In-Depth Preview: 2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary Edition Baseball

By now you've probably seen some of the preview images for 2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary Edition Baseball. The set came out seven years ago in case you didn't. In all seriousness, the century celebration release makes more sense than the 2002 release, at least if you think round-number anniversaries are important. So what's in store for this late-season release and is it worth going after? It's still a little early for me to decide but hopefully this will help you a little.

The base set consists of 300 cards including a mix of veterans, old-timers and young bucks. As you might expect, Topps is bringing along some variations that are also shortprints. This I don't mind too much because you can put together the regular set without too much of a challenge. I'd actually like to see the checklist a little bigger to make building a set a little tougher. For those who enjoy putting together master base sets, a total of 50 variations will provide a chase component. No odds on variants have been released yet, but the subjects have.


Short Print Variations:
1    Ryan Howard
10    Andrew McCutchen
19    Mel Ott
23    Koji Uehara
28    Kenshin Kawakami
36    Jimmie Foxx
41    David Hernandez
44    Michael Bowden
49    Walter Johnson
57    Matt LaPorta
61    Derrek Holland
66    Ty Cobb
71    Dustin Pedroia
72    Rick Porcello
83    Rogers Hornsby
87    Ryan Perry
90    Alex Rodriguez
102    Hanley Ramirez
103    Andrew Bailey
107    Fernando Martinez
113    Tris Speaker
116    Chase Utley
120    Derek Jeter
129    Ichiro
130    Honus Wagner
137    Mark Teixeira
138    Elvis Andrus
142    Evan Longoria
143    Cy Young
154    Mickey Mantle
160    Thurman Munson
171    David Wright
174    Gordon Beckham
175    Manny Ramirez
177    Pee Wee Reese
181    David Price
207    Jackie Robinson
224    Roy Campanella
231    CC Sabathia
234    Grady Sizemore
237    Christy Mathewson
254    Johnny Mize
262    Tommy Hanson
268    Aaron Poreda
271    Lou Gehrig
274    Colby Rasmus
286    Tim Lincecum
287    Babe Ruth
299    Albert Pujols
300    George Sisler

The base set will also include a Bronze parallel set inserted at a rate of one per pack. Isn't the excitement over parallels in this set around the tobacco minis? Is another parallel really necessary? I'd prefer an extra base card myself.

Mini parallels return in all their many-backed glory, paying tribute to the original T-206 set that also had several different variations advertising different types of tobacco products. Mini parallels will come in the following versions:

• Polar Bear
• Old Mill
• Piedmont
• Cycle (#/99)
• Short Prints (limited to the 50 short prints)
• Gold Chrome (50 short prints, #/99)
• Silk (50 short prints, #/50)
  
• Carolina Brights (#/1, hobby exclusive)
  

Autographs and game-used relics fall two per box. Regular autographs will come in two different versions. The first is on the regular-sized card. The mix of vintage design and Topps silver foil stickers really don't have much appeal for me here. The second version sounds a little nicer - T-206 Autographs featuring tobacco-sized autograph cards held inside a classy Piedmont frame. Topps hasn't released images of these yet but due to the smaller size I'm hoping that the autographs are hard-signed like they are with Allen and Ginter.

Autographs
NFA-1 David Wright
NFA-2 Johnny Cueto
NFA-3 Evan Longoria
NFA-4 Gio Gonzalez
NFA-5 Juan Rivera
NFA-6 Ryan Braun
NFA-7 Joba Chamberlain
NFA-8 Dustin Pedroia
NFA-9 Jay Bruce
NFA-10 Jordan Zimmermannn

T-206 Autographs
FMA-1 Gordon Beckham
FMA-2 Koji Uehara
FMA-3 Ryan Perry
FMA-4 Elvis Andrus
FMA-5 Jonathan Van Every
FMA-6 Glen Perkins
FMA-7 Jordan Zimmermann
FMA-8 Daniel Schlereth
FMA-9 Chris Volstad
FMA-10 Ryan Braun
FMA-11 Nick Evans
FMA-12 Fernando Martinez
FMA-13 Shairon Martis
FMA-14 James Parr
FMA-15 Mat Gamel
FMA-16 Michael Bowden
FMA-17 David Hernandez
FMA-18 Chris Young
FMA-19 Denard Span
FMA-20 Phil Hughes
FMA-21 Jason Motte
FMA-22 Clayton Kershaw
FMA-23 Justin Masterson
FMA-24 Vinny Mazzaro
FMA-25 Gregor Blanco

A few solid names standout a little but for the most part, the autograph checklists look quite boring to me. I'd be happy to get a Braun, a Wright or a Longoria but do we really need another Mat Gamel autograph or another Clayton Kershaw?

Perhaps the most intriguing addition to this T-206 incarnation are the hobby-exclusive T-206 Cut Signature Book Cards. They combine both a buyback and a cut signature in those book things that Topps seems to love to push. Not that I'll ever have one, but how would you display these things? Additionally, you could double the hits by offering the same buybacks and the cut signatures separately. With only ten cards, all being one-of-ones, I doubt that they'd be driving sales too much.

Like the T-206 Autographs, Relic Cards come in Piedmont frames. Adding to the chase factor are Polar Bear and Old Mill parallels.

T-206 Relics
FR-1 Alex Rodriguez
FR-2 Ryan Howard
FR-3 David Wright
FR-4 Albert Pujols
FR-5 Evan Longoria
FR-6 Chipper Jones
FR-7 Carlos Beltran
FR-8 Ichiro
FR-9 Hanley Ramirez
FR-10 Carl Crawford
FR-11 David Ortiz
FR-12 Nick Markakis
FR-13 Michael Young
FR-14 Hideki Matsui
FR-15 Ryan Braun
FR-16 Robinson Cano
FR-17 Miguel Tejada
FR-18 Prince Fielder
FR-19 Cole Hamels
FR-20 James Loney
FR-21 Brian McCann
FR-22 Ty Cobb
FR-23 Jimmie Foxx
FR-24 Jackie Robinson
FR-25 Babe Ruth

Although it's been about five years since I've been excited about regualr game-used bat and jersey cards, the checklist here is very good. Sure, Miguel Tejada game-used cards are easier to find than his age on his birth certificate but you've got several legends to make up for it.

Not surprisingly, Topps will be inserting T-206 buybacks. Printing plates will also be included for both the regular-sized cards and the tobacco mini parallels.

Although 2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary Baseball is a trip into familiar territory, it's territory that has about as much history in the hobby as any other. I'm personally not totally sold on it overall enough to go after it by more than a single box but I can definitely see this being a fun impulse pack buy. Seeing as how the original set stretched from 1909 to 1911, I wonder if Topps has plans to stretch this release out? And, no, I'm not trying to plant any ideas.

2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary Baseball is set for a late-November release. So even with a delay, it should be in stores in time for Christmas lists.

That Didn't Take Long - ITG Announces Ted Kennedy Tribute Autograph

Like the instantaneous biographies that come up within minutes of a celebrity passing, In the Game has announced a Ted Kennedy tribute card that will be autographed (thanks to the magic of sticker autographs and cut signatures).

The card will be inserted in Ultimate Memorabilia 9th Edition Hockey, which releases in November. No word on how many copies of the tribute will be made, although the brand is known for its limited availability.

Update: It's been pointed out that this is not the politician Ted Kennedy who passed away today but the former Maple Leafs captain who died less than two weeks ago. It's probably not the best day to announce the card.

Inkworks' Leftovers Make for a Different Approach to Autographs

The fallout of the Inkworks closure continues. Prior to Inkworks' spring demise, they were primed for the release of Ghost Whisperer: Seasons One and Two, which revolved heavily around the first autograph cards of Jennifer Love Hewitt (10 years too late, in my book).

The combination of being close to release and having moved to a sticker autograph policy meant that there were signatures in-house but no cards to put them on. Breygent picked up where Inkworks began and got the first Ghost Whisperer set out a couple of weeks ago. The result for all but a couple of autographs is this:

It's kind of hard to tell by the thumbnail but Inkworks' stickers were very clearly from the company, having the logo plastered over and over in the holographic background. So what you have is an instance where one company is making the cards and another is offering up their autographs. Sure Upper Deck has used Topps cards for cut signatures, Rittenhouse Archives did a similar thing to make a Franken-auto of Arnold and others have done similar things to make more cuts, but something tells me that you won't see an instance like this again anytime soon.

Breygent did up the ante by adding a couple more autographs to the Ghost Whisperer set. There's also slight variants released in boxes sold exclusively at the San Diego Comic Con. These cards are discernable by the Con's logo on the back.

Negotiating the Contract

After much anticipation, this arrived in the mail today:

That would be a contract between Topps and John Jaha. The language suggests it's his second contract with the company, which makes sense as I missed out on another contract a few months ago.

The contract has all sorts of legal jargon that doesn't make a lot of sense and references a License Agreement. Overall, not very sexy stuff. But from a card collector's perspective - very cool. I need very few cards of Jaha's now and it's the more unique stuff that keeps my collection growing. Even my wife took a bit more than a token glance at this.

I bought the contract through the Topps Vault, which I've always wanted to use but they seemed to have a strict policy against bidders outside the US. So I went and lined someone up to receive the item (thanks BD) and proceeded to request before bidding ended that the contract be sent to someone else and they'd send it along to me. That was okay so I proceeded to bid away. I go and pay and low and behold, the Vault apparently can ship to Canada.

The contract was also accompanied by a nifty little certificate of authenticity just in case someone wanted to counterfeit a contract from a one-time AL Comeback Player of the Year.

Gen X is Officially On the Downward Slide

I just noticed Christian Slater is the big 40 today. As far as Gen X Hollywood spokespeople go him, along with Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Matt Dillon and Janeane Garofolo are it.

Slater is pictured here in a sticker insert from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves set from Topps. I couldn't find any other sets he'd be shown in other than Upper Deck's Igor from last year but it's a cartoon and I don't have anything from that set kicking around.

Slater's been in some pretty amazing films over the course of his (early) career: Pump Up the Volume, Heathers (!!!), True Romance, Young Guns II, and the greatest movie to ever introduce a video game accessory (the Powerglove), The Wizard.

So happy birthday, Christian Slater. And if you identify yourselves as being a part of Gen X, there's still plenty of fun to be had in the coming years.

(Warning - the clip below is brilliant but there is a couple or five cuss words. If you're in the office or have a couple of little ones nearby, please pump down the volume.)

Why Is It Pretty Girls Get All the Hobby Love?

Here we have Exhibit A:

 

Now we have Exhibit B:

Exhibit A comes from a set based on one of the most popular television franchises ever. I even went on a freaky ride based on it at Disneyland last year.

Exhibit B comes from a set from a movie that was based on a show that only lasted one season - and an abbreviated one at that.

Exhibit A features an Academy Award winning director whose film Out of Africa was the Best Picture winner in 1985. His other films include The Firm, Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor. He was also a renowned actor and producer.

Exhibit B features an actress who was a central characters in two TV series. One, Firefly, lasted but one season and led to a spin-off film. Her second series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, was based on one of the most popular film franchises of all time yet it only lasted two seasons.

Exhibit A features an actor who passed away in May, 2008 and, barring any cut signature cards, will not be signing any more cards in the future.

Exhibit B features an actress who turned 28 less than a month ago. She could, potentially, be churning out autographs for decades to come.

If Exhibit A put his mug on HotorNot.com, he'd probably not get a lot of attention. I have a hunch Exhibit B would rate at least a 9.4 on the site.

Exhibit A can be bought on eBay for around $20 (sometimes less). Exhibit B sells for $120, six times what the Average Joe-looking guy does.

The evidence is clear. Judge Wapner agrees that no matter the resume, credentials or even life and death, the hot chick is much more likely to get the hobby love than an average guy.

The question, though, is why?

Dufex Gone Bad - 2005 Donruss Zenith White Hot

About 99 percent of the time I love Dufex. It's got the right mix of warped shininess that screams 21st-century cardboard. Okay, maybe that's stretching it a lot but there's a definite "ooo, shiny" appeal to the technology.

Here's the ugly anomaly in my Dufex fanboy-ism: 2005 Donruss Zenith Red Hot.

 

That would be Ted Williams' image burning in Baseball Card Hell. The issue that I have here is pretty simple: red is bright, black and white photo is not, background is shiny. The result: Dufex purgatory.

Red Hot cards were inserted 1:16 packs with ten cards making up the set. The checklist doesn't really standout when you compare it with other small insert sets: Williams, Vladimir Guerrero, Johan Santana, Todd Helton, Alfonso Soriano, Aubrey Huff...

Aubrey Huff? Sure there's stars, but it's not a who's who, even back in 2005. But then the parallels tell the likely story. Yes, there's parallels to this ugly set. Random bat and jersey swatches were attached and serial numbered to anywhere from 25 to 300 copies.

But when a flame's orange, it can still get hotter. Bring on the 1:65-pack White Hot cards.

 

The background looks more "under the sea" to me than fire but I think it looks a little nicer. Still ugly but not Dufex purgatory bad. You know it's coming - memorabilia parallels. Yup, more bats and more jerseys.

So in case you were wondering, Dufex can be ugly. It can also be made uglier by lame parallels that are really just excuses to slap a jersey or bat slice onto a card.

Lt. Dan Approves This Card

I'm not the only one going out and getting solid autographs from Donruss Americana for less than the price of a pack more likely to have a costume piece from someone I've never heard of, am I? Here's another one:

That'd be Gary Sinise, Academy Award nominee, star of CSI: NY, Apollo 13, The Green Mile and seemingly every other made-for-cable movie about a politician. I'd also mention Mission to Mars and Reindeer Games but I'm working on forgetting those ones.

Being one of three people in North America who doesn't watch any of the CSIs, Sinise is best known for this role:

Believe it or not, there's CSI: NY cards out there. Released a couple of years ago by British manufacturer Strictly Ink. Sinise was scheduled to sign, redemptions were included, many sold on eBay for more than $50, then Sinise never signed. After more than a year and many promises from the manufacturer (if you want to sift through the details you can in this long discussion thread starting around page 15) this is what collectors were sent instead:

It's a cool looking card, right? Perhaps but it's not Sinise's autograph. It's a preprinted facsimile. And yes, that's a hologram on the bottom of the card promising that it's a real "not real" autograph. To be fair - at least a little bit - to Strictly Ink, apparently they included another fake autograph card and a few promos as well. But the owner also promised in the thread linked above much more than that.

I don't know the story as to why Sinise never signed the CSI cards, but it's another example of why redemptions suck.

Would You Let Your Daughter Go Out In This?

As nearly perfect as much of The Sopranos is itself (Yes, I like "the ending". A lot.), another thing I'm thankful for is the fact that it brought TV shows on DVD to the masses. I don't know if it was the first show put out in the format but it, along with Band of Brothers, seem to have kicked things into high gear. Without it I would have never caught on to Rescue Me starring Dennis Leary.

I only got into the show less than a year ago. I had a lot of catchup to do as it's now on Season Five. So I started renting the first couple of seasons and got a deal on a couple more. Brilliant stuff.

There's not a whole lot of cards connected to the show. Leary has an autograph in the old Donruss Fans of the Game stuff, but it's out of my price range. But in the new Donruss Americana set there was this:

That'd be Diane Farr. She was only on the show for a couple of seasons playing the only female firefighter in the testosterone-fuelled New York firehouse in which the show is set.

The card itself is all right. Donruss went overboard with the foil. It worked with the old design to a better extent because most of the photos had backgrounds. The new design has the subject placed in a silver background. The stickers - well, I tolerate them. I'm not a big fan but when you're chasing B-list celebrity autograph cards there's not many options.

When I picked up the card, the waredrobe swatch was a bonus. I like costume cards but the Americana sets are pretty much all things from the actor's closet that I have absolutely no connection to. Let's do a little zoom in on the material:

The picture doesn't get the point across very well so I'll try to describe it. The white that you see is the backside of the card. That would mean that the clothing part is tiny little strings that if put together to make an outfit would look something like, well, close your eyes and imagine because I'm doing my best to keep the blog clean.

I get the point of having a nice, sexy outfit, but when it'd leave nothing to the imagination, what's the point? Of course, it could be a part of a dress/shirt/skirt that has more to it but that's part of the problem with these generic Americana material swatches - there's no point of reference so it's all up to the imagination.

Another Pack of Archie Comics March of Dimes Sketch Card Series

A couple weeks back I busted a pack of Archie Comics March of Dimes Sketch Cards Series. I had a pack of Greatest American Hero on its way from the same seller but I received another Archie pack instead. I worked out a deal with the seller so that I kept the pack. Here's the spoils:

That would be Betty and the artist is Bruce Gerlach. I couldn't find a lot of information about how many cards Gerlach did as eBay shows just one more so I contacted him through his website and he promptly responded to let me know he did 53 that were inserted in packs and an additional three that were returned to him as part of his payment (a common practice in sketch cards).

Miss. Betty is drawn in a very recognizable manner. Gerlach did a good job of capturing her happy spirit. Granted, there's not a lot of color but I really like the textured look the card gts with the painted blue background.

Two packs in and this Archie March of Dimes Sketch Cards Series stuff is fun. And proceeds go to charity.

I Love Film Cards

I was taking a gander at Upper Deck`s Facebook page last night and came across this thing of beauty from 2009 UD Black Football. Seeing as how I don`t buy any football, there`s no chance I`ll ever hold this card in my hands but here`s hoping they take the concept and carry it over to baseball.

The black and white photo, the modern design, the silver signature, the film slide - my golly this is purdy.

This isn`t the first time slide elements have been used. In 1997 Upper Deck had a sweet insert set in SP entitled Game Film. Later in the year it was used in hockey for their McDonald`s set. Other sets using the concept include 2001-02 Upper Deck Hardcourt Basketball and 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball.

(1997 SP Game Film image from Old-School Breaks)

Depending on how you look at it, Upper Deck might not be the first company to use the idea. In 1994 Donruss introduced the Slide Show inserts in Leaf Baseball. Although they didn`t use actual film slides, the see-through technology sure does look like it. Slide Show returned the following year but the concept was changed to reflect old Viewmasters rather than slides.

Film cards have been used in the non-sport realm for quite some time. From what I can gather NECA introduced them to that end of the hobby in 2001 with their Nightmare Before Christmas Film Cels. At least on a wide-spread scale. I know I have a Batman Forever film cel looking card that was a promotional item during the film`s release back in 1995. But the concept really took off in Upper Deck`s Disney Treasures releases, which were put out during 2003 and 2005. They`ve continued since in different forms ranging from Harry Potter to Spider-Man to the original Frankenstein. What I like about many of the film cards are that they`re all different. They show images direct from the print. I`ve personally been more agressive in my bidding for a few of the Disney Treasures Reel Piece of History cards that have key moments. For example I`d rather have a Fantasia card with Mickey Mouse dressed as the Sorceror`s Apprentice than I would from one of the darker numbers. The sadistic side of me picked up a Bambi card where Bambi`s mother is meeting her fate. Grim, I know, but it`s one of the major moments in cinema history.

Hi. My name is Ryan and I`m a sucker for film cards in all their various forms.

Here's How You Do a Cut Signature Card

The following cut signature autographs will be released in In the Game's upcoming 1972: The Year in Hockey:

First off, notice how there's a picture of the person. It might make licensing and permissions a little tougher but it goes a long way in increasing the visual appeal.

Second - the autograph window fits the entire signature. Yes, this is only three cards from a set, but here's hoping that the trend sticks true throughout all of the cards.

Third - the set has a theme that actually makes sense and isn't totally vague. The checklist is an impressive sight and includes several cards connected to The Godfather: author Mario Puzo, director Francis Ford Coppola, and stars Marlon Brando (whose signature is extremely rare), Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duval and ABE VIGODA!

Fourth - Canadiana, baby! While there's been countless Amnerican Presidents getting their own cards and cut signatures, we've got ourselves our first Prime Minister cut signature from what I can gather.

Yeah, I know that I never pull one of these but a handful of collectors will. And they're legitimately sweet cards from the subjects to the signatures to the overall design. Now I just wish the same care would be taken in all cut signature cards.

1972: The Year in Hockey is scheduled for release on September 9.

John Hughes Collection: Sixteen Candles

My John Hughes Collection of customs sends the time machine back to 1984. I found these templates to be the trickest because there were more components to them, easpecially the Topps baseball where I couldn't find the right font for the team name so I had to cut, paste and paint letters from several cards. Plus there's the additional photo.

Through my research, it appears that Shermer High School, the fictional "prison" that Hughes set most of his films, was never given a nickname although I did find a bulldog logo at one point.

Enjoy!

The John Hughes Collection: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Here's some customs I did for Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm not super happy with the 1986 Donruss ones of Ferris and Sloane. I might revisit them one day. But I do like how Cameron turned out.

Enjoy.

 

  

 

First Look Star Wars: Clone Wars Widevision

The Previews website is offering the first look at Topps' seemingly millionth Star Wars set, Clone Wars Widevision. Continuing on with the immensely great "tall boy" format that was used for each of the six live-action films as well as a Trilogy Special Edition set in 1997, Clone Wars Widevision base cards measure in at approximately 2 1/2" x 4 3/4". This format ensures that what's on the screen is trasferred over to the card. The 80-card base set focuses on the first season of the computer-generated animated series and, thankfully, not that crappy movie that hit theatres and promptly disappeared last summer.

The set marks the first Widevision sketch cards, although Topps did try out oversized sketch cards in the highly underrated Indiana Jones Masterpieces. In that set Panoramic Sketch Cards offered a double-sized drawing surface in which completed cards were folded and inserted in packs. This time around, expect sketch cards in the Widevision dimension, which could lead to some interesting dynamics. Hobby boxes also include exclusive sketch cards from animators working on the show. Sketch cards will fall one per box.

Other inserts include two levels of parallels: Silver (#'s/500) and Gold (#'d/1), Foil Character cards (1:3), Animation Cel Clear cards (1:4) and Motion cards (1:8). Another hobby box exclusive is voice-actor autographs.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Widevision is scheduled for release on October 14.

Random Pack Breaks: Toxic High (Topps, 1991)

During my rrecent trip home I paid a visit to the old card shop. There wasn't much there that caught my attention other than some random cheap packs perfect for fun, random breaks on the blog. Toxic High hasn't really had a lot of staying power in the hobby. I hadn't heard a lot about it until I found a few cheap packs a few months ago.

Created in the vein of other Topps spoof products such as Dinosaurs Attacks!, Garbage Pail Kids and Mars Attacks!, Toxic High takes aim at high school. Toxic High is the worst of the worst. The teachers suck, the students are strange and there's all sorts of crazy clubs and shenanigans to pass time with.

The set, which is really an all-sticker one, highlights the nooks and crannies of Toxic High, as well as its staff and students. The set is 88 large. But there's also the year book stickers running from numbers 65-87 that each have four stickers numbered A through D.

Made during the mass-produced era of the early-90s, there's a ton of this stuff out there waiting to still be busted free. Packs are cheap. eBay has boxes for under $10. If you really wanted to, I saw a case that worked out to less than $3 per box.

Each pack offers five stickers. The original cost was just a quarter. Almost two decades later, they're probably still a quarter but oh so much fun.

 

Is there a Topps parody set that doesn't have puking or boogers? I hope not. When you talk about Topps heritage, puking and boogers have to be up there.

 

First up is a celebrity-inspired set of yearbook stickers. You've got Mr. Ed caught cross dressing, Bazooka Joe's pal Mort, Buckwheat and Beaker from the Muppets.

 

Toe Nail Clipping Club. Ewwwww. Seriously who thinks of this stuff? Give them a hug if you know them.

 

Something tells me if this set were made today, this one wouldn't make the cut seeing as how we're a little more sensitive to school destruction.

 

Any card with Fat Elvis is a winner in my books.

And finally

 

Whoa, was Toxic High the inspiration for Peter Griffin?

 

The mysteries we may never solve.

If I've got you interested in Toxic High, let me know.  have some doubles kicking around. I'm also a few away from the set and would love a little help.

RIP John Hughes Redux

 

In the film world, he was the voice of the 1980s so here's a quintessential 1981 custom. 

(Thanks to Bad Wax for the awesome tutorial.)

Random Pack Breaks: Pondering 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter Baseball

I think it's safe to say that there's at least a two hour drive between my home and the nearest place where I could find a pack of 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter. So I was pretty stoked to come across four packs in my travels back home. While I may be missing out on the Gint-a-Cuffs goodness, I still offer everyone this single patriotic pack.

 

147. Coco Crisp pondering why he hasn't Tweeted on Twitter in a while.

 

229. Mark Ellis pondering why he has to pose for this friggin' card. 

 

195. Kevin Kouzmanoff pondering tonight's finale of So You Think You Can Dance (yes, when this photo was taken months ago he was future pondering).

 

32. Jeremy Bonderman pondering how he's going to spend the shiny quarter promised to him by Jim Leyland for hitting the side of the big red barn with the ball in his hand. Little did Bonderman know that the ball was rigged by that prankster Miguel Cabrera with a remote control device, ensuring that Bonderman will indeed miss the big red barn, miss out on Leyland's shiny quarter and lose all confidence in his pitching.

 

27. Chien Ming Wang pondering why he'd score -1 in Gint-a-Cuffs.

 
 

 251. Carl Crawford pondering pounding someone in the head with this bat if they don't hurry up and paint this darn picture.

 

161. Lil' Justin Morneau pondering the meaning of pondering. And what to have for a snack. 

 

NP19. Erik Bedard pondering Mitsou.

I'm pondering what a cool pack this was - two Canadians out of eight cards. No unicorns or William Wallaces, though.