Random Topps Card of the Day: 2010 Topps Update Series #US299 Xavier Nady

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, December 18, 2012:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2010 Topps Update Series #US299.
• Player Name, position, team: Xavier Nady, outfielder, Chicago Cubs.
• Major League Debut: September 30, 2000.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2009 stats (Yankees): 7 G, 28 AB, 4 R, 8 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB, 1 BB, 6 SO, .429 SLG, .739 OPS, .286 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Padres, #2nd, June 2000. Signed with the Cubs as a Free Agent 01/29/2010. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 14. This is his eleventh Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Coming off Tommy John surgery in 2009, Xavier was an 'X Factor' for the Cubs when they signed him for '10.  He hit a three-run homer in his fifth at-bat for them and provided bench pop all season."
• Commentary: You know you're a journeyman when of your fourteen regular Topps cards (including traded ones), that half of them are found in the Traded/U&H/Update Series products sold at the end of the year.  And of those seven, four of them are his only cards featuring that year's Topps design, including this one.  Xavier was one of those rare players who made his major league debut without stepping foot in the minor league system.  He was drafted in June of 2000, signed with the Padres on September 17 (three months later), and made his major league debut on the second-to-the-last-day of the 2000 MLB season.  He didn't return to the Padres' major league roster until 2003, being the team's primary right fielder.  He was traded to the Mets after the 2005 season, and was then traded off to the Pirates in a 2006 deadline deal.  Two productive seasons with the Pirates later (where he was one of the Buc's better players, hitting .301 with 36 homers and 152 rbi's, along with a career high .835 in OPS), he was traded once again to the Yankees in time for the Bomber's playoff push.  I guess playing nine games for the Yankees before undergoing Tommy John surgery will not even give Topps cause to give you a card in the base set (although having a pie-in-the-face will do it).  So it was that after the Yankees won their 27th World Series championship, Xavier found himself looking for another team that could use him. Enter the Chicago Cubs, who needed a lot of bench help.  And as the card states, he delivered.  With the Cubs, he entered 119 games, (and after my daughter's favorite player ever Derrek Lee was traded away, became the team's primary first baseman) and hit a decent .256 average with 6 home runs, 33 runs batted in, and had an OBP/SLG/OPS of .306/.353/.660.  His stint in Chicago lasted a year as he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2011.  In 2012, he signed with the Nationals, was released, and signed on with the Giants, just in time for the team's run to the World Series.  Nady will appear in a Kansas City Royals' jersey heading into the 2013 campaign.  It will be his sixth team in five seasons.
• Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 28 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be:  1981 Topps #223. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1981 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama