As you scan the 2013 Topps baseball card set guidelines, a number of issues ought to bounce at you.
For starters, the design is refined but inventive.
Giant full-color motion photographs dominate the cardboard fronts whereas the team-themed coloration borders easily transition right into a baseball diamond within the decrease left.
The rookie class is strong, with extra massive names showing within the 2013 Topps Replace set.
You may additionally discover a crop of younger superstars like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Freddie Freeman on the rise whereas legends like Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Ichiro Suzuki had been on the back-ends of their careers.
Wait, there was no Ichiro on this set…
That is proper; one of many set’s greatest controversies arose from who it omitted, with Ichiro and Topps being unable to come back to phrases.
Nonetheless, regardless of that obvious omission, there’s a lot to love concerning the 661-card guidelines.
And on this information, we’ll check out the 15 most precious.
Let’s bounce proper in!
2013 Topps Traded #US259 Nolan Arenado Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $35
Nolan Arenado was removed from a completed, polished product in his rookie 12 months with the Colorado Rockies.
Correction: he was removed from a completed product on the plate.
Drafted 59th general by the Rockies within the second spherical of the 2009 MLB Draft, Arenado rocketed up the group chart one dwelling run at a time.
Referred to as as much as the Massive Leagues in late April, Arenado’s hitting was spotty for many of the 12 months.
His .706 OPS stays a career-low, and his 81 OPS+ marks his solely non-COVID season with a quantity under 115.
Sure, the 22-year-old’s .267 common, 10 homers, 29 doubles, and 52 RBIs had been a welcome sight for 74-win Colorado.
Nevertheless, it was nonetheless an incomplete efficiency on the plate for a promising prospect.
So, why precisely did Arenado end seventh within the league’s ROTY race?
Now a shortlist candidate for the most effective defensive third baseman of the fashionable period, Arenado was a stat nerd’s dream in 2013.
He completed second amongst all NL gamers with 30 Defensive Runs Saved, dropping jaws with a mix of deft glove work and cannon-style throws.
As soon as the hitting got here round, the 2013 Gold Glover would bounce from a defense-first standout to a perennial MVP candidate.
Technically, Arenado’s rookie card appeared within the 2013 Topps Replace set however I made an exception for him.
2013 Topps #270 Manny Machado Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $30
One of the crucial anticipated younger prospects in fairly a while, Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado broke out on the MLB scene in 2013.
After an up-and-down debut in 2012, Machado was an extra-base hit machine.
The previous third general choose, Machado posted 37 two-baggers by the season’s midway level.
If he saved up that tempo, the 20-year-old wunderkind would have set a brand new MLB single-season report.
Regardless, Machado’s influence reverberated far previous the confines of Camden Yards.
A novel, fiery on-field persona, Machado earned his share of lovers and haters in his first full season.
He additionally earned the respect of the higher baseball world, capturing his first All-Star nod and Gold Glove whereas ending ninth within the AL MVP race.
General, Machado slashed .283/.314/.432 with an AL-best 51 doubles, 14 homers, 88 runs scored, three triples, and 71 RBIs in an MLB-leading 667 at-bats.
All issues thought of, Machado’s 2013 efficiency ought to have left everybody with heat, fuzzy emotions heading into the offseason.
As a substitute, a left knee harm on September twenty third stopped his season on the spot.
Pressured to endure reconstructive surgical procedure days after the marketing campaign, Machado missed Spring Coaching and almost all of April throughout the 2014 MLB season.
2013 Topps #1 Bryce Harper
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
The uncooked numbers for Bryce Harper’s sophomore season present a marked enchancment over his Rookie-of-the-Yr marketing campaign in a number of key statistical classes.
Nevertheless, the precise story of the Washington Nationals phenom’s 2013 season is a little more complicated.
When the 20-year-old outfielder was wholesome, he was a game-changing drive in the midst of the Nats lineup.
His fielding in left and proper was suspect, but Harper made up for it with a bat akin to a stick of dynamite.
The issue, nonetheless, was that Harper hit a wall.
Actually.
Twice.
On April twenty ninth, Harper bruised his left facet whereas colliding into the outfield wall at Atlanta’s Turner Area.
Two weeks later, he reaggravated the harm with a a lot scarier collision into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium.
The bumps took their anticipated toll.
From his preliminary collision to his placement on the DL on June 1st, Harper hit simply .183 with a .665 OPS in 19 video games performed.
Admitting that he “ought to have went on the DL” after the incident in Atlanta, Harper got here again with a vengeance after a month away.
Now a two-time All-Star, Harper slashed .274/.368/.486 for the NL East runner-ups with 20 dwelling runs, 24 doubles, three triples, 11 stolen bases, and 58 RBIs in 118 video games performed.
2013 Topps #2 Derek Jeter
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
Only one 12 months after main baseball in plate appearances, at-bats, and hits, Derek Jeter’s 2013 season was a whole 180.
The 39-year-old shortstop suffered a damaged left ankle in Sport 1 of the 2012 ALCS, resulting in a seemingly limitless stream of false begins all through the 2013 marketing campaign.
Jeter tried to return from the disabled listing three separate instances in 2013 and was shut down shortly each time.
“It appeared like each time he got here again, he was nice after which he would play a few days and one thing would occur,” Yankees supervisor Joe Girardi stated. “And that was irritating to him and it was irritating to all of us as a result of we needed him on the market. And I feel that is why we determined to close him down.”
With out Jeter for all however 17 video games, the Yankees light down the stretch and missed out on the second AL wild-card spot by 6.5 video games.
There is not any telling what would have occurred if Jeter had been wholesome.
Because it was, the Yankees captain slashed a mere .190/.288/.254 in a scant 73 plate appearances (63 at-bats).
2013 Topps #27 Mike Trout
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
The Angels had been a nowhere workforce in 2013.
How they did that with Mike Trout within the lineup is past logic.
Voted because the AL MVP runner-up to Miguel Cabrera for a second consecutive 12 months, the third-year outfielder was already a one-of-one.
He redefined what it meant to be a five-tool participant.
The primary Angels place participant to begin an All-Star Sport since Vladimir Guerrero in 2007, Trout ticked each field in 2013.
The third-quickest participant to attain 200 runs, the 21-year-old outfielder was a capturing star throughout an in any other case drab 78-win season in Anaheim.
Trout’s 2013 masterpiece was a steady reel of highlights, essentially the most notable approaching Might twenty first when he grew to become the youngest participant in AL historical past to hit for the cycle.
Spending many of the season in middle area in what was alleged to be a short lived transfer, Trout ripped by means of the league with calculated abandon.
He ended the season slashing .323/.432/.557 with AL bests in runs scored (109) and walks (110), together with 27 dwelling runs, 39 doubles, 9 triples, 33 stolen bases, and 97 RBIs in 716 plate appearances (589 at-bats).
Pacing the league in WAR (9.2), Trout would lastly get his MVP due in a 12 months’s time.
2013 Topps #105 Freddie Freeman
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
In 2013, Freddie Freeman grew to become the belle of the All-Star Sport Ultimate Vote ball.
The 2011 NL Rookie-of-the-Yr runner-up was a casualty of a stacked first-base area within the Senior Circuit.
Moderately than letting the Atlanta Braves star’s first half go unrewarded, followers voted in droves, electing the 23-year-old into the sport with a record-breaking 19.7 million votes.
Sadly, Freeman was compelled out of motion with a thumb harm suffered on the Saturday earlier than the sport.
It was nonetheless a banner 12 months for the younger slugger.
Ending fifth within the league’s MVP race, Freeman hit to a .319/.396/.501 slash line with 23 homers, 27 doubles, 89 runs scored, 109 RBIs, and a strong 147 OPS+.
As Freeman emerged, so did the Braves.
Atlanta captured the NL East crown for the primary time since 2005 with a 96-66 report.
Hopes had been excessive for a deep October push.
As a substitute, the Braves had been unceremoniously dumped in a four-game NLDS loss to the Houston Astros.
Freeman held up his finish of the cut price, although, going 5-for-16 (.313) with a double and 4 runs scored.
2013 Topps #128 Buster Posey
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
2013 Topps #227 Jose Altuve
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
2013 Topps #350 Albert Pujols
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
The endgame was clear when Albert Pujols inked a 10-year, $240 million cope with the Los Angeles Angels in December 2011.
Something lower than successful a championship with Pujols can be a failure.
Including Pujols to a stacked roster and inserting him in a lineup subsequent to Mike Trout was a recipe for franchise greatness.
Proper?
Come 2013, a special, extra sobering actuality got here into focus.
After present process knee surgical procedure within the wake of his 2012 Angels debut, Pujols was off his mark in 12 months two.
Because the Angels aimlessly wandered in direction of an alarming 78-84 end, the veteran DH/first baseman struggled mightily to search out his energy stroke.
Pujols posted a .767 OPS in 99 video games for the Halos, his worst OPS by far.
After hitting 30 homers in twelve straight years to begin his profession, Pujols hit simply seventeen in 2013.
The knee wasn’t fairly there.
To make issues worse, his left foot gave out.
Identified with a torn plantar fascia in late July, Pujols was formally shut down for the season in mid-August.
He ended the 12 months posting profession worsts in almost each main offensive class together with batting common (.258), on-base proportion (.330), and OPS+ (116).
2013 Topps #660 Miguel Cabrera
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
A 12 months faraway from making baseball historical past, Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera orchestrated an encore for the ages in 2013.
Cabrera was the primary participant since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski (1967) to seize a league’s Triple Crown, however he wasn’t happy.
Moderately than resting on his laurels in 2013, the 30-year-old slugger put collectively an arguably much more spectacular marketing campaign.
The guts and soul of the 93-win AL Central champs, Cabrera led the Majors in batting common (.348), on-base proportion (.442), slugging proportion (.636), OPS (1.078), and OPS+ (190).
Now a five-time Silver Slugger and eight-time All-Star, Cabrera tallied 44 homers for the second consecutive 12 months and added 26 doubles, 103 runs scored, 90 walks, and 137 RBIs in 652 plate appearances (555 at-bats).
A considerably controversial choose for a second consecutive MVP award over Mike Trout, there was no denying simply how essential Cabrera’s contributions had been on the defending AL champs’ highway to the postseason.
Nevertheless, issues tapered off as soon as October got here.
Cabrera hit simply .250 with a subpar .686 OPS in a five-game ALDS win over Oakland and backed that up with a .273 common and .742 OPS in a six-game ALCS loss to the Pink Sox.
2013 Topps Replace #US265 Gerrit Cole Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $25
2013 Topps #22 Clayton Kershaw
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $20
Simply the third pitcher in MLB historical past to tempo the Majors in ERA for 3 consecutive years (Greg Maddux, Lefty Grove), Clayton Kershaw’s minuscule 1.83 mark was the bottom within the Majors in 13 years.
The 25-year-old lefty ended the 12 months with a 16-9 report, scattering 164 hits throughout 236 innings of labor.
His 232 strikeouts led the Nationwide League, and his 194 ERA+ and 0.915 WHIP had been the high-water marks in Main League Baseball.
Lacking out on a unanimous Cy Younger win by a single first-place vote, the three-time All-Star completed seventh within the NL MVP race and captured the Warren Spahn Award handed out to the sport’s greatest lefty pitcher.
With Kershaw mowing down the opposition, the 92-win Dodgers ran away with the NL West.
Disappointingly, the Cy Younger magic wore off as October progressed.
Issues began nice.
Kershaw outclassed the Atlanta Braves in Sport 1 of the NLDS, placing out twelve in seven innings of labor.
The Dodgers eradicated the Braves in 4, with Kershaw posting a superb 0.69 in two begins (13 innings).
From there, it bought dicey.
Kershaw bought roughed up by the St. Louis Cardinals in Video games 2 and 6 of the NLCS, consuming the loss in each outings with eight runs allowed (seven earned) in ten mixed innings.
2013 Topps #595 David Ortiz
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $15
If there was any speck of doubt about simply how a lot David Ortiz meant (and nonetheless means) to the Metropolis of Boston, 2013 wiped that clear.
After the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing, the Pink Sox and a whole area galvanized behind Massive Papi.
Ortiz led the cost by instance early in 2013, opening the season with a 15-game hitting streak.
He ended April hitting almost .500 with 15 RBIs.
It was easy crusing from there.
The Pink Sox went from worst (69-93) to first (97-65) on the again of one other nice Ortiz season.
The 37-year-old DH put an injury-filled 2012 behind him, slashing .309/.395/.564 with 30 homers, 38 doubles, 84 runs scored, and 103 RBIs in 137 video games performed.
Ortiz was named to his ninth All-Star Sport in ten years, ending tenth within the league’s MVP race whereas capturing his sixth Silver Slugger Award.
Nevertheless, it was his October fireworks show that mattered most.
Massive Papi was a one-man wrecking crew in Boston’s six-game World Collection conquer St. Louis, going 11-for-16 with two homers, two doubles, seven runs scored, six RBIs, and eight walks.
The slam-dunk alternative for World Collection MVP, Ortiz’s .688 common is a Fall Basic report.
2013 Topps #600 Mariano Rivera
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $15
The Mariano Rivera farewell tour wasn’t a parade for a participant nicely previous his prime.
The 43-year-old New York Yankees icon did not miss a beat in his Nineteenth-and-final season, pitching to a 2.11 that was ten factors higher than his closing profession mark.
He saved 44 video games to up his report complete to 652, surrendering simply 58 hits in 64 innings pitched.
And whereas the Yankees failed to achieve the postseason in Rivera’s closing go, there have been loads of alternatives to savor the accomplishments of the sport’s final closing boss.
Rivera was feted in all places he went, receiving presents whereas doing his greatest to present again to charity.
In the course of the All-Star Sport in Queens, the legendary nearer obtained a standing ovation from the gang and each dugouts when he entered the sport to an empty area.
September twenty second was declared by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to be “Mariano Rivera Day.”
Rivera grew to become the primary participant in franchise historical past to have his quantity retired whereas nonetheless lively, and he goes down as the ultimate participant to put on Jackie Robinson’s universally retired #42.
And whereas his closing efficiency at Yankee Stadium got here in a 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay, the feelings of the standing-room-only crowd had been felt throughout the globe.
2013 Topps #661 Hyun-Jin Ryu Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Worth: $15
A five-time KBO strikeout champion and 2006 pitching Triple Crown winner, Hyun-Jin Ryu was probably the most sought-after free brokers of the 2012-13 offseason.
When the mud settled in November, the Los Angeles Dodgers secured unique negotiating rights with a $25.7 million paid to Ryu’s former workforce, the Hanwha Eagles.
Briefly order, the Dodgers signed the previous KBO MVP to a six-year, $36 million pact.
It turned out to be a cut price.
The 26-year-old lefty shined throughout his “rookie season,” ending with a 14-8 report and a sterling 3.00 ERA in 192.0 innings pitched (30 begins).
Ryu, the primary South Korean to pitch an MLB postseason sport, took one on the chin in Sport 3 of the NLDS.
Knocked round by Atlanta hitters for 4 runs and 6 hits in simply three innings of labor, he was bailed out by a Dodgers offensive onslaught in a 13-6 win.
Ryu shook off the nerves shortly.
In Sport 3 of the NLCS, the All-Rookie performer carried the Dodgers to their first win with a stunning three-hit efficiency over seven shutout innings.
The Dodgers finally misplaced the sequence in six, however Ryu’s closing impression of 2013 was nice nonetheless.
2013 Topps Baseball Playing cards In Evaluation
I actually take pleasure in the feel and appear of 2013 Topps baseball because it checks the “creativity” field with out being too flashy or over-the-top.
And I feel that is essential for any Topps flagship design.
Manny Machado and Hyun-Jin Ryu (together with Nolan Arenado and Gerrit Cole anchoring the 2013 Topps Replace set) headline a good rookie class.
But it might appear a bit underwhelming when in comparison with all the large names that got here out throughout 2011 and 2012.
Collectors can discover all the largest superstars and future Corridor-of-Famers together with a bunch of short-print variations of many various playing cards that make it enjoyable to maintain ripping packs even after finishing the set.
There have been additionally a number of totally different subsets within the guidelines, together with:
- Leaders
- All-Star Rookies
- Award Winners
- Postseason Highlights
Inserts, parallels, autographs and relic playing cards are as prevalent as at all times in 2013 Topps to spice up collector curiosity with the fun of the “chase.”
Maybe essentially the most memorable of those uncommon playing cards had been the thirty totally different one-of-one “Final Chase Autograph Relics” that had been cuts, booklets and jumbo patches that featured autographs of a few of baseball’s greatest icons.
General, 2013 Topps baseball is a good set that packs all the enjoyable and pleasure of a typical flagship Topps set of its period.
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