1. #288 Matt Capps
2. #18 Kevin Millwood
3. #108 Zack Greinke
4. #178 Heath Bell
5. #93 Paul Konerko
6. #327 Cristian Guzman
7. #311 James Shields
8. #224 Milton Bradley
9. #69 Brett Gardner
10. #182 Jeremy Bonderman
11. #3 Jon Lester
12. #54 Brian Fuentes
13. #321 Jeremy Guthrie
14. #215 Edwin Encarnacion
15. #227 Nate McLouth
16. #297 Jason Jaramillo
17. #312 Gaby Sanchez
18. #40 Justin Upton
19. #119 Jason Bay
20. #220 Todd Helton
21. #245 Neil Walker
22. #277 Trevor Hoffman
23. #125 Evan Meek
24. #92 Chris Narveson
25. #286 Melvin Mora
26. #147 Jon Niese
27. #308 Ian Desmond
28. Diamond Giveaway#TDG-2 Jackie Robinson
29. 60 Years of Topps #60YOT-17 Frank Robinson/Brooks Robinson
30. Diamond Duos #DD-BD Ryan Braun/Ike Davis
31. 60 #T60-41 Shin-soo Choo
32. Diamond #135 Mike Stanton (Topps All-Star Rookie)
33. Kimball Champions #KC-34 Joey Votto
34. 60 Years of Topps Original Back #60YOT-48 Mike Piazza/Ivan Rodriguez/Jason Kendall (Reprint)
35. Lost Cards #60YOTLC-7 Bob Feller
36. #287 Scott Cousins (Rookie Card)
37. #268 Jake McGee (Rookie Card)
38. #254 Lars Anderson (Rookie Card)
39. #49 Angels (Team Card)
40. #198 Buster Posey (Topps All-Star Rookie)
41. #29 Josh Hamilton (MVP)
42. #117 Brett Sinkbeil (Rookie Card)
43. #196 Jose Ceda (Rookie Card)
44. #26 Neftali Feliz (Rookie of the Year)
45. #79 Kurt Suzuki
46. #175 Brennan Boesch
47. #169 Chipper Jones
48. #53 Arizona Diamondbacks (Team Card)
49. #283 Colorado Rockies (Team Card)
50. Topps Town #TT-13 Chase Utley

And my latest Topps Diamond lottery card:

1962 Topps #3 Pete Runnels

“Piazza and Clemens made headlines in 2000.  First, Piazza was hit in the head by a Clemens pitch in July.  Then, in Game 2 of the World Series, Clemens tossed the barrel of a broken bat near Piazza as he ran to first base.  Still, the duo worked in harmony as a battery during the 2004 All-Star Game.”

2005 Topps Series 1:

1. #194 Bobby Abreu
2. #250 Mark Prior
3. #241 Luis Rivas
4. #119 Steve Trachsel
5. #221 Carlos Guillen
6. #351 Curt Schilling/David Ortiz (Postseason Highlights)
7. Grudge Match #GM2 Mike Piazza/Roger Clemens
8. #243 Jason Johnson
9. #113 Darrell May
10. #283 Ron Gardenhire (Manager)

Before the All-Star break in 1994, Mike Piazza fared better than Mike Stanley in nearly every statistical category.  However, after the All-Star break the tables were turned and Mike Stanley batted .378 with 8 home runs and a .733 slugging percentage.

1995 Topps Series 1:

1. #110 Walt Weiss
2. Cyberstats #104 Jim Edmonds
3. #37 Kevin Tapani
4. #37 Kevin Tapani
5. #144 Tommy Greene
6. #174 Darren Hall
7. #391 Mike Piazza/Mike Stanley (Topps All Stars)
8. #266 Sterling Hitchcock
9. #24 Rene Arocha
10. #367 B.J. Surhoff
11. #149 Turk Wendell
12. #350 Barry Larkin
13. #378 Mark Dewey
14. #349 Armando Reynoso
15. #298 Phil Clark

PACK 1

1. #429 Gary Matthews Jr.
2. #505 Nomar Garciaparra
3. #531 Daniel Cabrera (Topps All-Star Rookie)
4. #522 David Bush
5. #711 Andruw Jones (Gold Glove)
6. Gold #381 Brad Lidge (Serial#1946/2005)
7. #504 Craig Monroe
8. #424 Ramon Hernandez
9. #383 Alex Cora
10. #513 Mark Redman

PACK 2

1. #550 Pat Burrell
2. #525 Marlon Byrd
3. #579 Jeff Conine
4. #390 Manny Ramirez
5. #696 Ivan Rodriguez (Gold Glove)
6. Barry Bonds Home Run History #BB161 Barry Bonds
7. #375 Magglio Ordonez
8. #587 Dan Kolb
9. #497 Richie Sexson
10. #681 Bobby Livingston (Draft Pick) (Rookie)

PACK 3

1. #672 Glen Perkins (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
2. #468 Ross Gload
3. #492 Tomas Perez
4. #423 Jose Mesa
5. #714 Roger Clemens (Cy Young Award)
6. Hit Parade #HR10 Manny Ramirez
7. #636 Pedro Feliz
8. #514 Jason Michaels
9. #518 Jose Lopez
10. #554 Jamie Moyer

PACK 4

1. #450 Mike Piazza
2. #608 Luis A. Gonzalez
3. #547 Kevin Brown
4. #410 Joe Kennedy
5. #563 Junior Spivey
6. #697 Darin Erstad (Gold Glove)
7. #446 Chris Capuano
8. #590 Alex Gonzalez
9. #573 Paul Byrd
10. #491 Tony Womack

PACK 5

1. #577 Ryan Wagner
2. #486 Bobby Madritsch
3. #378 Chin-hui Tsao
4. #566 Chris Shelton
5. #732 Curt Schilling (Postseason Highlights)
6. Barry Bonds Home Run History #BB280 Barry Bonds
7. #524 Paul Quantrill
8. #596 Mark Hendrickson
9. #443 Pete Munro
10. #592 Jolbert Cabrera

1. #701 Mike Piazza/Brook Fordyce/Carlos Delgado/Donnie Leshnock (Prospects)
2. #419 Mark Thompson (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
3. #575 Monty Fariss
4. #629 Cris Carpenter
5. #664 Calvin Jones
6. Gold #425 Joe Girardi
7. #639 Mike Bordick
8. #674 Mark Gubicza
9. #496 Reggie Jefferson
10. #414 Juan Guerrero
11. #646 Rich Scheid (Rookie)
12. #707 Donn Pall
13. #689 Eddie Zosky
14. #554 Arthur Rhodes
15. #675 Tim Raines

Another crop of early 90′s prospects here.  What became of them?

Mike Piazza went on to play 16 seasons in the Major Leagues and is regarded as one of the best hitting catchers of all time.  He officially announced his retirement in 2008 and ended his career with a .308 career batting average with 427 home runs.  He will likely be inducted into the Hall of Fame someday.

Brook Fordyce played in the Major Leagues 10 seasons and was regarded as a good hitting catcher, especially in the 2000 season when he hit .301 with 14 home runs.  He retired in 2004.

Carlos Delgado is surprisingly still playing baseball in the Boston Red Sox organization.  He is 38 years old and has 473 career home runs.  He probably wants to hit those remaining 27 home runs to reach the 500 club before he retires.

Donnie Leshnock was drafted by the New York Yankees and never made it past the single-A level.

1. #365 Aramis Ramirez
2. #574 Darin Erstad
3. #584 Jorge Sosa
4. #495 Adrian Beltre
5. Hit Parade #HR9 Mike Piazza
6. #346 Hideki Matsui
7. #560 Jim Thome
8. #620 Hanley Ramirez (Rookie)
9. #539 Juan Rincon
10. #612 Los Angeles Dodgers (Team Card)

After the 2005 season, Mike Piazza ranked 8th in active career home runs with 397.  He ended his career with 427 home runs, securing a comfortable niche between Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Williams at #39 on the all-time career home run list (with Chipper Jones passing through).

Speaking of great catchers, it looks like Ivan Rodriguez will end his Hall of Fame career with the Nationals!  Can’t wait to see him play this upcoming season!  The Nats should just go ahead and sign all the old future Hall of Famers before they retire.  It would certainly boost ticket sales and interest in our humble (and poorly performing) team.

1. #177 Brady Anderson
2. #166 B.J. Surhoff
3. #155 Leo Gomez
4. #144 Bill Wegman
5. Gold Rookies #7 Ryan Thompson
6. #26 Jose Oquendo
7. #35 Mike Piazza
8. #58 Brian McRae
9. #44 Bob Tewksbury
10. #146 George Brett
11. #27 Julio Franco
12. #38 Milt Cuyler
13. #49 Rafael Palmeiro
14. #60 Dan Gladden

The really cool thing about 1993 Leaf is that the card backs look just as good as the fronts.  Take a look:

1. #44 Eric Wedge (Rated Rookie)
2. #72 Todd Worrell
3. #124 Chuck Carr
4. #159 Jose Canseco
5. #187 Ivan Rodriguez
6. #188 Bret Boone (Rated Rookie)
7. #189 Juan Guzman
8. #190 Tom Browning
9. #206 Craig Shipley
10. #207 John Jaha
11. #208 Royce Clayton
12. #209 Mike Piazza (Rated Rookie)
13. #210 Ron Gant
14. #211 Scott Erickson
15. #212 Doug Dascenzo *x2
16. #213 Andy Stankiewicz *x2
17. #214 Geronimo Berroa *x2
18. #215 Dennis Eckersley *x2
19. #216 Al Osuna *x2
20. #217 Tino Martinez
21. #218 Henry Rodriguez
22. #219 Ed Sprague
23. #220 Ken Hill
24. #283 Kent Hrbek
25. #295 Jimmy Poole
26. #307 Gregg Jefferies
27. #319 Geno Petralli
28. #320 Melvin Nieves (Rated Rookie)