Tag Archives: David Wright - Page 6

Holding Myself Accountable

Posted by on 1 October 2013 Comments Off on Holding Myself Accountable

A look back at a look ahead at the Mets in 2013

Earlier this year, I answered a few questions about the upcoming 2013 season.  To see if I had any clue about what I was talking about, I pulled out my answers and compared them to the reality of the 2013 season.

Offseason grade: B-

You can’t really judge the process by the results, but the Mets’ problems in 2013 weren’t caused by their offseason deals.  Buck and Byrd performed at least as well as expected and brought back a couple of prospects, so Mission Accomplished there.  Shaun Marcum was Shaun Marcum, Collin Cowgill’s stay was mercifully short, and Travis d’Arnaud didn’t get much of a look due to injury.  As for the big-name outfielders the Mets didn’t get in the offseason, well, Victorino was probably the only one worth his contract and I think I’m the only Mets fan who wanted to see him on the Mets.

Johan Santana won’t matter

As it turns out, Santana landed squarely on the worst case scenario line.  While I didn’t pick that as the likely outcome, I didn’t think Santana would be a factor in 2013 and he certainly wasn’t.

The Mets had to keep David Wright

Take a look at the Game 162 lineup.  Now picture it without Wright.  Yeah, the Mets need him.  We got a look at the Mets without Wright when he was on the DL and it wasn’t pretty.

Zack Wheeler: Impact Rookie

Wheeler did well in his rookie stint, but he didn’t blow everyone away like Harvey did.  Still, he’s a solid starter in a rotation that featured Daisuke Matsuzaka and Aaron Harang at the end.  Travis d’Arnaud will take his rookie eligibility into 2014, so he wasn’t the right pick either.  The real impact rookie this year was Juan Lagares, who was one of the top defensive outfielders in baseball in 2013 while being merely replacement-level at the plate.  He set a Mets rookie record with 16 outfield assists, just three short of the Mets season record.  Lagares was overshadowed last year by Matt den Dekker, but an injury in spring training kept den Dekker in the minors until the end of August.  Lagares is on his way to becoming a star if he can get it together at the plate, but that’s a big if.

An honorable mention has to go to Scott Rice, who made his MLB debut with the Mets on Opening Day and pitched himself to hernia surgery in September.  Along the way, he earned his first Rookie Card, though he has yet to appear in an MLB-licensed product (Lagares on the other hand is still waiting for his first Rookie Card).  Not bad for someone originally drafted in 1999.

Mets finish at 76-86, 4th in the NL East

I was a couple of wins over on the record and one place under in the standings.  Who knew the Phillies could fall so far so fast?  With the Marlins seemingly loaded with prospects, the Phillies could find themselves in the basement as early as next year.

On the plus side, the Mets didn’t contend for half a season and then flush themselves down the toilet.  2013 was a series of ups and downs, though the end result was the same as last year.  Take out the injuries and add some better players and maybe you have a team that can stay strong all season.  But that’s still a bit of a stretch.  They didn’t fail in their usual way, so that’s something.

Ike Davis Strikes Back

Well, three words out of four ain’t bad…  Davis looked terrible at the start of the season, even worse than he did last year.  A month in Vegas helped him a little, but the power never came back.  He finished with just 9 home runs in 103 games, well off his usual pace.  A full season of Ike was not something to look forward to after all.

Elsewhere, there were some fun moments.  Sweeping the Yankees in four games, including a walkoff to end Mariano Rivera’s final appearance at Citi Field, was nice.  Matt Harvey’s starts were always must-see TV, even if the Mets often found a way to lose.  The Harvey/Wheeler doubleheader may have been the most anticipated day of Mets baseball all season.  And of course Harvey’s start at the All-Star game and the Futures Game started by a pair of Mets prospects were memorable, even if they weren’t actual Mets games.

The Jordany Valdespin question has been answered.  Wilmer Flores is still largely an unknown, as is the pronunciation of Familia’s first name.  Bobby Parnell did a great job as closer, though injury ended his season early and gave us LaTroy Hawkins, Vic Black, and Frank Francisco as possible closers.  Gabriel Ynoa is a stud, Luis Mateo not so much, and Hansel Robles regressed.  Las Vegas seems to be working out, but there may only be another year of it left.  And no, the outfield question did not get resolved in 2013.  There was a lot to see this year, even if we already knew how it would end.  The season is a journey and this one is over.

My Take on the 2013 Mets

Posted by on 10 March 2013 Comments Off on My Take on the 2013 Mets

Wait, someone wants to know what I think?

One of the perks of having a baseball blog is getting bloggers from other teams asking for your thoughts on your team.  Trust me, it’s a lot more exciting than it sounds.  While this blog isn’t getting much of any attention, I (along with probably every Mets blogger out there) did get a request from Daniel Shoptaw at C70 At The Bat for some thoughts on the Mets going into the 2013 season.  I am in no way qualified to provide expert analysis on the subject, but I have never let that stop me before, so why start now?

You can read the answers from six other Mets bloggers at Playing Pepper 2013: New York Mets.

1. How would you grade the offseason?

Based on expectations and the meager offerings on the market, a B- sounds fair, if a bit on the high side.  It’s tempting to grade them lower for not making any flashy moves, but it’s not like the flashy moves they’ve made in the past have worked out all that well.  They kept Wright, grabbed one of the top catching prospects in baseball, and picked up plenty of cheap options for the outfield and the bullpen.  Losing R.A. Dickey is tough, but the package the Blue Jays were offering was too good to pass up.  Not only did the Mets hang on to all of their hot young pitchers, but they picked up another one to add to the crowded single A ranks.  Most importantly, they didn’t throw big contracts at bit parts, going with plenty of non-roster invites (NRIs) over multi-year deals.  It’s not ideal, but it leaves the team in a good position to add pieces when better options become available.  It’s worth noting that this is the first offseason in which Sandy Alderson has not signed a reliever to a multi-year deal.  This is a huge improvement considering that the last two were D.J. Carrasco and Frank Francisco.  Travis d’Arnaud looks to be the catcher of the future while John Buck provides a legitimate veteran presence behind the plate.  The outfield still looks terrible, but did you see the amount of money that was getting thrown around for even moderately decent outfielders?  Now is not the time to be signing the next Jason Bay, the last one is still on the books.

What really matters though is how these guys look in cards.  Shaun Marcum has some nice Brewers jersey swatches, John Buck is a big win in terms of game-used memorabilia with pieces of jerseys from the Royals, the Astros, the 2002 Futures Game, and the 2010 All-Star Game on top of bat, glove, chest protector, and shin guard swatches, and d’Arnaud is a bit disappointing with only some red jersey swatches so far, but most of the NRIs aren’t any better.

The exception is Marlon Byrd, who has an astounding amount of game-used memorabilia to his name from his time with the Cubs and the Phillies.  I really hope he makes the team just so I justify having what I’ve already bought on speculation.

2. Will Johan Santana be back to his old form this season?

It doesn’t really matter.  The Mets aren’t expected to contend this year and this is the last year of his contract, plus he already gave us a no-hitter last year.  It’s been a good but not great run from Santana thus far, so it would be nice to see him finish strong.  Best case scenario, he comes back in top form and gets dealt in July for an outfield prospect, with the Mets eating most of his remaining salary and Zack Wheeler taking his spot in the rotation.  Worst case scenario, he has a setback early in the season and Jenrry Mejia/Collin McHugh/Jeremy Hefner fills in for him until Wheeler is ready.  Most likely, he’ll be good for 100 or so innings as long as he stays away from Reed Johnson.

3. What did it mean to you that the team signed David Wright to an extension?

More than it should.  This team has a terrible history when it comes to keeping star talent.  Even the Astros have had decent luck holding on to their stars for the duration.  You have to remember that the Mets lost The Franchise not once but twice and just last year let Jose Reyes (briefly) go to the Marlins without so much as making him an offer.  The only Mets star to spend an entire career with the team is Ed Kranepool; Wright is second on the list by games played, with current Mets Daniel Murphy and Ike Davis also in the top ten.  I love Kranepool, but that is just sad.  With almost no payroll committed past this season, there was simply no excuse for not locking Wright up for the rest of his quality years.

4. What rookie will make the biggest impact in 2013?

There are really only two options here, Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud.  d’Arnaud has the potential to be a star at a position that has been a problem area for the Mets since Mike Piazza’s departure, while Wheeler has the potential to be the ace in a rotation with some very underrated young pitchers.  The need is greater for d’Arnaud, but I see Wheeler having more impact on a team that is likely to be in pretty bad shape late in the season.

5. What will be the final record of the team and where will they finish in the division?

76-86, 4th in the NL East ahead of the Marlins.  3rd would be nice, but the Phillies don’t have enough experience with late-season collapses to out-collapse the Mets.  Last year they got it completely backwards, almost finishing with a winning record.  They’ve made some great moves this offseason to improve their ability to disappoint, but they’re still at least two or three years away from contending for last place.

Seriously though, the real test for this team isn’t going to be about their record or where they place in the division, it will be whether they can keep from dropping off like a rock after the All-Star game.  They were still in contention last year at the break, then they forgot how to win games and were a lost cause by the trade deadline.  This has been the trend for several years now and needs to stop before the Mets can ever be considered a contender, regardless of how many Wild Card teams are added.

6. What one thing from your team are you most looking forward to watching?

In abstract terms, the unexpected.  Last season brought us a no-hitter from Johan Santana and a 20-win season and Cy Young award from R.A. Dickey, not to mention the debut of Matt Harvey and David Wright getting back to being David Wright.  Even with so much going wrong, there were plenty of bright spots.  If you were at Citi Field for the final home game of the season when R.A. Dickey struck out 13 on the way to his 20th win, you wouldn’t have thought that this was a team wrapping up another lost season.

In more specific terms, I’m really looking forward to seeing a (hopefully) full healthy season from Ike Davis.  Looking at his final line from last year (.227/.308/.462, 32 HR), you don’t get a full appreciation for just how terrible he was from the start of the season until I posted this in June (.167/.248/.285, 5 HR in 206 PA).  His performance from that point on (.261/.341/.562, 27 HR in 378 PA) was enough to bring him up to mediocre on the year, but a full season at that level would be a real treat.  A hot start to the 2013 season could give David Wright some company at the All-Star Game at Citi Field this year.

And then there are the unanswered questions.  Can Jordany Valdespin make it as a big leaguer?  Is there a position for Wilmer Flores?  Will Jeurys Familia live up to his high expectations?  And will we ever settle on a pronunciation of “Jeurys?”  Who will settle into the closer role?  How quickly will the hot arms at single A make it up through the system?  Will playing in Las Vegas (AAA) cause any problems?  Will a major league outfield appear in Citi Field by the end of the season?  There’s a lot to look forward to, even if this season turns out like the last few.  It’s baseball, isn’t that enough?

Product Spotlight: 2012 Topps Triple Threads

Posted by on 3 January 2013 Comments Off on Product Spotlight: 2012 Topps Triple Threads

Finally, an excuse to say “Dickey pants”

Triple Threads is one of the most-loved Topps products, so of course I am largely indifferent towards it.  This is one of the products born from the post-Playoff/Donruss era, when most of the products I liked were discontinued or marginalized, so I’m holding a bit of a grudge.  And as a “Let’s face it, you’re not going to get a big hit out of this, just buy what you want on eBay and save some money” product, I get annoyed waiting for the few cards I want most to show up in auctions at prices that aren’t completely insane.  Note to sellers: most of these cards will sell for less than $20, stop it with the “Everything $99” approach.  The most annoying thing about this product though is the trademarked Topps infinite parallelization of every single card.  In addition to the base version (typically numbered to 99 for autographed cards and 36 for non-autographed cards), there are Sepia, Emerald, Gold, Sapphire, Ruby, and occasionally a few other parallels, plus a set of 1/1 printing plates for every single card.  This makes every card both rare (everything numbered to less than 100!) and common (more than 250 of each if you ignore silly color variations, with many players appearing on multiple cards in the same insert set).

Base Cards

Serial Numbering: None-625-250-125-99-50-25-1-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Gary Carter, Tom Seaver, David Wright
Non-Mets: Jose Reyes, Nolan Ryan, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider, Rickey Henderson

Sadly, Topps did not drop the base cards from Triple Threads like they did for Tier 1.  They seemed really excited to show off this design on Twitter.  Am I missing something here?  This is about as dull a design as you can get.  Good thing these aren’t the main draw and only serve as filler along with their six parallels numbered to between 25 and 625, two parallels numbered to 1, and four printing plates per card.  Three Mets out of 100 cards is about average, so whatever.

Rookies and Future Phenoms Autographed Relics

Serial Numbering: 99-75-50-25-10-1-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ike Davis
Non-Mets: None

As usual, Triple Threads includes a bunch of inserts as an extension of the base set.  I do not know why they do this, probably just to make sure you can’t build a complete set that makes any sense.  Serial numbering on these follows the 99 sequence, so that’s 265 total cards for those of you playing along at home, with cards numbered to 10 or less featuring patches if patches are available.  Two of the 65 cards feature Mets, which is again about average.  As with all of the “triple” relics in this product, there are exactly three pieces of material in each card regardless of how many holes are cut in the card placed over them.  Putting 23 holes in a card does not mean that there are 23 pieces of material in the card!  Why are people on eBay so stupid?  Next thing you know, they’ll be calling every serial numbered card a 1/1 because every one is unique.  Oh, wait, they already do that…  Autographs on these cards are on the cards and not stickers, because Kirk Nieuwenhuis doesn’t sign stickers.  Seriously, have you seen how many cards this kid signed this year?  He’s at more than 1600 just counting serial numbered cards.  I’m amazed he’s not on the DL from a hand injury.

Triple Threads Autographed Relics

Serial Numbering: 18-9-3-1-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Dave Kingman, Ike Davis (4), David Wright
Non-Mets: Tom Seaver, Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Duke Snider (2)

And here’s the gimmick that everyone (except me) loves, multiple variations of every card with stupid things written in the windows over the game-used material!  Lumbering lefty?  I guess it’s better than “send me an angel” or “heaven sent.”  Whoever comes up with this stuff must have been fired from a greeting card company for being too cheesy.  These follow the 36 numbering sequence minus the 36 and 27 for 36 total copies of each.

Triple Threads Relics / Relic Legends

Serial Numbering: 36-27-18-9-3-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: David Wright (5)
Non-Mets: Jose Reyes (3), Rickey henderson, Eddie Murray, Willie Mays

If you need more Wright, just head over to the non-autographed Triple Threads Relics insert set, which features five more variants on the full 36 numbering scheme minus the wood 1/1 for 98 total copies of each stupid phrase.  Among this year’s winners are “Wright Stuff” and “D-Money.”  Jose Reyes on the other hand got tagged with “Fresh Fish.”  As I’m sure Jay Sherman would say about this, it stinks.

Triple Threads Flashback Relics

Serial Numbering: 36-27-18-9-3-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Johan Santana, Tom Seaver, Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden
Non-Mets: Rickey Henderson

Here’s an idea that’s so obvious that I can’t believe I haven’t seen it before: put windowing on both sides of a jersey card (Topps did something similar with several relic sets a decade ago by making the bottom layer transparent, but these are the first I’ve seen that are open on both sides).  Two of these feature the Mets on the front and another two on the back.  Of particular interest here is the Dwight Gooden card with sewn-in pinstripes visible from both sides.  Numbering follows the 36 sequence we’ve been seeing on most of these non-autographed triple relics.

Unity Autographed Relics

Serial Numbering: 99-75-50-25-10-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Daniel Murphy (2), Ike Davis, Josh Thole (2), Lucas Duda (2), R.A. Dickey (2), Ruben Tejada (2), Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden (2), Gary Carter.
Non-Mets: Duke Snider

OK, let’s cut the crap.  The whole “triple” gimmick is nice and makes for interesting display pieces and once-in-a-lifetime pulls, but the bulk of the interesting cards in this product are in the Unity insert sets.  While last year’s Unity inserts could be combined in groups of three to create a panorama of the team’s stadium (or a frankenstadium if you combine players from different teams), this year’s Unity design is completely generic.  On the plus side, this is what Topps has been saving the bulk of the material from new players and players who haven’t been seen since last year for.  So if you were wondering why Lucas Duda and Josh Thole have been getting the shaft for the bulk of the year, it was so Topps could make them the big draw in this insert set.  Well, that and Dickey pants.  Double Dickey pants.  Fresh off Dickey’s second consecutive one-hitter this year, stains and all.  This may be the only game-used item whose authenticity has not been called into question by the recent counterfeit merchandise scandals.

Each card lists a specific accomplishment for the depicted player, with some players featured on multiple cards.  Accomplishments include a mix of awards, events, and on-field performances.  All autographs are on stickers and numbering follows the 99 sequence minus wood.  That’s right, there’s no Dickey wood parallel.  Deal with it.

Unity Relics

Serial Numbering: 36-27-18-9-3-1-1-1-1-1
Mets: Rickey Henderson (3), David Wright (3), Johan Santana (3), Daniel Murphy
Non-Mets: Willie Mays, Warren Spahn, Carlos Beltran (3), Eddie Murray (2).

For players without a ready supply of sticker autographs, there’s the non-autographed variety of Unity.  These follow the 36 numbering sequence (without wood, like the autographed variety), making them harder to find than their autographed brethren (particularly when it comes to patches, which are at the 3 or less parallels as opposed to 10 or less for the autographed versions).

2011 All-Star Workout Jerseys

Heath Bell, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes appear here with various pieces of their 2011 All-Star workout jerseys.  Base patch cards are numbered to 9 or less, all others are numbered to 1.  They’re nice, I guess.

Multiple Player Cards, Booklets, Oddballs, and Other Assorted Rarities

There are a bunch of them.  I don’t care about any of this stuff though and most of it is out of my price range, terribly boring, or both.  Go somewhere else if you want an unbiased review, or just look at the pre-launch tweets from Topps for some of the many cards you will never own.  This is the only reason to open boxes of this stuff, which I don’t do.  These cards might as well not exist.

Bottom Line

While I may not care for the card design, Triple Threads never fails to deliver new material.  Mets with their first MLB uniform material include R.A. Dickey, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Daniel Murphy, Ruben Tejada, and Lucas Duda.  Tejada and Josh Thole have their first blue jerseys in this product and Dickey has the first Mets pinstripe material since the change to cream/ivory base material in 2010 (and on top of that it’s from the pants he wore during his second consecutive one-hitter this year).  Dwight Gooden has the first Mets sewn-in pinstripes visible from both sides.  And Nieuwenhuis’s black jersey swatches can only be from the jersey he wore on June 3 to honor John Franco.

Players who recently changed teams haven’t been left out either.  Carlos Beltran, fresh off having pieces of a Giants uniform in Museum Collection, has his first Cardinals patch cards in Triple Threads.  While these are all numbered to 3 or 1, there are three different cards for a total of 12 patch cards.  Yeah, that’s still not very many.  More common though are pieces from Jose Reyes’s spring training jersey, which Topps tweeted a picture of back in the spring.  Material available for Reyes in his various cards includes black, black mesh, and orange mesh fabric swatches as well as some patches numbered to 10 and 1.

And then there’s the retired players who are shown on other teams on cards featuring pieces of Mets uniforms…  Rickey Henderson and Eddie Murray have some beautiful big Mets patch cards that show them in other teams’ uniforms.  They’re way out of my price range in any case, but it bugs me to see such great cards marred by showing the player in the wrong uniform.

Still, it’s hard to get too excited about this product.  Triple Threads has a lot of stuff, but none of it really stands out.  It doesn’t have the on-card autographs of Tier One or Five Star, the attainable jumbo relics of Five Star or Museum Collection, or the card design of Bowman, Finest, or Museum Collection.  But I suspect that I might be just a bit biased.  Player selection is this product’s real strength, but even that just makes it a placeholder for many players until something better comes along.

Best Mets Cards of 2012

Posted by on 3 January 2013 Comments Off on Best Mets Cards of 2012

Looking back at things that didn’t suck about the Mets in 2012

Well, the Mets didn’t win the World Series last year.  Or make the playoffs.  Or finish with a winning record.  They didn’t finish in last place, but that’s more because of the Marlins than anything the Mets did.  The year started off with the Mets in contention, but the second half crash and burn was in full effect in 2012.  What a miserable year.

Except for a few bright spots.  After just over 50 years, the Mets got their first no-hitter, courtesy of Johan Santana and a questionable foul ball call on Carlos Beltran.  After more than 20 years, the Mets had a 20-game winner in R.A. Dickey, who then went on to become the first knuckleball pitcher to win the Cy Young Award (before being traded to the Blue Jays).  Matt Harvey made an impressive debut and Zack Wheeler worked his way up to be in position to do the same in 2013.  And of course David Wright was back in MVP form and signed a contract that should keep him in a Mets uniform until the end of his playing days.

In the errata category, the Mets brought back Banner Day and will have it back again this year.  They also finally announced that Citi Field will host the 2013 All-Star game.  And that pesky black drop shadow has finally been banished from the uniforms.  The black uniforms themselves refuse to die, but a pair of new blue alternates should keep their use to a minimum.  And how about those $20 clearance blue Dickey jerseys that everyone except me was able to get?  I am still accepting Christmas presents if anyone has an extra road version in XL.

As for baseball cards, 2012 had a few bright spots.  While Mets representation in some products (Topps Heritage) was very poor, there was still a good supply of new game-used and autograph cards, plus plenty of official Rookie Cards and actual first cards.  Here’s a few of the best (and worst) cards that 2012 had to offer.

Best Manufactured Material

2012 Topps Series 1 Golden Greats Coin Tom Seaver

Topps had some interesting manufactured material inserts this year, but none could come close to their coin relic cards.  These huge double-sided medallions are absolutely stunning in person.  Topps Update introduced the runner-up, the Hall of Fame Plaque manufactured material relic.  It’s hard to beat a heavy chunk of metal.

Best Parallel Insert Set

2012 Topps Archives Gold Foil Parallel

Topps introduced even more types of parallel cards this year with the various colors of Ice and Wave Refractor parallels in addition to the usual colored borders, sparkles, refractors, xfractors, atomic refractors, superfractors, etc.  None of them were even close to being a match for the gold foil parallels in Topps Archives.  These look great in person and get even better when scanned (unlike most chrome/refractor cards).

Best Sticker Autograph

2012 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph Gary Carter

Sure, he’s not shown as a Met, but there isn’t a Mets sticker autograph that can come close to this.  Not only is this an autograph from the late Gary Carter on a 1975-style card, but this is the first-ever sticker autograph to appear in a Topps Archives product.

Best On-Card Autograph

2012 Topps Five Star Silver Ink Gold Signature R.A. Dickey

Alternatives to the usual blue (and occasional black or red) autographs have been in short supply in recent years, but Topps released some nice specimens in silver, gold, and white marker in several of its premium products.  The best of the bunch has to be R.A. Dickey’s gold signature in Topps Five Star.  Between the strokes of the signature and the picture chosen to accompany it, there’s really nothing more you could want from this card (well, other than less chipping).  The card itself has three color variants (all numbered to 10 or 5), but I like the look of the purple version.

One problem with the silver and gold markers Topps used this year is that they don’t always write evenly, leaving many signatures looking weak and washed out.  That wasn’t a problem for the white ink parallels in Topps Tier One though.  Combine the strength of the ink with David Wright’s signature and you have a clear winner (or runner-up in this case).  These were released as redemptions (boo!), but they were fulfilled fairly quickly (woo!).

Worst Autograph

2012 Panini Signature Series MLBPA Logo Autograph Jordany Valdespin

This card had a lot going against it before it even got to the autograph.  First, without a license from MLB Properties, Panini couldn’t use proper team names or logos, instead settling for “New York Baseball Club” in place of Mets and cropping out all logos.  Next, their style of patch isn’t terribly exciting, essentially being just some embroidery on the fabric.  And the use of the MLBPA logo, while something to brag about because it is the one license they do have, just isn’t all that interesting (and the detail doesn’t really come through all that well).  Add in the two other manufactured material autograph sets with the same checklist (one with the iconic Rated Rookie logo and one on simulated baseballs), and this card looks like a dud.

Add in the autograph and it’s a total bomb.  J-stroke, dot, V-stroke, dot.  Look, I know these kids have a lot of autographs to sign, and nobody writes anything by hand anymore, but has it really come to this?  That’s not an autograph, those are initials.  I’m not expecting calligraphy or anything, but is it too much to ask for these guys to at least come up with a symbol they can draw?  I’ll even take a random scribble over something like this.  The autograph market is in trouble if the future holds nothing but simple initials.

Best Uniform Memorabilia Card

2012 Topps Triple Threads Unity Autographed Relic R.A. Dickey

Did you even need to ask?  They may not be big, but Dickey’s pants swatches are the only Mets pinstripe material from an active Mets player in 2012 and are the first Mets pinstripes from the last three seasons’ uniforms.  And he also threw a one-hitter wearing them.  There’s just no way to top that.

Best Patch Card

2012 Topps Update All-Star Jumbo Patch R.A. Dickey

A mockup of what this card sort of looks like

Dickey’s jumbo All-Star Patches are a thing of beauty, but being numbered to 6 has kept them from my hands (and scanner).  I’ve got the whole (non-Dickey-worn) jersey in my closet though, so I can make do without it.

Best Bat Card

2012 Topps Museum Collection Dual Jumbo Lumber Ike Davis David Wright

Bat cards aren’t that big of a draw anymore and in most cases are just variants of generic relic cards that may contain a piece of bat or jersey.  Museum Collection offered one of the only bat-only memorabilia inserts in its Jumbo Lumber relics.  Not only were these limited to bats specifically, but every piece was nice and big.  The dual version paired David Wright, the Mets’ lone representative in the single Jumbo Lumber relics, with Ike Davis.  For Ike, this was his first memorabilia card of the year.

Best Other Memorabilia Card

2011 Panini Limited Hard Hats Dwight Gooden

Panini was still stuck in 2011 in May of 2012 when they released Panini Limited, a product filled with interesting memorabilia cards like what Playoff/Donruss was known for.  Dwight Gooden was well-represented with bat, jersey, hat, and fielding glove pieces in addition to the (no pun intended) crown jewel: a piece of game-used helmet.  Helmet cards are extremely rare, somewhere between wristbands and catcher’s equipment.  This is the first MLB-worn helmet card from a Mets player (previous examples are all from the 2000 Futures Game) and may have been from a Mets helmet.  No pieces of the Helmet’s logo have surfaced, so we may never know for sure.

Worst Memorabilia Card

2012 Topps Triple Threads Relic Jose Reyes “Fresh Fish”

Really, Topps?  These lame attempts to be hip and quirky are why I can’t get behind Triple Threads as a product.  What’s next, referring to David Wright and his impending contract extension as “D-Money?”  Oh, right.  These stupid phrases are almost as idiotic as eBay sellers who think there are more than three pieces of memorabilia in them because of the windowing (hint: it’s called “Triple” Threads for a reason).

Autograph Product of the Year

2012 Topps Archives

The return of Topps Archives was one of the biggest card-related stories of the year and the product did not disappoint.  Picking up where the 2005 product left off, 2012 Archives was loaded with autographs from big stars and minor favorites alike, packing in autographs from 20 former Mets (Nolan Ryan and Willie Mays are not shown, for obvious reasons), all on-card except for Carter (for obvious reasons).

Honorable Mention – 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition

Yeah, Panini has a different kind of calendar.  This was one of the first new Panini baseball products and it got plenty of attention.  While Topps put autographs from the Mets’ top two 2011 draft picks in 2011 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects and moved on, Panini went with the top four, plus Phillip Evans.  Then they threw in Chris Schwinden for good measure.  Most of the autographs are on stickers (some of the Nimmos and Fulmers are the only ones that are on-card), but the unique player selection, die-cut parallels, and interesting ink variants more than make up for that.  Topps has shown no interest in autographs from “lesser” draft picks, so this would be a good niche for Panini to focus on.

Game-Used Product of the Year

2012 Topps Museum Collection

Great card design, lots of material variety, decent player selection.  I could go on, but what more is there to say?

Honorable Mention: 2012 Topps Triple Threads

I may not personally like the style and format of Triple Threads, but you can’t ignore the material.  So many players and so much new material are in this product that it always rates as one of the most significant products of the year.  But I’m still not giving it the top spot.

Product Spotlight: 2012 Topps Five Star

Posted by on 15 December 2012 Comments Off on Product Spotlight: 2012 Topps Five Star

With great price comes great risk

If you’ve been worried that baseball card products weren’t expensive enough and have been envious of football card collectors with their super-duper-ultra-mega-premium products, Topps has heard your pleas and brought Five Star to baseball for 2012.  With a starting price of $500 per pack (which dropped to around $400 within a couple weeks of release), you were basically paying for a case of cards and only getting the case hits.  The stakes have never been this high, which means that an unprecedented level of disappointment was soon to follow.

So what does $500 get you these days?  Not a whole lot as it turns out.  Here’s the pack breakdown:

1 Active Player Autograph
1 Retired Player Autograph
1 Autographed Booklet or some other autograph
1 Autographed Relic
1 Relic

And, as a last-minute reveal, packs will also include a base card numbered to 80 or 10!  Yes, after they ditched the base cards in Tier 1, they added them in at the last minute for Five Star.  I have no idea what they’re doing over there, but I guess it’s a bonus.

Sounds good, right?  I mean, as long as you don’t pull a bunch of cards that sell in the $10-20 range, but how likely is that?  Almost certain as it turns out, but there’s still a real chance of pulling at least one card that will sell for $100.  So really, you might be able to get $200 out of a pack, which isn’t that bad.  Unless you paid $500 for it.  Oops.  But the big hits!  8 player autographs!  Booklets!  All autographs are on-card and all relics are game-used (just like everything was in 2001…)!  Imagine yourself selling a card for $1500!  Which probably won’t happen until you’ve gone through at least four packs, or possibly four cases…  But at least you have some nice stuff left over after selling off the hits.  Oh, right, there’s nothing else there, just the seconds of enjoyment from opening packs.  Five Star sells you on the concept and the experience, which may be all you walk away with after putting your money down.

I bailed out of the high-dollar pack market way back in the beginning with SP Game Bat and Pacific Private Stock in 2001.  $20 per pack was pushing it back then and it didn’t take more than a couple of worthless packs to sour me on the whole concept.  Buying singles on the secondary market was always a better deal and that remains true to this day.  I haven’t touched packs of any of this year’s other high-end products and I’m not taking any chances with Five Star.  But there are some nice must-have cards in this product that will cost you a lot less than $500 to pick up.  The cards are all 4mm thick, which is annoying because common toploader sizes go from 3.5mm to 5mm with nothing in between.  And they all have a massive problem with chipping and corner wear.

Base Cards

Base: Numbered to 80
Rainbow: Numbered to 10

Mets: Johan Santana, Tom Seaver, David Wright

Added at the last minute, these are super-thick cards that look a lot like the base autographs.  David Wright is here as always, joined by Tom Seaver and Johan Santana.  If you were hoping for a deep field of Mets, you might as well stop reading now because Dave Kingman and R.A. Dickey are the only other Mets in the entire product (and people are complaining about there being too many lesser players in Five Star…).  As with everything else in Five Star, these are heavily color-coded: red for retired players and blue for active players, with the stone pattern from the cardbacks (rotated 180 degrees) as a border.  There’s a lot of design here and one big player picture, which looks to me like it’s trying too hard to look premium.  I’ve seen nicer designs on early ’90s products and those didn’t sell for $500 per pack.

Jumbo Jersey Relics

Silver: Numbered to 92
Gold: Numbered to 25
Rainbow: Numbered to 1

Mets: Johan Santana, David Wright

Jumbo relics are great in normal products, but they’re largely just junk in this one.  Santana and Wright both have white and gray swatches here, so there’s nothing to get excited about.  They’re cheap at least.  The 1/1s have a piece of patch, but the premium price that they’ll fetch (probably around 1/4 of the price of a pack) isn’t really worth it to buyers or sellers.

Five Star Autographs

Silver: Numbering Varies
Rainbow: Numbered to 25

Mets: Dave Kingman, Tom Seaver, David Wright

While these cards look a lot like the base cards, the designs are completely different, though mostly the same.  The border switches from the light stone in the base cards to a very dark wood grain here, which makes the chipping more visible.

Five Star Quotable Autographs

Numbered to 10

Mets: Tom Seaver, David Wright

How can you not like a David Wright autograph with a “Let’s Go Mets!” inscription?  These are way out of my price range unfortunately, but the hobby could use more of this kind of variety in autograph cards.

Five Star Silver Ink Autographs

Silver Ink: Numbered to 99
Gold Ink Gold Border: Numbered to 10 or less
Gold Ink Purple Border: Numbered to 10 or less
Gold Ink Red Border: Numbered to 10 or less

Mets: R.A. Dickey, Dave Kingman, David Wright

Notable here are the first on-card autographs from R.A. Dickey.  The gold ink parallels are the big hits (well, bigger, it’s hard to call a $50-100 card a “big hit” in a $500 pack), but even the silver ink base versions look great.  These are the real must-have autographs in Five Star, skip the rest if you’re just looking for one or two nice cards.  Shame about the chipping.

Five Star Booklet Triple Relic Autograph

Silver: #d/99 or less (49 for Wright)
Gold: Numbered to 10
Rainbow: Numbered to 1

Mets: David Wright

Oh boy, three small white pieces of fabric (some dirty) and an autograph on the other piece of the booklet when there’s still plenty of room on the relic side.  These just don’t interest me at all.

Multiplayer Cards

Numbered to 5

Mets: Johan Santana (2 and 4 Patch), David Wright (2, 3, 4, and 8 Patch)

The cards that got people drooling over 5 Star were the massive multiplayer cards with patches or autographs from up to 8 different players.  Numbered to only 5 each (10 for some of the autograph cards), the odds of pulling one are slim, but at least you stand a chance at getting your money back if you do.  David Wright and Johan Santana are the only Mets here, with both of the Santanas on cards that also feature Wright, for a total of four different cards.

Other Cool Stuff

Sorry, no Mets here.  5 Star has some nice extremely limited cards, but the Mets didn’t make the cut.

Bottom Line

Anything numbered to more than 10 in this product is junk.  That’s great for singles buyers, not so great for pack breakers.  Of the Mets cards numbered to more than 10, only the Wright, Dickey, and Seaver autographs and the Wright triple relic autograph will sell for more than $30, with most others regularly selling for less than $20.  That means you should be able to get all of the Mets cards numbered to more than 10 plus the base cards numbered to 10 for around $500, if you can find enough sellers willing to take a chance on the product and then sell the contents for fair market value.  That’s 20 cards, 10 of them autographed, for the price of one pack.  You’re guaranteed not to get any big hits this way, but at least you know what you’ll be getting.  That is, a bunch of really thick cards with fancy designs and widespread chipping.  Eh, maybe this isn’t a product to buy into that big.

Product Spotlight: 2012 Topps Museum Collection

Posted by on 18 November 2012 2 comments

Pretty and loaded, but not very deep

If the name Museum Collection sounds familiar, you might be remembering last years amazing framed autograph cards from 2011 Topps Marquee.  This year, Museum Collection is the name of the product, with more framed autos and a few interesting changes.  This time around, multi-player cards and booklets are plentiful, as are 1/1s and Jumbo Lumber bat cards (in addition to the occasional bat card in the regular jumbo relic set).  The cards look better than ever, which may not mean much in a product with only one prior release, but it is still worth noting.  Marquee looked good, Museum Collection looks great.

Base Set

Wait, there’s a base set?  Oh, right, here’s something an eBay seller threw in as a freebie with one of the Primary Pieces Four Player Relics:

Nice try, but wrong team.  Oh well.  I’m sure if I take long enough to get this review out I’ll get a hold of a proper Met to use here.

Procrastination has its rewards

Even though these are base cards, they are still as thick as everything else in this product.  Player selection is limited though; only David Wright and Nolan Ryan made the cut.  Tom Seaver would have made more sense, but he only shows up in the Canvas Collection art card set (which are his only individual cards in this entire product, all others are with three other players).

All base cards have a version with no serial number and four serial numbered variants with print runs of 299, 199, 99, and 1, while Canvas Collection cards also have parallel versions numbered to 10.  Not bad for what is essentially filler in this product.

Game-Used and Autographs

This is what people are really after in Museum Collection.  Last year, 2011 Topps Marquee set the bar pretty high, getting my award for 2011 Mets Game-Used Product of the Year.  So is 2012 Topps Museum Collection up to the challenge?  Yes and no.

Yes, the variety of Mets cards is much improved from last year’s product, which lacked any Mets triple relic cards and had several other Metsless variant sets.  Museum Collection has a Met in every major insert category except, sadly, Framed Autographs (Archival Autographs Dual and Cut Autographs are also without Mets, but those are fairly minor in comparison).  This year’s product features Mets with autographs, large jerseys and bats (both alone and in two-player booklets), autographed single, double, triple, and quad memorabilia cards, and quad relics (featuring one or four players).  And that’s just for David Wright.

No, the player selection is extremely limited, with David Wright representing the Mets in every game-used set and single Archival Autographs, Gary Carter and Dwight Gooden (plus Tom Seaver on the quad player relics and Nolan Ryan on his Archival Autographs cards) representing retired Mets, and Dillon Gee representing the young players.  Jose Reyes is also featured as a Met on a lot of cards, while Ike Davis makes his 2012 game-used debut on a dual Jumbo Lumber relic booklet card with Wright.  Nolan Ryan, Duke Snider, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran, and Heath Bell round out the roster with former Mets shown in other uniforms (plus a Warren Spahn Cut Autograph 1/1).  It’s not a terrible list, but it is a bit light on players who are actually, you know, on the team.  This is likely a consequence of moving it from a fall release to a spring release, but that really only explains Reyes.  Is there nobody else on the Mets worth including?  For comparison, there are 14 Yankees in the Momentous Material Jumbo Relic set alone; even the Pirates have four in that set compared to three for the Mets and eight total players shown as Mets in all of Museum Collection.

Overall, it’s not a bad mix.  Between all of the different insert sets and parallels, it adds up to over 100 autographed and/or game-used cards of current or former Mets players.  David Wright accounts for all or part of 28 of those and Jose Reyes adds 14 more.  Once you remove the cards of players not shown as Mets, that leaves you with just 26 other Mets cards to split between Seaver, Ryan, Carter, Gooden, and Gee.  The field thins out very fast in this product.

On the positive side, the few players we do get bring a lot of new material.  Reyes, superfluous as he may be at this point, has his first blue jerseys in Museum Collection.  I’m hoping for some large orange jerseys in next year’s product; blue and orange (even if it is from the Marlins) would look great side-by-side.  Reyes’s quad jerseys also include swatches with orange or blue piping, another first (piping has become more common in recent years after apparently being stripped off prior to cutting in the early days of game-used).  Dillon Gee also has his first blue jersey cards, with patch and piping variants, and David Wright got in on the piping party with a few variants of his quad jersey cards.  Carter’s pinstripe jerseys are the first I’ve seen of the narrow variant of the printed zigzag stripe, calling into question everything I thought I knew about that stripe’s history, and Gooden has some great-looking dual pinstripe jersey cards.  Finally, Carlos Beltran’s large jerseys were all a very off-white, indicating that they are from his Giants uniform.  I would have preferred the orange swatches that some other Giants players got, but this is still good enough to call it a confirmed Giants colored jersey, the first in my collection.

Here’s the full list of Mets-related items you can pull from boxes of 2012 Topps Museum Collection (each box contains one autograph, one autographed relic, one jumbo relic, and one quad relic):

Archival Autographs

Silver: Numbered to 25
Gold: Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright, Nolan Ryan
Non-Mets: Willie Mays

These are the base autographs in this product but are all limited-production on-card autographs of star players.

Archival Autographs Dual

Numbered to 15

Non-Mets: Willie Mays (with Hank Aaron)

Talk about a holy grail.  This may be one of the best dual autographs since the Mickey Mantle / Ken Griffey Jr. card back in the ’90s.  Expect to pay just shy of $1,000 if you want to pick one up.

Framed Autographs

Gold: Numbered to 15
Silver: Numbered to 10
Black: Numbered to 5

Non-Mets: Willie Mays

This year’s Framed Autographs get a three-tier parallel that brings their total production run even with the lesser Archival Autographs.  I’ll assume that these look just as good as last year’s, but you really need to see them in person to fully appreciate them.

Cut Autographs

Numbered to 1

Non-Mets: Warren Spahn

Cut signature, 1/1, Hall of Famer not known for his time with the Mets.

Momentous Material Jumbo Relics

Silver: Numbered to 50
Gold: Numbered to 35
Silver Rainbow: Numbered to 10
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 1

Mets: David Wright, Jose Reyes, Dwight Gooden
Non-Mets: Carlos Beltran, Duke Snider

I have to say, I really like the changes they made from last year’s Titanic Threads.  While the size of the material is down a bit, the big square piece has much better presence and allows for a big player photo next to it.  Pinstripe and colored swatches look great, too bad Wright is stuck with an old gray piece.  We don’t get enough large jerseys these days, so get these while you can.

Momentous Material Jumbo Patch Relics

Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright, Jose Reyes

Only Wright and Reyes get the patch treatment, but they are some really outstanding patches.  At 5 apiece, don’t expect to have an easy time finding them.

Momentous Material Dual Jumbo Relics

Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright (with Evan Longoria), Jose Reyes (with Jimmy Rollins)
Non-Mets: Duke Snider (with Matt Kemp)

I don’t mind the inclusion of Longoria because a. prior to his injury, he was one of the best players in the game and b. he plays in a completely different division.  The Reyes-Rollins booklet on the other hand features the shortstops of two NL East division rivals.  And Ruben Tejada isn’t given a single game-used card anywhere.  Otherwise, I love the idea of booklet cards as long as they don’t go nuts with it like Panini did with their infinie booklet cards.  Two is plenty.

Momentous Material Jumbo Autographed Relics

Numbered to 10

Mets: David Wright, Dillon Gee, Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden
Non-Mets: Nolan Ryan, Duke Snider, Gary Sheffield

These have to be some of the most beautiful cards in this product.  Not only is there an autograph and a nice big piece of patch (or, in some unfortunate cases, tag), but most patches are of the premium variety – round sleeve logos or, for Carter, the 25th Anniversary patch.

Momentous Material Jumbo Lumber Relics

Silver: Numbered to 30
Gold: Numbered to 20
Silver Rainbow: Numbered to 5
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 1

Mets: David Wright
Non-Mets: Eddie Murray, Gary Sheffield

These are just like the regular Momentous Materials Jumbo Relics, only with a round piece of bat instead of a square piece of jersey or bat.  Large bat cards are even harder to find than large jersey cards, so these are a real treat.

Momentous Material Dual Jumbo Lumber Relics

Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright and Ike Davis, David Wright (with Alex Rodriguez)
Non-Mets: Eddie Murray (with Harmon Killebrew)

If one is good, two must be better, right?  Wright is once more paired with a third baseman from the AL East (not a bad choice), but the real draw here is the Ike/Wright booklet – this is Ike Davis’s first game-used card in 2012 after a breakout 2011 with lots of jerseys and bats in Topps Marquee and Topps Triple Threads.  Injury and regression hit Davis hard on the field and in the hobby.  It’s still a great card though.

Signature Swatches Dual Autographed Relics

Silver: Numbering Varies
Gold: Numbered to 25
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright, Dillon Gee, Gary Carter
Non-Mets: Duke Snider, Gary Sheffield

With these, you get an autograph (sticker of course) and either two swatches of jersey or bat or a jersey swatch and a piece of patch/piping/multicolor jersey.  The variants numbered to 5 include two pieces of patch (if applicable).  David Wright does not appear to have a silver version in this set.

Signature Swatches Triple Autographed Relics

Silver: Numbering Varies
Gold: Numbered to 25
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright, Gary Carter
Non-Mets: Duke Snider

Same as the duals only with three swatches and an autograph.  As in the dual version, David Wright does not appear to have a silver version in this set.

Primary Pieces Quad Relics

Silver: Numbered to 99
Red: Numbered to 75
Gold: Numbered to 25
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright, Jose Reyes

Sadly, this year’s quad relic cards are not an improvement over last year’s.  While having the jersey swatches split to the four corners of the card looks a bit better, there is very little variation between the silver, red, and gold versions.  Every card has three jersey swatches (blue for Reyes, gray or white for Wright) and one swatch with a piece of patch or piping.  As usual, the variants numbered to 5 are all patch swatches.  With a four-tier parallel and four swatches to work with, you would think there could be a bit more variety (some of last year’s went nuts with variations, including what appeared to be a piece of Phillies patch for Beltran, which makes no sense whatsoever).

Primary Pieces Quad Autographed Relics

Numbered to 10

Mets: David Wright, Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden
Non-Mets: Duke Snider

The quad relic cards left no room for autographs, so the autographed version is in booklet form.  These are hard to find and highly sought after, but that goes for most of the cards numbered to 10 or less.

Primary Pieces Four-Player Quad Relics

Silver: Numbered to 99
Red: Numbered to 75
Gold: Numbered to 25
Gold Rainbow: Numbered to 5

Mets: David Wright and Jose Reyes (with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez), Jose Reyes (with Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez, and Elvis Andrus), Tom Seaver (with Nolan Ryan, Roy Halladay, and C.C. Sabathia)
Non-Mets: Heath Bell (with Brian Wilson, Craig Kimbrel, and Mariano Rivera), Nolan Ryan (listed above)

The four-player version of the Primary Pieces insert set includes some interesting player combinations.  Wright and Reyes appear together with their Yankees counterparts, Seaver makes his only game-used appearance with Nolan Ryan (Seaver’s material is from a Reds jersey while Ryan is shown as an Astros uniform), and Reyes appears again with his future (and now former) teammate Hanley Ramirez.  Heath Bell also has his only game-used cards in this insert set.

Primary Pieces Quad Relics Legends

Silver: Numbered to 25
Gold: Numbered to 5

Mets: Gary Carter
Non-Mets: Willie Mays

The final Primary Pieces insert set featured some of the game’s all-time greats on a slightly different card design.  Carter’s cards contained pieces from a pinstripe jersey (though many pieces did not have stripes) and Mays had a couple of quad bat cards.

And there you have it, the defending Mets Game-Used Product of the Year champion.  Once again, this is clearly the bastard child of 2005 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade and 2005 SP Legendary Cuts raised by Topps.  With a few more players, this could have been something truly special, instead it’s just pretty damn good.  As with most premium releases, value for the money is a bit of a crap shoot, with some cards selling for less than $10 and others selling for $1000 or more.  I’ll stick with singles on the secondary market over boxes/packs.  Compared to the premium products that followed it in 2012, Museum Collection looks pretty strong.  The variety of players and material is much better than the offerings in Tier One and Five Star and Triple Threads, despite having a better player selection, can’t compete with the quality and availability of the game-used in Museum Collection.  All have their strong points, but I think Museum Collection comes out on top.