That's right...WEDNESDAY!!!
While the cards were not on display yet at my local big box store (although there were two boxes by the registers with the words Excell Marketing on them that made me want to rip them open...yes, that's the company that supplies the cards), I did find a final checklist...and of course, there are a few surprises.
You want to see a checklist? You can go to Baseballcardpedia for the full list. Allow me to break it down for you though. There are:
- 207 Veteran Cards
- 60 All-Star Cards (I will get into more detail on this in a minute)
- 8 Home Run Derby Cards (other than for Matt Kemp, who was injured - thus off the 34-man roster - was this subset really necessary???)
- 5 Record Breakers (hey, they needed to throw the checklists somewhere!!!)
- 10 Rookie Debuts (Wade Miley, Yoenis Cespedes, Matt Moore, Yu Darvish, Bryce Harper, Yasmani Grandal, Trevor Bauer, Will Middlebrooks, Matt Harvey, and Jesus Montero). The inclusion of Miley, Moore and Montero in this subset makes no sense because all three debuted in 2011.
- 40 Rookie Cards
Let me share a few quick displeasures I have with the 60 All-Star cards. Again, there were two 34-man rosters (not including those players who had to be replaced due to injury). So already, eight players who were on the active squads as of July 10, 2012, were going to be left out. Now, I've mentioned in the past that they should scrap the Home Run Derby subset because usually the eight players participating in the event are already All-Stars. The likelihood of these sluggers to get two cards is high...and repetitive. If they have to recognize the Home Run Derby participants, at least make one card with both designations on it somehow.
Anyway, back to the point. Of the sixty players so honored with the All-Star Game logo, 31 belong to the American League AST, the other 29 to the National League. So already, we have a mismatch. Of the six players who were named to either All-Star Teams but were replaced due to injury or other reasons, only Ian Desmond of the Nationals does not have a card. That means, CC Sabathia, C. J. Wilson (who took Sabathia's spot on the roster), Matt Kemp, Yadier Molina, and Giancarlo Stanton, all have cards but none took part in the ASG. This is in stark contrast to last year's All-Star Subset where 59 of the 60 players (the exception being Tim Lincecum, who took Matt "I'm Too Good for Topps" Wieters' spot on the checklist) appeared in the game (and only 60 players made an appearance that night). Who was left out?: Matt Harrison, Felix Hernandez, Jake Peavy, Jim Johnson, and Wieters of the AL; Lance Lynn, Wade Miley, Aroldis Chapman, Huston Street, Bryan LaHair, Jose Altuve (meaning no Astros in the subset), Michael Bourn, and Matt Holliday. While I can accept the exclusions of King Felix, Peavy, Lynn, and Street as they did not get in the game at all, Johnson got in the game (Chris Perez did not), and all the reserves for the NL got in the game, so their exclusions are inexcusable.
It also looks like, if I'm reading it correctly, that many of the All-Star cards have variations too. So for those hard-core set collectors, you have your work cut out for you. I'll be happy with a master set with the regular 330 cards plus inserts. Any SP's (or SSP's for that matter) would be a welcome surprise.
Case breaker brentandbecca have been tweeting their findings so far this evening as they start to populate their eBay selling page. As SP's and SSP's are discovered, I will make sure to list them all here. In the mean time, I'm going to have to beg my wife for use of the car tomorrow so I can sneak into Target first thing in the morning...or not.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
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