2010's represent!

sometime around the year 2000, i began putting together "sampler" sets of topps sets from 1952 through 1969. i had no intention of ever completing any of those sets, and i figured it would be a fun idea to pick up a card from each team and each subset for those older sets.

i finished the task in a few years (it was a low priority), but then decided to scrap the collection as i began putting together the 1965 and 1957 sets.  now, i've decided to put together a "representative card" mini collection that will make it easier for me to see a great card from each topps flagship set from 1952 on.

i'll show off the cards occasionally, along with a reason for choosing that particular card. i won't use a card that is in my dodger collection, or any other collection for that matter, so i should wind up with a good variety.  here are the cards that represent the 2010's (plus 2020) in this mini collection:

2010 - tim lincecum

the freak. lincecum was coming off of back-to-back cy young award winning seasons in 2010, and he had been the ace on my fantasy baseball team both of those years. i had him again in 2010, but his numbers faltered a little bit. he still led the league in strikeouts (for the third straight year), but his era increased by about a run. i didn't win my league that year, but lincecum and the giants did win their first world series since 1954. in the fall classic that year, lincecum was the winning pitcher in both games 1 and the clincher game 5.

2011 - jim thome

thome helped the twins open target field in 2010 with a successful return to the american league. he had spent the final month of 2009 doing not much of anything with the dodgers, but wound up hitting .283 with 25 home runs for the twinkies. i was happy to get some thome twins cards like this one in 2011 as he was a huge fan favorite here. he wound up returning to the indians later in the 2011 season, but his twins tenure will always remain a high point in franchise history.

2012 - miguel cabrera

i don't recall exactly when the conversation took place, but it was probably late august of 2012 when a friend and i realized that cabrera was in a position to win the triple crown. this was unthinkable to us as there had not been a triple crown winner in either league during our lifetime, and it seemed that the home run leaders were either bashers who did not hit for average, or the batting average leaders were not power hitters. albert pujols in the early 2000's was a basher who hit for average, but there was always someone who had a better season in one of the categories (see freddy sanchez or ryan howard, for example). well, cabrera did win the triple crown and the mvp in 2012. crazy.

2013 - bryce harper

harper debuted to much fanfare in april of 2012. he won the rookie-of-the-year award finishing just ahead of wade miley. expectations were high for his 2013 season, but his numbers were pretty similar to his rookie campaign. still, the guy was only 20 years old. 

2014 - mike trout

trout was harper's american league rookie-of-the-year counterpart in 2012, and he won his first mvp award in 2014, a year before harper would earn the honor in the national league. i found this card hidden in one of my monster boxes of cards i don't need last summer and salvaged it for this mini-collection. i did not find any 2011 update cards, however. trout has played nine full seasons, and he has finished in the top five in mvp voting in each of those years. in fact, he has been first or second in the voting in seven of his nine seasons. incredible.

2015 - alex rodriguez

i was tuned in to rodriguez's 2015 season, as it marked his return from the full season suspension that he served due to his use of performance enhancing drugs and involvement in the biogenesis scandal. i was especially interested to see how the lost 2014 season would be addressed on the back of his baseball card. the first time i saw a missed season addressed on the back of a card was on tommy john's 1978 topps card, and the text simply said "on disabled list". that wouldn't apply to a-rod, of course.  well, when series 2 came out we found that topps was silent on the issue:

in 2016, they added "did not play" to his 2014 stat line. as for 2015, rodriguez did hit the 3,000 hit milestone that season, but his suspension certainly cost him a shot at 700 career home runs.

2016 - mookie betts

betts made a strong case for an mvp award in 2016, his breakout year. he finished second to mike trout in the voting largely due to a difference in ops of about .100. otherwise, the red sox won their division, and mookie bested trout in hits, home runs, rbi, and batting average. still, mookie now has an mvp award (he beat trout in 2018) plus two world series rings. i think he's doing fine.

2017 - ben revere

here's a card that i really liked when i first saw it as opposed to one of a player that i can tie to the season in which the card was released. it's one of the few 2017 topps cards of which i think the card design works well with the photo selection. revere was fun to watch when he was with the twins, and there was some uproar here when he was dealt to the phillies. from there he went to the blue jays and then the nationals and finished the big league portion of his career with the angels in 2017. he did remain in the game until some time in 2019, but never made it back to the majors.

2018 - ichiro

i wasn't entirely sure that ichiro was going to play in 2018 and so when i first saw this card i thought it might turn out to be a final tribute. it didn't as ichiro signed with the mariners in march of 2018 and appeared in a handful of games that year and then a couple more in 2019. still, i like the card which also shows the memorial patch for jose fernandez. i was a big fan of ichiro's during his early days in seattle - i drafted him late in my 2001 fantasy league draft and rode his ridiculous rookie year stats to a near title.

2019 - ronald acuna jr

from the old guard to the new, acuna won the 2018 rookie of the year award and then almost went 40/40 in 2019. in fact, that year he became the only major leaguer to get to the 50 home run/50 stolen base career plateau in only his second season. the dodgers didn't face the braves in the 2019 postseason, but they were able to keep him in check last year and in 2018 (aside from his memorable grand slam), but at some point i expect him to get the braves to the fall classic.

2020 - vladimir guerrero jr

i probably won't be around in 10 years to update this mini-collection for cards from the '20s, so i decided to add vladdy jr to this post. 2020 was such a weird season, and one of the strangest occurrences was the toronto blue jays playing their home games in buffalo. i followed their progress throughout the season, and was glad that they made the playoffs. i would have been even happier if they had finished ahead of the yankees. vlad jr hasn't lived up to the (considerable) hype as of yet, but i am really looking forward to seeing what he does in 2021. 

so that concludes 69 years of representative flagship topps cards. i'm not sure just yet what card i will use to represent the 2021 season, but i'll be sure to make a post out of it when i make that choice.