2014 Topps Chrome - Purple Haze Edition

Last weekend I purchased a Topps Value pack and a blaster of Topps Chrome at Target. The Value Pack had 3 regular packs plus 3 Orange Refractors. At least I got a Phillie out of the Orange cards.

These are apparently retail only cards. Neither baseballcardpedia.com nor Beckett.com lists these. Martin was acquired in 2012 from the Dodgers in the Shane Victorino trade but hasn't seen much play for the Phillies.

The regular Topps Chrome cards look pretty much like the past few years. The fronts have the famous Chrome finish with silver borders. The backs have a heavy gloss easily distinguishable from the regular cards.

Here's a few.

As usual these cards are hard to scan and get a decent image. It took me a few tries to get these pretty good scans.

In my opinion the Chrome Refractor cards, not only look better than the regular Chrome, they also scan nicer.

And the X-Fractor cards always look cool when scanned. I'd like to know how they do this.

As an extra bonus, I pulled a rookie refractor auto card from the blaster.

Numbered 160/499. I don't know this guy from Adam but I see on eBay that I can buy this card for 99 cents (plus postage) so I've got a real find here.

I didn't notice this on the box top until I got it home.

The last time I bought a blaster of Topps Chrome was in 2012. I only bought one box and it was all Purple Refractor cards. The box had not hinted at such a possibility. I wrote about it here.

Well, son-of-a-gun, the purple lightening has struck again. Except for a few inserts, the X-fractor card and the auto, all the cards were Purple Refractors. As In 2012, I wonder what the odds of finding such a box are? As with the Orange, neither baseballcardpedia.com nor Beckett.com list the Purple Refractor cards. I'm glad I bought the Value Pack so I got some regular cards.

The only other Phillies card I pulled.

The only All-Star Rookie Cup I pulled.

Here's my big issue with all the parallel cards Topps produces. I've pulled 5 Pujols cards from the various products I've bought this year. 3 of them have this pose.

There aren't a lot of inserts in the set that aren't parallels, autos or relics.

This is from the awkwardly named Topps Shelf 50-card insert.

This die-cut insert, Connections, returns from last year.  The 'connection' seems to be Topps linking Puig's 2012 rookie season to Frank Howard's 1960 rookie season.

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter $11.98 blaster

I know we're all agog over 2014 Allen and Ginter but I found a 2013 blaster at Walmart the other day for only $11.98. Since I only had bought a couple of blasters last year I snatched it up. I'd have bought 2 if there had been another one on the shelf.

Of the 47 cards in the box, I needed 37 of them. So was there anything special?

Well, there was this:

Looks like I could have gotten this card on eBay for about 10 bucks, so already I'm ahead.

Some other highlights:

The 6th grader in me still loves to get a card with a pretty girl on it.

I don't have many post-career cards featuring Fergie.

This card reminds me of an old stupid joke. A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, why the long face"?

You can never go wrong with a Nolan Ryan card.

The only Phillie in the box. It will go nicely with the full sized Lee.

 Remember learning about the giant Red Spot on Jupiter? Apparently, it's now the Big Blue Spot. This is the exact same picture from the Jupiter Wikipedia page, only colored blue for some reason. By the way, this is a composite photo made from images from the Cassini spacecraft.

An insert mini I didn't have. At first I though this was a joke, or part of the 2013 code contest, but the place has a Wikipedia entry.

And finally:

I now have 2 of these. According to Beckett.com, this is an uncorrected error (UER) card but they also list (with a picture) the same card with the biographical text you expect on the back. What kills me about this is not only is the text missing, it says "Text Missing" on the back. baseballcardpedia.com does not explicitly mention this card. For card #130 it just says "Pel?"

2014 Phillies Opening Day Lineup

The Phillies get the 2014 season going today against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Here's the Phillies Opening Day Line Up.

Leading off, in center field is Ben Revere (2013 Topps Allen & Ginter #14)

Revere was supposed to be a major force for the Phillies last year but he ended up being hurt most of the season. He hit .294 in 21 games in Spring Training.

Batting second, shortstop Jimmy Rollins (2014 Topps #312)

 

It's hard to believe but J-Roll starts his 14th season with the Phillies.  As often as not, he's the spark plug that makes the Phillies go. He had a slow spring, only batting .173 with 3 home runs in 19 games.

Batting third, at second base, Chase Utley (2014 Donruss #62)

Utley, starting his 12th season with the Phillies, also had a slow spring, hitting .217 in 21 games. The important thing is that he's healthy.

Batting cleanup, as usual is Ryan Howard at first base (2014 Topps Opening Day #203)

After 2 injury plagued seasons, the Phillies need Howard healthy this year.

Batting fifth, in right field is former Phillie Marlon Byrd (2014 Donruss #151)

Byrd, in is 13th season played for the Phillies from 2002-2005. He's traveled quite a bit since then. His last two seasons, with the Mets and Pirates were pretty good. The Phillies must think Byrd has something to offer since the signed him to a 3-year $24MM contract. He hit .298 with 2 home runs and 8 rbis in 21 games in spring training.

Batting 6th, as the DH is Domonic Brown (2013 Topps Heritage #135)

Brown is the guy we're all waiting for to bust out. He .272 with 27 home runs in 2013, but looks to have had a terrible spring.

Batting 7th and catching is Carlos Ruiz (2013 Bowman Gold #311)

Carlos lost a lot of games last year after failing a drug test. Let's hope that is all behind him. He is one of the best catchers in baseball.

Batting 8th is third baseman Cody Asche (2014 Topps Red Target #4)

Asche opened some eyes as a replacement 3rd baseman last season after the Phillies gave up on Michael Young. He didn't have an impressive spring but he's got the starting third base job anyway.

Batting 9th, of all people, is Tony Gwynn Jr. playing left field (2012 Topps #284)

Junior is not exactly his daddy. In 7 years he has a .232 average and 6 home runs. He spent last year in the minors where he hit .300. The Phillies signed him as a free agent last December. He had a decent spring.

Opening Day pitcher Cliff Lee (2013 Topps Allen & Ginter Relics)

Lee is coming off a 14-8 season with an ERA of 2.87. He pitched 24 innings with a 2.55 ERA this spring.

2013 Topps Chipz

This post may go far in answering the question "Will I buy any damn thing that has a baseball player on it"?

My introduction to Topps Chipz came with the promo card in packs of Topps.

My first thought was "Pogs!" Remember pogs? Unless you (or your kids) are of a certain age this is a fad you might have missed. For a brief moment, around 1991-1992, pogs were popular. My kids were just the right age and we had hundreds, it not thousands, ot them around the house. Then, all of a sudden, they were gone. Pogs were circular pieces of cardboard with various images on them. There was some kind of game played with them that involved the use of a thicker, heavier disk, called a slammer. These Topps Chipz are more like slammers.  They are an eighth of an inch thick, made of metal and weigh almost a half an ounce.

Seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. I bought 4 packs, for $1.98/pack. Each contained 4 Chipz. Among the variations are Gold and Silver. I pulled one gold (odds 1:3 packs).

Some of them are magnetic. They don't look any different. The magnetic ones are inserted 1:4 and I got 2.

Glow In The Dark Chipz are inserted 1 in 2 packs.

These are not shiny but have a glow in the dark finish. I can affirm that the do indeed glow in the dark, but just barely. I got 3 of them.

Every pack has a 'game board'.

Instructions for several games, each involving some different method of getting one of your Chipz on a number, are printed on the back. My guess is that this could provide minutes of fun for a 8-year-old.

The only saving grace of the 4 packs is that I got two Phillies.

One final thing. One Chipz in each pack had a plastic cover over the heads side, like this.

The logo cover comes right off. There's no adhesive, they are like those plastic film things you can put on your car windows.

Random Cards From My Collection #46

Card #39422
2012 Topps Pro Debut #217 Alfredo Silverio

Comments on the card:The 'surf board' set in another setting.
When acquired: January 2013.
How acquired: Paid $.30/card for a 185-card hobby box on eBay
Player's season: I was never quite sure that the point of this set was. Silverio made is pro debut in the minors in 2006. And by 2012, he was out of baseball, never having made it to the majors.

Card #12084
1994 Stadium Club #130 Dave West

Comments on the card: The first 3 years of Stadium Club all looked pretty much the same. For 1884, Topps did a radical make-over.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: As a long-reliever and part-time started, Dave had a 4-10 record for the pretty wretched 1994 Phillies.

Card #5139
1990 Classic Yellow #76 Sandy Alomar , Jr.

Comments on the card: The second most yellow card set in history (after 1991 Fleer).
When acquired: March 2003
How acquired: Paid $0.07/card for the entire 100-card set on eBay.
Player's season: Sandy was the 1990 AL Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star Game and won a Gold Glove. Nice year.

Card #29532
2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #142 Zack Greinke

Comments on the card: The highly anticipated 2009 Goodwin Champions set was the best last thing Upper Deck did before they lost their MLB license.
When acquired: May 2009
How acquired: Paid $0.23/card for a blaster box.
Player's season: Zach was 16-8 with a league leading ERA of 2.16 for the Royals in 2009.

Card #7468
1991 Reading Phillies ProCards #1371 Mark Sims

Comments on the card: An enormous minor-league set. I always liked the spiral notebook design.
When acquired: September 2006
How acquired: Paid $3.99 for the 27-card Phillies subset.
Player's season: Mark was 4-3 for the 1991 Scranton/Wilkes-Darre Red Barons, the Phillies AAA affiliate.

Card #30130
2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #144 Cliff Lee

Comments on the card: See two cards above.
When acquired: May 2009
How acquired: Paid $0.23/card for a blaster box.Player's season: Cliff was 7-9 with the Indians before being traded to the Phillies on July 29, where he was 7-4.

Card #26634
2008 Topps Opening Day #40 Josh Beckett

Comments on the card: The reddest set in baseball card history.
When acquired: March 2008
How acquired: Paid $0.16/card for a blaster box.Player's season: A 20-game winner in 2007, Josh was 12-10 for the Red Sox in 2008. He recorded his 1,000 strike-out during the season.

Card #20640
2003 Upper Deck Victory #42 Hideo Nomo

Comments on the card: Upper Deck Victory has a 4-year history and the design changed radically from year to year. In 2003 it became yet another baseball card game. It came with multiple border colors parallels.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Hideo was 16-13 with an ERA of 3.09. It was his last good year.

Card #9632
1993 Team Stadium Club #23 Ron Blazier

Comments on the card: Team sets distributed in a blister pack.
When acquired: Don't know
How acquired: Don't know
Player's season: Ron was 13-5 for the Single A Clearwater Phillies in 1993.

Card #23343
2005 Topps All-Star Stitches Relics Mark Loretta

Comments on the card: Random inserts in 2005 Topps. I was at the 2004 All-Star Game played in Houston, the only one I've attended. I have several cards from this set.
When acquired: June 2005
How acquired: Paid $5.49 on eBay
Player's season: Mark hit .280 for the 2005 Padres. He lead the league in sac flies, with 16.