Topps 60 Best Cards...#45!

Now that Topps has finally brought the public up to speed on their countdown of their greatest cards of all-time as voted on by the collecting public, this morning, they announced which card took in the 45th most votes.

Card #45 is...

(drumroll please)

1987 Topps #366 Mark McGwire.


Thoughts: I'm not surprised that this card made the Top 60. I would have ranked it a bit higher, especially because of how hot this card was in the late 90's-early 2000's (this and the card I voted for, the 1985 McGwire Team USA) card. Look how green the uniform is, and the name plate. It's a nice fluorescent shade of green don't you think???

Beckett has this listed between $1.50-$4.00.

Card #44 on the countdown will be announced tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1985 Topps #720 Rick Sutcliffe NL All-Star RHP

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, January 4, 2011:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1985 Topps #720.
• Player Name, position, team: Rick Sutcliffe, All-Star Right-Handed Pitcher, National League.
• Commentary: This is going to be the first AND last time a card makes a second appearance on the Random Card of the Day segment. I had a feeling when I re-set the Randomizer that eventually, it will pick a card that has already been pulled. And here is the first card to make its second appearance thanks to the Randomizer. To save timel, here is what I wrote last year. "Who knew that an mid-season trade for a 4-5 pitcher would help the Chicago Cubs win their first National League East title? The seven-player trade sending Sutcliffe from the Indians to the Cubs on 06/13/1984 may have saved Rick Sutcliffe's season, and possibly his career. In his first game with the Cubs on 06/19/1984, he pitched a complete game, helping the Cubs win 4-3. He finished the month of June with a 2-1 record. The best was yet to come as in fifteen straight starts, from July 4 to September 14, the Cubs won. Rick Sutcliffe finished the NL year with an incredible record of 16-1 (20-6 total). When the Cy Young Award was announced, all 24 voters (remember, 12 cities, 2 votes), gave their first place votes to Sutcliffe, sweeping the field with 120 votes. The back of the card is split into two sections. The section on the left recalls three games Sutcliffe won with the Cubs, his first game against the Pirates, a 16 K, 5-0 shutout over the Cardinals 06/24/1984, and a 6-0 shutout over the Mets on 09/08/1984. The section on the right lists the 1984 NL League Leaders in Wins, with Sutcliffe's 16 good enough for fourth (ahead of him were Joaquin Andujar (20), Mario Soto (18), Dwight Gooden (17), and was tied Joe Niekro (16))."
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps #200. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1994 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Topps 60 Best Cards...#46-59!!!

After days of leaving us in the dark as to what followed the Mike Schmidt rookie card, announced as card #60 on the countdown, Topps has finally updated the site to show the next 14 cards (two weeks worth of announcements). To save time (and repeated downloading), here are card #'s 46-59 "on Topps 60 Greatest Cards of All Time":

• #59: 1983 Topps #498 Wade Boggs Rookie Card
• #58: 1974 Topps #456 Dave Winfield Rookie Card
• #57: 1958 Topps #47 Roger Maris Rookie Card
• #56: 2007 Topps #40 Derek Jeter (with George W. Bush/Mickey Mantle)
• #55: 1956 Topps #135 Mickey Mantle (the first of what should be many on this countdown)
• #54: 1989 Topps #647 Randy Johnson Rookie Card
• #53: 1987 Topps Traded #70T Greg Maddux Rookie Card
• #52: 1992 Topps #156 Manny Ramirez Draft Pick
• #51: 1959 Topps #514 Bob Gibson Rookie Card
• #50: 1967 Topps #581 Bill Denehy/Tom Seaver 1967 Mets Rookie Stars
• #49: 1956 Topps #79 Sandy Koufax
• #48: 1955 Topps #50 Jackie Robinson
• #47: 1956 Topps #5 Ted Williams
• #46: 1953 Topps #244 Willie Mays

Comments: Lots of rookie cards among the fourteen announced. Very surprised about the Johnson card ranking this high in the first place. Maybe there were fans of 1989 Topps running up the vote totals. Hopefully this means that Topps will now showcase their results one card a a time going forward.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1994 Topps Traded #92T Charlie O'Brien

We reset the Topps Card Randomizer to come up with seven new cards to present for this week. Introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, January 3, 2011:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1994 Topps Traded #92T.
• Player Name, position, team: Charlie O'Brien, catcher, Atlanta Braves.
• Major League Debut: June 2, 1985.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1993 stats (Mets): 67 G, 188 AB, 15 R, 48 H, 11 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 0 SB, .378 SLG, 14 BB, 14 SO, .255 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Athletics #5th, June 1982. Signed as a free agent with the Braves 11/27/1993. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his eighth card.
• Blurb on the back: "Because of his defensive genius, Charlie was hand-picked by the Braves as a back-up and mentor to super-rookie Javy Lopez."
• Commentary: Making his second appearance on the Randomizer, Charlie O'Brien, who never played more than 70 games up to this point in his career, was known more for his defense than he was for his bat. But it was what he brought to the game later on that revolutionized the catcher's position. Inspired by the goalie masks that hockey players use, he created a mask for catchers that was, yes a bit larger, but provided more protection for the man behind home plate against foul balls, against bats against the back of the head, et al. And, the view was amazing. You didn't even have to remove the mask to catch those pesky foul balls. And once it was approved by MLB to use in play, well, lets just say his mask added years to a catcher's health. At this time, the Braves had a young superstar waiting in the wings to become their primary catcher. O'Brien's signing guaranteed that a young Javy Lopez would learn from one of the better defensive catchers in the game.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1985 Topps #720. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. See you then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1974 Topps #48 Dick Sharon

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, January 2, 2011:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1974 Topps #48.
• Player Name, position, team: Dick Sharon, outfielder, Detroit Tigers.
• Major League Debut: May 13, 1973.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1973 stats (Tigers): 178 AB, 43 H, 9 2B, 0 3B, 7 HR, 16 RBI, .242 AVG.
• Any special information about players: Drafted by the Pirates, #1st, June 1968. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 2. This is his rookie card.
• Blurb on the back: "Was All-League in baseball, basketball, & football in high school. Originally signed with the Pirates as a third baseman. Has excellent baseball instincts."
• Commentary: One look at the 1974 Topps design, and you have no idea what would be unleashed to the masses the following season. The design is simple, with many elements that would be continued to be used by the Topps Company in years to come, specifically, the colored ribbons that hold the city or team, the oval photo, and the team-colored border surrounding said picture. The 1974 Topps set is infamous for one of the company's greatest miscalculations (the Padres possible move to Washington, DC, led the company to replace San Diego with Washington Nat'l on a number of Padres players). Here is Dick Sharon at the cages before that evening's game, and in a unique batting pose, points the bat in the direction of the cameraman as if he's aiming a rifle (he even has the wink one uses when aiming to focus). Maybe he's indicating where he's going to hit the ball in that evening's game, although by the looks of things, he's aiming for foul territory. The back of the card includes a cartoon indicating that Dick "gets a great jump on the ball in the outfield." as the player is literally jumping on the ball. And he was a decent fielder, playing all three outfield positions and contributed in five assists to go with a .970 fielding percentage. He was named the Tiger's "Rookie of the Year" after the 1973 season.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.20-$0.50.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 0 cards.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM. (You have to stop by and visit them now. They just announced that they are allowing more people to enter the museum at one time.)

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps Traded #92. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

The Last of the Million Card Giveaways.

By the time this post comes to the blog, I will be out celebrating New Year's Day with the family. With that in mind, I thought that besides the Card of the Day, I thought I'd share some final Million Card Giveaway results on this humble, little blog.

What should be the final three codes I get before Topps switches over to the Diamond Giveaway, here is what Topps' randomizer gifted to me:

zxdT6x78L: 1958 Topps Gene Baker #358


C5pkwR6Mr: 1986 Topps Paul Molitor #267


hzcwHGG4B: 1983 Topps Kirk Gibson #430


This total means I have 55 cards in my virtual binder. I do plan on redeeming the cards that I don't have (anything from 1975 and older). Otherwise, I've heard horror stories about the condition of some of these cards, so I'm a bit leery about doing this.

On a totally unrelated note, when will Topps announce their #59 on their Topps 60 countdown??? It's been more than a week since the Schmidt RC was announced as #60!!! Oh well.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2009 Topps #344 J. R. Towles

It's a brand new year, and I finally got the infamous Topps Card Randomizer up and running again. Now adding 2010 Topps and Update Series cards (991 cards) to the spreadsheet.

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, January 1, 2011:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2009 Topps #344.
• Player Name, position, team: J. R. Towles, catcher, Houston Astros.
• Major League Debut: September 5, 2007.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2008 stats (Astros): 54 G, 146 AB, 10 R, 20 H, 5 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 0 SB, 16 BB, 40 SO, .253 SLG, .503 OPS, .137 AVG.
• Any special information about players: Drafted by the Astros, #20th, June 2004. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 3. This is his second card.
• Blurb on the back: "J. R. owns the lone 8-RBI game in history by a rookie catcher (09/20/2007). Also the only Astros player ever with that many in one contest."
• Commentary: To celebrate the return of the Randomizer, it is only fitting that there be a few changes to the way the posts will be presented. This is the part where I talk about the player or make a comment on the back of the card. I love the 2009 Topps design. And here is a picture of the Astros' catcher, sans catching gear, playing long toss. But the one thing that stands out in his picture is that the jersey is way tucked in on the right, you can see this as the folds of his jersey seem to originate from the right as he makes his toss (the two belt loops on the right by his buckle. Just looks awkward. Above the name on the back of his card is a breakdown of his career batting average by classification (from Rookie League to Majors): Low Class A: .327; Double A: .324; Triple A: .299; Rookie: .243; High Class A: .200; Majors: .188. Injured for most of the 2010 season, he is looking to take the starting job for the Astros in 2011.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.40-$1.00.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 7 cards.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1974 Topps #48. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama