Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Fernando Rodney Chronicles

Fernando Rodney may have been one of the most important relievers of the first 20 years of the 21st century. He may not have had the flashiest stats or the most saves, but his career spanned years and teams that people wouldn't even predict they would. 

2003 would have been the first season he could have gotten a Topps card, so I won't be sad that they didn't cause he was...just a lowly reliever for one of the worst Tigers teams of all time. He averaged a 6.04 ERA his first two seasons, over 47 appearances. He wasn't handed the ninth quite yet, and that'd take a few more years of people like Ugueth Urbina and Todd Jones closing games in Detroit, but he was beginning to be plugged in more and more.

2004 he sits out the year with an injury, which also explains why he doesn't have a card in 2005 Topps:

Rodney's 2005 season is a breakout year for him in the Tigers bullpen; In 39 games he posted 42 Ks and a 2.86 ERA, complete with 9 saves. The closing gig isn't his yet, and won't be until late 2006, but he's still trusted. 

'06 and '07, he gets Topps cards. In 2007 he doesn't close games thanks to Todd Jones, and mostly doesn't do much more than middle relief...

Which explains, I guess, why Topps didn't bother making a base card of his in 2008. Gotta admit, this move even surprised me as a young collector. I'd thought Fernando Rodney was a necessary relief inclusion, even in 2008, before he really took off. I was very confused. Rodney's 2008 was a step back in the right direction, saving 13 games even with a 4.91 ERA. 

From 2009, Topps doesn't miss a beat. They make flagship cards of him in Detroit, Anaheim, Tampa and Seattle, even in his waning Ms years. From 2012 to 2014 he saves 133 games, and it's absolutely huge, but he can't sustain the magic.

By the end of 2015, the Mariners give up on him in favor of Tom Wilhelmsen. So they deal him to the Cubs at the waiver deadline, which means Topps won't get to see the...very odd sight of Fernando Rodney as a Cub. This is incredibly odd. In 14 games in middle relief, Rodney had an 0.75 ERA and 15 Ks. Plus, he got to COMPETE for the first time in a while. He did well in early rungs of the playoffs but got beat up by the Mets in the NLCS. 

By 2016, Topps still wasn't convinced that Rodney was back, even if the end of the 2015 was at least worth a card. So they shrugged and missed out on Rodney's LAST ALL-STAR STINT. Yes, they got it in Update, but they had cards of him on the Marlins, which he showed up in for the ASG. Forgetting, of course, that his INSANE 0.31 ERA with the Padres was the thing that got Rodney there in the first place. In 28 games, Rodney had 33 Ks and 17 saves. These were the final indicators to Topps that Rodney was finally worth making cards of again. 

From 2017 to 2019, Topps would be pretty prompt with Rodney issues. D-Backs, Twins, A's...all good.

Yet the final stop on Rodney's journey, and the one that gained him that coveted World Series ring, went completely ignored by Topps. Yes, Fernando Rodney was a trusted relief option for the 2019 Nationals, pitching in 38 games with a 4.05 ERA and 35 Ks, and getting some postseason playing time as well. It was a great season to go out on, despite Rodney not officially throwing in the towel until the dust had settled on the 2020 season. I just wish Topps had produced a card of it, rather than making me finally branch out into customizing the relatively-tricky 2019 design. 

Still, Fernando Rodney had a long, prosperous career, marked by so many Topps cards that DID happen, that it should be a compliment to him that Topps missed so many times.
 

Anyone Can Pitch: 2019

 That's right- I still have to post some of these.

In 2018, I did a recurring series called Anyone Can Pitch, where I documented examples of the growing trend of position players being brought in to pitch, and it went well enough that I decided to collect photos for it throughout 2019.

...but I was too lazy to MAKE any of these customs until last week.

Right. As 2020 customs are right around the corner, might as well finish off the last of the 2019 ones, so let's examine each of these, as well as how well they did on the mound.

Pablo Sandoval made a pitching appearance in 2018 as well, so this is not his first appearance in this subset, but his inning of work was a bit more well known this year, as it went with Pablo's scorching May and June in SF. Sandoval had a pretty immaculate frame, not allowing any hits or runs, but also letting the defense do most of the work. Hope he winds up doing another inning some time in 2020.

 Mike Brosseau was one of the many Rays rookies to grace the infield this year, and as impressive as he was at the plate, he was a little more refined on the mound. Brosseau, interestingly, had 3 appearances this year, averaging a 4.50 ERA while giving up 2 earned runs total. For the Rays, it's interesting having a guy like Brosseau as a potential two-way guy, especially considering the presence of Brendan McKay, a more pronounced two-way pitcher. Still, at least his ERA isn't too bloated.

 No, a more bloated ERA would belong to Cubs backup catcher Victor Caratini, who came in for 2 appearances as a pitcher this year, additionally giving up 2 earned runs with a 9 ERA. Surprisingly, given the team's split records, both of these snakebitten appearances came at home.

 Similarly, Chris Davis, aka the single most useless player in the major leagues right now, took a break from batting under the Mendoza line and stinking up the Orioles lineup in order to take the mound early in the season against the Twins. Given the potency of the Twins' lineup, it shouldn't shock you that Crush allowed a home run himself. Said homer he allowed over the course of an inning of play is made even more pathetic by the fact that Chris averaged 105 innings in between hitting home runs this year. He finished the year with 9.

 Now, if you want a home-run hitter who can actually...HIT home runs, I direct you to Yankee first baseman Mike Ford, who allowed two himself, and 5 earned runs, during 2 innings on the mound. Ford finished his appearance with a 22.50 ERA. Take THAT, Luke Voit.

 These Anyone Can Pitch cards also give pictures of players who're just trying to get innings for teams that may not be their most well-known. Caleb Joseph, former Orioles catcher, was a backup for the Diamondbacks in April, and his playing time went so well that he found himself pitching to the person who took his job, Carson Kelly. In two appearances, one to Kelly and one to John Ryan Murphy, he faced four batters and allowed no hits or runs, which is all you can ask for from a position player pitching.

 Russell Martin being in this series was good, as I had a lot of photos of him to choose from on the mound, considering that he made four appearances over the course of the season. He only allowed 2 hits over the course of 13 batters, ANNNNND had two strikeouts, which is a pretty big deal not only for a position player, but for a guy who might be playing his final season (no one has signed him yet for 2020).

 As his role as an infielder in Boston continued to lessen, Eduardo Nunez found himself making his first pitching appearance last year, giving up one earned run in four batters, and earning a 9 ERA.

 Meanwhile, as he was in the midst of a come-up in Pittsburgh, Jose Osuna took time out from his solid bench work to pitch 2.1 innings over the course of the season, coming up with a relatively human ERA of 3.86, and giving up a few hits and an earned run. I was going to end this paragraph with a badly-worded Felipe Vazquez joke, but then I decided it'd be in poor taste.

 Onto happier pastures here- Gerardo Parra, deified in Washington along with the use of a truly annoying song for two-year-olds, also made a pitching appearance in 2019, though it didn't go especially well, as Parra allowed a run for each of the five batters he faced, leaving with an infinite ERA. Thankfully, things would get better for the Nationals.

 Another guy in likely his last season, Mark Reynolds distracted from his subpar hitting off the bench for the Rockies in order to try the mound again (it went alright in 2018). His 2018 numbers were way better, as Reynolds endured an 18 ERA, and 2 earned runs over an inning.

 Another Rays infielder trying his hand at pitching, Daniel Robertson had a frame IDENTICAL to a similar line of pitching from 2018. 1 inning, 3 batters, no earned runs. Only difference is he allowed a hit, but a double-play righted things.

 Before being traded midyear, Max Stassi was struggling at the plate as the backup catcher for those...formerly-lovable Astros. Also, let's face it, with a face like this, Stassi belongs as a goon in a James Cagney film.
Anyway, pitching. He did that. He faced one batter, got them out. This kind of stat won't be appearing at all in the future.

 Jared Walsh was brought up as a potential two-way successor to Shohei Ohtani and Kaleb Cowart. This being said, Walsh's five appearances bring a stat line that looks a lot like one you'd see from a  professional reliever- a 1.80 ERA, 5 strikeouts, and 3 hits over 23 batters. Not bad for a start.

Finally, Baltimore bench favorite Stevie Wilkerson also made some mound appearances in 2019, 4 to be exact. While Wilkerson was responsible for a strikeout AND a save (rare for Baltimore pitchers), he did balloon his ERA to 6.75 due to allowing 4 earned runs.

Already. That's all the 2019 content I've got. Soon enough, you will see some 2020 CUSTOMS ON THIS BLOG. SPRING TRAINING CUSTOMS. WOO-HOO.

A New Year's Day Blaster of 2019 Panini Diamond Kings

I went the entire holiday season without my local Walmart carrying a single Holiday Edition Megabox, in the one year where there was actually a conscious effort to make it different from the flagship set.

So, 2020 better aim higher than that is what I'm saying.

I did check once again, and...struck out YET again, but I did find a blaster of 2019 Diamond Kings, a set I didn't break very much of, and one that I was fine with in the few packs I did bust of it. Like previous DK releases, it's fine.

So, here's some blaster packs of a middling product to start 2020. Yay.

Bonus Insert Pack:
Squires insert of Forrest Whitley, a Houston prospect who has yet to make his ML debut, after a tumultuous season in the minors.
Team Heroes of Aaron Judge, which I am all for.
Blue Border of Tony Gwynn
Blue Border of SATCHELL PAIGE, which is pretty cool. Plus, this is a blue-border of the VARIATION, the kneeling image of him. So I got a variation of a legend like Satchell Paige. Already off to an awesome start.
And an Artist's Proof of a 2003DK insert of Jose Reyes. I kinda love these old school DK inserts.

Pack 1-
10- Smoky Joe Wood, which is a cool deep cut
68- Chris Shaw
Masters of the Game of Mookie Betts. Already very Sox-centric.
85- Rickey Henderson. Nice
43- Corbin Burnes

Pack 2-
26- Ty Cobb. Of course
116- Jesus Aguilar
Team Heroes of Juan Soto. He definitely is NOW
1- Stan Musial
18- Carl Erskine.

Pack 3-
83- Sam Crawford.
40- Ronald Acuna Jr. Glad he's patterned out a nice career for himself
DK205 insert of Bryce Harper...as a National. Lovely
75- Salvador Perez
32- Brad Keller

Pack 4-
97- Cionel Perez
55- LUIS SEVERINO. Nice.
THAT SAME FORREST WHITLEY SQUIRES INSERT. WAY TO GO, PANINI.
89- Rhys Hoskins. Nice
47- Paul Goldschmidt

Pack 5-
13- Grover Cleveland Alexander
2002DK insert of Jason Giambi. Love these
Team Heroes of JT Realmuto...still on the Marlins
'5- Roberto Clemente. Always a pleasure to pull a card of his
63- Josh James, as it is a 2019 product after all

Pack 6-
70- Giancarlo Stanton
JERSEY KINGS grey-swatch of...Patrick Corbin. I'm very happy with this one, considering Corbin's quality of play recently, even if it is a grey-swatch, and an outdated uniform. Still a great player.
Hall of Fame Heroes of ROBERTO CLEMENTE. THERE HE IS AGAIN.
21- Satchell Paige. There HE is again! This one's the base version
78- Jonathan Loiasiga

So...that was pretty nice. A pretty good relic, a SP of Satchell Paige, and some cool inserts and base. Maybe this year'll be pretty great if THIS is how we're starting.

2019: The Year in Review

I opened the year 2019 rocking out to 'Man it's so Loud in Here' at the Theatre of Living Arts, as Flans and Linnell rocked it like it was 2001. I am ending the year 2019 having several beverages in my house, eating unhealthy food and collapsing shortly after midnight.

I'm only 24 but I'm embracing middle age.

Anyway. It's New Years Eve, and it's been 365 days since I did the last one, so I'm gonna do another post documenting a bunch of things that happened this year in some ironic fashion. Given the amount of beverages consumed, this might not be as coherent as usual.

Okay, lemme...compose my thoughts. Usually I prep and figure out an order, but I'm just gonna go for it.

This was the year that I made more customs I've ever made for the blog, after a February and March where it became apparent that my usual photo source would be letting me down and I had to rush to find a new one. This is how you recover from defeat. I found a more complex but rewarding process to find photos and make customs, and I'm gonna keep it going for 2020.

This was the year that Beck Hansen put out the best album of the year, and said album was produced by Pharrell Williams, and it was still technically a rock album.

This was the year that Topps brought back Topps Total...as a mishandled online exclusive set. Hashtag thanks Topps.

This was the year that Andrew McCutchen, Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, Jay Bruce, Corey Dickerson, Jake Arrieta, Jean Segura and Jared Hughes all played for my hometown team...and they still couldn't get past 4th.

This was the year that I found my first card show nickel bins, and they were glorious.

This was the year that The Big Bang Theory had its best episode in like 7 years, and it was the finale, because they didn't wanna decide to be good before then.

This was the year that I went to my therapist and he handed me a bunch of 1972 Topps When they were Young subset cards, and I asked if HE was the one that was crazy.

This was the year that my company moved into an office with the world's single best chicken sandwich on the floor below us. Move over Chick-Fil-A and Popeyes, this place is ten fathoms of legit.

This was the year that I made a serious run at collecting 2019 Topps Archives because every retail story seemed to carry it late in the year instead of carrying anything I wanted [read: Topps Holiday set]. Still working on that set.

This was the year that Rian Johnson made the best movie of the year. Anyone who hasn't seen Knives Out yet needs to.

This was the year that Edwin Encarnacion got to play for the Yankees, and it was pretty cool. Very excited for Gerrit Cole next year.

This was the year that the Washington Nationals won the World Series about a year after my girlfriend moved to the DC metropolitan area. Am now trying to convince her to move back to NYC so the Yanks can get another ring.

This was the year that Game of Thrones and Star Wars suffered a debilitating case of writer incongruity. You can't hand off your saga to another writer and expect things to feel like one unified idea.

This was the year that Panini brought back Leather & Lumber as a 2 packs-for-20-bucks retail set. It was, uh, alright.

This was the year that Mike Trout won his 3rd MVP, Jacob deGrom won his 2nd Cy Young, and Rob Manfred won the right to keep altering the baseballs until the game's completely ruined.

This was the year that I took my dad to his first Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium, and we saw Mariano Rivera hit an inside-the-parker. Justin Verlander pitched a gem that day.

This was the year that I saw Hozier in concert, and the dude killed it. One of the best shows I've been to.

This was the year that I got to witness Atlanta decking itself for the Super Bowl. That is one awesome city. Great food, great attitude. Super Bowl was a little half-baked, but the city was shining for it.

This was the year that Topps put out one of its best flagship sets since 2015. There, I said it.

Not a bad year. A little spotty, a little dormant, but not terrible. I'm interested to see where we go in the next decade. The 2020s look to be a pretty exciting one, not just for baseball or the world, but for me. I hope we get to where we wanna go, in general.

Happy New Year to all of you. Enjoy yourselves, but not too much.

Box Break: 2019 Topps Gallery

 I did a thing.

I...haven't been the hugest fan of Topps' Wal-Mart exclusive Gallery sets, as they're a bit too rookie-centric for no reason, and have the weirdest checklist logic. But they're a modest wintertime seatfiller, so I deal. I kept coming back to Wal-Mart in order to see if the Holiday Boxes had finally hit my area. They hadn't, but the Gallery mega-boxes had. I got one, thinking it'd be the same price.

It wasn't. But...whatever, I have a birthday coming up.

This is pretty much a...traditional box of this. Like, it's patterned like a hobby box, with 20 packs, 5 cards per, two hits, and a box-topper. But...it's a Wal-Mart product. So because Topps can't sell hobby boxes in hobby shops because it's a retail-exclusive, they're selling them...in the retail store?

Because in a retail store like Wal-Mart, people aren't exactly looking for hobby-box amounts of cards. Target did the same thing, presenting HOBBY BOXES of Fire. And back in the day, Upper Deck deployed a similar strategy for Sweet Spot, selling a 30-dollar tin of the product in Targets everywhere. The goal, I guess, is to get kids into the more competitive stages of the hobby through a simple climate like a retail store. But to established collectors, it looks...backwards.

 Like here. Here is a BOXLOADER I got out of a box of product I bought at a RETAIL STORE. Boxloaders don't usually come out of retail products. But here we are anyway.

It's Jacob deGrom, the now two-time Cy Young winner, and NY sports hero. Not a ton of complaints here.

 Pack 1- This is what the base design looks like this year. It's fancier, but it's the same ol Gallery as the last two years. Note that they continued the trend of getting multiple artists to cover the product, rather than getting Mayumi Seto to do it all, because Topps doesn't like nice things. Like Chicle, having incongruent art-styles allow for some, like Story's and McCullers', to stand out in the wrong way.

 Pack 2- Base favorites. Again, the checklist puzzles me. Domingo Santana and Lance McCullers found a way into this set. Thankfully so did Cavan Biggio.

 And here's an amusing insert, a 1965 style reprint of JD Martinez. These look nice.

 Pack 3- The Kyle Tucker overexposure tour continues. Nice to get a cool-looking Phils Harper, and a routinely cool Thor.

And here's our first auto. Good news is it's a hometown Philadelphia Phillie. Bad news is it's reliever J.D. Hammer, who had a 3.79 ERA in 20 appearances out of the pen. He's...fine. But I'd have preferred Adam Haseley as an obligatory Phils rookie auto.

 Pack 4- Good enough pack selection, with Hoskins, Yelich and Sevvy, but the emphasis on unneeded rookies brings this one down for me.

Pack 5- Topps heard me there, as this one is ENTIRELY made up of unneeded rookies. Which is one of the reasons I don't love this product. At least Harold Ramirez' looks cool.

These inserts I really like. They are called Master & Apprentice, and it's a well-painted shot of two team legends, a former and a current. Yount and Yelich sounds about right.

 Pack 6- I like all of these. The Yu is a bit crunched, but it works as a horizontal.

And another one for the Kyle Tucker overexposure pile. This one does look cool, though. Kinda jarring that the banner says 'Houston' rather than 'Astros' though.

 Pack 7- Some more triumphs. Getting Acuna and Albies in the same pack is pretty cool. I really hope Giancarlo comes back around for the Yanks.

And we've hit our first parallel- this Freddie Freeman green-border is numbered to 99, and that's a pretty solid pull, too. Freeman's pretty awesome.

 Pack 8- Standard stuff, though nice of them to include Voit.

Ken Griffey is our obligatory Hall of Fame insert. Surprising they went for a picture from his 2009-2010 tenure in Seattle, rather than his legendary 90s run.

 Pack 9- Solid lineup here- three team heroes and a star rookie.

 This is a pretty cool Masterpiece insert of Randy Johnson. Kinda wish the rest of the set was set-up this way.

 Pack 10- More rookie nonsense. Paddack and Newman at least made it this year. And a Miguel Andujar, because sure.

This pack's Master and Apprentice, regardless of my hatred of the Cardinals, is pretty cool- Stan Musial and Paul Goldschmidt.

 Pack 11- Freeland and Luciano are good early-season estimates as to how 2019 would go. Ohtani and Jimenez are a bit more accurate.

 And here's a 65T of Miguel Andujar. I'm not complaining that I'm getting Andujar stuff here, but considering that Andujar is looking less and less like a part of the Yankees' future, I'm not sure how much use I'll have for him.

 Pack 12- Standard fare here. Ichiro looks awesome. Freddie we've seen.

 Pack 13- Rookies, an awesome Devers, and a well-painted Lindor.

And our second auto. I was worried this would be my second Sean Reid-Foley auto of the box. Thankfully it's only Reese McGuire, a sharp catching rookie who might go for a starting job in 2020.

 Pack 14- Arenado and Vlad Jr. are great and all, but A CARD OF NICHOLAS CASTELLANOS AS A CUB. AN ACTUAL TRADED CARD IN A FRIGGING FALL RELEASE FROM TOPPS. GLORY BE.

Even better, I pulled a blue parallel, which are numbered to 50. Now granted, it is a Red Sox player, but as evidenced by a box break from earlier this year, Pedroia is one of the few lawful Sox pulls I will allow these days. Ya can't help but respect the way he plays.

 Pack 15- NOLA! Goldy! Not a bad smattering here.

Regardless of blurriness, this is another cool Master & Apprentice card of Frank Thomas and Eloy Jimenez. Honestly, I would have gone for Jose Abreu instead of Jimenez, but this still works.

 Pack 16- Hader's looks really cool, but that Judge is damn near perfect.

And a 65T insert of a guy I love pulling cards of, Buster Posey!

 Pack 17- Two Giants rookies, but both did things this year- Shaun Anderson was a solid low-rotation man, and Mike Yastrzemski was awesome. Lester and Bieber ain't bad either

 A LEGENDS SP of the great man on the package, Willie Mays!

 Pack 18- Nothing too special here, though I love that Boagerts card.

 A second HOF insert of another guy I can't go wrong with pulling cards of, SANDY KOUFAX.

 Pack 19- Well, here's the Reid-Foley I was expecting earlier, only this one's not an auto. Kluber's looks good.

 My second Masterpiece insert, a really cool one of Johnny Bench.

 Pack 20- The last of the base, including that needed Tatis rookie, and an awesome Folty.

 Of all the Master & Apprentice cards, this is the one I truly wanted- Vlad Sr. and Vlad Jr. This one looks so damned cool, and does both justice. I love it so much.

There was one more parallel left, a private stock parallel, #'d to 250, of 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts. Yes, I got Sox again, but...not a bad one to get.

So...as much as I gripe about this set, it's not BAD. It commits no sins. It just does some annoying things that are indicative of Topps' current release strategies. Base design is fine, inserts are great, hits are...expectedly meh, and I didn't feel gypped. So, all in all, not a bad deal.