- Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2010 Topps #361.
- Team: 2009 Washington Nationals.
- Last Line of Statistics: 2009 stats: Manager Manny Acta, 26-61 and Jim Riggleman, 33-42, .364 PCT., 34 GB, Fifth Place NL East.
- Commentary: How confusing did Topps make it for their 2010 Topps set to feature not one, but TWO team cards. Yes, one featured the manager and the team's prior season, but the other one was called Franchise History, which as you can guess, mentioned the franchise's all-time leaders in statistical categories. In the case of the Washington Nationals, as they were the former Montréal Expos, many of the team's leaders played in Montréal, not in Washington DC. In any event, the 2009 Nationals were by every stretch of the imagination, a really bad team. When your team wins less than 60 games a season, they are included in discussions amongst the worst teams in history. One of the highlights of their year happened off the field, when the team drafted the first of their two "saviors." We all know who that is, in fact, so did Topps (thanks to the first of two #661's featuring a Nationals rookie). And as much as fans (and prospectors) everywhere wanted him to make the jump straight to the majors, Stephen Strasburg was not added to the team, instead stayed in the minors to prepare for the 2010 season. Statistical leaders on this team included Adam Dunn (38 home runs), Ryan Zimmerman (106 RBI's, .292 batting average), John Lannan (9 wins, 3.88 ERA), and Jordan Zimmermann (92 strikeouts). The blurb on the back mentions that the Nats "began with seven straight losses and ended with seven straight wins. In between, they relied on one young veteran star (Ryan Zimmerman)...and a list of 54 other players that included 15 rookies." The future looks bright for the Nationals though, as three seasons later, they won NL East Division, and even had the best record in the majors.
- Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.
Sincerely,
JayBee Anama
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