The Trading Post #32: Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum

You might not recognize the blog featured in this trade post, as Jeff's Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum is a newcomer to the blog community. Jeff reached out on one of my Fantasy Baseball posts last month and offered an Arenado card for trade.

2015 Topps Rainbow Foil #62 Nolan Arenado

It's a little bit of a weird feeling. I've only been doing this for a little over a year, and already I have some seniority, a small following, and an opportunity to give a little exposure to new bloggers. And for Jeff to send me a shiny card of my favorite Rockie is a great way to start off a trading relationship! It's a parallel from the 2015 Topps set, and it indeed has a subtle rainbow finish underneath that shininess.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen #144 Justin Morneau

Most of my trades are blind. Each trader usually has a pretty good idea of what the other person will like. I didn't specify what I'd send in return, but in addition to that Arenado card, the other one that Jeff said he'd send was this 2015 Gypsy Queen of last year's NL batting champion.

I'm not the biggest fan of Gypsy Queen, although this year's design is the best in a while. It's the most distinctive one I can remember in the whole run of the brand, and I really like the onion dome design in the upper left.

2014 Topps #253 Todd Helton HL

Jeff threw in plenty of unexpected goodies on top of those two cards he promised. He sent two Helton cards from 2014 Topps, but the one above is actually a checklist that commemorates Todd's retirement at the end of 2013. It's not officially part of the Rockies team set, so it just has a basic red and blue color scheme, unlike the usual purple. It's dissonant, especially since the back of the card does have the purple theme you'd expect.

1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow #323 Joe Girardi

I've always been a fan of Topps Gold, the one-per-pack gold foil parallels that Topps produced from 1992-1994. They had the bright idea to extend that practice to Stadium Club in '94. It was just another thing that made (and continues to make) Stadium Club awesome. The base cards have a dark red foil, a color I've only otherwise seen on various Pacific sets in the late-'90s.

2003 Upper Deck #496 Juan Uribe

The whole time I had this post planned, I thought that card above was from Stadium Club. I checked the back to see what year it was from, found 2003, then wondered why it didn't have the Stadium Club logo they were using at that time. Only then did I spot the Upper Deck diamond in the upper left.

2003 Upper Deck #357 Michael Cuddyer

I had a couple nice sentences written about how Stadium Club has remained such an eye-catching brand over the years, but it really just goes to show you how poorly I know the Upper Deck sets of the early 2000s. I know I'm not alone in this, and Night Owl wrote recently about how tough it is to differentiate full-bleed designs.

Regardless, now-Dodger Juan Uribe got a great picture in 2003 Upper Deck. If you look closely, you can even see the letters-high pitch zipping by as Uribe pulls back his bunt. And Michael Cuddyer has already come and gone as a Rockie, but as I'm more of a set collector than a team collector, I am happy to receive cards pre- or post-Rockies tenure.

Looking really closely at this set, those four dots in the colored banner are a slight precursor to the three row of dots at the bottom of 2015 Topps. I don't think they add much to UD's design, nor am I a huge fan of the tiny "Major League Baseball" lettering. It's...accurate, I suppose, but pretty redundant.

1997 Collector's Choice Teams #CR13 Walt Weiss

The lion's share of this trade package was a stack of Rockies cards from 1997 Collector's Choice, some from the base set, others from the separately-packaged Rockies Team Set.

As Nick wrote last week, the brand could always be counted on for great photography. Weiss is fully midair while turning this double play at Dodger Stadium, and we even get a cameo of Raul Mondesi, the NL Rookie of the Year in 1994. Mondesi, you'll recall, was one of five consecutive Dodgers that won that accolade from 1992-1996.

Weiss had one of the best cards in 1991 Topps, a set filled with memorable photographs, many of which were sourced from Sports Illustrated, as I learned in another recent Night Owl post.

1991 Topps #455 Walt Weiss

Plenty of similarities there, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Thanks, Jeff, and welcome to the blogosphere!

And to Mom, Happy Mother's Day!