2013 Topps Series 2 Nate Schierholtz

A few weeks ago, I did my my brief writeup on Nate Schierholtz because I got my ATCRCS card signed. But today I have the breakdown of his 2013 Topps Series 2 card.

The zoom Topps has used recently has been discussed around the blogosphere and I'm ok with it, within reason. In general, I'm not a fan of cropping off appendages. Well, arms anyway. The bottom crop on this card is acceptable. But hacking off Schierholtz's right arm is not.

Let's take a look at the source photo to see what's going on.




Photo by G(reg) Fiume (courtesy of Getty Images)

 Gasp! It's worse than I thought! Phillie red everywhere!!! Just kidding. With the turnover the Cubs have had in recent seasons, it's perfectly logical that Topps was going to have to photoshop some players into Cubbie blue. I'm no expert on the Cubs uniforms but I probably wouldn't have even done a double take if I wasn't taking a closer look at these cards. And knowing he was an offseason pickup and Topps wouldn't have had time to get him in a Cubs uniform, even for Series 2.

But back to the arm. I'll concede that zooming out to include the arm probably wouldn't have looked better. It might be a little nitpicky, but that being the case, I probably would have chosen a different photo.

The caption on the Getty website goes so far as to tell me that this is a single in the third inning against the Nationals on August 1, 2012. Since this was a Phillies game, I'm not even going bother doing any further research.

Ok, I lied. I was bored. Schierholtz ended up stranded on third but ended the day going 2-5. His other hit was a 5th inning home run solo home run that ended up being the game winning run in a 3-2 victory over the Nats. Prior to the single, Jimmy Rollins hit a solo home run. Also prior to Schierholtz's home run, Rollins led off the 5th with his second home run of the game. Three Phillies runs, three solo home runs.

The back of the card is pretty standard. i did find it interesting that Schierholtz was both a "part-timer elsewhere" and also managed to be among the "NL top five in right field assists" twice. I'll also take it as a not-so-subtle dig that he can start for the Cubs but was a part-timer elsewhere for six years. Ugh.

Anonymous PWE Bomb?

So I came home yesterday to a PWE with no return address and an illegible postmark. Someone who has my address and knows what I collect only limits this to about 50-100 possible candidates. Maybe somebody I myself bombed last week with my "pay it forward" post? Or maybe somebody starting a war who does not want retaliation. Hmmm.

Regardless, I would like to thank my mystery donor publicly since I can't do it personally. Thanks for the Target Red parallels!

We've got a trio of Rookie Cards including one of the best cards of the year below in Blake Parker. I'm starting to think about going after the rainbow on this one.

And a fourth Target Red parallel, this one from Series 2.

An added bonus is that all four cards were new to me. I had a few Reds from Series 1 but that was it. Putting together these parallel sets might get me through the rest of the offesason.

Thanks again, mystery donor!

2013 Topps Series 2 Josh Vitters

Topps had high hopes for Josh Vitters going into 2013. He had an autograph card in Opening Day and was one of the three Cubs featured in the Spring Fever promotion which included a base card and another autograph. He also had Million Dollar Chase autograph, as well as a wrapper redemption autograph. Whew! I wouldn't even doubt that I'm even missing a few more.

I think I was putting this one off, waiting for Vitters to make his 2013 Cubs debut. That never happened, so here we are. Aside from that, the card itself is pretty good. Tight, well cropped shot. You got some eyeblack and an interesting, though not completely embarrassing tongue biting facial expression. 

Photo by Brian D. Kersey (courtesy of Getty Images)

The caption for the photo only states that Vitters is making a throw to first base on August 31, 2012 against the San Francisco Giants. Not much help narrowing down the play but at least I have the game. How many plays does a third baseman make in a game anyway?

In the top of the second, Vitters started a double play off the bat of Hunter Pence but threw to second, so not that play. Joaquin Arias led off the seventh inning with a groundout to Vitters. And in the bottom of the 8th, with runners on first and third with 1 out, Hunter Pence hit a weak ground ball to third base again and was out at first.

Based on the sequence of photos also available from that game, I'm going to say this is the Arias ground ball from the 7th inning. Another photo shows Vitters on the infield grass throwing the ball to first base, something more indicative of a weak ground ball. And you'll notice the Getty Image numbers is several hundred numbers higher leading me to believe it came later in the game.

Same photographer, different location.

The Cubs would win 6-4 for their 51st win of the season.

The back of the card shows a lot of minor league experience for Vitters. You can see why he got the call with the numbers he put up in Iowa in 2012, but unfortunately, it didn't quite translate to the Major League level. We'll see what 2014 brings the Cubs at third base. Maybe Vitters will get his 100th career at-bat.

It had to be hard for the guys at Topps to pick Career Chase stats for guys with a just a handful of games worth of experience. I don't think Tris Speaker has anything to worry about with his doubles record.

2013 Topps Factory Team Set and Series 2 Alfonso Soriano

As promised, I need to finish breaking down Series 2 before I move on to the Update Series. I'm not sure how I got sidetracked on these because I really like doing them. Looks like I have 5-6 more before I get to the "jumbo" set of 14 in the Update set.

Today, I have Alfonso Soriano's Series 2 card, that also happens to be the same front that Topps used for his Factory Team set card.

This was one of my favorite cards in the set this year. There might be a little Cubs bias, but how can you not enjoy a walk-off moment? The Cubs didn't have much to celebrate in 2012 so selecting this photo was probably a no-brainer for Topps. Thank goodness it wasn't a short print variation.

The only thing I would have done differently is lower the photo so that Soriano's face falls between where it now and the Cubs logo on his jersey. Because right now, the focal point of the card is Rizzo's back. But that's a pretty small issue.





Photo by Brian Kersey (Courtesy of Getty Images



And if you look at the original photo from Getty, you can see that they had a little room at the top to work with. Maybe they didn't want to show any more  of the empty stands behind the celebration, even though they kind of already did.

The game in question took place on August 30, 2012 against division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers. Down 9-3 in the bottom of the 6th, the Cubs actually managed a 6-run rally to tie it up. But Milwaukee scored one more in the 7th (on a home run by future Cub Cody Ransom) and padded their lead with another in the 8th. So with a two run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth, you can begin to understand why there are some empty seats in the photo...

But after Joe Mather pinch hit for Carlos Marmol and struck out, the top of the lineup came through with a rally. A walk by leadoff man David DeJesus was followed by a walk to Luis Valbuena. Starlin Castro singled scoring DeJesus. Anthony Rizzo doubled, which plated Valbuena to tie the game and moved the winning run (Castro) to third. This brought up Alfonso Soriano, who entered the game during the 6th inning rally and had walked twice.

Rather than walk him a third time and load the bases and try for an inning ending double play, the Brewers pitched to him and gave up a single to deep center over an outfield playing shallow. The teams combined for 23 runs on 31 hits. The Brewers issued 11 walks while the Cubs only had 3. And none by Carlos Marmol, who pitched a perfect top of the ninth to earn the win. Say whaaaat?!?

The back for the Factory Team set card is the same as the Series 2 version aside from the card number. Kind of scary that a former 40-40 member with 14 years experience wasn't even halfway to Barry Bonds' all-time home run record of 762. I was a actually both a little surprised and disappointed by his numbers in Chicago. Nothing spectacular, thought he could/would have benefitted from the winds at Wrigley a little more. But not as horrible as I thought either. Maybe his defense clouded my judgment on his overall ability.

2013 Topps Brett Jackson Factory Team Set & Series 2

I sorta, kinda took the weekend off from posting but it was for the greater good. And by sorta, kinda, I mean I wrote out a bunch of postings, but for the future. At the end of this week, I am going on a 2-week, European vacation with the family, so I will be incommunicado. Cue the Clark Griswold references! I didn't quite come up with enough to fill the whole time I'm gone just yet, but I still have a few days. If not, there may be a random day off here and there.

Like my last couple of these, Brett Jackson has the same card in both the team factory set and Topps Series 2. It's a nice action shot, almost more suitable for a horizontal card. In fact, if it was somebody a little more popular, or Jackson had lived up to the hype a little bit better last year, it could have been one of the Series 2 Chase it Down inserts. He probably would have had to be closer to the ball for that to happen though. Speaking of which, did he make the play?

The caption claims that Jackson "makes a diving catch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the game at Wrigley Field on September 14, 2012" so it must be true. No reference to the batter or inning so I had to go to the boxscore on baseball-reference.com. The only fly ball out to Brett Jackson came off the bat of Pedro Alvarez in the top of the 8th inning.

The photographer took a flurry of shots and Getty posted two more shots:

This one would have made for a nice horizontal card, as he gets ready for full extension.

And the moment just before the catch. If the umpire hadn't cut right in front of the photographer, that would have been a pretty good Chase it Down card.

The Cubs beat the Pirates 7-4 that day. The play wasn't a game changer/saver, but a nice catch is a nice catch.

2013 Topps Scott Baker Factory Team Set & Series 2

Scott Baker missed all of the 2012 season following Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Cubs as a free agent this past off season but suffered a setback that has kept him on the DL since Spring Training. Topps apparently has high hopes for him with the Cubs though, because not only did he sneak into the Heritage set with a photoshopped card, they doctored another photo and put him into the Cubs Factory Team set. And then reused the card for Series 2, even though he has yet to play.

I tend not to mock Photoshop jobs because this is much better than I could ever do. So with that aside, the crop is a little too tight for my liking. Was there really a need to cut off his left elbow? At least they got his new number right as he is assigned #32 if/when he does make an appearance with the Cubs. The #30 that he wore with the Twins is worn by future potentital battery mate, Dioner Navarro.

Photo by Leon Halip (courtesy of Getty Images)

Topps had to go in the way back machine, all the way to 2011 to pull the photo they used for the card. June 1, 2011 to be exact. Baker and the Twins lost to the Tigers that day 4-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Miguel Cabrera hit a 3-run homer from which the Twins couldn't recover. How many other pitchers have suffered that fate? The caption from the Getty website narrows the pitch down to the third inning (when Cabrera hit the home run) but nothing more specific than that. It could be any one of the 36 pitches Baker threw that inning.

Spring Training estimates had Baker's return at June but nothing yet. The latest news I could find has Baker throwing simulated games at the Cubs Spring Training facility. Barring any further setbacks, he should find his way into the lineup by the end of the year.

2013 Topps Carlos Marmol Factory Team Set & Series 2

Last week, the Cubs designated setup man, closer, reliever Carlos Marmol for assignment. Wrigley Wax did a nice write up shortly afterwards that showed off his collection of Marmol cards. Aside from my customs which I've already showed off, I don't think I had anything he didn't but I also held back from posting because I didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched. I wasn’t sure anyone would nibble let alone bite and there was a slim chance he could end up in Iowa and thus, still with the team.

But now that he is officially traded to the Dodgers, I may as well get this card out of the way in my 2013 breakdown. The front of the card was the same one used in both the 2013 Team Factory set and in Topps Series 2. A nice celebratory pose that has become increasingly rare.

I think they did a great job on this card considering the source photo that was used. The crop is tight and with Marmol's face shadowed by his hat in the afternoon Chicago sun, the lightening was well done too.

Photo taken by David Banks (courtesy of Getty Images)

According to the caption on the Getty website, Marmol just earned a Save (his 13th of the season) over the St. Louis Cardinals on July 28, 2012. Hopping over to the boxscore on Baseball-Reference.com, you can see this was a typical Marmol Save opportunity. Up by one run, Marmol of course gives up a leadoff single (a walk would have been just as typical). A stolen base that put the tying run in scoring position while recording the next three outs is enough to warrant a "here we go again" rise in blood pressure response from Cubs fans everywhere.

This game evened the series at a game apiece and the next day the Cubs would win in extra innings to take the series too.

The back is pretty unremarkable. No red "League Leader in Italics" notations which was a little surprising. I remember just a few years ago when he seemed near invincible as the Cubs closer but I suppose those types of stats aren't featured on the back of the card. I figured the K/BB ratio would be bad but I thought he would rank pretty high in K/9. Guess not.

In 2010, he did lead the MLB in Games Finished with 70 and his 38 Saves were good enough for 4th in the NL and 8th overall. I'll miss that Carlos, but not necessarily the current incarnation.

Series 1 vs. Factory Team Set vs Series 2

With Topps Series 2 out, I realized it has been a while since I broke down one of the cards from the Factory  Team set. But after looking at who was left from the Factory Team set, I noticed they were all Series 2 cards as well.

So instead of an individual card breakdown today, I thought I'd compare the three sets.

Not including Anthony Rizzo's Out of Bounds Short Print and Alfonso Soriano's appearance on the NL RBI Leaders card, the Cubs had six base cards in Series 1.

Of the six above, only Rafael Dolis was not included in the 17-card Factory Team set. Of the remaining twelve cards, four of them didn't end up in either Series 1 or 2.

I believe the stadium cards are exclusive to the Factory Team sets. Tony Campana was traded so it makes sense he didn't make the cut for Series 2. And for the record, Jackson and Feldman both appeared in Series 1 with their previous teams so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they both end up in the Update Series.

The remaining eight from the Factory Team Set showed up in Series 2.

Stewart and Marmol are gone and Matt Garza doesn't seem too far behind if rumors are correct.

Baker and Jackson have yet to play a game yet this year for the Cubs. 

And completely new for Series 2, the Cubs scored four more cards.

Cabrera and Vitters have also yet to play for the Cubs this season, making 6 of the 20 different Cubs featured non-Cubs. Considering the Cubs have used 38 players already, they probably could have found some other guys. A few notable exclusions are Carlos Villanueva, Luis Valbuena and Kyuji Fujikawa. Not that these guys are All-Stars but Villanueva and Valbuena have been starters most of the season and Fujikawa had enough hype before getting hurt that I thought Topps might try to get him into Series 2.

Unlike in years past, there weren't any photo changes between the Factory Set and Series 2. The Cubs had 20 players on 21 different cards (Soriano the lone double dipper with his Series 2 checklist card) and the Wrigley Field card.

We'll see what Update brings but until then, individual card breakdowns are coming!

Hanger Box of Topps Series 2 Part 2

As I said yesterday, I picked up a second hanger box when I headed over to Wal-Mart in search of a blaster. Unfortunately, the most exciting thing about this box for me were the about 55 new-to-me base cards for my set. Which I'm kind of downplaying but I really do get excited about completing sets.

Another "regular" Chasing History card and four holofoil ones.

Ok, I may have fibbed a little about nothing real exciting in this box. This box's gold card was this spectacular bunting card. I've sent out a couple of PWEs to some bunting collectors, but this one might just be staying with me. I'm a big fan of small ball and while I don't really have a subcollection of these, this is great photography. After finding the Getty Image, and then going to the boxscore on baseball-reference, this sacrifice bunt "drove" in a run. With one out and a 4-1 lead this was probably a safety squeeze rather than a suicide squeeze, but apparently perfectly executed.

Another cool photography card, although I could take or leave the player/team.

Another Making Their Mark card, this time Jason Kipnis.

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Funny story here. I have no idea who this is. I scanned and cropped it but now that its time to do the write-up portion of the post, I don't have the faintest recollection of who it was and the foil scanned so badly, I can't tell. Looks like Mauer? Oh well.

Update: I didn't want you guys to think I was too lazy, so I did go back and confirm that it is indeed Joe Mauer.

The mini this time around goes to Justin Upton. Meh. Maybe I'm still a little miffed about the Upton Brothers home run party against the Cubs earlier this year, but meh.

And since I picked up the hanger box at Wal-mart, these five blue bordered parallels were included in lieu of five regular base cards. With this selection, I probably would have been happier with the base cards. Not bad cards, just no interest in this particular selection.

Collation was pretty decent too as I only pulled dupes of two players among the 144 cards in the two hanger boxes. Not the most economical way to build a set, but more fun than just buying one.

Any of the cards from the past two days are available with the exception of the Million Dollar Chase cards and the Bryce Harper from yesterday.