The Trading Post #112: A Cracked Bat (Part 1: Topps)

I haven't run a pivot table on my Trading Post page to know for sure, but it sure seems like Julie of A Cracked Bat is my most frequent trading partner. The sheer number of cards she's sent me over the years is staggering, and that's not even mentioning the quality! Another one came my way late last year, and there were so many interesting cards that I had to give it my two-part Topps / Not Topps treatment. There were some familiar themes, but also quite a few cards that were new to my eyes.

1996 Topps Laser #106 Andres Galarraga

I don't think I've ever been as wowed by my first look at a single set than I was with Topps Laser. I've seen some of these before, first when they popped up in a medium flat-rate box I bought on eBay. It's a shame this set only lasted one year, because it took the idea of a die-cut to a whole new level. Yes, that design you see on the right really is laser-cut, and opens up a whole new world of design possibilities. It looks particularly striking when you hold it up to the light, especially against a snowy background.

It's rather fragile, and tends to catch the top of a 9-pocket page in numerous places all the way down. But it's worth it. You can even see how the edges are slightly charred in the cut area compared to the usual white paperboard of the rest of the card. Topps kept the light theme going on the back with a pair of "Spotlight Stats", mentioning that The Big Cat hit three homers in three consecutive innings on June 25th, 1995, and that he had a .321 career average as a Rockie, the best the team had seen to that point.

2017 Topps '87 Topps #87-196 Jeff Hoffman

I was only three years old in 1987, but I have to wonder if I was as much in awe when I opened my first pack of 1987 Topps. I was too young to remember, but those cards, and later some 1990 Fleer, occupied a prime spot in my desk drawer before I really started getting into the hobby and graduated to shoeboxes and binders. That early exposure to 1987 Topps is partially why I keep showing these 30th anniversary inserts. The silver seal and RC logo update the design into a more modern look, as does the Rockies logo itself, but it's still easily recognizable at a glance.

2017 Topps '87 Topps Silver Pack Chrome #87-NA Nolan Arenado

This one is still clearly the 1987 design, but it's shiny, glossy, and has a patterned background that wouldn't be out of place on Topps Tek. I had to do some research to figure out what this is, as the congratulatory note on the back doesn't give me any clues other than promoting the "2017 Topps Baseball Hobby Continuity Program".

Whatever that is.

Apparently, this is a 100-card Hobby-only flavor of the classic set. I haven't bought a hobby box of a current product in ages, so its good that I can rely on trading partners to discover things like this. And it's about the sharpest-ever photograph to appear on the 1987 design. I'm not sure if they all have the same pattern, but to me, it looks like a bunch of Chase logos stacked diagonally atop one another.

I can enjoy it for what it is; my only gripe is that the background obscures Coors Field behind Nolan Arenado, a five-time Gold Glove winner.

2015 Topps Tribute #36 Carlos Gonzalez

I have no idea where Julie gets all these high-end cards from Tribute and Museum Collection and such. But they find their way to me, and I get to see how Topps has arranged their gilded gold foil sets year after year. I can't quite tell what the subtle circular design is in the background, and there are some diamonds back there too behind still-a-free-agent CarGo. I know that no one buys these sets for the design; they go for the hits, but that's where my attention goes. And this is apparently not a hit according to the original buyer.

2014 Topps Triple Threads Gold #98 Troy Tulowitzki /99

This one is more of a hit, getting a /99 serial number. This excessively alliterative Troy Tulowitzki Topps Triple Threads card is a gold parallel, one of the rarer varieties of the many colored borders found in this set. It will go nicely with a relic from this exact set that Julie found for me in our previous trade.

Despite its thickness and rarity, I'm pretty sure that this is a zoomed-out version of Tulo's base card photo from 2014. For the kind of dough they charge for this set, I'd like to at least see a different photo. It is still nice to see the Rockies' 20th Anniversary patch again, which they wore in 2013. Their 25th Anniversary patch is ready to go for the upcoming season, showing that time continues to fly.

1999 Bowman Late Bloomers #LB4 Vinny Castilla

Topps decided in 1999 that they had enough of Metal Universe having the wild shiny silver background market all to themselves. When 1999 Bowman needed a 10-card insert set, they cranked the trippy background dial up to 11. I had a Santana CD that looked like this, but redder. And speaking of commemorative patches, Castilla's uniform has the 1998 All-Star Game patch, which was held at Coors Field. Castilla finished third in that year's Home Run Derby, and came in as a reserve in the game itself. He replaced soon-to-be Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, but went 0-2.

The set looks at players that took a little extra time to reach their prime form following their entry into the Majors. Trevor Hoffman needed eight seasons to reach his first All-Star Game (coincidentally, in 1998). Jim Thome took a while to develop, too. There are a lot of Hall of Famers in this small set, and hopefully Larry Walker will count himself among that group soon. I'm not so sure about some of the others, though. Mike Piazza and Andy Pettitte did pretty well right from the start. Jose Bautista and R.A. Dickey would be great candidates if Bowman brought back this set.

The card back for Vinny Castilla gives us a look at the 1987 draft, the year he first played in the Mexican League. Some of the players drafted that year were Ken Griffey, Jr., Jack McDowell, Todd Hundley, and Steve Finley.

2002 Topps Total Production #TP6 Todd Helton

Topps toned it down a bit, maybe to 7, when they made a similar insert set in 2002 Topps Total. Still just ten cards, again with lots of Hall of Famers, and a few more that should be. The card back describes one of the more interesting occurrences in an at bat, when batters foul off a series of consecutive pitches. Helton spoiled 11 straight pitches in a marathon 16-pitch at bat once, showing "extraordinary bat control for a power hitter", as Topps put it. Brett Gardner did something similar in the ALDS this year for the Yankees. It's one of the best examples of how a ballgame can suddenly turn into a chess match.

2017 Topps Chrome #27 Ian Desmond

This is just the second time Ian Desmond has appeared on this blog, and it's the first time for 2017 Topps Chrome. The curl this year is pretty minimal, which is always appreciated. Topps kept the traditional Chrome logo in the upper corner, and also included the Chrome word in the lower area of the banner, which is usually quite blank. The back tells us too, right below the card number.

2017 Topps Chrome Refractors #92 Trevor Story

There are refractors, of course, and in addition to the rainbow finish and helpful label on the back that tells us it's a refractor (thanks, Topps!), there's a pair of sort of spotlight shapes emanating from the catcher's area. I thought that made it some special variety (spotlight refractors?) but apparently that's there to give Topps an area to color when making colored parallels. Tough to do that without a border, I suppose. But it seems a bit pointless, sort of like building a tall building just to put a red light on top, as my dad used to say.

In addition to that welcome refractor label on the back, Topps tells us about Trevor Story's amazing rookie year, where he tied George Scott's record of hitting his first 10 home runs in just 21 games. "He's going to get called up to the next league!" as Drew Goodman, the TV play-by-play announcer put it during their home opener.

2014 Finest Sterling Refractors #TS-CG Carlos Gonzalez

More to come on Trevor Story shortly, but first, another one of Carlos Gonzalez. There is a Bowman Sterling, but most of us probably associate the Sterling name with Topps Finest. CarGo is one of 25 players to be found in this insert set, which is modeled after one of the themes found in the fractured 1996 Finest set. Luckily it's just an insert set this time around, as Topps mercifully abandoned the fractured set idea long ago.

It's a little different, more rounded perhaps, but the background pattern reminds me of that Arenado hobby card from earlier.

2017 Bowman Platinum #24 Trevor Story

As promised, back to Trevor Story. Julie's been doing a great job of keeping me informed of the state of Bowman Platinum (note to self: not Limited, not Premium). This is my first card from the 2017 iteration, even though I seem to recall this was pretty widely available in big-box stores as opposed to just hobby shops.

Bowman made this one pretty colorful and added a lot of angles and bold shapes in the background. It's a departure; usually the design tends to follow the font they use for that stylish "P". Lots of thin, curvy lines. This year, the background reminds me of Q*bert. The back recounts one of his successes in April 2016, and this time it wasn't even a home run. He hit a 9th-inning triple off of closer Brad Ziegler, leading the Rockies to a 5-2 road win on April 30th, 2016 over the Diamondbacks.

I'm always a fan of the Rockies beating the Diamondbacks.

2017 Topps Chrome Future Stars #FS-14 Trevor Story

We've had Future Stars cards for decades, but nothing quite like this. It's a cross between Opening Day Stars and a The More You Know commercial. It's extremely eye catching, and the color palette they use in the star has a real 1970s disco vibe. If 1972 Topps had insert cards, this would be a likely candidate.

I've collected enough Trevor Story cards by now to know that his 2017 releases can't say enough about his amazing start to the 2016 season. As this card tells us, he's the only player in MLB history to go yard (do we still say that?) in his first four big league games. I like having him on the team, and he'll be entering his third season in just over two months.

I guess I have to hand it to the Rockies for knowing what they were doing on the Tulowitzki trade. This is why I am a fan and not a front office guy.

2013 Bowman Chrome Cream of the Crop Mini Blue Wave Refractors #CC-CRO4 Jayson Aquino /250

I know next to nothing about Jayson Aquino other than what I just saw on Baseball Reference. He has bounced around various minor league organizations since 2010, but did progress to his MLB debut in 2016 for Baltimore. He started a couple games for them in 2017, so he's one of the few Bowman players to show up in the majors, albeit briefly so far.

There are a few other Rockies prospects listed on the back of this Blue Wave serial-numbered card with a way-too-long name, some who you may know from blog posts such as this one. David Dahl, Nolan Arenado, and Trevor Story are the #1-3 prospects, with the list being wrapped up by Kyle Parker, who was released by the organization in 2016.

2001 Topps Fusion #156 Larry Walker BB

Back to a name you'll recognize, Larry Walker, who has gone this whole post without an appearance. What you may not recognize is this set, and it's not actually Bowman's Best. Rather, it's Topps Fusion, a set that exposed collectors to five of Topps' premium brands in one shot. I've shown one on this blog before from Topps Gold Label. I probably have enough of these cards to cover the whole range, but haven't closely checked, nor am I certain I don't have a few misfiled in the 2001 binder.

This has a bit more texture than I'm used to seeing in Bowman's best. The thin lines within the outline of the "B" (the ones the scanner didn't pick up) are horizontal and close together, almost like a lenticular card. And it has a rainbow finish rather than just chromium. I don't know Bowman that well, but I assume the "Best Bets" lettering at the bottom is modeled after a subset of some kind.

1998 Bowman's Best #4 Dante Bichette

This is more what I'm used to seeing from the Bowman's Best brand. Lots of large, shiny, gold areas and a full-length photograph. Replace the gold with some blue and you're not too far off from 2000 Finest. I'll be honest, usually I'm so mesmerized by the gold arcs that I don't look too closely at the back. And the statistics that Bowman gives us here are unusual and insightful. Rather than the usual rows of stats for at bats, average, and doubles, this card gives us a lot of ratios. At bats per extra base hit (AB/XBH), Games per RBI (G/RBI) and several more. Mathematically, the lower, the better. In 1995 through 1997, Dante Bichette walked exactly as often as he hit a home run. And that math checks out; he had 97 homers and walks from 1995 to 1997. It's an interesting early attempt at Sabermetrics, and if you're not in the habit of looking at card backs, I encourage you to look a bit more closely.

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #252a Nolan Arenado

There have been so many shiny cards in this post that I felt I had to at least give lip service to regular old cardboard. I've seen a bit of this year's set, but I don't like it as much as the 2016 or especially the 2015 designs. And I'm not quite sure what's going on with this photo. It's clearly in Petco Park, judging by all those Padres uniforms in the stands and the banner on the wall. But there are other MLB logos to be found, such as the Dodgers, Red Sox, and a couple others I can't quite tell. It's possibly from the 2016 All Star Game, which would make sense as to why so many different fans were in the seats. Confusingly, even though the Padres are an NL team, they played as the away team in that year's Midsummer Classic, which could explain why Arenado is wearing his road uniform.

Or maybe I'm overthinking it. Arenado would wear his road uniform every single other time he plays in Petco Park, and maybe there were a lot of casual fans that day. Los Angeles isn't a terribly long drive for that Dodgers fan.

2013 Topps Update Gold #US15 DJ LeMahieu /2013

Back in the friendly setting of Coors Field, we see DJ LeMahieu casually flipping the ball to Tulowitzki for a force out. I'm guessing that's the third out, as DJ looks quite calm, and Tulo isn't preparing to leap over an incoming baserunner while carefully avoiding stepping on the sea turtle. Let's see if I'm right.

I don't have a ton to go on here, but the out of town scoreboard in right field at Coors Field is one of the best sources of information if you're trying to date a card. From what I can see, it looks like the A's beat the Astros in Houston, 4-3. Even though this is a 2013 card, it's from Update, which is one of the few sets where the year matches the photo. Furthermore, DJ has that same 20th Anniversary patch that Tulo had on his Triple Threads card, dating this to sometime in 2013.

There were two occasions that year when the Astros lost at home by a score of 4-3 to the A's, and they were both in the same series. I narrowed it down to either July 22nd or July 24th, and the Rockies were at home both days. Either is possible, but I could only find a 4-6 forceout at second base on the 24th. So my official guess is that this photo is from when the Rockies beat the Marlins 2-1 on Wednesday, July 24th, 2013. And if that's correct, then this nonchalant toss was the final out of the game, retiring none other than Giancarlo Stanton who had just drawn a walk.

2001 Topps Limited #117 Brian Bohanon /3085

I know that LeMahieu card is limited to 2,013 copies, but what I don't know is how limited this "Limited Edition" 2001 card is. Beckett says 3,085, BaseballCardPedia says 3,905, and Topps said there would be a maximum of 5,000 copies of the Limited Factory Set available that year. So all I can assume is that it's roughly 50-100% as plentiful as that Topps Gold card. But it's probably harder to find. If I paid extra for a wood-packaged factory set, I wouldn't break it up.

I see 2001 Topps so infrequently. I'm not that familiar with it, and it doesn't show up via trade very often. This might be the first time that I truly noticed that there's a photograph on the back behind the stats table, a faded and zoomed version of the front photo. It also has the special red and green logo Topps designed for their 50th Anniversary on the back, something I see far less often than their 40th Anniversary logo on the famed 1991 set.

I'll be in my late 60s when Topps hits the century mark. I hope we're both still around by then.

2017 Topps Salute #S95 Nolan Arenado

And the last card of the day is from 2017 Topps Salute, a huge insert set that didn't especially impress me the first time I saw it. Now that I know it has a bit more character, I'm warming up to it. This doesn't just show Arenado in his Mother's Day pink-accented uniform. The back mentions his mom, Millie, as well. And it also has a bit to say about Nolan Arenado's work ethic. We're told that once upon a time, Nolan didn't run out a routine grounder. Perhaps not a huge deal if it's just a one-time thing, but Topps says that Arenado called his mom to apologize after the blunder.

I assume it goes without saying that his teammates and coaches got an apology, too. And that little story further cements him as my favorite player in the Majors. That's how you get to the Major Leagues. That's how you get to the All-Star Game. That's how you get to the playoffs. That's how you win five consecutive Gold Gloves. You hold yourself accountable to the people around you. I see too little of that in my professional career and in society at large. And when I do see it, I can do little else but to appreciate it, try to emulate it, and try to surround myself with it.

Maybe that's why I tend to sit on the third base side when I visit Coors Field.

Julie, thank you, as always, for a wonderful batch of Topps cards, and there is more to come on the non-Topps side of things.