Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2009 Topps Arizona Diamondbacks

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

• Team: 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks
• Record: 70-92, fifth place, NL West Division.
• Manager: Bob Melvin and A. J. Hinch
• Card on the Top: Brandon Webb

The checklist consists of the following players:

• ARI1 Brandon Webb
• ARI2 Justin Upton
• ARI3 Dan Haren
• ARI4 Felipe Lopez
• ARI5 Stephen Drew
• ARI6 Miguel Montero
• ARI7 Chris Young
• ARI8 Eric Byrnes
• ARI9 Max Scherzer
• ARI10 Chad Qualls
• ARI11 Conor Jackson
• ARI12 Mark Reynolds
• ARI13 Chris Snyder
• ARI14 Doug Davis
• ARI15 D. Baxter the Bobcat

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 2009 Topps eponymous set:

• Here is a closer look at Dan Haren in his base card, but it's a different picture than what was used in the retail set:
  
  

• Funny story about Felipe Lopez's career with the D-Backs. It was brief. He signed with Arizona on December 8, 2008 and was traded to the Brewers on July 19, 2009. He was not part of the base set, but does appear in the Updates and Highlights set as a Brewer. So if you don't know the drill by now, the only place you can get a 2009 Topps card of Felipe Lopez as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks using the 2009 Topps design, it's in the retail set. For the sake of comparison, here is Lopez' U&H card:
  
  

• Here is Stephen Drew's base card, horizontally-oriented, which works well with the design of the card:
  
  

• Okay, it's the same exact picture of Miguel Montero on the base card, but just off by less than an quarter of an inch or so. You can see more of the "p" in the background of his retail card:
  
  

• Chris Young, on base in his eponymous card:
  
  

• Eric Byrnes has a different picture on his base card compared to the retail version too:
  
  

• Gotta love the base card of Chad Qualls...:
  
  

• Here's Chris Snyder celebrating with teammates in the dugout on his base card:
  
  

• And finally, Doug Davis, pitching, and depicted in a different photo than on his retail card:
  
  

So of the 14 players included in this set, seven use totally different pictures that can be found exclusively within the retail set, and one player's card (Lopez) that can only be found in this product as a member of the Diamondbacks.

Next week's featured set will be the 2010 Florida Marlins. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Update Series sets.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama