All-Star Rookie Cups at the 2024 All-Star Game

First off I just want to mention that there are 75 All-Stars this year YES 75. That is enough players to roster an entire third team.

2013 Topps #1 Bryce Harper

Of those 75 Twenty of them are All-Star Rookie Cup Honorees including Six from the 2019 TASR Squad. Here is a complet list of tonights TASRs:

1B: Bryce Harper (PHI)	2013
OF: Christian Yelich (MIL)	2014
INF: Carlos Correa (MIN)	2016
SS: Trea Turner (PHI)	2017
OF: Aaron Judge (NYY)	2018
INF: Rafael Devers (BOS)	2018
OF: Juan Soto (NYY)	2019
DH: Shohei Ohtani (LAD)	2019
1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR)	2020
DH: Yordan Alvarez (HOU)	2020
OF: Fernando Tatis Jr. (SD)	2020
C: Will Smith (LAD)	2020
INF: Pete Alonso (NYM)	2020
OF: Bryan Reynolds (PIT)	2020
INF: Willi Castro (MIN) +	2021
3B: Alec Bohm (PHI)	2021
RHP: Emmanuel Clase (CLE)	2022
C: Adley Rutschman (BAL)	2023
OF: Steven Kwan (CLE)	2023
INF: Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)	2023
SS: Gunnar Henderson (BAL)	2024

There are 3 Phillies on the List but only Alec Bohm made the squad as a member of the Phillies. 

The showing by the 2020 class is not a  surprise to TASR fans. At the time their combined WAR number was the strongest of any class ever. We will cover this in the future but 4 years later they rank 3rd - one of those more recent years, 2023, did quite well with 3 members while the other, 2024, did manage a single. 

The one year missing from the 12 year span of teams 2013-24 is 2015. The most prominent players from that team are George Springer, Xander Bogaerts, The Phillies Nick Castellanos, and the potentially retired Jose Abreu. 

It is also worth noting that a handful of players like Paul Skenes, Jackson Merrill and Shota Imanaga are rookies and could show up on this years Cup Squad (2025 Cards)

Cover Card

Turns out the elder statesmen of TASR players on the squad is Philadelphia's own Bryce Harper. Maybe it's because I saw Harper in the Minors when I was in my mid 40s but it is very disconcerting to me for him to be the eldest of anything.  To be clear he is not the oldest player on the team, without doing any real poking around one of my guesses would be Professional Frisbee Golfer Seth Lugo at 34.242. 

Enjoy the All-Star game tonight and look for your favorite TASR players who make up more than a quarter of the participants

Sources and Links

baseball_ref bullpen

PDGA

NL Wild Card: 2013 Topps Chrome Gerrit Cole (rc)

In tonight's Wild Card game the Host Pirates will be sending out their ace Gerrit Cole.


2013 Topps Chrome #210 Gerrit Cole (RC)

I believe this is from the bonus parallels that showed up with racks of 2013T Chrome. The combo of the Pirates Black & Yellow with the Topps Orange parallel and the season this is the perfect Halloween card.

I will be rooting for the cross-state Pirates tonight and hope they don't run into any unfriendly ghosts.

With Jake Arrieta going for the Cubs and Cole (19-8, 2.60 ERA, 148 ERA+, 4.5 WAR) for the Pirates, I am expecting an exciting pitching matchup with some bizarre batting hero in tonight's winner or go home special. 

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Index
baseball-ref

Domonic Brown ON the Ballot but OFF the Roster

There are a couple of these every year, Players on the All-Star Ballot but not on a Major League Roster. This year one of them represents the Philadelphia Phillies

2013 Topps Update #US309 Domonic Brown All-Star

And there is your proof that despite wretched numbers a player like Domonic Brown can indeed be an All-Star and earn an All-Star card. 

For a variety of reasons Dom Brown finds himself back at AAA for the start of the 2015 Season. The demotion is a pretty big statement when you consider how poor the Phillies Offense has been this year.

Dom's big month in May of 2013 earned him both a trip to the All-Star and the burden of high expectations. He hasn't come anywhere near that sort of success since. Part of Brown's issues is that he has no mentionable skill beyond hitting, He is a mediocre fielder at best and a poor runner. Therefore he has to hit to contribute, unfortunately I am not sure if that will ever happen.

E-Ballot
From what I understand this year they will not have paper ballots at games, which is probably the right thing to do, but it brings me a little sadness. I always enjoyed mindlessly punching holes in the ballots during the middle innings.

The use of e-ballots makes one wonder if it would have  been possible to include some player other than Brown on the ballot. Granted the ballots have to be done in advance, but now it is a week rather than months in advance as it was during the paper ballot era.

Of course in the Phils case the options are not very exciting, Jeff Francoeur and Grady Sizemore aren't any much more ballot-worthy than Domonic Brown. 

Sources and Links
MLB
baseball-ref

WAR Stories Phillies 2015+ Ben Revere

Today we return to our 2015 Phillies WAR projections 

2013 Topps Chrome Refractor #90 Ben Revere

Ben Revere is good at one thing hitting singles. Even his plus speed doesn't seem to translate game changing stolen bases or stellar defense.


Revere's odd statistical career makes him hard to project. An example is the conundrum of his 2014 season, he led the NL in hits (184) but his .325 OBP ranked 40th among the NLs 65 qualified batters. He did have the best Offensive WAR year of his career +2.4 but his dWAR was -2.2,

They aren't really any contemporary comps for Revere. I looked back at some old Baseball America Prospect Handbooks which suggested a ceiling of Brett Gardner. At this point I would be happy with an Austin Jackson. A sobering thought is that Willy Taveras is closer than those two outfielders. Revere is entering his age 27 season - Taveras has been wallowing away in the minors since finishing his age 28 season in 2010. With Ben Revere having no peripheral skill beyond the one base hit, I seriously wonder if he will be in the majors beyond 2016.

2015 Phungo Verdict
Ben Revere is a replacement player 2015 projected WAR = 0. For our running track of the Phillies 2015 WAR projections click here


Refractor
I don't get as excited about refractors as other folks, but I was pretty happy to find this card in a dime box last September


Sources and Links
WAR Stories 2015+ Phillies
Baseball-ref

2014 Playoff Cards: Orioles Adam Jones 2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 and Sloppy Topps?

Tonight the ALCS makes the move to Kansas City for Geme 3. To mark the occasion we will discuss a favorite card of Adam Jones from the 2013 Topps Chase it Down Insert set

2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 Adam Jones

Chase it Down is a 15 card insert set in 2013 Topps Series 2 that is dedicated to fielding excellence  or noteworthy fielding plays. The above card notes a play that Adam Jones Made versus the Rays on September 13 2012. The details are given on the b-side of the card. 

2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 Adam Jones (b-side)

The above text has a nice description of Jones' play, the trouble is the information doesn't correlate  with the related box score which is here.

Not sure what happened here. According to Baseball-ref Jeff Keppinger didn't bat in the first inning of the game referenced. Keppinger did record two F8 ABs. the first was in the 4th and appears to match the description on the card from B-R

"Lineout: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Short CF-RF); Zobrist Scores" 

I could see the card copy not bothering to mention the SF portion of the play, as it didn't fit the desired narrative. At the time the run gave the Rays a 1-0 lead, but the catch helped prevent a big inning.

Keppinger also had an F8 in the 9th but it is listed as Deep Center.

He did have an F8 in the first inning of the previous game, but once again it was listed a deep fly out. His only other first inning AB in the series resulted in a ground out.

Who is the Image on the B-Side?

I don't think that the photo on the flip side of the card is of Adam Jones.  The image is on all 15 of the Chase it Down cards. It is hard to tell, but it appears that the player is possibly wearing a Twins cap. That leads me to think it may be Denard Span from his Twins days. Any ideas out there?   

Narcissus

Part of the reason I went into so much detail about the card is pure narcissism. The game referenced is one that team Phungo attended.

Game Ticket 2013 09 13 Rays @ Orioles 

Yep Team Phungo was there for this one so the above Chasing it Down card is part of the very special Phungo in Attendance Binder. I am adding an Index for these cards and plan on trying to get to some of these during the off-season. 

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards
Narcissus - Team Phungo Was There
Baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia

2014 Playoff Cards Giants Hunter Pence 2013 Topps Chrome #2

Today we turn our Playoff cards postings to the San Francisco Giants and our old friend Hunter Pence.

2013 Topps Chrome #2 Hunter Pence 

The photo on this card captures so much Hunter Pence. The High Leg Step is the trademark of his swing. We also see the choked up bat, the single batting glove, and the old school high socks.

The icing is Hunter's wild eyes just peeking out beneath his batting helmet.

Instagrams

2013 Topps #3 Hunter Pence
2013 Topps Chrome #2 Hunter Pence

Chrome and all those parallels are really just instagrams. Once the base card is created all the heavy lifting has rally been done. All the parallels, Chromes, Silks, Rainbows and other variations are just taken the originals and putting them through an intagram facility.

In the scan above the original actually looks a bit better than the Chrome card. There is a lot of whitespace on the border of 2013 Topps - likely to make the instagramming even easier, however I like the overall design. The rounded plate area and the light fringing behind the team logo proved a good frame for the Topps photos.

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards 
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref

Philly Show 2014 09 28 - Dime Box

As Promised Monday night we our now featuring our VF show Dime Box posting. I love the cheap bins, The shear disorganization fits my personality and I always find stuff that I had either forgotten about or never knew existed.

Since the onslaught of playoff postings has featured so many other teams, we will lead off with a Phillies Card.

2013 Topps Chrome Refractor #90 Ben Revere

Refractor for a dime, much better than the 15 base card "Value Pack" I just shelled out $5 for at Target.

Allen Ginter Inserts

Various A&G Inserts

Any time I see A&G inserts in a dime box, I pick em up. I am sure somebody needs anything I don't want to keep.

Sketch Cards

A&G Sketchers

These are staying in the Phungo Collection. I wasn't building this set but when one can pick up over half of the 24 card set in one day, it becomes part of the dime box search list. 

Vintage Dimes
1971 Topps Dimers 

I  knocked out 23 cards from my 1971 Topps Checker. A couple of the highlights are in the fan, the rest are even more common. The Manny Sanguillen card is a favorite among the lot.

Dime Box Card All-Stars
A couple of cards from this dime box were distinguished enough to get there own features at Phungo:
1981 Topps Record Breakers #206 Mike Schmidt
2013 Topps #WBC-5 Hanley Ramirez 
2003 Bowman Draft #BDP137 JJ Hardy  

Source & Links
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Index
Baseball Cardpedia

2014 Playoffs: Dodgers Hanley Ramirez 2013 Topps #WBC-5

Tonight our Playoff Tour takes us to the Dodgers and we are featuring their shortstop Hanley Ramirez.

Hanley Ramirez 2013 Topps #WBC-5

This ain't a popular POV, but I am a fan of the WBC cards. Yes  I like seeiing the game travel and enjoy seeing different players as teammates. The format of the WBC also provides for lots of interesting David vs Goliath moments.

Hanley Ramirez is a star but I am not sure he has ever lived up to his promise. He is a good hitting shortstop, but he is enough of a defensive liability that the Dodgers run in defensive substitutions for him if they are leading. Additionally he has been on the shelf a bit each of the last two years and hasn't exceeded 130 games in either season

2013 Topps WBC Stars
WBC stars is a 15 card insert set in 2013 Topps S2. This is a down from the 25 card set that was put out in 2009T S2,  It is a set that I don't need to put together, but since I picked up 5 of them out of a dime box last week, I am pretty sure 2013 WBC Stars will go on my todo list. The cards are nice enough looking and have a nice nod with the flags. The chrome text is hard to read in the above photo, but appears fine on the card - In my opinion the fact that the text doesn't scan well isn't a legit complaint about a card. If it is hard to read when your holding it in your hand then that is an issue.

As mentioned above there are only 15 cards in the 2013 WBC set, and the Phillies were shutout of the checker.

Dime Boxes 
With any luck we will feature a dime box posting on Tuesday with some other cards I picked up with Mr Ramurez. If you're interested in the some of the more expensive acquisitions that day check my Card Show Summary post here.


Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Index
Philly Show 2014 09 28 Dime Box summary 
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref
World Baseball Classic

2014 Playoffs: Angels Mike Trout 2013 Topps #536 AL Defensive POY

In 2012 the sportings good company (and baseball glovemaker) Wilson created a Defensive Player of the Year award. The inaugural winners were Michael Bourn in the NL and Mike Trout in the AL.

2013 Topps #536 Mike Trout AL Defensive POY

Wilson has done something a bit exciting for statgeeks like myself - the award is based on advanced defensive metrics. I think that Wilson is sourcing their defensive info through Baseball Info Solutions and Fangraphs.

2013 Topps #536 Mike Trout AL Defensive POY (b-side)


Notice that Trout's card notes both of these stats data warehouses, but doesn't mention the awards sponser Wilson.

Since 2012 was the first year of the DPOY, this makes the above 2013 Topps Mike Trout Defensive Player of the Year card the very first card to honor the award - Micheal Bourn's corresponding NL card shows up 4 position back on the checker.

Patriot Day
looking closely you man notice a flag on the left side of Trout's cap. I am thinking this is the special caps that are worn for 9/11 Patriot Day games. Assuming this phot is recent means that the photo was taken during a game in which the Angels hosted the A's. Bit of an oddity is that the game was played at night, but it looks like a night photo. Checking the baseball-ref box score, and assuming Trout made the catch here I am guessing this catch was made in the 5th inning on a line drive by Yoenis Cespedes  - of course I am sure Topps didn't research play outcome prior to placing it on the card. 



Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Contenders Index 
Baseball Almanac
Baseball Cardpedia
baseball-ref

2014 Playoff Contenders: Nationals Jordan Zimmermann 2013 Topps Opening Day #96

Stephen Strasburg may get the most press among the Nationals starting pitchers, but he sure isn't the only quality starter on their staff. The Nats have one of the toughest rotations in baseball; Doug Fister, Rookie Tanner Roark, and last weekends NoNo pitcher Jordan Zimmermann each could make an argument for having a better season than Strasburg.

2013 Topps Opening Day #96 Jordan Zimmermann

I am glad that Zimmermann had his no-hitter moment last week. He has put together solid seasons each of the last four years. His contributions to the Nationals have been comparable to Strasburg over that period. For 2014 Jordan Zimmerman has outpaced his teammate in ERA,  ERA+, K/9 and WAR numbers.

This afternoon the Nats send Zimmerman to the mound in a hope to even the Series with the Giants. The Giants may have a lead in the Series, but he Nats depth at rotation will make them a tough out. 

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Team Cards Indwx
Baseball-ref 

Mike Schmidt 2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92

The Phillies have revamped their broadcast lineup for 2014. Three of the teams alums are coming in to do color commentary: Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs from the 2008 World Champs and Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Mike Schmidt.

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Gold)

Schmidt is apparently healthy after a recent cancer scare. He had surgery and radiation treatment related to mole that was found on his back. Recent scans have shown Schmidt to be cancer free.

During the regular season the Phillies plan on having Mike Schmidt join the TV broadcast team as part of a three man booth with lead Tom McCarthy and either Moyer or Stairs.

Mike Schmidt will turn 65 later this year, He appears to have remained in good physical shape while retired. Hopefully this will aid him in avoiding a recurrence of any cancer.

2013 Topps Chasing History
CH is a 150 card insert set spread evenly across the the three series of of 2013 Topps. The card come in both silver and gold variations. I am not sure but assume gold is more scarce

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Gold)
2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-92 Mike Schmidt (Silver)

 

More Schmidt
Phungo HoF Index

Sources
Phillies,com
h/t the Phillies Room 
baseball cardpedia
 

Phillies 2014+ Cody Asche 2013 Topps #US71 (RC)

The Phillies drafted Cody Asche in the fourth round of the Draft in June 2011, less than 3 years later he is penciled in as the teams opening day third baseman. A year ago the Phillies picked up Michael Young to fill the 3B role, Ideally the Phils would have made the postseason, Young would be back for a transition year and Asche wouldn’t be coming up until the end of this season rather than last. 

2013 Topps #US71 Cody Asche (RC)

Of course, things didn’t go that way and we got our first look at Cody. His debut was fair at best – The .235 batting average in 162 ABs is simply not good enough for a Major League corner infielder. The other problematic number was Asche’s 43 strikeouts which projects out to 140+ in a full 600 PA season. Asche showed decent power with 5 homers and 14 XBH. His defense is seen as average, advanced defensive metrics in a limited MLB sample back that up with a slightly below average dWAR.

Currently Cody Asche’s biggest issue is hitting LHP. All 5 of his Homers were vs righty’s, at lower levels only 3 of 15 HR were versus southpaws. Furthermore his 2013 slash line vs LHP across both majors and AAA was .252/.299/.361 in 147 ABs.

2014+
In 2005 at age 26 Chase Utley played his first full season, He batted .291 with 28 Homers and 105 RBIs. However, in 128 ABs versus lefties he batted .219 with only 7 of those homers. His vs LHP slash line for the season was .219/.348/.469. A key difference between Utley's 2005 and Asche 2013 vs LHP is that Utley worked walks. Utley had 28 hits vs LHP, but he also had 25 walks - this accounted for an OBP that was 129 points higher then his BA. Asking Cody Asche to become Chase Utley would be way to large of a request - but I believe for Cody to be an everyday player it is necessary for him to be more selective at teh plate, especially vs Lefties. 

Phungo Sez
Honestly, I don't think that Asche his ready to play everyday for a playoff caliber team. I also don't think that the 2014 Phillies fall into that premium category. If he stays in the majors all of 2014 I see Asche at .281 average .331 OBP, 20 HR, 67 RBI with a WAR of 1.8 (2.1 oWAR)

Phillies 2014+ Index
Cody Asche WAR + 1.8
Cole Hamels WAR +3.8
Ryan Howard WAR +1.0

Sources
Baseball-ref

Swag from Night Owl Cards - 2014 Topps #296 Domonic Brown

Team Phungo took a mini staycation during the early part of this week, unfortunately we had to return to the real world and all of it's concerns yesterday. The stress of the first workaday under the early AM of DST was mitigated a bit by fun card package from Greg over at Night Owl Cards that I received upon arriving home.

2014 Topps Red #296 Domonic Brown

Dom Brown is the Phillies only young star. Ok, "star" may be a bit generous. Browns first couple of season have been mixed. There was a couple of weeks early in 2013 when Dom hit the cover off the ball, Phils fans like myself are hopeful that this is a glimpse into who Domonic Brown will be in the future.

2014

Brown is having a lousy spring. He his hitting .107 through his first 28 ABs, before hitting a triple on Wednesday he was yet to collect and extra base hit. I am hoping for much bigger things from Domonic in the regular season. His 27 dingers in 2013 led the team, although the bulk of those came during the aforementioned 12 home run outburst in May. If Brown can come up with similar power and reach base a tad more that would make me happy. Dom can also be a bit comical in the field this shows up in his dWAR number which is a negative, Brown is young enough that hopefully he can turn this around as well.

 More Swag

2013 Topps Opening Day #M-2 Phillie Phanatic
2013 Allen & Ginter's mini #247 Ryan Howard

Another Phils player that the Phanatic has high hopes for is Ryan Howard, who we talked about last week in our Phillies 2014+ feature. Here we have a nice 2013 A&G mini of Mr Howard. For whatever reason there seems to be a lot of cards of Howard in the field, which is a bit of a mystery as he is often a liability with the glove.

2002 Donruss Originals #233 Rated Rookie Anderson Machado

Nice retro card from somebody other than Topps here. Machado never held on at the major league level. He has been kicking around the minors and according to Baseball-ref was last spotted in the Italian League.

1992 Sargento Mootown Snackers #16 Terry Mulholland

Definitely one for the Phungo type collection here. Never saw any cards from this issue. Also one of my player collections is dedicated Mulholland, at some point I will get organized enough to post some checkers for those palyers.

Even More Swag

A nice mix of Inseerts, Oddballs, Stars, and Rememember Me cards. Thanks to NOC for all the Phils cards and the nice variety.

Swag from Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsession

This past week Team Phungo received a nice package of cards from San Francisco Giants Fan Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsession.

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes #158 Roy Halladay

Arpsmith came through with a nice bounty of Phillies related cards with a nice variety from recent sets. Interesting retro design for 2013 Hometown Heroes. Note that the Panini name is not on the front of the card at all. Sadly this year forward any Roy Halladay card will basically be a retro card or at least post-career.   

2012 Panini Cooperstown #59 Richie Ashburn

Late in 2012 Panini released a 170 card set of Hall of Fame players, broadcaster and execs called Panini Cooperstown. I believe the above Richie Ashburn card is from the Crystal Collection Parallel insert set - Serialed to 299, and seeded one in every 8 packs. The cards scan a little dark, it is a bit garish seeing the refractor treatment on a retro set cards of a 1950s era player.     

2013 Topps #US58 Kevin Frandsen

Gold Parallel fron this past years update set. The Phillies re-upped Kevin Frandsen to be a utility guy for 2014. He has been a decent back up and should be able to help out on a team that appears to be going forward with second year player Cody Asche at 3B this coming season.

 

More Swag from Arpsmith

As I noted above, a great variety of cards, including recent parallels and inserts. A couple of notable Vintage cards in there as well, including one of a Hall of Famer that we will feature in a future post.

Sources

Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsession

BaseballCardpedia

2013 Topps #646 Phillippe Aumont: Phillies Green Parallels = Christmas Cards

My first thought when I saw the a Phillies player on an Emarald Parallel was Christmas. In fact for 2013 Topps Green parallels, I pretty much think that for any player who's team color is red.

2013 Topps #646 Phillippe Aumont

See What I mean. Not only are they green, but the chormium pattern/texture evokes a hybrid of tinsel and pine needles.  

Phillippe Aumont has been an enigma for the Phillies since he was acquired from the Mariners in the second Cliff Lee deal.  Aumont was drafted by Seattle with the 11th overall pick of the 2007 draft. The hard throwing lefty has put up a respectable 1K per inning strikeout ratio at all levels including the majors. And his Hits/Inning ratio is equally good at about 1.0 H/IP. The trouble is his insanely high walk numbers - 13 BBs in under 20 IPs for the Phillies in 2013. He was sent back to Lehigh Valley where his walk numbers were even worse.

Statistically Aumont's problem appears to be more than just wildness. He simply will not trust his stuff. Aumont is yet to give up a Home Run in 34 major league innings.  As a professional he has never yielded a HR/9 of more than 0.7 in any of his six seasons. His H/9 numbers have never been above 10 for a full seaosn. He is clearly trying to hard to avoid contact.

Phillipe Aumont will be only 24 years old when the 2014 campaign commences and remains protected on the Phillies 40-man roster. The Phillies erratic bullpen could certainly use Aumont's power arm if he can sort out those high walk numbers. 

Phun Phact
In 8 career play appearances (all in the minors) Aumont has but the ball in play once (sacrifice). His other 7 PAs have resulted in 5 Ks and 2 walks


Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Philies.com

Swag from Cards on Cards

Got home form a typical lousy Monday to have my mood quickly changed by a very nice card package from Kerry of Cards on Cards. Here are some of the highlights

2006 Bowman Heritage Pieces of Greatness #PG-RH Ryan Howard

The picture of Ryan Howard is a little odd as Topps is trying to capture the style of the classic 1949 Bowman here. Cool card with a nice striped Jersey snippet.

2013 Topps Heritage Chrome #HC98 Darin Ruf/Tyler Cloyd (refractor/purple)
2013 Topps #83 Darin Ruf Green Parallel

Couple of nice Darin Ruf parallels. Ruf is a bit of a fan favorite but the Phillies latest moves regarding several bench players seem to indicate that Darin isn't in their plans for 2014.

2012 Topps #243 Justin DeFratus (blue parallel)
2013 Topps #US71 Cody Asche

Two more Phillies RCs for the collection. Kerry must be busy out there getting new product, the Asche card is part of the Update Series - feels like it just came out.

ConC sent over two team bags of cards, here are some of the rest

2013 Topps #US313 Mariano Rivera (SP Variation)

The recently retired Mariano Rivera turns 44 today. To mark the occasion Team Phungo is celebrating by taking a look at one of the Sandman's Short Printed Variations from this years Topps Update set.

 

2013 Topps #US313 Mariano Rivera (SP Variation)

There are actually 2 variations for this card. There are so many variations in 2013 Topps that I didn't realize that this card was a SP right away. This is a bit annoying but I am still glad to pick up the minor hit. It is a good looking card with a nice shot of Rivera entering his last all-star game - The partially show All-Star game logo helps highlight the photo.

Variations
The base version of this variation card has gone as low as $3.52 with 6 auctions concluding under $6.  Auctions for this card have ended as high as $19.49.

SSP
The Super Short Print version of the card which shows Rivera on the same night just emerging out of the Citifield Bullpen door has gone for a high of $142 and a low of $47 

Sources
Cardboard Connection
ebay.com
baseball-ref.com

2013 Topps Hanger Pack Match Race - Target Red v Vanilla

Earlier this week we took a look at a regular Hanger pack of 2013 Topps Update. Today we are looking at the Target Red version. 

2013 Topps Update #US58 Kevin Fandsen

Kevin Frandsen is the lone Phillies player in the pack. Countwise thats a push between the two packs, but Kevin Frandsen was a higher contributor as a bench player than Mike Adams was as a dinged up reliever. ADVANTAGE: Target.

The Vanilla

Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates were in the playoffs, nice to see him get some national recognition. This years Postseason Hero David Ortiz on a checker card. Got a bunch of Rookie Cards in this pack including Anthony Rendon and Jose Fernandez.

Among the Vanilla cards in the regular Hanger Pack was a Mariano Rivera SP - ADVANTAGE: Vanilla

Inserts

Target came up with a pair of Hall of Famers in Koufax and Reggie plus the 71 Topps Mariano Rivera mini. The Vanilla pack had Jim Palmer.  ADVANTAGE: Target
 
Between the two packs I had a bunch of Twins inserts. This pack was Dodgers heavy - so this Hanger Pack Match race turned out to be a celebration of the 1965 World Series. 

The Red

I like the Red Cards, Henry Urrutia is another quality RC.  Unless your set building the colored parallels are always a bonus to me ADVANTAGE: Target.

Hey Wait that is only 4 Red Parallels

Shelby Miller RC was also amongst the Red Cards. The Target pack also contained a couple noteworthy Rookie Debut Cards Jurickson Profar and Hyun-Jin Ryu.


Rookie Card Bonanza - ADVANTAGE: Target

Analysis
It is so easy when you break it down by the numbers Target wins 4-1. Although one could easily argue the magnitude of the Mariano SP offsets anything that was in the Target pack.

The five Red Cards turned out to be the only real difference in the packs. 


Check My Math - the two packs by the numbers:

2013 Topps - Looking Back

2013 Topps S1 First Pack (Retail)

2013 Topps S2 Hobby Packs

2013 Topps Update Hanger Pack 

2013 Topps S1 & S2 Phillies Checkers

2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price

2012 Topps Hanger Pack

Sources

Baseball-ref.com

2013 Topps Update Hanger Pack Match Race - Target Red vs Vanilla

Really this isn’t a competition. Either you like the red parallels or you don’t but I wanted to take a few minutes to examine the contents of a Hanger Pack of each.

Today we open our Hanger Pack analysis with the vanilla non-red Parallel version.

2013 Topps Update #US30 Mike Adams

This is the one Phillies card I picked up in the 72 cards pack.  Low-level card , the Phils needed Adams to sure up their shaky bullpen. - Unfortunately Mike Adams spent most of 2013 on the DL . He is on a 2 year stretch, hopefully his 2014 campaign will be more productive.  I believe this is my first card of Adams in Phillies pinstripes.

The Adams card was one of 66 Base Cards I picked up in the Hanger. The base cards also included both Zach Wheeler RCs

2013 Topps Update #US220 Zach Wheeler (rc  Rookie Debut)

2013 Topps Update #US50 Zach Wheeler (rc)

I assume the rookie debut cards are part of the base set as they are in the regular checker.  The b-side of the cards give the players line for the game and have a related caption. I like that the Rookie Debut note on the front of the card is a stamp - even if it is Chrome.   

More Vanilla

Among the highlights of the Base Cards were The nice shot of Mariano Rivera entering his final All-Star game. Phungo Favorite Wil Myers RC.  Reliever Brian Wilson has his signature look, with a new ballclub. The Drake Britton RC nicely displays the Boston Strong logo.

Inserts

71 Topps Mini of Clayton Kershaw and the Chasing History of Jim Palmer highlight this set of inserts 

Making their Mark

I believe The Make their Mark cards are an insert that notes a big game for a player early in their career.  The Kyle Gibson card is from his Debut.  Marcell Ozuna's card is from his first HR which occurred a few days after his debut - unfortunately the HR was in a game versus the Phillies :(

That is it for our first Hanger Pack.  Tomorrow we will take a look at the Target Hanger.

2013 Topps - Looking Back

2013 Topps S1 First Pack (Retail)

2013 Topps S2 Hobby Packs

2013 Topps S1 & S2 Phillies Checkers

2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

2013 Topps Opening Day 1/2 Price

2012 Topps Hanger Pack

Sources

Baseball-ref.com