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

Ichiro 3000: 2016 Topps OD Striking Distance #SD-1

One of the inserts in 2016 Topps Opening Day is Striking Distance which salutes a bunch of upcoming milestones.

2016 Topps OD Striking Distance #SD-1

The Subber is anchored by Future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, typically referred to as simply Ichiro.

Topps took a chance on this one, at the beginning of the season Ichiro was 65 hits short of 3,000. That number isn't a gimme for a 42 year old who collected just 91 hits in 2015.

Topps also gambled on the success of the Miami Marlins. Had the club performed poorly they may have ended up trading Ichiro before he reached the milestone.

Sloppy Topps

2016 Topps OD Striking Distance #SD-1 (b-side)

Notice anything wrong with the text on the Ichiro's Striking Distance Card.

In 2013 Topps elected to erase Pete Rose when mentioning the All-Time Hit record on their 2013.

On the above card they have not just erased Rose's name, Topps has elected to completely ignore his accomplishments. Maybe my math is off but I would think Pete Rose's 4256 Major League Hits would qualify him for the World 4,000 hit club.

In the final sentence Topps also missed one other player that Ichiro needed to pass on the way to 3000, Stan Ross at 2997 :)

Sources and Links
Night Owl Cards
Ichiro HoF Index
Baseball-ref

1976 ASG +40: Catfish Hunter 1988 Topps 87 ASG #11

We have a lot going on with our Sunday Night Baseball posting this week. 

ESPN is back in New York for another Red Sox v Yankees match up. The Big Apple venue gives us a chance to discuss one of the sadder of our 1976 All-Star Game subjects, Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

1988 Topps 87 All-Star #11 of 22 Jim Hunter

The 1976 All-Star game was the final of Catfish Hunter's eight appearances on the Mid-Summer Classic Roster. He represented the A's six times and the Yankees twice.

Overall 1976 was a mediocre season for Catfish, his ASG roster spot was earned with four consecutive top-4 Cy Young finishes in the seasons prior. His 1975 Cy 2nd included leading the league with 23 Wins and 30 Complete Games. His the most recent player to break the 30 CG mark and will probably be the last of my generation

Hunter was the 2nd AL pitcher to take the mound in the 76 ASG. He pitched the 3rd and 4th innings giving up a pair of runs on a 2-run bomb by Reds Outfielder George Foster. Hunter faced 3 HoF players in the two innings:

Joe Morgan - Singled and scored in front of  Foster's Home Run
Johnny Bench - Stuck Out to end the 3rd Inning
Tom Seaver - Stuck Out to end the 4th Inning

So really he faced only 2 HoF Hitters, we are being precise here - blogging is important.

The sole Phillies batter he faced was Greg Luzinski who flew out to Left.

1988 Topps All-Star Commemoratives
Picked this card because Catfish was not issued an All-Star card as a Yankee during his playing days.

The 1988 Topps Commemoratives which were placed in rack packs included two 1987 ASG Honorary Captain cards. Hunter represented the AL while Billy Williams received the honor for the NL. The two were inducted into the Hall of Fame later that summer.

Sloppy Topps
Details kids, the 1987 All-Star game was held in Oakland and Catfish wore the colors of his original team the A's for the occasion.

Catfish Hunter All-Star
Catfish Hunter spent his entire career in the AL during an era when the NL dominated the All-Star Game. The Junior Circuit lost all eight games in which he was on the roster, and truth be told he didn't help the AL very much.

Hunter pitched in six of those eight games including a fine performance in his first ASG in 1967. The game went 15 innings and Catfish pitched the final 5. Hunter only gave up two hits through his first four innings, unfortunately he gave up a Home Run to Tony Perez in the 15th.

The games outcome is noted in the -toon on the back of Hunter's 1969T card.

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter (b-side)

In today's terms giving up a run in an All-Star game seems about average, the cartoon neglects to mention that the single run occurred in an outing that went 5 innings.

And an Anniversary
Turning our attention to the text, the card mentions Catfish Hunter's No Hit Perfect Game. Today happens to be the anniversary of that Perfect Game a 4-0 A's victory over the Twins on May 8 1948. Hunter's 1969 Topps card is the first one issued after the game, therefore the first of his cards to include the words "Perfect Game". I imagine that prior to this card the only Topps Cards that mentioned "Perfect Game" were dedicated to Don Larsen, Jim Bunning and Sandy Koufax.

According to Baseball-Ref Catfish Hunter made $23,500 in 1968. Assuming that is his post bonus number, the $5,000 raise mentioned on the card is an increase of 27%. The US Department of Labor Inflation Calculator estimates that five grand is the equivalent of $34,000 in 2016 Dollars.

Here is a look at the front o the card

1969 Topps #236 Jim Hunter

Hunter's other ASG appearances were all mediocre at best

1966: DNP
1967: See above
1970: 3 Earned runs including a Home Run to Dick Dietz, while recording only a single out.
1972: DNP
1973: His Best ASG 1 1/3 no runs 1 hit, no walks. outs recorded vs HoF Joe Morgan and Hank Aaron plus Pete Rose.
1974: 2 Innings allowed a Home Run to Reggie Smith, Struck out 3 batters including Perez.
1975: Allowed 2 ER in 2IP - although the runs were both allowed in by Goose Gossage after Hunter exited the game without recording an out in the 9th.
1976: See Above

Sources and Links
1976 ASG 40th Anniversary Index 
Catfish Hunter HoF Index
No-Hitter Index
Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards - Bob Lemke  
Getty Images
YouTube - 1976 ASG
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-ref 
Bureau of Labor Inflation Calculator

2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

Last week the New York Yankees announced that they are retiring the numbers of Bernie Williams Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.

2012 Topps Timeless Talents #TT12 Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

This generated some discussion among Baseball Nerds. First there is a the sheer gluttony - the Yankees have 17 Retired Numbers (for 18 players - 8 is retired for both Yogi and Bill Dickey). Secondly Andy Pettitte's name raised some eyebrows.

Pettitte admitted to HGH use after being named in the Mitchell Report. It should be noted that according to Pettitte the PED use occurred in 2002 prior to the banning of HGH.

Andy Pettitte's borderline HoF resume is largely based upon his incredible postseason numbers. The Mitchell Report may tip the scales against him.

I believe a large part of the Yankees motivation for retiring Pettitte's number now is to ease the return of Alex Rodriguez from his PED suspension. 

Timeless Talents
Andy Pettitte's partner on the 2012 Timeless Talents card is the Phillies Cliff Lee. The players are partnered as lefty aces that have big-game reputations.  

Lets take a closer look at the flip o the card that has some comparatives of the two players.

2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee (b-side)

Stats are interesting with one Lee at mid career while Pettitte was (at the time retired)

There is also a bit of a lazy Topps here - despite being released in 2012 the copy ignores the 2011 postseason. Cliff Lee took an L in his only 2011 playoff start - his record would have been 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA when this card was released.

Cliff Lee 2015
Today we find Lee 24 wins and 500 strikeouts down the road and 3 years older.  Last year was the worst season for Lee since 2007. He pitched only 13 games, 81+ innings with a mediocre 102 ERA+, all good for a replacement level +0.8 WAR.

Cliff Lee is now 36. From what I understand Lee is healthy after opting for rehab and recovery over surgery that would have cost him the 2015 season. Only 3 of Lee's top 10 comps made significant contributions at 36+, 2 never pitched again - including #1 comp Roy Oswalt. However miserable of a memory Oswalt may be for Phils fans, I am going to bring up one that distresses them more.

2011 Chris Carpenter

Yes Carpenter's age 36 season was the one where he dominated the 2011 postseason which included eliminating the Phillies in a 1-0 NLDS game 5.

In 2011 Carpenter was good for a 3.5 WAR, which is where I will target Cliff Lee. Not great, but not bad, and if he mimics 2011 Carpenter there is that World Series victory.

Sources and Links
Phillies WAR Projections 2015
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection
New York Yankees
ESPN

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie: Error Card?

Anybody run into this in this years Topps Update?

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie

 Perfectly fine card of journeyman outfielder Cole Gillespie with a Seattle Mariners jersey and logo on the card. but then flip the card over:

 

2014 Topps #US-280 Cole Gillespie  (b-side)

Also a fine 2nd side to the card. but check out the top left corner. It lists Gillespie with the Toronto Blue Jays. This is actually correct - Gillespie did finish the season with the Blue Jays after being waived by the Mariners as is mentioned on the cards b-sidel.

Is this basically an Uncorrected Error. Gillespie isn't a prominent player, so can't imagine a corrected version with his photo as a Blue Jay on the front being released

Or has anyone found other cards in 2014 Topps that have the traded to team on one side with the former club repped on the front?


This card reminds me of the 60s variations that would be the same card but some of them would have a Waiver or Trade statement if the player got moved during the off-season.



Sources/Links
Baseball-ref

Sloppy Topps: 2012 Topps Cole Hamels Retros - seeing double?

One of the problems with producing both Archives and Heritage is that Topps is cannibalizing their designs at such a rate that a new release of any retro product gets a yawn.

To make matters worse, Topps will occasionally mail in their effort. 

2012 Topps Archives #7 Cole Hamels
2012 Topps Heritage #132 Cole Hamels

I didn't build either of the 2012 Topps Selfies sets - yes I said Selfies, lets face it Archives and Heritage are at some small level a by-product of Topps narcissism - regardless, I didn't notice this bit of Topps sloppiness until recently.

Ok the Archives card looks a bit airbrushed, but I am pretty sure we are talking the same picture here.


Yes Neither Archives nor Heritage are high end products, but both sets run at over 30 cents/card retail. With those kinds of numbers, I would like to see at least a little bit of work. 2012 Topps Archives including the 41 card All-Time Fan Favorites short prints runs only 241 cards - how much work is it for Topps to get pix on those 241 cards that are unique?


Sources
Urban Dictionary
Baseball Cardpedia

 

2013 Phungo Cards: Ichiro

It came up recently over at Twitter that Topps hasn't put out a 2013 Ichiro Card.  Well they are just slackers!

2013 Topps #70 Ichiro

Last year we took a baseball excursion out to Seattle and I took about 2 dozen pix of Ichiro.  Of course he gets traded before I got a chance to put him on a Mariners card.  Fortunately the Yankees come to Baltimore 10 times a year so I was able to catch the likely HoF there.

Good Shot - little bit washed out on a sunny day when the Bronx Bombers scored about 20 runs.  I would have liked to get the ball in the pix, but if I would have framed it that way Ichiro would have been pretty tiny.

Get with it Topps - Phungo has a 2013 Ichiro card - why not you?

 
 

2013 Topps Heritage Originals - 1964 Topps B-Sides

In my opionion 1964 Topps has a terribly ugly flip side. 

1964 Topps #412 Ray Culp (b-Side)

The ugly part for me is that creamsicle orange.  There have been a few other Topps issues with orange backs, but they are typically a bit darker.  This light orange is just yucky looking to me.  

The rest of the b-side is fine. Minor and Major league stats, Bio info and a brief passage regarding the player.  Can you imagine the buzz a rookie pitcher would get if he tossed 5 shutouts in his rookie campaign? 

One really interesting aspect of 1964 Topps b-side is the trivia question with the scratch off answer. Anxious to find out how Topps Heritage handles this.  It adds a bit of expense to create the card, and I am not sure that collectors will want to deface their cards.

Curisously 15 first inning runs is not the record. In 1894 the Boston Beaneaters had a 16 run first.  The Dodgers put the 15 spot on the Reds in a game on May 21, 1952.  At one point in that first inning the Dodgers had 14 consecutive batters reach base. 

Sloppy Topps
And here we have a sloppy topps candidate.  The Dodgers didn't move to Los Angeles until 1958 so there is a bit of an inaccuracy in the trivia answer.  Good thing there weren't card blogs forums and twitter to back Topps for shoddy Quality Control in 1964.

Prior 1964 Topps the Originals Postings 

1964 Topps Design (Ray Culp, Lou Brock, Gus Triandos) 

1964 Topps Rookie Cards (Dick Allen)

1964 Topps League Leader Cards (Hank Aaron, Ken Boyer, Bill White) 

1964 Topps Team Cards (Phillies, Reds)  

More info on 1964 Topps

The full series is in the process of being covered at the 1964 Topps Blog 

The Phillies Room has a posting on the 1964 Topps Phillies as part of the ongoing Topps Phillies Series.

Dean's Cards

Beckett

Other Sources & Links

Ray Culp Rookie Cup Index
Bob Lemke's Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 
eBay
Surf Baseball Card Collectiblies, Philadelphia Phillies 

Phungo 2 Cents: Whats Your Position Topps??

Muy first complaint with the 2012 Topps design is that the player position is not present. 

2012 Topps #150 Roy Halladay

(image stolen from The Phillies Room - or else you'd be seeing Vance Worely again)

From 1953 until 1986 The Players Position appeared on the player base cards every single year but one (1972).   That is 33 out of 34 issues.  Recently Topps has been more hit or miss with the postion.  In the three years prior to 2012 the position was present.  Both 2007 and 2008 did not contain player postion on the card. 

In such a minimalist design I think it would be easy and nice to add the Position somewhere.  This once again leads me back to the conclusion that 2012 Topps was ripped off of 2002 Topps Football - which also did not have player position. 

lazy topps.

Full Disclosure

Here is a look back at our previous 2012 Topps postings 

2012 Topps Review - Its a Like
First Look
Hanger Pack Phils
Hanger Pack All-Stars
Topps Back-loading Stars into Series 2
2012 Topps v 2002 Topps Football

Next Up on our 2012 Topps discussion - Foil

Can anybody explain this to me?

While Clevenland is still in town to face the Phils, I wanted to put together one more Indians related post.



2010 National Chicle Trips Speaker w/ original artwork - thetoppsvault auction

This auction for the above card/artwork from thetoppsvault just concluded for $83.75.

The pricepoint of the auction is not really my concern here, but my question is what the heck is with Tris Speaker in a Phillies uniform. He never played for the the Phils - he is primarily known as playing with the Indians or Red Sox , but did finish his career with the Philadlephia A's.

Has anyone seen this card in the "original' form as a Phillies player - I think I have only seen the Indians version. I could almost see Chicle putting out an Athletics version of the card, as Speaker likely was never issued a A's card way back in 1928.

I know folks have had various issues with the Topps Baseball-Chicle cards. Just add this one to the Sloppy Topps list.

Sloppy Topps - 2010 Heritage Placido Polanco

2010 Topps Heritage #368 Placido Polanco

In general this is one of the poorer jobs of photoshopping done in the 2010 Topps products. In A lot of the cards I have seen the uniforms look pretty close and flow with the picture quite well. This one of Polanco looks like classic 70s airbrushing. The colors are a mess. This is supposed to be the Phils Home Day game uniform, I think, which are really a cream color not this bleached white they have dressed Placido in.

But what really caught my attention was the knob on the bat handle. While this card will surely not get as much attention as another bat knob, it does contain a rather irksome error.

If you look closer you can see that the handle contains a number.




It is a little hard to make out, but the number is #14. Once again the good folks in the Topps Art department have made it look like a current player is wearing a retired number. Yep #14 is retired, but not for the player you may think it is. It is retired for Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, not Pete Rose. Rose is banned from the sport and I suppose this keeps his number from being officially retired.




As can be seen from his Baseball-Reference page Polanco wore #14 with the Tigers. Since returning to the Phils, he has reclaimed the #27 which he wore in his previous sting with the Phils.

Sloppy Topps - Mis-Stamped foil Edition

In both my earlier posts regarding 2010 Topps I have mentioned the mis-stamping of the foil printing on the cards. The last two or three cards in four of the packs (all of the base cards after the inserts) had the "bad foiling".

Previously I have featured the sloppy cards of Erik Bedard, Kevin Millwood, and Brandon Phillips. These are the remaining mis-stamped cards:

(click to enlarge)

If there is someone out there that is expressly interested in these "variations" or would like me to hold a favorite player or team for trade, let me know. I will probably keep a couple but I don't really need all of them.

Sloppy Topps - 2008 Heritage Michael Bourn

This is another one of those great cards I received recently from White Sox Cards. The card here looks vaguely familiar, yet something seems amiss...

2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn

Where the heck was this picture taken?? - Maybe it is all this recent talk about logos, but I think I have spotted a familiar looking one:



2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn (enlarged)

Yep Topps has Photoslopped an Astros Uni on a recycled image, that we have seen before and.... before.

2007 Topps 52 Rookies #25 Michael Bourn
2007 Topps 52 Rookies #DD4 Dyanic Duos - Kyle Kendrick & Michael Bourn

Sloppy and Insulting Topps - The Cards that Keith's Mom threw Out!

This card can only be a card you mom through out if your a certain MS-NBC commentator.

Your mom couldn't have thrown this card out because TOPPS NEVER LET YOU HAVE IT!!!

Topps is laughing at you 2006 Set Builders Now!

In lieu of displaying the Insulting Topps Card we here at team Phungo Bring you:



2009 Phungo #4 Alex Gordon

This card is actually from last years Phungo Set. I thought for sure I would get through all of them, but fell far short. In all 2009 Phungo consisted of 64 Base Cards plus 15 Inserts. I probably got to just under half of them. The rest will make it out there eventually. There is no rush. And I will publish a checklist one of these days. I will tell you that if you wish to build the entire 2009 set, The Alex Gordon's were NOT pulled from production.

Can Somebody Explain this to Me?

2009 Topps Heritage #272 Scott Olsen

This is a perfectly fine card of former Marlins and current Washington Nationals pitcher Scott Olsen. Well perfectly fine until you flip it over...


2009 Topps Heritage #272 Scott Olsen (b-side/click to enlarge)

Check the cartoon. As far as I can tell this is a basketball cartoon - yet the caption states:

"Scott Once K'd 15 In a 7-Inning Start in the Minors"

I don't get it - am I missing something here?, or should this one be filed under Sloppy Topps?

Philadelphia Phillies 2009 National League Champions - NLCS MVP Ryan Howard

2009 Topps Heritage #300 Ryan Howard

This is really late in blogosphere time, but as you are well aware the Philadelphia Phillies will get the chance to defend their World Series title either against the Earth Angels or New York Yankees.

This years NLCS MVP was Ryan Howard who had a pair of homers. His average was "only" .333 but he had a bundle of walks and extra base hits which contributed to a lusty 1.457 OPS.

And these accomplishments are a good reason to post this Ryan Howard card that came in my celebratory pack of 2009 Topps Heritage (Target - retail). The pack ended up definitely being NLCS worthy. In addition to the Howard card there was a Mayo Insert (Pedroia) and a Chrome card of Royals rookie prospect Kila Ka'aihue. I have only opened about 10 packs of 09 heritage and this pack had a least 2 dupes - sigh.....

I did notice another Sloppy Topps moment. I am sure there are bunches of these, and frankly I am surprised Topps even bothered to attempt duplicating the Season's Highlights section on the 1960 homage set. This is a minor error, and I would forgive Topps if this wasn't a star card of an MVP and reigning World Champion holding down a hero number (300) in arguably Topps most popular set.



2009 Topps Heritage #300 (B-side/edit)

Yep on October 26th of 2008 the Phils did indeed crush the Rays 10-2 and Ryan Howard did hit a pair of homers but.......

It was in GAME 4!!!

#############################################

Cograts to the Phils and bring on the Angels or Yankees!

Sloppy Topps - "Flash" Gordon

2006 Topps #163 Tom Gordon

Nice Job on this one. Topps went to all the trouble of photoshopping/painting a new uniform onto Tom Gordon, they also camouflaged Yankee stadium in red, but then they dropped the ball on the simplest yet most important item.

The card still Identifies Flash Gordon as a Yankee!!

They even managed to get the Phillies logo correct on the back of the card and installed a whole new cartoon that mentions his stature as the Phils new Closer.

2006 Topps #163 Tom Gordon (b-side)

I am not sure if Tom Gordon is identified as Flash on very many cards and suspect that the only reason they used his nickname rather than Tom is that he was expected to be a Yankee. The 05 Topps U&H All-Star card which does correctly identify Gordon as a Phillie has his name listed as Tom.

2006 Topps #UH266 Tom Gordon

And check out the shoes on both cards - does anybody else think that the logo of a certain shoe company looks significantly bigger in the altered photo.

This is definitely not a good enough card for a player worthy of being referenced in the title of a Stephen King novella.

For The Collector

A Tom Gordon Sticker Auto on Ebay has recently gone for $3.99

Gordon's rookie cards are from 1989 Topps #38T, UD #736, Fleer #284 and Donruss #45. The Donruss #45 "Rated Rookie" card can routinely be found in dime boxes.

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.

Sloppy Topps - Aaron Rowand and the twins

2008 Topps #655 Aaron Rowand

Aaron Rowand was a big fan favorite during his short stay in Philadelphia. So much so that Topps appears to have used a shot of Rowand batting in Philadelphia on this O8 Topps card and photoshopped on the Giants uniform. But Topps didn't stop there. They were apparently appalled by the looks of the local fans and photoshopped them out. Check out the fans to the left and right of Rowand. On both sides near the top of the photo you see a person in a light blue top. going down pink shirt w/ white hat, person looking stage left, Red shirt. Everybody to the left of Rowand has a twin sitting about a half dozen seats down on the other side of Rowand.

Here's to Topps Lazy PhotoShopping.

I am also sending out the reminder that It is Sunday and the 12/28 Auto for Spot the Sig! will be posted at roughly 9:30 pm tonight.

Sloppy Topps - Andre Eithier

What the heck is going on with the photoshopping on this Andre Ethier card?

2007 Topps Co-Signers #32 Andre Ethier

He has a 61 on the front and a 16 on the back. It's not a reverse negative. Looks to be a photoshopping oversight. The B&W photo on the front makes it hard to tell if that is photoshop or a the real photo.

According to Baseball-Almanac, Ethier has only worn #16 in the majors.

This may be the first time I have referenced Baseball Almanac here and I have added a link to the Almanac within the Around the Horn sidebar. I generally use Baseball-Reference or Wikepedia for quick research, but the Almanac is a good reference for uniform number and some other information.