Garza Gold Rush

Last week the mailman brought me my latest 2012 Gold Rush card...

....Matt Garza.  He's the third Cub out of the 100 Gold Rush cards, but the only one in Series Two.  Sandberg and Castro were included in the first series.

It will be interesting to see if the Cubs keep Garza or deal him for prospects.  He's still a couple years away from free agency, so that would be a reason to keep him.  But for a year there has been talk of him generating a lot of interest from other GMs.  I'm not sure what the big deal is.  In his time with the Cubs, his record is a mediocre 14-17.  He's under .500 for his entire career, though his ERA is only 3.88.

Back to the Gold Rush cards....there were 10,000 packs of 5 cards available with Series Two.  All it takes to get the pack is 50 wrappers from series two packs.  Spend $100, send the wrappers to Topps, and get five cards....such a deal.

No need to bother with the redemption, though.  Most cards can be snagged off of Ebay for a buck or so.

I haven't seen a checklist for the 50 Gold Rush cards from Series Two, so I did some searching on Ebay and put a checklist together.  The players on the 50 cards are from only 23 teams....seven got completely shut out.  I guess I should be grateful that one Cub made the list.

The shutout seven teams were the A's, Astros, Indians, Pirates, Phillies, Rockies, and White Sox.

The breakdown for the teams included in the sets are:

1 player...Cubs, Mariners, Marlins, Padres, Red Sox, Reds, Twins

2 players....Angels, Braves, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Nationals, Padres, Tigers

3 players...Cardinals, Mets, Orioles, Rangers, Rays, Royals, Yankees

4 players...Blue Jays, Giants

Here is the complete Series Two Gold Rush, sorted by team

78	Ervin Santana	Angels
89	Mike Trout	Angels
69	J.P. Arencibia	Blue Jays
58	Brett Lawrie	Blue Jays
79	Adam Lind	Blue Jays
62	Rickey Romero	Blue Jays
91	Craig Kimbrel	Braves
64	Brian McCann	Braves
68	Aramis Ramirez	Brewers
63	Rickie Weeks	Brewers
97	Bob Gibson	Cardinals
52	Stan Musial	Cardinals
95	Ozzie Smith	Cardinals
72	Matt Garza	Cubs
73	Joe Saunders	Diamondbacks
57	Justin Upton	Diamondbacks
75	Dee Gordon	Dodgers
55	Duke Snider	Dodgers
86	Madison Bumgarner	Giants
93	Juan Marichal	Giants
96	Willie Mays	Giants
71	Pablo Sandoval	Giants
53	Ken Griffey	Mariners
61	Giancarlo Stanton	Marlins
100	Gary Carter	Mets
65	Ike Davis	Mets
59	Jon Niese	Mets
74	Gio Gonzalez	Nationals
60	Bryce Harper	Nationals
82	Adam Jones	Orioles
80	Nick Markakis	Orioles
54	Cal Ripken	Orioles
66	Yonder Alsons	Padres
92	Elvis Andrus	Rangers
88	Yu Darvish	Rangers
77	Derek Hollard	Rangers
76	Jeremy Hellickson	Rays
56	Evan Longoria	Rays
85	David Price	Rays
87	Clay Bucholz	Red Sox
94	Johnny Bench	Reds
81	Billy Butler	Royals
67	Alex Gordon	Royals
90	Eric Hosmer	Royals
84	Brennan Boesch	Tigers
83	Rick Porcello	Tigers
51	Harmon Killebrew	Twins
98	Don Mattingly	Yankees
70	Ivan Nova	Yankees
99	Paul O'Neill	Yankees