DATA: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (129)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: Back with a little more vintage for you. Lovin’ the Allen & Ginter series, but this one falls a little flat for me. I love the ultra-clean look of the first two years. While this is a nice nod to the 1880s N16 set from which the design was derived from, it’s just not my favorite of the A&G series. That said, it’s a vintage look and that usually trumps most of the modern sets for me.

DATA: 2009 Topps Redsfest (8 of 8)

ACQUIRED: Redsfest 2009

PING: Like Redsfest 2008, the Reds handed out free Topps cards of several current Reds players. This is our favorite kind of Joey Votto card – free, exclusive and good lookin’. This card is nice preview of the 2010 Topps design, as where last year they used the previous year’s design. This card has a matte finish – great for using it for an autograph at Redsfest.

Here’s a look at all 8 cards from the 2009 Redsfest set.

DATA: 2009 Topps Finest Green (69 97/99)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: This green is a killer variation on in the 2009 Topps Finest set. It really jumps off the card. Other than the color and it being serial numbered out of 99, nothing else too special about this card. Nothing more than adding more beef to the Votto binder on my self.

DATA: 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Gold (UH185) (1221/2008)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: Nice gold card to add to the collection of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights set. We still need to track down the black version – a sharp looking card, but kinda hard to find.

This particular card has some printing issues. It looks like the “sparkle plate” was off and created a offset shift on the printing. I’m wondering if they are all like this, or just a certain percentage of the run. I’m surprised this kind error would have made it past the press check. Oh well.

This card is serial numbered out of 2008.

DATA: 2009 Topps Finest Blue (69 353/399)

ACQUIRED: Cincy Reds Cards

PING: ANOTHER hook-up right here from Cincy Reds Cards. Joe is hooking up folks all over the place.

I’m diggin’ the Finest this year. Rad design. Joey is featured very nicely, with the team name and brand logo included, but understated. Nice restraint. Solid layout. It just works. Plus, blue always looks fantastic on chrome.

This particular card is number out of 399. Very nice of Joe to hook me up with a #’d card.

DATA: 2009 Topps Attax

ACQUIRED: Cincy Reds Cards

PING: I really don’t understand what Topps Attax really is, but this is a sweet card. Glad to add it to the collection and post it up on ye ol’ vottoTRON. Here’s a little video from Topps that explains it a little bit… but it’s marketing speak more than anything. “Strike out the competition!” Oh yeah. Well, whatever this whole thing is, I hope Joey is a good card to play in the game.

Again, Cincy Reds Cards… those cats are the shizzle.

DATA: 2008 Topps Opening Day White Parallel (218 0523/2199)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: Now defunct Topps brand, Opening Day, commemorated the start of the baseball season by offering a low-cost pack of cards with a short checklist. Not a lot of flair in the set, really. I see it basically being a parallel of the 2008 Topps flagship set, just sold in its own package. But, what baseball card set would be complete without some parallels? Here we have the white parallel card from the 2008 Opening Day set. Numbered out of 2199, it’s not terribly rare… but I did have a mildly tough time tracking one down. It took a while. The foil stamp on the card is gold, just like the base set, but there is the opening day date also stamped on this version – March 31st, 2008. I like the card – it’s a nice one to chase down for a player collector. That said, I didn’t really miss Opening Day not being in market this year.

DATA: 2008 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue (112)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: FINALLY! It’s taken a while to get a hold of one of these at a decent price. Joey’s 2008 Stadium Club 1st Day Issue card. I guess there is a variant on this too? I’m confused about the whole Stadium Club setup, so whatever. This card is number out of 599 and is thicker than a regular stock card. It’s not quite as this as a filler or relic card though. I was surprised by this, not sure why it’s that way. Glad to add it to the collection though. There are still a few more to track down… anyone up for a trade?

DATA: 2009 Topps Series 2: Silk Collection (50/50)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: What a great gimmick by Topps to get folks like me to buy more baseball cards – if you can even call this a card. It’s the first silk card in the vottoTRON collection, and we were more than happy to make room for it. It’s nice they leave that little window open on the case of the card… you know… so you can make sure it’s really silk and not just cotton. Cotton would just be… wrong. Or Rayon. ugh.

Isn’t it nice that Topps match the card to vottoTRON’s design? Approved!

DATA:2009 Topps Printing Plate: Yellow (1/1 #390)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: YO! Folks, we finally have a 1/1 up on vottoTRON. It is a glorious day… only overshadowed by the return of the MAN himself last night in Toronto. Yeah, we’re pretty glad Mr. Votto is feeling better and back in the lineup.

So, what is there to say about this bad boy? Well it’s the first printing plate in the collection, and our first 1 of 1. It’s the yellow plate from Votto’s 2009 Topps Series 2 card (#390). Yellow always seems to be the step-child of the CMYK family, doesn’t it? Black is cool. Magenta is sexy. Cyan… exotic. Yellow just doesn’t get it’s due.

DATA: 2008 Topps Holiday Factory Set Rookie Variation (14 of 20)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: Tell you what, Joey has a ton of 2008 Topps cards. I can only imagine there will be even more in ’09, but sheesh, there were a lot in ’08. The Reds were well represented in the 2008 Holiday Factory set, featuring rookie variation cards of including Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto. I didn’t actually purchase the set, but just picked up the Votto card.

h/t to bdj610′s Topps Baseball Card Blog for the information on the factory set bonus cards.

DATA: 2009 Topps Series 2 (390)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I just don’t know if I like this photo on a baseball card. Yes, it’s dynamic, has movement and it’s something you don’t see on a whole lot of cards – the lunging bunt attempt. But, there’s something awkward about it. Plus, the photo is overall pretty dark. When you put this in a binder around a bunch of other cards, you can really see how dull this photo is. I think I’m leaning towards it being a bad choice by the art directors at Topps. For a much praise Topps has been getting this year on their photography (deservedly), this one is just laying a turd in the end.

As a Reds fan though, seeing that rookie cup on a card of a Reds player is pretty nifty. Let’s keep those comin’,

DATA: 2009 Topps Turkey Red (TR33)

ACQUIRED: ebiznaz

PING: I know I’ve said it a bunch, but I love the retro stuff. The Turkey Red inserts in this years Topps are perfect. They were certainly fun when they were released as sets in ’06 and ’07, but the inserts do make them a bit more special. It also allows players like Joey that didn’t make the past sets to get the Turkey Red treatment. As a player collector, this makes it pretty fun. Of course, Joey is looking stoic as usual on this release. Even in a posed follow-thru, you can still see the ball leap off his bat for another one of his opposite-field taters.

DATA: 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic

ACQUIRED: bayTRON

PING: The Reds are dearly missing Joey Votto right now. The season has started off with such great promise, and Joey was just the man to keep it going. He’ll be back, and he’ll be mashing, but lets hope the Reds can keep it together in the mean time.

Of course, all this promise started to come together when Joey was playing for Team Canada in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. I was lucky enough to catch game one in Toronto, featuring Canada vs. USA. Though Canada lost, Joey tore it up, going 4-for-5 with a homer and two doubles. Damn, boy!

As far as the card goes, I kinda like this oddball set. It’s fun and all commemorative and junk. I bet this is the only card I’ll ever own from the set, and that’s just fine with me. JV is looking a little dorky in his Team CA duds, but that’s not his fault, right?

Anyone know if there is an Upper Deck WBC set, and if there might be a Joey Votto card?

DATA: 2008 Topps Triple Threads Red (233)

ACQUIRED: bayTRON

PING: Well, at least they have Votto on the right color for this card – red. What can I say about this card? Triple Threads get boring for me pretty quickly, and I only have two of them. Numbered 161/1350, this isn’t the rarest card out there… so it’s doesn’t have much to hang it’s hat on. Other than featuring RBI-machine Joey Votto.