A jumbo pack of 2012 Topps Series 1:

His save streak ended at 49 last week.

1. #155 Matt Cain
2. #301 Alexi Ogando
3. #226 Ryan Hanigan
4. #47 Luke Hochevar
5. #126 Eduardo Nunez
6. #107 Luke Scott
7. #75 Jordan Zimmermann
8. #117 Carlos Ruiz
9. #80 David Price
10. #255 Scott Rolen
11. #213 Alex Avila
12. #244 Sergio Santos
13. #199 Adam Dunn
14. #284 Tony Gwynn
15. #86 Brett Cecil
16. #32 Detroit Tigers (World Series)
17. #167 Starlin Castro (Checklist)
18. #319 Justin Verlander/CC Sabathia/Jered Weaver (League Leaders)
19. #232 Mariano Rivera/Johan Santana/Felix Hernandez (Active Leaders)
20. #224 Matt Kemp/Prince Fielder/Ryan Howard (League Leaders)
21. #62 Ben Revere
22. #241 James McDonald
23. Gold Sparkle #181 Jose Reyes/Ryan Braun/Matt Kemp (League Leaders)
24. Golden Moments #GM-22 Willie McCovey
25. Golden Greats #GG-5 Lou Gehrig
26. Gold Standard #GS-1 Nolan Ryan
27. Gold Futures #GF-5 Eric Hosmer
28. 1987 Topps Minis #TM-43 Mat Latos
29. Golden Giveaway Code Cards #GGC-6 Albert Pujols
30. Golden Moments Relics #GMR-JA John Axford (Jersey Relic)
31. Timeless Talents #TT-1 Paul Molitor/Ryan Braun
32. #189 Alberto Callaspo
33. #229 Yunel Escobar
34. #210 Zack Greinke
35. #173 Ryan Roberts
36. #251 Jason Bay
37. #287 Antonio Bastardo
38. #55 Michael Young
39. #43 Brett Wallace
40. #99 Michael McKenry
41. #247 Clay Buchholz
42. #89 Dontrelle Willis
43. #15 Melky Cabrera
44. #133 Ivan Nova
45. #325 Chris Schwinden (Rookie Card)
46. #70 Brett Pill (Rookie Card)
47. #175 Jared Hughes (Rookie Card)
48. #98 Domonic Brown

“Teirxeira’s explosive 2009 season continued a longstanding tradition of great performances by first basemen in the Bronx.  The legacy began with Gehrig, whose 1.080 career OPS ranks second in franchise history behind Babe Ruth.  While Lou holds the top nine single-season OPS figures of team first sackers, only he and three others topped Mark’s .948 last year.”

2010 Topps Series 1:

1. #128 Garrett Mock
2. #277 Jarrod Washburn
3. #202 San Francisco Giants (Franchise History)
4. #261 Matt Carson (Rookie Card)
5. #300 Chase Utley
6. #120 Jorge Posada
7. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-6 Mickey Mantle
8. Legendary Lineage #LL4 Lou Gehrig/Mark Teixeira
9. Topps Town #TTT7 Josh Hamilton
10. #164 Carlos Carrasco (Rookie Card)

Topps goofed up twice in this pack.  1) Most of the base cards are exactly the same as the base cards of the last jumbo pack I opened.  2) They misspelled “Peak Performance” on the front of the John Ely card (the card says “Peek Performance”).

A jumbo pack of 2010 Topps Update Series:

1. #US-320 Joe Mauer (All-Star)
2. #US-12 Jason Michaels
3. #US-192 Daniel Nava (Rookie Card)
4. #US-15 Ike Davis (Rookie Card)
5. #US-110 Curtis Granderson
6. #US-36 Omar Vizquel
7. #US-86 Matt Guerrier
8. #US-199 Jhonny Peralta
9. #US-196 Aubrey Huff
10. #US-128 Reed Johnson
11. #US-30 Roy Halladay (All-Star)
12. #US-204 Carlos Silva
13. #US-165 Omar Infante
14. #US-70 Jonathan Broxton (All-Star)
15. #US-33 Matt Capps (All-Star)
16. #US-75 Jason Heyward (All-Star)
17. #US-221 Heath Bell (All-Star)
18. #US-210 Ubaldo Jimenez (All-Star)
19. #US-160 Josh Johnson (All-Star)
20. #US-280 Alex Rodriguez (All-Star)
21. #US-118 Jose Bautista (All-Star)
22. #US-48 Geoff Blum
23. #US-234 Matt Downs
24. #US-248 Matt Harrison
25. #US-269 Dave Bush
26. #US-283 Kevin Frandsen
27. #US-159 Octavio Dotel
28. Gold #US-183 Luis Atilano (Serial#0134/2010) (Rookie Card)
29. Attax Code Card #RC Robinson Cano
30. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-30 Mickey Mantle
31. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT158 Frank Thomas
32. More Tales of the Game #MTOG-6 Intracity Sweep
33. Turkey Red #TR109 Brandon Phillips
34. Vintage Legends #VLC-38 Lou Gehrig
35. Peak Performance #PP-110 Jered Weaver
36. Peak Performance Autographs #PPA-JE John Ely (Autograph)
37. #US-97 Troy Tulowitzki/Matt Holliday (Checklist)
38. #US-249 Rafael Soriano (All-Star)
39. #US-127 Nick Swisher (All-Star)
40. #US-25 Andrew Bailey (All-Star)
41. #US-57 Derek Jeter/Elvis Andrus (Checklist)
42. #US-11 Vernon Wells (Home Run Derby)
43. #US-125 Adam Wainwright (All-Star)
44. #US-42 Conor Jackson
45. #US-321 Jason Donald (Rookie Card)
46. #US-116 Brandon Morrow
47. #US-145 Adrian Beltre
48. #US-14 Ike Davis (Rookie Debut)
49. #US-214 Jason Heyward (Rookie Debut)
50. #US-205 Ben Sheets

“Few, if any, World Series championships have featured more wall-to-wall drama than the 2001 renewal, in which three games were decided in the final at-bat.  Before Arizona’s Luis Gonzalez clinched Game 7 with a walk-off hit, New York’s Derek “Mr. November” Jeter provided a thrill of his own with a two-out, game-ending homer in the 10th inning of Game 4.”

Now let’s hop into our baseball time machine.  Here we go to 2009… we see Justin Upton sliding in:

On to the 1950′s:

and on to the 1930′s:

and our final stop, the 1910′s, about 100 years ago:

2010 Topps Series 2:

1. #464 Francisco Liriano
2. #391 Manny Parra
3. #397 Colorado Rockies (Team Card)
4. #577 Jason Jaramillo
5. #340 John Buck
6. #406 Jeff Francis
7. #468 Delmon Young
8. #541 Jason Motte
9. #617 Luis Valbuena
10. #343 Brian Bruney
11. #387 Josh Fields
12. #434 Kevin Slowey
13. #533 Gary Matthews Jr.
14. #504 Jeff Mathis
15. #648 Brian Fuentes
16. #534 Hideki Okajima
17. #461 Tyson Ross (Rookie Card)
18. #392 Carlos Monasterios (Rookie Card)
19. #637 Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig (Checklist)
20. #502 Jhoulys Chacin
21. #400 Alex Rodriguez
22. #411 Jack Wilson
23. #548 Minnesota Twins (Franchise History)
24. #361 Washington Nationals (Team Card)
25. #558 Ronny Paulino
26. #545 Fred Lewis
27. Gold #333 Ryan Ludwick (Serial#1784/2010)
28. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT113 Justin Verlander
29. History of the World Series #HWS21 Derek Jeter
30. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-18 Thurman Munson
31. 2020 #T5 Justin Upton
32. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Backs #CMT61 Al Kaline
33. Vintage Legends #VLC8 Walter Johnson
34. Turkey Red #TR78 Dan Haren
35. Legendary Lineage #LL-52 Dale Murphy/Matt Kemp
36. Peak Performance #PP-79 Matt Kemp
37. #466 Jered Weaver
38. #587 David Murphy
39. #618 Jorge Cantu
40. #593 Derek Holland
41. #348 Jordan Zimmermann
42. #390 Ervin Santana
43. #389 Troy Tulowitzki
44. #481 Scott Rolen
45. #557 Aaron Hill
46. #537 Michael Cuddyer
47. #546 Bud Norris
48. #627 Jeremy Hermida
49. #341 Texas Rangers (Franchise History)
50. Attax Code Card #IK Ian Kinsler

Here’s this pack’s random Million Card Giveaway card:

1961 Topps #289 Ray Moore

2010 Topps Series 2:

1. #650 Dustin Pedroia
2. #657 Chris Young
3. #561 Ryan Zimmerman
4. #430 Kazuo Matsui
5. #370 Robinson Cano
6. #438 Jason Bartlett
7. #584 Matt Capps
8. #359 Aramis Ramirez
9. #425 Dontrelle Willis
10. #574 Milwaukee Brewers (Team Card)
11. #371 Nick Hundley
12. #494 Andrew Miller
13. #589 Edinson Volquez
14. #416 Ruben Tejada (Rookie Card)
15. #376 Esmil Rogers (Rookie Card)
16. #431 John Raynor (Rookie Card)
17. #503 Austin Jackson (Rookie Card)
18. #476 Yadier Molina
19. #520 Randy Wells
20. #654 Collin Balester
21. #632 Daric Barton
22. #604 Atlanta Braves (Franchise History)
23. #543 Adam Jones/Nick Markakis (Checklist)
24. #486 Raul Ibanez
25. #480 Boston Red Sox (Team Card)
26. #379 Phil Hughes
27. #559 Nick Markakis
28. Gold #356 Angels (Franchise History) (Serial#1353/2010)
29. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT66 Warren Spahn
30. History of the World Series #HWS2 Walter Johnson
31. Million Card Giveaway #TMC-20 Carl Yastrzemski
32. 2020 #T18 Clayton Kershaw
33. Vintage Legends #VLC9 Ozzie Smith
34. Turkey Red #TR90 Johan Santana
35. Legendary Lineage #LL-42 Lou Gehrig/Albert Pujols
36. Peak Performance #PP-89 B.J. Upton
37. #420 Shin-soo Choo
38. #448 Joakim Soria
39. #529 Carlos Lee
40. #614 Kelly Johnson
41. #660 Brandon McCarthy
42. #585 Dioner Navarro
43. #631 Marc Rzepczynski
44. #519 Alexi Casilla
45. #621 Aaron Cook
46. #521 Jeremy Bonderman
47. #484 Mike Fontenot
48. #396 Jake Westbrook
49. #447 Jeremy Guthrie
50. Attax Code Card #MH Matt Holliday

“Is Pujols the new Gehrig?  The comparison is compelling.  Through their age-29 seasons, Lou holds slight edges in RBI (1,146 to 1,112) and OPS (1.084 to 1,055), but Albert is way out in front in HRs (366 to 267).  They also rank third and fourth in most XBHs in a player’s first 5,000 career ABs — “The Iron Horse” with 761 and “Prince Albert” with 744.”

I think Topps is stretching it a little just to put Gehrig on a card with Pujols.  Pujols is actually much closer to Jimmie Foxx in comparison.  Through age 29, Pujols batted .334 with 366 home runs, while Foxx batted .334 with 379 home runs.  Foxx hit more home runs through age 29 than Pujols because he had 405 more at-bats.

Some other nice cards from this pack:

It’s amazing how Austin Jackson can lead the league in strikeouts, yet still maintain a batting average above .300:

I’m assuming this is from the Angels’ 2002 World Series title?

The Big Train:

and the Wizard of Oz:

I FINALLY got a pre-1970s card in the Topps Million Card Giveaway lottery!

1958 Topps #141 Ken Lehman

He was a relief pitcher in a time when needing a relief pitcher was a sign of weakness.

2009 Topps Series 2:

1. #530 Felix Hernandez
2. #440 Fausto Carmona
3. #388 Humberto Quintero
4. #621 Oliver Perez
5. Legends of the Game Career Best #LGCB-LG Lou Gehrig
6. Legends of the Game #LG-BR Brooks Robinson
7. Topps Town Gold #TTT49 Daisuke Matsuzaka
8. #503 Carlos Gonzalez
9. #570 David DeJesus
10. #363 Jhonny Peralta

Lou Gehrig’s Career Bests:

Highest OPS in a Season: 1.239

Highest AVG in a Season: .379

Most HRs in a Season: 49

Most RBI in a Season: 184

Most Doubles in a Season: 52

Most Triples in a Season: 20

Most Hits in a Season: 220

Most Runs in a Season: 167

Most SBs in a Season: 17

Most Walks in a Season: 132

2001 Topps Combos #TC16 Cal Ripken/Lou Gehrig

2001 Topps series 2:

1. #558 Brian Moehler
2. #572 Joe Mays
3. #442 Rondell White
4. #595 Dave Mlicki
5. #704 Cristian Guzman
6. Combos #TC16 Cal Ripken/Lou Gehrig
7. #455 Eric Karros
8. #699 Chad Kreuter
9. #610 Bill Haselman
10. #416 Matt Mantei

“Some called Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 consecutive games a record that would never be broken.  Then along came Cal Ripken a half-century later with a run of 2,632.  While no record is unassailable, the legacy of these two “Iron men” will last forever.  Each earned two Most Valuable Player Awards.  Gehrig won a Triple Crown in 1934 and compiled a .361 World Series batting average.  Ripken topped the 3,000-hit milestone and, in 2000, was selected to play in his 18th consecutive All-Star Game.“