Going through the closet: 2006 Topps

I'm not sure if it was on the blogs, or somewhere on twitter I saw someone mention that when they finish putting together their sets they just end up placing the cards in boxes and stowing them away in the closet, never to be seen again.

That got me to thinking; I could honestly say the same thing.  A lot of the sets I've completed over the past few years have wound up in cardboard boxes just to sit on my closet shelf.

I figured what better way to keep myself writing than to go through all of these boxes and see what enticed me to collect these sets.  The first set up is 2006 Topps, a set that I completed not too long after I started blogging.   I remember getting a big portion of the set from the Night Owl to help me along the way.

I looked through all 660 cards and scanned a few for some entertainment...

Sleeveless jerseys seemed to be a really big thing at the time as I spotted 7 teams with multiple cards that featured no sleeve jerseys.  The Rays, Reds, Pirates, Indians, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Royals were the teams I spotted without sleeves.

By the way, I don't remember the green(?) that the Rays had back then.  Or am I just choosing to forget it...

Team photos.  Loved seeing these in both series.   The AL team photos were in series 1, while the NL team photos were in series 2.  What I found interesting was...

The NL Manager cards were in series 1 with the AL team photos, and the AL Manager cards were in series 2 with the NL team photos.   Wonder why Topps did that?   No matter, as I loved seeing all the old manager cards. 

I had to do a double take when I was going through the cards and came across this one.  This was the only team that didn't have a photo of the players together.  I'm sure there's a reason, anyone know why this happened?

I really like the Gold Glove cards, these were part of series 1 along with the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and MVP cards.  I wouldn't mind seeing these every year.   But that's just me.

Card no.7  Actually it's quite a good photo of the Mick at Yankee Stadium.  I'm glad that they use #7 for current players now, honoring Mantle was a nice touch, but I think it had run its course.

Lots of good photos in the set, double plays, tough catches in the outfield, etc.  But this Corey Patterson card struck me as interesting.  It appears that Corey is sliding into nowhere in particular.   No base or player in sight on the card. 

Tons of rookie cards.  No shortage of good players on their first Topps cards.  Kinsler, Verlander, Zimmerman, Matt Cain and many others had their first base set appearances here. 

Finally, my base set for 2006 Topps will always be considered complete at 659 cards.  Card 297 of Alex Gordon will never be something that I chase after.   Here's an ebay auction if you can't remember why....

Hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.   I have plenty more complete sets where this came from.

thanks for reading, Robert

Page by page

Trying harder lately to avoid not posting on the blog for 4 or 5 days straight.  In the past, I would chastise myself if I went a day without posting.  Now, it's become easier to go a few days without posting and not think twice.  With there being plenty of pages to post for the SNI set, this is a good enough reason to get the lead out and write a quick post about the next page.

This page has one of the best cards from the 2010's on it (in my opinion).  Hard to believe that it's been 11 years since Kirby Puckett passed away at a very young 46 years of age....


Here's page 37 for your perusal:

Card 325:  Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 2011 Topps Chrome Purple refractor #325/499.  Minnesota card #9
Card 326:  Ozzie Guillen, 2006 Topps gold #326/2006.  Chicago White Sox card #9
Card 327:  Jason Bay, 2013 Topps Gold #327/2013.  Seattle card #6

Card 328:  Freddie Freeman, 2010 Topps Minors #328/369.  Atlanta card #16
Card 329:  Torii Hunter, 2009 Topps Unique #329/1199.  LA Angels card #18
Card 330:  Minnesota Twins, 2010 Topps Gold #330/2010.  Minnesota card #10

Card 331:  Ricky Ledee, 1998 Bowmans Best #331/400.  NY Yankees card #12
Card 332:  Brandon Webb, 2007 Topps Triple Threads #332/559.  Arizona card #10
Card 333:  Koji Uehara, 2009 Topps Unique card #333/2699.  Baltimore card #10

Best card:  Yep, the Minnesota Twins team card by a long shot.
Easiest pull:  Don't recall having a card with as many copies as the 2699 that Uehara has of his card from '09 Unique
Oldie but a goodie:  Ricky Ledee from '98 Bowmans Best is one of only 15 pre 2000 cards that I own for the set. 
It also appears as if Ozzie Guillen is signing for the fans, a type of card that I always enjoy seeing.

I have well over 100 more pages to show.  I somehow have to convince myself that this post wasn't so difficult and start to get more of these done.

Shouldn't be too difficult...

Thanks for reading, Robert

The wise one whittled away at my want lists

I was fortunate enough to catch a tweet earlier in the week from Greg at the Night Owl Cards blog, offering up some of his massive stack of Dodgers doubles.  I inquired about the availability of the 78-80 Topps portion of the doubles box, and during our twitter dialogue he informed me that an envelope was headed my way.

That envelope arrived last Thursday, and all the cards hit the Blue Jays want list, except for one solitary Dodger which knocked another number off the SNI list.

Let's take a look, shall we?

One of the earliest sets that I completed while writing this blog is the 2006 Topps set.  This was in large part due to a large donation from Greg.  Now, he finishes off the Blue Jays 2006 team set with these two cards:

On the back of Burnett's card, Topps mentioned that A.J. had the highest average fastball in MLB during 2005.  The 95.6 average is quite impressive, although I'm not too sure that I can remember the 104mph pitch that the back of the card claims he threw during that season.   I'm sure we would have heard more about it over the years with all the flame throwers that dominate the closer position now...

Greg sent a small sample of Panini needs my way.  It's kind of disappointing that Panini isn't able to secure a MLB license, because cards like the Hometown Heroes Shawn Green on the right would have been so much better with the Jays logo. 

Staying with the modern issues, this quintet of recent releases were all knocked off the want list.   The A&G Melky Cabrera is one of the 2 Blue Jay SPs.  The 2 opening day cards cut that list in half.  Drew Hutchison has become a part of the Jays rotation this year, and has pitched OK so far with a 7-9 record and a 4.44 ERA.   The Jays need to let him hit more, he's 2 for 3 so far this season!

Knock one more card of the serial insanity set.   Jon Garland is serial #'d 715, and is the 33rd Dodger card out of 50 for the set.  Just 355 more serial #'s to go.

Greg's note inside the envelope said there was a reminder of the good ol' days.  Sure enough these three 1992 Donruss cards did just that.   Greg Myers was actually traded during the 1992 season, right before the July 31st trade deadline in a deal that saw Mark Eichhorn return to the Jays.  Both Duane Ward and Mike Timlin were integral parts of the teams that won the '92 and '93 World Series.

Speaking of the 1992 season, included in the package was something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

A pocket schedule from the '92 season, in perfect condition! 

The one thing I got a kick out of when I read it was the note on the middle panel.   All games on CJCL Radio 1430.  With the Blue Jays having success in the previous seasons leading up to 1992, CJCL in Toronto realized there was a big opportunity to increase its listener base, and thus became Canada's first all sports radio channel.   The station eventually migrated to AM 590, where it sits today as "The Fan 590", which I still listen to for Leafs broadcasts, and anytime I'm able to head home for visits with family and friends.

All in all, a great package, and very much appreciated.  Thank you Greg!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1071-1075

These 5 cards are courtesy of Daniel at the great It's Like Having my Own Card Shop blog.  Daniel responded to one of my posts last week when I showed off some emerald Diamondbacks cards, and a trade was born.

5 closer to the 1500 mark, and the 2 New York teams hit the 48 out of 50 plateau in this post.

Enjoy...

Card #1071: Ron Coomer

Serial Number:  1366
47th card out of 50 for the Yankees

I'll admit it, I had a tough time remember Ron Coomer when I saw this card.  It hit me why I couldn't remember him when I looked up his stats; he spent the better part of his career as a Twin in the mid to late 90's.  Ron had a decent big league career, 911 games played, hitting .274 with 92 HRs.  Also made the '99 All Star team in the AL.

Card #1072:  Paul Konerko

Serial Number:  569
32nd card out of 50 for the White Sox

Does Konerko need to hit 500 HRs to have a legitimate shot at the HOF?  It doesn't appear as though he'll reach 3000 hits; he will be 38 by the time opening day rolls around and he needs 703 more hits.  Paul needs 66 more HRs to reach 500, so unless he has a bit of a comeback year in 2014, and lands one more contract after that, 500 looks to be out of reach.

Card #1073:  Carlos Beltran

Serial Number:  1228
48th card out of 50 for the Mets

Probably a good thing that Carlos signed in the AL, because he can rest his knees more as a DH and still keep his bat in the lineup.  Carlos would probably like to see Kyle Lohse come to the AL, as he's had quite a bit of success against him (25/51 6 doubles, 4HR and 12 RBI).

Card #1074:  Nelson Cruz

Serial Number:  1257
45th card out of 50 for the Rangers

It's kind of interesting that he's still a free agent.  I'm sure that there are a lot of teams out there that can use a power hitting corner outfielder.   Nelson has more career home runs against Toronto (14) than any other non AL West team. 

Card #1075:  Alex Rodriguez

Serial Number:  303
48th card out of 50 for the Yankees

The way he's going right now, we might see a card in 2016 that reads "A-Rod Oldest to 700 Home Runs".

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1011-1015

Here's something that you don't see in a serial insanity post.

5 cards, 5 different sets.   A little variety for a change! 

Enjoy

Card # 1011:  Brett Myers

Serial Number:  437
31st card out of 50 for the Pale Hose

It'll be interesting to see if Myers lands with a team for the 2014 season.  The 2013 season wasn't a great one for Brett, only pitching in 4 games with the Indians, before going on the DL and eventually being released by the club late in August. 

Card # 1012:  Jason Phillips

Serial Number:  718
41st card out of 50 for the Mets

This card was released the year after he had his best season in the majors, hitting .298 with 11 HRs while splitting time at first and behind the dish.  I sure don't remember him as a part time player for the Jays in '06/'07.  The 1 HR in 80 games over 2 seasons is probably why.

Card # 1013:  Dan Wheeler

Serial Number:  1189
24th card out of 50 for the Astros

Keep those Astros cards coming guys!  Dan is the 2nd pitcher in this post to finish up recently with the Indians very poorly.  The 2012 season saw him pitch in just 12 games with an ERA of almost 9.  Dan spent the first part of the 2013 season with the Royals AAA club, but struggled and was released in May.

Card # 1014:  Brandon Phillips

Serial Number:  476
34th card out of 50 for the Redlegs

Drafted by the Montreal Expos (!) in the 2nd round, he was part of the Cliff Lee/Bartolo Colon trade in 2002.  After only one real shot to play the next 4 years in Cleveland (2003), he was traded to Cincinnati, and 4 gold gloves, 3 all star games and a silver slugger later, he is one of the best 2nd basemen in the game today.

Card # 1015:  Craig Wilson

Serial Number:  496
37th card out of 50 for the Braves

I knew this name sounded familiar, but I didn't remember that he was a Blue Jay draft pick (2nd rd, 1995) and was traded to the Pirates in 1996 as part of the big deal that brought the Jays Orlando Merced, Dan Plesac and Carlos Garcia. He was a solid utility player for the Pirates, and enjoyed a pretty good season in 2004, hitting 29 HRs and driving in 82.  Eventually traded to the Yankees in '06 and finally wound up his career with the Braves in '07 with only 58 ABs. 

thanks for reading, Robert

Common card of the day: Derek Lowe

I know that there are some out there that like cards of pitchers hitting (or attempting to hit).

2006 Topps #547 in case you need it.

Thanks for looking, Robert

A blast from the past..2006 Topps

Standard stuff from the flagship back in 2006.  660 card base set, loads of rookie and manager cards, along with some team photos (which I wish they would keep every year).  This rookie crop has some very talented players, such as Ian Kinsler, Dan Uggla, Matt Cain, Geovany Soto, Ryan Zimmerman, and the two players pictured below, Prince Fielder and Jonathan Papelbon.

Standard posed photos

Now I had never noticed this until this evening, but check out the Rookie Card logos on both of these cards.  Prince's on the left, has the standard MLB RC logo, but Papelbon on the right, has the logo in silver outline, no coloring or filling in of the letters.   I wondered if this might be unique, but I found another Papelbon that I had and sure enough, it had the same silver outlined RC logo.  Printing error?  Anybody have one with a filled in RC logo?  If you do, let me know, and if possible send me a scan please.

Shouldn't the Fielder pic be the hot dog? (just sayin...)

I did like the card back from that set...the card numbers were a decent size, and had different colors which I liked.  Not sure why they repeated the key stats on the left hand side when all you had to do was look to the right to see them.  I liked the team color scheme on the backs as well.  I found it interesting as well that Papelbon was a "flourishing" starter in the minors (although if you look at his '05 stats, his ERA is less than 3 and his WHIP was less than 1.00 at AA and AAA!), but now he's been a successful closer for the Sox for several years.  I guess Prince didn't rate as highly in the description on the bottom, all it mentions is that he became the youngest Brewer to hit a walk off HR, it was against Pittsburgh (wasn't everyone hitting HR's against Pittsburgh pitching that year?)

This set has been added to my BB want list....still need quite a few cards, mostly in Series 1 (why is it that way with me every year?)  If you have any for trade, let me know via comment or email....

Thanks for looking, Robert...