Tim Lincecum Cy Young Award Winner

So I take this simple formula: Tim Lincecum + Marijuana = Cy Young Award

Good times.... Good times

Ravishing Relic of the Week

Mr. Guzman was 3 for 5 in hitting with two singles and one double and one strikeout on the night of may 28, 2008. Wow... topps got this card right...for once. He actually played on the date that's listed on the ticket.

Chicken Scratch of the Day

Ricky Romero: Left Handed Pitcher (2nd rotation)

Wins: 13
Losses: 9
ERA: 4.30
SO: 141

Ricky has a very nice clean signature where you can actually make out his name. His signature does seem to be consistent with other signings he has done. Ricky is also a candidate for the 2009 MLB Rookie of the Year award.

For the effort he puts into his autograph he receives four sharpies.

Topps = Barack Obama An Open Letter to Topps Inc.

Dear Topps,
It has come to my attention that Mr. Barack Obama has been included in over 12 different types of Topps sets over the past year. He has been included in the Topps Baseball set to the Topps football set to the Topps Mayo set and into the American Heritage set as well. Heck, you guys even made an ETOPPS card of him so that would be actually over 13 products at least. My questions for you is as follows: Is it really necessary to have him in every freaking card set? Is it necessary to ride on the guys' coattails just because you see $$$$ attached to his name? Is all of the Topps Board members Democrats? How come you have not acted this way for the other more prominent historical figures? Sure you may have tapped into the Lincoln files a little or cut up an autograph or two of a few presidents. However what exactly is it that Mr. Obama has done to gain such popularity that he has to be included in almost every card set? Did he cure cancer? Did he find a cure for Aids? Did he solve the homeless problems? The one thing he has done is he has brought the US to the verge of complete bankruptcy. IS this the direction Topps is going to go?

Topps Football .... R.I.P.

2009 Topps Mayo in hand Review (retail)

I swore up and down a blue streak that I was done buying TOPPS products and yet I gave into my addiction (we're all addicted- ADMIT IT) at the local Wal Mart when I purchased 3 retail boxes of 2009 Topps Mayo. I have to say that this year's edition seems a bit better and dare I say that some thought went into the process of the design of the card. So let us gaze upon the wonders of 2009 Mayo and see what dastardly deed TOPPS have spawned:



The 2008 edition had a basic black and white design to it. The 2009 edition of Mayo has a white and gold design implicated. Each pack contains 6 Topps Mayo Football cards Plus 1 Parallel card and 1 Insert card. And once again Barack Obama appears in another card set. Please TOPPS....ENOUGH ALREADY! And once again there is famous personalities and events from around the world included in the set.

Here is the potential pull info:
BASE CARDS - 330 total cards -
180 Veterans, 10 Legends, 60 Rookies, 25 Public Figures, 55 Short Prints













The Mini's return again this year and I was rather impressed at the mini's that I did pull from the 3 boxes. I did not pull one duplicate of any regular mini's and I actually enjoyed pulling the gold version Jerry Rice mini Parallel. Out of the three boxes only two mini gold Parallels were pulled. Apparently you can pull a Harvard edition and or a Mayo gold/cloth/mayo back edition in the mini cards. Also you can pull the mini 1/1 plates as well.

Here is the rest of the potential pull info:
MINI PARALLEL CARDS - 2970 TOTAL CARDS - 1 PER PACK!
Mayo Cloth (330) - #'d to 5
Harvard (330) - #'d to 25
Mayo Gold (330)
Mayo Back (330)
Mayo (330)
Mini Printing Plates (330 subjects,1320 plates) 1/1 JOY!

MINI INSERT CARDS - 115 subjects
World's Fair Attractions (15)
United States Governors (50)
Celebrated Citizens (15)
Mayo Masterworks (30)

BOX LOADER CARDS - 1 PER BOX
Mayo Cabinets (20)
Mayo Cabinet Relics (20) - #'d to 10
Mayo Cabinet Autograph Relics (40 subjects/10 cards) - #'d to 3

FRAMED AUTOGRAPHED CARDS - ONE AUTOGRAPH CARD PER BOX
Mayo Autographs (50 subjects)

FRAMED RELIC CARDS (68) - ONE RELIC CARD PER BOX
Mayo Relics (50 subjects)
Mayo Americana Relics (18 subjects)

CUT SIGNATURE CARDS - 1 OF 1
Historical Figures - 18 subjects

FRAMED PRINTING PLATES - 330 total cards - 1 OF 1
Base cards (330)

NEW RIP CARDS - 1 PER CASE
Collectible Rip Card Exteriors (30)
Rip Card Interiors
- Mayo Red Autographs (TBD) - #'d to 10
- Mayo Mini Exclusives (30)


The backs of the card this year have a gold painted feel to them. The silver parallel card backs are silver in color which helps to avoid confusion for perhaps say the younger folks or the new folks to the hobby who don't know what parallels are or how they are different from the rest of the set. I did not pull any jersey/relic/autograph/rip/plates from the boxes that I obtained. The hobby editions do offer one autograph, relic, and box loader card per Hobby Box (Insertion rates are based on estimated production levels, which may vary from the actual insertion rates to be published on product packaging).



So let's review what I've learned from the cards:

1.Topps is obviously running out of people to put into card sets and are using fillers. I say this because look at how we see the same people in the Topps American Heritage set now creeping into the Topps Mayo set. No offense but I am tired of reading about Robert Jarvik. It's great that he made the artificial heart but I don't see him playing football at any point or running for 20,000 yards. It seems like Topps Mayo is turning into the poor man's version of Allen & Ginter.

2. Sticker autographs... Oh where do we begin? Last year the cards were hard signed. Even if it seemed kind of small or going up the side of the card it was still signed "on card". This year we are stuck with sticker autographs which leads me to....

3. Autograph selections: Majority of them are from this year's draft class so you can pull a 1st rounder or you can pull a 7th rounder who was already cut from the team, then the practice team, then from the CFL, and is now working for some lawn service and has a part time job on some UFL team. On a brighter side there is some of today's stars such as Peyton Manning, Adrian "All Day" Peterson, and Mark "Dirty" Sanchez just to name a few.

4. Relics- Once again we are delighted to have 1st round draft picks to 7th round draft picks and stars such as Eddie Royal, Donovan McNabb, and Ben "sacked" Roethlisberger. You can also pull presidential relics, coin and stamp cards, and even presidential wood! There is also relics from soldiers included in this year's set (why?).

5. Coalition- I pulled 3 Eli Manning Silver parallels out of 3 boxes. I pulled 2 Michael Crabtree silver parallels out of 2 boxes. Those were the only doubles I received out of the parallel set. I had pulled no doubles for the regular set out of 3 boxes.

6. The ponytail is making a comeback (See Cushing and Matthews rookie cards).

7. Annie Oakley was a babe who was good with a rifle!

PERFORMANCE REVIEW:

TOPPS Sell Sheet before and after product was released and did it match product: A
Card Design: B+
Base Card Overall: B+
Mini Cards: B
Auto's: C : sticker autos
Value: B-
Collectability: B-

FINAL SCORE: B

Tim Lincecum and marijuana ....say it isn't so.

San Francisco Giants star pitcher Tim Lincecum is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges following a traffic stop in his home state.

Here's the Link via ESPN: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4627319

Tell me that you could not figure that one out. Tim Lincecum and "mary jane". Mr. Mackey says that marijuana's bad mmmkay. Drugs are bad mmmkay.