Complete Set: 2013 Topps Series 2 Cut To The Chase Set

I have been a little bit slow in assembling some of my cards for the second half of my 2013 Topps set.  There have been several new card releases over the past several weeks and I guess that some set had to take a backseat to the others.  It would not be a calendar year without a Topps set, so I have started looping back to finish up Series 2.  One of my favorite parts of the set this year is the Cut To The Chase set which was also featured in the Series 1 of the 2013 Topps set.  

This great looking die cut set features another group of 24 cards.  The second series goes back and picks up the first card in the set, Mike Trout, who was oddly left out of the first series, and then adds cards 24 and 26 through 48.  A bit confusing with the card numbers, but high on style points.   There are some great cards here, so let me pick out two cards to talk about during this post.  I will go with my top card and the card that I would replace.  Best card first:

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Rickey Henderson 

There are actually several Hall of Fame cards in the second series of the Cut To The Chase set, but for my money this Rickey Henderson card is the best of the lot.  Topps really does a great job focusing on the history of the game and produces a lot of cardboard with Hall of Famers.  However, Rickey seems like he does not make too many appearances.  He's one of the best players from my lifetime, and while I saw him as a Padre and Met, it was still fun to see him play.  

Further, this Rickey card does a great job of capturing him as a player.  He's wearing an A's uniform and he is running.  Sure Topps might have upped the card a little bit if they had found a shot of him sliding into a base, but that's hard to do on a vertical card.  I also have noted that Rickey is pictured wearing white batting gloves and not neon green.  Still a cooler card than Seaver, Koufax, or the other Hall of Famers in this set.  

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Matt Holliday 

I am going to shock people a little bit today and say that Matt Holliday probably does not belong in this set.   I know that collectors will point out that Yoenis Cespedes is also included in this set, but he still gets a little break for being a highly sought after younger player in the baseball card world.  I am sure that someone at Topps probably thought it would be nice to make a Holliday card since he has generally been a pretty consistent performer at a high level for the past decade with the Cardinals, Rockies, and A's.  I agree with the sentiment, but if I were assembling a set with the top dozen current players or so, half of the players in this set are retired, I think I could choose someone a little bit better than Holliday.  

So, I do I propose replace Holliday in this set?  The best player on the Cardinals: Yadier Molina.  Similar to Rickey Henderson, Molina is often greatly underrepresented in the world of cardboard.  While the Cardinals are committed to Matt Holliday for the long term, the team has also recently signed Molina to a new five year contract.  Further, Molina leads the National League in hitting with a .346 average and ranks 10th in the league in WAR.  All while playing Gold Glove caliber defense.  Sure, I love Matt Holliday and have posted plenty of his cardboard on here during the past year and a half.  Sometimes it would be nice to see Topps branch out a little and give credit where credit is due.  Now, if I had the photoshop skills of some of those bloggers who post their own custom cards I could show you how the Molina card would look, until then you will just have to imagine.  

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Set

I have finished up another one of my projects from the 2013 Topps Series 1 set during the past two weeks and have not had a chance to share some of my cards in this space.  I had originally mentioned the sweet looking die cut cards in my initial glance at the 2013 Topps set and then later again shared a Ken Griffey Jr. card that I picked up from the set.  It took a few more weeks, but I have now finished the whole insert set.

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Stan Musial 

As mentioned before, the cards remind me a lot of some of the insert cards that Pacific put out in the late 90s which I loved to collect.  While these die-cut cards are not nearly as difficult to track down, and are seeded at a much higher rate, they are clearly among the more difficult cards from the 2013 Topps set to find cheaply.  The Ebay auctions for the Cut To The Chase cards tend to be very competitive and they do well in the trade market too.  The majority of the set has excellent player selection with my two personal favorite cards being the Stan Musial and Lance Berkman cards.  There are a few head scratchers.... 

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Lance Berkman

I am slightly puzzled why Berkman makes so many appearances in the 2013 Topps set when he was injured and unproductive for most of 2012.  Not that I am complaining about Berkman cards, but the Cut To The Chase set does not appear on the literature for the second series of Topps meaning that this set is stopping at one set of 23 cards.  Perhaps Topps could have put in a Matt Holliday or Yadier Molina if they were looking for a modern Cardinals player to add to the set.  

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Nelson Cruz 

The most puzzling card in the set is the Nelson Cruz card.  By my account he was probably the fourth or fifth best player on the Rangers last year and here is sits with a cool insert card.  Now, Topps did put a Josh Hamilton card in this set, but still Nelson Cruz?  Adrian Beltre hit way more than Nelson Cruz, is not afraid of walls, and was one of the top fielding third baseman in the league.  I guess they could have also picked Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, maybe even Albert Pujols.  All better than Nelson Cruz.

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Ken Griffey Jr.

I have spent a little bit of time raving about the first series of the 2013 flagship product for the past few weeks and am going to bend your ear for a few more minutes this afternoon.  Again, this product has been one of the best Topps issues in recent memories and there is plenty of good to go around.  One of my favorite inserts in the 2013 Topps set is the die-cut Cut To The Chase Set.

2013 Topps Cut To The Chase Ken Griffey Jr. 

I have not devoted a post to this insert yet, but I did put a scan of the Andrew McCutchen card in my glance post when the 2013 Topps set first dropped.  This insert set reminds me a lot of some of the die-cut cards that Pacific used to put out every year.  Topps, Upper Deck, Pinnalce, Fleer, Panini and all the other card companies that have existed in some form or fashion during my time collecting cards cannot hold a candle to the die cut cards of Pacific.

Topps tried die-cuts back in the mid 90's with their Topps Laser product, but the cards were so complexly cut that they were hard to keep in mint condition.  Topps started working some nice die-cut cards into some of last year's products, but I was really impressed with the Cut To The Chase inserts and will make these my final mission for my 2013 Topps collection.  I am hoping that Topps will continue this insert into the 2nd Series and the Traded/Update set, however no picture is shown in the released photos.