One Hot April

2010 Topps Attax Miguel Cabrera "Hot Streak"

It's been quite the month for Miguel Cabrera. As MLB.com reports, despite going hitless on Wednesday and Thursday:

[Cabrera] still leads the league in RBIs (25) and is second in doubles (10). Cabrera also ranks among the leaders in a host of categories, including batting average (.330), on-base percentage (.419), hits (30) and total bases (55).

But wait, there's more:

Cabrera's April ranks with the best in franchise history, as he ranks second on the Tigers' charts in doubles (10), third in RBIs, fourth in extra-base hits (15) and seventh in total bases.

The best April in the history of the franchise which, last I checked, is not full of slouches. That's amazing. And I heartily agree that Cabrera has been incredible so far this season. But I think that many people don't realize just how good he is and, just how criminal it is that he hasn't sniffed an All-Star roster in his two seasons in Detroit. Back me up, stats:

What's more, Cabrera leads the league in home runs (76) and RBIs (255) since the start of 2008, when he became a Tiger.

Aka, Miguel Cabrera has been the most prolific power hitter in the American League since he joined the league two years ago. Detroit fans, please nod in knowing agreement. Everyone else, you may continue furrowing your brow in a futile attempt to understand.

Obviously, All-Star appearances are not the end all and be all of baseball, and it is mostly a popularity contest anyway, but you'd think that a player like this just might be able to squeeze onto a roster at some point.

Seems to me that this has been a little more than just a "Hot Streak."

Finally, for anyone who still harbors some bad memories following Cabrera's late season issues last year comes this bit from Lynn Henning, buried in an article about Big Ten Expansion:

Miguel Cabrera's recovery has been so complete and so convincing that I never hear the subject discussed, even privately. It was hashed out thoroughly during TigerFest in January. It was re-visited during spring training. But with Cabrera continuing to personally look like a new man, and with his hitting again on a different scale from the mere mortals who play baseball, the topic of his past alcohol abuse appears, happily, to be old news.

I think we can all agree that that is a good thing for everybody involved. Viva Miguel!

Tigers Gallery Checklist: 2010 Topps Attax

I get what Topps is trying to do with Attax. Create an inexpensive set loaded with stars and use it to create a game in the vein of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic: The Gathering or whatever the kids are playing these days. It's not a bad idea, really. They already wised up and started selling the cards as "Starter Packs" and "Booster Packs," so to speak. They've created special cards that have better numbers and are more potent in the game. On the surface, it seems like they're at least in the ballpark as far as the formula is concerned.

Call me a cynic, but it falls flat to me. As baseball cards these are nothing worth mentioning. The cards are pretty plain, don't have any numbers on the back (a pain for collectors like me who like things in order) and just don't have much going for them. The addition of the game elements detracts from the aesthetic as cards, IMO. What's more, Topps decided that their "Code Card" inserts needed a big ugly code box on the FRONT of the cards, which was a horrible, horrible choice. To summarize: Topps Attax baseball cards are lame.

But how about as a game? Will this actually appeal to kids? I'm not so sure. It seems to me that the kids that are interested in baseball are interested in baseball cards. Their cross-media stimulus is baseball, either in person or on tv or whatever. This is fundamentally different from the Japanese card games which seamlessly align with TV Shows, Action Figures and even movies. Not to say that the two don't have similar underpinnings, but it seems like the Japanese card games add a different element to the shows: they can invent characters and give them more dimension through the games and cross sell and market etc. Read this awesome "11 points" post on He-Man (of which I collected as many of its action figures as I could get my hands on and still remember them to this day. They were so awesome.) to see what I mean. On the flip side, baseball is already a game. Creating a game based on a game just doesn't seem like it enhances the experience in any way. Maybe I'm wrong. I haven't played the game.

Anyway, this gallery is what the Topps Attax cards are like. It gets a "yawn" from me, but maybe this will appeal to the youngsters out there. I can already see that Topps is pushing this HARD through in-game giveaways etc. Your Tigers:

Base Set Small base set, Granderson already photoshopped out, but otherwise good player choices. Interesting to see that Cabrera has similar "numbers" to Ordonez despite being the vastly superior player.

Miguel Cabrera	Brandon Inge	Magglio Ordonez
Rick Porcello	Justin Verlander

Inserts Just a few, and they get bonus points for 1) Being shiny and nice looking and 2) featuring different pictures than the base cards. The Code cards are Horrible, but the silver, gold and sepia foil (really, sepia foil cards? Is that a contradiction in terms? Sepia isn't really a color, but more of a warming, classic tone. I'm sick of things being called Sepia. /digression) are all nice looking. Plus, they "power up" your player to better stats in the game! Wooo!

Justin Verlander Code Card	Miguel Cabrera "Hot Streak"	Justin Verlander "Superstar"
Ty Cobb "Legend"

Topps Attax "Battle of Ages" This is actually a separate release from Topps Attax that came out later in the year. It serves as a "booster" pack of sorts and features new players and cards that can be seamlessly integrated into the Attax game. There are two Tigers in the set:

Ty Cobb	Justin Verlander

Grand Galleries: 2010 Topps Attax

If there is one gripe that I have about Topps Attax, it is that its cards are not numbered. This makes things annoying. However, that inconvenience is significantly ameliorated by the fact that this is a simple, simple release. You have a base set, you have some code cards, and you have some shiny inserts. What's nice is that because this is a game the inserts are not pointless but rather desirable and superior versions of the player's regular card, based on the higher "stats" on the bottom. What's more, Topps decided to use different pictures on the inserts and base cards which is a huge, huge, huge plus.

For Granderson collectors, the set is simple. Base card, code card, Gold Insert. Done and done. He's a Yankee in all three (unsurprisingly), with the Gold card being the superior one of the bunch IMO. The code card comes away the loser, despite whatever magical e-goodies it holds because seriously, why would you put a big ugly code on the front of the card? They did this last year's Attax too and in 2010 Opening Day to some degree.

For your convenience, all of Granderson's 2010 Topps Attax cards in one place. Some places (e.g. other checklists) have these cards numbered, based on an alphabetical ordering of the checklist, but to my knowledge, there are no numbers on the cards themselves.

Curtis Granderson	Curtis Granderson Code Card	Curtis Granderson Gold "Superstar"

Mail Day!

When I walked in the door last night, I was greeted with the most wonderful sight of all...a yellow padded envelope. This one was courtesy of Baseball Dad over at All Tribe Baseball who decided to send me a package out of the goodness of his heart. And what a package it was!

Following up on my completion of the Topps "Black" Tigers set, I set my sights on the Target Throwbacks. Having only pulled 3 in the group break, I was thrilled to see two new additional starting back at me when I opened the envelope up.

The first was of a diving Edgar Renteria, showing the athleticism and range that were notably absent during his time in Detroit. I actually think that he performed better than the prevailing wisdom would indicate, but was still the uninspired result of what may still go down as being the worst trade in Tigers history.

2009 Topps Target "Throwback" #253 Edgar Renteria

The next shot is of former Catcher/Utility Player/3rd Baseman/Catcher, and current 3rd Baseman Brandon Inge. Here he is showing of his Catcher's gear for the first time since 2004. Also, when I first thought this, I thought that it was some bad-ass post action shot or walk back to the dugout after an inning ending putout picture. Then I saw the Gatorade bottle in the glove and realized that he's probably walking from the bullpen to the bench on a day when Pudge Rodriguez was starting, which is kind of sad:

2009 Topps Target "Throwback" #34 Brandon Inge

Here's his last Topps card as a catcher, performing a very nice no-look tag:

2004 Topps #199 Brandon Inge

Those two cards chopped my wantlist for the throwbacks down to 4. But the real gem of the package is what came next:

2009 Topps Attax Curtis Granderson

Now, there doesn't seem to be a number on these cards, and I didn't realize that he his the change-up with enough proficiency to warrant a "94" on the Topps Attax scale of which I have no working knowledge, but this card is fantastic--and the first 2009 Granderson that I've received from the goodness of another blogger's heart. With only 16 Granderson cards released in 2009 sets to date, this card was actually a great leap forward for my collection so far this year.

Thanks Baseball Dad and may your future packs be loaded with Indians!