Blake Wexler - Would you see this guy at a Comedy Club?

I know nothing about this dude but...

Comedian Pete Wexler

He is wearing a Topps Baseball Card hoodie!!!

Near as I can tell Pete Wexler is a LA based comedian who originally hails from Philadelphia. He has worked with a local AOR station and his website and tweets point to him being a bit of a sports fan.

On Wednesday he is performing at the Philadelphia Club Helium.

I went to his site and enjoyed the routines he has posted, he has a bit of stage presence with a decent delivery.  

What Say You Card Bloggers
I will put myself at your mercy. Vote in the comments and/or on Twitter to decide if I should see Blake Wexler at Helium.

Sources and Links
Blake Wexler
Twitter - Blake Wexler
Helium Philadelphia

Interview: Alex Novick Topps Assistant Brand Manager - Bowman

Last weekend during the Arizona Fall League All-Star Game or Fall Star Game MLB network featured an interview with Bowman Assistant Brand Manager Alex Novick. The event is heavily sponsored by Bowman and the segment was more promotional piece than interview.

Alex Novick with Addison Russell autograph card (also Paul Severino center with partial of Joe Magrane)

The discussion took place over a half inning which ran about 4 1/2 minutes. Novick stated that the relationship between AFL and Bowman has been extended 3 years. It was unclear if that was inclusive of 2013 or if the extension is 2014-16.

Other observations made by Novick included the following:
- "It's All about the Autographs Now,  Everybody wants the Autographs"
- "Almost all of our boxes have one autograph in them"
- "We have some products that have actually have 5 autographs in them"
- "Bowman has 42 of 54 players selected for Fall Star Game signed to Autograph deals" .
- "Bowman has deals with "About" 40% of the players on AFL rosters"
- "That is what our collectors want, That is where the value is"
- "Bowman is the first time a player will ever see themselves in a Major League Uniform on a baseball card, Typically it's the most collectible card they'll have throughout their career."
- "Our Editors back in New York put a lot time and a lot of effort into picking the best shots possible" 

Those quotes aren't quite verbatim, but I think I captured the spirit of Novick's points. I have felt that card collecting has become driven by high end and Topps appears to agree.


Addison Russell
Novick displayed the Addison Russell Bowman Platinum card because he was batting at the beginning of the inning. Russell grounded out 4-3.  When asked about the value of the card Novick stated "$20-$30".

I am not sure if the card is a serialed parallel, but I found that a similar looking Addison Russell Bowman Platinum closed at auction at $7.77 - that is 60% under Novick's $20+ estimate. However, a "Platinum Ice" version of the card serial#d/10 did go for $110.


Joe Magrane
During the segment Joe Magrane (partially shown in the lefthand side of the frame above) added the following player perspective on trading cards:

"Sy Berger was the most popular guy in Spring Training....(He'd) hand us our Topps Checks and we'd get our cards and it's one of the biggest thrills. That was one of the biggest thrills...you knew you arrived when you saw a baseball card of yourself"

Hero Numbers Part II: Can they Mean More?

2012 Topps #100 Jose Bautista
 As an adult I now realize Hero is a term that is more appropriate when applied to my local EMT making snap decisions under difficult circumstances then a Millionaire Ballplayer throwing and hitting a little white ball.  In that way I suppose we should use the term Glamor Number, but Hero Number is what I grew up with and I am sticking to it.


This line of thinking let me down a strange path ...Lets look at this years Heroes.  


100 Jose Bautista 
200 Miguel Cabrera
300 Josh Hamilton


I quickly noted that the latter 2 in the group have had various issues with alcohol and substance abuse. 

Should Hamilton and Cabrera get Hero Numbers?

I wanted to find out how much this is noted by fans of the players.  

Regarding Miguel Cabrera 
Too Many Verlanders: 
When he got in trouble again for drinking and driving, I definitely got very frustrated, as I get every time some knuckleheaded gazillionaire athlete, who could easily afford 10 different limo drivers every night, pulls that crap.  He's more frustrating than most for me because he plays for a team I root for, and more importantly he obviously has so much more talent than almost every Major Leaguer that I would hate to see him throw that away.


Then TVL went on to add an interesting comment
....while what Cabrera did (multiple times) was very reprehensible, and probably should have resulted in more severe punishment either by the local authorities, MLB or both, I find people criticizing Cabrera and fawning over Josh Hamilton frustratingly hypocritical.
 
When I asked the questions Too Many Verlanders was unaware that one of the other Hero Number Mates was Hamiton. 


Regarding Hamilton 
Play at the Plate

We would all hope the people our kids look up to would be solid citizens who don’t make mistakes.  In reality, many athletes aren’t good role models.  It could be for any variety of on or off field behavior, but it’s true nonetheless.  The thing I like about Josh Hamilton is that he stood up and faced the media, and thus his fans, when he could have just tried to ignore or cover up his recent relapse.  All of us make mistakes, but most of us don’t face the scrutiny someone like Hamilton faces.

interesting comments all.   And I am glad I asked the question. 

Granted at the time of publication Topps didn't know that Hamilton would tarnish his refurbished image.  Regardless It's obvious that Topps didn't really note off the field activities when awarding the numbers.


And I ask Why Not? 


Would you consider it a gimmick if Topps awarded the Hero Numbers to star players who are also solid citizens??? 

Check the Right Hand Side - Topps sort of owns the concept of Hero Numbers so why not capitalize on it.   

Award Numbers 100 200 and 300 to star players who are also part of the community and generally on the good behavior side.  

Hero Numbers could be a topic of instant conversation every year and not just another lame gimmick.

On Deck
Hero Numbers Pt III - Two more Hero numbers I want to see 


Replay - Previous Post on Hero Numbers Plus
Are Hero Numbers Significant 
A comprehensive List of Topps Hero Numbers (1952-2012) compliments of Night Owl Cards  big THANKS 


Thanks also to Too Many Verlanders and Play at the Plate for some insights into two of the games biggest stars. 

Did 2012 Topps Sandbag Stars out of Series One?

While reading reviews and opinions associated with 2012 Topps I notices a handful of bloggers commenting that their packs and breaks lacked star power. 

2012 Topps #319 AL LL Wins Verlander, Sabathia, Weaver 

Indeed 2 of the 3 players on the AL Wins League Leaders Card were not honored with Series 1 base cards.

This poses the following Question:

Did Topps Sandbag Series One in 2012 in an attempt to Backload the Stars into Series 2?

This is an odd assumption.  I have thought that Series 1 was a little more star laden in the past few years, but maybe I am just jaded by the time Series 2 hits the streets.

To look into whether Series 1 is Star Deffered I had to find a way to measure Stardom.  Depending on what the researcher values this can be measured a number of ways.  Baseball-Reference has an incredible warehouse of information easily accesible.  In the end I decided to use something that is pretty unscientific, yet I believe highly fitting -  The MVP Voting.  The MVP voting is definitely a subjective excercise - but so is Superstardom.  Chances are unless your a fantasy geek you first learned about a star player from outside your club via word of mouth, not analyzing their OPS in the Internation League.

Between the 2 leagues there were 72 Players who recieved either an MVP or Cy Young vote for the 2011 season.  Of those 72, 10 were duplicated pitchers who also were on MVP Ballots (ie. Justin Verlander).  I removed 4 players that were either FAs or we expected to move teams during the off-season (Pujols. Fielder, Reyes, Beltran) although in the end 2 of them were sort of issued cards :)

That left us with 58 "Stars" In theory half of these players (29) should have been issued Cards in Series 1 while the other 29 would get into Series 2.  Let see how they fared

In each column pair, the player name is preceded by their series 1 card number.  If no number is given that indicates that the player was not in 2012 Series 1.  Pardon the weird psuedo-alphabetical order.    

Card	Player		Card	Player		Card	Player
213	A Avila		290	Grandrson		288	Montero
130	A Cabrera		150	Halladay		165	Morse
50	A Gonzalez		190	Hamels		120	Pence
294	Axford		300	Hamilton			R Cano
100	Bautista		280	Howard			Romero
	Beckett		76	I Kennedy		117	Ruiz
310	Beltre			I Kinsler			Sabathia
	Berkman			J Shields		185	Sandoval
1	Braun			J Upton			Stanton
103	Bumgarner		250	Jer Weaver		110	Teixeira
155	Cain		330	Kemp		140	Tulowitzk
270	Castro			Kershaw			V Martinez
	CJ Wilson		20	Kimbrel			Valverde
	D Haren		105	Konerko			Verlander
	D Pedroia			Lee			Victorino
206	D Robertson			Lincecum			Vogelsong
	E Longoria		200	M Cabrera			Votto
	Ellsbury		180	M Rivera		195	Zobrist
	Gallardo		55	M Young
	Gordon		174	Molina

From the chart we see that 33 of the 58 stars received S1 cards.  that is 4 more than half, or 57% to be more specific.  Even if you add Fielder and Beltran as misses, Topps was above the 50% threshold. 

This doesn't necessary mean 2012 Topps contains as many stars as years past - it only means that cards were issued for over half of the "stars" in our pool.  There is typically some overlap of some cards between S1 and S2 so that may account for the extra 7%.  In years past this number may have been greater - if I get the energy we will look at 2011 Topps to compare and cotrast. 

There may be some other factors at play - I am only investigating Stars, there may just be more unkown or little known players this year - this adds to the perception of less stars.  The 2011 release calendar may have hampered getting some rookies into 2011 Series 3 and Topps added them to the inaugural 2012 set. 

I also think that there are less know stars in the post-steroid era.  Stars stick around less time and age out sooner.  There is more new talent and we are less likely to know who they are.  Also there is the agism factor - the older I get, the harder these things are to track.

Sources:

2012 Topps Series 1 Checker - Baseball-Cardpedia

2011 MVP and Cy Young Award Voting - Baseball-Reference

 

 

 

Topps T206 Elvis Andrus Short Print

Ok last week when I made this post how comes none of you good folks told me about this:


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

The card on the left is from the retail pack opened in the referenced post, the latter card I picked up for a dime at a recent card show. That is when I first realized it was a short print.

Until then I thought I got a pretty average retail pack. As expected the short printed mini is a bit more desirable then the regular mini...

For the Collector

I was even more shocked to find out that it went for $8.50 PLUS $4.00 shipping on ebay!

Is that what T206 Short Prints go for?

I perused some completed auctions. A Jeter went for $36.00, Gordon Beckham (RC) for $14.00. There were several commons for under $4.00 which is wear I expected the Andrus to fall.

Sloppy Topps - 2008 All-Star Game Patch "Relics"

Last year, this was my "Hit" from a Jumbo Hobby Box of 2008 Topps.

2008 Topps Commemorative Patch Relic #CPR-AP Albert Pujols (339/499)

While I admit that it is a fun one to bring out for the All-Star game in a year that Pujols plays the Mid-Summer Classic in his home park, it is in my opinion a really really weak hit.

It is not game worn or event worn, in fact its not anybody anytime worn.

The caption on the back is great:


2008 Topps Commemorative Patch Relic #CPR-AP Albert Pujols (B-side - 339/499)

On top of the commemorative mumbo jumbo they tell me the player featured on the front is Albert Pujols, never mind the fact that the photo on the front is an edit from the one next to the caption itself.

Moving on to tonight's game - The NL has lost this game every year since 1996, when the game was in Philadelphia. I was fortunate enough to go to the game, which may have been the most lackluster in history. There were tons of no-shows including Ken Griffey Jr, The guys that did show included such stars as Roger Pavlik, and Rickey Bottalico was the Phils lone rep.

However the game did have it's moment. Local product Mike Piazza hit an Upper Deck Homer that helped give the NL the victory in a 6-0 shutout.

I would love to see a St Louis local product named Ryan Howard have a similar moment in tonight's All-Star game and get the Senior Circuit back on the winning side of the ledger.

For the Collector
Ok there are not a lot of these 2008 Topps Commemorative Patch Relics in the recently finished sales on ebay but I did find a couple and to be honest they went for a lot more than I expected.

Cole Hamels $7.19
Chase Utley $5.03
Prince Fielder $3.99
Jake Peavy $3.15

and get this

the Ryan Howard CPR went for a whopping $20.25

All the cards above are #d to 499 with the exception of the Fielder card which was 274/379 for some reason. All prices include S&H Charges, which for the Peavy and Fielder cards made up the bulk of the price.

Topps Coverboys

For years we have talked about the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx and the Madden Curse. What the heck should be the name for Topps' uncanny ability to pick the next steroid popper?

2008 Topps Series 1 Wrapper Manny Ramirez
2009 Topps Series 1 Wrapper Alex Rodriquez

They have nailed it each of the last two years. In 2007 there was Updates and Highlights and prior to that there was 2006 Series 1 and all the other Topps-Bonds products.

This phenomenon was previously reported a few years back by Stale Gum I think. I did a little searching but was unable to find the post. With the recent revelations about Manny and A-Rod, I felt the subject was worth revisiting.

I see Ryan Howard is on the cover of the upcoming 2009Topps Series 2. Hopefully he is not next to be found cheating. I am now just waiting for J C Romero to get his cover shot.

Would you like to see some New Hero Numbers? 42 and 21

The recent Hall of Fame posts on Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson got me to thinking - Are Robinson and Clemente worthy of Hero numbers?

One of the facets of Topps cards that I prefer to Upper Deck is that they have Hero numbers. The numbers were present on the cards I grew up with and I enjoy seeing them on today's cards. Topps has also "retired" the number 7 to be used exclusively for Mickey Mantle.

If a card number can be retired to a specific player for on the field greatness, why not recognize a card number that represents social progress. I propose making card #42, Jackie Robinson's uniform number, a Hero Number. This way it is a living memorial honoring Jackie Robinson and what he represents. This is similar to the way players don uniform number 42 on Jackie Robinson day during the Major League season. Similarly I also think that Robero Clemente's 21 is worthy of the Hero number treatment as an honor to him and the rise of the Latin player.

Each year the cards could be a different player, this would surely generate some free publicity for Topps as the players and their credentials would likely be debated beyond baseball card circles. In the initial years the numbers would go to a Dodger and a Pirate but beyond that I would expand the player pool to all 30 teams. Juan Pierre would be a good pick from the Dodgers for the #42 honor. Perhaps Ian Snell, who represented Puerto Rico in the WBC could be the initial #21 representative.

In a hobby that is short on innovations that are not in reality gimmicks, I think it would be easy to do and would also generate a significant goodwill return for Topps.

It would be more interesting then than having another Corey Hart on card number 42.

2008 topps #42 Corey Hart (Reverse)

What do Phungo Readers think? is this an idea that Topps could run with?

Go Vikings

First off a Football Post - It appears that the Vikings are in need of a kick start, and the Phillies Mojo cards seem to have helped them, so this morning I am putting out a Vikings Mojo Post.
2007 Topps Turn Back the Clock #9 Adrian Peterson

Yes I live in Philadelphia, but I am a Vikings fan. Basically I am child of the 70s, back then the Eagles were mediocre, while the Vikings were quite good. I have remained a Vikings fan which is easier in the modern era, as cable tv and the internet can keep you reasonably well informed about your favorite team.

Ok Vikes lets get on a roll and kick some Panther butt today.

2008 09 11 Brewers 3 @ Phillies 6

Topps 2007 #UH99 Carlos Ruiz
Topps 2008 #281 Carlos Ruiz

Thursday was a great night all Around as the Phils beat the Wild Card Rival Milwaukee Brewers 6-3. There were many Phils deserving of the Top Card Billing but I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize Carlos Ruiz. Nice Cards just that it's the same picture. Same Set, different years, same photo - this all points to Lazy Topps.

But wait the Laziness doesn't end there - flip the cards over and....


Both cards use the same stinkin factoid in the second sentence. It is also another game where Ruiz contributed to a victory over the Brewers.

Okay, Enough of the Lazy Topps Rant and on to Carlos. After a disappointing offensive season, Ruiz has been hot lately and He did post an RBI double versus the Brew Crew. However, his most exciting contribution was getting down a suicide squeeze bunt for an insurance run in the bottom of the 8^th. I have been to roughly 150 Phils games and can’t remember having witnessed them successfully execute the squeeze play. It was just as exciting as Ryan Howard's moon shot homer in the first.

In addition to Ruiz the Phils received contributions from across the team. Jamie Moyer took the rock on three days rest and gave the Phillies 5 2/3 solid innings. The big man Ryan Howard posted 3 RBIs including the two run homer in the first, he narrowly missed another in the fourth. The bullpen, erratic lately, looked more like the surprising staff that was so stellar in the first half of the season. Ryan Madson pitched 2 innings of shutout relief, Chad Durbin came in to get a critical out and Brad Lidge pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

On the other side of the Diamond, if you’re going to see Prince Fielder blast a 2-Run homer - it doesn’t feel as bad if it comes when your teams is up 3 runs - even if the ball is absolutely crushed to centerfield.

Plus – The Phils were able to beat Ben Sheets, a quality starting pitcher who has been hot lately. I love a good pitching match-up but it is also something to see a couple of the league's big young mashers like Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder absolutely crush balls over the centerfield fence.

I picked up the cheapest tix available for the game and for the first 6 innings sat 4 rows off the field just beyond first base. The game was over in 2:48 and I was home around 10:30. Saw a quite a few Brewers fans out there. It is good to see them get some support, after being one of the more invisible teams for about a decade.

The Phillies arranged pre-game festivities which honored members of the armed forces, police, fire, and emergency services and also saluted the victims of September 11th. The Brewers and Phillies as well as all the teams in major league baseball brought out their patriotic caps from the 4^th of July weekend this year and wore them during Thursday Night’s games.

Damages - $13 ticket, $10 Park, $14 for two beers, and $5.50 for two dogs. Total $42.50.

Phungo Playoff Meter

Introducing the Phungo Playoff Meter - We will be charting the Phillies Stretch run by graphing out the Phils status using Baseball Cards. As of now the Phils are 1 1/2 games behind the rival Mets.
2006 Topps #UH232 David Wright NL All-Star
2007 Topps #656 Classic Combo Carlos Beltran - Jose Reyes

Hopefully the Phils can get on a roll, bypass the Mets, and the Phungo Playoff Meter will evolve from Mets Cards to Phils Cards.