Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2005 Padres

 Now that the Padres are competitive again, it's fun to go back to the mid-2000s teams to find a time when they were also competitive, but arguably with a lot less than they have now. Like, in 2005, the Padres finished only 2 games over .500, being the only team in the NL West over .500 as well. Three NL East teams that did not make the playoffs had a better record- the Phillies, Marlins and Mets. Because this was the pre-Manfred era of baseball, the division leader that squeaked into the playoffs didn't end up winning the whole thing. The Friars got clobbered by the Cardinals in 3 games, it wasn't gonna be close. 

There were some interesting things about this team as far as Topps non-documentation is concerned. Perhaps the biggest 'star' in this pack to discuss is Chan Ho Park, dealt from the Rangers at the deadline for some rotation depth. In 10 games, Park went 4-3 with a 5.91 ERA with San Diego, and didn't make the postseason roster. Fortunately the Korean fireballer would have a better season with the Padres in 2006, and make the transition to his late-decade relief work with Philadelphia. 

Ironically, before dealing with the Rangers for Park, the Rangers released Pedro Astacio, the longtime NL West starter, and the Padres had almost no choice but to bring him back into the division against his old teams in Denver and LA. Surprisingly, Astacio was solid in 12 games with the Friars, posting a 3.17 ERA and 33 Ks, along with a 4-2 record. He'd even get a postseason start out of it, despite said start being a loss in Game 2. 

Chris Hammond, at the very least, has an interesting MLB story. Original Florida Marlin, played every year from 93 to 98 for the Marlins except, of course, for the year they win it all. Starts a ton of games, gets shifted to the bullpen as the real arms come up. Bops around the minors for a few years, reinvents himself as a middle reliever in the 2000s and becomes an underrated unsung hero type. Coming off of three stellar seasons with Atlanta, New York and Oakland, he comes to San Diego. In 55 games he posts a 3.84 ERA, his highest since returning to the majors [he had a 0.95 with the Braves], and has 34 Ks. He only pitches one more season after 2005, but he was still in strong shape.

Tim Redding had been a decent starting option in Houston during the early 2000s. The Astros needed catching help, so they traded him for Humberto Quintero prior to the 2005 season. Redding disappointed in 9 games for the Padres, going 0-5 with a 9.10 ERA and 30 earned runs. He'd later be dealt to the Yankees in exchange for...

...reliever extraordinaire Paul Quantrill! People tend to forget this, but for four straight seasons, Canadian legend Paul Quantrill led the league in appearances, and from 2001 until 2004 had a combined 6.5 WAR, from stints with Toronto, Los Angeles and, of course, the Yankees. His 2005 Yanks numbers were comparatively a disappointment, so he was dealt to the Padres. While Redding only had 1 disastrous start for the Yanks, Quantrill was decent enough in San Diego, with a 3.41 ERA in 22 games. He was ultimately released at the end of August and picked up by the Marlins, with whom I could not find any images of Quantrill from. And after that he retired and helped his kid become a major leaguer himself.

I've talked about fringe icon Robert Fick on here before, so, to recap, after going from farmhand to all-star with the Tigers, Fick struggled to recapture the magic in stints with Atlanta and Tampa. So in 2004 he's dealt to the Padres, and in 2005 he actually becomes a halfway decent bench bat in San Diego. In 93 games he hits .265 with 30 RBIs and 61 hits, even if he's basically a replacement level player at this stage. He eventually becomes a similar bench bat with the Nats to finish out his career.

Eventually I'll go over the similar energy in the Padres' 2006 playoff run. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Rest of 2008

 

The last few 2008 Topps customs I have here don't have an interconnected theme except for the fact that they were left.

Tony Clark is now the MLBPA president, head of the players' union, one of the reasons we had a season this year. In 2008, he was still rounding out his playing career for teams that were not the Detroit Tigers for some reason. He started the 2008 season as a member of the San Diego Padres and did...alright. He had a .1 WAR and a .231 average in 70 games, mostly used as a bench bat but still getting starts at 1st while Adrian Gonzalez slowly began to find his footing. He was traded pre-deadline to the Diamondbacks, which WAS documented by Topps, so at least he got that.

Also, speaking of the 2008 Padres:

Yes, Topps would give Wade LeBlanc a rookie card in 2009, but since LeBlanc did start a few games further down the 2008 stretch, I had to make him one for this season. Granted, it wasn't an especially BIG splash, as he had an 8.02 ERA in 5 games, including 3 losses, but he was plugged in a starting option for 2009, and would bop around until he'd become what he is now, an auxiliary starting option with relief mileage. 

Speaking of guys used in relief AND as starters, Jason Hammel was primarily a relief option for the 2008 Rays, with a 4.60 ERA over 40 appearances, 35 of them in relief. He was left off the postseason roster for that season, and thankfully other teams would find better use for him as a starter, especially the 2015 Cubs. He'd finish his career in Kansas City, primarily being used as a reliever. Kind of a full-circle ending.

If Topps was in a better mood in 2008, they would have jumped on this- former rookie and all-star pitcher Chan Ho Park returning to his former team in LA for a return to form season in relief. That's the kind of stuff Topps loves, and yet they seemed to completely miss it. Park pitched 95 innings for the Dodgers in 2008, with a 3.40 ERA and 79 strikeouts. I don't see why Topps wouldn't honor that. After this season, Park would be used as a steady relief option for the World-Series-caliber 2009 Phillies.

After missing the entire 2007 season, former Rangers utility man and member of the 2004 World Series Red Sox Gabe Kapler decided to give the bigs another shot, getting a spot on the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers. He responded to the Brewers' generosity by giving, get this, HIS SINGLE BEST SEASON OF HIS CAREER. Forget that he was mostly used as a bench/utlity piece. Forget that he was platooned in centerfield with Mike Cameron. Kapler's 1.9 WAR was not only his highest-ever season total, but the eighth highest on the team. The seven guys who finished higher read like a murderer's row of great baseball figures- CC Sabathia, Ryan Braun, JJ Hardy, Ben Sheets, Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall and Rickie Weeks. 

This means he had a higher WAR than Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Jeff Suppan and closer Salomon Torres, all pieces of the team that the Brewers couldn't have made it to October without. And yet next-to-nobody remembers Kapler's 2008 year.

It's actually a pretty cool bench year, too. .301 average, 38 RBIs, 8 homers, 69 hits. His .498 SLG was the third-highest on the team, behind Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, of course. One of those great years that gets overlooked by statisticians because of who the numbers belonged to. A lot like the 2008 Brewers, too.

Kapler would spend the next 2 years in a similar bench role in Tampa before retiring, ruining the Phillies for two years and nearly getting the Giants to the playoffs in 2020. 

That's all I have for the 2008 set for right now. Expect some 2009 and beyond entries on the way.

Local Card Show: A New Hope

...wait.

That card doesn't have a watermark on it..

..

THAT CARD DOESN'T HAVE A WATERMARK! So that could mean either one of two things: Either I got it from another source, or...

(checks printer)

A SCANNER?

One that's been sitting on my printer since the inception of the blog, and one that I've been afraid to use for some reason?

...IT EXISTS! I can actually scan things for the blog, and USE them! FOR REAL ACTUALLY!

No more watermarks! No more discrepancies! No more DESCRIBING THINGS! BETTER CUSTOMS! YES! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!

Okay, okay...where was I?

Oh, yes, the card show.

--------

PREVIOUSLY ON LOST CARD SHOWS, the local mall that had hosted every great card show since I'd began blogging, announced that they were no longer carrying the show. Management made the decision, none of the dealers were happy, and the show had an incredibly somber tone to it. However, one dealer in particular spoke of hope. Hope of a card show not too far from where I lived, in Deptford, NJ, that would be taking a lot of the same dealers from the older show, and giving them a larger mall to sell in.

Hope came today, in Deptford, on the upper level, around the main area of the mall. And it came in the form of ten-cent bins.

I came home from Deptford with a bag full of nicely selected cards, ranging from $1 to 10 cents each, from the 90's to today, baseball and football. And thanks to my scanner, I can SHOW you what I got.

SET NEEDS:

Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, I do realize how absolutely insane it is to like Upper Deck Timeline, and actually want to collect it. Well, I don't really want to collect it, however I do like seeing cards I don't have from it, especially from these designs. 

2012 Archives is a set I'm a bit more serious on collecting, so getting these nine cards helped matters especially. I also got a few more cards that I thought I needed, but I didn't. Oh, well.

2005 Topps was the first card set I got into, because a friend of mine had a lot of it in 2007, and it was so new to me. I remember "borrowing" some of his star cards. I think he stopped collecting after that. Still, these five are always nice.

PLAYER SIGHTINGS:

The one ten-cent dealer had a lot of random clumps of different players, including Manning and Harrison, though there were a lot more Harrisons, which I can understand, as he was everywhere around 2003 and 2004, right before Manning became The Greatest Quarterback of Our Time. Manning had a few nice ones too.

This one was my favorite. Not because it's 1998 Upper Deck (1998 for football, 1999 for baseball), but because it's a great shot of the guy in mid-run. Also, because I get to see those awesome red-centric Patriots uniforms again.

Andre Johnson was also well represented, as these cards were new to my collection. Also, I have a soft spot for 2004 Fleer Showcase. Matter of fact, I have a soft spot for 2004 Fleer Anything.

Plus, it's not a card show without an appearance by Donovan McNabb, one of my favorite QB's of my youth. Two sets that are fun to collect, too, especially the Stadium Club one....WHICH REMINDS ME...

STADIUM CLUB:

 

These five are at least a start, especially considering the fact that they all come from sets I haven't broken a box of. The Smoltz one is cool, because where else are you gonna find a pitcher diving for an outfield catch?

 

 

The majority of the Stadium Club at one dealer's box was from 1999, which was another nice set from the last few years of the product. The Greg Maddux one is a hell of a shot, and the Damon one is a great 'pulled back shot' card. Also, rookies for Adrian Beltre and Eric Chavez.

 

MISCELLANEOUS:

Gypsy Queen, sad to say, is only good for the inserts. I mean, the base cards are okay, but the inserts have been the only consistently-awesome part of the three-year-long descent in quality. These two are proof, from last year's release- excellent photography combined with impressive filtering. Can't decide which one I like better.

 

These are both inserts from 2006 Topps Football, as part of their Turn Back the Clock promotion. Of the inserts the guy had, these two were the only notable ones. After last season, they might be a lot less notable.

 

All inserts of powerful players I kinda adore. Thome especially. Any cards of him on any team, I will collect whole-heartedly. Edgar Martinez is one of my Mariners-loving uncle's favorite players, and this is one of those 'let's make up what would have happened had there been no strike last season' inserts. These two Johnny Damon cards are also awesome, even the one that depicts his year-long stint on the A's.

 

Three cards of versatile journeyman QBs. I picked up the Hasselbeck because I so badly needed a card of him on the Packers, as a completist and Packer fan. The Brees is another nice addition to my ever-growing 'Brees as a Charger' mini-collection. The other Hasselbeck is here because I like any and all Topps cards of cool players.

 

2014 TOPPS:

 

I got a bit more than depicted, but these are the highlights. The $1 Torii Hunter gold was the priciest card I bought. The others are here for star power, team-bias, and awesome photography, in the case of Upton, Marky and Werth, who much be pointing at how awful the guy who took his place is doing.

 

ROOKIES:

 

The czar of ten-cent bins specialized in rookies of fringe players. This card isn't Beltre's rookie, but it's marginally close. It's a rookie-ish card from 1999 Upper Deck. But there's more.

 

These two Topps-centric cards are legit rookies of two fringe-stars, Young and Kendrick. You can argue that Kendrick is still a big star for the Angels, but not as big as he was in 2008.

 

These three are of people that would only excite a quirky collector like me.

 

Lillibridge's is important to me because he helped me out a while back, and made one of my customs his Twitter profile picture, which I will never not be bragging about. McCallister is equally sentimental to me, as I was there to see his Major League Debut, five years after this 2006 Bowman card was produced. Morse is also kinda sentimental, because I was in Washington when he returned from a minor injury, during his peak season in 2011. These three may not be stars, but they are to me.

 

Justin Masterson had an excellent season in 2013, finally breaking out for the Indians. I'm happy this happened, because it took the sting out of his previous claim to fame, the one that said he was the catalyst behind the trade that sent Victor Martinez to Boston. Now, they can say he was the guy who brought the Indians back to legitimacy. So for that, his 2006 rookie card's a pretty big deal.

 

However, I think it can be trumped...

 

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe this is Carlos Gonzalez' rookie card, three teams away from where he'd make a few All Star games in Colorado. This is a pretty nice one, especially considering I got it for ten cents.

 

So, being that the show was a success, I imagine that I'll be going back the next time they have it, and I'll hope to see some of the same people, and more ten cent bins.

 

...and maybe a little more Stadium Club.







Chan Hooooo Boy

Remember last year, when Chan Ho Park pitched in the World Series? Remember how he looked so scraggly, so unshaven

He's going to the Yankees...which means he's going to have to shave.

CRAAAAAAPPP!