Happy Father's Day. Now, Who's Up For a 2-Pack Archives Break

Father's Day 2013 started with a quick breakfast in bed, some coffee, and a nice present from my wife and children. They bought these wooden letters D A D and each of them painted one of the letters in their own unique way. I really like these home-made crafts because it shows that they took time out of their busy days to make something nice for me. But what was more important was the gifts I received...the two kids that have been my world for the last 13 years.

We are right now sitting in the social hall next to the church. Mass ended a bit more than an hour ago, and while my wife back in the church practicing with the choir, the kids are re-discovering the joys of Nintendo DS. They haven't played with these devices since spring break, using their parents' smartphones for their gaming escape. Now that summer is here, hopefully they'll play their games as sparingly as they did during the school year. But I digress. While everyone is busy, what better time than now to do a pack break?

Yesterday, while my wife was with her dad, and my daughter was at a dance audition, my son and I went to our local big box store in hopes of just hanging out and finding any of the newest Lego Minifigures. On the minifig note, series 10 is out and so far we have the Roman Commander and Warrior Woman. Sure enough, we found the minifigs and selected five at random (I mean, what would the odds be of getting the same two figures, right)? Okay, not so random, we did feel for the prop. We picked five, and along with a Kreo Donkey Kong Mario Kart car, we now own the Trendsetter (with dog), the Skydiver, the Motorcycle Mechanic, the Paintballer, and Tomahawk Warrior (so many figures with weapons in these series...it's like watching that Deadliest Warrior show to see which would win in a one-on-one duel). I also bought two packs of the newest Topps sensation (at least before series 2), Topps Archives and one jumbo pack of 18-cards. Let's see what's in these packs.

Pack 1 (in order of appearance):

• #184 Kyle Seager, Mariners, 1990 design
• #041 Doug Fister, Tigers, 1972 design
• #057 Todd Frazier, Reds, 1982 design
• #69S-BBMP Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Joe Mauer, Buster Posey 4 in 1 mini stickers, 1969 design
• #004 Marco Scutaro, Giants, 1972 design
• #078 Johan Santana, Mets, 1982 design
• #141 Adam Jones, Orioles, 1985 design
• #151 Jason Motte, Cardinals, 1990 design

Comments: For those who do not like the 1990 Topps design, the cards in this pack make a great argument as to why this design is awesome. The Motte card uses the red design, reminding me of some of how the red color really worked when the subject was from the Cardinals. The stickers look nice. Glad that there was a theme to the subjects (all-star catchers). Otherwise, nothing much to write home about.

Pack 2 (in order of appearance):

• #110 Josh Hamilton, Angels, 1985 design
• #187 Alex Gordon, Royals, 1990 design
• #032 Wade Boggs, Red Sox, 1972 design
• #085 Tony Perez, Reds, 1982 design
• #214 Fred McGriff, Blue Jays, 1989 design (All Time Fan-Favorites subset SP found 1:4 packs)
• #175 Yogi Berra, Yankees, 1990 design
• #018 Jon Lester, Red Sox, 1972 design
• #062 Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox, 1982 design.

Comments: Now we're talking. An SP card, and the card design is my favorite of all-time, 1989. Three Red Sox cards in the pack though...not that there is anything wrong with that but I didn't get any Cubs or *cough* White Sox cards in either pack.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in my life: Leslie Anama, Charles Mok, Anamite Anama, Richard Lee, Charles Mok Jr., Sam Bell. Happy Fathers Day to all Dads, Dads-to-Be, Grandfathers, Great Grandfathers, Foster Dad's, Stepdads, and Just-Like-Dads out there. Remember, anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be called "Daddy."

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1990 Topps Traded #107T John Russell

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, June 14, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1990 Topps Traded #107T.
• Player Name, position, team: John Russell, catcher, Texas Rangers.
• Major League Debut: June 22, 1984.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1989 stats (Braves): 74 G, 159 AB, 14 R, 29 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB, .233 SLG, 8 BB, 53 SO, .182 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Phillies #1st, June 1982. Signed with the Rangers as a Free Agent 05/09/1990. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 7. This is his fourth Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "John caught Nolan Ryan's sixth No-Hitter, 6-11-90."
• Commentary: The problem with the 1990 Topps set is three-fold. First, there was so much of it printed out, whether in box form (the traditional white cardstock) or in retail packs (I'm sure this was an experiment...and they used grey cardstock to boot). Secondly, although it uses the regular 1990 elements, the design's color scheme was just awful and inconsistent with how the regular set worked. Kudos to Topps for putting yellow to complete "the rainbow" but the transition to red was just not necessary. Third, short of hosting the rookie cards of Dave Justice and Scott Erickson, Cecil Fielder's first Topps card as a Tiger, there really isn't much happening in this set. Heck, even Cubs cult legend Hector Villanueva couldn't save this set from being valuable. As of now, box loads of this set could be sold for pennies on the dollar, and if I had to buy this set now, I wouldn't spend more than $5.00 on it...and even that seems to be a bit too much. But I digress. John William Russell was the Phillies' first round draft pick, eventually became their regular catcher in 1986. But other than that, he wasn't really used to his full potential. He never played more than 100 games in the majors during the season (the most he appeared in was 93 that magical year in '86, when he hit .241 with 13 homers and 60 rbi's). But he did manage to play well enough in the minors that when needed in Philly, his name was on the "must call up" list. After a season in Atlanta, the backup catcher signed on with the Texas Rangers. Eventually, he would be the mentor to Texas' budding superstar, Ivan Rodriguez. But finally, something good happened to John Russell. He was entered into a unique fraternity of catchers, joining the likes of Jeff Torborg, Art Kusnyer, Tom Egan, Ellie Rodriguez, and Alan Ashby (eventually joined by Mike Stanley). What did all these players have in common? Each one of them caught one of Nolan Ryan's seven no hitters. Russell caught the sixth one on June 11, 1990 against the Oakland Athletics. It would be the first of two no-nos for Ryan as a Ranger. For his part, Russell went 1-3 with a solo home run in the second inning off of Scott Sanderson. He finished the season appearing in 68 games, hitting a good .273 with 2 home runs and 8 rbi's...and one no-hitter. And although he would appear in a grand total of 115 games over the course of his Rangers career, the game on 06/11/1990 put him in the history books. Russell retired after the 1994 season, playing in two games for the Cardinals' AAA team in Louisville and turned to coaching. He was named manager to the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 2008 season, a role he would hold until 2010.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.01-$0.05.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 7.

Tomorrow's card will be: 2003 Topps Traded and Rookies #130T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1981 Topps #666 Detroit Tigers Team Card

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, June 6, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1981 Topps #666.
• Team: 1980 Detroit Tigers.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1980 stats: Manager Sparky Anderson, 84-78, .519 PCT., 19 GB, Fourth Place AL East.
• Commentary: When I saw the number of today's card, I really thought, "Yes, a player who knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs." Then I saw the year and remembered, "Drat, this isn't Topps Total!" Besides, the Yankees, who finished first in the AL East were eliminated by the Royals in the ALCS (yes folks, the Royals were a very good team back then). The Tigers, on the other hand, finished in fourth place, 19 games behind the Yankees (and a half game up on Boston). But the Tigers had young stars in Alan Trammell & Lou Whitaker manning the middle infield (as they would all throughout the 80's and early 90's), sluggers Lance Parrish & Kirk Gibson, along with skipper Sparky Anderson, a nucleus was there that would in four seasons steamroller all over the AL. Parrish led the 1980 Tigers in home runs (24) while Trammell was the hitting star with an even .300 average. The Tigers ace, Jack Morris, was a workhorse at the plate, with a record of 16-15, 11 complete games, and two shutouts, even with an ERA of 4.18. Closer Aurelio Lopez anchored the bullpen with 21 saves as well as a 13-6 record and 3.77 ERA. In 1981, thanks to a strike-shortened season, the Tigers finished a combined 60-49, good for a cumulative third in the AL East. The back of the card provides team collectors a complete Tigers team checklist. There are 26 players on the list: 10 pitchers, 2 catchers, 6 outfielders, 6 infielders, and two guys (Rick Peters and Johnny Wockenfuss) who played multiple positions (the utility guys).
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.15-$0.40.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1990 Topps Traded #107T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1994 Topps Traded #92T Charlie O'Brien

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, June 12, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1994 Topps Traded #92T.
• Player Name, position, team: Charlie O'Brien, catcher, Atlanta Braves.
• Major League Debut: June 2, 1985.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1993 stats (Mets): 67 G, 188 AB, 15 R, 48 H, 11 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 0 SB, .378 SLG, 14 BB, 14 SO, .255 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Athletics #5th, June 1982. Signed as a free agent with the Braves 11/27/1993. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 10. This is his eighth card.
• Blurb on the back: "Because of his defensive genius, Charlie was hand-picked by the Braves as a back-up and mentor to super-rookie Javy Lopez."
• Commentary: If this card looks familiar as a previous Card of the Day...it is. This is the second time that the Randomizer picked this card for today's subject. And as much as I would have loved to switch cards (using maybe the card before or after this one), I thought to honor the Randomizer's wishes and use this card again. The original post became one of the most read post on my blog thanks to an article linking my post and this card to his site (there were over 4000 hits to this humble, little blog thanks to this). To save time and agony, I'll just keep the original commentary, just changing a couple of things. Making his third appearance on the Randomizer, Charlie O'Brien, who never played more than 70 games up to this point in his career, was known more for his defense than he was for his bat. But it was what he brought to the game later on that revolutionized the catcher's position. Inspired by the goalie masks that hockey players use, he created a mask for catchers that was, yes a bit larger, but provided more protection for the man behind home plate against foul balls, against bats against the back of the head, et al. And, the view was amazing. You didn't even have to remove the mask to catch those pesky foul balls. And once it was approved by MLB to use in play, well, lets just say his mask added years to a catcher's health. At this time, the Braves had a young superstar waiting in the wings to become their primary catcher. O'Brien's signing guaranteed that a young Javy Lopez would learn from one of the better defensive catchers in the game.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of each player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be1981 Topps #666. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1993 Topps Traded #73T Pete Incaviglia

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Tuesday, June 11, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1993 Topps Traded #73T.
• Player Name, position, team: Pete Incaviglia, outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies.
• Major League Debut: April 8, 1986.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1992 stats (Astros): 113 G, 349 AB, 31 R, 93 H, 22 2B, 1 3B, 11 HR, 44 RBI, 2 SB, .430 SLG, 25 BB, 99 SO, .266 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Expos #1st, June 1985. Signed with the Phillies as a Free Agent 12/08/1992. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 12. This is his eleventh Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: "Belted 2 Home Runs and had career0best 7 RBI in 15-7 win vs. Giants, 06-14-92."
• Commentary: After years of ensuring that the cards within Topps Traded are in numerical sequence by last name. Thus if the 1993 Topps traded retained the traditional sequential order, today's subject would have been Greg Maddux as a Brave. But instead, today's subject was one of Philly's unwashed heroes. Pete Incaviglia, the former #1 draft pick, found himself in search for a new team after a season   with the Astros. The Phillies took a chance and sign "Inky" to a one-year deal, and boy did he pay dividends. In 1993, the Phillies ran roughshod over every team in the National League, upset the Braves in the NLCS and found themselves in the World Series for the first time since 1983. For his part, "Inky" hit for a .274 average (would be a career high), 24 home runs, drove in 89 rbi's, and an OPS of .848. In the playoffs, he went a combined 3 for 19 (.158) with a solo home run in the NLCS. He played in Philly for one more season before taking his talents to Japan, playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific League.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 23 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps Traded #92T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. We're looking back at a card from 1994 here on the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1977 Topps #653 Diego Segui

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Monday, June 10, 2013:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1977 Topps #653.
• Player Name, position, team: Diego Segui, pitcher, Seattle Mariners.
• Major League Debut: April 12, 1962.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1975 stats (Red Sox): 33 G, 71 IP, 2-5, 41 R, 38 ER, 45 SO, 43 BB, 4.82 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Redlegs as a Free Agent before the 1958 season. Contract purchased by the Mariners from the Padres 10/22/1976. Bats: right. Throws: right.
• Number of regular Topps Cards (includes regular and traded cards only): 14. This is his fourteenth and final Topps card.
• Blurb on the back: n/a.
• Commentary: Funny how baseball works. One year you pitch in the World Series with the Red Sox (the picture on this card shows today's subject wearing a jersey with the Sox' red trim although there is no logo on the batting helmet), the next you're stuck in the minors for a whole season. Such was the tale of Diego Segui's career. An established veteran pitcher with the A's (three stints), Senators, Pilots (one of the few who can lay claim to that honor), Cardinals, and Red Sox, Segui had compiled a record of 92-104 and an ERA of 3.68 with 1,207 strikeouts in more than 599 games pitched as a starter and reliever. After the '75 World Series, Segui was released by the Red Sox. Unable to find a MLB team to sign him, he signed a minor league deal with the Padres' AAA-team in Hawaii. It would be his third go-around with the Hawaii Islanders with three different organizations: the Washington Senators, the Kansas City Athletics, and now the Padres. Already a legend in the Aloha State, Segui would guide the Islanders to an incredible 11-5 record with a 3.18 ERA to go with 105 strikeouts in 147 innings of work. After the 1976 season concluded, the expansion Seattle Mariners took a chance and signed Diego to a one year deal. Rejuvenated by the return to Seattle, not only did he make the team out of spring training, he was their first ever starting pitcher. Unfortunately, the Angels spoiled Segui's homecoming, and the Mariners lost the game 7-0. Segui would finish the 1977 season with an 0-7 record, a career worst 5.69 ERA, two saves, and strikeout 91 batters in 40 games (7 were starts). Unable to find the form that once made him one of the games more unique pitchers, Segui would pitch his last season with Cordoba in the Mexican League. After retiring, he watched his son David develop into a bonafide major leaguer in his own right. The SABR BioProject has a very in-depth article about the career of Diego Segui that can be accessed here.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.30-$0.75.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 1 card.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1993 Topps Traded #73T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #358 Jurickson Profar

It's Minor League Monday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Pro Debut Card of the Week:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2010 Topps Pro Debut #358.
• Player Name, position, team: Jurickson Profar, shortstop, Spokane Indians.
• Level-League, Team Affiliation: Low A-Northwest League, Texas Rangers.
  
• Minor League Stats (stats with team depicted only): 63 G, 252 AB, 42 R, 63 H, 19 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 8 SB, 28 BB, 46 SO, .373 SLG, .696 OPS, .250 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed with the Rangers as a Free Agent 07/02/2009. Bats: both. Throws: right.
• Major League Debut: September 2, 2012.
• Baseball America Organizational Ranking After Season with Team: Texas Rangers #2 prospect after the 2010 season .
• Blurb on the back: "Many American fans recognize Profar as a star for two tremendous Curacao teams in the Little League World Series. A BB-throwing pitcher for years, he was asked to play shortstop after signing with the Rangers in 2009. He made his pro debut in '10 for Spokane, and went 7-for-21 in his first five games."
• Official Topps Rookie Card: 2013 Topps #286.
• Commentary: Because Topps' first Pro Debut product came out in two series (the first 220 cards harder to find than the second group of 220, where this card resides), and because he made his MilB Debut in 2010, Topps was able to include the Rangers' top prospect into the 2010 set. Yes, his numbers don't look all that much extraordinary, even if it's against competition from the Northwest League, but consider that even before he took the field, according to Baseball America, Jurickson Barthelomeus Profar was already the Rangers' number 5 prospect after the 2009 season. And keep in mind that he was born on 02/20/1993. So when he made his pro debut in 2010, he was only...17 YEARS OLD!!! As he climbed the organizational ladder (playing with the A-South Atlantic League Hickory Crawdads in 2011 and the AA-Texas League Frisco Roughriders in 2012), his offensive numbers were getting better, and BA as the team's #1 prospect at the end of those two seasons. The Rangers decided to bring Profar up in September, 2012 - at the age of 19 - as one of their end-of-the-year call-ups. Now the Rangers have a very interesting dilemma. You see, Texas already has a superstar shortstop in Elvis Andrus. Presently, Profar is with the big league team and playing at second base because their all-star second baseman, Ian Kinsler, is on the DL. The main concern is that when Kinsler returns from the DL, somebody will have to be relegated to the bench. With two established All-Stars covering the middle infield in Arlington, is there room for Jurickson Profar on this team? Will he be moved the outfield? Will he go back to the minors to develop a bit more? Or will he be moved to another team???

Next week's featured card will be: 2012 Topps Pro Debut #5. Post will arrive at 9:00 AM CST. Hope you enjoyed this week's installment of Minor League Monday.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama