Topps Big Series 2

This post was supposed to be entitled "2008 Topps Co-Signers" but I got to the store and saw a price tag of $9.50 for a pack of six cards that looked like this. As much as I get off on being the first slave to marketing one to rip a pack of the latest product on this blog, there was no way I was dropping a Hamilton for a one in four chance of pulling an autograph of a boxer or fringe prospect. I spent 50 cents more and burned my Father of Federalism on this instead:


This is my favorite design of the 'Big' sets but I don't have a whole lot of cards from the set. I saw Dale smiling up at me from the box and figured this was the best way to boost my card count. I've had my eye on this box for a while but never actually got it because they had two of them. I didn't think there would be a run on late 80's oddball junk anytime soon. I'm going to bust the whole box on my own blog one of these days but considering the complete lack of free time, the number of backlogged posts I need to catch up on and the fact I just discovered Alpha Attack I figure I'll get to it say, around June or so. June, 2013. Here's the first pack from the box to get you properly prepared for the upcoming event.

123 Alan Trammell
144 Dave Parker
118 Billy Hatcher
177 Tommy Barrett
182 Doyle Alexander
119 Rick Cerone
152 Roberto Kelly

Trammell and Cobra make a damn good start to this box. Billy Hatcher? Well, the cartoon on the back of his card is all about his wife who was the director of special events for the Astros so that pretty much sums it up. Speaking of the back of these cards, any card with fielding stats on the back is a damn good card. Rick Cerone had 471 put outs, 28 assists and a fielding average of 1.000! That's right, not one error for Rick in '88. That's a backup catcher to be proud of. Another thing about the back of these cards is on some players' names it has another name in parenthesis. Roberto Kelly has (Gray) next to his name. I've seen this before on cards from the 60's and 70's but I never figure out what it meant. It seems to be mostly on Latino players' cards too. Anyone know what's up with this? I've heard it's the mother's maiden name before but I never found out definitively what it is or why Topps put it on there. Somebody out there can drop the knowledge on me I'm sure. The Tommy Barrett card disturbs me. Any time I see a card from the 80's and I can honestly say I have never heard of this guy in my life I think I'm starting to crack up. The brain cell that held Tommy's info must have been killed off in one of my all night web surfing or gaming binges. I'll finish off this post with one of my favorite players, Doyle Alexander. Good ol' Doyle was not only one of the Braves' few decent pitchers in the mid 80's, but he also brought us Smoltzie in a trade with the Tigers. Thanks Doyle!