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.

Revisiting 1996 Pinnacle Baseball Christie Brinkley Collection

A while back Mario at Wax Heaven called out 1996 Pinnacle Baseball's Christie Brinkley Collection. The 16-card insert set from Series Two saw the supermodel go and visit the Braves and Indians at World Series time and take some artsy photos of them for an insert set. Mario went so far as to place the cards in his Hall of Shame.

I disagree.

In fact, it's one of my favourites. Yes, it's different and about as quirky as you get for baseball cards that have baseball players on them but that's part of the appeal for me. I've got boxes and boxes of cards showing pitchers in various states of the wind-up, sluggers showing their awesome arm extension and acrobatic outfielders diving to make great catches. Don't get me wrong, I like crisp action shots but I also like the occasional diversion from the same-old as well.

Here's a gallery of the set minus one of Julio Franco:

 

1. Greg Maddux - Maddux gets his first Topps Gallery card.

 
 

2. Ryan Klesko - Okay, maybe not the best example from the set. To me it looks like Klesko is pretending his bat is a gun and he's taking aim at some bad guy whilst surf. Book 'em, Dann-o. Points though for probably being one of the few cards outside of 1991 Score Dream Team to have ball players pictured in their bare feet.

 

 3. Dave Justice - The softball episode from "The Simpsons" comes to mind. "Darryl. Darryl. Darryl." The guy in the back is yelling, "Dude, weren't you married to Halle Berry? What the heck, man?"

 

4. Tom Glavine - Getting ready for retirement. Wait a second, this guy doesn't know when to quit.

 

5. Chipper Jones - Doesn't this card make you want to grab a pack of Big Chew gum and head out to the batting cages.

 

6. Fred McGriff - Don't get me wrong, I love Fred McGriff. He's one of my all-time all-time favorites. But the guy rarely got a chance to show any personality as he was pretty much left alone by the media. What I love about this card is that it shows the Crime Dog did have some character behind him. I don't know what I think about the hat, though.

 

7. Javier Lopez - By far the most straight forward card of the set. Nothing too exciting but a solid portrait.

 

8. Marquis Grissom - This would be one of those quirk cards. You know, until literally this very moment I always thought the hand was holding a blow dryer to play on the idea that movies use wind machines to make things look like they're moving fast. I giggled because there's no long hair showing to have it blow. I just realized it's a radar gun. I like the blow dryer concept better.

 

9. Jason Schmidt - Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

10. Albert Belle - In case you thought Albert Belle ate babies for breakfast, here's proof that you were wrong. Kudos for Brinkley for capturing one of three smiles Belle cracked in 2005. That's Brinkley's son in the picture. Here he is today with the same hair style as his mom:

 

11. Manny Ramirez - Insert your own observation about how small his frame is compared to today.

 

12. Carlos Baerga - Not to defend this card, but the back explains Brinkley's idea: Baerga was the heart of the team at the time, hence cheesy heart painted on his chest. Okay, this card's lame.

 

13. Sandy Alomar - Like the Lopez, not much happening other than a lounging pose. I don't think catchers are Brinkley's baseball muses.

 

14. Jim Thome - Anyone else up for some Mike Tyson's Punchout?

15. Julio Franco - MIA

 

16. Kenny Lofton - Not only did Lofton steal two bases that day, but he also stole Marquis Grissom's pose. I don't think Lofton wanted to be there that day.

 

Promo. Christie Brinkley - Of course the photographer gets to go on location at some hot beach. According to Brinkley, reading is more affective when done without a shirt. I guess that would make Carlos Baerga very keen with his card.

So not all of the cards are classics, but on a whole it's a fun set. Cards were inserted 1:23 hobby packs and 1:32 retail packs. I'm just about done my set. If anyone has #4 (Glavine), 9 (Schmidt), 15 (Franco) or the Promo, please let me know.

CONTEST TIME: Win a DVD of Hannah Montana The Movie

Yes, you read the title right. I've got a contest for a brand new DVD of Hannah Montana The Movie. As you probably don't know, I also review a lot of movies. I was sent a copy of both the DVD and the Blu-ray for Hannah Montana The Movie and one only needs so much Hannah Montana in the house for the kids. So if you love Hannah Montana or know someone who'll jump up and down at a gift or you just want to watch a silly movie and play frisbee with it afterward, here's your chance.

The contest is indeed card related. Below you'll find the contents of a pack of 1991 ProSet Superstars MusiCards. Your job is to guess the musician or band featured on the card. The person to get the most correct wins. Guesses will only be accepted in the comments and the order of your guesses must be in the same order as the cards are shown. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on Friday, August 28. You may enter once per day. If someone gets them all correct I will close the contest early.

Here's the epic pack:

1

2

 

3
 

4
 

5
 

6 (The singer, not the horse)

7

 

8
 

 9

  

10

Good luck!

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.