“Ironically, it was losing that made Mauer a Twin; these days, it’s Mauer who’s making the Twins a winner.  Minnesota drafted him first overall in 2001 because of its 69-93 record, but they’ve averaged almost 90 victories a year since.  Joe has led the parade of “Ws’ with multiple batting titles, expert handling of pitchers and, in ’09, a dramatic power surge.”

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH210 Jason Vargas
2. #UH226 Kevin Hart
3. #UH217 Craig Stammen (Rookie Card)
4. #UH292 Yuniesky Betancourt
5. #UH321 Hunter Pence (All-Star)
6. Propaganda #PP17 Joe Mauer
7. Topps Town #TTT51 Mariano Rivera
8. #UH322 Sean Marshall
9. #UH310 Scott Richmond
10. #UH88 Jim Leyland/Tony LaRussa (Classic Combos)

“In perhaps the greatest of all World Series championship performances, Mathewson shut out the Athletics in all three of his starts (over a period of just six days!) in 1905.  He fired two four-hitters and a six-hitter.”

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH183 Guillermo Quiroz
2. #UH1 Ivan Rodriguez
3. #UH8 Lance Broadway
4. #UH256 Tim Wakefield (All-Star)
5. #UH260 Ryan Howard (All-Star)
6. Ring of Honor #RH79 Christy Mathewson
7. Topps Town #TTT75 Alexei Ramirez
8. #UH132 Joe Thurston
9. #UH105 Luis Valbuena
10. #UH97 Juan Castro

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH231 Josh Bard
2. #UH169 Mark Kotsay
3. #UH140 Jack Wilson
4. #UH128 Chone Figgins (All-Star)
5. #UH181 Zach Duke (All-Star)
6. Gold #UH288 Jon Garland (Serial#1194/2009)
7. Turkey Red #TR131 Jermaine Dye
8. Topps Town #TTT56 Josh Beckett
9. #UH145 Micah Hoffpauir
10. #UH17 Derek Jeter/David Wright (Classic Combos)

“In 2009, Braun joined Hall of Famer Robin Yount as just the second player in Brewers history to earn back-to-back starting nods in the MLB All-Star Game.  After an impressive first half that saw him post a .310-16-58 ledger, Ryan received the most votes of any NL outfielder — more than 4.1 million.”

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH143 Matt Maloney (Rookie Card)
2. #UH214 Jason Grilli
3. #UH195 P.J. Walters (Rookie Card)
4. #UH315 Jerry Hairston Jr.
5. #UH123 Ryan Braun (All-Star)
6. #UH235 Joe Nathan (All-Star)
7. Topps Town #TTT63 Jose Reyes
8. #UH135 Ryan Perry/Rick Porcello (Classic Combos)
9. #UH27 Josh Reddick (Rookie Card)
10. #UH144 Ronny Cedeno

“Johan’s statistics — including five straight 200-strikeout seasons — seem like video game numbers, and maybe that’s fitting.  He’s been known to study the tendencies of opposing hitters on his PlayStation.”

2009 Topps Series 1:

1. #70 Jermaine Dye
2. #308 Chris Duncan
3. #73 Shane Victorino
4. #178 Frank Catalanotto
5. #1 Alex Rodriguez
6. World Baseball Classic Redemption Card (expired)
7. Topps Town #TTT6 Johan Santana
8. #309 Humberto Sanchez (Rookie Card)
9. #11 Fernando Tatis
10. #189 Jay Payton

The WBC redemption card is expired, but I entered the code into Topps’ redemption site anyways and it seemed to work!  Shipment of the card is pending for 7/26/2012…

Some career bests for Mel Ott:

Once hit .349

Once hit 42 homers

Once had 151 RBIs

2009 Topps Series 2:

1. #465 Troy Glaus
2. #544 Pat Neshek
3. #471 Kerry Wood
4. Legends of the Game Career Best #LGCB-MO Mel Ott
5. Legends of the Game #LG-CJ Chipper Jones
6. Topps Town #TTT41 Manny Ramirez
7. #598 Micah Owings
8. #647 Manny Parra
9. #570 David DeJesus
10. #363 Jhonny Peralta

2009 Topps Series 2:

1. #353 Derek Jeter
2. #527 Jason Isringhausen
3. #629 Lyle Overbay
4. #415 Josh Beckett
5. #539 Miguel Olivo
6. #384 Bob Melvin (Manager)
7. Topps Town #TTT33 Carlos Lee
8. #373 Joe Martinez (Rookie Card)
9. #502 Yovani Gallardo
10. #421 B.J. Ryan

“Josh overcame a lot in life to not only resume a promising career after a three-year layoff, but to become a star and an inspiration.  He hit 32 home runs with 130 RBI and a .304 average for Texas in 2008.”

1. #193 Zack Greinke
2. #37 Erick Aybar
3. #211 Ryan Rowland-Smith
4. #122 Joe Mather
5. #301 Clint Barmes
6. Topps Town Gold #TTT23 Josh Hamilton
7. #326 Manny Ramirez (Postseason Highlights)
8. #166 Jeff Baker
9. #98 Akinori Iwamura
10. #120 Mark Teixeira