Ranking 50 Years Worth Of Topps #330 Cards #30 - #21

In honor of my 50th birthday, I'm ranking all 51 Topps base cards numbered #330 since 1975. Why #330? Because my birthday was on 03/30. Why 51 cards when I've turned 50? Because that's how math works, and as my father-in-law likes to say, I didn't turn 50, I started my 51st year of existence!

 

Today we continue the count down starting with the worst #330 in the history of Topps base sets (since 1975 - get with the theme here!) and through the next 10 on the list. Rankings are purely subjective to my whim. 

#30 - 1981 (Frank White)

1981 Topps will always be one of my favorite set designs. Frank White has a great smile!

 

#29 - 2000 (Butch Huskey)

 

Huskey however looks pissed. It's such a nice card with a crisp looking background though!

 

#28 - 1979 (George Brett)

 

I consider myself lucky that I can count an All-Star card of a Hall of Fame player amongst this list of #330 cards, but it's not one of Brett's best cards by a long shot.

 

#27 - 1998 (Steve Finley)

 

Finley swings as the ball flies towards him. Does he connect? Will he get a hit? Hope springs eternal with this card.

 

#26 - 1986 (Rick Sutcliffe)

 

I really want to know what shampoo and conditioner Sutcliffe used back in the day. That hair just screams "chick-magnet!"

 

#25 - 1978 (Bob Watson)

 

Ah...there's nothing quite like the Houston sunset....

 

#24 - 2002 (Kenny Baugh)

 

I can tell you 2 things about Kenny Baugh: He never reached the Majors, and he threw a split-fingered fastball.

 

#23 - 1996 (Reggie Sanders)

 

Sanders was always one of those guys that was much better than people realize. That he only made one All-Star team surprises me.

 

#22 - 1987 (Mike Scott)

 

Gregory at Nine Pockets recently did an excellent post about 1987 Topps. This was the first set I ever completed by hand and will always be held in high regard by me.

 

#21 - 2009 (Daisuke Matsuzaka)

 

Now here's a shock! The lone Red Sox card on this list and it doesn't even make the Top 20? Blasphemy! Yeah, I wrestled with it's placement. It is what it is.

 

31 cards down, 20 to go! Tune in tomorrow as the cream starts rising to the top!

Ranking 50 Years Worth Of Topps #330 Cards #40 - #31

In honor of my 50th birthday, this week I'm ranking all 51 Topps base cards numbered #330 since 1975. Why #330? Because my birthday was on 03/30. Why 51 cards when I've turned 50? Because that's how math works, and as my father-in-law likes to say: I didn't turn 50, I started my 51st year of existence!

 

Today we continue the count down starting with the 40th best #330 in the history of Topps base sets (since 1975 - get with the theme here!). Rankings are purely subjective to my whim. 

#40 - 2005 (David Wright/Craig Brazell)

 

One of the fun things about the Future Stars subset is that you know it's pretty hit or miss when it comes to predicting actual stardom. This card is a great representative of that - on one hand you have Hall of Fame hopeful David Wright, and right below him a guy who only made it into 29 games. It's a boring card really, but Wright's star power kept it out of the bottom group of cards.

#39 - 1980 (Al Cowens)

Another card I initially thought would be more in the mid-level range. Nothing against it at all, just found myself picking other cards ahead of it!

#38 - 1990 (Ron Darling)

 

Bonus points to Darling for being a player I've met and gotten a signed ball from!

#37 - 1993 (Danny Tartabull)

 

Tartabull was always one of those guys I hated seeing step up to the plate when he faced the Red Sox. He hit the ball hard, and that is shown in this card.

#36 - 1985 (Leon Durham)

Major League Baseball needs more guys named Leon.

#35 - 2001 (Don Baylor)

Manager cards are cool, especially when it's a well known and well respected player. If he wasn't squinting in this picture he might have been ranked higher.

#34 - 2010 (Brandon Allen)

 

I like how the border and team name are in sync with the player's jersey. This card could have been cropped better though.

#33 - 1984 (John Candelaria)

The "Candy Man" is sticking out his tongue while wearing that fantastic pillbox style hat.

#32 - 1977 (George Hendrick)

The hat, the jacket, the foo-Manchu mustache...Hendrick had style!

#31 - 2019 (Lorenzo Cain)

If a player's uniform isn't this dirty by the end of a game, he isn't trying hard enough!

 

The countdown continues tomorrow with #30-21! 

Ranking 50 Years Worth Of Topps #330 Cards #51 - #41

In honor of my 50th birthday, I'm ranking all 51 Topps base cards numbered #330 since 1975. Why #330? Because my birthday was on 03/30. Why 51 cards when I've turned 50? Because that's how math works, and as my father-in-law likes to say, I didn't turn 50, I started my 51st year of existence!

 

Today we count down starting with the worst #330 in the history of Topps base sets (since 1975 - get with the theme here!) and through the next 10 on the list. Rankings are purely subjective to my whim.

 

Just to give you an idea of how I did this, I gathered images of all 51 cards together, grabbed the ones I'd pick if this were merely a Top 10, and put them aside. I then grabbed the next 10 best, and so on and so forth. 5 groups of cards, and for each of them I ordered the lot as I saw fit. It was much easier to do 5 Top-10 (or 11 in today's case) lists then one giant 50 card list.

#51 - 2003 (Juan Rivera/Marcus Thames)

 

It would be easy to say that this card came in last because of my particular team bias, and you'd be right to a point. There are other Yankee cards in this list ranked much higher though. This is just a boring card, although I was surprised to find out each of these guys had solid careers that lasted at least decade at the Major League level.

 

#50 - 1995 (Randy Myers)

 

The only thing this card really has going for it is that it's a candidate for Johnny's Saturday Shadow Shots posts. (FYI - I see a playground slide).

 

#49 - 1988 (Ed Whitson)

 

I'm pretty sure that how my arms looked when I tried to throw a ball as a kid. The difference between me and Whitson is my baseball landed two feet in front of me.

 

#48 - 1982 (Rick Wise)

 

If this image wasn't so grainy I might like it more. I do appreciate players wearing glasses...

 

#47 - 1997 (Pat Hentgen)

 

The borders of the 1997 set clashed with so many card photos. That sharp blue jersey doesn't look good surrounded by red.

 

#46 - 1983 (Buddy Bell)

 

Have the Rangers brought back this uniform recently? They should. Baseball needs more racing stripes.

 

#45 - 2015 (Brian Duensing)

 

The color scheme works a lot better here than with Hentgen. His contortions look like he's going to lose a couple of buttons on that jersey.

 

#44 - 1994 (Charles Nagy)

 

I went back and forth between Duensing and Nagy, but gave Nagy the edge because he from the era of Cleveland baseball where I see the uniform and think of the movie "Major League."

 

#43 - 2025 (Jake Burger)

 

The newest #330 isn't horrible, it just gives me the same disinterested look that Burger seems to have...

 

#42 - 1989 (Eric Davis)

 

I surprised myself with having Davis this low in the countdown. I thought this card would be higher.

 

#41 - 2017 (Doug Fister)

 

I like being able to clearly see the grip on a ball when a pitcher is throwing, but the angle makes his arm look oddly elongated.

 

Eleven cards down, forty to go! Tune in tomorrow for the next group of ten!

Hitting Half Of A Century!

I don't normally post on Sundays, but today is a special occasion. Today I hit the big 5-0! In the past, I used to joking wish former Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale a happy birthday, since he shares the day with me. 

 

When he got traded last year, it led me to a great discovery. In an attempt to find something new to post, I found out March 30th was an important day for Charlie Brown:

 

https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1993/03/30

Ironically enough, this off-season the Red Sox signed another player that shares my birthday, Alex Bregman. Hopefully by next year I'll have some actual cards showing him in his new threads.

 

A digital "card" from the Bunt app

 

But for today, it's just a post to say how grateful I've been these past 50 years, and to thank you all for being a small but important part of the journey.

 

I wanted to do something big to celebrate the occasion, so all this week I have scheduled a series of posts counting down the greatest cards since 1975 that are numbered #330 in the Topps base set. I hope you enjoy it. As for me, my family and I are currently up in New York for a weekend celebration with my parents, siblings, and other family and friends. Cheers!

6 Degrees Of Raffy: The Roger Clemens Connection

It's time for another installment ("aka filler post") of 6 Degrees Of Raffy, where I connect a beloved card from my collection and connect the player depicted on it to current Red Sox superstar Rafael Devers. 

 

We start with a randomly generated card from my collection:

Random TCDB Card: 

1997 Select #24 Roger Clemens (BLUE)

Roger Clemens is the most prominent player in my collection, with over 200 unique cards in my collection. It was only a matter of time before he popped up as a random card. For once, I'm glad he's depicted as a Blue Jay and not a member of the Red Sox. That would have been too easy. Upping the level of difficulty is that the 1997 Select set only has 9 total Toronto cards in it, with one of them a prospect who never reached the big leagues. 

Teammates in the 1997 Select set
#24 Roger Clemens (BLUE)	#178 Kelvim Escobar (SR, RC)

After checking in on bigger names like Carlos Delgado and Joe Carter, I found a link in rookie pitcher Kelvim Escobar. Escobar pitched 12 years for the Blue jays and Angels, but it was his time in sunny California that got my attention.

Teammates in the 2007 Upper Deck set
#754 Kelvim Escobar	#758 Mike Napoli

Aw yeah, party at Napoli's! Back before tugging on his big bushy beard became a celebratory mainstay for the 2013 World Champion Red Sox, Napoli was a power hitting catcher for the Angels.

Teammates in the 2015 Topps set
#130 Mike Napoli	#445 Christian Vazquez

 

From one (former) catcher to another! Napoli's tenure in Boston saw him play with numerous players who would continue on with the team long enough to see Raffy's debut in 2017. It's a nice opportunity to showcase someone else besides the big names like Ortiz and Pedroia. 

Teammates in the 2022 Topps set
#63 Christian Vazquez	#331 Rafael Devers

 

Vazquez spent 8 years in Boston before being traded to the Astros in 2022, where he won his second World Series ring. He is currently with the Minnesota Twins.

Degrees of Raffy: 4

Repack Haiku #403 (Darren Lewis)

Errorless streak of

Three hundred ninety-two games

At start of career

 

1995 Pacific #379 Darren Lewis

 

On June 30, 1994, almost 4 years after he first debuted, Lewis was charged with his first error in 392 Major League games. Ironically, 1994 would be year he won his lone Gold Glove. His errorless streak record would later be broken in 2015 by Nick Markakis.

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Monument, CO

Now that I've got the 2024 Topps base set done, it's time to to work on the 2025 one! No, not really (maybe?), but I do plan on getting all the Red Sox cards in the set. Thanks to a TCDB trade with Ryan, I'm a bit closer to that little project.

 

Not a ton of star power here, unless you count Casas's soon-to-be star turn in the upcoming Netflix documentary about last year's Red Sox team. (It comes out April 8th!). Plus, no City Connect uniforms in this lot! 

 

Favorite Card: The team cards are always nicely done. This one isn't as eye catching as others, but solid.

 

Thanks for the trade, Ryan!