Is Your 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Set Complete?

By Wednesday, unless you plan on dropping $135 plus on a box Topps Tribute WBC edition at the National, being held down the street in beautiful Rosemont, IL, it no longer will be.

Why you ask?

Because one of the pack/box break promotions Topps is throwing (literally) is that if you buy and break a box of Topps' WBC Tribute product, you can get,

THIS!!!

That's right. A 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen card of Dodgers phenom (and ESPN darling) Yasiel Puig. The plan is to distribute 100 of these cards per day, 500 cards total, during the National's five-day run in the Chicago area.

If I was a certain gum enthusiast, I'd be swearing up and down a storm, on my blog, or on a certain radio program. But I'm not. It looks really nice on the computer. I'd love to get my hands on this card. But I think I'll wait. I can be patient. I can even put this on my want list on the sidebar of this humble little blog, to remind me of cards that are for now, impossible dreams to add to my collection.

One question though...

Is this card #351?

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

To Show That the Blog Has Not Died...Yet...

Thank you to all the people who have sent me emails asking if I am all right. I know that I haven't posted much on this humble little blog lately, and if you see the history (like last year), you will see that I didn't post much from the time after the All-Star Break until I became unemployed.

But rest assured that I am fine, and that things are actually all right on the personal side of things. Really. A couple of bits of good news may come soon.

Anyway, I have had a number of requests lately to add more blogs to the Sports Card Blogroll. Yes, I've looked at them (when emailed to me at bdj610@hotmail.com). I just have not had the opportunity to add them to the big blogroll yet. I am hoping to do so this evening/weekend.

Rest assured that the collection has grown a bit in the last couple of weeks (finally saved enough to buy for 2013 Topps Series II, Topps Archives, and Topps Pro Debut).

So I'm sorry for the lack of posts. I don't know if I can catch up to the last seven plus weeks of missing Random Cards of the Day...maybe I'll scale it back a bit and put a scan of the card front and back and scrap the bio/commentary (too much involved in research I guess).

And yes, I'm going to the National. Saturday for sure, maybe Sunday, but Saturday is a sure bet.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

And Now, Your Starting Lineups...

As announced yesterday afternoon:

For the American League:

1. Mike Trout, LAA, lf
2. Robinson Cano, NYY, 2b
3. Miguel Cabrera, DET, 3b
4. Chris Davis, BAL, 1b
5. Jose Bautista, TOR, rf
6. David Ortiz, BOS, dh
7. Adam Jones, BAL, cf
8. Joe Mauer, MIN, c
9. J. J. Hardy, BAL, ss

And the National League:

1. Brandon Phillips, CIN, 2b
2. Carlos Beltran, STL, rf
3. Joey Votto, CIN, 1b
4. David Wright, NYM, 3b
5. Carlos Gonzalez, COL, lf
6. Yadier Molina, STL, c
7. Troy Tulowitzki, COL, ss
8. Michael Cuddyer, COL, dh
9. Bryce Harper, WAS, cf

The starting pitchers for the 81st ASG are Max Scherzer of the Tigers and Matt Harvey of the Mets.

Enjoy the game everyone.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Mujica Replaces Wainwright on NL ASG Roster

Even before the All-Star rosters were announced, Adam Wainwright convinced manager Mike Matheny to shuffle the rotation around so that he would pitch on the last day before the All-Star break. It didn't matter if he would be named to the NL's All-Star team or not, he was more focused on keeping the Cardinals on top of the NL Central Division.

So on the night in which his Cardinals beat the Cubs to salvage a series split, Wainwright's replacement was named. Cardinals' closer Edward Mujica was officially named an All-Star, announced on the air during the broadcast. Mujica, now a first-time All-Star, is the Cardinals' fourth closer in four seasons, and he's been successful during the first half, even if he did blow the save this evening. He has saved 26 games in 28 opportunities for the Redbirds, along with an 2.20 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 41 innings of work. He is the sixth Cardinals player to punch his ticket to New York, joining fellow All-Stars Yadier Molina, Carlos Beltran, Matt Adams, Matt Carpenter, and Wainwright.

Now all this time, I was stating that there was this "Sunday Starting Pitcher" rule that indicated that any All-Star starting pitcher who pitched on the Sunday before the game was no longer on the roster. That really isn't true. Here is the official rule thanks to the recent CBA between the Player's Association and MLB:

"Pitchers selected for the All-Star Game who start on the Sunday prior to the game have the option of pitching a maximum of one inning or bowing out of the game."

So all these guys who started today (Verlander, Iwakuma, Colon, Wainwright) could have opted to be on the active roster anyway, but chose to "bow out," leaving MLB and the All-Star managers to find replacements. Now the Cubs' Travis Wood was tonight's starting pitcher for the Cubs. I have yet to see a name announced as his replacement on the All-Star Team roster. MLB.com did report that he would take an early Monday morning flight to New York to participate in the festivities.

In the meantime, please go ahead and add your 2013 Topps card #96 to your All-Star binder (Mujica is not on the 17-card team set).

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Colon, Iwamura, and Freeman out of the ASG, Balfour, Holland, and McCann Named Replacements.

Aussie Grant Balfour is one of three more players just recently added to the AL and NL All-Star Team rosters.

No sooner than I finish my last post to go to the Taste of Park Ridge (think Taste of Chicago Lite, but with Mrs. A's Cupcakes), and it is announced that three more replacements were named because of injury or because of that nasty "Sunday Starting Pitcher" rule that says that any pitcher who starts on Sunday is now off the active All-Star Roster, even though they will get all the honors, bonuses, benefits, and recognition that comes with it (and there's nothing wrong with that...they've earned it). So buckle up, grab your All-Star binder (do it...do it...do it...) and follow along. You can't get the cards without a card number, right?

Bartolo Colon pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs, in a game against the Red Sox that went into extras (the A's won 3-2 in 11). Because he started the game, he is not going to be able to pitch at the ASG. So in his place, AL manager Jim Leyland has tabbed teammate Grant Balfour to take his spot on the roster (depending on who you believe, Colon was added to the team as the lone A's representative because Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz was on the DL). So Balfour, who many believe was one of the biggest snubs for this year's ASG, is now going to New York. Balfour, orignally from Sydney, Australia, has converted 41 straight save opportunities, dating back to last year. He has 25 of them heading into the break, including one from today's game against Boston, along with a 1.63 ERA in 38.2 innings of work.

Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma started and earned the win against the Los Angeles Angels, pitching 7 innings of 3-run, 7-hit ball as the Mariners won 4-3 over their division rivals. Like everyone else, the Tokyo native will be flying to New York with teammate Felix Hernandez. But he won't be on the active team. Taking his spot is Royals closer Greg Holland. In his first season as the Royals' closer, Holland ends the first half of the 2013 campaign with 22 saves, a 1.80 ERA and a whopping 60 strikeouts in 35 innings of work. With fellow Royals Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon, this will be the first time since 2003 that KC sends more than one player to the ASG and the first time since 1988 that three Royals players are named All-Stars.

Freddie Freeman just won the election of a lifetime, beating out some phenom out of LA to earn the Final Man vote. But a thumb injury on Saturday dashed his chances on playing at Citi Field. Because he was a first-time All-Star, his manager, Fredi Gonzalez, told him to go to New York and have a good time anyway. He won't be alone. Because along with lights out closer Craig Kimbrell, catcher Brian McCann was named as Freeman's replacement on the team. It will be McCann's seventh ASG appearance, having hit .291 with 12 home runs, 32 RBIs and a .910 OPS since opening the season on the DL and not making his season debut until mid-May.

Now for more important information, the card numbers. Balfour is card #616 in the 2013 Topps set, and #OAK11 in the retail set. Greg Holland (not to be confused with Derek Holland of the Rangers) is not in the regular set, but should be making an appearance or two in the Update Series. However, Holland can be found in the retail set under card #KCR14. McCann is card #116 in the 2013 eponymous set, and #ATL6 in the retail set.

In the final game heading into the break, All-Stars Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals squared off against Travis Wood of the Cubs. While Wainwright asked his manager to shuffle the rotation so he pitches on Sunday, Wood was making his regularly scheduled start. Both guys are now off the active roster. And while I did hear who was taking over for Wainwright, I have yet to hear who takes over for Wood. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Verlander, Locke, and Zimmermann out of the ASG, Tillman, Melancon, and Romo Named Replacements.

Sergio Romo is one of three players just recently added to the AL and NL All-Star Team rosters.

With the ASG coming just two days away, the roster moves have been coming in rather quickly, especially since there are All-Star pitchers who made their scheduled starts today. Because of this, they can no longer be part of the All-Star Roster, even though they will still attend the festivities and line up with their fellow All-Stars. They just won't be part of the "active" roster.

Such is what has now happened with Justin Verlander. Presently, he and the Tigers are taking on the Rangers, and as of this moment, Detroit is up on Texas 5-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth. Because Verlander pitched 7 strong innings of 1-hit, shutout ball, he can't pitch at the ASG. So in his place, AL manager Jim Leyland has tabbed Chris Tillman of the Baltimore Orioles to take his place. Tillman is 11-3 with an ERA of 3.95, and 89 strikeouts in 111.2 innings of work. It will be his first All-Star Game appearance, and now the Orioles have 5 players going to Citi Field, the most since 1997. Tillman joins starters Chris Davis, J. J. Hardy, Adam Jones, and reserve Manny Machado on the 34-man squad.

Just recently, Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke announced that he would be taking himself off the NL team because of lower back tightness. He was scratched from his scheduled Sunday start, so even if he was healthy, he wouldn't be able to play the ASG anyway. So NL manager Bruce Bochy replaced one Pirate with another. Reliever Mark Melancon has been tabbed to take Locke's place on the roster. Right now one of the best middle relievers in all of MLB, Locke entered Sunday's contest with an NL-best 0.81 ERA, holding batters to a .193 average and striking out 46 in 44 1/3 innings. Locke will still go to the ASG, and counting him and Melancon, the Bucs now have five players heading for New York, along with 3B Pedro Alvarez, outfielder Andrew McCutchen, and closer Jason Grilli.

It's been known for a while now that Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann would not play in the ASG due to tightness in his neck. But that doesn't mean he won't be going to NY to take part in the festivities. Replacing Zimmermann is going to be a pitcher Bochy has seen very often with much success, Giants' closer Sergio Romo. Romo presently has 21 saves to go with a 2.86 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 34.2 innings of work. He even racked up nine saves in last year's World Series. Romo is now the fourth Giants player to be named an All-Star, with teammates Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, and Marco Scutaro being the other three.

So if your All-Star Binder hasn't been filled yet, start adding three more cards to the pages (come on, I can't be the only person doing this). Chris Tillman does not have a card in the regular 2013 Topps set, but is featured in the Orioles retail set as card #BAL16. Melancon doesn't have a card in either the eponymous set or in the 17-card retail set. He should now have a couple of cards in the Update Series set (along with Tillman). Until then, I'll just use the card of PNC Park to represent Melancon. Sergio Romo appears as #154 in the base set and #SFG11 in the retail set.

What are you waiting for? Put them in now. And make sure to leave plenty of room. There could be more players becoming All-Stars by the end of the day.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Delabar and Freeman win the Final Man Vote!!!

Steve Delabar and Freddie Freeman, your 2013 Final Man Winners. If Delabar had a 2013 card, that's what we would have used.

Votes for this year's Final Man balloting came fast and furiously from the moment that the ten players were announced. Add posts with twitter hashtags, and you had record numbers of votes being counted. And when the dust settled, two more players were named All-Stars.

The fans have voted. Over 79,200,000 votes were cast. Twitter feeds and hashtags were trending. And in the end, relief pitcher Steve Delabar of the Blue Jays and first baseman Freddie Freeman of the Braves won spots on their respective All-Star Teams as the winners of the Final Man Ballot.

Yes, alliances were formed once again, (the Yankees and Nationals tried something with their players), and thanks to mobile voting and twitter, many famous fans put their two cents in. But a new record 19.7 million votes were cast for the Braves young slugger, who had to compete for votes with Dodgers wunderkind Yasiel Puig, with Hunter Pence (Giants), Ian Desmond (Nationals) and Dodgers teammate Adrian Gonzalez, who even publicly voted for Puig, rounding out the NL Ballot.

On the AL side, Delabar, who is going to be one of this All-Star Game's biggest stories (something akin to Jim Morris of The Rookie movie fame), went wire-to-wire in the lead, taking in a cool 9.6 million votes. As the rest of the ballot consisted of relief pitchers, David Robertson of the Yankees, Joaquin Benoit of the Tigers, Koji Uehara of the Red Sox, and Tanner Scheppers of the Rangers took second through fifth.

Delabar joins a handful of Blue Jays, including starter Jose Bautista, pitcher Brett Cecil, and reserve DH Edwin Encarnacion. Freeman becomes the second Braves All-Star for 2013, joining lights-out closer Craig Kimbrel.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama