Card Cameos: The Shadow of the Empire

I understand how it works.  My favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, are a small market team.  This, by virtue of the fact that they are not in New York, or LA, or Philly,  or Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and a handful of others.  This, despite the fact that Detroit is actually the 11th largest media market in the country.  Whatever.  Small market.

And because the Tigers are a small market team, they tend to get some neglect from time to time.  Like this:

The Tigers, Division champs and ALCS participants, have TWO cards in the entire Topps Finest set. Same as Astros, Marlins and O's. WEAK.

16 Oct via web

And yes, I'm sure that the World Series Champions can complain about the same thing.  So could the Rangers.  Or the Rays or all the other playoff teams that aren't from New York, or LA, or Philly...you get my point.

The card industry, like everything else it seems, revolves around "the market."  I hate the market.  I hate that every baseball card product out there feels like a Yankees team set.  Or that I get Brooklyn Dodgers forced down my throat. And the SAWX.  But I get it, I do.  Economics, man.

And as long as we get our pittance we can manage a thankful smile and say "Thank you, gov'nr" in a cockney accent to the Baseball Card Executive personified as a top-hat and monocle wearing fat cat in our heads.  Every now and then they'll throw us an extra nickel in the form of a "Ryan Perry memorial because he'll sign our cards for basically nothing" autograph or a shiny insert or some other special card that you see once in a blue moon for your own team while some Yankees collector flings it in the trash and says "ANOTHER, Mickey Mantle superfractatious atoma-fractor? Enough Already!"  Well I want an atomafractor.

Instead, the empire steals my lunch money.

2011 Topps Update: #US320 Russell Martin f. Brandon Inge

$(*&#)%*!

This is the best Tigers card of the year, bar none.  This may be the best action shot of a Tigers player IN A DECADE or more.  It is vintage Brandon Inge, at full extension, in an extravagant pose, at home, being awesome.  Great, great shot.

And in the background is an almost-blurry Yankee, in the midst of a somewhat ugly slide with his face partially obscured by the shadow of his helmet.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME HOW IS THIS NOT A BRANDON INGE CARD?!?!?

Oh that's right, there's a Yankee on it.  SLAP A YANKEE ON IT BOYS, WE'VE GOT CARDS TO SELL!

Now, some apologist may say, and they wouldn't be wrong, that at the time of design and printing, Brandon Inge had been Designated for Assignment, his days on the Tigers apparently over, and therefore a rational decision was made to use the card for All-Star Russell Martin instead.

This would not be incorrect, and would be justified.  But something tells me that if Topps followed the ins and outs of roster moves that closely they would never have produced, I don't know, this or this or this... I could go on forever if I had the time.  The point is, sure, maybe some uncharacteristically observant employee thought it imprudent to put a player that was essentially cut in an Update set.  "Oh, the criticism we shall receive!"  I'm not going to say that didn't happen.

But I am going to say, that somehow, some way, one of the best Tigers action shots ever placed on a baseball card was taken from us, and surprise, surprise, it just so happens to be the Yankees that took it.

What the future holds

About a week ago, I picked up something rather nice for myself off of eBay. I had a little extra cash in my account, Topps Series 2 had just been released and I was just looking for something that I could really sink my teeth into. Yesterday, it came in the mail. Ready?



Don't all ooh and ahh at once!

So here's the thing. I'm not really keen on redemptions, mostly because I fear that they will never be redeemed. However, this is Al Kaline, Kaline has been all over the 2011 Topps sets, he's in good health and seems pretty accessible. So I took a leap.

I did this for two reasons. First, it is numbered to 60 after all and, unlike his other cards in 2011 Topps (Series 1) it portends to be an on-card signature. Also, I think that the 60th Anniversary Reprints set is quite nice--I much prefer it to a straight reprint of a card. What do I mean? Well, here's Al Kaline, this time in Relic Form:



It's not a perfect card, but it's got a lot going for it. Reprint of a rookie card, acknowledgement of a milestone Anniversary for Topps. Um, other stuff? Whatever. I like them.

So here's the rub. If you're a collector you can look at that card and say "Oh, I see where the autograph will go." You can, right? It should be obvious to even an untrained eye. The autograph goes here:



Or here



YES. My Kaline is going to be sweet. Want some more awesome examples? How about:



F(*&%#$!

Damn you Ryne Sandberg! How dare you ruin a perfectly cool card by screwing up the design and scribbling some illegible blob over the only real graphic element on the card. You're an idiot. I'm sure that this is the only...



DAMMIT! Mattingly did it to, on his classic rookie card that shows him both with and without "sideburns," if you catch my drift. This must be a manager thing. Managers are stupid--ask anybody. Is your team's manager an idiot? The answer is yes, and you know it. Ok cool. Manager problem. The old salt players like Gibson and Brooksie know what they're doing. No worries.



Oh son of a...

No one is spared.

Mr. Cub, who shares a rookie card year with our own Mr. Tiger, signed his name over a picture of a card that already has a signature. This is like an artist signing a reprint of his painting over the face of his subject and leaving some random dead space in the corner. THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE THAT.

And herein likes the problem. If Al Kaline signs where he was meant to, this card will be fantastic. If he signs in the worst possible place, it will be forgettable. Forgettable enough that I might even try to flip it back on eBay once it arrives, I would be so disappointed. I'm banking on the fact that Kaline is not an idiot. That he can see what even the most basic observer could figure out--sign in the big blank spot on the top. JUST LIKE TOPPS ADVERTISED.

Of course, the fact that we're even having this conversation is absurd. I can't count the number of times that cards appear to be signed in the wrong place, throwing off the intention and design of the card. This shouldn't be a burden placed on the players. There should be no discretion here.

Would a simple investment in some of these be too much?

Instead I'm forced to sit and cross my fingers for the next XX weeks. Wish me luck.

The Team We Have

This is the follow up to "The Team We Had", which examined the 2010 Topps Factory Team Set and all of its flaws. Well, I've got good news: 2011 is much better.

Take a look:

#DET1 Miguel Cabrera	#DET2 Magglio Ordonez	#DET3 Brandon Inge	#DET4 Max Scherzer
#DET5 Brad Penny	#DET6 Ryan Raburn	#DET7 Carlos Guillen	#DET8 Austin Jackson
#DET9 Jhonny Peralta	#DET10 Rick Porcello	#DET11 Brennan Boesch	#DET12 Joaquin Benoit
#DET13 Justin Verlander	#DET14 Jose Valverde	#DET15 Alex Avila	#DET16 Victor Martinez

#DET17 Comerica Park For one, ALL of these players are currently on the Tigers 25-man roster. This is a huge win. Of course, to make it happen, there are some pretty bad photoshop jobs, but that is something for another post. On pure roster capture, this gets an A+ (They even have Ryan Raburn and Alex Avila!!) All of the Tigers who are in Series 1 see their photos replicated here. It remains to be seen whether the other photos will be rehashed in Series 2. In the past the factory set and Series 2 pictures have been different, but we'll have to wait and see. The best part of the whole set is the great shot of a FULL Comerica Park with full-on Whale Building in frame. A Stadium Card is perfect for a team set, and as someone who has an affinity for Stadiums in general, I'm tempted to buy this for all the teams just to get all the stadiums (Note to my wife: I won't) On balance, the 2011 Topps Team Set blows 2010 out of the water. For any fan of the team (or their team) it gets my wholehearted recommendation.

Double Whammy

The Tigers had two former players pass away last Friday, each with memorable four letter names:

Reno:


Bobo:


The Detroit Free Press has a nice little writeup on Reno Bertoia while Larry Osborne gets a bit of press back east. Tom Gage of The Detroit News, who brought both deaths to my attention, has a great Bobo story, about his only career Grand Slam...that didn't count.

I picked up both of these cards at last year's National, and the Osborne in particular holds a special place in my heart for the great shot of an all-green Tiger Stadium in 1960.

RIP to the both of them.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

It's not of Brandon Inge hitting a walk-off home run!

Also, something else. Take a look...





Alright. Who's got it?

Answer after the jump...

The Team We Had

It's been a long time since I posted a card gallery, and since I recently got both the 2009 and 2010 Topps Factory Team Sets, I thought this would be a fun one.

For those not in the know, at the start of every season, Topps releases a 17-card set for each team. They will often include photoshopped images of the major off-season acquisitions, and in recent years have included photos that differ from players' normal Topps cards. Taken together, they are a nice pick-up for a team collector.

Of course, with production lead times being what they are and the uncertainty of baseball rosters being what they are, these sets can go awry. The 2010 set was one of those. Look at the team we had:

#DET1 Miguel Cabrera	#DET2 Jarrod Washburn	#DET3 Clete Thomas	#DET4 Rick Porcello
#DET5 Brandon Inge	#DET6 Nate Robertson	#DET7 Magglio Ordonez	#DET8 Jeremy Bonderman
#DET9 Marcus Thames	#DET10 Wilkin Ramirez	#DET11 Phil Coke	#DET12 Justin Verlander
#DET13 Joel Zumaya	#DET14 Robinzon Diaz	#DET15 Carlos Guillen	#DET16 Max Scherzer
#DET17 Daniel Schlereth

Let's see. The following players were not on the 25-man roster last year, an honest mistake that perhaps presumes a major-league call-up when one is not imminent, or ignores an injury that only insiders really pay attention to:

Clete Thomas, Wilkin Ramirez, Robinzon Diaz, Daniel Schlereth

Fine. Down to 13 players with 4 in the minors (Wilkin was traded mid-season)

Except, some players were no longer with the organization: Nate Robertson and Marcus Thames.

Oh, and one was no longer playing professional baseball. I'm looking at you Jarrod Washburn.

So that cuts us down to 10 players. Of those, Joel Zumaya, Carlos Guillen and Magglio Ordonez would miss significant portions of the season to injury.

That leaves us with a core team of Miguel Cabrera, Rick Porcello, Brandon Inge, Jeremy Bonderman (!), Phil Coke, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.

If Topps is only able to accurately predict 10 players off of your 25-man roster, you're in trouble. If only 7 of those players actually play for most of the season, you're in even bigger trouble. 2010 was a rough year, and looking back on it, we really should have seen it coming.

Up next: The team we have--a look at the 2011 Team Set

Back to Back

#22 Victor Martinez 2011 Topps - Black Diamond (Redemption)

#57 Miguel Cabrera 2011 Topps - Black Diamond (Redemption)

I think that this may be the first time that I've ever gone to back to back baseball games to start the season. Based on last night's attendance at Camden Yards I'm not the only one for whom this is a rare occurrence. Still, me and my 5-person party of Tigers fans thoroughly enjoyed watching the Tigers do what we all wanted them to do this year. Play well.

It wasn't all perfect, but it made for a great game. At no point did things feel out of hand, but it was never at the point where I was sick-to-my-stomach nervous about things falling apart. Some points of note:

• Brennan Boesch reached on an error--a bad error, since it really wasn't very windy last night and that pop up should have been caught--which was folowed up by a walk to Peralta. With Alex Avila at the plate, having looked relatively helpless so far this season, a wild pickoff throw advances Boesch to 3rd. At this point my wife says something like "Avila is going to do something here. Weird errors like that have a way of snapping you into reality and breaking you out of a slump." And lo.
• Alex Avila was great. He won the game for the Tigers.
• Verander. See Above. Was filthy and got better later in the game, while clocking in not too far from 100 pitches. A phenomenal start.
• Back to Back home runs from Cabrera and VMart. Immediately prior to those at bats I thought that both of them had looked lost at the plate, especially Cabrera. Shows what I know.
• Maggs crushed the ball all night, but got only two singles to show for it. He's about to break out in a big way.
• Jhonny "Rhange" Peralta. He took a horrible angle to miss a routine ground ball earlier in the game, but made up for it with a couple very nice plays on balls up the middle(ish).
• Camden Yards. Still one of the nicest places to see a ballgame, especially on a 50 degree evening. The win made my walk home that much easier.

It was a great night all around. Back to back games for me and back to back home runs for the Tigers. Let's see if the Tigers can make it back to back wins tonight.

The two cards shown above are part of the "Black Diamond" redemption set from 2011 Topps. I actually got both of them in the mail before the game yesterday, which made the Cabrera/VMart homer parade feel all the more appropriate. This is a great little set from Topps. I certainly hope it continues into Series 2 and the Update Set, as these are the only two (non-autographed) Tigers that exist.

What's The Story with Topps 60?

I thought that I was going to avoid this.

I like 2011 Topps, really I do. It's just that sometimes certain things that are supposed to be cool or are supposed to resonate or are supposed to mean something just, well, don't.

Take Topps 60 for example. What a concept! 60 years of Topps baseball, league leaders in major categories, a true chronicling of the greats of the game during Topps' existence.

See?


LEAGUE LEADER baby. In HOME RUNS. That's some good stuff. And even the design, which I've heard some griping about, is neat. The 60 gives a window into the context of the picture and makes the player stand out, all while being neither obnoxious or boring. Oh and it gets better, look at what Tigers are featured in this series!



Al Kaline! Mr. Tiger Himself!



"The Bird," Mark Fidrych! (may he rest in peace)



Max Scherzer, the up and coming Ace in #2 starter's clothes!



Johnny Damon! Sure, he was only a Tiger for one year, but he was good, and nice, and my wife likes how he looks, and he's been a darn good player for a long time.

This, my friends, is a Killer Series 1 checklist for the Tigers. It gets my seal of approval many times over.

But, oh and there is always a but, it's not all rainbows and lollipops. The checklist is good, and I guess that is what matters, but just because you can slap a sticker autograph on something doesn't mean you're allowed to get lazy. AN AUTOGRAPH DOES NOT MAKE THE CARD, THE CARD MAKES THE AUTOGRAPH. If you think I'm wrong, then tell me why some autographed cards sell for many times more than other ones of the same player. It's about the card. If it wasn't, you'd spend your money on an 8x10 or a mini helmet or on some other memorabilia.

Why then, on these "hits," are we subjected to such elite records as:

"Most Consecutive 80 Run Seasons in the AL"
"Most MLB Strikeouts Per 9 Innings 2009-2010"
"Most Times Played in MLB All Star Game for AL"
"Most Single Season Complete Games, Last 35 Years"

Actually, now that I look at these a little more, I don't hate the category selection. All Star Games? Complete Games? Somewhat obscure records? With the exception of the (stupid) K/9 2009-2010 "record," I can deal with these. It actually makes them kind of fun, and more interesting then AL HR Leader (sorry Miggy).

Oh, but it gets worse:


3(t) :-/


4(t) :(



4(t) :'(



9 >:(

Weak. I'm so glad that I have an autographed card of the person with the 9th best K/9 ratio in 2009-2010. Or that the person tied for the 3rd-most complete games in the last 35 years has been recognized. I get it. You want a strong checklist and need to figure out some way to do that, but if you're going to just opt for the everybody's got a record route, at least make sure they have a record, right?

I guess I won't punch a gift horse in the mouth (Edit: Apparently I have the intelligence of some boob on Yahoo Answers but I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth either. Thanks to my Johnny Damon-loving wife for pointing this out to me.), but I just have to ask. Why?

To make matters worse, I'm 99% sure that they don't fill out each category. In other words, each of the Top 10 in each category isn't featured on a card, making things seem even more arbitrary and random.