CTB: 2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr

We interrupt our Rookie Cup HOF coverage to discuss the WBC Champion Venezuela Squad's THREE ASR winners. 

One of those players is Jackson Chourio who we already featured. The other two players are both in the 2018 class that was honored in 2019 Topps, Ronald Acuna Jr and Gleyber Torres. 

We will first look at Acuna JR who played all seven games in right field for Venezuela and led the team in Runs Scored.

2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (Sports Collectors Daily)

I believe Ronald Acuna is only the 2nd player to represent card #1 with a Rookie Cup flair. Mike Piazza achieved the double win in 1994. Acuna Jr like Piazza won the NL Rookie of the Year Award the year prior. 

Ronald fell 3 votes shy of sweeping the award (Juan Soto 2, Walker Buehler 1). Acuna  & Soto's numbers are remarkably similar and I am surprised at the lopsidedness of the Vote.  

I assume the BBWAA writers were breaking ties with WAR by 2019 - although peeking inside the numbers Soto's Walk numbers are significant. On the other hand Acuna's Braves finished 8 games ahead of Soto's Nats. Regardless the two make for the start of an outstanding outfield. 

Guess the Game

Kind of thought this one looked like it may have been taken in Philadelphia and it was. According to Getty Images the Photo was taken 2018 April 29 by Rob Tringali who is responsible for a lot of Phillies pictures. 

Unfortunately for the Phillies (SP: Vince Velasquez) it was a good game for Ronald Acuna Jr and the Braves who won 10-1. 

Flip

2019 Topps #1 Ronald Acuna Jr (b-side also SCD)

On the back of the card we see the #1 top right and the stats mentioned above - however here we seed the oWAR of 3.7 rather than the 3.9 which apparently includes defense & positional adjustments. The text gives the Pirates Outfielder Starling Marte credit for dubbing Acuna "El Ambusador" (the Abuser) 

Sources & Links

2019 Rookie Cup Team

Topps #1 Club 

Game Dated Cards

Sports Collectors Daily 

baseball-reference

Rob Tringali

Getty Images

Bucket or Chuck-It; 2016 Topps Throw Back Thursday Set

Ahh time to return to a feature that we haven't had in a while Bucket or Chuck-It. Bucket is good as in add it to your bucket list. Chuck-It is bad as in Toss it out like a pair of worn sneakers.

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP

All seaon Jim from the Phillies Room has been picking up Phillies related Topps Now cards in bulk and passing along cards to other Phils collectors. I find the cards unique and as a fan of game dated cards the concept appeals to me, especially when someone like Jim is dedicated to do all the work of submitting the requests to Topps. There have been at least 6 Phillies Topps Now cards and I would like to get to those and a More dedicated thank you to Jim in a future post.

I myself  hadn't picked up anything directly from Topps until recently when I saw in celebration of the Hall of Fame weekend they issued a "bundle" related to this year's inductees Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza.

The six card set is inspired by the 1962T Babe Ruth Subset with 3 cards dedicated to each of the new Hallers.  The second card of the set features a photo of Mike Piazza receiving an the 1996 All-Star Game award.

This card was appealing to me as a Piazza fan and it is a nice add to my local players collection, but the real draw is that the 1996 ASG is a Phungo Game and This is a card I can add to the Phungo Games collection.

Despite the fact that the image on the card makes Piazza appear as if he had a few to many at the family picnic, I do like the front of this card.

However.....

2016 Topps TBT (b-sides)

Topps mailed it in on the b-sides for the text. The backs of all six cards have identical text. The only thing that differentiates each card is the number and the player name.

 It's a shame, if these are such big events in each players career how about paying a writer and a copy editor (or even an intern) for a couple of days work to come up with a paragraph. This is a $20 set of six cards, that can be produced months in advanced - it's not like they woke up on Wednesday and said "Hey we need to put out a Throw Back Thursday set tomorrow" or maybe they did.

Compare

2016 Topps TBT #37 Mike Piazza '96 ASG MVP (b-side)
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special (b-side)

Check out this example of an original 1962 Babe Ruth Special. We have a pretty detailed summary of Ruth's rough 1925 season. On the New Piazza card all you get "Hey look at us, we have been making cards for 50 years and Mike shares this documentation with Ken Griffey Jr"


Flip

2016 Topps TBT Ken Griffey Jr 1995 ALDS
1962 Topps #138 Babe Ruth Special

Just for comparison we present the front of one of the other TBT specials with Babe's original.  I think Topps did a decent job on the fronts, just wish they would have carried through to the back.

Verdict
Very disappointed, Great Concept, I think Topps picked a great subset to use for these cards, but the execution of the backs is insulting, especially for a set that runs $20.

Sources and Links
1996 All-Star Game Index
Phungo Mike Piazza HoF Index
Phungo Ken Griffey Jr HoF Index
Phungo Babe Ruth HoF Index
Topps TBT
Baseball-Ref

20th Anniversary: 1996 07 09 Philadelphia hosts All-Star Game

Saturday will mark the 20th Anniversary of the 1996 All-Star Game which was hosted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the contest which the NL took 6-0 the Philllies were only represented by one player Ricky Botallico, however there was a Hometown Hero involved in the Game.

Mike Piazza from nearby Phoenixville went 2 for 3 with a Homer and a pair of RBI. The performance earned the Dodgers Catcher Game MVP Honors.

1997 Topps #104 Season Hightlights Mike Piazza

Topps noted Piazza's accomplishments with a card in the Highlights Subset of the 1997 Flagship Set.

I will not sloppy Topps this one as Piazza is wearing a Home jersey, which he would have donned for the All-Star game, but I am thinking this shot is from LA during a glorious day game at Chavez Ravine not at Philadelphia creaky old Veterans Stadium.

The front of the card isn't specific the event, however...

1997 Topps #104 Season Hightlights Mike Piazza (b-side)

Nice  blurb on the back including dateline Philadelphia. The Home Run Piazza hit is detailed nicely, in the 70 or so games I saw at the Vet I can only recall a handful of balls that were hit as far as that one.

Finally the card also mentions Piazza Tenure at Phoenixville High - Makes for a nice add to the Phungo Locals collection.

Mike Piazza HoF Index
In a Couple of weeks Piazza will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This posting will serves as our index of Piazza related postings.

1994 Topps #1 Philly Sports Hall of Fame
2006 Fleer Ultra #HRK15 - Junk of the Month (Padres WTF?)

Phungo Games Collection
I was lucky enough to attend the 1996 All-Star Game and I am very happy to have this Piazza card in the Phungo Games Collection which is indexed here.

As far as I know Topps did not issue All-Star cards in 1996 Update/Traded or 1997 Cards with ASG flairs. This is kind of a bummer as I would love to have more cards to represent that game. 1997 UD did add have a nice ASG logo on their 1997 Series 1 cards, I hope to take a look at those in a future posting or series.

Sources and Links
Phungo Games Index 
1996 ASG Index
Baseball-Ref

Philly Sports Hall of Fame - Mike Piazza

The story is known well - Mike Piazza was picked by the Dodgers in the 62nd round as a favor to Tommy LaSorda who was childhood friend of Mike Piazza's father. The pick was the 390th of the 1988 draft.   

A few weeks ago Mike Piazza was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.  He never played for the Phillies, but athletes from the Philadelphia area are also considered for the Local Hall. This winter Piazza will be on the ballot for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time. There are many first times on the 2013 ballot with impressive credentials, but questionable issues both on and off the field - Clemens, Bonds, Schilling Sammy Sosa. Piazza's name and steroids have been linked a few times - The BBWAA voters will need to figure out what that information means to them.  

Piazza's career numbers are very impressive and for me are hall worthy.  427 Homers, 1335 RBIs, 2127 Hits and a .308 BA from a guy who was primarily a catcher.  He was Rookie of the Year in 1993 and finished 2nd in the MVP voting twice (1996 - Ken Caminiti, 1997 - Larry Walker).  He was a 12 time all-star and took home 10 Silver Slugger awards.  Piazza does not have a World Series Ring, but he was part of 5 playoff runs for 3 different teams (Dodgers, Mets, and oh yeah the Padres).  As a member of the 2000 Mets Piazza played in the Subway Series versus the Yankees and Roger Clemens. 

  

1994 Topps #1 Mike Piazza 

1994 Topps

Perhaps because it falls in the years between and UbiquiBlogging this set doesn't appear to come up often.  Regardless, I think it is pretty decent looking and could use further observation. The photos are interesting - an off center home plate border focuses attention to the image without being too showy.  The team name and player name are both listed in a minimalist yet clear fashion. It is from last years that Topps did NOT use foil on their base cards (there is a parallel set - topps gold - that has foiled player names). It's a simple design that complements that helps feature the photo - Does a card design need to be any more?

For the Collector  

I am not sure where I picked up this 1994 Piazza card but suspect it came out of a dime box. 

There is a rookie cup on this card, but it is not Piazza's rookie card - It his his first Topps Solo card - he appeared on a 1993 Topps Rookie Catchers card that also includes Carlos Delgado.

Mike Piazza cards from 1992 include issues from Bowman UD and Fleer.  Two Piazza card that appear to garner some coin on ebay are the Fleer #U-192 and Bowman #461: 

 

Mike Piazza 1992 Fleer and Bowman Pricing	2012 11 20
1992 Fleer Update #u-92 - Low	$19.02
1992 Fleer Update #u-92 - PSA 10 GEM MT (Hi)	$149.99
1992 Fleer Update #u-92 - PSA 8 NM-MT (Low)	$23.00
1992 Bowman #461 - Low	$4.25
1992 Bowman #461 - PSA 10 GEM MT (Hi)	$107.00
1992 Bowman #461 - BGS 8.5 NM-MT+ (Low)	$8.50

Sources & Links
Mike PIazza HoF Index

1994 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Index

Topps #1 Club

Wikipedia - Mike Piazza

Baseball-Ref - Mike Piazza

ebay.com

Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame 

Junk of the Month - January 2012

I am attempting to resurrect Junk of the Month for 2012.  We will see how things go....

I didn't open up any 2012 Topps until Wednesday, therefore none of that dreck qualifies for JotM 2012-01. To be fair I like 2012 Topps more than most opinions I have seen - promised thoughts on this hopefully will be published in the coming week. 

So in January I didn't open many packs, but still manage to find some junk.  One of the things I found was a pack of the bargain bin ubiquitous 2006 Fleer Ultra.  You think 2012 Topps has a lot of inserts - go out and grab a $1.59 pack of 06 Fleer Ultra. 

Junk of the Month

2006 Fleer Ultra Home Run Kings #HRK15 Mike Piazza

What the hell is this? Piazza hit a grand total of 22 dingers for the Padres.  Does anyone remember his bit 06 season for the Fighting Friars?  The card is actually commemorating Piazza's two 40 home run seaons from last century, 1997 with the Dodgers and 1999 with the Mets.

Pull of the Month

2011 Topps American Pie Walk of Fame Leslie Nielsen

For the fun of it, Team Phungo picked up a pack of Topps American Pie last month.  The otherwise worthless pack (that contained both the Twitter and the Google cards and No Frank Zappa) did yield this gem.

This is a nice looking insert set that I think I could get behind. All kinds of whacks have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame so I am sure there is some variety in this set.

And in a release that is not baseball product, we do get a baseball related card in the form of Lt Frank Drebin.  

Sources and Links
Mike PIazza HoF Index