Baseball Cards

2013 @PaniniAmerica Cooperstown cards to feature Cracked Ice, Colgan’s Chips remake:

Billy Williams 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen – FINALLY!!! In my opinion, it took Topps waaaaaay too long to put Billy Williams back into a base card.  Yes, he has had a few relic and certified autographed cards recently, but as a budgeted collector, it has been a while since I was able to afford a ‘new’ card of Mr. Williams. Thankfully, that all changed when he was added to the 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen checklist. Here is the card: I really like the image that Topps selected for this card.  It features a very young Williams, and the background is reminiscent of the early 1960′s as well. Williams does not have a White paper or Blue paper framed card in the GQ set, so now I need to shift my focus to the minis… Stay tuned.

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Team Set of the Week: Team: 2012 Miami Marlins Record: 69-93, fifth place, NL East Division. Manager: Ozzie Guillen Card on the Top: Jose Reyes The checklist consists of the following players: MIA1 Jose Reyes MIA2 Logan Morrison MIA3 Anibal Sanchez MIA4 Ricky Nolasco MIA5 Omar Infante MIA6 Hanley Ramirez MIA7 Josh Johnson MIA8 Emilio Bonifacio MIA9 John Buck MIA10 Mark Buehrle MIA11 Heath Bell MIA12 Mike Stanton MIA13 Gaby Sanchez MIA14 Matt Dominguez MIA15 Carlos Zambrano MIA16 Bryan Petersen MIA17 Marlins Park The cards in order from the set (the checklist at the end was cut from the back of the package. What, you don't do that?): Key differences between the team set and 2012 Topps eponymous set: Jose Reyes' regular Topps card uses the same picture, but is cropped a bit off to the left. And then of course, there is the issue of an SSP card inserted into series 1: It looks like Topps decided to photoshop the new Marlins duds on Anibal Sanchez' card. How do I know??? Here is the original card: Same goes with Ricky Nolasco: And here is a nice shot of Hanley Ramirez, before he was traded off to the Dodgers. His retail card is vertically-oriented. The base card? Horizontally-oriented: Hey, you know how Topps photoshopped the Miami duds on a couple of players for the retail set? They did the same thing for Emilio Bonifacio: On both the regular set and in this retail set, he is recognized as Mike. It's nice to know that when he decided to go by his real name that Topps added a second card with the name...Giancarlo (cue Fandango's music please): As it was with Sanchez, Nolasco, and Bonifacio, Matt Dominguez had a Florida Marlins jersey on his base card: So of the 16 players included in this set, there are four cards that feature photoshopped Miami Marlins jerseys from their Series 1 cards, one with a different picture in the retail set that was used in 2012 Topps set, and one slight crop job (not counting the super SP). Next week's featured set will be the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers. Hope you'll be here when we compare the cards from the retail set to their counterparts found in Topps and Topps Updates and Highlights Series. Sincerely, JayBee Anama

For the third time in the past four years, the Bowman brand includes a 100 card insert set of the top 100 prospects. The first two versions (2010 and 2011) saw the set called Topps 100. After taking a year off, the set returns with a slightly different name, Top 100. The Cubs landed four in the Top 100. These four have much more buzz associated with them than the four in the prospects set. I'll start with the lowest and work my way up.Number 88, Daniel Vogelbach. He's a big boy with big power. But with first base locked up by Rizzo for years to come, Vogelbach has no future in the Cubs organization unless the DH come to the National League.Number 37, Albert Almora The 19-year-old from Florida was the Cubs #1 selection last June. He broke his left had in spring training and has yet to play a game this year. He should be ready to play by the end of May.Number 34, Jorge Soler Theo took a big risk by signing the Cuban Soler to a nine year, $30 million deal. He's had some temper issues in the minors this season, but he's hitting over .300. With the dollars invested in him, I'd expect to see him in a Cub uniform by 2015.Number 14, Javier Baez This guy seems to have it all...speed (20 SB in 57 games), power (12 HRs) and average (.333). He had a really nice spring while with the Cubs, but there wasn't ever any thought that he was MLB-ready. He's in High A ball right now.

today's quick post features cards i received from three sources, two of which have to do with triple plays. make sense? the first couple of items come from topher at crackin' wax. i looked on with envy as he pulled matt kemp tattoos (not the grandparent kind)and clayton kershaw eye blacksin a recent 2013 panini triple play break. he was kind enough to send them my way!mr. haverkamp, a very nice giants fan by the way, sent me another kind of triple play - a 1977-79 sportscaster triple play to be precise. i have a copy already, but it is still pretty cool to get one of those cards in the mail. he also sent a couple of cards to help with my 1974 topps set pursuit, hall of famers even. here's fergie jenkinsand jim palmerjenkins must have known something was up when the photographer asked him to remove his cap. sure enough, 1973 was his last year with the cubs. that's ok - he won a career high 25 games for the rangers in 1974finally, the third leg in this trade stool, jon from community gum sent some cards that i need for the 2009 upper deck o-pee-chee seti'm getting close...mike pelfrey where are you?thanks to all three of these nice guys for sending me cards!

Carlton Fisk 1987 Donruss I don’t know who is more upset – Carlton Fisk at the photographer for getting to close while snapping pictures or me at Donruss for using this image on a baseball card…

Name: Tom Glavine Team: Atlanta Braves Positions: Ace, left wing Value of card: 2 pounds of Zamboni sludge Key 1991 stat: 14 calls for icing It's time for a one-man, two-sport edition of The Matchup: Round 1: Penchant to get involved in a "two-on-one" (Winner: Hockey Glavine) Round 2: Disgust at eating a moose and maple syrup sandwich (Winner: Baseball Glavine) Round 3: Mullet (Winner: Tie) Round 4: Sweet turtleneck that allows for mullet tucking (Winner: Baseball Glavine) Round 5: Footwear that makes him a bit taller around the ladies (Winner: Hockey Glavine) Round 6: Nose for the crease, so to speak (Winner: Hockey Glavine) Round 7: Longer stick (Winner: Hockey Glavine) Score: Hockey Glavine 4, Baseball Glavine 2, Ties 1 Synopsis: It was a close Matchup when Canadian Hockey Glavine took on his clone, Atlanta Baseball Glavine, but, in the end, Hockey Glavine ended up with a powerplay while Baseball Glavine spent two minutes in the box for getting embarrassed.

Born on today's date, Willis Hudlin. "He has a curve, but does not use it a great deal. He thinks a fastball pitcher doesn't have to." - Harold "Speed" Johnson, Who's Who in Baseball (1933)

Phillies 3, Marlins 0Game 47 - Wednesday Night, May 22nd in MiamiRecord - 23-24, 3rd Place, 5 1/2 games behind the BravesOne Sentence Summary: Cliff Lee was nearly un-hittable as he and the Phillies easily took care of the Marlins, winning 3-0.What It Means: The Phillies won the series and they continue their slow progress to .500. They've now won seven of their last ten games. Following an off-day today, they'll open a three-game series in Washington. If all goes well, the Phillies will find themselves with a winning record and in second place on Memorial Day.What Went Right: Lee allowed only three hits in his complete game shut-out and he earned his fifth win of the year. He was in control from the outset, and it was an absolute pleasure watching him mow down the pedestrian Marlins line-up. He has a 1.16 ERA in his last four starts.In the fourth, Delmon Young hit his second home run in as many nights. Domonic Brown added an RBI-triple in the sixth, followed by an RBI-single from Freddy Galvis.Featured Card: I could have featured another Bowman card in this post, but I decided to go with Lee's base card from this year's Topps flagship set. It's hard to believe that series two will be released in less than a month.

Time To Unveil The ‘HR Derby’ Winner!!! And the winner of my ‘HR Derby’ contest is – XXXXX!!! With XX Home Runs selected, XXXX came the closest to the total number of home runs hit in the majors on Wednesday. Congratulations, XXXX!!! I will send you an email so I can get your address so I can mail out your cards. Here is a look at how the scoring broke down: * And here is a peek out how the players did compared to the final tally: * And one last look at the prize: Big thanks to everyone that participated in this contest. The next one is just around the corner… Stay tuned.