Random Topps Card of the Day: 1996 Topps #325 Juan Gonzalez

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, January 7, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1996 Topps #325.
• Player Name, position, team: Juan Gonzalez, outfielder, Texas Rangers.
• Major League Debut: September 1, 1989.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1995 stats (Rangers): 90 G, 352 AB, 57 R, 104 H, 20 2B, 2 3B, 27 HR, 82 RBI, 0 SB, .594 SLG, 17 BB, 66 SO, .295 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Rangers as a Free Agent 05/30/1986.. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 20. This is his seventh Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Juan slugged a milestone HR on August 21, 1995: the American League all-time record 59th grand slam of the season. In that game, he logged 5 RBI in the Rangers' 11-run first inning against the Twins, then added a double later in the contest."
• Commentary: The 1996 Topps set is the smallest eponymous set Topps had come out with since the glory days of the 792-card sets. At 440 cards, 220 per series, many players were left out of the set. The year before, injuries kept Juan Alberto (Vazquez) Gonzalez off the field until beginning of June (and then again for the first half of August). But did he ever rebound in 1996. In what would turn out to be an MVP season for the man nicknamed "Juan Gone," Gonzalez would hit .314, 47 home runs, drive in 144 rbi's, and achieve an OPS of 1.011. While he did not lead the AL in any of the offensive categories, his combined offensive numbers were enough to award him his third Silver Slugger award, and the aforementioned MVP award for the American League. One of the games brightest stars in the mid-90's, he would only get better and before the end of the decade, Gonzalez would go on to win a second MVP award, earn a second All-Star berth, and challenge for the season RBI record in 1998.
• Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 64 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1981 Topps Traded #822. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1981 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1997 Topps #60 Andy Pettitte

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, January 6, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1997 Topps #60.
• Player Name, position, team: Andy Pettitte, pitcher, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: April 29, 1995.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1996 stats (Yankees): 35 G, 221 IP, 21-8, 105 R, 95 ER, 162 SO, 72 BB, 34 GS, 2 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 3.87 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Yankees #22nd, June 1990. Bats: left. Throws: left.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 19. This is his third Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Andy, the youngest pitcher to start on Opening Day for the franchise since before it was renamed the Yankees, won his 1996 debut - and many more. Eventually, he became the first Yankee 20-game winner since fellow left-handed Louisianan Ron Guidry did it in 1985."
• Commentary: Well the kids' vacation got a bit extended thanks to the polar vortex, or whatever they're calling it, that has placed an icy grip in our area. It's so cold, not even raising the heat in the house is going to matter much. If you don't have to go out today, stay home. When this card came out, Andrew Eugene Pettitte was just coming off the year of a lifetime. Opening Day starter a year ago, 21-game winner, World Series Champion. The Yankees had finally returned to the promised land, and not even they knew how great they were going to become. And Pettitte, along with other young players that the Yankees had stockpiled, were finally going to show the world what they could do. For his part, Pettitte's 1997 numbers were just as good, if not better, than the year prior. He did go 18-7, but also had a 2.88 ERA, struck out 166 of the 986 batters he faced, a 1.240 WHIP, and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting. However, Pettitte could not convert his regular season success into postseason victories that year, going 0-2 in his two starts against the Indians (the Indians would eventually win the American League Pennant). But as we all would know, this would not be the last we'd hear from the Yankees.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.10-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 63 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1996 Topps #325. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #225 Arodys Vizcaino

It's the first Minor League Monday of 2014!!! Let's start it off with a bang. Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #225.
• Player Name, position, team: Arodys Vizcaino, pitcher, Rome Braves.
• Level-League, Team Affiliation: A-Southern Atlantic League, Atlanta Braves.
  
• Minor League Stats (stats with team depicted only): 14 G, 71.2 IP, 9-4, 25 R, 19 ER, 68 SO, 9 BB, 14 GS, 0 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 1.005 WHIP, 2.39 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Twins as a Free Agent before the 2006 season. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Major League Debut: August 10, 2011.
• Baseball America Organizational Ranking After Season with Team: Atlanta Braves #7 prospect after the 2010 season .
• Blurb on the back: "Vizcaino wasted no time paying dividends for Atlanta, who acquired him from the Yankees in the Javier Vazquez deal after the 2009 campaign. Assigned to Rome to begin '10, he went 9-3 with a 2.34 ERA and a 7.5-1 SO/BB ratio and just one HRA in 12 starts. That earned him a June promotion to Myrtle Beach."
• Official Topps Rookie Card: n/a.
• Commentary: I'm confused. Yes, I know that this is a 2010 Topps set, and that usually tries to depict the player in the uniform of his most recent organization (Arodys Vizcaino was with the Yankees in 2009). But the blurb talks about his 2010 campaign in Rome, and it even mentions that Vizcaino was promoted to Myrtle Beach of the Carolina League before the end of the season. So now the question is, should Vizcaino have been pictured as a member of the Staten Island Yankees (the Short Season A-team of the NY-Penn League? Or was there not enough time to photoshop a Pelicans jersey onto Vizcaino? I mean two weeks ago, the subject of Minor League Mondays had spent most of his season in Altoona before a 2 game run in Indianapolis. But he (Matt Curry)is pictured in the jersey of the Indians instead of the Curve. I don't get it. What I do get is that Vizcaino did make his MLB debut in 2011, appearing in 17 games for the Braves with a 1-1 record, a 4.67 ERA, and 17 strikeouts in 17.1 innings of work. It was funny though because he had no MLB time after that, and the minor league numbers stopped in 2011 as well. It turns out that Vizcaino underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2012, which caused him to miss the whole year. He was then traded to the Cubs in a deadline deal, with the hopes that he'd be ready for the 2013 season. But he required arthroscopic surgery on his elbow in May and needed to rehab the rest of the campaign. Despite all of this, Vizcaino was named the Cubs #4 prospect after the 2012 season, and it is hoped that he, and many of the other young prospects that the Cubs have been able to draft/sign/trade for/whatever, will lead the Cubs to the "promised land."

Next week's featured card will be: 2011 Topps Pro Debut #325. Post will arrive at 9:00 AM CST. Hope you enjoyed this week's installment of Minor League Monday.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1955 Topps #189 Phil Rizzuto

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, January 5, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1955 Topps #189.
• Player Name, position, team: Phil Rizzuto, shortstop, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: April 14, 1941.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1954 stats (Yankees): 127 Games, 307 At Bat, 47 Runs, 60 Hits, 11 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 15 RBI, .195 B.Avg; 185 PO, 294 A, 16 E, .968 F.Avg.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Yankees as a Free Agent before the 1937 season. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 6. This is his fifth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "The Dodgers never thought the kid they turned down because he was 'too small' would develop into a great shortstop. That's exactly what happened to Phil and his long list of baseball feats proves size has nothing to do with ability. In his 1st year as a Yank he hit .307 and his .350 mark in '50 won him the A.L.'s Most Valuable Plyaer Award. He's played in 8 World Series."
• Commentary: I made a mistake. Last week, I said that the 1954 set had the least amount of cards for a Topps Baseball product. The 1955 set had room for 210 cards, but only 206 were released, with four being held back thanks to the Bowman vs. Topps baseball card wars. Eventually, Topps won out, and the first monopoly on the baseball card market began the following year. So much has been written about Philip Francis Rizzuto's career that all I can offer is a brief summary of what he had done up until this point and what he did during the 1955 campaign. Although his career in Yankee pinstripes lasted 16 years, he only played for 13 seasons. The other three were spent wearing the uniform of the US Navy from 1943-45. An All-Star by the time he joined the armed forces, he did not miss a beat upon his return. By the 1955 campaign, Rizzuto was a five-time All-Star, perennial MVP candidate, winning the award in 1950. His career was already winding down by the time this card appeared in Series 2 of the 1955 Topps product. "Scooter" appeared in 81 games for the Yankees that year, hitting .259 with a home run and 9 rbi's. He also made his debut at 2nd base that year. In the World Series against Dodgers, Rizzuto held his own with 4 hits and 9 walks in 20 plate appearances. The Bums from Brooklyn did win it all in a seven-game affair though. Rizzuto finished his playing career in 1956 with a career average of .273, 38 home runs, 563 rbi's, an OPS of .706, and seven World Series titles. Not soon afterwards, Rizzuto joined the Yankees broadcasting team, beginning a 40-year career telecasting Yankees games on TV and radio. Never elected by the BBWAA, Rizzuto was voted into Baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1994. Phil Rizzuto passed away on August 13, 2007, at the age of 89. At the time, he was baseball's oldest living Hall of Famer.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $100.00-$175.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 17.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1997 Topps #60. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Team Set of the Week: 2010 Detroit Tigers

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

• Team: 2010 Detroit Tigers
• Record: 81-81, third place, AL Central Division.
• Manager: Jim Leyland
• Card on the Top: Miguel Cabrera

The checklist consists of the following players:

• DET1 Miguel Cabrera
• DET2 Jarrod Washburn
• DET3 Clete Thomas
• DET4 Rick Porcello
• DET5 Brandon Inge
• DET6 Nate Robertson
• DET7 Magglio Ordonez
• DET8 Jeremy Bonderman
• DET9 Marcus Thames
• DET10 Wilkin Ramirez
• DET11 Phil Coke
• DET12 Justin Verlander
• DET13 Joel Zumaya
• DET14 Robinzon Diaz
• DET15 Carlos Guillen
• DET16 Max Scherzer
• DET17 Daniel Schlereth

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 2010 Topps eponymous set:

• Marcus Thames did play for the Tigers in 2009, but was released by the team at the end of the season. He did sign with, and play for, the Yankees in 2010. Robinzon Diaz (that's right, with a Z, not an S as it is spelled on the front - the back of the card has the correct spelling), did not get to play with the Tigers in 2010, spending the entire season with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens. Daniel Schlereth was a mid-season callup for the Detroit. The thing these three guys have in common is that none of them have cards in either the Topps or the Update Series. You'll only find their cards, using the 2010 Topps design, in the retail set:
  

• While his retail card shows him at full stride, Miguel Cabrera's regular Topps card features an up-close shot of the future Triple Crown winner at bat:
  
  

• You can barely see Clete Thomas' face on his base card::
  
  

• You get an up-close and personal look at Jeremy Bonderman as he makes his pitch:
  
  

• The picture used for both of Phil Coke's regular and retail cards are the same, but the regular card is cropped a bit to make the image appear larger than it was on the retail card:
  
  

• A better shot of the Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander was used here on the base card (in my opinion):
  
  

• And here was the Tigers' lights-out reliever, Joel Zumaya, and a different image entirely on his base card:
  
  

• Carlos Guillen's regular card is vertically-oriented...compared to his retail card:
  
  

• Max Scherzer pitched for the Diamondbacks in 2009, joining the Tigers the following season. While his series 1 card features him as a D-Back, his Update Series card showcases him with Detroit:
  
  

Of the 17 players included in this set, 8 players have different pictures on the retail set compared to the base set, with one being of the same-photo-different-cropping variety, and three players whose cards can only be found in the retail set. This set was definitely a must for the die-hard Tigers' fan.

Next week's featured set will be the 2007 Houston Astros. 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 sets.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2011 Topps #319 Atlanta Braves Team Card

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, January 4, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2011 Topps #319.
• Team: 2010 Atlanta Braves.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2010 stats: Manager Bobby Cox, 91-71, .561 PCT., 6 GB, Second Place NL East.
• Commentary: Topps brought back the team cards into their eponymous Topps sets in 2001, and since then, using the cards to review the team's previous season. And this practice continued through 2008, using team pictures that would include EVERYBODY (usually). In 2009, Topps didn't include them, which was both strange and wonderful as it meant there would be 30 more cards for players. In 2010, Topps made up for this "slight" by not only including a team card, but also a "Franchise History" card for every team. That meant 60 cards were used to feature teams. To me, that was a bit of overkill, even though the history lesson was great (although the statistics chosen were deliberate...some guy banned from baseball couldn't be listed back then either so the stats that he was the "franchise leader" of was not selected. And this spread to all 30 teams. But instead of using the traditional team picture, the regular team cards featured celebrations from all 30 teams. The team card concept returned in 2011 and continued the celebratory theme. In 2010, the Braves had much to celebrate. In what would be Bobby Cox' final year at the helm, a 91-71 record returned them to the postseason for the first time since 2005. Catcher Brian McCann was the team's offensive leader on the heels of a 21 home run, 77 rbi campaign. Omar Infante, the first NL All-Star utility player (yes, they made room for a player that was allowed to exit a ball game and then return...besides the catcher) led the team with a .321 batting average. Tim Hudson was the ace of the staff, with a team-leading 17 wins and 2.83 ERA. Tommy Hanson brought the heat with 173 strikeouts, best on the Braves' staff. Season highlights included Jason Heyward "hitting a homer on the first swing of his career" and Billy Wagner who "set a record for career strikeouts by a lefty reliever." Under new management in 2011 (former Marlins skipper Fredi Gonzalez), the 2011 Braves finished in second place with a 89-73 record.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1955 Topps #189. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who (or what) it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1988 Topps #493 Mike Greenwell

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, January 3, 2014:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1988 Topps #493.
• Player Name, position, team: Mike Greenwell, outfielder, Boston Red Sox.
• Major League Debut: September 5, 1985.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1987 stats (Red Sox): 125 G, 412 AB, 71 R, 135 H, 31 2B, 6 3B, 19 HR, 89 RBI, 5 SB, .570 SLG, 35 BB, 40 SO, .328 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Red Sox #3rd, June 1982. Bats: left. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 11. This is his second Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: I'll admit, I miss old Comiskey Park. By the time I made my first visit to the place, it was an old, weathered, but charming ball park. Yes, Comiskey Park II was being built across the way soon, but there going down there with my brother when we were younger (by ourselves, no less) was an adventure. Looking at older cards, I can definitely tell where the game was played that day when I see those yellow bars among the crowd. That's good old Comiskey. Michael Lewis Greenwell was a lifelong Red Sox fan favorite, and it was during the early days of his career that he rose to stardom. But it always seemed that he was overshadowed by other players in the American League. To wit, he finished fourth place in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, behind ROY Mark McGwire, Kevin Seitzer, and Matt Nokes. All four of these rookies would be named to the 1987 edition of Topps' All-Star Rookie Team. He finished second in the AL MVP voting the following year, this time behind 40-40 man Jose Canseco. Does he have the right to scream to the heavens that the MVP award from 1988 should have been recalled and given to him? Short of the controversy aside, he did have fantastic numbers that year. He hit .325 that year, with 22 home runs, 119 rbi's, and an OPS of .946. He did win one of the three Silver Slugger awards for OF's that year, and did make the All-Star team (his first of two). In the field, he committed only 6 errors in 314 chances (with six outfield assists) for a .981 fielding percentage. Injuries would plague him every season soon afterwards, but when he was at the plate or on the field, he still was a dangerous hitter. In his twelve seasons in a Boston uniform, he would hit for a cumulative .303 average, hit 130 home runs, drive in 726 rbi's, and percentages of .368/.463/.831. Now retired, he gets to watch as his sons take their shots at the majors, with elder son Bo a minor leaguer in the Indians system. Garrett, a first baseman by trade and being coached by "Gator", supposedly has more power than Bo and hopes to play for the Sox one day.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 21 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2011 Topps #319. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama