Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2006 Topps San Francisco Giants

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

• Team: 2006 Topps San Francisco Giants
• Record: 76-85, third place, NL West Division.
• Manager: Felipe Alou
• Card on the Top: Barry Bonds

The checklist consists of the following players:

• SFG1 Barry Bonds
• SFG2 Moises Alou
• SFG3 Steve Finley
• SFG4 Jason Schmidt
• SFG5 Mike Matheny
• SFG6 Lance Niekro
• SFG7 Ray Durham
• SFG8 Omar Vizquel
• SFG9 Pedro Feliz
• SFG10 Randy Winn
• SFG11 Matt Morris
• SFG12 Armando Benitez
• SFG13 Matt Cain
• SFG14 Noah Lowry

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 2006 Topps eponymous set:

• Steve Finley played for the Angels in 2005, and was traded to the Giants in December of that year. So his eponymous 2006 card shows him wearing the red of the Angels, and the retail set uses the same picture.  Finley was not included in the 2006 Topps Updates and Highlights set.  So if you want a Giants card with the 2006 Topps design of Steve Finley, the retail set is the only place you can get it.:
  
  

• Matt Morris plied his trade with the Cardinals in 2005, and signed with the Giants as a Free Agent. As with Finley, his 2006 Topps card properly depicts him in the red of the Cardinals, and the retail set...uses the same shot. And as with Finley, Morris does not appear in the 2006 Topps U&H set.  Want a Giants card of Matt Morris from 2006 Topps?  You'll only find it here:
  
  

• Matt Cain's card uses the same picture, but the retail set does not have the "rookie card" logo that the MLB Properties insisted that they use:
  
  

• Noah Lowry appears in the regular set too, but the picture used is different than what we see in the retail set:
  
  

So of the 14 players included in this set, two cards feature players photoshopped from the base set, and only one card feature a picture of a player that you will only find in the retail set.

Next week's featured set will be the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays. 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