2014 Topps Factory Team Set - Philadelphia Phillies

After two weeks’ worth of All-Star teams, its back to regular team sets.

As a refresher, I started these before Series 2 came out so I’m just comparing Series One and Opening Day to the Factory Team Set (FTS) release.

Today, I have the Philadelphia Phillies. They had 10 cards in Series One, 10 cards in Opening Day and as usual, 17 cards in the FTS. Of the 37 “different” cards, how many were actually different? Let’s take a look.

Of the ten cards in Series One, nine of them showed up in the FTS.

Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard Carlos Ruiz

Domonic Brown, Ben Revere

Jimmy Rollins, Jonathan Papelbon

Cody Asche and John Mayberry were in Series One and the FTS, but left out of Opening Day.

Of the 10 cards from Opening Day, seven had already been used in Series One, and two new ones showed up in the FTS.

Chase Utley, Cliff Lee

With eleven different cards shown so far, that leaves five player cards that were new to the FTS (and presumably Series Two).

Marlon Byrd, Kyle Kendrick

Jonathan Pettibone, Darin Ruf

Freddy Galvis

And of the course, the stadium shot. I have seen more Cubs games at the Phillies’ old ballpark, Veterans Stadium than any other park but I have not yet been to Citizens Bank.

For those keeping count, one card from Series One didn’t make Opening Day or the FTS.

Ethan Martin didn't start the 2014 on the big-league roster so it’s understandable that he didn’t make the other sets.

And one card from Opening Day didn’t appear in Series One or the FTS.

Roy Halladay was granted free agency at the end of October last year and chose to retire in December due to a persistent back injury. He signed a one-day contract to retire with the Blue Jays so it makes sense here too that Halladay wasn’t included in the FTS. I did say that I wasn’t looking at Series Two for these comparisons but in this case, I did. Halladay is included so he gets a proper “sunset” card with complete career stats.

To answer my original question, how many of the 37 “different” Phillies cards were actually different. Seventeen from the FTS, one from Series One and one from Opening Day gives us a total of 19 different players. There a few Topps logo swaps (Lee, Papelbon and Rollins) but otherwise, 19 doesn't make for a real diverse collection.

But on a happier note (maybe) we also have the Phillie Phanatic from Opening Day.

2014 Topps Factory Team Set - National League All-Stars

With the All-Star game coming up, I thought I would go ahead and knock out the two All-Star Factory Team Sets from 2014 that supposedly feature 2013 All-Stars. Rather than compare Series One, Opening Day and the team set like I've been doing, I'm going to compare the set to the actual game. I'll go in order of the corresponding position number, starting with the pitchers and end with the outfield DH.

Last week, the American League lineup featured several players who didn't even make the squad. Let's see how the National League stacks up.

Pitchers:

The American League set only had three pitchers. The National League matched that, and raised them two. The actual National League All-Star roster featured 15 pitchers, 8 of which were used in the game. Starter Matt Harvey was left out of the set. Clayton Kershaw pitched a perfect third inning. Jose Fernandez struck two in a perfect sixth. Craig Kimbrel gave up three hits and a run in the 8th inning. 

Adam Wainright made the team but did not play, while Stephen Strasburg was not a part of the roster.

Catcher:

The NL roster carried three catchers. Starter Yadier Molina was not featured in the set. Buster Posey replaced Molina in the sixth inning while Brian McCann didn't get into the game.

First Base:

The first NL starter to show up in the set is Joey Votto. He was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt in the 5th inning. Freddie Freeman made the roster and the set but not into the game while Allen Craig made the roster, came on as a pinch hitter in the game but didn't make the set..

Second Base:

Even though the NL had three second baseman on their roster and two that played in the game, none of them made the set. Brandon Phillips was the starter and was relieved by Matt Carpenter. Marco Scutaro made neither the game nor the set.

Shortstop:

Troy Tulowitzki got the start at shortstop and was taken out for Jean Segura in the busy 6th inning switches. Hanley Ramirez? Not on the squad at all. Everth Cabrera was the third shortstop on the roster.

Third Base:

David Wright was the starter at third base and was replaced in the 8th by Pedro Alvarez, the only other third baseman on the roster.

Outfield:

From left to right, the starters in the outfield were Carlos Gonzalez, Bryce Harper and Carlos Beltran (who didn't make the set). Andrew McCutchen pinch ran for Beltran in the 4th, took over center field from Bryce Harper, who moved to right field.

Neither Giancarlo Stanton or Ryan Braun were on the roster.

Domonic Brown eventually replaced Car-Go in left field while Carlos Gomez filled in for Harper in right.

Designated Hitter:

Michael Cuddyer was the NL DH but didn't make the cut for the card set. Though listed as a first baseman on the roster, Allen Craig as mentioned earlier pinch hit for Cuddyer.

As with last week, I was not real happy with this set. Two positions completely not represented but four guys who didn't even make the roster? So here are the 17 who I thought should have been used to make this set.

Pitchers:

With the American League, it was pretty easy to go with the starter, winner and closer. On the losing side, it was a little tougher to choose. I will go with the starter Matt Harvey, keep Kershaw and Fernandez and ditch the other three. It hurts a little to cut the horizontal Kimbrel card but he didn't have a great outing.

Catchers:

Again, I have to go with the starter here and add Yadier Molina to the set. He's been replaced for the 2014 All-Star game so that means he'll probably make next year's set. Posey stays unless I need the roster spot later.

First Base:

I'll keep starter Votto and Goldschmidt but ditch Freeman since he didn't make it into the game. That might save Posey's catcher spot.

Second Base:

Maybe Topps had it right at second base by not including anybody. I mean, a Red and a Cardinal? Blech.

I'm not a fan of Brandon Phillips at all but as the starter at second, he makes the set. I don't have his Series Two card so I had to use the Opening Day version. And with Matt Carpenter as the backup, he gets a card too.

Shortstop:

I'll leave starter Troy Tulowitzki in at shortstop but I'll be damned if I have to make another NL Central card for back up Jean Segura. Ok, fine.

Third Base:

Starter David Wright gets to stay. And even though Pedro Alvarez is another NL Central guy, he had a nice horizontal card so I went ahead and gave him an All-Star logo too.

Outfield:

In the outfield, I'll keep starters Harper and Car-Go and NL MVP McCutchen. Right field starter Carlos Beltran is shown in a Yankees uniform though he was a Cardinal for the All-Star game last year so I will leave him out.

Designated Hitter:

The National League doesn't generally use a DH, but they did for the All-Star game. Cuddyer was snubbed in the real set, but gets a logo tacked onto his card here.

Last week, I made a couple of extra AL cards because I thought I would make the whole team. Since I knew I wasn't going to do that, I didn't make as many this week. The only extra I made should be pretty self explanatory.

Though he didn't get into the game last year, Travis Wood was the Cubs only representative. He didn't get an All-Star card in last year's Topps Update set either.

This year, the Cubs have two and a half representatives in Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo and Jeff Samardzija (the half). Go NL!