So the 2013 Topps Series 2 Checklist is Out and Final (or so they say)

While I was laid out thanks to allergies (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it), it turns out that 2013 Topps Series 2 Baseball went live. Figures I'd miss it while droning in and out of consciousness.

So for the benefit of those who somehow think that this blog is the pulse of the Hobby (and why not??!) here are the cards that I will be making sure to add to my ever growing collection...with the goal of getting these cards before the All-Star Break!!!

BASE

332 Cole Hamels
333 Santiago Casilla
334 Derek Norris
335 Chris Herrmann RC
336 Hank Conger
337 Chris Iannetta
338 Mike Trout AL ROY
339 Nick Swisher
340 Franklin Gutierrez
341 Lonnie Chisenhall
342 Matt Dominguez
343 Alex Avila
344 Kris Medlen
345 Jenrry Mejia
346 Aaron Hicks RC
347 Brett Anderson
348 Jonny Gomes
349 Ernesto Frieri
350 Albert Pujols
351 Asdrubal Cabrera
352 Tommy Hanson
353 Bud Norris
354 Casey Janssen
355 Carlos Marmol
356 Greg Dobbs
357 Juan Francisco
358 Henderson Alvarez
359 CC Sabathia RECORD CHASERS
360 Khristopher Davis RC
361 Erik Kratz
362 Yoenis Cespedes
363 Sergio Santos
364 Carlos Pena
365 Mike Baxter
366 Ervin Santana
367 Carlos Ruiz
368 Chris Young
369 Bryce Harper NL ROY
370 A.J. Griffin
371 Jeremy Affeldt
372 Jeff Locke
373 Derek Jeter RECORD CHASERS
374 Miguel Cabrera AL MVP
375 Wilin Rosario
376 Juan Pierre RECORD CHASERS
377 J.D. Martinez
378 Joe Kelly
379 Madison Bumgarner
380 Juan Nicasio
381 Wily Peralta
382 Jackie Bradley Jr. RC
383 Matt Harrison
384 Jake McGee
385 Brandon Belt
386 Brandon Phillips
387 Jean Segura
388 Justin Turner
389 Phil Hughes
390 James McDonald
391 Travis Wood
392 Tom Koehler RC
393 Andres Torres
394 Ubaldo Jimenez
395 Alexei Ramirez
396 Aroldis Chapman
397 Mike Aviles
398 Mike Fiers
399 Shane Victorino
400 David Wright
401 Ryan Dempster
402 Tom Wilhelmsen
403 Hisashi Iwakuma
404 Ryan Madson
405 Hector Sanchez
406 Brandon McCarthy
407 Juan Pierre
408 Coco Crisp
409 Logan Morrison
410 Roy Halladay
411 Jesus Guzman
412 Everth Cabrera
413 Brett Gardner
414 Mark Buehrle
415 Leonys Martin
416 Jordan Lyles
417 Logan Forsythe
418 Evan Gattis RC
419 Matt Moore
420 Rick Porcello
421 Jordy Mercer RC
422 Alfredo Marte RC
423 Miguel Gonzalez
424 Steven Lerud RC
425 Josh Donaldson
426 Vinnie Pestano
427 Chris Nelson
428 Kyle McPherson RC
429 David Price
430 Josh Harrison
431 Blake Beavan
432 Jose Iglesias
433 Andrew Werner RC
434 Wei-Yin Chen
435 Brandon Maurer RC
436 Elvis Andrus
437 Dayan Viciedo
438 Yasmani Grandal
439 Marco Estrada
440 Ian Kinsler
441 Jose Bautista
442 Mike Leake
443 Lou Marson
444 Jordan Walden
445 Joe Thatcher
446 Chris Parmelee
447 Jacob Turner
448 Tim Hudson RECORD CHASERS
449 Michael Cuddyer
450 Jay Bruce
451 Pedro Florimon
452 Raul Ibanez
453 Troy Tulowitzki
454 Paul Goldschmidt
455 Buster Posey NL MVP
456 Pablo Sandoval
457 Nate Schierholtz
458 Jake Peavy
459 Jesus Montero
460 Ryan Doumit
461 Drew Pomeranz
462 Eduardo Nunez
463 Jason Hammel
464 Luis Jimenez RC
465 Placido Polanco
466 Jerome Williams
467 Brian Duensing
468 Anthony Gose
469 Adam Warren RC
470 Jeff Francoeur
471 Trevor Cahill
472 John Mayberry
473 Josh Johnson
474 Brian Omogrosso RC
475 Garrett Jones
476 John Buck
477 Paul Maholm
478 Gavin Floyd
479 Kelly Johnson
480 Lance Berkman
481 Justin Wilson RC
482 Emilio Bonifacio
483 Jordany Valdespin
484 Johan Santana
485 Ruben Tejada
486 Jason Kubel
487 Hanley Ramirez
488 Ryan Wheeler RC
489 Erick Aybar
490 Cody Ross
491 Clayton Richard
492 Jose Molina
493 Johnny Giavotella
494 Alberto Callaspo
495 Joaquin Benoit
496 Scott Sizemore
497 Brett Myers
498 Martin Prado
499 Billy Butler
500 Stephen Strasburg
501 Tommy Milone
502 Patrick Corbin
503 Clay Buchholz
504 Michael Bourn
505 Ross Detwiler
506 Andy Pettitte
507 Lance Lynn
508 Felix Doubront
509 Brennan Boesch
510 Nate McLouth
511 Rob Brantly RC
512 Justin Smoak
513 Zach McAllister
514 Jonathan Papelbon
515 Brian Roberts
516 Omar Infante
517 Pedro Alvarez
518 Nolan Reimold
519 Zack Greinke
520 Peter Bourjos
521 Evan Scribner RC
522 Dallas Keuchel
523 Wandy Rodriguez
524 Wade LeBlanc
525 J.P. Arencibia
526 Tyler Flowers
527 Carlos Beltran
528 Darin Mastroianni
529 Collin McHugh RC
530 Wade Miley
531 Craig Gentry
532 Todd Helton
533 J.J. Hardy
534 Alberto Cabrera RC
535 Philip Humber
536 Mike Trout AL DEFENSIVE POY
537 Neil Walker
538 Brett Wallace
539 Phil Coke
540 Michael Bourn NL DEFENSIVE POY
541 Jon Lester
542 Jeff Niemann
543 Donovan Solano
544 Tyler Chatwood
545 Alex Presley
546 Carlos Quentin
547 Glen Perkins
548 John Lackey
549 Huston Street
550 Matt Joyce
551 Welington Castillo
552 Francisco Cervelli
553 Josh Rutledge
554 R.A. Dickey
555 Joel Hanrahan
556 Nick Hundley
557 Adam Lind
558 David Murphy
559 Travis Snider
560 Yunel Escobar
561 Josh Vitters
562 Jason Marquis
563 Nate Eovaldi
564 Francisco Peguero RC
565 Torii Hunter
566 C.J. Wilson
567 Alfonso Soriano RECORD CHASERS
568 Steve Lombardozzi
569 Ryan Ludwick
570 Devin Mesoraco
571 Melky Cabrera
572 Lorenzo Cain
573 Ian Stewart
574 Corey Hart
575 Justin Morneau
576 Julio Teheran
577 Matt Harvey
578 Brett Jackson
579 Adam LaRoche
580 Jordan Danks
581 Andrelton Simmons
582 Seth Smith
583 Alejandro De Aza
584 Alfonso Soriano
585 Homer Bailey
586 Jose Quintana
587 Matt Cain
588 Jordan Zimmermann
589 Jose Fernandez RC
590 Liam Hendriks
591 Derek Holland
592 Nick Markakis
593 James Loney
594 Carl Crawford
595 David Ortiz
596 Brian Dozier
597 Marco Scutaro
598 Fernando Martinez
599 Carlos Carrasco
600 Mariano Rivera
601 Brandon Moss
602 Anibal Sanchez
603 Chris Perez
604 Rafael Betancourt
605 Aramis Ramirez
606 Mark Trumbo
607 Chris Carter
608 Ricky Nolasco
609 Scott Baker
610 Brandon Beachy
611 Drew Storen
612 Robinson Cano
613 Jhoulys Chacin
614 B.J. Upton
615 Mark Ellis
616 Grant Balfour
617 Fernando Rodney
618 Koji Uehara
619 Carlos Gomez
620 Hector Santiago
621 Steve Cishek
622 Alcides Escobar
623 Alexi Ogando
624 Justin Ruggiano
625 Domonic Brown
626 Gio Gonzalez
627 David Price AL CY YOUNG
628 Martin Maldonado RC
629 Trevor Plouffe
630 Andy Dirks
631 Chris Carpenter
632 R.A. Dickey NL CY YOUNG
633 Victor Martinez
634 Drew Smyly
635 Jedd Gyorko RC
636 Cole De Vries RC
637 Ben Revere
638 Andrew Cashner
639 Josh Hamilton
640 Jason Castro
641 Bruce Chen
642 Austin Jackson
643 Matt Garza
644 Ryan Lavarnway
645 Luis Cruz
646 Phillippe Aumont RC
647 Adam Dunn
648 Dan Straily
649 Ryan Hanigan
650 Nelson Cruz
651 Gregor Blanco
652 Jonathan Lucroy
653 Chase Headley
654 Brandon Barnes RC
655 Salvador Perez
656 Scott Diamond
657 Jorge De La Rosa
658 David Freese
659 Mike Napoli
660 Miguel Cabrera
661 Hyun-Jin Ryu RC

By my count, that's 29 Rookie Cards with the official MLB Rookie Card Logo (compared to 32 in series 1). You have eight cards honoring each league's MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Cy Young winners, as well as each league's Defensive Player of the Year (Mike Trout and Michael Bourn). Nice touch Topps, although shouldn't these honors have been saved for Series 1? It's a bit too late to include these in Series 2 in my opinion, especially since both R. A. Dickey and Michael Bourn aren't even in the NL anymore. Five Record Chasers (Sabathia, Jeter, Pierre, Hudson, and Soriano) make up the checklist cards. And note that there will be a card #661 again (of Korean sensation Hyun-Jin Ryu). The good news is that it's not going to be a SP (although as you will see below, there will be a SP variation). Now if Topps wanted to mess with certain people, they would have found a way to include rookie phenom Yasiel Puig as #662, but I digress.

Again, there are 25 short-printed variations of the base cards, many of which are numbered as if they're from Series 1. Makes little sense once again, but I'm not in the room when they make the decisions. The SP's, which this time follows no set "chasing" theme, include:

1 Bryce Harper
6 Ryan Howard
10 Adam Jones
11 Yu Darvish
11 Yu Darvish
22 Clayton Kershaw
26 Chase Utley
27 Mike Trout
27 Mike Trout
28 Prince Fielder
34 Felix Hernandez
55 Tim Lincecum
78 Dylan Bundy
110 Justin Upton
122 Andrew McCutchen
127 Giancarlo Stanton
228 Adrian Gonzalez
242 Matt Kemp
316 Josh Reddick
331 Jose Reyes
362 Yoenis Cespedes
456 Pablo Sandoval
595 David Ortiz
660 Miguel Cabrera
661 Hyun-Jin Ryu

So five of these cards look like they'd be SP's in series 2, but the rest? Series 1, and now there are two variations for certain guys (like Harper) and two more variations (for a guy like Trout). This is why I'm so glad I'm a set collector, and not a player collector. I'm not going to lose sleep over trying to get these cards. Although, if I manage to get one by sheer luck...

Parallels come in the usual color schemes: Emerald Foil - 1:6 packs, Blue (WalMart), Purple (Toys R' Us), Red (Target), Emerald Blue (Hobby Shop Promo Packs, this is a new one), Gold #/2013, Desert Camo Foil #/99, Black #/62 (Hobby/HTA), Pink #/50, Silver Slate #/10 (Hobby Shop Promo Packs, a continuation from the pack redemption from Series 1), Platinum 1/1, Printing Plates 1/1 (Hobby/HTA).

On to the inserts. Now every insert set will also come in autograph, relic, or a combination of the two forms. Here are the basic insert sets that should be included in Master Set auctions on the Bay:

CHASING HISTORY

CH-51 Jason Kipnis
CH-52 Gary Sheffield
CH-53 Jered Weaver
CH-54 Anthony Rizzo
CH-55 Ken Griffey Jr.
CH-56 Matt Holliday
CH-57 Cal Ripken Jr.
CH-58 Rickey Henderson
CH-59 Fred Lynn
CH-60 Derek Jeter
CH-61 David Price
CH-62 Willie McCovey
CH-63 Jordan Zimmermann
CH-64 Mike Trout
CH-65 Gary Carter
CH-66 Adrian Gonzalez
CH-67 Stephen Strasburg
CH-68 John Smoltz
CH-69 Sandy Koufax
CH-70 Miguel Cabrera
CH-71 Buster Posey
CH-72 Carlos Gonzalez
CH-73 Robinson Cano
CH-74 Stan Musial
CH-75 Dustin Pedroia
CH-76 Tony Gwynn
CH-77 Roberto Clemente
CH-78 Mark Trumbo
CH-79 Hank Aaron
CH-80 Yu Darvish
CH-81 Cliff Lee
CH-82 Felix Hernandez
CH-83 Willie Mays
CH-84 Mariano Rivera
CH-85 Tim Lincecum
CH-86 Roy Halladay
CH-87 Lance Lynn
CH-88 Justin Verlander
CH-89 Darryl Strawberry
CH-90 Prince Fielder
CH-91 Joey Votto
CH-92 Mike Schmidt
CH-93 Manny Machado
CH-94 Ty Cobb
CH-95 Matt Cain
CH-96 Dylan Bundy
CH-97 Troy Tulowitzki
CH-98 Carl Crawford
CH-99 David Wright
CH-100 Phil Niekro

Remember, there are parallels to this set, depending on what pack you buy (retail wise anyway).

CUT TO THE CHASE

CTC-1 Mike Trout
CTC-24 Buster Posey
CTC-26 Albert Belle
CTC-27 Ralph Kiner
CTC-28 Al Kaline
CTC-29 Tom Seaver
CTC-30 Rickey Henderson
CTC-31 Matt Holliday
CTC-32 Harmon Killebrew
CTC-33 Jered Weaver
CTC-34 Ernie Banks
CTC-35 Chris Sale
CTC-36 Joe Morgan
CTC-37 Albert Pujols
CTC-38 Prince Fielder
CTC-39 Yoenis Cespedes
CTC-40 Cal Ripken Jr.
CTC-41 Stephen Strasburg
CTC-42 R.A. Dickey
CTC-43 Miguel Cabrera
CTC-44 Manny Machado
CTC-45 Bryce Harper
CTC-46 Duke Snider
CTC-47 Alex Rodriguez
CTC-48 Sandy Koufax

So the set winds up being a 48-card set instead of a 50-card one. Card #'s 1 and 7 are added to this one, which probably makes up for the earlier loss of the Ichiro and Mickey Mantle estates (you know that those HAD to be the original players in the checklist...speculation of course).

CHASE IT DOWN (a new insert set for Series 2)

CD-1 Mike Trout
CD-2 Pablo Sandoval
CD-3 Ryan Zimmerman
CD-4 Jason Heyward
CD-5 Adam Jones
CD-6 Mike Moustakas
CD-7 Bryce Harper
CD-8 Chase Headley
CD-9 Josh Reddick
CD-10 Jon Jay
CD-11 Alex Gordon
CD-12 Carlos Gonzalez
CD-13 Manny Machado
CD-14 Cameron Maybin
CD-15 Giancarlo Stanton

1972 TOPPS MINIS

TM-51 Ken Griffey Jr.
TM-52 David Freese
TM-53 Gio Gonzalez
TM-54 Roy Halladay
TM-55 Miguel Cabrera
TM-56 David Wright
TM-57 Albert Pujols
TM-58 James Shields
TM-59 Shelby Miller
TM-60 Yoenis Cespedes
TM-61 Brooks Robinson
TM-62 Paul O'Neill
TM-63 Yogi Berra
TM-64 David Price
TM-65 Manny Machado
TM-66 Troy Tulowitzki
TM-67 Tim Lincecum
TM-68 Matt Cain
TM-69 Robin Yount
TM-70 Justin Upton
TM-71 Reggie Jackson
TM-72 Brandon Phillips
TM-73 Dylan Bundy
TM-74 Johan Santana
TM-75 Willie Stargell
TM-76 Jose Altuve
TM-77 Fred Lynn
TM-78 R.A. Dickey
TM-79 Josh Hamilton
TM-80 Johnny Bench
TM-81 Eric Davis
TM-82 Gary Sheffield
TM-83 Don Mattingly
TM-84 Ryan Howard
TM-85 Matt Williams
TM-86 George Brett
TM-87 Jurickson Profar
TM-88 Jose Bautista
TM-89 Will Middlebrooks
TM-90 Joe Morgan
TM-91 Stephen Strasburg
TM-92 Cole Hamels
TM-93 Robinson Cano
TM-94 David Ortiz
TM-95 B.J. Upton
TM-96 Jason Heyward
TM-97 Josh Johnson
TM-98 Ernie Banks
TM-99 Ozzie Smith
TM-100 Eddie Mathews

The 1972 Mini set concludes with Series 2 as we just found out that 1971 mini cards will be included in the Update Series program.

MAKING THEIR MARK (Another insert set making it's debut in Series 2)

MM-1 Yoenis Cespedes
MM-2 Mike Trout
MM-3 Andrelton Simmons
MM-4 Jason Kipnis
MM-5 Jeremy Hellickson
MM-6 Ike Davis
MM-7 Mike Olt
MM-8 Kris Medlen
MM-9 Tyler Skaggs
MM-10 Wilin Rosario
MM-11 Trevor Bauer
MM-12 Zack Cozart
MM-13 Matt Moore
MM-14 Lance Lynn
MM-15 Salvador Perez
MM-16 Will Middlebrooks
MM-17 Anthony Rizzo
MM-18 Wade Miley
MM-19 Bryce Harper
MM-20 Dylan Bundy
MM-21 Jurickson Profar
MM-22 Yu Darvish
MM-23 Todd Frazier
MM-24 Manny Machado
MM-25 Stephen Strasburg

THE ELITE (replaces THE GREATS...also a HTA exclusive insert set)

TE-1 Miguel Cabrera
TE-2 Ryan Braun
TE-3 Josh Hamilton
TE-4 Tom Seaver
TE-5 Sandy Koufax
TE-6 Nolan Ryan
TE-7 Reggie Jackson
TE-8 Rickey Henderson
TE-9 Johnny Bench
TE-10 Ernie Banks
TE-11 Ozzie Smith
TE-12 Bob Gibson
TE-13 Joe Morgan
TE-14 Buster Posey
TE-15 Willie Mays
TE-16 Mike Schmidt
TE-17 Babe Ruth
TE-18 Ted Williams
TE-19 Jackie Robinson
TE-20 Lou Gehrig

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC STARS (featuring players who participated in the WBC earlier this year, won by the Dominican Republic)

WBC-1 Jose Reyes
WBC-2 Anthony Rizzo
WBC-3 Joey Votto
WBC-4 Robinson Cano
WBC-5 Hanley Ramirez
WBC-6 Giancarlo Stanton
WBC-7 Adrian Gonzalez
WBC-8 Justin Morneau
WBC-9 Carlos Beltran
WBC-10 Miguel Cabrera
WBC-11 Pablo Sandoval
WBC-12 Carlos Gonzalez
WBC-13 Joe Mauer
WBC-14 David Wright
WBC-15 Ryan Braun

Seven insert sets to go with a 330 card regular set. It may look like a lot to go after, but it isn't so bad, especially if you rely on case breakers to do the work for you.

That's it for now. Time for the meds to kick in.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama