A Pair of Pumas

Baseball starts tomorrow for my Cardinals tomorrow when they play their first spring training game.  In a few weeks they will begin their regular season and a quest for the 12th World Series Championship in the franchise's illustrious history.  The last championship for the team occurred in 2011 and last season the team came within a game of returning to the World Series falling to the Giants in the National League Championship Series.

The Cardinals have generally left the roster alone this off-season making a few small moves to add or subtract players.  In my opinion, the biggest move this year was the the subtraction of first baseman/outfielder Lance Berkman.  Understandably, Allen Craig has established himself as the everyday first baseman and the outfield is crowded with Jon Jay, Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, and uber prospect Oscar Taveras.

While the team is in good hands for the future and Berkman only played one healthy season, with the 2011 World Series team, during his time in St. Louis, the presence of the Big Puma will be missed.  My favorite Berkman moment came during the sixth game of the 2011 World Series.  While many people remember the show that David Freese put on tying the game in the 9th inning with two outs and two strikes, and then later winning the game on a walk off home run, I will always remember the Berkman at-bats that made it possible.

First, in the ninth inning Berkman walked in front of Freese and scored from first base when the Cardinals third baseman tripled to left field.  The Rangers came back in the tenth and took a two run lead when Josh Hamilton hit a two run home run.  That home run set the stage for the Cardinals second at-bat of the night taken with two outs and two strikes.  My favorite Berkman highlight:

Of course, I also knew Berkman for the many years he played on the Astros as the Cardinals rival.  While I was not pulling for the Astros to win, their teams featured classy players and were much easier to watch and enjoy than the mid 80s Mets teams, or frankly any Cubs team from any year.  So, even though the Big Puma has taken his talents to the Rangers for the 2013 season, I am still going to add more Berkman cards to my collection.  Especially ones where he is wearing the birds on the bat.  

2013 Topps Chasing History Lance Berkman Jersey

First up this evening is a Lance Berkman from the newly released 2013 Topps series one set.  The card hails from the Chasing History set which features a small piece of Cardinals road jersey and a blurb about a record the player has, or is chasing.  In this case, the card recognizes Berkman as the National League's all-time OPS record holder for a switch hitter.  I was quite surprised that he ranks ahead of Chipper Jones, but he does indeed hold the record.  

2012 Topps Triple Threads Lance Berkman Jersey

Last one for the day.  I also picked up a 2012 Topps Triple Threads Lance Berkman jersey card.  This is my second Lance Berkman Triple Threads jersey card from the 2012 set, but I like this one since Lance is sporting his shades.  Look through a stack of Lance cards, or just watch him the next time you see a Rangers game on and chances are good that Lance might be rocking some really cool sun glasses.  

The Problem with Triple Threads

Yesterday, I posted a write up about the Topps Triple Threads releases starting with the original issue in 2006, all the way through this year's release.  I cited the positives of the set, but today I here to discuss some of the weaknesses of the set and also offer up my usual alternative piece about a set (in another post).  Let's start by finishing the argument on the Triple Threads set.  I see two major problems with this set that prevent it from being a slam dunk every year that force me to rank my favorite annual release in the bottom half of important card sets over the last 30 years.  

Stickers are stupid, single jerseys are lame
If you are going to have a high end product then why not get the players to sign on card autographs?  It's well established that the Triple threads product is going to sell for Topps regardless of whether or not the boxes cost collectors $150, $170, or $200.  I would pay a little bit more to get a card with a players signature on the piece of cardboard and not on a sticker.  I know a lot of other collectors who feel the same way.  Further, if you are going to have players sign stickers than spare me the single jersey pieces.  I recently picked up the jersey card below:

2012 Topps Triple Threads Lance Berkman

This is a pretty nice card and as sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow morning I was going to end up with a copy of a Lance Berkman Triple Threads jersey card this year.  Topps made one, he's on the Cardinals.  I am sold.  Wait a second, this is a high end product.  Why am I getting one piece of jersey in the shape of a home plate?  Lame.  Lame. Lame.  Jersey pieces must cost card companies the same amount of money as a snack pack of Fritos.  Seriously, how many little squares can they cut out of one jersey?  I am not sure where the blogger is who makes his own custom cards, I see it on my Blogger role and they are cool, but I want something cooler.  All Lance Berkman Triple Threads cards should say "PUMA" or "FAT ELVIS" or something better.  I am pretty sure such a card would not break the bank.  It's clear after collecting this set for seven years that the bottom line for Topps is the bottom line.  I know I am not stating anything revolutionary, but nowhere is it clearer than with the production of this set.  

Donruss, Leaf, Pinnacle, New Pinnalce, Score, and the rest of our friends

I remember in 1998 the overabundance of cards issued by Donruss.  They single handedly put out my cardboard than most companies put out in a decade.  Seriously, they put out like 30 sets.  Worse than putting out 30 sets they were all the same thing with different designs.  Same price points, similar inserts.  It was like they were competing against themselves.  

Here we are fourteen years later and we have one card company that makes the same silly mistakes that card companies made over a decade ago.  Seriously, Topps Heritage, Allen & Ginter, Gypsy Queen, and T206 are really similar.  Many years they are all released and have similar autographs, relics, etc.  Topps does it with all their products though.  Look at this year's calendar.  You've got Tier One, Museum Collection, and now Five Star.  They are all really similar products and not very far away from Triple Threads when you look closely.  For example, in Triple Threads you get several pieces of jersey that spell something out.  In Museum Collection you get a big piece of jersey.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Evan Longoria 7 Piece Relic

2012 Topps Museum Collection Evan Longoria Jumbo Jersey

They're the same thing basically, but by releasing two similar products Topps is really just competing against itself in one argument, or worse they are dressing the same thing up and selling it to collectors twice.  Personally, I like the DIRTBAG card better, but if I just had to settle for a huge chunk of Longoria's jersey I'd be cool.  Anyway, it would be nice of Topps to stop issuing some of the extra sets, like Museum Collection, which just last for a year or two and disappear.