Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2011 Texas Rangers

I made some changes to the Topps Card Randomizer to include the retail Team Sets that Topps put to market since 2006. As of 2012, the seventh year Topps has sold these 14, then 15, then 17-card team sets, there have been 214 different team sets produced (including 2 pairs of All-Star sets since 2011). And I have

ALL OF THEM!!!
Every week, this humble, little blog, will pay homage to one of these packaged team sets. There will be comparisons between the cards in this set and the base cards found in the eponymous Topps sets. In a large number of cases, there will be variations to discuss and fun things to compare.

So without further ado, here is the first team set to be featured in this new segment: Random Topps Team Set of the Week:

• Team: 2011 Texas Rangers
• Record: 98-64, first place, AL West Division. American League Champions.
• Manager: Ron Washington
• Card on the Top: Josh Hamilton

The checklist consists of the following players:

• TEX1 Josh Hamilton
• TEX2 Julio Borbon
• TEX3 Ian Kinsler
• TEX4 Colby Lewis
• TEX5 Yorvit Torrealba
• TEX6 David Murphy
• TEX7 Mitch Moreland
• TEX8 C.J. Wilson
• TEX9 Michael Young
• TEX10 Tommy Hunter
• TEX11 Derek Holland
• TEX12 Nelson Cruz
• TEX13 Brandon Webb
• TEX14 Adrian Beltre
• TEX15 Elvis Andrus
• TEX16 Neftali Feliz
• TEX17 Rangers Ballpark

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:

• Tommy Hunter and Brandon Webb do not appear in either 2011 Topps or 2011 Topps Update Series. This is the only product you will find a card of either player using the 2011 Topps design.

• Yorvit Torrealba as he was originally pictured as a Padre, and as he appears in '11 Update Series:
  
  

• In the base set, David Murphy is fielding, but he's in his home white jersey:
  
  

• In the base set, Mitch Moreland is batting:
  
  

• Derek Holland's card in the eponymous set was set horizontally:
  
  

• Adrian Beltre as he was originally pictured with the Red Sox, and as he appears in '11 Update Series:
  
  

• Neftali Feliz' card in the eponymous set was set vertically, and then don't forget, he had two cards in the base set because he was a member of the All-Star Rookie Team:
  
  

We could play "If This is His Topps Card, What Card is This?" all day long with this set as six of the sixteen players have different cards found exclusively in this team set. Admittedly, Colby Lewis' card in the retail set uses the same picture; but for some reason, compared to his base card, his retail card appears to have shifted slightly to the right and his right foot just touches the border of the card.

Next week's featured set will be the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Update Series.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama