Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2012 Topps San Diego Padres

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

• Team: 2012 San Diego Padres
• Record: 76-86, fourth place, NL West Division.
• Manager: Bud Black
• Card on the Top: Cameron Maybin

The checklist consists of the following players:

• SD1 Cameron Maybin
• SD2 Will Venable
• SD3 Kyle Blanks
• SD4 Huston Street
• SD5 Orlando Hudson
• SD6 Nick Hundley
• SD7 Yonder Alonso
• SD8 Jason Bartlett
• SD9 Carlos Quentin
• SD10 Edinson Volquez
• SD11 Clayton Richard
• SD12 Chase Headley
• SD13 Jesus Guzman
• SD14 Tim Stauffer
• SD15 Cory Luebke
• SD16 Dustin Moseley
• SD17 PETCO 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 2012 Topps eponymous set:

• Yonder Alonso played for the Cincinnati Reds the year before, and appears in the 2012 Topps set as a Red. There was no Padre card of Yonder in the Update Series set, so this is your only shot at a 2012 Topps designed card of the young first baseman:
  
  

• Carlos Quentin joined the Padres in an off-season trade. He does appear in 2012 Topps as a Padre in Series 2:
  
  

• Edinson Volquez came to the Padres in the same deal as Alonso. He appears in Topps Series 2 in a Padres jersey, but the photoshopping was a bit more blatant (and the picture is a bit more far back than the retail card):
  
  

• Dustin Moseley gets a different picture in the retail set than in the base set as you can see below:
  
  

So of the 16 players included in this set, there are three cards that feature different pictures in the retail set that was used in 2012 Topps, of which includes one card that you're not going to find in either series. There is also the "same picture, wider shot" situation with Volquez' card. The other 13 cards use the same pictures. The Quentin card in the retail set is kind of goofy. First of all, he's wearing a Padres jersey. That's fine. But you can definitely make out the caps on the players in the dugout are of the White Sox, the team Quentin played for the year before. The Sox were playing at Baltimore when this picture was taken. Look who the catcher is? Is that...no, it can't be...but it is. It's Matt "I'm Too Good for Topps" Wieters. He's on a Topps card! Woo-hoo. Quick. Somebody use this picture to make a 2012 Topps Wieters card. Speaking of Wieters...

Next week's featured set will be the 2008 Baltimore Orioles. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Updates and Highlights.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama