WSC Birth Years: Andy Wilkins

Card #169 - Andy Wilkins

Born: September 13, 1988

Originally drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2007 in the 25th round of the amateur draft, Andy ultimately did not sign with them and chose to attend the University of Arkansas. In 2010, Wilkins got another chance, when the White Sox drafted him in the fifth round. Andy slowly progressed through the White Sox farm system and performed well during his spring training invites.

On August 31, 2014, Wilkins made his MLB debut against the Detroit Tigers, going 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He finished the 2014 season batting .140 with six hits, two runs, two RBI, two walks and twenty-two strikeouts in forty-five plate appearances. Andy may be the odd man out at first base in 2015 with Jose Abreau and Adam LaRoche platooning between first base and designated hitter. The only hope that Wilkins might have of making the roster is at third base, but that is a long shot. Hopefully, the small taste of the majors will make Andy hungry for more and he will force the Sox to consider him for the roster later in the season.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season.

WSC Birth Years: Carlos Sanchez

Card #168 - Carlos Sanchez

Born: June 29, 1992

The latest in a long line of White Sox Venezuelan infielders, Carlos signed with the Pale Hose in 2009 as an international free agent. He moved up slowly in the farm system until he was finally added to the forty man roster after the 2013 season, which saw him invited to spring training and play at AAA Charlotte the entire season.

Sanchez made his MLB debut with Chicago on July 13, 2014 in Cleveland against the Indians. He went 0-5 at the plate with two strikeouts and was sent back down after the game. After the Sox traded Gordon Beckham to the Angels, Carlos was brought back up and ended up batting .250 over twenty-eight games in 2014. Carlos looks to be the everyday second baseman in 2015, unless something drastically changes before Opening Day. He will need to work on his patience at the plate in the upcoming season, since he had twenty-five hits, twenty-five strikeouts and three walks for his 2014 MLB campaign.

WSC Legends: Freeman - Tenney

Card #5 - Freddie Freeman/Fred Tenney

WSC Birth Years: Scott Snodgress

Card #167 - Scott Snodgress

Born: September 20, 1989

Scott was drafted in the fifth round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Chicago White Sox. Snodgress made his way to the number six prospect in the ChiSox farm system by the beginning of 2013. Bullpen woes from the parent team in 2014, forced the Pale Hose to promote a number of minor league pitchers to showcase their talents for consideration in 2015. Scott was one of those promoted and made his MLB debut on September 3, 2014 against the Minnesota Twins.

Snodgress' first two outings resulted in a sky high ERA, but after the jitters of the majors passed, he settled in nicely for his last two appearances. The Sox did not tender a contract to Scott after the 2014 season, but were hopeful that he would again be part of their plans in 2015. On December 10, 2014, Snodgress signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels that included an invitation to 2015 spring training. The Angels are the closest team to Scott's hometown, so the signing should have been an easy decision for him.

WSC Legends: Rizzo - Anson

Card #4 - Anthony Rizzo/Adrian "Cap" Anson

WSC Birth Years: Eric Surkamp

Card #166 - Eric Surkamp

Born: July 16, 1987

Eric was drafted in the sixth round of the amateur draft in 2008 by the San Francisco Giants. Moving his way up the Giants' minor league system, Surkamp finally made his MLB debut on August 27, 201, starting against the Houston Astros, going six innings, giving up six hits and a run while striking out four and walking three. Eric suffered a flexor tendon strain that landed him on the disabled list in 2012, which eventually required Tommy John surgery.

Surkamp pitched in one game for the Giants in 2013, giving up seven runs in two and two-thirds innings. The White Sox claimed Eric on December 23, 2013. Surkamp made his White Sox debut on June 26, 2014 in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Eric appeared in thirty-five games for the Sox in relief. He seems to have found a niche in the Chicago bullpen.

1973 Topps Candy Lids

Topps continued to experiment in the 1970s with unusual offerings. In 1973, Topps came out with "Baseball Stars Bubble Gum", which included a lid with one of fifty-five baseball players on the underside. The bubble gum itself proved more popular than the lids, so examples of this set are a bit on the rare side.

Team affiliation adheres to typical unlicensed product of the time, with the cap logo airbrushed out and the city name printed in place of the team name. The set as a whole is a colorful mix of eye popping background solids and color photographs that seem to compliment each other. Whether this pairing is intentional or not, remains to be determined, but it works out nicely.

The White Sox have two lids in this set.

Dick Allen
Wilbur Wood

I find the oddball releases to be fascinating and this set is no exception.

WSC Legends: Gordon - Jackson

Card #3 - Alex Gordon/Bo Jackson

WSC Legends: Mauer - Battey

Card #2 - Joe Mauer/Earl Battey

WSC Legends: Encarnacion - Delgado

Card #1 - Edwin Encarnacion/Carlos Delgado

WSC Birth Years: Ronald Belisario In Action

Card #165 - Ronald Belisario

Born: December 31, 1982

A bonus card from the 1982 set.

WSC Birth Years: Ronald Belisario

Card #164 - Ronald Belisario

Born: December 31, 1982

After having some moderate success with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ronald was poised to capitalize on that and vault to the next level. He did just that... for the first two games, then Belisario imploded with a blown save against the Minnesota Twins on April 3, 2014. The real culprit was a game on April 9, 2014 in Colorado against the Rockies, where Ronald gave up five earned runs on sixteen pitches to six batters in the eighth inning, recording only one out, pushing his skyrocketing ERA to 15.75 and obliterating the tie game.

Belisario recovered enough to have a 3.96 ERA on May 19th, but was wildly inconsistent the rest of the season to finish with a 5.56 ERA. While ERA isn't the full measure of a pitcher, it is a stat that can mess with some pitchers' heads. One can only speculate if the trouble was between the ears, poor mechanics, poor pitch selection or just plain bad luck, but since Ronald was designated for assignment by the White Sox on November 20, 2014, it will likely be another team that finds out that answer.

Some Features Will Be Offline Temporarily

I am aware of issues getting to the whitesoxcards.net features. I am assured they will be all resolved within the next twenty-four hours. Sorry for any inconvenience these issues may have caused.

***UPDATE***

Things seem to have come back online much quicker than anticipated. Hopefully, that will be the end of the issues.

2014 Topps Update

The 2014 Topps flagship continues with series three, or the update series.

This year's Topps flagship design reminds me more and more of recycled late 2000s era Bowman designs. It's pleasant enough, but nothing immediately grabs your attention. The card just fades into the background relying on the actual photograph to do most of the heavy lifting. Some photos work very well and are eye catching masterpieces. Others... not so much.

The cards are all game action, except for the posed shots on the two All-Star cards. So much action, in fact, that it gets tiring. The only break in the action is Adrian Nieto's card, which shows him standing near home plate with his catching gear on, pointing at something, possibly directing Felipe Paulino to the opposing team, where they hastily agreed to take him in trade in exchange for eleven Wiffle balls. Other than that, it's all running and pitching and batting. I think I sweated out five pounds just watching all that action on cardboard.

The White Sox have twelve cards in the set, not including variations and inserts.

US-37 - Leury Garcia
US-62 - Adam Eaton
US-100 - Jose Abreu
US-156 - Ronald Belisario
US-170 - Matt Davidson
US-232 - Scott Carroll
US-239 - Jose Abreu AS
US-252 - Adrian Nieto
US-277 - Chris Sale
US-309 - Alexei Ramirez AS
US-325 - Jose Abreu
US-330 - Daniel Webb

Leury Garcia, Matt Davidson and Daniel Webb have sparkle variations. Adam Eaton has a photo and a Sabermetric variation. There are also red (Target), blue (Wal-Mart), red hot foil, gold (/2014), green camo (/99), black (/63), pink (/50), clear (/10), platinum (/1), and black, cyan, magenta and yellow printing plate (/1) parallels of each card. I have a love/hate relationship with parallels and variations. The collecting side of me likes them, but the completist side of me strongly dislikes them.

Overall, it typical Topps. If you've collected either of the previous two series for 2014, you know exactly what you're getting from Topps. The inserts may change, but the game is still the same, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.