Covering A Lot Of Ground

The First MLB player to play all 9 poistions in a single game was Bert Campaneris, way back in 1965. SS-OF? You don't know the half of it, Topps!

The Minnesota Twins have been connected to most of these feats - the second time a player made the trip around the field was in 1968. It was completed by Twins utility man Cesar Tovar.

 Here's the back, with a healthy write up of the "versatile Venezuelan"


IN THE YEAR 2000:

Scott Sheldon played all nine for the Rangers against the White Sox

Shane Halter completed the feat against the Twins

And last night, it was Andrew Romine, again against the Minnesota Twins. Congratulations to Andrew for completing this rare feat! Enjoy your Topps NOW card.

A Very Special Future's So Bright Fridays

The Future's So Bright - Darell Porter's Gotta Wear Shades.

These guys know what's up - the sun. From which we need eye protection!

But Big Bart knows that even the Moon can be too bright, if the timing is juuust right.

Topps NOW, you so crazy.

Underappreciated But Not Forgotten

I don't have many from this set, but I feel like 1951 Topps gets overlooked. They don't fit the usual profile for Topps, they are a pretty small set, and they lack the comprehensive stats that would become a signature of Topps' later offerings. But they have a certain elegance, and the simple bold colors just look good. The cards have a real heft to them, and they were obviously built to play.

Twig looks like a baby compared to the coach I remember with the Twins in the 80s and the Saint Paul Saints after that.

Kluszewski was still quite young here, but already a force of nature.

Probably my favorite of the red backs, Monte Irvin hasn't gotten nearly the coverage of Jackie or Larry Doby. He was a bit older when he made it to the big leagues, losing out because of baseball's color line. He may have been every bit as good as his teammate Willie Mays, but he was born too soon to be able to prove it.

If you look closely you can see how the cards came in packs of two, joined on one edge. The perforations are still barely visible, even this long after they were torn apart.

Going Out on a High Note

It took a couple weeks, but I finally found some of the Heritage High Numbers. The Force is strong with Hector.

Two current and two former Twins. Turner was a Rule V draftee, and Danny Santana was traded over to Atlanta back in May.

Found both of these Now and Then inserts, and they look almost identical. Fernando Rodney is the king of cool and Zimmer is rocking the shades.

Despite the rivalry with the Twins, I can honestly say that Cleveland had some of the better cards this time around. I am a big fan of the Reds mascot, Mr. Redlegs. He looks psychotic.

The "best" pull in the packs - a Cody Bellinger insert. I think I'll hold onto this one for a little while.

NOW With Clever Nicknames

Players Weekend was quite some time ago now - it feels even longer given the exciting finish to the 2017 season. The Twins were north of the border in Toronto, and they were struggling to keep pace with the Blue Jays bats. They did manage to have some impressive highlights.

But the appeal of Player's Weekend was the customization and flair that the players were allowed for once. Too bad the photo of Rosario crops out his socks, they were something else.

That certainly stands out! 

Joe Mauer disappointed by opting for the nickname "Mauer," so I won't bother showing the back of that one. Next year, maybe Joe could consider "Well Played" for his jersey. "Baudido" roughly translates to Bandit. The curious can read about the rest of the Twins nicknames here. My favorite was Miguel Sano's "Boqueton" which means Big Mouth. Bartolo Colon opted for a tribute to his late mother instead of "Big Sexy," I think he made the right choice.

The Players' Weekend (ok, I think I've covered all the possible iteration Players, Player's, and Players') was also a big series for Byron Buxton, who's absolutely crushed Blue Jay pitching in his young career. The ball was jumping off his bat on the Saturday game, when he hit 3 homers.

Around the same time as these cards, another Topps NOW gem arrived. Byron's been busy! I can't tell you how long it would take me to circle the bases, but I can pretty much promise you that 14 seconds would not be enough. Buxton absolutely burns up the basepaths, I don't think I've ever seen a baseball player run so fast before.