2013 Turkey Red

After a two year hiatus, Turkey Red is back.

The past few times the brand came out it was as an insert.  This time, it's a stand-alone brand.  Sold exclusively through Topps Online, a single pack of 11 cards would set you back $24.99, but they're sold out.  Topps justified the high price by including an autographed card in each pack.

That sounds like a nice chance to take until you look at the autograph list and the numbers.  Check out the number of autograph cards for some of these guys:

Andrew Carignan - 620
Drew Hutchison - 389
Steve Cishek - 689
Scott Diamond - 689

That's 2,387 autographs from four questionable players.   Estimates are that around 5,000 boxes were sold.  If that's true, then for each $25 box you buy, you have about a 50% chance of getting an autograph of Carignan, Hutchison, Cishek, or Diamond.  That $25 seems pretty high now, doesn't it.  A quick check of ebay shows that the last ten Cishek autographs sold went for about $2.50.

I had no interest in buy a single box of this.  I was happy to cherry pick the two Cubs on the 100 player base checklist.

The two are the only two players Topps seems to be aware play for the Cubs right now.  With 100 cards on the checklist, and 30 teams, the Cubs came up a player short.  That's something I'm getting used to.

For my fellow team collectors, or anyone else if you're curious, here is the base set, arranged by teams.

Angels	Josh Hamilton	59
Angels	Albert Pujols	7
Angels	Mike Trout	3
Angels	Mark Trumbo	47
Angels	Jered Weaver	80
Angels	C.J. Wilson	51
Astros	Jose Altuve	4
Astros	Brett Wallace	95
Athletics	Yoenis Cespedes	70
Athletics	Josh Reddick	69
Blue Jays	Jose Bautista	36
Blue Jays	R.A. Dickey	1
Blue Jays	Edwin Encarnacion	33
Blue Jays	Colby Rasmus	94
Blue Jays	Jose Reyes	17
Braves	Freddie Freeman	56
Braves	Jason Heyward	84
Braves	Tim Hudson	55
Braves	Craig Kimbrel	83
Braves	Brian McCann	39
Brewers	Ryan Braun	23
Brewers	Yovani Gallardo	19
Brewers	Jean Segura	76
Cardinals	Carlos Beltran	90
Cardinals	Matt Holliday	63
Cardinals	Yadier Molina	29
Cardinals	Adam Wainwright	31
Cubs	Starlin Castro	40
Cubs	Anthony Rizzo	77
Diamondbacks	Ian Kennedy	79
Diamondbacks	Wade Miley	46
Diamondbacks	Tyler Skaggs	78
Diamondbacks	Justin Upton	43
Dodgers	Josh Beckett	91
Dodgers	Andre Ethier	16
Dodgers	Adrian Gonzalez	88
Dodgers	Zack Greinke	81
Dodgers	Matt Kemp	18
Dodgers	Clayton Kershaw	11
Dodgers	Hanley Ramirez	98
Giants	Matt Cain	61
Giants	Tim Lincecum	54
Giants	Hunter Pence	71
Giants	Buster Posey	60
Giants	Pablo Sandoval	26
Indians	Asdrubal Cabrera	53
Indians	Carlos Santana	38
Mariners	Felix Hernandez	9
Mariners	Jesus Montero	64
Marlins	Giancarlo Stanton	87
Mets	David Wright	5
Nationals	Gio Gonzalez	25
Nationals	Bryce Harper	8
Nationals	Stephen Strasburg	100
Nationals	Ryan Zimmerman	28
Orioles	Adam Jones	10
Orioles	Manny Machado	6
Padres	Yonder Alonso	27
Padres	Yasmani Grandal	34
Phillies	Roy Halladay	13
Phillies	Cole Hamels	72
Phillies	Ryan Howard	86
Phillies	Cliff Lee	89
Phillies	Jonathan Papelbon	21
Phillies	Jimmy Rollins	14
Phillies	Chase Utley	35
Pirates	Starling Marte	96
Pirates	Andrew McCutchen	50
Rangers	Adrian Beltre	48
Rangers	Yu Darvish	73
Rangers	Ian Kinsler	62
Rays	Evan Longoria	85
Rays	David Price	30
Rays	Fernando Rodney	20
Reds	Aroldis Chapman	42
Reds	Johnny Cueto	74
Reds	Mat Latos	67
Reds	Brandon Phillips	41
Reds	Joey Votto	44
Red Sox	Jon Lester	45
Red Sox	Dustin Pedroia	52
Rockies	Carlos Gonzalez	65
Rockies	Troy Tulowitzki	97
Royals	Billy Butler	93
Royals	Eric Hosmer	49
Royals	James Shields	99
Tigers	Miguel Cabrera	75
Tigers	Prince Fielder	32
Tigers	Austin Jackson	66
Tigers	Justin Verlander	92
Twins	Joe Mauer	24
Twins	Justin Morneau	12
White Sox	Adam Dunn	68
White Sox	Paul Konerko	57
White Sox	Jake Peavy	37
White Sox	Chris Sale	82
Yankees	Robinson Cano	22
Yankees	Curtis Granderson	15
Yankees	Derek Jeter	2
Yankees	CC Sabathia	58