Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2011 St. Louis Cardinals

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Team Set of the Week:

• Team: 2011 St. Louis Cardinals
• Record: 90-72, MLB World Series Champions.
• Managers: Tony LaRussa
• Card on the Top: Albert Pujols

The checklist consists of the following players:

• STL1 Albert Pujols
• STL2 Chris Carpenter
• STL3 Allen Craig
• STL4 Ryan Franklin
• STL5 David Freese
• STL6 Jaime Garcia
• STL7 Matt Holliday
• STL8 Jon Jay
• STL9 Yadier Molina
• STL10 Colby Rasmus
• STL11 Skip Schumaker
• STL12 Adam Wainwright
• STL13 Jake Westbrook
• STL14 Pedro Feliz
• STL15 Lance Berkman
• STL16 Ryan Theriot
• STL17 Busch Stadium

The cards in order from the set (the checklist at the end was cut from the back of the package. What, you don't do that?):

Key differences between the team set and 2011 Topps eponymous set:

• Allen Craig earned a cup-of-coffee in 2010, but did not make it onto the base set in 2011. He did, however, show up in Update Series:
  
  

• Ryan Franklin was the closer for the team that year. His regular Topps card used a different picture:
  
  

• It's almost the same picture of David Freese, but his regular Topps card looks to show what happened a second or so later in the same at bat:
  
  

• As with all of the 2010 Topps All-Star Rookie Team selections, Jamie Garcia had two cards in the Topps set. One with, and one without the trophy. Now the card in the retail set used the same picture of the regular card that did NOT have the trophy on it. Here are both examples of Garcia's Topps' cards:
  
  

• Skip Schumaker's card showed him on the field after making a great defensive play:
  
  

• Lance Berkman was a rent-a-player for the Yankees in 2010, but found himself out of the Bronx and west of the Mississippi in 2011. While his base card shows him in the Yankees' gray uniform, his traded card depicts him in Cardinal red:
  
  

• Ryan Theriot's base card does NOT depict him on the mound...although it does look like it though, doesn't it?:
  
  

Of the 17 players included in this set, 6 players have different pictures on the retail set compared to the base set, and then there is the Garcia situation (I don't know if you can call it a different picture issue or not).

Next week's featured set will be the 2006 Toronto Blue Jays. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Updates and Highlights sets.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1989 Topps #774 Ron Oester

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, June 21, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1989 Topps #774.
• Player Name, position, team: Ron Oester, second baseman, Cincinnati Reds.
• Major League Debut: September 10, 1978.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1982 stats (Reds): 151 G, 549 AB, 63 R, 143 H, 19 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 47 RBI, 5 SB, .359 SLG, 35 BB, 82 SO, .260 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Reds #9th, June 1974. Bats: both. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his tenth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Ron enjoyed a 21-game hitting streak in 1984."
• Commentary: It's hard to believe, but it's been 25 years since the 1989 season of baseball card collecting was turned upside-down by the introduction of a fifth card company. From 1981 through 1987, Topps, Donruss, and Fleer were vying for people's Hobby dollars. In 1988, Score, with it's colored card backs, joined the fray. And then, 1989 happened. Upper Deck launched their first card product, and the Hobby, for better or worse, has never been the same since. Now it's 2014, all of the other companies are either gone entirely or are still making baseball cards, but on a lesser scale. In he meantime, Topps is using the 1989 design as one of the four featured "sets" for it's Topps Archives product, and then of course, the eponymous set has die-cut, mini card versions of the 1989 design (imagine if you took your 1989 Topps cards and then cut them along the colored borders, and voila!) as inserts. Too bad Topps couldn't figure out how to center the player's names within the colored team name in Archives. It looks goofy to see the names beginning all the way on the left and then have so much empty space on the right. Ronald John Oester's 1983 Topps card was previously featured as Random Card back on May 10, 2013, and I remember blabbing on about imagining if teams consisted of players who actually lived in the city? It seemed like every native Cincinnatian wound up playing for the Reds at one point in their lives or another. And second baseman Oester was no exception. He wound up playing his entire career for his home-town team, and in 1989, Oester hit for a .246 average with 1 home run, drove in 14 runs, and played nearly flawless defense at both second and short. In his last season in the majors, Oester and the Reds shocked the world by beating the heavily favored Athletics in the World Series.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 14.

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: 1959 Topps #490. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2011 Topps Update Series #US265 Willie Harris

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, June 21, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2011 Topps Update Series #US265.
• Player Name, position, team: Willie Harris, outfielder, New York Mets.
• Major League Debut: September 2, 2001.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2010 stats (Nationals): 132 G, 224 AB, 25 R, 41 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 32 RBI, 5 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 32 RBI, 5 SB, 33 BB, 60 SO, .362 SLG, .653 OPS, .183 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Orioles #24th, June 1999. Signed with the Nationals as a Free Agent 01/14/2011. Bats: left. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 7. This is his seventh and final card.
• Blurb on the back: "Willie, who signed as a free agent for 2011, hit safely n his first five games with the Mets. His two-run double in the second of those gave his new club an extra-inning victory over Florida.
• Commentary: It figures. On all 660 cards in the base set, the color banner on the right hand side of the cards mentions a certain card that shares the same number. One of these years, someone, maybe me, will try and put all 660 highlighted cards in a gallery. Shouldn't be too hard, right (well if it wasn't someone would have done it by now). But it made me wonder if Topps would repeat the tidbit in its Update Series. And if so, how would they do it? I mean, excluding 1974, 1976, and even 1981, Topps' Traded sets were numbered 1-132T. Then since 2005, the Traded sets consisted of 330 cards. Would they do the same thing? Well, apparently they did not. Oh well, many of those #132T were checklists anyway. By the time William Charles Harris signed with the Mets for the 2011 season, he had already accomplished a lot, including a World Series ring in 2005. After three seasons with the Washington Nationals, Harris headed off to the Big Apple. In 126 games with New York, Harris hit for a .246 average with 2 home runs, 23 rbi's, and percentages of .351/.317/.668. After one season, he signed on with the Reds organization. While he did appear in 25 games for Cincinnati at the beginning of the season, he spent most of the year with their Triple-A club in Louisville. It would be his last season in professional baseball as a player.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 9 cards.

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Tomorrow's card will be: 1989 Topps #772. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1992 Topps Traded #126T B. J. Wallace

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, June 19, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1992 Topps Traded #126T.
• Player Name, position, team: B. J. Wallace, pitcher, Team USA.
• Major League Debut: n/a.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1991 stats (Mississippi State University): 19 G, 127.1 IP, 9-3, 43 R, 38 ER, 145 SO, 35 BB, 14 GS, 7 CG, 4 SHO, 2 SV, 2.69 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 2. This is his first Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "In 1992, B.J. set a Mississippi State University record for Strikeouts, becoming the first pitcher in history of the school to achieve two consecutive 100-Strikeout seasons. He tied a school standard with 4 Shutouts and was co-MVP of the NCAA Midwest Regional. B.J. established a career-best with 11 Strikeouts vs. Vanderbilt in 1991."
• Commentary: With Topps as one of the sponsors for the U.S. Olympic Baseball Team, they had the rights to produce cards of each of the members of the team that would head to Barcelona. Unfortunately, the team would not win a medal in these games, finishing fourth out of the eight teams participating. But they did finish with a 5-2 record (the two losses being in the playoffs against Cuba and Japan in the Bronze medal game). But William J. Wallace performed well in the games, earning a W against Italy, striking out 14 batters in 8 innings of work in a 10-0 blowout. He was drafted by the Expos as the #3rd pick overall in the 1992 June draft. However, injuries kept him from performing to his potential, and after being on the DL for the entire 1995 season, and a short-lived comeback did not pan out the following season, Wallace did call it quits, never making it to the major leagues. He would take up coaching at the high school level. One interesting tidbit finds that in 2011, Wallace and his wife were arrested and charged "on suspicion of building a methamphetamine lab in their home." I think we'll stop there.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.08-$0.25.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 2.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2011 Topps Update Series #US265. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1995 Topps #499 John Olerud

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, June 18, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1995 Topps #499.
• Player Name, position, team: John Olerud, first baseman, Toronto Blue Jays.
• Major League Debut: September 3, 1989.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1994 stats (Blue Jays): 108 G, 384 AB, 47 R, 114 H, 29 2B, 2 3B, 12HR, 67 RBI, 1 SB, .477 SLG, 61 BB, 53 SO, .297 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Blue Jays #3rd, June 1989. Bats: left. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 17. This is his sixth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "So fundamentally flawless is John's swing that none other than Don Mattingly once watched a videotape of it to break out of a slump. A scout tells the story of watching Olerud for 10 games at Washington State before seeing him swing at a pitch and miss."
• Commentary: Rare is the player that makes it to the majors straight from the draft without touching the minor leagues. Even rarer is that he plays above and beyond the expectations once he arrives to his major league destination when just a couple of months prior he was facing college competition. Yes, he only appeared in six games, but that was the start of John Garrett Olerud's major league journey. He suffered a brain aneurysm during his college days, but it never affected his play on the field or on the mound (he was a pitcher as well). But he would play with a helmet when on defense, which made him easy to spot on the field. Two years removed from his second World Series title and his first batting title (AL leading .363 average), John provided a steady bat on a potent Blue Jays lineup and a nearly flawless glove at first (.997 fielding percentage). He hit .291 with 8 home runs and 54 runs driven in. Patient at the plate, he drew 84 walks while striking out only 54 times. A trade to the Mets after the 1996 season ended his stint with Toronto. His 17-year career would see him spending time with the Mets, Mariners, Yankees, and Red Sox (including his first and only games in the minors) before retiring. He was a two-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 32.

Tomorrow's card will be 1992 Topps Traded #126T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1977 Topps #640 Carlton Fisk

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, June 17, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1977 Topps #640.
• Player Name, position, team: Carlton Fisk, catcher, Boston Red Sox.
• Major League Debut: September 18, 1969.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1976 stats (Red Sox): 134 G, 487 AB, 76 R, 124 H, 17 2B, 5 3B, 17 HR, 58 RBI, .255 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent 07/22/1972. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 22. This is his sixth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Carlton hit .417 in 1975 A.L. Playoffs and belted 2 Homers in World Series. One came in 12th inning to win Game #6, 7-6."
• Commentary: Yes, I know that Carlton Ernest Fisk played for eleven seasons with the Boston Red Sox. Yes, I know he was a World Series hero and his dramatic twelfth inning homer will go down in baseball lore as one of the greatest moments of all time (depicted on 2001 Topps #791, the last card in the set)., Yes, I know that after a long but incredible career that he went into the Hall of Fame, wearing the bold "B" on his cap instead of the scripted "C". But for as long as I've been following baseball, Carlton Fisk will always be a member of the Chicago White Sox. In 1977, Fisk hit for a career high .315, had career high percentages of .402/.521/.922, hit 26 home runs, drove in 102 rbi's, became an All-Star for the fifth time in his career, and finished 8th in the MVP voting. When Topps came out with it's 2002 Topps Archives: The Best Years product, Fisk was included as a subject, and his 1977 season was selected as his best year (a close second would have been his 1985 season...37 homers, 107 rbi's, but a .238 average did him in). Yes, he played more seasons in the Second City, and the way the Sox ended his career wasn't the best way to go about it (letting him break the record for career games caught and then letting him go the next day). But there is no doubt in my mind that Pudge will always be one of baseball's best, and most durable, catcher. 
• Beckett value: $2.00-$5.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 77 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1995 Topps #499. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1991 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

RIP Tony Gwynn 1960-2014

I..I can't stand it.

It really doesn't seem that long ago that the man was on the field, hitting the ball with precision rarely seen in the game.

I actually did a double take when I saw this and now, I can't think straight.

I know that players come and go, and that eventually all will go to that baseball diamond in the sky.

But this man has left us so soon.

I just found out that Tony Gwynn passed away.

In 1996, along with celebrating the life of Mickey Mantle, Topps used both Gwynn and Kirby Puckett, two of the game's best hitters of the time, as spokesmen for their baseball cards. Both men did "scouting reports" on their respective league's best players of the time and Topps included insert cards featuring these reports.

Ironically, that means that both of Topps' eventual Hall of Fame spokesmen have now died.

Since retirement, Gwynn became the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs baseball team. He apparently was on leave since March due to the effects of oral cancer (due to years of chewing smokeless tobacco). And he even had to endure two operations for cancer in his right cheek.

During his 20-year, Hall-of-Fame career, all with his hometown San Diego Padres, the man who would become known as "Mr. Padre" appeared in 2,440 games, made 10,232 plate appearances. He hit for a .338 career average, had 3,141 career hits, walked 790 times while striking out only 434 times (in 20 years!!!). His percentages were .388/.459/.847. He was a fifteen-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger winner, four-time Gold Glover, and considered for the NL MVP twelve times.

In 2007, Gwynn was inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame with a high 97.6% of the vote (only 13 writers denied him a vote) in his first year of eligibility.

And now, he's gone.

My condolences go out to the Gwynn family, the Padres organization, Major League Baseball, and fans everywhere.