Random Topps Card of the Day: 2007 Topps #585 Willie Bloomquist

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, April 14, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2007 Topps #585.
• Player Name, position, team: Willie Bloomquist, third baseman, Seattle Mariners.
• Major League Debut: September 1, 2002.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2006 stats (Mariners): 102 G, 251 AB, 36 R, 62 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 16 SB, 24 BB, 40 SO, .299 SLG, .619 OPS, .247 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Mariners #3rd, June 1999. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Bloomquist's second regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). Between his first regular Topps card and this one, Willie does not appear on any other card sets other than Topps Total (2003 and 2005...why not 2004???) and an autograph card in the 2003 Topps Traded and Rookie set. The 2007 Topps set, with it's easy-to-chip black borders, reminds me of a film strip (imagine the card horizontally, you'll see what I mean). The squares on all four corners of the card can easily be imagined as the squares that would appear on either side of the strip. You have to love the picture on this card. It is so close to the action, and Bloomquist comes out so crystal clear on the card, you can even see the dust on his pants and jersey (but somehow, the ball is blurry...go figure). The back of the card features a small headshot of Willie, which actually is cropped from the picture on the front, and the statistics box in a light green box, making the black text easy to read. The blurb, which is in a brown box below the statistics, mentions that he is the "premier utilityman who's appeared in at least 13 games at every position (including DH), except pitcher and catcher." It is also worth noting that his 2002 batting average of .455 was the highest batting average of any player in history with at least 30 at bats. Meaning that for a brief moment, Willie was baseball's all time batting average king.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 2 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2005 Topps #702. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama