The Trading Post #42: 2x3 Heroes

Trading activity is starting to pick back up. This summer has been pretty quiet on that front, but my mailbox has been graced by a couple PWEs in recent days.

2013 Topps Chasing History Holofoil #CH-97 Troy Tulowitzki

These have done some damage to my Eight Men Out list with very little warning. Jeff at 2x3 Heroes mailed over this Tulowitzki card, which is the silver holofoil parallel from a 2013 Topps insert set. You've seen other varieties of this card before, including the bat relic and gold holofoil. All that's missing is the base version, meaning I'll be completing this rainbow in a highly unusual reverse order. Sort of like hitting for the cycle with a homer, triple, double, and single.

2014 Topps Chrome Orange Refractors #157 Michael Cuddyer

Jeff continued to work some rainbow magic, sending over the orange parallel of Michael Cuddyer's Chrome card, adding to the base and blue parallel already in my collection. This orange is especially appropriate, given that he's playing for the Mets in the NLCS. In fact, he just ripped an opposite-field single up the first base line as I type this. Unlike the blue parallel, this orange is not serial numbered, but it certainly scans better than the blue.

2010 Topps #445 Miguel Olivo

2010 Topps had a good base design, and they really wanted to make all the collectors know that they still had the rights to display team logos and names, unlike their longtime competitor Upper Deck, who lost that right that year.

Still, they focused a bit too much on logos and not enough on photography, as this is one of the more egregious Photoshop jobs I can remember seeing in recent years. First, that isn't really the right shade of purple to represent the Rockies, the belt is still blue, and the pinstripes are way too close together. Even worse, flip the card over and you can see that Topps didn't even bother to edit Olivo out of his Royals jersey, meaning you can plainly see where they made changes for the front photo.

2010 Topps #445 Miguel Olivo (Reverse)

I suppose it's better than just some white text saying "Signed by Rockies", but Topps' image manipulation skills had a long way to go in 2010.

2014 Bowman #20 Nolan Arenado

There, now that's a proper Rockies jersey! This image is from Nolan Arenado's rookie year of 2013, which you can tell by that commemorative 20th Anniversary patch on the right sleeve. Arenado took a month or so to settle into his role at third base, but he's quickly become one of the best all-around players in the Majors. He'd had plenty of Bowman cards by the time he actually reached the majors, but some varieties of his 2010 card go for a pretty penny.

Here's hoping he can lead the Rockies to one of these playoff games in the not-too-distant future.