Weekend Countdown: Topps Total Cardinals

Long ago, two years ago, I used to do a countdown on this blog space every Friday.  That's kind of a busy day of the week in my world, which is why the "Friday Five" has slowly disappeared over that time.  I still like the idea of having a countdown post, so I am going to try something a little different, and see if it sticks a little better.

Here's what I am shooting for:  

• One countdown post per weekend 

• The countdown is not going to be defined by a number, not 5, not 10.  I choose it when I get there 

• Sticking with cards, not stats and numbers.  Maybe an occasional pop culture type of post.  

Here is my first Weekend Countdown: 

So earlier this week, Topps tweeted out.....

👀 pic.twitter.com/hJ6vHQcpyn

— #SWCC Star Wars Authentics (@Topps) April 11, 2019

which made everyone correctly speculate that Topps was bring back their early 2000s behemoth Topps Total.  It was 990 cards with roughly 30 cards per 30 Major League teams.  The product was affordable, and the ultimate challenge for set collectors.  I am not sure if I have ever actually finished a Topps Total set, but I at least have the Cardinals cards completed.

The boxes are still really cheap, so.....

There are actually some interesting Cardinals cards in the Topps Total sets, so I thought I would pick out a few of my favorites for this week as my first Countdown subject.


5. Eli Marrero - 2003 Topps Total Signatures 

Marrero appeared in all three Topps Total sets, all with different teams.  The Cardinals in 2003, the Braves in 2004, and the Royals in 2005.  This was one of Marrero's last Cardinals cards, as he was traded away to the Braves for Adam Wainwright. He is also the "best" Cardinals autograph that you can find in a Topps Total set.  His competition is Jimmy Journell. 

4.  Jason Motte - 2005 Topps Total 

I like Jason Motte rookies.  He is one of those players who started out doing one thing, and ended up somewhere else.  The Cardinals drafted him as a catcher, he could not hit anything, but he had an incredible arm.  You probably best remember Jason Motte for this......

It was a successful position change.  If you have not followed his career, Motte had some arm troubles with the Cardinals and has bounced around since.  Still, you pitch the last out of a World Series, you tend to get remembered.  

3. Rick Ankiel - 2005 Topps Total 

Another prospect type card from the 2005 Topps Total set.  I initially thought that this card was some sort of terrible way to help Topps fit players into the set, while maintaining the desired number of cards in the set.  There are a few cards like this in the set that stray from the prospect/prospect format and have a prospect/old guy.  Like there is an Adam Wainwright card like this with Cal Eldred.  This is Topps, so cutting corners is totally fair game.  

Nope.  

This is actually a prospect card.  Ankiel is listed as an outfielder on the card, and this is actually after he went back to the Minors and quit pitching.  Hard to keep track of all the dates with Ankiel, but he last pitched in 2004.  We can argue whether or not a 25 year old in A Ball is a legit prospect some other time, but Lambert was also an A Ball player.  They seem like they might fit together.  

2. Chris Carpenter - 2003 Topps Total 

Chris Carpenter was on the Blue Jays for a few years at the beginning of his career.  He had some arm troubles, got released, and the Cardinals signed him.  Carpenter hung out in the Minors for awhile, made his way back to the Majors, and by 2004 was in the Cardinals rotation. Between 2003 and 2004 Topps made two cards of Chris Carpenter.  Yes, the airbrushing is terrible, but this card is the first Carpenter in a Cardinals uniform.  Sort of an important recent player.  Ask a Phillies fan.  

1.  Yadier Molina -2004 Topps Total 

There are better Yadier Molina rookies, but this one still counts.  I like that he is catching on this card, as opposed to his Bowman rookie card where he is batting, and wearing a jersey with a 70 something number on the back. 

Friday Five: Top 5 Sets From 2002

5. Topps Total- There were two mega sets issued during the 2002 summer: Topps Total and Upper Deck 40 man.  The boxes of Total were pretty cheap, but with a total of 990 cards collectors needed several boxes and loads of patience to assemble this set.  However, even if you are not into putting together this gigantic set, it's still a plus for team collectors and individual player collectors.  There are dozens of players in this set that do not appear in other sets and honestly, where else can you find a set with 30 players from your favorite team?  Not many Mark Little cards floating around, but he was on the 1998 Cardinals which makes it a keeper.

4. Upper Deck Vintage- If Upper Deck had decided to rehash the wrong Topps set and pass it off as a Vintage set I would have gladly walked the other way.  However, a rehash of the 1971 Topps set is always worth your time and effort.  These cards were really cool with 1971 players and they are also really cool with 2002 players.  The set is not too big and not too difficult to find at low prices.  I loved putting this set together and went through and picked up a lot of the insert sets too.  There are relic cards and autographs too, but you might actually have to spend time and money to land them.  Overall a really good set.

3.  Topps Pristine- I got a bunch of these when they first came out and just remember being completely annoyed at the fact that there was a pack of cards inside another pack of cards.  It reminded me a little bit of the 2001 Donruss cards with the "retro" packs stuffed inside of the regular packs.  Over the years I seem to have ended up with a whole lot of these cards in my collection.  A big chunk of the base set, a ton of the transparent autographs, and some of the encased rookie cards.  For me, the autographs are the real stars of the show.  The signatures are mainly younger players from that era, but that includes nice autographs from Pujols and Jimmy Rollins.  If nothing else, these are fun cards to look at and worth a little bit of your time and money to track down a few.

2.  Topps Super Teams- This was a fun little set and flies under the radar a little too often.  The set focuses on 11 different World Series winning teams and features cards of their key players and manager.  There are foil parallels, autographs, and relic cards too.  Not the most popular set, but it's one of my favorites from this year.  A lot of good names from good teams, cool pictures, and the autographs are aren't too expensive either.  I cannot remember the last time I saw a complete set floating around.....

1.  Topps Heritage- Based on the 1953 Topps set this is the second rehash set to appear in my list this week.  However, Topps rehashing their own card design in a product that is one of the most popular releases annually versus whatever Upper Deck did with the 1971 Topps set (it's beautiful) is a completely different story.  I liken the Topps Heritage sets to Godfather Part 2 with the original design of these cards being the original Godfather.  I almost liked this set better than the 2001 Topps Heritage set for several reasons.  It has the short prints and logo variations and night card variations and everything that goes into a good recreation of the 1953 Topps set, but the extras that come with a modern baseball card set were a little bit more achievable in this set.  I am still looking for the Edmonds autograph....one day.  

#MyCardMonday

I spent a small amount of time this weekend working on cards.  The majority of my efforts were spent on school work since this coming week is my first full week back at work since Winter Break.  I know life is rough around these parts.  The focus of my card work this weekend focused on 2004 and 2005 sets which brought back plenty of good memories.  They were the last two years that I lived in St. Louis and they were two great years for the Cardinals which included a two trips to the National League Championship Series and one trip to the Fall Classic.

There were all sorts of cool players and memories I could have picked to spotlight on this week's #MyCardMonday post.  So, I picked something out of left field.

Seriously, this guy was the team's left fielder.  I picked the card for a few reasons.  First, it came out of the Topps Total set.  As I am sorting out the different sets from the mid 2000s I am finding that I do not actually have an entire Topps Total set, but I also can easily say that I have more than 80% of all of them.  Considering they are 990 cards it would be a shame to blow up the sets and start over, so those are going to go on my to do list somewhere.  It's already pretty full, but I am not really going anywhere.

So, why Reggie Sanders.  Most people who followed the Cardinals, or the MLB Playoffs in 2005 remember the Pujols/Lidge home run, but they do not remember Reggie Sanders sinking the Padres in the first round.  The Cardinals played the Padres and Sanders set the tone for the series by driving in six runs, including a grand slam, in helping the Cardinals to win the first game.

Sanders was one a pretty memorable 1990s/2000s baseball player.  He spent the first half of his career with the Reds and then seemed to spend about six or seven years playing for someone new every year, but somehow always managed to end up in the playoffs.  More likely, it just seemed that way.  His other cool career highlight was that time that Pedro Martinez blew a perfect game to drill him in the ribs with a pitch in the eighth inning. 

30 Year Top 50: 2002 Topps Total

#40-The 2002 Topps Total set was the largest release Topps had ever put out when it was released it the middle of the summer in 2002.  It was the set builders dream with a large checklist and a very cheap sticker price.  The boxes of Topps Total came with 36 packs and each pack contained 10 cards.  I clearly remember to this day the two boxes of Total I busted that summer.

Back in those days I worked at a traditional calendar school and had all summer to open, sort, trade, buy, and sell cards.  I picked up my two boxes from a card store in South Saint Louis county, made a run to Imo's for a pie, and popped in a movie.  Usually I am not very meticulous about sorting out cards into a set while I am opening them, but I was determined with the Topps Total set.  The cards had a pretty ho hum design, but the 900 card set was a huge challenge that I was determined to meet.

2002 Topps Total Mike Matheny

Besides the challenge of putting together a large set, at the time of release, many collectors were also excited about the prospects that were included in the set.  Of course every team had it's veteran players, but there were also many younger players too.  The best of the rookie cards in the set is the Joe Mauer.  There is also a David Wright rookie, not his best, and a Chone Figgins.

2002 Topps Total Joe Mauer  

After two slow box openings and lots of collation I decided that I was probably going to have to open at least four boxes of cards in order to complete the set.  I made a checklist and slowly added to the set throughout the summer.  A few years later, I found this box of cards and my list and cheaply completed the set.  I still own the set today and enjoy looking at the players.  I also consider the completion of this set an accomplishment because of it's enormous size.  

The largest set every distinction did not last very long for this set, but the fact that it allowed collectors a small slice of the days when the Topps sets were large, poorly collated within packs, and close to 800 (792) cards, made this set a great part of the hobby.  

Like the 2002 Topps Total Set?  Not on my countdown of Top sets of the past 30 years are the 2002 Upper Deck 40 Man Set.  The concept of the set was identical to the Topps Total set.  Large set, featuring many players, and a great chase for set builders.  In fact, Upper Deck went a little bit pass Topps.  Upper Deck literally included ever player on every teams 40 man roster minus the players who were signed off of replacement player rosters during the 1995 spring training.  No Damien Miller.

2002 Upper Deck 40 Man Francisco Rodriguez

Upper Deck 40 Man had two major flaws.  First, the price of the packs was around $3 with only 24 packs in a box and 10 cards per pack.  Collation of cards was okay, but the cost of buying the boxes and assembling the set was far greater than value of the set.  Further, unlike the Topps Total set, this set has no important rookie cards.  None.  There aren't many completed 40 Man sets floating around, so it would be fun to put together....or not.