Will The Real Brennan Boesch RC Please Stand Up?

Go to ebay and type in "Brennan Boesch RC" to see what pops up. There seem to be three different cards that make up the majority of the search results, which leads me to one obvious question: Why is a 2008 card listed as his RC by so many people when there are TWO 2007 cards of Boesch? To top it off, all three cards are Bowman cards. Are people that desperate to make a few bucks that they'll flat out lie to do it? Hell, who am I kidding.......

WARNING: DISHONEST BRENNAN BOESCH RC BELOW!!!


Of the two remaining candidates, there is a HUGE oddity with one of them. Boesch is pictured wearing a Padres uniform. Huh? Boesch has never suited up for the Padres. It's readily apparent that this is a Topps Photoshop job, but why? And why the Padres? As far as I can tell there is no corrected version/variation. I don't get it. I'd love to hear from somebody who knows. This would explain why it's not in the team set I bought back in 2007


Based on the above, I'm going with the 2007 Bowman Heritage as Boesch's RC (pictured at the top). Actually, my basis is on the fact that it's the only one of the three I already own......

Armando Galarraga

Everybody has seen it, everybody has formed an opinion about it, and most everybody has moved on from it. For the record, my two cents are that no matter what MLB/Bum Selig decide to call it (or not call it), I don't think there is a Tiger fan around that doesn't consider it a 28 out perfect game and that's good enough for me. So many perfect games have been forgotten over time, but this will live up there with Don Larsen and Harvey Haddix as one of the most memorable ones ever, as it should be. Congrats Armando!!!


Since AG was the Tiger story of the week (it's a shame Austin Jackson's catch in the 9th was lost in all the hubbub....), I thought it would be fun to showcase a few of his memorable cards as a Tiger, as well as show off a couple of his 2010 RobbyT cards as well (if there is one thing we don't lack for around here it's self-promotion......)


Easily the biggest one in my collection would be the 2008 Topps Update & Highlights jersey card insert. I just picked up this card in the last year when Meijer was having their blow out sale on these blasters and was lucky enough to get it as one of the inserts.


Two others of note are his card #50 from the 55 card Detroit Tigers special edition team set and a Bowman Gold card, both from 2008 as well. I'm leery to call these his RCs despite the designation on the front of the cards, simply because anybody in the know realizes that designation doesn't mean shit most of the time.


As luck would have it I got to see AG pitch a couple of weeks ago at Dodger Stadium (his only loss so far this year) and he's scheduled to pitch in Chicago next week a game that I'll be attending. Here's a pic I took at the game in L.A.


Kudos to AG on one of the most amazing games pitched in baseball history!

2010 RobbyT Cards: Wilkin Ramirez

I'm beginning to think he's never going to make it with the Tigers.


I didn't realize that this was the third year I made one of his cards.

Reaffirmation Of Why I Fucking Hate Topps, Part 4

I knew better than to attempt this. That's why I'm madder at myself than I am at Topps. But this is fucking ridiculous. Let me start with who I'm still missing before I really say how I feel about the whole motherfucking deal.

UH20 Justin Masterson RC

UH39 Jose Molina

UH45 Eric Hurley RC

UH57 Ramon Castro

UH63 Eric Brunfeldt

UH78 Dallas Braden

UH81 J.C. Romero

UH108 Shin-Soo Choo

UH144 Robinson Tejada

UH189 Micah Hoffpauir RC

UH201 Travis Denker RC

UH225 Ryan Tucker RC

UH234 Carl Pavano

UH309 John Bowker RC

Now to the punch. I BOUGHT 8 BLASTERS AND A FUCKING HOBBY BOX AND I'M STILL MISSING THIS MANY CARDS. IIRC correctly, each blaster had 80 cards. The hobby box had 360. THAT'S 1,000 CARDS. HOW THE FUCK CAN THAT NOT BE ENOUGH TO COMPLETE A 330 CARD SET???

Ok, I'm done with capital letters for the rest of this post. But shit, that's fucking ridiculous. On top of the 14 cards I'm missing, I got roughly 100 insert cards, the majority of which are crap (see picture above, which by the way is off-centered, has a ding on the corner, and has two serious crimps about an inch from the top, and that's the way it came out of the pack.....) Hell, I got three Millard Fillmore cards for crying out loud!

Out of all those inserts, I only got one Tiger. (The Galarraga jersey card). If anybody is interested in making a trade for any of these insert cards for some Tigers inserts, please respond below. Not knowing this set all that well, I would suppose that the best three inserts I got are a Miguel Tejada jersey card, something called Silk Collection of Andre Ethier (cool card, but if somebody has a Tiger one of these I'll gladly part with this one), and a chrome refractor of Max Ramirez of the Rangers. I'll trade all three. If you collect a certain team, post below which one and I'll tell you what I have for inserts. I'm also interested in finishing the WBC set if you have doubles of those too.

I know. It's my own damn fault. I knew this was going to happen and I let it anyway. But good grief, this is horrible. The best (being sarcastic here...) part is that the 8 blasters were priced at $20 each, and the hobby box was priced at $72. That would've been $232 before the Meijer discount (I got each blaster for $8 and the hobby box for $40, which is still $104). I'm still missing cards. Yeah Topps, It's Upper Deck cards sitting next to yours in the store which is why collectors are unhappy. Go fuck your collective selves.

2008 RobbyT Cards

2008 was my first year living in Chicago and I was able to go out and catch a bunch of Tigers games. I went to 7 games here against the White Sox, as well as trips to New York and Detroit. I also started blogging for the first time in '08, so the Tigers' last place finish notwithstanding, it was a great baseball season for me.


This was my biggest set to date, checking in at 73 cards. I really like the look of the base cards, but I'll admit I mailed it in on the Highlights, Down On The Farm, and Negro Leagues Tribute Cards. The cards of Ordonez and Verlander are my favorites, as I was at both of the games pictured. The Ordonez pic was from my only trip to Yankee Stadium. The Verlander pic was from a cold, rainy, nasty Saturday afternoon game against the White Sox early in the season that I went to with a bunch of great friends (the game where Gavin Floyd took a no-hitter into the 8th inning).


The 2009 RobbyT Detroit Tigers:
1 Denny Bautista
2 Yorman Bazardo
3 Francis Beltran
4 Jeremy Bonderman
5 Eddie Bonine
6 Miguel Cabrera
7 Brent Clevlen
8 Francisco Cruceta
9 Freddy Dolsi
10 Jeff Farnsworth
11 Casey Fossum
12 Armando Galarraga
13 Freddy Garcia
14 Gary Glover
15 Curtis Granderson
16 Jason Grilli
17 Carlos Guillen
18 Mike Hessman
19 Mike Holliman
20 Brandon Inge
21 Jacque Jones
22 Todd Jones
23 Matt Joyce
24 Chris Lambert
25 Gene Lamont
26 Jeff Larish
27 Jim Leyland
28 Aquilino Lopez
29 Zach Miner
30 Magglio Ordonez
31 Placido Polanco
32 Ryan Raburn
33 Wilkin Ramirez
34 Clay Rapada
35 Edgar Renteria
36 Nate Robertson
37 Fernando Rodney
38 Ivan Rodriguez
39 Kenny Rogers
40 Dusty Ryan
41 Ramon Santiago
42 Dane Sardinha
43 Bobby Seay
44 Gary Sheffield
45 Marcus Thames
46 Clete Thomas
47 Justin Verlander
48 Dontrelle Willis
49 Joel Zumaya
50 Highlights Dontrelle Willis
51 Highlights Curtis Granderson
52 Highlights Carlos Guillen
53 Highlights Todd Jones
54 Highlights Miss America
55 Highlights Tigers Meeting
56 Highlights Tigers Win
57 Highlights Adopt A Hottie
58 Highlights Mickey Lolich
59 Highlights Booblehead
60 Highlights Carlos Guillen All-Star
61 Highlights Jim Leyland All-Star
62 Highlights Farewell Tiger Stadium
63 Highlights Magglio Ordonez
64 Highlights Placido Polance
65 Highlights Ozzie Virgil
66 Highlights Mike Hessman
67 Highlights Gary Sheffield
68 Down On The Farm Ryan Perry
69 Down On The Farm Rick Procello
70 Down On The Farm Ryan Strieby
71 Down On The Farm Dontrelle Willis
72 Highlights Todd Jones
73 Negro League Tribute Bobby Seay


It was a great year for me as a collector. I went to 4 card shows here including the National. I also bought my last pack of cards in September, making it over a year now since I've bought any packs/boxes. I had a lot of fun at the card shows picking up old Tigers cards that I didn't have before. I also bought alot of oddball 80's stuff that I enjoyed collecting when I was a teenager: Topps Stickers, Fleer 44 Card Box Sets, and Donruss Action All-Stars.

The New Blog

I've started a new blog which is solely dedicated to RobbyT Cards. I didn't want to "soil" this blog by posting cards of other teams here and since I've now got two full season's worth I thought it was time to start getting some of them out there.

http://robbytcards.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting my cards from 2008 and 2009 over there for the next few months. I'll debut the 2010 cards sometime around Opening Day.

Please check it out and enjoy!

P.S. Pictured here is a 2009 RobbyT Justin Verlander. Once the season ends I'll do an entry here on the entire team set.

2008 Tigers Tickets

I would like to give a big thanks to my good friend Leo Barbour over at the Detroit Tigers Forum for passing along to me his 26 game tickets from 2008. If you're a Tigers fan and you've never checked out the forum, come stop by. It's been said that our forum is like a neighborhood bar, and Leo would be part-owner and proprietor. But knowing him as I do, he would wish me to stop right here with the accolades and get on to business.

These are one cool collectible. I've slowly come around to liking the 2008 Topps cards, so these are a no-brainer. They're too big for 6 pocket pages though, so I've got to figure out a cool way to display them.

I'm not going to bother posting a checklist, since all anyone would need to do is look up the Tigers home schedule. I am curious though as to how many different "cards" there are. Of the 26 tickets I have, there are 24 different. (May 8 and August 13 both picture the same Bonderman photo, May 5 and August 10 both have the same Polanco photo, although there are 3 other dates that picture different Bonderman photos) 

Thanks again Leo. This are very cool. 

Now I just have to hunt down tickets for the other 55 home games......

Love, Comerica Style

I wrapped up my five day weekend/business trip/vacation with a game at Comerica Park last night. As always, it was a great time with great friends. Despite a wasted outing by Nate Robertson, it was great to be back in the city for a game.

Over in the right hand column, you might notice a link to the Detroit Tigers Forum. Originally born in 1996 at freep.com, it's as great a collection of cyberspace Tiger fans as you will ever find. (Don't try the link today, as the site is temporarily down...) Over the years of endless debates about everything ranging from just how sorry a GM Randy Smith was to what type of beer we might be tasting some evening during a game, the Forum has brought together a couple hundred Tiger fans from all over the globe to commiserate and celebrate the last 12 years of Tigers baseball.

Over the years many of us have met in "real life," and I've developed great friendships with people I would have otherwise never met. I met up with three such fellows yesterday. They go by the names of Joe Sweet, LP Fan, and Nightwing in our forum, and I'll refer to them the same around here. (LP Fan was the guy that I went on the monster road trip with earlier this year.)

We did what every Tiger fan should do on game day, and that's meet up at Nemo's for pre-game beers and eats before taking the Nemo's bus over to the park for the game. Prior to the food and drink though, we walked over to see Tiger Stadium for what I am sure will be my last time.

The demolishing is about halfway complete. For the first time in my life, I stood on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull and was able to look into the stadium. All of the outfield is entirely gone. There was nothing left but the flag pole. All of the seats have been stripped from the lower level of what is left of the stadium. It was a weird combination of emotions to see the place where I spent so many great nights in my youth mostly reduced to rubble. It was like visiting that sick relative that you know you are seeing for the last time. It was sad, but you'll always remember her in her prime, and not how she was when she finally went.

However, the rest of the day was enjoyable. It was a nice evening at Comerica Park. The game was nothing to write home about. Nate pitched a great game, only to see F-Rod blow it in the 8th. The A's won 3-2. Oh well, we're not going anywhere this year anyway. This brings my 2008 record to 4-4 at Tigers games, with my last planned trip to see them play coming up Friday night at U.S. Cellular Comiskey Park Field.

Our gang had loads of fun catching up last night, and many missing forumites were discussed, but to a man we all agreed that we couldn't wait to do it again next year. And isn't that really one of the great things about baseball? No matter what, there is always next year.

I had a great time boys. Thanks.

2008 Topps Limited Edition Premium Team Set

Boy, that's a mouthful. But hey, that what they called it, not me.

One day I'll blog about my addiction to Topps cards and my inability to adhere to my repeated vows to never again purchase their products. It won't be today though.

There are two reasons that I was willing to purchase this set.

1. You get the entire 55 card set in the box. No crappy collation in here.

2. Let's just say that my "aluminum relocation program" was much more successful than that of Kramer and Newman. 

On to the set. 

I like it.

No, that's not a typo. As usual with Topps, there is plenty of room for improvement, but overall it's a nice issue. I think my only major disappointment with it is the lack of prospects/rookies included. There are a few of the "rookie cards" (cards with that little logo that means absolutely nothing, of course...) but no cards of any real prospects. (Are Topps or Upper Deck ever going to make a Rick Porcello card?)

Otherwise though, I like it. There are highlight, leader, and combo cards aplenty. There are cool cards of Paws and Comerica Park. I like that I get the bench players from my favorite team, and not from the other 29 teams. For a team set collector, this is a pretty good offering that I hope to see Topps continue in the future. 

Here's the checklist:

1 Jim Leyland

2 Curtis Granderson 20-20-20-20 Highlight

3 Magglio Ordonez

4 Team Leaders HR: Ordonez, Sheffield, and Granderson

5 Justin Verlander

6 Ivan Rodriguez

7 Dontrelle Willis

8 Miguel Cabrera

9 Silver Sluggers: Ordonez and Polanco

10 Team Leaders ERA: Verlander, Durbin, and Robertson

11 Nate Robertson

12 Carlos Guillen

13 Five Midsummer Classic Particpants

14 Kenny Rogers

15 Ryan Raburn

16 Justin Verlander No-Hitter Highlight

17 Placido Polanco

18 Jeremy Bonderman

19 Team Leaders Strikeouts: Verlander, Bonderman, and Robertson

20 Curtis Granderson

21 Classic Combos: Granderson and Guillen

22 Joel Zumaya

23 Team Leaders Batting Average: Ordonez, Polanco, and Granderson

24 AL Player of the Week: Curtis Granderson

25 Edgar Renteria

26 Andy Van Slyke

27 Todd Jones

28 AL Batting Title: Magglio Ordonez

29 Gary Sheffield

30 Fernando Rodney

31 Team Leaders Wins: Verlander, Bonderman, and Robertson

32 Vance Wilson

33 Bobby Seay

34 Gene Lamont

35 AL Player of the Month: Magglio Ordonez

36 Matt Joyce RC

37 Zach Miner

38 Team Leaders Hits: Ordonez, Polanco, Granderson

39 Brandon Inge

40 Macay McBride

41 Chuck Hernandez

42 Gold Gloves: Rodriguez and Polanco

43 Marcus Thames

44 Jason Grilli

45 Team Leader Innings Pitched: Verlander, Robertson, and Bonderman

46 MLB Triples Leader: Curtis Granderson

47 Team Leaders RBI: Ordonez, Guillen, and Sheffield

48 Ramon Santiago

49 Classic Combos: Cabrera, Guillen, Polanco, and Renteria

50 Armando Galarraga

51 Lloyd McClendon

52 Classic Combos: Rodriguez and Rogers

53 MLB Doubles Leader: Magglio Ordonez

54 Paws

55 Comerica Park

Ok, there are a couple of more small beefs I have, and since this is my blog, I'll list them.

1. There are three leaders cards that feature the same three players. I think one "Pitching Leaders" card would have sufficed, especially if it would have let a Rafael Belliard or a Rod Allen get his own card.

2. This is the 4th Topps issue this year that has the exact same design. (And I'm not counting the Opening Day set, which is probably close enough to count...) The base set, the chrome, the 14 card team sets, and now this all look exactly the same. Kudos to Topps for at least using different photographs for all those issues, but sets like this would be a perfect opportunity for Topps to unleash some new looks. It's not like they're blowing us away with the 2008 design.....

3. I should've been allowed to send 220 empty beer cans directly to Topps in exchange for this set, instead of having to take them to Michigan.

2008 Upper Deck Series 2

Nothing has changed my opinion about this lackluster offering from Upper Deck. It is responsible for the best Marcus Thames card ever, and that's about it. I picked all of these out of a commons bin at The National.

491 Kenny Rogers

492 Justin Verlander

493 Dontrelle Willis

494 Joel Zumaya

495 Ivan Rodriguez

496 Miguel Cabrera

497 Carlos Guillen

498 Edgar Renteria

499 Curtis Granderson

500 Jacque Jones (no, this is not a mistake, he is in both series.....as is Renteria....but no Galarraga.....argh......)

501 Marcus Thames

722 Clete Thomas

740 Ivan Rodriguez Season Highlight

777 Miguel Cabrera Team Checklist

785 Curtis Granderson Season Highlight

797 Magglio Ordonez Season Highlight

Well not all, as it looks like I am missing both Cabrera cards, the Pudge Highlight, and the Clete Thomas' RC.

Oh well....that is one sweet Thames card......

2008 Topps Series 2

I guess sometime during this disappointing season that my hatred for Topps has just dissipated into apathy. Since I am no longer buying packs of Topps cards, my frustration has eased somewhat. I picked up the following cards at The National for less than $10 total. I do actually think this is probably my second favorite Topps design of the last 10 years, ranking behind 2005, but that's not really saying a lot for the last 10 years of Topps cards.

No surprises in the base set:

403 Nate Robertson

412 Joel Zumaya

427 Carlos Guillen

466 Classic Combos Cabrera/Rodriguez

484 Todd Jones

503 Jeremy Bonderman

510 Justin Verlander

512 Placido Polanco

539 Clete Thomas

620 Gary Sheffield

634 Kenny Rogers

641 Marcus Thames

Topps continued along with the next two months of the Year In Review inserts.

YR73 Justin Verlander

YR108 Magglio Ordonez

YR115 Ryan Raburn

There is a new insert set called Topps Stars.

TS2 Magglio Ordonez

TS17 Miguel Cabrera

Topps reissued their Trading Cards History insert set from series 1, this time as chrome cards. 

TCHC26 Justin Verlander

TCHC29 Ivan Rodriguez

TCHC33 Gary Sheffield

TCHC38 Magglio Ordonez

I might be missing one or two of these, like Granderson, but since they aren't numbered the same as their series 1 counterparts, I don't really know.

Topps also continued along with the 50th Anniversary All-Star Rookie Team inserts.

AR95 Ramon Santiago

That Ramon Santiago has an insert card says more than I could ever say about series 2, and really, Topps in general.

Yawn......

It is a testament to the disappointment of this season that it has taken me ten days to blog about catching the recent Tigers-White Sox series at U.S. Comiskey Park Field. I promise I'll keep it short and sweet, at least until I get to the part about former Tiger catcher and current White Sox bullpen coach Mark Salas.

Tuesday night's game was what should have been one of those gut wrenching losses, if there hadn't already been so many that there is nothing left to wrench. I knew in the 9th we wouldn't win. I left after the 10th knowing that we wouldn't win. I arrived home in the 14th just seconds after Polanco's HR, and thought "hey, we're going to win this one." Dumbass. There was no worse sound this year than having to hear Hockeroo's lame ass home run call well after midnight.

Wednesday night's game was so boring that I'm having to look it up on yahoo to see what happened. Seriously, I'm looking it up right now. Oh yeah, this was the game that Thome hit the three run HR to left center in the first inning, and that was about it. I think I left after the Tigers batted in the top of the 8th. I dunno. I was still beat from staying up the night before.

Now, Thursday night's game was more like it. I met my pal sixtyeight boy from the Tigers Forum and crashed with his group in the first row behind the White Sox bullpen. Midway through the game, Mark Salas came out to warm up one of the Sox pitchers. When he was done I yelled at him that he was a former Tiger and that he had no business being in the White Sox bullpen. He looked up and grinned in what appeared to be amazement that somebody actually recalled his time in Detroit.

I told him that I had all of his cards from his Tiger days and he laughed. Sixtyeight boy asked him how many HR did he hit in Tiger Stadium and he replied, "all of 'em." Salas then asked us what was up with the Stadium and when we told about the demolition getting underway he frowned and told us that was his favorite place to play during his career and that he was sad to see it go. Amen brother.

I apologize for posting a picture of a '92 Fleer card, but it's pretty slim pickins when it comes to Salas. There isn't any one card that stands out, so I figured I'd just post a bad one. Be thankful that I didn't post the '91 Fleer. Here's the quick and dirty on the Salas cards I have:

1991 Topps #498

1991 Fleer #350

1991 Fleer Ultra #127

1991 Donruss #65

1991 Upper Deck #205

1992 Fleer #144

1992 Donruss #512

Not exactly a stellar selection to choose from.

Go figure, I was in the park on the night when newly inducted Hall Of Famer Goose Gossage threw out the first pitch, but the highlight hands down was chatting with an old Tigers catcher for a few minutes. Oh yeah, we won 8-3 to stop a six game losing streak. 

Too bad I couldn't chat with Goose about my favorite Tiger Stadium memory involving him!

2008 Goudey

Enough blogging about mediocre Fleer sets for awhile. Time to blog about a lights out issue. The 2008 Goudey.

I guess this is Upper Deck's answer to Topps Heritage. So much so that they've resorted to the same old different colored back variations and what not. But since reprints of 1994 Upper Deck don't appeal to me in the slightest, this is likely the best they can do, and I love it. I vaguely recollect Fleer doing a Goudey set a few years back. I guess since Upper Deck bought Fleer that they have the rights to do these now. And I thank them for doing it.

The cards are on the same type stock as Heritage, which I hope someone figures out in the near future is SO much cooler than the usual glossy stock with some sort of foil stamping, and will one day produce a full set like this.

I picked up the following Tigers at the National:

68 Justin Verlander

69 Curtis Granderson

70 Miguel Cabrera

71 Gary Sheffield

72 Magglio Ordoñez

73 Jack Morris

I have also seen on ebay that there is a SP card of Al Kaline, #211.

IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE RELEASED A SET COMBINING CURRENT PLAYERS AND ALL-TIME GREATS IN A SINGLE SET!!!

I'll be the first to admit that offering base set cards of players like Morris and Kaline is infinitely better than offering cards of Nate Robertson and Fernando Rodney. As successful as the Topps Archives were in the early 00's, I have never figured out why someone wouldn't do a set that mixes the best of the present and the past.

Well now they have. Hopefully next year it will be bigger, and ultimately, better. 

P.S. Why the fuck did they have to put Derek Jeter on the bottom of EVERY card? Why couldn't they do it by team? How much cooler would it be if at the bottom of every Tiger card it had Magglio or Granderson "saying it..."?

Topps has done it to me for the last time

You've got to be fucking kidding me. 

For the first time since 2005, Topps has produced a Detroit Tigers version of it's base factory set. In 2005, the set included a 5 card exclusive insert set of several promising Tigers prospects that made it a nice piece to pick up. 

Fast forward to 2008. Topps picks the Tigers again to do such a set for. BUT THIS TIME THE 5 CARD EXCLUSIVE SET IS MADE UP ENTIRELY OF GUYS AT THE END OF THE TIGERS BENCH, INCLUDING 2 WHO ARE NO LONGER EVEN WITH THE TEAM!!!!!

What a fucking joke. The people at Topps are fucking idiots. Brandon Inge is the best you could do? While there still is no card available for Rick Porcello? Denny Bautista and Jason Grilli? Seriously? On the 40th anniversary of one of the most improbable world championships of all time? Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, or Al Kaline never crossed your fucking minds? Ramon Santiago did though? Zach Miner too? Really?

Any chance that I would ever buy another pack of Topps product went out the window with this bullshit set. From now on I'll just buy Tigers cards off of ebay. 

I am finished with with Topps. This is fucking ridiculous.

Fuck it. I'm just going to make my own full set from now on.

Stay tuned.

2008 Bowman

About the only thing Bowman has going for it, and they know it, is that they are usually the first ones on the block with regards to rookie cards. Year in and year out there are somewhere around 8-10 Tigers making their cardboard debut. 

I guess when you trade your entire farm system for Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera, and Dontrelle Willis (who is getting hammered right now by the Indians...) it doesn't leave a lot to choose from. Actually, it should open the minors up for a lot of new faces, but apparently Bowman didn't see it that way. This year there are only five.

Before I go any further, let me delve into this "rookie card" designation thingy that was supposed to clear up all the confusion. I thought the whole idea was that a player wasn't supposed to appear on a card until he had played a game in the majors, and all his cards from that year would bear the official "rookie card" logo. Well Bowman/Topps have somehow managed to circumvent the rule THAT THEY AGREED TO without any ramifications. I really wish someone would explain to me how they can do this.

So to get back on topic here, there are only five rookie cards. One is Armando Galarraga, with that goofy little "rookie card" logo. The others are just designated with a "1st Bowman Card" logo. This set consists of Jonah Nickerson, Ryan Strieby, Michael Hernandez, and Will Rhymes. 

Great name, Will Rhymes. 

Ho-hum. Your 2008 Bowman Tigers:

35 Ivan Rodriguez

51 Dontrelle Willis

69 Jeremy Bonderman

79 Magglio Ordoñez

95 Miguel Cabrera

106 Justin Verlander

139 Carlos Guillen

159 Gary Sheffield

177 Edgar Renteria

191 Curtis Granderson

214 Armando Galarraga

BP14 Jonah Nickerson

BP55 Ryan Strieby

BP79 Michael Hernandez

BP108 Will Rhymes

There are also chrome versions of the prospects cards. I'm sure there are also the usual assortment of different colored border variations on the base cards. Who cares?

2008 Topps Finest

There once was a time when Topps Finest were the biggest thing since sliced bread.

There once was also a time where you were lucky it they included three Tigers in the set.

There is now a time where you look at these and go ho-hum. Perhaps the fact that there are something like five or six different colored variations of each card has rendered this set irrelevant. 

Anyway, there is a decent selection of Tigers for such a small set.

10 Magglio Ordoñez

20 Miguel Cabrera

31 Gary Sheffield

81 Justin Verlander

95 Curtis Granderson

99 Dontrelle Willis

107 Ivan Rodriguez

I checked Topps website, and I think there are two insert cards. I've only found one, commemorating Verlander's no-hitter (on my birthday, a fact I never get tired of bringing up...) Supposedly there is one for Granderson too, but I've yet to find it anywhere. The Verlander is numbered to 99. It looks like a refractor, but it doesn't say so on the back, so who the hell knows.

FM-JV Justin Verlander

I don't have much else to add. But I should be receiving my Bowman team set shortly, which is one of the few releases that I look forward to.

2008 Topps Opening Day

Let me start off by saying that I have never collected Opening Day cards before this week. But I figured that a set containing only 220 cards would be an easy, simple way to pass the time until Topps Series 2 came out.

I wish I wouldn't have even bothered, and it's not even a bad product!

I have always been under the impression that the Opening Day cards were a product geared towards kids and I think that's great. The amount of money I have spent on an almost complete 2007 Topps set is enough to make grown men cry. So any set geared towards kids is fine by me. 

Well I opened my first pack and wow! The bright red border jumps right out at you! Holy cow, these circus poster dots are gone too! And it's a rare occasion that you can actually read the gold foil on the card! These might actually be cooler than Topps regular issue.

Which of course, starts me to wondering. Why are these geared for kids? 

You get 6 cards to a pack that costs a dollar. I think Topps regular issue is something like 8-10 cards in a pack that costs two dollars. Fair enough then, per card they are cheaper. 

Which of course, makes me continue to wonder. Why are they cheaper?

These cards are printed on the same stock as regular Topps. Having a printing background, I'd absolutely say these cards are more expensive to print than regular Topps, with the solid red ink coverage as well as the gold foil in two locations instead of one. 

I have come to the conclusion that Topps is screwing us on the regular issue cards. I came to it years ago though, so just chalk this up as another mark on my big list of all the shitty business practices Topps employees. 

Oh well, on to the set.

At first glance it looks like a decent set for kids. At 220 cards it's not overwhelming. The player selection is nice for a set this size. There are a fair amount of rookie cards. (Although as per Topps style, most of these are miscut...)

I pulled cards of every Tiger in the set. Here's the list:

4 Placido Polanco

6 Ivan Rodriguez

32 Curtis Granderson

48 Gary Sheffield

71 Magglio Ordoñez

126 Edgar Renteria

149 Justin Verlander

But as you probably figured out, there are a few things I didn't like. 

The absolute biggest of which is the collation. I spent $60 buying these packs. Out of a total of 349 cards bought, with a 220 base cards set, I am still 17 cards short of a set! 112 doubles, and I'm still missing almost 10% of the set! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY? HOW MUCH MORE WILL I HAVE TO SPEND TO FINISH THIS SET? Christ almighty Topps, just once I'd like to spend a reasonable amount and get ALL the cards in a set! I threw away 60 David Wright ad cards. WHY? WHY? WHY?

I took a brief break, had a beer, and I'm moving on.

The only other thing I was disappointed in was the selection of Tigers. Although Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis are included in the set, both of them are pictured as Marlins. Which I don't understand. Topps Series 1 came out three months ago, and both are pictured as Tigers. Well after looking through the set I see that there would have only been like two Marlins cards without them, so it's not the end of the world.

Now to the insert cards.

As an aspiring adult, I'd say the insert cards are lame. If I were a kid, I'd probably say the same. There are 28 puzzle pieces that form what might look like a cool collage of the games young players, except that there is no way to fit a 7 card by 4 card puzzle into pages that are 3 cards by 3 cards. Besides, being that this is Topps it would take you hundreds of dollars to open enough packs to get all 28 cards.

There are also stick on tattoos! Yay! (Well not really, as they consist of mostly mascots and some random teams logos. I did get a White Sox one, which should fetch me a couple hundred bucks on the South Side...) The only saving grace for me was that I got one of Paws, the Tigers' mascot. Ok, they're a little cool.

Then there is something I can't even begin to describe called a Flapper. The front opens up one way..... the back opens up a different way..... it feels like the thing is going to fall apart....yippie.... At least there are a cool selection of these. I got two Mickey Mantles, Griffey Jr., Jeter, Manny, and Ortiz.

SO IN CONCLUSION, I have spent worse afternoons opening packs and sorting cards. This was mostly just to cure my jones until Series 2 arrives, when I'm sure I'll be REALLY upset...

2008 Upper Deck Series 1

I'm only doing this because I feel obligated. There is nothing much at all interesting going on in this set. The base cards look like 1995 Upper Deck. The O-Pee-Chee insert cards sorta resemble 1969 Topps, and the Hot Commodities insert cards look like insert cards from one mid 90's Fleer. Nothing much original at all going on with these. 

This is the first year in a long time that I've collected Upper Deck and that's only because these fell in my lap so to speak. I see I haven't been missing much. I do like the card of Chad Durbin, where you can see Curtis Granderson way back in center field getting ready to make a mad dash to whichever wall this ball ends up going over. Anyhow, on to the checklist.

47 Edgar Renteria

80 Jacque Jones

261 Jeremy Bonderman

262 Chad Durbin

263 Andrew Miller

264 Bobby Seay

265 Todd Jones

266 Brandon Inge

267 Sean Casey

268 Placido Polanco

269 Gary Sheffield

270 Magglio Ordonez

377 Magglio Ordonez Team Checklist

385 Curtis Granderson Season Highlights

394 Justin Verlander Season Highlights

I always liked '69 Topps. But these just flat out suck. You can barely make out the player's name with the light gray metallic ink used. There was not much effort put into these at all.

OPC-MO Magglio Ordonez

OPC-ER Edgar Renteria

OPC-GS Gary Sheffield

And yet another lackluster insert set. Oooh, flames in the background. I get it. Hot Commodites. Oh boy! Didn't Fleer do something like this about ten years in a row with the Smoke N Heat insert cards. Yawn.

HC13 Justin Verlander

HC15 Gary Sheffield

I just happened to pull two of the Yankee Stadium legacy cards that were games against the Tigers. Whitey Ford and Kevin Maas. Whitey didn't even play in the game he's pictured on. I would put up a pic of one of them, but I just realized that I've lost total interest in this set. Plus the Tigers game is about to start and I want a beer.

Topps Responds!

The good news is that it appears that Topps has one hell of a customer service department.

The bad news is that they seem to be fully aware of their shady doings.

I received this form letter from Topps today.

Dear Mr. RobbyT

We are sorry your Topps Trading Cards are not to your satisfaction. Here is some general informaiton (sic) which may assist you when sending to Topps for replacement. Your cards have been replaced according to there (sic) guidelines.

Cards which have significant factory produced flaws will be replaced while supplies last or for one year from their release date, whichever comes first.

Up to 25 cards can be replaced on a card-for-card basis per submission. Please enclose a list in numerical order of these cards.

Official Topps Complete Sets will be replaced while supplies last or for one year from their release date, whichever comes first. If less than 25 cards are involved return them with numerical list of the numbers to return the whole set for replacement. (???)

Any cards, products, or other material you value must be sent in a manner that proof of delivery is available if necessary. Topps is not responsible for lost or misdirected mail.

If missing cards from packs or packs from boxes, please send in bottom panel of box along with a list of the missing items.

Please send your request to the address listed above. (I am adding it here)

The Topps Company, Inc.

401 York Avenue

Duryea, PA 18642

Also include your complete mailing address and a daytime telephone number where we can reach you if needed.

We appreciate your interest in our products and would be happy to answer your specific questions at 1-800-489-9149 Monday through Friday between 8:30am-5:00pm.

Sincerely,

The Topps Company, Inc.

Consumer Relations Department

Enclosed with my letter were two new cards of the two 2008 Topps Heritage cards that I sent in. One a very nicely centered Kason Gabbard, and the other a very nicely centered Matt Holiday All-Star card. (With a nice little ding in the upper left hand corner)

At least they made the effort. I won't be buying anymore packs of Topps anytime soon, but at least they did something (which I didn't ask for)