Random Topps Card of the Day: 2007 Topps #403 Casey Blake

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, January 26, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2007 Topps #403.
• Player Name, position, team: Casey Blake, first baseman, Cleveland Indians.
• Major League Debut: August 14, 1999.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2006 stats (Indians): 109 G, 401 AB, 63 R, 113 H, 20 2B, 1 3B, 19 HR, 68 RBI, 6 SB, 45 BB, 93 SO, .479 SLG, .835 OPS, .282 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Blue Jays #7th, June 1996. Signed with the Indians as a Free Agent 12/18/2002. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 9. This is his fourth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Casey was leading the AL in hitting on 05/20/2006 at .366, but injuries ultimately slowed him down. Still, he had two grand slams and hit in 15 straight games."
• Commentary: The 2007 set is (as of 2013 Topps) the only non-white bordered set Topps has come out with since 2003. Don't get me wrong, thanks to the card stock used in modern cards, the borders don't chip as easily as the cards from 1971, but when they do, you can't miss them. This set almost has a movie film-strip look to it with all the squares at the top and bottom of the card. William Casey Blake can hit. In 2006, had it not been for the injuries that slowed him down, he could have possibly maintained the hitting pace he was on and kept his batting average above .350. But 162 games is a long season, and even the best athletes will wear down. He still finished with a good .282 average. In 2007, Blake was the Tribe's primary third baseman. In 155 games, he hit .270 with 18 home runs and 78 rbi's and a .776 OPS. He was traded to the Dodgers in 2008 in exchange for Carlos Santana and spent three full seasons in LA. With the Dodgers, Blake hit 49 home runs and drove in 192 to go with a .260 average. Although he signed with the Rockies as a Free Agent after the 2011 season, he was released by the team during the 2012 spring training. He was out of baseball in 2012, announcing his retirement on May 8.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 22.

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: 1975 Topps #446. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama