Manu Excellence

Topps has been issuing manupatches for the past five years.  While they weren't necassarily the first company to use manupatches in their products, they have continued to evolve the products throughout the years.  Topps started off in 2008 when they issued an All-Star Patch for the members of the National and American League teams.  While the cards didn't really look like a patch, they were still really fun to collect.

2008 Topps Matt Holliday National League All-Star Patch

2008 Topps Justin Verlander American League All-Star Patch

Note the bottom corner of the Holliday Patch card differs from the Verlander patch.  The World Series logo was added to the bottom of his card since the Rockies appeared in the World Series in the fall of 2007.  Kind of unique.  Topps also issued a set of Red Sox patches commemorating their 2007 World Series Championship.  

2008 Topps Jason Varitek World Series Patch

Topps continued their venture into manupatches in 2009.  They issued two forms of patches that year in the form of letter patches and All-Star and Postseason patches.  The manupatches took on more of a patch appearance.  The letter patch sets were very similar to the By The Letter set that Upper Deck used in their SP Authentic releases.  The Topps letter patches, unsigned, featured many great Hall of Famers.  I worked on putting together a few of these sets for some different Cardinals players and Browns Hall of Famer George Sisler.  

2009 Topps Legendary Letters Commemorative Patch Rogers Hornsby

The All-Star and Postseason Patches were also pretty cool and continued into the 2010 Topps releases. I enjoyed the 2010 All-Star and Postseason patches a little bit more than the 2009 version.  The 2009 manupatches had a strong focus on the All-Star games.  For example, Topps did issue a Postseason patch for the Cardinals in 2009 that featured Stan Musial's 1942 appearance in the World Series.  The Cardinals All-Star Patch release in 2009 actually featured Frank Robinson as an Oriole and not a Cardinals player.  

The 2010 manupatches aligned the players and teams to a specific event that was likely memorable for for fans.  Willie Stargell was decked out in an all yellow Pirates polyester jersey with a 70s inspired 1979 Word Series patch.  Where there Cubs cards?  My two favorite Postseason patches were the Evan Longoria 2009 American League Championship Series patch and the 1982 World Series Patch of Ozzie Smith.  

2010 Topps Ozzie Smith 1982 World Series Patch

2010 Topps Evan Longoria 2008 ALCS Patch

Topps also release a set of hat patches in 2010, but I wasn't a huge fan of the set.  Some of the logos followed the traditional hat logos, but some of them mimicked the holiday hats that the Major League teams wear on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.  Pretty ridiculous when you team up a modern tradition with a player like Mickey Mantle, Frank Robinson, or many other retired greats from a previous era.  

The 2010 Topps Update featured manu-bat barrels.  Really cool.  Topps also offered variations on the barrels with limited print runs.  Plain wood barrels were numbered to 99, black to 25, and pink to 1.  Excellent concept from Topps to give the patches a bit of a break.  

2010 Topps Update Alfonso Soriano ManuBat Card 

Topps returned to the patches in 2011 and went with a retro theme picking out cool logos from the past and pairing them with a current player on the franchise.  There were many cool patches issued throughout the set and were really fun to collect not only across a favorite team, but also remembering some of the cool logos in other teams pasts.  Thought about going with the Mariners pitchfork, but here are two equally cool examples:

2011 Topps Evan Longoria 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays Patch

2011 Topps Andrew McCutchen 1984 Pittsburgh Pirates Patch

This year Topps went manucrazy for some baseball history.  They started out with three manu-products in their initial Topps base products.  First, they had player patches that featured the last names of Hall of Famers stitched in cursive across an older piece of fabric.  These reminded somewhat of the 2008 manupatches, because they were patches in name only.  Not really very patch like at all.  Not their best effort, but just a warm-up for the manu-excellence that would follow.  

2012 Topps Historic Stitches Bob Gibson Patch 

The other two manu-products followed closer to the bat barrel products issued in the 2010 Update set.  They took a piece of baseball and turned it into a cool product.  For example, the second product in the initial Topps base releases this year was a set of Retired Rings.  This set featured some of the all-time greats of the game with a cool piece of ring with the player's retired jersey number on the ring.  Topps also issued a similar set of patches in their retail boxes, but the reitred number was stitched and not displayed on a ring.  I love the rings, but the retail numbers are also excellent.

2012 Topps Commemorative Retired Number Patch Stan Musial

2012 Topps Retired Rings Stan Musial

Topps also issued an excellent set of World Series pins in their base set this year.  Assuming your team has won a World Series in recent years, then they likely have at least one card in this set.  The pins are metal and generally follow the same design pattern across the different eras of players shown on the cards.  For example, the 1967 Cardinals pin on the Bob Gibson card is nearly identical to the Albert Pujols pin for the 2006 World Championship team.  It would be cool if the pins were somehow unique, but this manu-concept was another excellent collectible for fans.  

2012 Topps Bob Gibson 1967 World Series Pin

Which brings us to the end and in my opinion the best manu-product Topps has issued over the past five years.  I really enjoyed tracking down these two cards from the 2012 Topps Update set featuring Ozzie Smith and Stan Musial.  The cards hail from the Gold Hall of Fame Plaque Set.

2012 Topps Update Stan Musial Gold Hall of Fame Plaque

2012 Topps Update Ozzie Smith Gold Hall of Fame Plaque

I have had a stand alone blog post for a Sandy Koufax autograph, but never a manupatch.  However, these cards might be worthy of such a distinction.  I have been impressed by how much Topps has been able to evolve the manupatch cards over the past five years and think that this latest effort is by far their best effort.  Definitely worthy of a tip of the cap to Topps for producing a quality product and continuing to innovate the manupatches.  Looking forward to what the 2013 releases bring.  

  

30 Year Top 50: 1991 Bowman

#44- It's funny what turns people away from and then back towards certain card sets.  I think I busted a few packs of 1991 Bowman cards and stopped quickly.  This was the third Bowman release which had quickly abandoned the borrowed 1953 Bowman Color design it used in the 1989 release for two consecutive years of rainbow bordered junk.  Here's one of my favorites:

1991 Bowman Donovan Osborne

I considering going with Geronimo Pena, but he might deserve his own blog post one of these days.  So, style wise this set is kind of a dud, but my opinions about it changed greatly over the past twenty years.  The tide started to turn during the 1998 home run race.  I spent some time that summer following the some of the other home run hitters around the National League and really enjoyed getting a chance to see Jeromy Burnitz.  I cannot find a Jeromy Burnitz video that shows his swing, but I feel like this 1998 Upper Deck Ovation card catches the best part of it.  He had a really long swing and a really long follow thru.  I don't think he ever got cheated on a swing.  Ever.

1998 Upper Deck Ovation Jeromy Burnitz

So, I was enjoying the Jeromy Burnitz swing and on my next trip into my local card shop I started looking around for some Burnitz cards.  The shop owner quickly prompted me to a cheapy table of late 1980's wax and a few odds and ends.  In the middle of the table: 1991 Bowman Sets.  I actually considered not buying the set.  They were on clearance for $10.  He also had some Score wax for $5.  I bought the set, took it home, and threw it in the closet sealed.  I eventually stumbled upon a loose single copy of the Burnitz rookie and was happy to add a second to my collection.

1991 Bowman Jeromy Burnitz

Sometime in between 2000-2005 I forgot I had the set.  It was in my closet of baseball cards, but it was largely ignored.  I the fall of 2005 I moved to Durham, North Carolina for a new job.  In finding a new job I also found out that sports card stores in North Carolina are mainly about basketball cards.  Instead of walking in the door hearing about a cool Cardinals card, or great autographed ball someone just got, I had to hear about either the Heels, Deacs, Devils, or Wolfpack.  Disappointed, I spent one Saturday morning driving out to a Flea Market somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.  

The selection at the sports cards tables was sparse.  There was the ever present cool ACC basketball stuff.  One guy tried to convince me that I needed a Ralph Sampson signed basketball to complete my collection.  I settled for an old friend.  A $7.00 box of 1991 Bowman with sticks of gum.  I took the box home and started busting open packs.  I was amazed at the quality of rookie cards in the set.  Amazed.  Here they are:

1991 Bowman Chipper Jones  

1991 Bowman Jeff Bagwell

1991 Bowman Jim Thome

1991 Bowman Ivan Rodriguez

1991 Bowman Mike Mussina

I returned to the Flea Market a few weeks later, bought a second box, and finished off the set.  I am proud to own two copies of this set, I still have the factory set too, and I frequently flip through the cards.  Tell me this:  What other set can you buy as inexpensively as you can buy this one and guarantee yourself the rookie cards of four Hall of Famers and one really good pitcher?  I cannot think of one.  I have ever come to appreciate the awesome borders on this set.  They are a good feature of any early 90s Topps release.  This set is a great add to any collection.   

Like the 1991 Bowman Set?  Not in my Top 50 is the 1989 Bowman Set.  Topps issued this product to relaunch the Bowman product which has put out a set ever since this release.  Theses cards borrowed their style and size from the 1953 Bowman Color release.  If you own any old Bowman cards you know they are a quarter inch larger than the standard trading cards issued today.  

1989 Bowman Ozzie Smith

The reissue of Bowman not only served as a relaunch, but also acted as a traded set/prospect set for the company.  Many people complain about the 1989 set not resembling the current product at all in style or in substance, but the substance argument is actual dead wrong.  A quick flip through the set and you will see many players that were draft picks or prospects.  In fact, every team has at least one prospect or draft pick card in it's team set in addition to the veteran players.  For example, the Giants draft pick is none other than Miguel Tejada from Moneyball: Royce Clayton.  

1989 Bowman Royce Clayton

The most important rookie/prospect card in this set belongs to Ken Griffey Jr.  The Bowman Griffey rookie is actually my second favorite behind the classic 1989 Upper Deck rookie.  The card has a really clean look and he is not wearing a minor league uniform like the Upper Deck card.

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey Jr. 

  

Topps also used the 1989 Bowman set as a traded/update set that year in addition to the regular release of the Topps Traded set.  The most significant update card that year was the Texas Rangers issue Nolan Ryan card.  

1989 Bowman Nolan Ryan

Overall, the 1989 Bowman set is another great set from the late eighties that is worth adding to your card collection.  It has great pictures and design elements combined with a great checklist of players.  You can find these sets for around $10.  Worth your time and money to find.  

  

  

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Friends Don't Let Friends Airbrush

Two weeks ago Topps released its third and final installment of its base product for the year.  The Update set included the usual assortment or rookies and traded players from the baseball season, but also included one curious baseball card of Brian Fuentes.

2012 Topps Update Brian Fuentes 

Any guesses as to what is wrong with this picture?  It would appear that Topps placed Fuentes in a Cardinals uniform wearing the uniform number 57.  The 57 jersey number has not been worn by a Cardinals player since June 22, 2002 when the late Darryl Kile died in his hotel room in Chicago.  Buy a Tony LaRussa book and you can read about the whole thing.  Now, the number is not on the left-field wall where all the retired numbers of the Cardinals are recognized.  It's not even listed on the website.  However, there is a plaque in the Cardinals bullpen and more curiously if you try to buy a customized 57 jersey from the Cardinals or MLB the website will turn you down.  

Obviously some people were a little steamed that this card was issued and Topps acted about two or three weeks too late and issued a statement:

"We do our best to include all traded players and call ups in product, in effort to do this sometimes requires us to photoshop and made decisions upfront to get done. It appears we made mistakes on this card in effort to include. We apologize, Thank you."

So, in other words the quality and historical accuracy of the product means very little to Topps these days.  It's more important to get those cards in the packs and get them into the card shops and Target as quickly as possible.  A discussion ensued one morning on Twitter with a fellow Blogger and a highly respected collector when an employee of said card company wondered into my end of the conversation when I asserted that Topps would probably not make these types of errors with Yankees players.  Struck a nerve indeed.

The direct message read "This is about getting a product out by a deadline and it can't always be perfect.  Just look at Mark Mulder.  We messed up that airbrush and only some people got upset"

I knew of no such error on an airbrushed Mulder card, so I had to go look for myself.  Now, to the calendars credit the Cardinals and A's surprised everyone that offseason with the trade on December 18th, 2004.  The first series of Topps was released a month before the trade and prevent Topps from doing their usual airbrush butchering of a card.

2005 Topps Mark Mulder Series 1

Now, Topps clearly had time to issue a butchered version of Mulder in series 2 which released in April of that year, or heaven forbid got a current picture from spring training.  Luckily, they left Mulder out of series 2 and issued a picture of him during spring training in their Update set in late October.

2005 Topps Update Mark Mulder

That covers the base sets.  However, it doesn't cover some of the other releases from that year.  For example, this quality piece of air brushing.  

Clearly airburshed.  Note his cleats have somehow turned into low top Moon Boots.  You can also make out that Mulder is wearing the number 20, which is another retired number in St. Louis.  That number has not been worn by a Cardinals September 30, 1979 when Lou Brock retired from the sport. Curiously, Topps is not the only guilty company.  Donruss also placed Mulder in a Lou Brock uniform for at least two of their card releases in 2005.  They do have a better airbrush artist then Topps though.  

2005 Donruss Team Heroes Mark Mulder

2005 Donruss Classics Mark Mulder 

Now, for all the history talk that Topps spews out in their press releases and sets its funny how they seem to not respect it very much when it actually comes down to the cardboard.  This is one team and two different instances, but Topps should take note that there are better ways to handle players changing teams other than airbrushing something randomly at the last minute.  Let's take a look at how Upper Deck and Fleer handled that same trade.  Fleer first.

Now, at the beginning of 2005 Fleer was actually going through bankruptcy.  They had one final release to make in April which was their Fleer Platinum release.  They issued a great card of Mulder in his A's uniform in the follow through of his throwing motion.  Note the card places him on the Cardinals in the bottom right hand corner.  Overall, the card has a clean look with a nice picture.  

2005 Fleer Platinum Mark Mulder

Seems like a pretty sensible way to handle the Mulder trade.  How about Upper Deck?  They did release several Mulder cards that year.  Their first two card releases of 2005 were the Upper Deck ESPN and Upper Deck Artifacts sets.  Just like Fleer, Upper Deck steered clear of airbrushing Mulder in either set.  Instead, they used a picture of Mulder wearing an A's jersey and simply used the Cardinals markings and logos on the cards.  

2005 Upper Deck Artifacts Mark Mulder

2005 Upper Deck ESPN Mark Mulder

Mulder was not included in the early Upper Deck base sets as a Cardinals, but they did include him in their series 2 release during the summer.  Note this card features Mulder in an actual Cardinals uniform and not airbrushed.  

2005 Upper Deck Mark Mulder

So, what can we take away from all of this?  Sure, Topps wants to include players that have changed uniforms in their products and give collectors a chance to see all of the players from their teams in their new uniforms.  However, with the number of card releases that occur every year I don't see why this cannot be done without airbrushing and make absurd inaccurate cards.  Do I want a Brian Fuentes Cardinals card?  Sure, but if it means I have to wait until spring to see the uniform displayed the right way I can live with it.  Topps also should realize that they are the only card company that can display logos and uniforms on their cards.  Do it the right way.   

Bad Signatures?

I have made it to my first break in the school year and am excited about spending a little time the next few weeks at home with my cards.  In the wake of getting report cards out to students and setting up my room for next quarter I caught a glimpse of an article written by Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.  The former Phillie wrote the article in response to a case of balls he had signed by current Phillies players for a charity auction he was helping with.

If you read the article, Schmidt had problems reading the autographs of the current Phillie players and talked about the pride and passion he took in signing autographs for fans.  Kind of an interesting take when you think about how many times some players must be asked to sign.  So, I took a little bit of time this afternoon looked through my autographs and have picked out some of my favorites and least favorites and sorted them into some groups.  Let's take a look:

John Hancock?  No, Brad Fullmer.

There are a few players who still obviously take time and pride in their signatures.  These are my favorite three:

1999 SP Signature Brad Fullmer Autograph

I pulled this card out of a pack of SP Signature back at the Cape Girardeau Mall and was incredibly irked that I pulled this card out of a per pack autograph product.  A week later the card grew on me and it stayed in my collection.  Today, it has become the benchmark by which all autographs are judged.  Honestly, as a teacher I wish I could write that neat and would probably guess that a Brad Fullmer autograph line would include a sign that would stress patience and quality over quantity.  

2001 Topps Finest Terrence Long Autograph

This was another early favorite autograph.  I came for the left-handed version of the Terry Steinbach batting helmet, but was hooked by this cool signature.  Five star all the way.

2005 Upper Deck Signature Ken Griffey Jr. Decades Autograph

I have only seen Ken Griffey Jr. sign one in person autograph in my whole life and it took a long time as far as signatures go.  The man has signed autographs in every Upper Deck product for the past fifteen years and is now signing for Topps.  If you go on Ebay or COMC you have a wide variety of autographs to choose from over that time period.  What's incredible is that Griffey has not changed his autograph very much over that time.  Quite impressive in my book and a really good signature to boot.

Other nominees include: Drew Storen, Andre Dawson,  Harmon Killebrew, Jacque Jones, Jim Edmonds, Tony Gwynn, Victor Martinez,  Andres Galarraga, and Al Gionfriddo


Classics

These aren't the best or cleanest signatures, but I would recognize them anywhere.  I am sure many other collectors are in the same boat.

2000 SPX Chipper Jones Autograph

Chipper Jones has a nice signature and lots of certified autographs out on the market.  There are also a lot of autopen autograph floating around, so if you were going to invest in a Chipper 'graph I would spend the extra money to buy one that is certified.  I think his signature is a notch down from the group above, but is still an easily recognized autograph.  

1994 Upper Deck Mickey Mantle/Ken Griffey Jr. Dual Autograph

Classic Griffey autograph, but I also really like Mantle's autograph as well.  There is something about the M's that's really distinct.  Always been a fan of this signature.   

2004 Leaf Limited Andruw Jones Monikers Autograph

I was never quite sure how Andruw Jones got Andruw Jones out of this signature, but I could recognize it anywhere.  Andruw Jones has signed a ton of cards too.  Really an easy autograph to find.

Other nominees include: Todd Helton, Stan Musial, Ryan Howard, Mike Piazza, Nomar Garciaparra, Bob Gibson, Aubrey Huff, Orlando Cabrera, Carlos Delgado, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Mussina, Mike Schmidt, Jason Schmidt, and the Fabulous Molina Brothers.  

The Bad

I see two clear winners here.  First, the worst signature that I own clearly belongs to Geronimo Gil.  This is just simply horrible.  

2002 Donruss Originals Geronimo Gil Signature Marks Autograph

Fortunately, Donruss limited production of this card to only 200 copies.  I am guessing that it took all of ten minutes to sign all 200 cards.  Really bad.  

My other low style points autograph belongs to relief pitcher Jose Valverde.  The sad part about Valverde's signature is that he has changed it over time.  Changing, or evolving, signatures is really common.  Look at Mark McGwire or Enrique Wilson and you can see how a signature can transform in a positive manner over time.  Valverde....

Well, it start off poorly in 2002 when he autograph first appeared in the Bowman's Best release as a Diamondbacks prospect.  

2002 Bowman's Best Jose Valverde

Pretty bad stuff.  Now, Valverde has actually made his autograph worse.  He has signed for almost all of the Topps products this year and I haven't decided how this happened, but.....

2012 Topps Triple Threads Jose Valverde Jersey/Autograph

Other nominees include: Manny Ramirez, Greg Maddux, Jon Jay, Fernando Tatis, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and Justin Verlander 

Overall, I think that Schmidt makes some valid points about autographs.  Some of them can be difficult to read, or challenging to match up to a player.  It's obvious some players really don't care about how their signature looks and will just sign something to get it over with.  However, there are still players with really nice signatures who take pride in their autograph and give fans and collectors a nice product to seek out for their collections.  There are also players who might not have a recognizable signature, but can still be appreciated for it's effort and appearance, such as my current favorite:

2010 Topps Chrome Drew Storen Autograph

30 Year Top 50: 1996 SPX

#45- This was the only card set I could put on this list from 1996.  Not one of my favorite years, but this was my favorite set from that year.  This set was really popular when it was released and was starkly simple compared to some of the later releases of SPX Upper Deck would issue during the late 90s.  The set was a 60 card set with two commemorative cards, a Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr., and two autographed cards, a Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr., one parallel set, and an insert set of 10 cards.

2006 SPX Jeff Bagwell

The cards were all holographic.  Base cards, Inserts, and Autographs.  One of the real challenges of collecting this set was the fact that the cards on came one per pack, with a $3.50 per pack price, 24 packs a box meant it took a few boxes to put this set together.  The insert set, Bound for Glory, was seeded at one per box, but the Piazza and Griffey commemorative cards were seated at one out of three boxes for Griffey and one out of four boxes for Piazza.  Never quite sure if I bought the odds on the Piazza and Griffey cards.  I've opened a few boxes of this products over the years and I always seem to end up with one.  Hmmm.

1996 SPX Bound For Glory Cal Ripken Jr.

1996 SPX Ken Griffey Jr. Commemorative Card

                                      

Which brings us at last to the reason most people went after the cards in this set: the autographs.  The 1996 SPX set was released at a time when autographs had long, long odds, and the card companies didn't put a bunch of scrubby players on the autograph checklist to purposely lower the odds.  This set had only two autographs, but they will both be in the Hall of Fame shortly, and the odds for both autographs was set at 1:2000.  So, I went through a few boxes in 1996, put together my set, and did not  get a single Griffey or Piazza autograph.  Which lead me to having to track one down.

Now, I am not often a fan of Beckett pricing.  They tend to be arbitrary and lean heavily towards the large hobby shops and not the collectors.  Notice we have few shops now a days.  So, one such victim of the ever-shrinking list of card shops was not far from my house in West Saint Louis County.  They had both a Piazza and Griffey autograph.  For years, the two cards set in their cabinet with a really high price tag on both.  Beckett.  

Finally, the card shop high ended itself out of existence and I had a choice to make between which card to add.  Now, Griffey has signed in every Upper Deck baseball release between 1996 and 2011.  There are thousands and thousands of Griffey autographs.  Piazza, not so much.  Plus, this was Piazza's first certified autograph and I consider it the real prize of all the Mike Piazza autographs.  Not really much of a debate.

1996 SPX Mike Piazza Tribute Autograph

Like the 1996 SPX Set?  Not in my Top 50 is the 1998 SPX Finite Set.  This was Upper Deck's 1998 version of the SPX line, but it had some cheese metal plaques on the card.  Also, all the cards were serial numbered, hence the term Finite.  Don't worry if you like the cards, the word finite was used liberally with 1990's card releases.  Basically, the set was broken down into different subsets.  Each subset had a different stated print run.  The lowest, or most finite, was the Heroes of the Game and the Cornerstone subsets, which ran at the rather Finite print run of only 2000.  The commons and various other print runs ran between the Finite amounts of 9,000 and 5,000.  Finite to the max.   There were also parallels which were less Finite.  Below is a Spectrum Parallel of a Ray Lankford Common with a Finite Print Run of 2,500.  You can find them for $1.00 or less on Ebay, COMC, or your local card shop.

1998 SPX Finite Ray Lankford

At the time of its release some of the rookie cards were actually pretty tough to find along with some of the parallels.  I've only once been threatened at a card show (I was also once threatened by an elderly women at a Wendy's in West Virginia for wearing a Duke shirt) over a card and it was from this set.  The card show was at the Cape Girardeau Mall in 1999 and the dealer, who owned the local card shop, had a cool Manny Ramirez parallel from this set with the super Finite print run of 3,500.  He asked for $30.  I asked for $15.  All 5'2 of him told me he'd beat my ass and call mall security.  I laughed.  I tripped over a crate behind his table.  I also bought the card off of Ebay last year for $0.50.  

1998 SPX Finite Manny Ramirez

The set was actually rather challenging to assemble in terms of time, but the cards are all out there if the your desire a display of Upper Deck's late 90s Finite printing.