Swag from Play at the Plate: 2014 Topps Blue Blaster

At the end of last year Brian over at Play at the Plate ran a contest to win a blaster of 2014 Topps. It was my kind of contest too, All I had to do was comment on a post. And Team Phungo Won!

2014 Topps Blue #312 Jimmy Rollins

There was only one Phillies player in the blaster, but it was a colorful Walmart parallel. Other than that it was a pretty nice box. I had already hoarded 100+ cards via Hangers and Looseys, and it was a pleasant surprise to find out that the blaster didn't duplicate many of the cards that I had already collected. I have developed a taste for hangers so it has been a while since I have opened a blaster. The number of inserts is mindblowing. Since each 8 card pack contains 2 blue parallels plus an insert, technically 37.5% of the cards are not base. To me parallels count as base, but for the completists out there, well I sympathize for their plight.

Highlights - Base

2014 Topps Leonys Martin 
2014 Topps Brian McCann

Check it out a Ranger and a Play at the Plate card. These should put a smile on faces at PATP HQ.

Inserts

Manupatch of 2008 Kershaw RC

These are a bit odd. the "Border" from the original 2008 design is raised, while the pix is inset.

89T Die Cut Sandy Koufax

The blaster was a bit of Dodger Hot Box. Never been a big fan of Die Cuts. Just harder to take care of. That being said the 89T design is a good one to give the Die Cut treatment.

2014 Topps Power Player Wilmer Flores

Just noting the difference from the PP cards and base here. The RCe logo is gone and the Topps moved from right to left. There is good news here if your hate the chrome print, it appears a bit lighter on the Power Play cards.

2014 Topps Blue Mariano Rivera

This was a bit of an oddity, All of the Blue Parallels in the box were of cards with Landscrape Photos, notice these two of the retiring Rivera and the one of Jimmy above. This is a coalation thing I have noticed from Topps previously. In 2008 I got a Hobby Box of S1 where all the Gold Foil stamped cards were Horizontal.

Bleeders

Night Owl referred this years new Red parallels as bleeding walls or something similar. At some point I hope to have some additional thoughts on these, but will note that all 3 of these like the blue instagrams above are landscapes.

etc   

The reamaining inserts. I like the UpperClass cards but find the Future is Now cards meh. For whatever reason I liked the UC cards of Retired players more than these new cards of current players.

All in all a fun break. Lots of new blue cards for the Phungo collection, a couple of cool inserts including a Rollins Parallel. Thanks to the Brian over at Play at the Plate for running a contest that even Team Phungo can win.

More 2014 Topps Review
2014 Topps First Pack

2013 Topps FIrst Pack

Team Phungo picked up our first Pack of 2013 Topps last week and here are the contents:

First Card

2013 Topps #116 Brian McCann

When I first saw the 13 Topps design an eon ago, my first thought was way to white  - I have warmed up to the design since then - I don't know why Topps ignored the position for the 2nd straight year, but otherwise it is a good look. 

I apologize for the remaining scans - experimenting w/ new smart phone - and I think I am too dumb to use it.

First Phillies Card

2013 Topps #197 Tyler Cloyd

 One of the Phils 2012 rookies. Cloyd was something like 14-1 in AAA last season before his callup.   He was more mediocre at the major league level.  The Photo on this card is from Cloyd's major league debut on 2012-08-29.  I figured that out by checking out the scoreboard behind Cloyd.  8/29 was the only time Tyler pitched when the Tigers visited KC.

Speaking of Tigers

2013 Topps #35 Justin Verlander  
2013 Topps #179 ALCS Game 4

If this pack was made for anyone it was Tigers Fans.  Picked up both their Ace and the ALCS card.  Verlander's card number is his also his jersey number.

The Rest

2013 Topps Anthony Rizzo RC, Kyle Farnsworth, Kendrys Morales, Johnny Cueto 

2013 Topps Jarrod Parker, Geovanny Soto, Jeff Karstens, stupid chase card

The Soto card may look like one but as far as I know it isn't one of those crazy out of bounds SP variations. Topps produced an OOB SP for Anthony Rizzo but this isn't the SP, this is his base card.

The Verdict
As noted above, it is a decent design. Much better then 2012. In addition to this single pack I also bought a hanger pack. In general I am not building new sets right now - but I do like having a few cards and inserts from each year. For Topps sets I am not building I have been building a team rep set - 1 card for each MLB team. That is what I intend to do with 2013 Topps.  I am not sure if the hanger pack will fulfill that goal.  I will likely pick up a pack or 2 of S2 and Update as the card season continues. 

     

Topps Allen & Ginter's 7 Year Club

2006 Allen & Ginter Chase Utley

A few weeks ago Topps Released the 7th edition of the Allen & Ginter product.  This coupled with the upcoming retirement of Chipper Jones and the recent move of Ichiro Suzuki got me thinking about the players that have been featured in Allen & Ginter.

The set is good size but at 350 cards it is not nearly as big as Flagship or Heritage.  Therefore most stars get included, but not all of them.  350 cards would average out to less than 12 players per team.  In addition slots are lost to non-baseball celebs, subjects, and retired players so the number of cards per team averages closer to 10.

Ichiro and Chipper are among the players that have appeared in all seven Allen & Ginter releases.  And up unitl this point they have always appeared for the same team.  If Ichiro sticks around to play in 2013, he very possibly could appear in that set as a Yankee or with another organization. 

I did a little resarch and found that there were 48 players that appared in every set from 2006-2012.  Of those 26 made all 7 appearances representing a single team.  The Cover Card for this post features Chase Utley who is among those 26 players to make 7 A&G appearances all for one club.   

48 Players to appear in every year of Topps Allen & Ginter's 2006-2012: 

	Player	Team			Player	Team
1	Adam Dunn			25	Johan Santana
2	Adrian Beltre			26	Jonthan Papelbon
3	Albert Pujols			27	Jose Reyes
4	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees		28	Josh Beckett	Red Sox
5	Alfonso Soriano			29	Justin Morneau	Twins
6	Aramis Ramirez			30	Justin Verlander	Tigers
7	Brian McCann	Braves		31	Lance Berkman
8	CC Sabathia			32	Mariano Rivera	Yankees
9	Carl Crawford			33	Mark Teixeira
10	Carlos Beltran			34	Matt Cain	Giants
11	Carlos Lee			35	Michael Young	Rangers
12	Carlos Zambrano			36	Miguel Cabrera
13	Chase Utley	Phillies		37	Nick Markakis	Orioles
14	Chipper Jones	Braves		38	Nick Swisher
15	David Wright	Mets		39	Paul Konerko	White Sox
16	Ervin Santana	Angels		40	Prince Fielder
17	Felix Hernandez	Mariners		41	Rickie Weeks	Brewers
18	Grady Sizemore	Indians		42	Robinson Cano	Yankees
19	Hanley Ramirez	Marlins		43	Roy Halladay
20	Ian Kinsler	Rangers		44	Ryan Howard	Phillies
21	Ichiro	Mariners		45	Ryan Zimmerman	Nationals
22	Jason Bay			46	Todd Helton	Rockies
23	Jimmy Rollins	Phillies		47	Torii Hunter
24	Joe Mauer	Twins		48	Victor Martinez

Some of the 7 timers on 1 team 2006 style:  

2006 Allen & Ginter's Joe Mauer
2006 Allen & Ginter's Brian McCann


A couple of catchers.  Both of which should stick in A&G for a while.     

2006 Allen & Ginter Justin Verlander
2006 Allen & Ginter Paul Konerko


AL Central featured here.  Konerko had a couple of seasons outside Chicago, but they were all pre-A&G.  A-Rod and Josh Beckett both fell into the same category - multiple clubs, but were with teams other than their current one prior to the initial A&G release.


Several players missed the 7 by one year.  For whatever Reason Derek Jeter and David Ortiz were not included in 2010 A&G.  I don't recall all of the 6 timers, but Jim Thome was one of them.  I think Huston Street was also in there.   



Sources:    Baseball-Card-Pedia
AllenAndGinter.net

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Best Pull Finals

We are down to the Final Four of the Phungo Pull of the Year competition.


Here are the four Finalist, one from each quarter of 2010.

2009 Topps T206 #138 mini Elvis Andrus (SP)/Base

2008 UD Baseball Heroes Copper #10 Brian McCann (#d100/149)




2009 Goodwin Champions Yogi Berra

2010 Topps Chrome #192 Chris Heisey

A good collection of choices, oddly no Phils made the list.  The choices show some of the things I found exciting in 2010, notably Minis.  The Two minis are both Short Prints - The Andrus is an alternate variation.  The Yogi is a nice black bordered mini.  The Chris Heisey card gets in as a local player making it big.  


There you have it, No Autos, No Relics, just a couple of minis, a serial numbered card and a local fave.

Help Team Phungo pick the first pull of the year card by voting at the pull on your right.

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Best Pull - 2nd Quarter

The Best Pull Tourney Turns the page to the best pull of the 2nd Quarter of 2010.  Here are the candidates.

April
Two Topps Heritage Inserts make the cut for April 2010.   

2010 Topps Heritage Chrome #C90 Troy Tulowitzki (#d 288/1961)

2010 Topps Heritage Then & Now #TN10 Shutout Leaders Whitey Ford & Roy Halladay

click Here to find out more about these cards. 

May
May features a trio of entries that came out of UD bargain packs I picked up this past spring.  


2008 UD X Xponential 2 #X2-JT

2008 UD Baseball Heroes Copper #10 Brian McCann (#d100/149)
 
2009 UD 20th Anniversary #638 Steve Carlton

A couple of favorite players and a serially numbered McCann Card. 

For More Info on the May Cards click here.

June

1988 Donruss #539 Greg Maddux

Even Junk Wax can yield a Pull of the Month.  This is a Pre-Cy Young Greg Maddux.  At the time of issue Greg Maddux had a career W-L record of 8-18, He would go on to win 347 more games.

More info here. 

Vote

Please Vote for your favorite Phungo Pull of the 2nd Quarter in the comments:

1) Troy Tulowitzki
2) Roy Halladay/ Whitey Ford
3) Jim Thome
4) Brian McCann
5) Lefty
6) Greg Maddux

Pull of the Month - May 2010

The Pull of the Month comes from one of several bargain packs that I picked up at the big K a few weeks back. This was one of two insert cards to come out of a .99 cent pack of 08 UD X.



2008 UD X Xponential 2 #X2-JT

The X2 cards have a UDs version of a chromey finish and are pretty sharp looking - the Chisox black and white particular fits the card type. The back of the card commemorates Thome's 500th homer on 9./16/07. I was present for His 400th homer when he played for the Phils.

Thome was always a class act in dealing with difficult situations in Philadelphia and I hope his career can end on an up note.


Contenders


2008 UD Baseball Heroes Copper #10 Brian McCann (#d100/149)
2009 UD 20th Anniversary #638 Steve Carlton

Two more cards out of the same lot of bargain packs mentioned above. Check out the that shirt on Lefty.

Meh of the Month


Garbage from 2008 Topps U&H. I bumped the scanner while running this card through. but liked the image - it only emphasizes the stupidity of placing the TOPPS logo in the top center of the photo. He we have the major leagues tallest pitcher being squashed by the branding mechanism. ugh.


Past Pulls of the Month

2010 April
2010 March

2010 February

2010 January

Other Sources and LinksJim Thome Index
Game Dated Cards Index