The Wagyu Beef of Baseball Cards

Perhaps the best aspect of trading with the great bloggers in this community is developing a sudden affinity for sets that I had barely seen before. This was the case with 1995 Score Select when Julie from A Cracked Bat sent me four Rockies in her first trade package.

1995 Select #85 Andres Galarraga

I really liked the marbled area on the right, and mentioned that I'd like to see a Cardinal or Red since I expected it to look like a steak.

Yes, in addition to baseball, I also think in food.

1995 Select #91 Hal Morris

Frankly, it's a little bit of a stretch, now that I see it in person. There are too many fine lines that aren't white enough. Unless you agree that it looks like Japanese Wagyu beef, then it just looks like marble.

That card didn't just come out of nowhere or from another blogger. In fact, I liked this set so much that I bought a sealed box of 24 packs from a dealer at October's 5280 monthly card show. 

There is a lot of gold foil in this set, even for a mid-1990s release. The "Select Rookie" subset illustrates this best.

1995 Select #200 Juan Acevedo (RC)

This one is right up Nick's alley at Dime Boxes, who is a big fan of pitchers at the plate. Acevedo was considered a top prospect for the early Rockies, but ended up being a journeyman reliever for numerous teams throughout his career.

As an aside, I haven't written much about my organization methods, but I arrange each set alphabetically by team and by player. However, I do stick the Rockies out in front. Therefore, Juan Acevedo is the first card in several of my 1995 sets, including 1995 Topps, where he appears on a 4-man Prospects card.

1995 Topps #316 Terrell Wade / Juan Acevedo / Matt Arrandale / Eddie Priest (RC)

It can be difficult to see what's going on in large areas of gold foil unless the light is just right, but I did spot an error on Kurt Abbott's card. See if you can pick up on it.

1995 Select #145 Kurt Abbott

He's pictured as a Marlin in their early turquoise uniforms, and Score did use the correct color theme for that team, but the team logo in the gold circle is of the Seattle Mariners. Beckett doesn't list this as an error card, so there's no corrected version out there.

After opening these 24 packs, I ended up only about a dozen cards short of completing the base set, and I did run across a couple special cards, along with only one duplicate!

1995 Select Artist's Proof #6 Chan Ho Park

This is an Artist's Proof parallel as noted in the lower left. The gold foil has a slightly darker, refractor-look finish, and I missed it the first couple times I looked through this stack. Based on the stated print run of 1995 Select, these parallels are /475, but are not serial numbered.

Additionally, I unearthed one insert card from this box.

1995 Select Can't Miss #CM2 Ryan Klesko

There are three insert sets in 1995 Score Select, and this is from the 10-card "Can't Miss" set. It has a subtle shininess to it, similar to the parallels found in Pinnacle from that same year.

1995 Pinnacle Museum Collection #268 Jimmy Key

As I do more of these posts, I am discovering that I'm starting to develop some themes and similarities in my writing and the cards I choose to scan. I usually feature around a half-dozen cards, write in relatively short paragraphs, and often save the best for last.

And it's become quite clear that I definitely enjoy green cards.

1995 Select #140 Dennis Eckersley

From my previous scans of 2013 Topps Emerald, 2008 UD Starquest inserts, and 1994 Topps Finest, readers that have stuck with me for my first year of blogging shouldn't be surprised to see a green card to wrap this post up. And it's from a stellar example of a color-coded set.