“Alex began wearing No. 3 as a youngster in Miami.  Back then, he often caught Braves games on TBS, and he began to idolize Atlanta’s No. 3, Dale Murphy, the wholesome, hard-working outfielder who earned NL MVP Awards in 1982 and ’83.  A-Rod continues to don Murphy’s number, saying, “He was just so professional.”  Today, kids nationwide admire Rodriguez for the same qualities.”

Interesting, when I think of A-Rod, “wholesome” and “professional” aren’t the first words that come to mind.

2001 Topps Series 2:

1. #646 Wilton Guerrero
2. #657 Jason Bere
3. #586 Kevin Stocker
4. #612 Alex Rodriguez
5. #783 Jackie Robinson (Golden Moments)
6. #506 Kris Benson
7. #437 Shawn Estes
8. #594 Troy O’Leary
9. #608 Ryan Klesko
10. #569 Jerry DiPoto

5 hobby packs of 2004 Topps Series 1, ripped for your pleasure:

PACK 1:

1. #113 Mike MacDougal
2. #326 Zach Miner (First Year) (Rookie)
3. #318 Nic Ungs (First Year) (Rookie)
4. #268 Bob Brenly (Manager)
5. #4 Edgardo Alfonzo
6. #336 Eric Gagne (Season Highlights)
7. #221 Mike Mussina
8. #211 Jason Marquis
9. #200 Nomar Garciaparra
10. #233 Jose Valentin

PACK 2:

1. #296 Carlos Tosca (Manager)
2. #108 Esteban Loaiza
3. #267 Juan Castro
4. #263 Eric Byrnes
5. #144 Alex Gonzalez
6. #321 Tim Frend (First Year) (Rookie)
7. #85 Jon Garland
8. #344 Albert Pujols/Todd Helton/Juan Pierre (League Leaders)
9. #20 Derek Jeter
10. #212 Jorge Julio
11. #2 Reggie Sanders
12. #19 Aaron Rowand

PACK 3:

1. #187 Aubrey Huff
2. #300 Brayan Pena (First Year) (Rookie)
3. #291 Felipe Alou (Manager)
4. #114 Cesar Izturis
5. #271 Grady Little (Manager)
6. #340 Carlos Delgado/Alex Rodriguez/Bret Boone (League Leaders)
7. #293 Tony LaRussa (Manager)
8. #18 Corey Patterson
9. #186 Tino Martinez
10. #196 Flash Gordon

PACK 4:

1. #88 Steve Sparks
2. #25 Lance Berkman
3. #323 Tydus Meadows (First Year) (Rookie)
4. #64 Andy Pettitte
5. #246 Ryan Franklin
6. #350 Kerry Wood/Mark Prior (Postseason Highlights)
7. World Series Highlights #WS-MS Mike Schmidt
8. #138 Shigetoshi Hasegawa
9. #70 Mark Mulder
10. #137 Brett Tomko
11. #150 Jason Giambi

PACK 5:

1. #313 Kyle Davies (First Year) (Rookie)
2. #148 Kyle Lohse
3. #279 Jimy Williams (Manager)
4. #259 Joe Mays
5. #182 Terry Adams
6. #317 Mike Gosling (First Year) (Rookie)
7. #356 Carlos Delgado (Sporting News All-Stars)
8. #47 Trot Nixon
9. #269 Bobby Cox (Manager)
10. #14 Junior Spivey
11. #245 Scott Strickland

2010 Topps Series 2 Jumbo pack:

1. #501 Jake Peavy
2. #591 Fernando Rodney
3. #418 Aaron Laffey
4. #463 Carlos Marmol
5. #599 Jay Bruce
6. #421 Doug Fister
7. #364 Trevor Hoffman
8. #659 Nick Blackburn
9. #571 Brandon Lyon
10. #514 Rafael Soriano
11. #479 Chris Carpenter
12. #345 Chris Volstad
13. #515 Seattle Mariners (Franchise History)
14. #590 Ryan Howard
15. #485 Jesus Flores
16. #433 Julio Borbon
17. #530 Steve Pearce
18. #609 Jeff Suppan
19. #597 J.R. Towles
20. #513 Scott Sizemore (Rookie Card)
21. #572 Clay Buchholz
22. #377 Felix Hernandez
23. #564 Houston Astros (Franchise History)
24. #472 Toronto Blue Jays (Team Card)
25. #600 Hanley Ramirez
26. #350 Prince Fielder/Ryan Braun (Checklist)
27. Gold #624 Carlos Beltran (Serial#0081/2010)
28. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT91 Ryne Sandberg
29. History of the World Series #HWS7 Mel Ott
30. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-14 Ichiro
31. 2020 #T8 Buster Posey
32. Peak Performance Autographs #PPA-CBI Chad Billingsley (Autograph)
33. Vintage Legends #VLC2 Johnny Mize
34. Turkey Red #TR81 Denard Span
35. Legendary Lineage #LL-43 Mike Schmidt/Alex Rodriguez
36. Peak Performance #PP-76 Monte Irvin
37. #440 Willie Harris
38. #525 David Huff
39. #610 Alex Gordon
40. #532 Hunter Pence
41. #592 Brian Roberts
42. #595 Mike Lowell
43. #413 J.J. Hardy
44. #523 Phil Coke
45. #450 Omir Santos
46. #386 Dan Haren
47. #608 Pittsburgh Pirates (Team Card)
48. #594 Andy LaRoche
49. #346 Taylor Teagarden
50. Attax Code Card #JL Jon Lester

Got a Chad Billingsley autograph.  I don’t collect him, but it could have been much worse.  Billingsley is actually a pretty good starting pitcher and an All-Star last year.  He’s only 25 so there’s still a lot of potential left for him.

Some of the other pack highlights:

Chicago’s beloved infielder:

MLB 2010 The Show predicts that Buster Posey will have a breakout season in 2011 and win the batting title.  He was doing so well in the game simulation in fact, that I traded Stephen Strasburg to get him on the Nationals and never regretted it!

Pretty cool to put side-by-side shots of Schmidt and Rodriguez at the same point in their throwing motion:

I kind of doubt that the picture on the card actually shows Mel Ott in his 1st World Series at-bat:

And my Topps Million Card Lottery Redemption:

1970 Topps #395 Walt Williams

That’s an awesome shot just begging for a caption.  You know, his nickname was “No Neck” and you can kind of see why in the picture.

2002 Topps Series 2:

1. #548 Scott Elarton
2. #371 Chad Kreuter
3. #481 Kirk Rueter
4. #636 Benji Gil
5. All-World Team #AW-9 Alex Rodriguez
6. #698 Doug Mientkiewicz (Gold Glove)
7. #615 Javy Lopez
8. #661 Oakland Athletics (Team Card)
9. #487 Brandon Lyon
10. #656 Milwaukee Brewers (Team Card)

“In 1996, legendary Ernie Banks gushed over Rodriguez.  ”[He] is going to do things I never came close to doing,” said Banks — and he was right.  After a .359-36-123 season in ’96, A-Rod became the first player to log as many as 42 homers and 42 steals in one season ['98].  In ’01, he not only broke Ernie’s homer record for a SS with 52, but also enjoyed the first 50-homer, 200-hit season in 69 years.”

I guess A-Rod has been forgiven by New York fans.  He is having possibly the worst season of his career hitting .269 with only 14 home runs at the half, but he was still voted into the All-Star game this season.  A-Rod beat out Adrian Beltre (.330AVG/13HR) and Michael Young (.301AVG/12HR) in All-Star voting.

2006 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH62 Cory Sullivan
2. #UH50 Brandon Phillips
3. #UH70 Carlos Lee
4. #UH58 Adrian Gonzalez
5. #UH42 Kazuo Matsui
6. #UH173 Cory Sullivan (Season Highlights)
7. #UH171 Alex Rodriguez (Season Highlights)
8. Mantle Home Run History #MHR146 Mickey Mantle
9. #UH194 Craig Monroe (Postseason Highlights)
10. #UH209 Francisco Rodriguez/Bobby Jenks/B.J. Ryan (League Leaders)
11. #UH329 Stephen Drew/J.D. Drew (Classic Duos)
12. #UH214 Derek Lowe/Brandon Webb/Carlos Zambrano (League Leaders)

“Throughout his career, Alex Rodriguez has always seemed to be one step ahead of history, as he was on July 21, 2006, when he became the youngest player to reach the 450-home run milestone.  Six days shy of his 31st birthday, he connected in Toronto — his 450th bomb also being the 2,000th hit of his career.  A-Rod was also the youngest ever to hit his 300th and 400th homers.”

A-Rod is six home runs shy of 600, and he’s only 34.

2010 Topps Series 1:

1. #153 Justin Duchscherer
2. #63 Josh Bard
3. #310 Elvis Andrus (Topps All-Star Rookie)
4. #220 Randy Johnson
5. #269 Alex Rodriguez/Derek Jeter/Robinson Cano (Checklist)
6. Gold Border #252 Ronny Cedeno (Serial#0095/2010)
7. When They Were Young #WTWY-AP Aaron Poreda
8. Topps Town #TTT6 Ichiro
9. #146 Yunel Escobar
10. #151 Mat Gamel

The photography for 2010 Topps is still awesome.

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights:

1. #UH211 Brett Tomko
2. #UH235 Eddie Guardado
3. #UH260 Emil Brown
4. #UH45 Eric Hurley (Rookie)
5. #UH63 Eric Buntlett
6. #UH297 Cory Wade (Rookie)
7. #UH17 Russ Martin (All-Star)
8. #UH41 Joe Mauer (All-Star)
9. #UH53 Justin Duchscherer (All-Star)
10. Gold Foil #UH65 Alex Rodriguez (All-Star)

“In 2008, Rodriguez was picked to play in the All-Star Game for the 12th time in the past 13 summers.  The game at Yankee Stadium was his fifth representing New York, his fifth start at third base and the first time he’s “starred” in front of his home fans.”

Last year, for the first time in a decade, A-Rod was not selected to the All-Star Game.  The reason was probably the revelation that he took steroids.

2010 Topps Series 1:

1. #57 CC Sabathia
2. #18 Tim Stauffer
3. #160 Miguel Tejada
4. #284 Ross Ohlendorf
5. #119 Wilkin Ramirez
6. #259 Daniel Hudson (Rookie)
7. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-10 Carl Yastrzemski
8. Legendary Lineage #LL3 Babe Ruth/Alex Rodriguez
9. Topps Town #TTT21 Adam Dunn
10. #165 Brandon Phillips

“Just as Ruth exhibited unprecedented power in the early 20th Century, Rodriguez is tearing down barriers seemingly on an annual basis.  In 2008, a year after becoming the youngest to reach 500 home runs, Alex became the first player in Major League history to post 12 seasons with at least 35 homers and 100 RBI.  That broke a tie with none other than “The Bambino.””

Unlike A-Rod however, the source of The Bambino’s power was steak and eggs… for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

a Big Donkey:

I’m sure everyone’s wondering what card I got from the Million Card Giveaway.

Here we go:

…

2009 Topps #120 Mark Teixeira…

…a very surprised Mark Teixeira.

I was kinda hoping for something say, 30 years older, but I guess it could have been much worse.