2010 Topps Hat Patches and Bat Barrels

Topps decided to try something new this year, and released a series of manufactured Hat Patches and Bat Barrels in their sets throughout the year. I'll never be able to own an actual hat patch or barrel, so it is nice to at least have the opportunity to obtain the next best thing.








Rickey had four different hat patches (each #/99), two vertical and two horizontal. I'm still not sure how the A's patches made it through any sort of quality inspection (maybe there wasn't one?), but all of the patches are cut this way, almost as if they were planning on it being a horizontal card, and then changed their minds.

While I did like the patches, I was a little skeptical about the bat barrel relics. Fortunately, these far exceeded my expectations, and are actually much nicer in person than they appear online, and they even look pretty good online.





There are three different parallels, the base #/99, the black version #/25, and a pink version numbered #1/1. The pink version has not yet surfaced on eBay, but I hope it does just so I can snag a picture for this post. The Jeter below recently sold for $250+, and I have a strong suspicion that the Rickey will go for even more.



Topps currently has plans to release manufactured glove cards in 2011, but unless the checklist changes, Rickey has not been included. But, this is only for Series I, and who knows what they have in store for Series II or Update.

2010 Topps Attax Sepia Foil Legend

While all of the Rickey inserts and parallels included in 2009 Triple Threads and 2010 Topps have been great, it was nice to complete a new set with only one card!



This is Rickey's one and only card from 2010 Topps Attax, where the complete checklist can be found here. It's a "Sepia Foil Legend" card, and there is one card from the set inserted in every $4.99 starter deck. With only 10 Legends cards included in the insert set, they haven't been too hard to come by. But, it is a pretty nice looking card, as I've always been a fan of the more creative and oddball releases.



Since this is a game (I have no idea how it's played), the backs of the cards are pretty plain. You wouldn't want to tip off the rest of the players that you had Rickey hiding in your deck!

Surprise 2010 Topps Short-Print

When the 2010 Topps SP's started popping up, I didn't really think twice about a Rickey being included in the set. Since he was just included as an SP in 2009 Topps U&H, I didn't hold out much hope of him being included once again. Luckily, I was proved wrong!



Unlike the Yankees card from U&H, the 2010 SP has Rickey playing with the A's in the early 80's. I can't wait to add one of these to the collection!

2010 Topps (and new Rickey's) Have Arrived!

I was able to sneak off to Target at lunch today, and grabbed a few packs of the newly released 2010 Topps. I was hoping to snag a Rickey or too, but I would have no such luck. But, I figured someone out there has pulled one (or will in the near future). All of the 2010 Topps below are for trade for 2010 Rickey's, or any other Rickey that I need for that matter.


This is the A's Franchise History card, and it was a nice surprise to see Rickey on the front!

Here's the Rickey's that should be in the set:

Athletics Franchise History card #137 (as well as any parallels)
The Cards Your Mother Threw Out MTO29 Rickey Henderson
Legendary Lineage LL30 Rickey Henderson / Carl Crawford
Peak Performance Relic PPR-RHE Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-110 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-111 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-112 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-113 Rickey Henderson


This is the back of the "Cards Your Mother Threw Out" insert, the front of which looks just like his 1980 Topps rookie.


In the preliminary checklist, these were referred to as "Past & Present," but they must have changed it to "Legendary Lineage" somewhere along the line. This is the last of the Rickey inserts in the set, the only cards I've yet to see are the Hat Logo and Peak Performance Relics, which will show up once the hobby boxes are released.

Here's what I have for trade:

Target Red Back Minis
1 Reggie Jackson
6 Cy Young
11 Lou Gehrig

Turkey Red
TR14 Kevin Youkilis
TR16 Ozzie Smith
TR48 Willie McCovey

Peak Performance
4 Walter Johnson
23 Stan Musial

Toppsstown
TTT3 Hanley Ramirez
TTT4 Adrian Gonzalez
TTT17 Todd Helton
TTT22 Andrew McCutchen

Legendary Lineage
LL6 Jimmie Foxx/ Manny Ramirez
LL25 Tom Seaver/ Roy Halladay

Base Cards
37 Garret Anderson
38 Houston Astros®
41 Los Angeles Dodgers®
67 Matt LaPorta
83 Mark Teahen
87 Darin Erstad
88 Jerry Hairston Jr.
93 Joe Nathan
100 Albert Pujols
103 Daniel Murphy
105 Madison Bumgarner
111 Ty Wigginton
132 Cliff Lee
142 Tim Hudson
143 Omar Vizquel
148 Cody Ross
152 Nyjer Morgan
162 Wade Davis
175 Josh Hamilton
178 Kerry Wood
183 Jonathan Papelbon
184 Jeff Francoeur
188 Joe Blanton
190 Pablo Sandoval
202 San Francisco Giants®
217 Gio Gonzalez
223 Ryan Church
226 Juan Rivera
227 Josh Thole
228 Chris Pettit
237 Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder
248 Jason Kendall
258 Edwin Encarnacion
274 Stephen Drew
275 N.L. Rookie of the Year
287 Jhonny Peralta
292 Tommy Manzella
293 Brent Dlugach
294 Adam Dunn
296 Atlanta Braves™
301 Jack Cust
302 Kevin Youkilis/David Ortiz
307 Henry Rodriguez
310 Elvis Andrus

An Update on the 2009 Topps U&H Legends "Cereal" Cards

Ever since I posted the checklist of Rickey cards included in 2009 Topps Update & Highlights, I've been religiously checking Target for the release of the "cereal" boxes. Rickey was to have a base Legends Chrome card in both the Target and Wal-Mart sets, as well a a Refractor and a Gold Refractor.

Since it's been about two months since the set was released, and not a single card from those sets had surfaced, I e-mailed Topps to inquire about the "cereal" boxes. Here's their response:

"Thank you for your letter regarding Topps and its products. Unfortunately, the Cereal Box Exclusive products for both WalMart and Target have been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this product cancellation may have caused."

So, if anyone else has been looking for these cards, you can halt your search. As a result, the Rickey cards below do not exist:

2009 Topps Legends Chrome Target Cereal #LLG21
2009 Topps Legends Chrome Target Cereal Gold Refractors #LLG21
2009 Topps Legends Chrome Target Cereal Refractors #LLG21

2009 Topps Legends Chrome Wal Mart Cereal #PR26
2009 Topps Legends Chrome Wal Mart Cereal Gold Refractors #PR26
2009 Topps Legends Chrome Wal Mart Cereal Refractors #PR26

Although they are currently listed on the "official" Beckett checklist, they should eventually be removed (I've sent them an e-mail, but I've never received a response in the past, and I'm not really holding my breath now). Now if only I could confirm that only one version of the non-Chrome cards exist, and that a regular and gold card were never produced.

Updated 2010 Topps Checklist

I wrote a post a few months ago when the initial checklists for 2010 Topps were released. I recently checked into the set again, and found that a few more details had been released. Along with the odds of actually pulling the cards, here's what else I was able to find out. Unofortunately, there haven't been any pictures of the Rickey cards released, so this will be a fairly text heavy post.

--There will be a parallel to the "Cards Your Mother Threw Out" set, called an "original back parallel" which I'm assuming means the back of the card (instead of describing the card that was "thrown out") will look just like the back of the original version of the card featured on the front. This is a 58 card set, with one card representing every year of Topps, and I can only assume that Rickey's 1980 rookie card will be used. These parallels are inserted at approximately one per box.

-- Missing from the first checklist I saw was a Past & Present insert featuring Rickey and Carl Crawford. There will be a Past & Present Relic parallel as well, but unfortunately, only 15 cards from the 30 card set will be included, and Rickey's is not one of them.

-- There will also be Hall of Fame Buybacks randomly inserted, but the checklist has not been determined. The info sheet lists that it will contain 500 "subjects," but since there are less than 300 Baseball Hall of Famers, some players must be represented more than once, and being the newest Hall of Famer, Rickey will probably be included.

-- The Peak Performance relics commemorate the "career landmarks" of over 80 players. Rickey's all-time stolen base record will probably be chosen, but they could surprise everyone, and commemorate him setting the all-time walks or runs records as well. Rickey is included in the 82 card Peak Performance relic set, but is not included in the 50 card Peak Performance base insert set.

-- The "Hat Logo" cards will be manufactured, complete hat logo patches, each number to 99 copies. Rickey actually has four cards in the set, but it's not yet known which four teams they have chosen for him to represent. If I had to guess, I'd say the A's, Yankees, Padres, and Blue Jays.

Here's the updated checklist of all that I know to date:

The Cards Your Mother Threw Out
MTO29 Rickey Henderson (1:3 packs; 1 per jumbo pack)
MTO29 Rickey Henderson "Original Back Parallel" (1 per box/jumbo box)

Past & Present
PP30 Rickey Henderson / Carl Crawford (1:4 packs; 1 per jumbo pack)

Peak Performance Relic
PPR-RHE Rickey Henderson (1 auto/relic per box; 1 auto and 2 relics per jumbo box)

Hat Logo Relic (1 auto/relic per box; 1 relic per jumbo box)
MHR-110 Rickey Henderson (#/99)
MHR-111 Rickey Henderson (#/99)
MHR-112 Rickey Henderson (#/99)
MHR-113 Rickey Henderson (#/99)

2009 Triple Threads, and a 2010 Topps Preview!

Based on the events of the past week, it's pretty clear that Rickey has once again signed an agreement with Topps to have his cards included in their myriad of sets. As of earlier this year, Rickey did not have an agreement with either Topps, Upper Deck, or Donruss, but that's obviously changed.

Although it's not scheduled to be released until tomorrow, 2009 Triple Threads started to hit eBay last night, which included the awesome cards below!



I have mixed feelings about Rickey's inclusion in Triple Threads, as although the cards are great, they are going to quickly rise out of my price range.



The last mainstream set in which Rickey was included was 2007 Triple Threads, which contained a total of 35 different Rickey cards. Of these, 10 were 1/1's, and 8 were serial numbered to less than 10 copies, which definitely makes them pretty hard to acquire! Of the remaining cards, 13 were numbered between 10 and 40, and only 4 (including the base card), had a print run of 99 copies or greater.

I can't complain, and I definitely love having new Rickey's to chase after, but will just have to focus on the ones that will be easy (financially) to acquire.

In other news, Beckett has released a preview of 2010 Topps, which will also contain new cards of Rickey!



The "big" news is the announcement of buybacks of over 1 million Topps base cards to be reinserted in packs next year. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as I don't know how many people will be happy about acquiring some random 1986 Topps, but I'm sure Topps will be promoting it widely.

I did appreciate that there was a Rickey card included in the promo poster above. His 1980 Topps rookie card is at the top of the poster, to the left of the Million Card Giveaway logo. Also included with the Beckett preview was a checklist of the set, which of course includes a few choice Rickey's!

The Cards Your Mother Threw Out
MTO29 Rickey Henderson

Relic
PPR-RHE Rickey Henderson

Hat Logo Relic
MHR-110 Rickey Henderson

MHR-111 Rickey Henderson

MHR-112 Rickey Henderson

MHR-113 Rickey Henderson

I'm definitely looking forward to the "Cards Your Mother Threw Out" set, as I always enjoy it when Rickey is included as part of an insert set, and not just as a parallel of a base card. The relic card should also be obtainable, while I'm pretty sure the hat logo relics will be 1/1's, or at least have a minuscule print run, which will make them hard to even see, let alone obtain.