And now for something completely different

A lot of baseball cards have been released in 2013. Between Topps (MLB and MLBPA licenses), Panini (MLBPA license), Leaf (no licenses), and Upper Deck (MLBPA license but strict MLB oversight), more than 40 baseball products have been released this year. So which cards stand out from the rest? To answer that question, we’ll break down the key Mets cards from 2013 in The Essentials.

One class of insert that has been on the rise lately is the short printed photo variation. Inserted at a rate of one per box or less, these cards are a cheap way for manufacturers to add value to their products just by printing ordinary cards. Photo subjects range from alternate photos of players to special event photos to squirrels. One thing they all have in common is that they rarely feature very many Mets.

Out of Bounds

2013’s first product brought us the first Mets photo variation of the year. The theme for the variations in 2013 Topps Series 1 was “out of bounds,” meaning photos of players making plays in foul territory or over the outfield wall. Card 400 shows a very dirty David Wright settling in under a pop fly as fans look on. Sharp readers may notice that Series 1 stops at card 331, indicating that these SPs are not limited to players featured in the base set (this trend would continue in the remainder of the base Topps releases). A similar variant was released in 2013 Topps Chrome.

All-Stars

Just like last year, Topps used photos from the All-Star game in most of the photo variations in 2013 Topps Update. And just like last year, one of the 25 base SPs features the two Mets representatives sharing a candid moment. Another SP shows David Wright chatting with some of his fellow NL All-Stars. But wait, there’s more.

David Wright sure got around at the 2013 All-Star game. He guest starred on Justin Verlander’s SP (apparently levitating a glove) and brought the entire NL home run derby team to Bryce Harper’s SP. His final appearance was on one of the 25 limited (one per two cases) SPs with Tom Seaver (not shown) crashing Matt Harvey’s US1 card number.

Gypsy Queen Minis

Not shown to scale

So apparently I bought a complete Mets team set of Gypsy Queen with all minis and SPs at some point this year.  And there are two photo variants in the minis, the one with David Wright not making a silly face and the one with Tom Seaver making a silly face.  Gypsy Queen really isn’t my thing, so that’s all I’ve got.

Bowman Chrome

Rafael Montero was featured twice in the Bowman Chrome Prospects set, first on card BCP50 in 2013 Bowman and then on card BCP204 in 2013 Bowman Chrome. Montero also had a photo variation in 2013 Bowman Chrome because for some reason they decided to use the same exact photo on both base cards (and Montero’s autograph card) and had a leftover photo from a spring training photo shoot. I guess they just really liked the photo from the other cards because it’s the same photo (with some uniform modification) from Montero’s 2012 Topps Heritage Minor League cards.