he has a poorly airbrushed cap.

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.

Melvin

Melvin Nieves was rated the 39th best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America in 1993.

His card was also the last regular player card I needed to complete the 1993 Upper Deck set. If anyone has the Nolan Ryan 'SP6' card, please contact me. I will buy you a package of Heritage, or something. I'll also probably try to talk you into a trade.

Thanks to The Angels, In Order for Melvin's card.