NOW The Twins Finally Have A Little Spring In Their Step

The Twins are winners of 5 straight and are nipping at Cleveland's heels for first place in the AL Central. It took them quite some time to heat up, just like the weather in MN, and just like the shipment from Topps with the Twins' 2018 Spring Training Team set.

The two rookies included were Zack Granite and Felix Jorge, both of whom are currently in the minors. Granite is on the DL at the moment with a bum shoulder, as are veterans Ervin Santana and Miguel Sano.

The Twins' shiny new Relief Corps has been hot and cold, though Addison Reed has been the most consistent of the bunch. Berrios is appropriately shown working out, as he's taken on the mantle of the hardest working man in the off-season, with crazy workouts of pushing cars on the beaches of Puerto Rico popping up on social media all winter long. 

The set features the first appearance of Logan Morrison in a Twins' uniform, and he's just now starting to swing the bat well after a horrendous April. Topps sent an extra copy of Zack Granite for some reason...

The backs of the cards are all identical below the player's name and the card number.

Since I am a sucker, I opted to buy the "autograph" edition and I was pleasantly surprised to pull a Brian Dozier card.

I like the photo selection, and even though they didn't include my dude Kennys Vargas, I think they did a good job of player selection.

The Collective Assimilates a Moose

Greg aka GCA of The Collective Mind blog has been seeking out bloggers' want lists recently, and resistance is futile!

It started innocently enough, as Greg found a handful of 1983 Topps needs, including a couple Hall of Famers.

The great Willie Hernandez with his trademark mustache, but without his trademark glasses!

This is my favorite of the stack - Bob Boone is tracking a foul pop, as the Mariners' hitter watches helplessly from the batters' box. I love the spring training crowd in the background.

If that wasn't enough, Greg knocked out one of my Arbitrary 8! I have a very small collection of 1955 Topps, so each new addition is a rare and welcome sight.

Very interesting to see that his home is listed as Austin, MN -- Moose was born in Chicago and went to college at Purdue in Indiana, so it's an odd fit for a Yankee to be living in a smaller city in southern MN. Maybe he worked at the SPAM factory in the off-season?


Thanks very much Greg!

Manaea Mania - Baby Giraffe Avoids Bat Gaffes

DATELINE APRIL 21, 2018 -- Oakland, CA 
Sean Manaea, a flamethrowing southpaw on the left coast, has made quite the impression on the visiting Boston nine this evening, setting down the Americans in rapid succession. The giant Athletic twirled scoreless baseball for the full nine rounds, without surrendering a single hit. Nine of the final ten Bostonians went by the way, with only a pass on balls marring perfection.

Manaea came to Oakland via Kansas City, traded to the Golden State along with Aaron Brooks (now pitching for Milwaukee's AAA affiliate) in exchange for the 2015 World's Series Hero Ben Zobrist.

2018 Looks to be a big year for the young portsider - His 2017 contributions were tops among his teammates. The big question surrounding the one they call the "Baby Giraffe" - can he repeat the feat?

It was not that long ago now that Johnny Vander Meer set down two consecutive teams without a base hit, in June of 1938. Can Manaea match the mark? Both lefties are a bit under the radar. Both blanked Boston in their first no-nos. Before the first no-hitter, Manaea had never thrown a complete game, let alone a no-hit shutout. Johnny had thrown his first career shutout earlier that season, and had pitched three complete games in the starts before, including 10 innings against Saint Louis. All of those starts, and the three starts after the feat resulted in wins for the Redlegs.

Manaea's next start figures to be Friday night against the defending champs, the Houston Astros. A Tall task indeed for the six foot five lefty. 

Turning Over A New Leaf

In news that is fascinating only to me, I added a long sought after black & white whale, a short printed 1960 Leaf Elmer Valo. Valo was towards the end of his 20 year major league career, and landed in New York with the Yankees for Spring Training. He only played in 8 games for New York before being released, but he quickly caught on with the Senators and played 2 more seasons moving with the Senators to Minnesota, and finishing his career right where he started in Philadelphia, playing 50 games for the Phillies.

The back referenced his time in the Pacific Coast League playing for the Seattle Rainiers in 1959. Now that I've found this card, I'm down to a handful of rare regional issue oddballs to complete a collection of all of the cards from his playing days.

NOW things are starting to heat up

Topps NOW is back and testing my wallet already. Topps has added a "Moment of the Week" and the Topps Living Set in addition to the daily Topps NOW offerings and weekly TBT (Throwback Thursday Offerings). I will still be picking up the Twins as the days go by, and I will tell you right NOW that they are going to have at least one if not two or more cards this week with their historic trip to Puerto Rico vs Cleveland. Jose Berrios is a beast, and if it weren't for Mauer's 2,000th hit, he might have been featured again last week. He hurled a 3 hit shutout against the Orioles on April 1st, but his start against Chicago was also impressive.

I don't go outside of Twins cards too often for Topps NOW, but I saw this one and had to make an exception. Ichiro has been one of my favorite players for over a decade, and he's still making plays.

Here's a peek at the card backs. in 2017, Topps added a glossy refractor coating to the backs of Topps NOW, this year's version is a little more subtle. The "Topps" logo catches the light as the card is tilted, but at other angles, it is almost invisible. This is their "Upper Deck Hologram" security feature, which I assume is more flash than substance.