Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates

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

• Team: 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates
• Record: 72-90, fourth place, NL Central Division.
• Manager: Clint Hurdle
• Card on the Top: Pedro Alvarez

The checklist consists of the following players:

• PIT1 Pedro Alvarez
• PIT2 Andrew McCutchen
• PIT3 Matt Diaz
• PIT4 Chris Snyder
• PIT5 Jose Tabata
• PIT6 Neil Walker
• PIT7 James McDonald
• PIT8 Joel Hanrahan
• PIT9 Evan Meek
• PIT10 Lyle Overbay
• PIT11 Ross Ohlendorf
• PIT12 Jason Jaramillo
• PIT13 Daniel McCutchen
• PIT14 Garrett Jones
• PIT15 Kevin Correia
• PIT16 Paul Maholm
• PIT17 PNC Park

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:

• Matt Diaz and Daniel McCutchen 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.

• In the 2011 base set, Pedro Alvarez is congratulated after hitting a home run (he has to be, his head is down as he's running the corner):
  
  

• Chris Snyder swings for the fences in his base set:
  
  

• Jose Tabata running the bases (and vertically oriented) on his base card:
  
  

• Hey, Topps placed their ASRT Rookie Cup on the right card this time (see Starlin Castro...in just last week's edition of RTTSotW) in the retail set as in the eponymous set.  But because Topps gave all players in the ASRT two cards, here is his second card:
  
  

• Joel Hanrahan, in landscape form, in the base set:
  
  

• Lyle Overbay was a Blue Jay the year before, and you can see here the original picture that was used to photoshop the Pirates jersey on him in the retail set. He does make it into the Update Series as a Pirate:
  
  

• Kevin Correia made it to the All-Star Game in 2011, but he was in a Padre uniform the year before. As with Overbay, the original photo was altered to show Correia in a Bucs jersey. And just like Overbay, he made it into the Update Series:
  
  

So of the 17 players included in this set, only seven had obvious picture variances, and two of them were because they played for another team.  They were both included as Pirates in the Update Series though.  So the photoshopped images that were included in the retail set are unique to that set.

Next week's featured set will be the 2007 Topps Minnesota Twins. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Update and Highlights.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama