This particular series of blog posts is taking a lot longer to get through than I thought it would, simply because it is labor-intensive and I seem to have hit an uptick in commitments from school, work, and family. I am still spending plenty of time and effort on my cards, but these long posts are difficult to knock out on a regular basis.
The fourth team in this set is the Chicago White Sox, who get 12 cards, which is one less than the average per team of 13 players. They are also one of the few teams to feature all of their players in matching uniforms, as most teams have at least one cameo by a new acquisition in his old teams's colors.
The first card in the team set is first baseman Paul Konerko, who gets a pretty nice photo. He is tipping his cap, which is something I would think is pretty rare to see on baseball cards. I believe you usually see it on cards celebrating a retirement or the breaking of a record. I wonder what the occasion was for this photo?
Next up is second baseman Gordon Beckham, who gets kind of a mixed message on the back of his card. His summary snippet reads, 'Power hitter in the bottom of order.' I guess I always think of him as better than he is, because he came into the league with a lot of buzz and I tend to get hung up on buzzy names sometimes.
Alexei 'The Cuban Missile' Ramirez has been on fire this year, trailing only Troy Tulowitzki among fantasy baseball shortstops so far this season. His value in fantasy comes mainly from his speed, but he also has the potential to hit a few homers each year.
I don't have much to say about Viciedo, I guess. He fills a roster spot. His power potential is intriguing sometimes.
Again, I don't have a lot to say here. De Aza gets a pretty good action shot here. I can't pin down why I like it, but I do.
Rios has been pretty good for a while now, and currently plays for the Rangers. He made a couple of All-Star teams and was 15th in the MVP vote for 2012.
Adam Dunn is a power hitter. He strikes out a lot, but he has a lot of years with a lot of home runs. His two All-Star Game appearances came 10 years apart, in 2002 and 2012. He's currently tied with Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero for 36th on the career home runs list with 449, and third among 'active' players, trailing only Alex Roidriguez and Albert Pujols.
Peavy has been on my fantasy rosters quite a bit over the years. He's currently with the Boston Red Sox. He won the Cy Young award in 2007 with the Padres and has been to the All-Star game a few times. Looking at the numbers, he's not having the best year in 2014.
Sale is the current White Sox ace, going to the All-Star game in 2012 and 2013 and finishing among the top handful of pitchers in the Cy Young voting. His stats so far this year are ridiculous, and he is the 7th-ranked pitcher in fantasy baseball at this point in the season.
Crain is a pretty solid pitcher and was rumored to be the closer-in-waiting for the Astros this year once he got off the DL. He's had a few setbacks with his biceps injury and I don't know if he'll make it all the way back this season.
Thornton has been a bullpen guy for a long time. He got traded to the Red Sox last July and signed with the Yankees for this year. He's a little bit past his prime, which seems to have hit the peak in 2008-2010.
After closing for the White Sox, Reed went to Arizona to fill their closer role this season. It's been a bit bumpy for him and he's sort of a mid-tier closer, but he has been successful enough to hold onto the role.
And that's it for the White Sox team set. Sorry I kind of mailed in the text part of the post. I just wanted to get through it. You're all here for the pictures, anyway.
2013 SEGA Card-Gen Directory
It really is surprising that Topps had any part in those. They are far too nice to be Topps!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the photography is pretty excellent throughout the set. I love these cards. Even the cardstock and surface coating on the cards gives them a perfect feel in the hand when flipping through a stack of them.
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