This fine night card is a definite candidate for the night card binder, for a lot of reasons. One of them is that Sean Doolittle is that very rare case in an Oakland A's uniform:
He's managed to stay with the team for five years.
I don't know how he's escaped the spinning revolving trade door outside the A's front office. I might be wrong, but I think he and Eric Sogard have lasted the longest from the current team, and Sogard has been disabled the whole year. (Coco Crisp was there for six years before he was traded to the Indians last month).
Why here Doolittle is in the 2013 set after his first season with Oakland.
I thought I'd do a little experiment and see where the rest of the A's from this set are.
Brett Anderson: With the Dodgers (disabled)
Other teams since the A's: Rockies
Grant Balfour: Retired
Other teams since the A's: Rays
Bartolo Colon: Mets
Other teams since the A's: none
Ryan Cook: Mariners (disabled)
Other teams since the A's: none
Coco Crisp: Indians
Other teams since the A's: none
Josh Donaldson: Blue Jays (last year's AL MVP)
Other teams since the A's: none
Stephen Drew: Nationals
Other teams since the A's: Yankees, Red Sox
A.J. Griffin: Rangers
Other teams since the A's: none
Brandon Inge: Retired
Other teams since the A's: Pirates
Tommy Milone: Twins
Other teams since the A's: none
Brandon Moss: Cardinals
Other teams since the A's: none
Derek Norris: Padres
Other teams since the A's: none
Jarrod Parker: OK, technically still with the A's, but he hasn't pitched since 2013 and who knows when he'll pitch again. Good thing I was a Parker-card-pulling machine in 2013, huh?
Josh Reddick: Dodgers
Other teams since the A's: none
Evan Scribner: Mariners
Other teams since the A's: none
Seth Smith: Mariners
Other teams since the A's: Padres
Dan Straily: Reds
Other teams since the A's: Astros, Cubs
Jemile Weeks: Padres
Other teams since the A's: Red Sox
Andrew Werner: Apparently out of pro baseball?
Other teams since the A's: He pitched for the Ottawa Champions of the Can-Am Independent League last season. Werner never pitched in a major league game for the A's.
There are three cards in this team set that I don't have:
Yoenis Cespedes: Now with the Mets (other teams since the A's: Tigers, Red Sox)
Scott Sizemore: Playing Triple A for the Nationals (other teams since the A's: Marlins, Yankees)
Chris Young: Red Sox (other team since the A's: Yankees, Mets)
Of of the players featured for the A's in the 2013 Topps flagship set, they have played for 18 of the 29 other teams in the majors since playing for the A's.
That's some kind of turnover in a three-year span.
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Awesome Night Card: Sean Doolittle, 2016 Topps Stadium Club, gold parallel, #232
Does it make the binder: Yes. It knocks out a Giants card from 2015. That's a no-brainer.
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