The Trading Post #53: Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum

Not long ago, Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum sent a pretty interesting small shipment in return for some Braves. It came in a bubble envelope, but had about the number of cards normally found in a PWE. You'll see why soon.

2015 Topps Update #US358 Nolan Arenado

This is the third time he's sent me cards, and he definitely knows I like Nolan Arenado. I rarely purchase Topps Update; rather it seems to find me pretty quickly through trades and at card shows. As is usual for Update, there are a whole slew of All Star Game cards, and though the back of this card has the normal red and blue color scheme, the front wears Purple with pride.

The All-Star hats were a little weird this year, but I see the century-old look they were going for. At least they didn't make everyone wear handlebar mustaches. Mike Trout certainly set the tone in that game by belting a first-inning home run, while Arenado took over in the field in the 7th for the Home Run Derby champ, Todd Frazier, and struck out in his only at-bat in the 8th.

Unless this is just a warm-up shot, this is the last out of the top of the 8th, when Jose Iglesias grounded out to 3rd with Mark Melancon on the mound.

There might be an oversupply of All-Star cards in Update, but it's not often you can date a card down to a single play.

2015 Topps Heritage #306 Rafael Ynoa (RC) / Jackson Williams (RC)

I've seen a lot of 2015 Heritage this year, and this dual-player card adds to what I've shown on the blog so far. But that same scoreboard/fence/net thing we previously saw on some Rockies' High Number cards is present on both Ynoa's photo and this Angels guy's. For all I know, Topps took a photo of the entire Cactus League on this single spot. Incidentally, this Jackson Williams fellow has signed on with the Rockies twice. He played a few games for Colorado when rosters expanded in September 2014, and re-joined the Rockies organization just a couple months ago.

2015 Bowman Draft #200 Brendan Rodgers

Unless you follow the draft and Bowman cards in general, you probably haven't heard of Brendan Rogers. But the Rockies picked this shortstop third overall this year, and here's hoping he turns out to be a great pick, unlike Greg Reynolds in 2006, who was selected second, just a few spots above Award Winners and MVPs you may have heard of, like Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Max Scherzer.

Ouch.

Anyway, he might be the future of the Rockies' shortstop position whenever Jose Reyes wraps things up in Denver, assuming he sticks around that long. I, for one, would love to see Reyes gone, especially in light of the domestic violence charges for which he'll stand trial just as the 2016 regular season opens.

2015 Bowman Prospects #BP19 David Dahl

Now that Jon Gray has made his Major League debut, David Dahl is probably the most promising prospect in the Rockies' farm system. But this card confuses me. It's branded as a Bowman Chrome card, but it doesn't have a BCP card number, nor, obviously, a chrome finish. Just a plain card. So either Bowman goofed up the logo and it should just be the red Bowman logo like you see on Rodgers' card, or there really is a Bowman Chrome set that doesn't have a chrome finish.

It's probably the former, but Bowman sets have been so convoluted for so long that the latter wouldn't surprise me a bit.

2014 Bowman Chrome Purple Refractors #54 Troy Tulowitzki /150

There, now that's what a Chrome card should look like. This purple-bordered beauty of Tulo happens to be serial numbered to 150, and there's a decent view of the Rockies' 20th Anniversary patch on his right sleeve. Of course I miss him, but it was fun to watch him in the postseason last year.

And to give you an idea of when I composed this post, the end of that Green Bay / Arizona game was pretty fun to watch too.

1998 Collector's Choice StarQuest #SQ13 Todd Helton SD

Helton had his share of postseason play, but long after this card was printed. He was still a clean-shaven rookie on this Star Quest card. The purple and white look great, and if there's one thing I miss about late 1990s cards, it's red foil. I first saw it on 1994 Stadium Club, and it's a bold look that I'd love to see make a comeback.

2002 Post #11 Todd Helton

2002 Post #22 Ryan Klesko

These two Post oddballs were still sealed in their plastic wrap, which insulated them from who knows what kind of sugary cereal. A rare non-Rockie makes an appearance on one of my trade posts, but he did play in the same division as the Rockies after the Braves traded him. I see a lot of NL West teams at Coors, so I definitely saw him in person a time or two. I'm pretty sure he was on my fantasy baseball squad in my early years of that activity.

So far you've seen almost every card Jeff sent. Think that would be about right for a PWE?

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Box Toppers #OB-TT Troy Tulowitzki

Not if this oversized box topper is part of the deal.

This giant thing is roughly 4"x7". The back is not terribly interesting, but the front has a much sharper image that you'll see on most A&G cards. I have no idea how rare these are, but I've sure never seen one. I have a Hideo Nomo Topps Chrome card about this size, so I'll probably squeeze it into that page.

You might have noticed a lack of Blake Street Bombers in this post so far. Have no fear.

1995 Leaf #135 Dante Bichette (AU)

Yep, that's autographed! And it's on the great 1995 Leaf, no less, a set I singled out recently as one of my favorites of 1995. I got a few Rockies autographs in their early years, like Joe Girardi, Eric Young, and Darren Holmes, but missed out on the biggest sluggers of that era. So I'll happily put this one in my Rockies autograph collection.

And on the subject of the card itself, this isn't the only shot of Bichette playing the field at Wrigley. He was "Mr. .310" and he excelled on a two-strike count, but the card companies loved when he came to Chicago.

There was some really interesting and unexpected stuff crammed into this envelope, spanning the whole of Rockies history, and likely several years into the future. Thanks Jeff!