Bucket or Chuck-It: 2013 Topps Archives

Easy one Chuck-It.

I could finish the review there but I will post some pix and thoughts. The following cards are from a rack pack of cards purchased at a local big box.  $5.99/pack plus local sales Tax (6% in PA) for an 18 card pack.  

My biggest issue is 2013 Topps Archives is largely comprised of 3 designs I am not fond of, and a fourth that I find to be about average. Then there is the issue of Topps Canabalizing their old sets, and finally the whole lottery aspect of opening Archive for the more interesting whacky inserts - I do like the whacky inserts, but they won't tempt me enough to pick up a box. 

I even dislike the wrapper which got favorable reviews from a couple of sources including The Shlabotnik Report which has a fine column on the derivation of the wrapper.

2013 Topps Archives #55 CC Sabathia (1982 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #44 Chris Davis (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #101 Andrew McCutchen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #186 Brett Lawrie (1990 Topps)

These are the four basic Topps Designs in 2013 Archives.  Right off the bat there are too many from the same era - 1985 and 1990 are pretty firnly in the junk wax era and 1982 is pretty close. And 1990 is my least favorite of the Topps canon.  

Finally, I am in the minority on this one, but 1972 Topps really doesn't do it for me.

Another Chuck-it for the rack is that there were no Phillies in the 18 cards :(

The hockey stick set (1982 Topps) is my favorite of this years four mains. CC is near the top of my list of favorite Yankees, Chris Davis is putting together a 2nd consecutive fine year for the Orioles - Kudos to O's fans for having 3 Orioles leading the early All-Star voting (Davis, Adam Jones, and .... JJ Hardy). Always good to get a McCutchen card - he is one of the good guys in baseball and a fine player.  Brett Lawrie has been on the shelf for a disappointing Jays team and unable to repeat is fine 2012 campaign


4 More low-lights

2013 Topps Archives #48 Ryne Sandberg (1972 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #214 Fred McGriff SP (1989 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #134 Wei-Yen Chen (1985 Topps)
2013 Topps Archives #153 David Ortiz (1990 Topps)

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is one of the hilights of the pack.  The McGriff is a 1:4 Pack short print from the 45 card Fan Favorites hi-number series.  Chen has been on the DL for about a month, but was a nice find for the Orioles in 2012, He was a big help to the club to reach the playoffs.  David Ortiz is just keeps on chugging looks like he may e adding another fine season to his career.

There you have it - 18 cards, no Phillies, 1 short print. this is likely the only pack of 2013 Archives I will likely pick up. Chuck-It

2013 Topps Archives Other Views
Nacho's Grande (Group Break - 3 Hobby Boxes - Multiple Postings)
Arpspmith's Sportscard Obsession (2 Hobby Boxes - McGriff, DeShields, and Orosco Autos)
30 Year Old Cardboard (Two Blasters)
Capewood Collections (Blaster+ 1972 Schmidt, 1990 Chooch, Ryan Howard Relic)
Night Owl Cards (Blaster)
Play at the Plate (Blaster)
Things are Funner Here (Rack Pack w/ 72 Ryan Howard)
Paul's Random Stuff (Mets)

ReWind
Phungo Review of  2012 Topps Archives.  FYI - Despite the 3 Phils I think I passed on getting any future Archives last summer and didn't go for the Hobby Box. Also liked the set selected for 2012 archives much more then 2013.

 
References

Schlabotnik Report
Baseball-cardpedia
MLB Trade Rumors
Baseball-ref.com

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

 

 

 

Allen & Ginter This Day in History

Check it out, we can do this now...

2010 Topps Allen & GInter This Day in History #TDH20 CC Sabathia/Neil Armstrong

2010 Topps Allen & GInter This Day in History #TDH20 CC Sabathia/Neil Armstrong (b-side)

On the day that the Captain turns 30, we can celebrate the 41st anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Walking on the Moon.

2010 Phungo Cards - CC Sabathia

2010 Phungo #52 CC Sabathia

Tonight the Phillies return to Yankee Stadium for the first time since the game 6 to the 2009 World Series. CC Sabathia will be pitching against the Phils tonight - The Phils and Yanks split the two Series games the Captain started.

The Phils will counter with their new Ace who was not part of the 2009 squad, Roy Halladay. It is a fun mid-season match-up between two star pitchers and I am sure that more than just Phils and Yankees fans will be looking forward to the game.

The Photo from the above Phungo card was taken during BP prior to game 5 of the 09 series. The Phils won game 5 v AJ Burnett - Chase Utley hit a pair of Home Runs, tying Reggie Jackson's Series HR record of 6.

CC Sabathia was also featured on a 2009 Phungo card. This picture was also taken during playoff game. Probably not one of Sabathia's finer moments, game 2 of the 2008 divisional series. CC gave up a memorable 2nd inning grand slam to Shane Victorino and couldn't make it out of the 4th inning.

2009 Phungo #52 CC Sabathia

Sabathia may be the only non-Phil to make both Phungo Sets, and almost definitely the only player to be featured on 2 different teams.

The Phils Starter for tonight's game, Roy Halladay has yet to be featured on a Phungo card - But I would think he has a good chance of being in the 2011 set. Will this be the Photo?

2010 04 12 Roy Halladay