Cruz Replaces Hunter on AL ASG Roster

It has just been announced that Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers has been added to the AL All-Stars due to the injury of Angels outfielder Torii Hunter.

Cruz now joins fellow Rangers Josh Hamilton and Michael Young on the AL squad.
 
If you're adding cards to your All-Star binder (what...you're NOT??!), Cruz's 2009 Topps card is #586, and on the 15-card team set, his card is #TEX5.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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Werth Replaces Beltran on NL ASG Roster

It has just been announced that Jayson Werth will be taking the spot of Carlos Beltran on the All-Star Game roster. This will be the first time since 1995 that three outfielders from the same team will be going to the ASG (Cleveland Indians Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, and Albert Belle) and the first NL outfield since 1972 (Pittsburgh Pirates Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Al Oliver).
 
For the record, Werth's 2009 Topps card is #557 and on the 15-card team set, his card is #PHI9.


Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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Inge and Victorino win the Final Man Vote!!!

The fans have voted, and did so in record numbers. Thanks to the more than 26 million fans combined, both Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies are going to the All-Star Game!!!

"Bran-Torino" as they have now been dubbed, overcame early leads from Ian Kinsler and Pablo Sandoval to win spots on the All-Star teams. More than eleven million votes were cast for Inge, which is now a record for AL voting, who now joins three of his Tigers mates. Fifteen million plus votes were cast for Victorino, who also joins three of his fellow Phillies at the ASG.

With both Carlos Beltran and Raul Ibañez currently on the DL, we will have to wait and see who Charlie Manuel selects to take their places. I'm pretty sure that we haven't seen the last of the other four "final man" candidates before Tuesday's game.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

What I'm Going to Want from the 2009 Topps FanFest

Okay, so I'm a Cubs fan...and the All-Star Game is in St. Louis, home of my team's divisional arch (pun intended) rivals the Cardinals. And although I like the Cardinals less than I do the other baseball team supposedly from Chicago, it does not mean that I will refuse to want to add the FanFest cards that they are going to be exclusive to this year's All-Star gala to my collection.
Today, the five exclusive cards that are to be given away as part of the annual wrapper redemption (three packs this year of Topps or Bowman, but for some reason they specifically said no Topps Attax packs), made their initial appearance on hobby news sites. The cards are of the usual suspects: Albert Pujols, Ryan Ludwick, Rick Ankiel, Yadier Molina, and Khalil Greene. All but Molina appear both here and as bonus cards included in the Factory sets (Chris Carpenter appears in the factory sets).

There will also be two relic cards given out if people buy and break a full box of Topps/Bowman product (again, not Topps Attax). These are patch cards featuring All-Stars Ryan Howard and Ichiro Suzuki as subjects.

And finally, anybody who buys the All-Star Factory set gets an exclusive Albert Pujols All-Star Game patch card.

I can't wait for the exclusives to show up on the Bay. With the possible exception of Pujols, these cards should pop up relatively cheap online. Not too fond of the relic cards (as usual), but as in recent years (since 2005 for me), the five-card set is a must.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

This is What Would Have Happened If You Cracked the 2008 Ginter Code...

He's been mentioned on the blog before. Now that 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter is out, his card can now seen in packs everywhere. And why not? That was the big prize for cracking the code...immortality on a piece of 2½ x 3½ cardboard.

From now on, there will be a price assigned to your card on every Annual price guide from now until the end of time. Here's hoping that the "price" is worth more than the average common.

Somewhere in the US, set collectors are frantically looking for this guy's card. "I need that code breaker guy's card to complete my set!!!" I think I'll wait for a complete set to pop up on the Bay.

To every one admit it, this could have been you. I know I would have killed for this to be me. But alas, he justifiably beat us all to it. Congratulations Jason Wong. Well done. You've just fulfilled the fantasy of every collector out there to appear on a major set of baseball cards.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

The 2009 All-Star Rosters Have Been Announced...What Do You Think???

The MLB All-Star Game rosters have been announced. Here are the players who are going:

American League Starters (with 2009 Topps Card # and retail team set if applicable)

1B Mark Teixeira, Yankees (#120 with the Angels, NYY12)
2B Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox (#350, BOS3)
3B Evan Longoria, Rays (#160, TBR1)
SS Derek Jeter, Yankees (#353, NYY3)
OF Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners (#300, SEA1)
OF Jason Bay, Red Sox (#541, BOS14)
OF Josh Hamilton, Rangers (#250, TEX1)
C Joe Mauer, Twins (#340, MIN1)

American League Pitchers

P-Josh Beckett, Red Sox (#415, BOS2)
P-Mark Buehrle, White Sox (#365, CHW6, selected by MGR)
P-Zack Greinke, Royals (#193, KCR2)
P-Roy Halladay, Blue Jays (#155, TOR1)
P-Felix Hernandez, Mariners (#530, SEA2, selected by MGR)
P-Edwin Jackson, Tigers
P-Justin Verlander, Tigers (#85, DET4)
P-Tim Wakefield, Red Sox (selected by MGR)
RP-Andrew Bailey, Athletics (#441, selected by MGR)
RP-Brian Fuentes, Angels (#319 with the Rockies, #LAA5, selected by MGR)
RP-Joe Nathan, Twins (#445, MIN9)
RP-Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox (#386, BOS9)
RP-Mariano Rivera, Yankees (#60, NYY2)

American League Reserves

1B-Justin Morneau, Twins (#90, MIN3)
1B-Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox (#115, BOS6, selected by MGR)
2B-Aaron Hill, Blue Jays (#623, TOR10)
3B-Michael Young, Rangers (#610, TEX3)
SS-Jason Bartlett, Rays (#347, TBR13)
OF-Carl Crawford, Rays (#40, TBR3)
OF-Curtis Granderson, Tigers (#425, DET3)
OF-Torii Hunter, Angels (#659, LAA1)
OF-Adam Jones, Orioles (#455, BAL2, selected by MGR)
OF-Ben Zobrist, Rays (selected by MGR)
C-Victor Martinez, Indians (#370, CLE3)

American League Final Man Candidates

3B-Chone Figgins, Angels (#332, LAA2)
3B-Brandon Inge, Tigers (#34, DET14)
2B-Ian Kinsler, Rangers (#215, TEX7)
OF-Adam Lind, Blue Jays (#94, TOR11)
1B-Carlos Peña, Rays (#156, TBR9)

National League Starters

1B-Albert Pujols, Cardinals (#290, STL1)
2B-Chase Utley, Phillies (#200, PHI3)
3B-David Wright, Mets (#100, NYM1)
SS-Hanley Ramirez, Marlins (#450, FLA1)
OF-Carlos Beltran, Mets (#550, NYM3)
OF-Ryan Braun, Brewers (#240, MIL1)
OF-Raul Ibañez, Phillies (#6 with the Mariners, PHI7)
C-Yadier Molina, Cardinals (#172, STL5)

National League Pitchers

P-Chad Billingsley, Dodgers (#235, LAD6)
P-Matt Cain, Giants (#546, SFG3)
P-Dan Haren, Diamondbacks (#391, ARI3, selected by MGR)
P-Josh Johnson, Marlins (#118, FLA2)
P-Ted Lilly, Cubs (#569, CHC8, selected by MGR)
P-Tim Lincecum, Giants (#195, SFG1)
P-Jason Marquis, Rockies (#417, selected by MGR)
P-Johan Santana, Mets (#310, NYM2)
RP-Heath Bell, Padres
RP-Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers (LAD3)
RP-Francisco Cordero, Reds (#563, CIN10, selected by MGR)
RP-Ryan Franklin, Cardinals (selected by MGR)
RP-Francisco Rodriguez, Mets (#430, NYM13)

National League Reserves

1B-Prince Fielder, Brewers (#480, MIL3, selected by MGR)
1B-Adrian Gonzalez, Padres (#520, SDP1)
1B-Ryan Howard, Phillies (#500, PHI2, selected by MGR)
2B-Orlando Hudson, Dodgers (#126 with the Diamondbacks)
2B-Freddy Sanchez, Pirates (#447, PIT5, selected by MGR)
3B-Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals (#620, WAS1)
SS-Miguel Tejada, Astros (#205, HOU7)
OF-Brad Hawpe, Rockies (#87, COL7)
OF-Hunter Pence, Astros (#269, HOU5)
OF-Justin Upton, Diamondbacks (#230, ARI2)
C-Brian McCann, Braves (#80, ATL5)

National League Final Man Candidates

SS-Cristian Guzman, Nationals (#608, WAS3)
OF-Matt Kemp, Dodgers (#165, LAD7)
3B-Mark Reynolds, Diamondbacks (#324, ARI12)
3B-Pablo Sandoval, Giants (#426, SFG8)
OF-Shane Victorino, Phillies (#73, PHI11)

Notes:
º Injured, will not participate
ºº Elected not to participate
ª Named as replacement

Let's hear the answers to these questions:

Who do you think should have been chosen that wasn't (not even for the Final Man ballot)?

Of the players selected, who shouldn't be going to the game?

Were the guys you wanted from your team chosen?

If not, then who should have represented your team?

Let the debates begin.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

The People Have Spoken: No Twitter Feeds on the Blogroll!!!

The polls were closed on Friday night, and it looks like a majority of voters don't want Twitter Feeds added to the Sports Card Blogroll!

The poll was placed on both this humble little blog and the Blogroll. Here are the results:

On this blog:

• 13 votes said yes (19%)
• 36 votes said no (53%)
• 5 votes suggested creating a separate blog for Twitter feeds (7%)
• 13 votes for people who just don't care.

On the Sports Card Blogroll:

• 5 votes said yes (9%)
• 29 votes said no (54%)
• 8 votes suggested creating a separate blog for Twitter feeds (15%)
• 11 votes for people who just don't care.

Thank you very much for your votes. So I guess I'll leave the tweets alone.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama