Featured cards: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Jesus Guzman #602 and Travis Ishikawa #637

Jesus Guzman, who was signed by the San Francisco Giants as minor league free agent - hopes he gets an extended opportunity in the Major Leagues in 2010 after finally reaching the Major Leagues for a cup of coffee this past year.


Travis Ishikawa put together a middling season as a rookie in 2009 - the first baseman got a 12 game, 24 at-bat cup of coffee in 2006, played in 33 games and got 95at-bats in 2008 and I guess was still eligible to be a rookie since he was named on Topps' Rookie All-Star team this past year.

Featured card: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Everth Cabrera #568

San Diego Padres' shortstop Everth Cabrera may turn into a pumpkin in 2010 - but an unknown commodity coming into 2009, as a Rule 5 pick from the Colorado Rockies, he put together a solid rookie season.

It isn't a stretch to say, Cabrera's biggest moment in his rookie year - was hitting a walk-off grand slam home run against Francisco Rodriguez and the New York Mets last August.

Featured card: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Jim Thome #650

This image used for Thome maybe a preview of at least one type of image Upper Deck will be using in 2010 to skirt past the issue of not being licensed by Major League baseball - it seems like the image is boring because Thome is looking out at something, maybe towards the end of his career and he is just in a daze.

I will not try to foist any sort of significance on the 'retro-style' card since it is one I assume pictures this brave, old-school, heroic baseball warrior at the twilight of his successful baseball career - I do wonder if the original image used actually pictured Thome with the Dodgers or it was created from a White Sox image.

If 2009 was his last Major League season - he ended it as a pinch-hitter on one leg instead of this guy who'd emerged big and strong through his prime years with the Cleveland Indians.

The card will probably go with the rest of the Thome cards I've collected over the years and now are stored away - among the cards of players with the last names starting with a 'T.'

Featured card: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Xavier Paul #668

Xavier Paul probably will not have an opportunity to get significant playing time in the Major Leagues, at least with the Dodgers - with Manny, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier patrolling the outfield at Dodger Stadium, along with Juan Pierre still lurking as a valuable [if generously overpaid] fourth outfielder.

Paul has put up solid, but unspectacular numbers in the minor leagues and made his Major League debut in 2009 - his upside is he is only going to be 25 next year and he is cheaper than Pierre, who could be traded to a team willing to take on a chunk of his salary.

Though Paul's 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers card has the MLBPA Rookie Card logo, his first card was [#77] in the 2003 Bowman Draft set - as a collector, I still consider the 2003 Bowman Draft card as his true rookie card, since it came out before the MLBPA Rookie Card rules were introduced.

Featured card: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Jake Fox #588

This past season, Jake Fox burst upon the baseball scene in Chicago with eye-popping numbers [check out his splits] - he posted in June and July.

However Fox bottomed out the last several months and finished the 2009 season with a .259 batting average with 11 home runs and 44 runs batted in - it seemed like he could hit for a bit of pop [.468 slugging percnetage], but obviously wasn't going to be in the Chicago Cubs' future plans when he was traded with Aaron Miles to the Oakland Athletics for three prospects.

Though he is playing for a division opponent - I will interested to see how Fox does in Oakland if given a legitimate opportunity to play every day [at the very least get 400-450 at-bats as a DH perhaps].

Featured card: 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers Clay Zavada #540

I had a Heritage High Numbers chop shop going once I started going through the 185 card base set - trying to break the set down and figuring out what I'm going to do with each card.

One of the cards I was glad to finally have in-hand features Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Clay Zavada - his journey to get the big leagues and his moustache have turned him into a fan-favorite of sorts.

2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers SPs

I picked up a Heritage High Numbers base set with none of the shortprints listed - so from a list I found here, I was figuring out which SPs I may have possibly wanted [in bold/italics] and would like to pull in loose packs, just to have in-hand.

686 Aaron Hill (SP)
687 Adam Dunn (SP)
688 Andrew McCutchen (Rookie)(SP)
689 Ben Zobrist (SP)
690 Chris Tillman (Rookie)(SP)
691 Bobby Abreu (SP)
692 Brett Anderson (Rookie)(SP)
693 Chris Coghlan (Rookie)(SP)
694 Colby Rasmus (Rookie)(SP)
695 Elvis Andrus (Rookie)(SP)
696 Fernando Martinez (Rookie)(SP)
697 Garret Anderson (SP)
698 Gary Sheffield (SP)
699 Gordon Beckham (Rookie)(SP)
700 Huston Street (SP)
701 Ivan Rodriguez (SP)
702 Jason Bay (SP)
703 Jordan Zimmerman (Rookie)(SP)
704 Ken Griffey Jr. (SP)
705 Kendry Morales (SP)
706 Kyle Blanks (Rookie)(SP)
707 Tommy Hanson (Rookie)(SP)
708 Mark Derosa (SP)
709 Matt Holliday (SP)
710 Matt LaPorta (Rookie)(SP)
711 Trevor Cahill (Rookie)(SP)
712 Nate McLouth (SP)
713 Trevor Hoffman (SP)
714 Nelson Cruz (SP)
715 Nolan Reimold (Rookie)(SP)
716 Orlando Hudson (SP)
717 Randy Johnson (SP)
718 Rick Porcello (Rookie)(SP)
719 Ricky Romero (Rookie)(SP)
720 Russell Branyan (SP)