TOPPS Introduces 2012 Awards Set
By Philip Baudhawpe, American Baseball Prospectus
March 1, 2013: New York, NY – TOPPS, Inc. has elected to continue their line of Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance trading cards. Today they introduced today their 2012 Awards set, with plans tomorrow to announce their 2013 line with a “Hot Prospect” set of cards.
The 2012 Awards set, based on their 1975 MLB pattern with a background of split complementary colors and bold team names at the top, honors PEBA’s Royal Raker (MVP), Golden Arm (top pitcher), Wunderkind (rookie of the year) and Shutdown Reliever award winners. The Awards set completes the 2012 set released last year.
The 2012 Royal Raker awards for both the Sovereign and Imperial Leagues went to outfielders for teams that lost in their Alliance Tournament – both of whom came from virtual anonymity.
Aurora’s Cory Pierce, a 27-year-old left fielder, looked to be stuck in the Aurora farm system when a rash of injuries ravaged the Borealis outfield. Pierce stepped in and did nothing more than hit over .400 for most of the season, finishing with the highest single-season average in PEBA history (.385) while hitting 24 HR and driving in 104 in 117 games.
Jason Guillén was coming off a rookie campaign in which he hit only .234 yet showed some promising power for Arlington. What he did in 2012 was improve his swing to the tune of a .280 average and 44 HR, appearing for most of the season as a lock to break the single-season HR record, while driving in 150, tops in the IL and second-most in all of the PEBA.
Whereas the Royal Rakers went to players who would not have been high on any pre-season list of candidates, the Golden Arms went to a pair of repeat winners.
Charleston’s Víctor Matos topped the IL with 23 wins and finished 0.02 points behind his teammate Dean O’Monahan for the ERA title as he won his second Golden Arm in as many years. The hard-throwing righty has a 42-14 record and an ERA hovering at 2.00 the past two seasons. More impressive has been his 459 K in 469 IP while walking only 71.
Markus Hancock outdid Matos by winning his third consecutive Golden Arm with equally impressive numbers: 21-5, 1.92 ERA and 272 K in 234 IP, third-best in the league. As a matter of fact, each of the last three years for “Fireworks” have looked nearly identical, making him a vision of consistency for Tempe.
Wunderkind awards went to a pair of guys who took different paths to stardom.
Fargo’s Mike Arnopp was a first round draft pick in the 2007 draft, 11th overall. An All-Star at both the Hi-A and AAA levels, Arnopp had a brief cup of joe with the Dinosaurs during 2011 before playing in all 162 games in 2012. He hit .313 with an astounding 61 2B, tops in the league but well short of the single-season record of 71 set in the inaugural 2007 season by Miguel Cortéz of Duluth.
Ed Williams of Manchester was an eighth round pick of the same Duluth Warriors in 2008 before being traded to the Maulers in a June, 2010 deal. Like Arnopp, Williams was an All-Star at both the Hi-A and AAA level, also getting his first taste of the big leagues in 2011. Williams had an impressive rookie campaign, batting .316, with a sound .579 SLG, 41 2B and 30 HR for the Imperial League-champion Maulers.
The Shutdown Reliever award is only in its second year of existence. In the IL, there was a repeat winner, while in the SL, a second member of the league’s “Evil Empires” took home the trophy.
Aurora’s Juan Suárez, a quintessential closer, won the inaugural Sovereign League award in 2011. Crystal Lake’s Merlin Peters is the exact opposite. In his six-year career, Peters has 27 saves. Total. He has appeared in 338 games over those six seasons and has 572 K and a 1.46 ERA over 449 IP. Batters hit only .185 off him last year in his 83 appearances. Giving up less than a base runner per inning, Peters came out of the ‘pen and got the Sandgnats to the 9th inning and closer José Ortíz.
Mel Kennedy, currently a free agent but formerly of Charleston, is the PEBA all-time saves leader with 217. In 2012, he finished 42 games for the Statesmen while blowing only three opportunities. Kennedy is known for coming in and throwing strikes, having only walked 56 batters in his career (359 appearances). A fastball/sinker pitcher, there is much speculation as to where he will end up this season. With spring training beginning this week, it really can only be a matter of time before arguably the best closer in PEBA history climbs back onto the mound in the 9th inning.