2007 Topps Co-Signers #16 Ryan Zimmerman

2007 Topps Co-Signers #46 Austin Kearns

2008 Topps Series 2:

1. #541 Adam Jones
2. #475 Adrian Gonzalez
3. #490 Albert Pujols
4. #441 Miguel Olivo
5. #532 Tim Lahey (Rookie)
6. #651 Martin Prado
7. Historical Campaign Match-Ups #HCM-1912 Woodrow Wilson/Theodore Roosevelt
8. #530 Ryan Zimmerman
9. #640 Carlos Pena
10. #369 Luis Castillo

“William Taft had failed to maintain the momentum his mentor, Roosevelt, had brought to the White House, so Roosevelt returned from an African safari to run again.  By this time, the Democrats had gained strength.  Their candidate, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson (aka “The Professor”) was well-respected for his intellect.  Roosevelt, who was shot while campaigning in Milwaukee, lost by a wide margin.”

And the Zimmer-Man for my Nats collection:

Chris from On Card Autos contacted me a couple weeks ago and we arranged a Cubs-for-Nationals trade.  He sent me an impressive collection of over two hundred 2005-2009 Nationals cards (with a couple 2004 Expos thrown in for good measure).  Since I almost exclusively buy Topps flagship, I probably would have never seen any of these brands of cards if it weren’t for Chris.  Thanks Chris!

Now since there are quite a few cards here and I like to have my cards neatly organized in my database, I’m going to take my time integrating these cards into my collection.  What I’ve come up with is the “25 Years of Baseball Nationals Countdown to Opening Day”.  Each day from today until Nationals Opening Day on April 5, I’ll introduce some of the new Nationals cards I acquired from this trade.

With 58 days left ’til Nationals Opening Day, here’s the first selection of Nats:

2004 Ultra #250 Nick Johnson

2005 National Pastime #23 Brad Wilkerson

2006 SP Authentic #24 Austin Kearns

2007 UD Masterpieces #67 Ryan Zimmerman

2008 UD A Piece of History #150 Justin Maxwell (Rookie)

2009 Topps Allen and Ginter #174 John Lannan

In 2005, Topps changed the name of their year-end update set from “Traded and Rookies” to “Updates and Highlights”.  Each Updates and Highlights box had 36 packs instead of the 24 packs of earlier sets.  Each pack contained 10 cards.

The rookie cards to look for are Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Braun, and Jay Bruce.  Let’s see if I got any of them in this pack:

1. #UH323 Ryan Zimmerman (Draft Pick) (Rookie)
2. #UH310 Frank Diaz (First Year) (Rookie)
3. #UH272 Stefan Bailie (First Year) (Rookie)
4. #UH241 Cody Haerther (First Year) (Rookie)
5. #UH31 Aaron Small
6. #UH19 Matt Ginter
7. #UH254 Jeremy Harts (First Year) (Rookie)
8. #UH53 Joe Blanton
9. #UH115 Trevor Hoffman (Season Highlights)
10. #UH126 Reggie Sanders (Postseason Highlights)

Hey, what do you know, it’s Mr. National’s rookie card.  He’s quickly becoming the hometown baseball star here in Virginia.  I’ll forgive him for going to UVA (I’m a Hokie).

“In just his first year of professional ball, Ryan was promoted to the Big Leagues, joining the Nationals in September 2005 when rosters were expanded.  The fourth overall pick in the June draft, Zimmerman smashed a combined .350 at Savannah (A) and Harrisburg (AA).  Despite playing exclusively at third base at the University of Virginia, Ryan was sensational at shortstop after moving there in ’05.“

2006 Topps #617 Ryan Zimmerman (Rookie)

2006 Topps archives, to be integrated with my main collection:

1. #602 Philadelphia Phillies (Team Card)
2. #603 New York Mets (Team Card)
3. #606 Houston Astros (Team Card)
4. #607 Chicago Cubs (Team Card)
5. #608 St. Louis Cardinals (Team Card)
6. #609 Pittsburgh Pirates (Team Card)
7. #610 Cincinnati Reds (Team Card)
8. #611 Colorado Rockies (Team Card)
9. #612 Los Angeles Dodgers (Team Card)
10. #613 San Francisco Giants (Team Card)
11. #617 Ryan Zimmerman (Rookie)
12. #619 Joey Devine (Rookie)
13. #620 Hanley Ramirez (Rookie)
14. #625 Jeremy Accardo (Rookie)
15. #626 Mark Woodyard (Rookie)
16. #627 Matt Capps (Rookie)
17. #628 Tim Corcoran (Rookie)
18. #629 Ryan Jorgensen (Rookie)
19. #630 Ronny Paulino (Rookie)
20. #632 Ian Kinsler (Rookie)


2006 Topps #649 Adam Dunn/Ken Griffey Jr.

21. #639 Prince Fielder (Rookie)
22. #641 Justin Verlander (Rookie)
23. #642 Brian Bannister (Rookie)
24. #643 Willie Eyre (Rookie)
25. #644 Ricky Nolasco (Rookie)
26. #645 Paul Maholm (Rookie)
27. #649 Adam Dunn/Ken Griffey Jr.
28. #650 Pat Burrell/Mike Lieberthal
29. #651 Jose Reyes/Kaz Matsui
30. #652 Hank Blalock/Michael Young
31. #655 Derrek Lee/Aramis Ramirez
32. #657 Luis Gonzalez/Shawn Green/Koyie Hill
33. #658 Ivan Rodriguez/Carlos Guillen *x2
34. #660 Ervin Santana/Francisco Rodriguez