Have You Seen the Backs of 2017 Topps Yet???

So 2017 Topps Series 1 is coming out later this week (possibly??!). We all know what this year's design looks like. But unless you were one of the select few to attend that Las Vegas party a few weeks back, or somehow managed to snag a couple of cards on the Bay, we did not know what the card backs look like.

Well...we do now.

You see, someone on FB posted their complaint about the card backs. Especially because (you're not going to believe this), he said that the stats on the back, which for a very long time showed complete statistics for the players, sometimes even more than 15 years worth of statistics, was no longer on the back of the cards.

His words:

"I bought 2 packs of 2017 topps baseball series 1 at my local target and when I open the first pack on the back of the cards there wasn't the traditional full career stats on the back of the players card! Why didn't topps do this? could someone let me know about this?"

After many on FB doubted his claim, he showed pictures:

Photo from J. DeLand on Facebook

Okay, so let's look at the details:

The cross-diagonal line design element continues on the back. There is a card number, the series (1, 2, or Update) that has appeared in the last three base sets. Team logo. A bio.

Oh, and look. You can follow the Coco Crisp on Twitter and Instagram as both social media profiles are included.

There's the stat box. Five years of lines. The usual stat headers are listed. But at the bottom?

MLB Totals (15 Years)

While the guy was kind of right by saying that not all of his totals are listed on there. There is a totals line.

So this is the first time since 1971, Topps is not going to display a player's full career statistics. Could this be a one-year thing? Will Topps continue the social media links in future sets? I guess in this day and age it makes sense. But at the cost of less stat lines?

What do you think? If you'd like (and are still reading this blog...or waiting to see if I'm still relevant), feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think.

I can't wait to see what these look like up close.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

So I Guess Card #7 Is No Longer Retired??!

After the announcement that Kris Bryant will hold the pole position for the 2017 Topps set, the final checklist with all the numbers assigned to the other 349 cards has been updated. Something got my attention though:

Here are the first 10 cards in sequential order:

#1Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
#2 Jason Hammel, Chicago Cubs
#3 Chris Capuano, Milwaukee Brewers
#4 Mark Reynolds, Colorado Rockies
#5 Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
#6 Kevin Pillar, Toronto Blue Jays
#7 Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees
#8 Jose Berrios, Minnesota Twins
#9 Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
#10 Steven Souza Jr., Tampa Bay Rays

Two Cubs cards leading things off. Awesome. NL Rookie of the Year takes #5, Chris Sale is #9...hold it.

Wait...I didn't just type that, did I?

1...2...3...(mumbling 4-6)...7 Gary Sanchez...

I'm sorry. Card #7? And it's not Mickey Mantle??!

So apparently, after years of no card 7 (starting in 1997), and then a decade of Mantle (2006...with 10 extra cards to make up for the missing 7 in the first ten years), followed by another four-year hiatus (2013-2016), there will no longer be a need for a filler card on the bottom left corner of the first page of my 2017 Topps binder.

At least, they kept it consistent as a New York Yankee is the subject (no pressure Gary). No official word from Topps as to why #7 is back in circulation in the base set.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Introducing Card #1 for 2017 Topps

The subject for card #1 in the eponymous 2017 Topps set was just announced on the MLB Network this morning. The winner of the fan vote from late last year is...

Why not? He only was:

• 2015 Rookie of the Year
• a two-time NL All-Star
• 2016 NL MVP

and most importantly...

a World Series Champion!!!

Well deserved honor.

And with that, a final checklist, with card numbers, will be coming soon.

I can't wait for Opening Day!!!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Hallbound...2017!!!

The votes are in...

• Jeff Bagwell 381 (86.2%);
• Tim Raines 380 (86%);
• Ivan Rodriguez 307 (76.0%);
• Trevor Hoffman 327 (74.0%);
• Vladimir Guerrero 317 (71.7%);
• Edgar Martinez 259 (58.6%);
• Roger Clemens 239 (54.1%);
• Barry Bonds 238 (53.8%);
• Mike Mussina 229 (51.8%);
• Curt Schilling 199 (45.3%);
• Lee Smith 151 (34.1%);
• Manny Ramirez 105 (23.8%);
• Larry Walker 97 (21.9%);
• Fred McGriff 96 (21.7%);
• Jeff Kent 74 (16.7%);
• Gary Sheffield 59 (13.3%);
• Billy Wagner 45 (10.2%);
• Sammy Sosa 38 (8.6%);
• Jorge Posada 17 (3.8%);
• Magglio Ordonez 3 (0.7%);
• Edgar Renteria 2 (0.5%);
• Jason Varitek 2 (0.5%);
• Tim Wakefield 1 (0.2%);
• Casey Blake 0;
• Pat Burrell 0;
• Orlando Cabrera 0;
• Mike Cameron 0;
• J.D. Drew 0;
• Carlos Guillen 0;
• Derrek Lee 0;
• Melvin Mora 0;
• Arthur Rhodes 0;
• Freddy Sanchez 0;
• Matt Stairs 0;

Congratulations to Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez for being elected into the Hall of Fame. On this year's ballot, a player needed to receive 332 votes to reach or exceed the 75% needed for induction.

The players whose names are italicized will appear on next year's ballot, having surpassed the five percent rule to stay on (23 votes). Lee Smith was on his fifteenth and final ballot. He will now wait for the Veteran's Committee to decide his fate in the future.

According to the Baseball Hall of Fame website, 442 ballots were cast.

No one has mentioned this yet, but all three of this year's inductees are members of Topps All-Star Rookie Team. The "Rock" was on the 1981 ASRT, while both Bagwell and "Pudge" were part of the 1991 team. I think I'm going to visit the Wikipedia page and make a few edits...

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Update: Wednesday, January 17, 2017, 07:10 PM CST

After a bit of digging, it looks like of the 442 ballots that were cast, two of them were blank.

One (or More) of These Players Could Be Voted into Baseball's Hall of Fame

I will explain my month-long absence in another post on another day. But as today is HOF day, I thought I'd at least try to make an appearance.

When the announcement is made at 05:00 PM CST on Wednesday, January 18, 2016, to let the world know who has been inducted into Baseball's Hall of Fame, I will be at work. But I'll still have the MLB Network on to watch the results live.

With any luck, more than one person on this list of 34 players will be rewarded with the ultimate honor...enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. For the final time, here is the list of players (with years on ballot and % of ballots in the 2016 election) being considered:

• Jeff Bagwell, 7th, 71.6%
• Casey Blake
• Barry Bonds, 5th, 44.3%
• Pat Burrell
• Orlando Cabrera
• Mike Cameron
• Roger Clemens, 5th, 45.2%
• J.D. Drew
• Vladimir Guerrero
• Carlos Guillen
• Trevor Hoffman, 2nd, 67.3%
• Jeff Kent, 4th, 16.6%
• Derrek Lee
• Edgar Martinez, 8th, 43.4%
• Fred McGriff, 8th, 20.9%
• Melvin Mora
• Mike Mussina, 4th, 43.0%
• Magglio Ordonez
• Jorge Posada
• Tim Raines, 10th, 69.8%
• Manny Ramirez
• Edgar Renteria
• Arthur Rhodes
• Ivan Rodriguez
• Freddy Sanchez
• Curt Schilling, 5th, 52.3%
• Gary Sheffield, 3rd, 11.6%
• Lee Smith, 15th, 34.1%
• Sammy Sosa, 5th, 7.0%
• Matt Stairs
• Jason Varitek
• Billy Wagner, 2nd, 10.5%
• Tim Wakefield
• Larry Walker, 7th, 15.5%

This is the last time on the ballot for both Tim Raines and Lee Smith. As you probably know, the rules were changed so that a player could only be on the ballot for no more than 10 years before they are to be removed from the ballot and then considered by a Veteran's Committee. Smith is on a grandfathered clause from when 15 years was the rule.

Now as much as my daughter would love to see her hero (that would be Derrek Lee) get inducted, it's most likely that he's not going to survive the 5% threshold. I'm looking forward to the results, and will make sure to post them as soon as I can find the final results. Until then, I'll probably be "twitter-screaming" the results (follow me at @bdj610 if you want).

As of the time of this post, it's 15 minutes to go before the announcement. I'm sure by now someone has already told the future inductees that they're in. So begins the whirlwind tour for them.

Good luck to everyone.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama