Francisco Rodriguez (4,000 @ $6.50)

Can you say future dominator? Rodriguez dominates almost every batter he faces and will be a force to be reckoned with for some time to come. He will soon be a widely-recognized member of the "Rod" family: Arod, Irod, and now K-Rod!! He had a very good postseason last year helping the Angels take the World Championship. He had a good start this year winning 2 games and has registering his first save. He has 10 strikeouts in only 7 appearances. This card should fare very well on the secondary market since this is his first eTopps card and he is one of the best young relief pitchers in the league. I say this card is a very solid buy.

Ivan Rodriguez (2,500 @ $6.50)

Irod may have changed teams but he is still the man. He is probably the second best hitting catcher in the majors, behind Mike Piazza. But, with his 10 gold gloves, he has a good case for being the best catcher in baseball. As for this card, there are two ways this is going to make people money: if it sells a ridiculously small amount of cards or if the Florida Marlins have a lot more fans in eTopps than I think they do. This is Ivan's third card and his other two cards sit at $37 (698 produced) and $5.62 (3,000 produced) apiece. Now you tell me where the 2003 card is going to be. Maybe at IPO. This is a buy for set collectors and Pudge/Marlins fans only. No profits here.

Jeff Kent (2,000 @ $6.50)

I will be the first to say that it is strange to see Jeff in something other than a Giants uniform. Although it will take some getting used to, there is no doubting that this was a good move for Kent. He is a great addition to an already good Astros team. With Berkman and Bagwell in the order he is bound to see some decent pitches. As far as this card goes it is basically in the same boat as the Ivan Rodriguez card since this is also his 3rd eTopps card. His 2002 sold 3,000 cards and is sitting at less than $5 so, once again, unless the Astros fans show up in full force or people fall all over the fact that eTopps made this a 2,000 print run card I don't see this doing much. You can get as excited as you want about the 2,000 cards but then go and look at some undervalued 2001 cards with much, much lower runs that aren't performing well. Print run isn't everything and with all his cards combined there will be 5,452 cards out there. That's a lot of supply for when you consider how much demand Jeff Kent has in the hobby.

Richie Sexson (3,500 @ $6.50)

Richie is a good first baseman stuck in Milwaukee. I just haven't seen a lot of demand for Brewers players in the card hobby. Most people in Wisconsin are die-hard Packer fans first and Brewers fans make up a small minority. Baseball may be the dominant sport in the hobby but it's a different story when it comes to Wisconsin sports fans. That being said, I see good things for this card for the simple fact that this is his first eTopps card and he is a great longball hitter. Guys who hit for power sell well and this guy could bring in a few investors who may gobble up any excess supply. I say buy one and see where it goes. It isn't going to lose much.

Shawn Green (3,000 @ $6.50)

There are 9,438 Shawn Green cards existing in the eTopps marketplace, not counting even one of these 2003's. How many fans does this guy have in eTopps? I have an answer for you - not that many! Look at the prices on both his 2002 and eVent cards and tell me how this card will ever again see IPO levels with a print run of 3,000. Granted, it probably won't sell out. But there is just no room for this card. In my opinion, this could be the worst eTopps IPO miscalculation to date! It's just ridiculous to give a guy like Shawn Green a third card, considering the print runs of his other two cards, and to assign the card a maximum print run of 3,000. I'm not buying this and neither should you!

Tim Salmon (3,500 @ $6.50)

Ah, another Angel in the Outfield. This guy has really made a difference for the World Champs. I have been a huge Tim Salmon fan for a long time and if you're not you just haven't seen enough Angels games. This guy plays the game the way it should be played and gets the job done. Even when injuries set him back he bounces right back. This is his first eTopps card and is a solid buy. Will this card double overnight? Nope. Will it gain steadily over the next year or two? I say definitely. He was one of the first guys I looked for when I joined eTopps. When I found he didn't have a card and saw some of the clowns who did I was appalled. Buy this card now and hope Topps doesn't make another of him next year. Death to second and third cards of minor stars!!!!

The bottom line:
Francisco, Salmon: Strong Buy
Sexson: Buy
IRod, Kent: Buy if you must have it for your collection
Green: I wish I could forget they even came out with this card