Set Appreciation Post #8 - 2010 Topps USA Baseball

 I enjoyed making these Set Appreciation posts this summer, so I am going to try to get back into looking at the old sets hanging out in my closet. USA Baseball sets are always pretty small, so it seemed like it might be a good place to start back. I have been going to USA Baseball teams since 2006, so I got to see the college players in this set in person. Pretty good team, a few of the players worked out, a few flamed out. The usual with watching amateur players.  

Before we get into the set, here was the roster for the College National Team during the summer of 2010.  Players from the 18U and 16U teams were also included in the set, but I mainly buy these cards for the college kids.  

Again, a good mix of players here.   

Basic Design 

There are never any really well designed USA Baseball sets.  Most people just collect these cards for the autographs, right?  Maybe there is a good design out there, but I am just not thinking of it at the moment.  They always just seem bland with very little effort.  This one might be a little worse than some of the others.  

Here is the front of the card.  

What do you want me to say?  

Looks like it could be the design for the 2022 Topps base set.  Some squiggly lines around the border with a red, white, and blue color scheme.  I spent time looking for something that was good about the card.  I like that they identify the level of the team on the front of the card.  

That's it.  

Back of the card.  

None of the players have stats on the back of the cards, just a short write up about their playing career.  Some of the "this player reminds scouts of....", or "this player is just like........", or "this player models their game after......" tend to not age very well.  

ARod.  Albert Amora.  No.  

This was originally a boxed set.  If I remember correctly, you got the complete set along with one autograph per box.  Everyone bought these for the one autograph.  At least, I hope they did.  

I Bought This For An Autograph 

Do people buy USA Baseball cards for the base cards?  

No.  

Do people buy USA Baseball cards for the autographs? 

Yes.  

I keep repeating it.  Keep telling yourself the same thing if you are buying these cards for any other reason.   

I watch the games at USA Baseball.  I try to pick out some players that I think are going to be good, buy their autographs, and store them away for a few years.  I pulled an autograph of South Carolina outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. out of my set.  

Solid Major League player and the 2018 American League Championship Series MVP.  Jackie Bradley Jr. was a great college player.  If he's not in the University of South Carolina's Hall of Fame, he will be before long.  Bradley helped South Carolina win the College World Series and took home the College World Series MVP.  He was awesome in college.  Bradley ended up being a first round selection by the Red Sox, so this was a pretty good pull at the time this set was released.  

Also decided to pick up an autograph of a UCLA pitcher who seemed to be a pretty good college pitcher.  Heard that this guy turned out to be fair pitcher.  Picked this up a few years ago while he was pitching for the Pirates. 

Special Guest Appearance By....The Durham Bulls Athletic Park 

The USA Baseball teams regularly use the Durham Bulls Athletic Park for their home games.  Yes, USA Baseball has their own complex a short distance away in Cary, North Carolina, but there are always a few appearances by the DBAP in every USA Baseball card set.  

In fact, most USA Baseball cards are either taken at either the USA Baseball complex or in Durham.  Here is the USA Baseball complex field.  Note the tall green screen in center field and pine trees behind the outfield wall.  

This card has a photograph taken at the USA Baseball complex.  

Green screen with trees in the background.  

Here is the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  

Dark blue walls and dugouts.  The seats are also dark blue.   Green manual scoreboard.  Ads on the outfield walls.  

A few cards from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.....

and a few more cards from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  

It's nice that Topps put all these cards with pictures from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in this set.  

This might be the best part of this set.  

Best Cardinals Card(s) 

Not sure there are many great options here, so I went with the only two Major League Cardinals players who appeared in this set.  Neither player spent much time with the team.  

First up is Clemson shortstop Brad Miller.  He appeared for the Cardinals last season, and was about the only person outside of Paul Goldschmidt who hit at all last year.  

Miller was on the USA Baseball College team multiple years, including one where he was backed-up by Hawaii infielder Kolten Wong.  Miller has been a solid Major Leaguer, but very good college baseball player.  

Carson Kelly also appears in the set as a member of the 16 U team.  

Kelly was one of the catchers was supposed to take over the catching job from Yadier Molina before he was traded away for Paul Goldschmidt.  I believe the Cardinals originally drafted him as a third baseman and moved him to catcher after a few years in the Minors.  The picture on this card is a little odd.  He is listed as a pitcher and an outfielder, but it looks like he is playing 2nd Base.  

Not the best pair, but it's not like Topps has any control of where amateur players end up during their professional careers.  

Best Durham Bulls Player 

Mikie Mahtook was a great player at LSU.  He was an All-American and helped the Tigers win the 2009 College World Series Championship.  He ended up getting drafted by the Rays and was on the Durham Bulls a few years after that.  

Here's the card.  

This might be my favorite card. Mahtook is a player who ended up on the Durham Bulls for a few seasons, and the photograph on this card appears to have been taken at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  Mahtook made the 2014 International League All-Star team, held in Durham, and is a bit of a fan favorite locally.  Mikie has played a few years in the Majors, but he's never really been a regular player outside part of a year for the Tigers.  

In fact, I think he's most memorable play in the Majors was getting a home run taken away by Alex Gordon, but not before he gave the first base coach a high five. 

Alex Gordon turns Mikie Mahtook's redemption dinger into a spectacular out: https://t.co/xzOZey1Srn pic.twitter.com/L7bqHjQcZo

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 4, 2017

 It was a spectacular catch, but we have other things to talk about here.  

The Best Non-Cardinal Card 

There were a few different choices here, but I went with Francisco Lindor.  

Seemed like a pretty easy choice.  

How Does It Compare?  

Welp.  I have done a really good job of poker facing my way through this post.  I am really glad that Topps no longer makes the USA Baseball products.  Between the three major manufacturers that have held the license over the past twenty years, Topps did the worst job.  This set has a really boring design and packaging the cards as a set with a single autograph just feels a bit lazy.  

It's easily the worst set that I have posted this year.  

8. 2010 Topps USA Baseball  

7. 2000 UD Ionix 

6. 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

5. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

4. 2001 Fleer EX 

3.1979 Kellogg's 

2. 2002 Topps Super Teams

1. 1983 Topps 

You Dashed My Hopes

Back in February I was really excited about the Cardinals trading for Marcell Ozuna.  He was coming off a career year with the Marlins and he seemed like a good consolation prize for the Birds losing out on Giancarlo Stanton.  I immediately went out and found a few cool Marcell Ozuna cards.  This Heritage autograph was probably my favorite....

I also assembled a list of other Marcell Ozuna cards that might be fun to track down during the season.  Life seemed good until the season actually started.  There were moments early in the year where Ozuna looked really good....

but the majority of the season was completely disappointing. 

My list of Ozuna cards went by the wayside and none of them appeared in my collection.  I am still not sure if I will ever really take the time to go track them down, unless things drastically change in terms of his on the field production.  Ozuna is also a free agent after this season, which could be a good thing if he does not hit. 

Topps has gotten around to making Ozuna cards in a Cardinals uniform.  They even got around to making an autographed card of him for the Topps Tek set.  Kind of a spontaneous get, but it is a nice looking card....

I always enjoy this set, although I have given up on even figuring out all of the different patterns on the modern edition of these cards.  The metal looking thing behind the players on this year's issue look like something out of the Metal Universe cards, a little out of place.  It does not ruin the card or anything though.  

I picked up one other Topps Tek card of a Cardinals player.....  

of catching prospect Carson Kelly.  I have actually been avoiding his cards a bit the past two years.  I know many see him as the catcher of the future with the Cardinals, but it also appears that Yadier Molina is not slowing down at all.  Wouldn't be shocked if the Cardinals do not use him in a trade.  In the meantime, he ended up with a card in the Topps Tek set.  It was not quite free, but y'all know you have to take advantage of combined shipping.  

2013 Bowman Carson Kelly

This is my first autograph of Cardinals third base prospect Carson Kelly in a Cardinals uniform.  I have two other autographs of Kelly, but both are in a USA Baseball uniform.  This card comes from the 2013 Bowman set and is one of the few Cardinals autographs that Topps put into this years set.  The card is a sticker autograph, but offers collectors a better quality autograph than Kelly used for his USA Baseball Autographs.  It looks like he's practiced a little bit.  The card is very affordable and can easily be found for less than $5.

2013 Bowman Carson Kelly Autograph

Carson Kelly is currently playing in the New York-Penn league for the Cardinals A ball team the State College Spikes.  He's currently posting a .281/.349/.373 line and has only 1 home run in about 150 ABs.  While he's off to a slow start this season, especially in the power department, many still think Carson Kelly is a prime prospect.  Baseball America ranks Carson Kelly as the ninth best prospect in the loaded Cardinals system.  However, Kelly faces competition at the position from Stanford product Stephen Piscotty who has recently been promoted out of A ball to the Cardinals AA team in Springfield, Mo. 

2013 Topps Chasing History Matt Holliday Jersey

I picked up the Carson Kelly card in a trade and also managed to score a Matt Holliday jersey card to even out the trade a bit.  This is my second copy of this card, but it's always good to have a few extra Holliday cards hanging around.  

2010 Topps USA Baseball Carson Kelly Autograph

I picked up my second Carson Kelly autograph this past week.  According to FanGraphs, Kelly is rated as a Top 10 prospect in the deep Cardinals minor league system.  While the front of the card lists Kelly as a right-handed pitcher, he is playing third base in the professional ranks and projects to have a very good bat with power potential.

2010 Topps USA Baseball Carson Kelly Autograph

As I mentioned before, this is my second Carson Kelly autograph.  My other Kelly autograph is also an on-card USA Baseball issue, but the signature clearly has evolved over time.  I actually prefer the signature on the 2011 card better, but still prefer this card to his first professional autograph which was issued in the Bowman Sterling set last fall and features a sticker autograph.  

2013 Topps Chasing The Dream Lance Lynn Jersey Card

Besides the Carson Kelly card, I also picked up a Lance Lynn jersey card.  This seems to be the basic Topps jersey card for the 2013 set, or the most common, but I am still happy to pick up a nice card of the Cardinals hurler.  

2011 Topps USA Baseball Carson Kelly Autograph

I remember ten or fifteen years ago going out and trying to find all the cool Cardinals prospect cards.  The list included Joe McEwing, Bo Hart, Jim Journell, and many other not so fabulous names.  Hart played a great half a season.  So did Super Joe McEwing, but the Cardinals generally lacked real talent.  Even J.D. Drew turned out to be a bit of a flop.  I guess at least the Cardinals traded him for Adam Wainwright.

Times have changed for Cardinals and for collectors looking for great young players in their farm system.  The team has been on the rise for the last several years and are now widely regarded as the top minor league by several different well respected baseball sites.  Finding Cardinals minor leaguers on cardboard has gone from a crawl to a sprint over the last several years.  It seems like there is always a new name to look for and they are getting hard and more expensive to find.  Meet my latest find:

2011 Topps USA Baseball Carson Kelly Autograph

Carson Kelly was drafted by the Cardinals as a third baseman last summer by the Cardinals.  He is often listed as a pitcher on his baseball cards, but is sticking with the hot corner for his professional career.  It's a little bit tricky to get a good read on where Kelly will fall as a professional.  He ranks highly with several different prospect sites, but his numbers in the minors are not all that great.  For example, FanGraphs ranks him in the top 10 with a very highly ceiling.  They even go as far to compare him to Buster Posey.  Not sure I am ready to get too hyped up about Carson Kelly, but his autographs usually sell in the ballpark of $5 to $10.  If you are going to roll the dice on someone who is a high ceiling prospect than I suppose that is a small price to pay.