Anniversary: 2007 UD Masterpieces

Just got the news that Ryan Howard has been released by the Atlanta Braves. Ten Years ago on May 9th 2007 Howard had a much better day. The events of that day are discussed in the following: 

When I returned to collecting Upper Deck Masterpieces drew quite a buzz. The set had a lot of appeal to me. The cards had a higher quality feel to them with an impressive design. The checklist was small but it had a good mix of current stars, prospects and retired stars. I particularly enjoyed the historical moments

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

The Phillies had five cards in the initial Masterpieces set. This is one of two dedicated to Ryan Howard. The two Howard cards are similar and we look to cover that in a future column.

One of the attractive aspects of the Masterpieces is the canvas-like feel of the cards. I believe the cards feature original artwork (based off a photograph). Unfortunately Upper Deck did not identify the artists on the Baseball Masterpieces. This was handled differently with UDs release which credited the artists and sometimes provided website info.

It appears a little dark here but this is one of the Green Parallels. These are the most common Masterpiece parallel and are not serial numbered.

Ten Years Ago Today

2007 UD #71 Ryan Howard

After a synopsis of Howard's accolades from his early career the card back goes onto mention a game played on May 9 2017. After being shutout by the Diamondbacks Randy Johnson for six innings the Phillies were able to put up a series of crooked numbers earn a 9-3 victory.

The comeback was all started by the Grand Slam mentioned on 2007 UD #71. Howard did not hit his blast off of Randy Johnson. In fact manager Charlie Manuel elected to not start Ryan Howard versus the Big Unit. However, in the 7th inning Johnson loaded the bases and was over 100 pitches. The situation forced Arizona manager Bob Melvin to go to his righty reliever Brandon Medders. Ryan Howard hit the first pitch for the Homer, tallying his fourth career Grand Slam.

According to Baseball-Ref the hit had a WPA(Win Probability Added) of +35%.



Sources and Links
2007 UD Masterpieces Index
Philly.com
baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia
USA Today / Andrew Bagato
Teams Sets 4 U
COMC

2015 Hall of Fame Inductees Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson

Starting off our coverage of the 2015 Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown with a fun card that features two of the players that will be inducted on Sunday.

2000 Skybox Dominion #7 ERA Leaders Pedro Martinez Randy Johnson

The above cards Honors Martinez & Johnson leading their respective leagues in ERA in 1999. It was the first of two times that the two held the top spot together. The other was 2002.

Flip

2000 Skybox Dominion #7 ERA Leaders Pedro Martinez Randy Johnson (b-side)

As always you get some interesting names when you go 10 deep in 2 leagues. This weekends other HoF Pitching Inductee John Smoltz is #5 on the NL list - His Hall of Fame Braves Teammate Greg Maddux ranks #8.

The 1999 Phillies are represented by HoF Possible Curt Schilling and there and there are several future Phillies in the mix - Jamie Moyer, Freddy Garcia, Kevin Millwood, and Omar Daal.

Hope you enjoy Pedro cards, going to see a lot of him the next couple of days, Apologies to the Braves fans as I may be skipping Smoltz this go around.

Sources and Links
Phungo Randy Johnson HoF Index
Phungo Pedro Martinez HoF Index 
Baseball-ref

Baseball Cardpedia

Game Report 2015 0516: DiamondBacks @ Phillies

An hour-plus rain delay could not spoil the fun for team Phungo as we got to see a 7-5 victory for the good guys who ran their win streak to four games.

This may not have been a great game for a bunch of reasons but there was a lot of offense.

 

Jeff Francoeur 2015 05 16

The Phillies had Francoeur in Right and Grady Sizemore in left. Ryne Sandberg had not paired those corners with Odubel Herrera in the outfield prior to Saturday night, The way things worked out it may happen more often in the future. Frenchy had a home run and Sizemore had his first four hit game since 2008

In the above photo that is former Reading Phillies farmhand Tuffy Gosewisch wearing the tools of ignorance.

Jerome Williams 2015 05 16

I wanted to get a decent shot of Williams and the pink glove that he wears to honor his mother and her battle with cancer. 

Archie Bradley 2015 05 16

I had been checking the probables in anticipation of a potential start by Archie Bradley. Aside from seeing a Phils W my game priorities are seeing opposition stars and buzz worthy prospects.

Saturday night was Archie Bradley's first start since being struck by a line drive on April 28th.

During the rain delay a bunch of fans wearing Bradley jerseys took shelter near my spot on the rail. I got involved in a short conversation with Archie's uncle. About a dozen family and friends had made the journey out from Bradley's native Oklahoma to see his return. They all seemed very nice and enjoyed the trip despite the young pitchers tough outing.

Yasmany Tomas 2015 0516

The Diamondback Cuban rookie Yasmany Tomas had a good game which included his first career Home Run.  However at the eye test level I felt as if he was a bit of a free-swinger. I am not sure if he is going to make it by swinging at the first pitch in every AB. He also appeared to have an issue communicating on the bases - At some point early in the game when Tomas was on 2nd base it was obvious he was having communication issues with a coach on the bench.  

2015 05 16 Maikel Franco

The D-Backs were not the only team sending out prospects on Saturday Night. Phillies Rookie Maikel Franco, who got  a look last September, made his 2nd start of 2014 and collected his first hit.

VittlesPop

Jim Cramer acknowledges crowd prior to ceremonial first pitch 2015 0516

Philadelphia native and host of Mad Money Jim Cramer threw out the first pitch for the game. Perhaps he was trying to get a card in the Topps First Pitch Insert.
 

2015 0516 Citizens Bank Park

While it is tough putting up with a rain delay, it can still be fun to watch at a stadium. Most folks don't have this type of view of rainstorm at their disposal and Saturday night's rainfall was pretty epic. It is hard to see it in a picture, but in the shot above I did try to capture the sheets of rain migrating across the field.

Observations
I never played baseball above Little League, therefore I am no authority but IMO the D-backs looked AWFUL on their cutoff formations. At least twice I thought they would have had a play at second had they had a player covering.

Jerome Williams was able to resume pitching after the rain delay which was officially listed as 1 hour and 17 minutes.

Freddy Galvis can foul off a pitch. Not sure if he will hit .340+ all year but the fact that he can battle with 2 strikes is a nice asset to have.

Apparently AZ reliever Brad Ziegler was drafted by the Phillies. This is something I either never knew or had forgotten

We have noted this before but it is worth reiterating - No matter how bad the Phils team is there will be a solid tailgate crowd. 

Source and Links
Beckett
baseball-ref
ESPN LA
MLB
Chase's Calendar of Events
 

Phillies Face BA 2015 #25 Prospect Archie Bradley

With the Phillies going through a fairly painful part of the rebuilding process one has to find other things to enjoy at the ballpark. One of the reasons I go is to see some of the opposing teams players. In the early portion of the season the Phillies have faced several pitchers that are projected to be starts.

In the current homestand the Phillies have seen Gerrit Cole and Matt Harvey. On Saturday Night they face Diamondbacks rookie Archie Bradley who was ranked #25 on Baseball America's Prospect list going into the season.

2013 Bowman Chrome Rising Through the Ranks #RTR-AB mini

Archie Bradley was drafted #7 overall out of High School in 2011. That draft has already been pitching rich as we mentioned earlier this week in our Gerrit Cole posting. In addition to Cole, Sonny Grey and Jose Fernandez came out of that first round.

2013 Rising Thru the Ranks
RTR is a 30 card insert set for 2013 BowChro with each Major League Team represented. The checker includes plenty of players that have already made the leap to the Majors including Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Xander Bogaerts, Addison Russell, and Gregory Polanco. The Phillies are represented in the set by Shortstop Roman Quinn who is currently at AA Reading.

2013 Bowman Rising Through the Ranks #RTR-AB mini (b-side)

The back of each card contains a mini synopsis of the players background with no statline.

Sources and Links
baseball-ref
cardboard connection

2015 Hall of Fame Ballot Brandon Webb: 2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award

Tonight we found out the 2014 Cy Young Award winners Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber. Eight years ago those honors went to Johan Santana and Brandon Webb.

2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award Brandon Webb

As part of our survey of 2015 Hall candidates I want to discuss a non-candidate. Pitching is tough on the arm and Brandon Webb is just another exhibit A of careers cut short. During a 3 year span from 2006-2008 Webb finished first or second in the NL Cy Young vote. Great stuff unfortunately Webb only pitched in 4 other season.

That adds up to seven campaigns which is three years short of the HoF ballot minimum service requirement.

Therefore Branon Webb will not be on the 2015 HoF Ballot, but I thought the magnitude of his breif career warranted a mention in our HoF survey.

The Verdict 
In addition to the 3 Cy Young top two finishes mentioned above Brandon Webb's career highlights include a 3rd place Rookie of the Year finish in 2003. That season he led all candidates in WAR, but the award went to Dontrelle Willis. In 2007 he got his only postseason in game 1 of the NLDS.

Regardless of all the accomplishments the vote is NO for Webb. His half of a Hall career isn't good enough. Had Webb pitched until today he would likely be on the 2020 ballot, but things didn't work out that way.  

2007 Topps

2007 Topps #319 Cy Young Award Brandon Webb (b-side)

The flip side of the 2007T Cy Young Award card specifies Webb's '06 credentials. To be honest the only really good number here is the 2.82 ERA vs Playoff teams. The rest of the numbers seem to hurt Webb's cause. Although checking advance metrics we find that in 2006 Webb did lead the NL in pitching WAR. It is his only career top 10 finish.

Links and Sources
Baseball-ref
2015 HoF Ballot

2014 Playoffs: Giants Buster Posey and the Queen of the Indies

Tonight we look at the Giants catcher who some folks have referred to as the Next Derek Jeter

2009 Obak #23 Buster Posey

As we mentioned in a prior posting, the Giants starting 8 during their World Series run has only two recurring regulars Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey.

Posey at age 27 has collected a Rookie of the Year Award, Batting Title, and MVP AND he is also playing in his 3rd World Series.

That is a solid resume for any player even more so at the demanding position of Catcher. Those tidbits are among the facts folks will cite when beginning the Jeter conversation.

2009 Obak
I really enjoyed opening a Hobby Box of 2009 Obak, For the Highlights check this posting.

Obak is an unlicensed product that consists of a mix of minor league prospects, MLB Alums, and historical figures related to the game. The first 31 Cards in the 100 card 2009 base (non-SP) set were dedicated to prospects.

Cards #22 and #23 feature a couple players that made me think there was a film fan at Obak.

2009 Obak #22 Jarrod Parker  
2009 Obak #23 Buster Posey 

Do these two cards make anyone think of a certain Indie Movie Queen?

Think about it.

Ok if you have given up click here

Yes originally I thought this was a wink to the actress Parker Posey. She seems to be involved in a lot of fun projects and I have always been a fan.

2009 Obak #21-29

See there they are in Numerical Order - top row middle and right Parker, Posey right next to each other. Whoever numbered the cards had to be a Paker Posey fan, right?

Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be the case. If you look at the page more closely you will notice allthe players are simply presented in alphabetical order. Indeed card #1 in the set is Pedro Alvarez, The last card in among the Prospects is #31 Brett Wallace.

Side Note: Just want to point out right next to Jarrod Parker we have #21 Mike Moustakas - another participant in the 2014 World Series.

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Teams
Triistar productions
imdb
baseball-ref

Snapshots: 2014 07 25 & 27 D-Backs @ Phillies

Been a strange week in what has been a forgettable season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Team Phungo ended up going to the bookends of Phils 3 game series with Diamondbacks. Fortunately these were the two games the Phillies won 9-5 on Friday Night and 4-2 on Sunday.

Turned out Ryan Howard's name came up an awful lot this weekend.

Friday night Howard was out of the lineup for the 3rd consecutive game.  Yet he had the honor of being the subject of the cover photo for our ticket. Each night a Phillies player is also the representative for their Charitable Ticket Program.  On Friday in a continuation of the unfortunate confluence of events Howard's Sluggers were the beneficiaries of the ticket program - on a night when the actual Slugger never played.

Snapshots

Marlon Byrd 

It was 25th of July and the Phillies celebrated Christmas July. As part of the festivities the player pix were outfitted with holiday attire. Marlon Byrd got a Santa Cap and an ugly sweater.


The Phanatic got into the Holiday Spirit as well, here he celebrates with a couple of Phillies ballgirls. 

 

Grady Sizemore

I was disappointed the Phillies have gotten away from the Topps sponsored game day lineup cards. They have opted to use their own design shown here. I believe this is this is the same design that is used on their postcard player sets. Grady Sizemore has only been with the club since the beginning of the month, so this is sort of like his first card as a Phil. 

Sunday

 Ryne Sandberg and Chase Utley

Sunday was Hall of Fame day, to mark the occasion all MLB players wore a special 75th anniversary of the HoF patch. Here we have HOF second baseman Ryne Sandberg with Chase Utley who may someday find his way into the Hall.

Good Guy Award

Ryan Howard 

As mentioned above Ryan Howard had a crazy week. He was in the lineup on Sunday but still found time to sign autographs almost right up to the anthem.  About 15 minutes later Howard blasted a line drive Home Run into the left-centerfield bleachers.

In addition to Howard, Darin Ruf and Chase Utley also get GGAs for taking some time to greet the fans and pen some signatures.   

Paul Goldschmidt

One of the reasons the Phillies won the series was they were able to keep D-Backs slugger Paul Goldschmidt in check.  Goldschmidt was 2-11 on the weekend.

Sunday was also Cole Hamels T-Shirsey day. Here he is being interviewed by Scott Palmer.

Vidal Nuno got the start for Arizona. The rookie was acquired by the D-Backs earlier this month in the trade that sent Brandon McCarthy to the Yankees.

Marlon Byrd has been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. Here it appears that he made sure to get one last good meal off of the Phillies buffet.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Philles Behind the Pinstripes

2014 Topps First Pack

2014 Topps #199 Matt Davidson

Mixed on the first card of 2014. Matt Davidson has been on my radar since last summer when Team Phungo took in the 2013 Futures Game. He hit a home run and took home the MVP honors for the day. This is all great, a RC of a player I am familiar with - The flip side of all this is that Davidson was traded a little over a month ago. He is now a member of the Chicago White Sox. So yes my first 2014 Topps card is a player show representing an outdated team.

The Pack - Base Highlights
 

2014 Topps #134 Josh Donaldson
2014 Topps #211 Dioner Navarro

During the 2013 version of the great WAR vs RBI vs Playoff debate Josh Donaldson's name came up as a second thought behind the big guns of Trout & Cabrera. Donaldson was a factor because he had WAR cred and played on a contender. So yes he beats out Miguel Cabrera in WAR and he is on a Playoff team which knocks out Mike Trout. Of Course we have a Topps fail here as Mr Potential MVP Josh Donaldson doesn't get any type of hero number. He gets stinkin #134.

I posted Dioner Navarro just to showcase Topps photography. Catchers are great for pix and this is a nice example.

The Hits

2014 Topps Upper Class #UC-42 Jim Rice

This is one of two inserts I picked up in pack one. I will cover this set more in a future post, but will mention here that I like the look of the cards.

2014 Topps Red #6 Josh Beckett

Last year the Target Reds moved to a deeper shade which is maintained in 2014. I prefer the red in previous sets as it seems closer to the Phillies colors. 

Remaining Base

2014 Topps JD Martinez, Don Kelley, Brandon League, Garrett Jones, Mike Minor

Verdict
In my opinion the sole purpose of the extension of the white borders into the pix frame is done exclusively for use in creating parallels. Other than that and the duplication of the team name on the tab the design is decent.  The photography throughout the set is good. On day 1 I picked up the above pack plus 2 more and a hanger. The roughly 100 card sampling yielded strong pix throughout with interesting shots at an decent rate.   

Over the next couple o weeks we will take a look at some specific elements of 2014T as well as some of the different insert sets.

Previous Debut Packs
2013 Topps
2012 Topps
2010 Topps Opening Day
2010 Upper Deck

Sources
Beckett 

Reading the Competion: Paul Goldschmidt 2012 Topps #GF-24

The Phillies 10 game set versus NL West opponents closes with the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend. The D-Backs were a candidate to win the West before the Dodgers went on their post All-Star break tear.  One of the offensive leaders for Arizona has been First Baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

                                     

2012 Topps Gold Futures #GF-24 Paul Goldschmidt

Paul Goldschmidt emerged as a power hitting First Baseman during the 2011 season. He has continued his hot hitting in 2013. Going into the Series with the Phils Goldschmidt was the league leader in Home Runs (31), RBI(100) , Total Bases, and OPS+. Those numbers were good enough to make him an All-Star for the first time.  Paul Goldschmidt will turn 26 in a few weeks and has his best hitting days right in front of him. I expect him to be an MVP candidate for the next half dozen years.

Local Kid
While looking into Goldschmidt's numbers I found that he was born in Wilmington Delaware, however according to his Wiki bio he was raised in Texas. His 59 career HRs already rank him 6th among players born in the First State.  With a decent 2014 he will surpass top total of 96 held jointly by Randy Bush, John Mabry, and Dave May.

 

2012 Topps Gold Future2012 Gold Rush s
The Gold Futures set is a member of the onslaught of Gold Inserts which Night Owl Cards very successfully lampooned in this column. The design is decent for a subset and carries the look of base cards from a more midline superstars set. Of course this means that one can tell that patch display factored into the design.

In Series 1 the set consists of 25 cards, devoted to upcoming prospects. Notables include Freddie Freeman, Aroldis Chapman, Anthony Rizzo, Mike Stanton, Mike Trout, Jason Kipins and Goldschmidt.  The set continues with an additional 25 players in Series 2. Matt Moore, Buster Posey, Chris Sale, Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg are all present in S2.  The Phillies are represented in the second set by Domonic Brown who shows up on #GF38.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
wikipedia.org
Night Owl Cards
baseballcardpedia.com

Phun Cards 2000 Topps #120 Curt Schilling: 2013 HoF Candidate

This one is no fun for me.  If I had an HoF vote it would be no. Not on the first ballot and likely not ever.

Curt Schilling is a borderline for regular season numbers with many outstading playoff and World Series performances. You probably know all this and already have an opinion on Schilling - Which likely is based at least partially on his off the field persona and oddly for his generation has nothing to do with steroids.

2000 Topps #120 Curt Schilling

Not discussing Schilling does give me an opportunity to discuss 2000 Topps however. 

One of the things I hear regarding foil on cards in recent years is that it doesn't scan well.  Is that really a legitimage complaint.  If the card looks ok out of the pack and you can read the name why should the readability of the players name on a scan be a design flaw. Peoiple will mention that "3-D" cards don't scan well, but the complaint will be it is a stupid idea not a dumb design. 

I rather like 2000 Topps - minimalist, but contains all the pertinent info you would like to see on a baseball card. Team Colors and a modest team logo. It isn't a set that will make the Topps all-time list but it is more then adequate.

2013 HoF Candidate Postings

Jeff Conine

Kenny Lofton

Jose Mesa

Mike Piazza

2010 Topps Series 2 - Wawa v Target

okay so I am way behind - everybody else is oohing and ahhing over A&G and I am still working with Series 2. thats ok. I was never good at being the NKotB - I stopped in at BC Collectibles and I just couldn't $6+tax for a pack of Ginter. So here is my experiment with 2010 topps 2.

Quick experiment in 2010 Topps Series 2 packs. Our local convenience store is carrying some baseball cards, and they were the first place this years S2 packs. I also picked up a pack during a recent trip to target. Here is what we found

Both packs are 12 cards and went for $1.99. Wawa must of messed up their pricing and didn't charge tax on their packs. whoohoo Team Phungo saves 12 cents.

The Challenger - Wawa

2010 Topps 2020 #T16 David Wright 2010 Topps #462 Alcides Escobar 2010 Topps Gold #480 Red Sox Team (#153/2010)


For the record the first card in the pack was of Manny Parra. Just doing best in pack and inserts here. Escobar was the best in the pack both in star quality and as far as the photo. The Yankees Team card was in this pack - with the Sox - go figure. Kung Fu panda was the Topps Attax card. The Pack yielded no Phillies.

Overall a pretty lackluster pack.

The Veteran - Target
2010 Topps #516 Marlon Byrd
2010 Topps #490 Michael Bourn
2010 Topps 2020 #T2 Gordon Beckham
2010 Topps Gold #426 Mark Reynolds (#1046/2010)
2010 Topps Gold #464 Francisco Liriano (#311/2010)

Johan Santana and Matt Cain were both in this pack, but a Met ain't making the cut in this post. Cain got bumped by the former Phils. I wish somebody had not pointed out that the photography looks a little off on the portrait style cards in this set. Still I like the Bourn card. It's a nice touch when a leadoff speedster is featured on a card bunting. The Topps Attax card was of Alexi Ramrez.

As you can see there were two gold cards in this pack. Which was a unintended bonus, as the pack contained 13 card rather than the advertised 12. While there were no Phils in the Target pack, it is the clear winner. The bonus gold card helps - and the star quality of the pack was MUCH better.

The quality of the Target cards was also better. The foil stamping on the cards from Wawa was all over the place. some above some below some weak.


2020 Topps

Everyone is gaga over the 2020 cards, Frankly I don't get it. The card covering tiles out the faces of the players. The T16 card above could be David Wright or it could be Ty Wiggington. And what is with the red and blue dots all over these cards. Check out any white part of the uniform, nothing but red and blue dots.

2010 Phungo Cards - Kirk Gibson

2010 Phungo #23 Kirk Gibson

I Took this photo prior to a D-Backs @ Phils game last August. It was a Cliff Lee game - he was masterful, going the distance only allowing 2 hits and an unearned run. The Phils won easily 8-1.

prior to the game Kirk Gibson signed maybe a dozen autographs while on his way out to monitor batting practice.

Starting this Holiday weekend, BP will be different for Gibson - He will now be the leader of the 2010 Diamondbacks, who have had a disappointing first half. Best of luck to Mr Gibson, He gets a good-guy award from Team Phungo for being a pretty big star, but not being to big to sign a couple of autographs - It's good to see that there are some players that realize that the game is still about the fans.

For a more detailed look at the D-Backs Phils game last year click here.

Happy Trails Randy Johnson Game Revealed

I stole this picture off an ebay listing - This card is on my non-Phils want list, and I just haven't found it yet. NicoLax24 made a compelling argument for this being a Cardinals game but I am pretty sure it is an Orioles game.

The game that NicoLax24 Referenced was a Playoff game that occurred on October 24th 2001 between the Diamondbacks and Cardinals. Unfortunately the game was played in Arizona not St Louis. This photo was taken at a Diamondbacks away game - check the D-Backs unis at dressed to the nines.

I am pretty sure this game occurred on June 8th 2004. The Diamondbacks blew out the Orioles 8-1 in a game that I attended. I have been to Camden Yards several times and there is an area in the Right Field power alley that serves as a dugout for some sort of stadium personnel. Those folks in there are wearing Orioles Orange, not Cardinals Red. There is also a sign that marks the OF depth as 373 feet there, and you can see part of that sign behind Mr Johnson.

The Unit pitched 11 games at Camden Yards, but only one of those was as a Diamondback and that game was on June 8 2004.

Since this game is among the Phungo Games that I have attended this card is also on my want list for Phungo Games.

Randy Johnson HoF Index
1991 Score #700 (No-Hit Club 1992 0602 No-Hitter)
2000 Skybox Dominion #7 (ERA League Leaders w/ Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps Bazooka Stamp Quad (w/ Schilling, Pettitte & Hudson)

Sources and Links
Dressed to the Nines
Baseball-ref

The Happy Trails Randy Johnson Phungo Challenge

(click to enlarge)

Ok in honor of the Big Unit retiring (300 Wins, nearly 5000 Ks, and 5 Cy Young Awards) Team Phungo invites all you internet Baseball-Reference research junkies to play Name the Game!

This is a quad sticker that was offered in a Topps Bazooka product. In the SouthEast corner you can see Randy Johnson tossing a pitch. Can you guess the date of the game Johnson is pitching in?

No Prizes - Just the Honor of Winning the First Phungo Challenge of the new Decade.

Phungo 5 Pack - Topps 2009 Heritage Hi Numbers....

In lieu of getting a blaster I picked up 5 packs of the 09 Topps Heritage High Numbers at the Philly Card Show. If you want to read a specific pack break on the first pack check here for my post over at A Pack to be Named Later.

The five packs were as expected 30 heritage cards and 10 U&H cards. Every back broke down as 3 Heritage followed by 2 U&H then the insert and the final 2 heritage cards.

I got two Phils, The J A Happ card below and a John Mayberry card which is featured in the APtbNL post. Former Phil Jim Thome was also present.

This action shot of Thome may be picture 4 in the link.

The Inserts

Rookie Performers Tommy Hanson, Chrome Trevor Hoffman, and Then and Now featuring a player from my favorite AL team and my least favorite NL team. Hopefully Wright doesn't play long enough to be paired with Mike Schmidt in a future Heritage T&N. The other 2 inserts I picked up were short prints of Andrew McCutchen and Penn Alum Mark DeRosa.

Rookies

Picked up both versions of the Gerardo Parra card - he was the top of the rookies in the 5 packs other than McCutchen.

Etc
Photoshop anyone?? or did the Giants send Garko to spring training after picking him up on July 27th.

Topps Cover Jinx Continues - 2009 Topps U+H first pack break

This past spring we reported on the PED epidemic spreading throughout the Topps Cover Players.

Well the trend sort of continues as Topps latest cover boy Tim Lincecum finds himself in a totally different type of drug trouble.

I wonder which Topps 09 Cover Player will be? a PED or Marijuana User?

One other thing, I think it was Chris over at Stale Gum that noted that Topps chose to airbrush out Manny's Dreads for the 08 Topps wrappers.

The design of the current Topps U&H cover seems to accent Tim Lincecum's "rebellious" locks. Is Topps stating that they are more comfortable with Lincecum's long hair then Ramriez's Dreads?

Regardless, I really was just using this as an excuse to bust open some Target U&HIGH packs in honor of Mr Lincecum.

First 2009 Topps Series 3 Pack

first up the numbers are STILL UNREADABLE!!!

#UH53 Clete Thomas
#UH176 Diory Hernandez
#UH200 Randy Johnson
#UH157 Josh Hamilton All-Star
#UH239 George Sherill

#UH320 Classic Combo Mark & Daniel Schlereth

How great is this card, I often listen to Mike and Mike during drive time, and it really interesting to hear the elder Schlereth discuss his sons career.

#UH113 Francisco Rodriquez All-star

#UH62 Russell Branyan Gold (#d1179/2009)

#PP23 Propoganda Poster Nick Markakis

#TTT65 Topps Town Raul Ibanez

#UH119 Bud Noris
#UH76 Scott Rolen

Nice first pack a Great Propoganda Poster. A Gold Card and A Raul Ibanez insert.

I picked up two other packs while I was at Target. I wasn't nearly as happy with those packs - I didn't pull any Phils and I actually pulled a duplicate of the Konerko/Dye 300 Homer card - 36 stinkin cards and I got my first dupe - bleck.

#PP21 Mark Texiera (b-side)
#LGU24 Legends of the Game Update Paul Molitor
#TTT57 Topps Town Joey Votto
#TTT54 Topps Town Adam Jones

The Molitor and the Tex are nice inserts and I also pulled a Nolan Reimold RC but still bummed about not getting any Phils base cards out of the three packs.