The Trading Post #140: Nachos Grande

One nice thing about being perpetually behind is that I never have to go fishing for post ideas. It's pretty unlikely that you'll ever see me publish something titled, "Top nineteen cards showing the Pirate Parrot".

Here are two, in case that's what you're here for.

But seriously, the incoming stacks of cards are starting to multiply, as my fellow Cardsphere citizens are keeping my mailbox full. Those are the blogging priority, because I'm extremely thankful for all the carefully selected shipments put together by fellow traders like Nachos Grande. That blaster of 2018 Big League will be in a holding pattern for quote some time to come.

Mom gets to skip ahead, though. Hope you understand.

And what's that you say? 2020 Topps Series 1 is already out? Get in line, I guess.

1999 UD Choice Yard Work #Y12 Vinny Castilla

Nachos Grande's "Season of Giving" has happened before. It took me until early February to get the posts up that time too. He's appeared on The Trading Post theme numerous times, and that doesn't even count all the group breaks he's run. In short, he can take credit for a sizable chunk of my recent collection, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

One of the more eye-catching cards in this stack was a copper foil insert from the final year of Collector's Choice, known in 1999 as UD Choice. Just like a shiny little penny, complete with raised "Yardwork" lettering on the right. It's part of a 30-card insert set, and Castilla is one of two power-hitting Rockies to appear in this colorful homer-focused set.

Specifically, this card describes how Vinny Castilla began his 1998 campaign with a bang, smashing two homers in the brand new Bank One Ballpark on Opening Day, spoiling the inaugural game of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I've seen Pacific chronicle that first-ever D-Backs series elsewhere, mentioning Pedro Astacio's first win of 1998 on his Pacific Online card.

The error that Upper Deck made on this card comes toward the end of the paragraph on the back. After the newspaper-style blurb about the game, they go on to include a "Prologue" about how Castilla would finish his 1998 season with 46 home runs, a career high that he never eclipsed. Todd Helton later bumped Castilla's 1998 season down to fourth all-time in franchise history, but the problem is that UD should have called that an "Epilogue", not a "Prologue".

Card backs are so much fun. One of these days I'll dive into early-90s Score sets and read those novellas.

2005 UD All-Star Classics Midsummer Classics #11 Todd Helton

Here's a less-coppery Upper Deck card showing a youthful-looking Todd Helton. The good stuff here is on the back, where we learn that despite all those Blake Street Bomber power hitters, despite the 1998 All-Star Game actually being held at Coors Field, despite the rule that every team must have at least one All-Star representative, no Rockie homered in an All-Star Game until 2003. Blackmon and Story have both done so in the past couple years alone, but Helton set that Rockies first on the South Side of Chicago.

This insert from Upper Deck's 2005 All-Star Classics also mentions that now-defunct rule that the winning league would get home field advantage in the World Series. It was implemented in 2003 following that disastrous tie in Milwaukee in 2002. The TV networks laid it on thick with "This time it counts" promos, but the American League usually ended up with the win, and the rule was finally rescinded in 2017.

Just in time for the Astros to come along.

But that's a different story.

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom #136 Todd Helton

It's been a few years since we've seen Topps Ticket to Stardom in these parts, not to be confused with the more violently-named Rocket to Stardom, a late-90s Ultra insert.

The card back highlights Helton's evening on June 10th, 2008, where he went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run. He was sporting a goatee later in his career, so I'm guessing this photo is from much earlier than 2008.

It would appear that Topps grouped teams by card number in this set, as Helton's card is just one before the Troy Tulowitzki card I received years ago, but a closer look at the checklist shows that it's as random as ever. Fleer got pretty weird in their later years, but I loved how they set up their checklists alphabetically by team.

1997 Metal Universe #75 Kevin Ritz

Speaking of weird Fleer (and rockets, I suppose), how about some twin-barreled robotic laser cannons on Kevin Ritz's 1997 Metal Universe baseball card?

Somehow, that's a valid sentence.

And yes, that's what's on this card. Nothing in the whole hobby scans worse than Metal Universe.

As weird as you think 1996 Metal Universe might be, trust me, 1997 is weirder still. Part of me wants to complete it just for the sheer insanity of it. Artist Clayton Chambers is credited with the artwork, mentioned on a card back that would fit perfectly in a late-90s video game menu screen.

There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this, in that Fleer was once a subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises, long before their parent company started cranking out billion-dollar box office blockbusters under the Disney umbrella. There are plenty of Marvel Metal cards out there that look a lot like this, just without any sort of baseball tie-in. Blending baseball and comics isn't the craziest idea to ever come out of a boardroom, but they just don't fit together. I've been through enough mergers in Corporate America to recognize this as a collectible manifestation of "our cultures are really similar!"

1999 Fleer Tradition #528 John Thomson

Even after over six years of writing this blog, somehow there are still Rockies making their Infield Fly Rule debut. And it's not like John Thomson was a one-and-done guy. He spent all or part of five seasons with the Rockies. He didn't have a great time as a Rockie; in fact his 1999 record was an abysmal 1-10. He did turn things around a bit elsewhere in the Majors later on.

Players with cameras is a fun mini-collection topic, but this is just the second one to appear on the blog. I'm guessing Thomson wasn't slated to start this game in Dodger Stadium. He's hanging out with the photographers and looking through a surprisingly beat-up telephoto lens that's likely worth more than my first car (and maybe even my second). He just has his warm up jacket on, and it looks like it's late afternoon with the California sun casting long shadows on the seats and the foul pole in right field. It doesn't look like game day for this starter to me.

1999 Pacific #152 Jeff Reed

Think of this: 1997 Metal Universe is so crazy that a Pacific card isn't the craziest card in the post. Instead, this is really a nice, normal design, with a fantastic horizontal shot of catcher Jeff Reed in full extension, not to mention the Coors Field home dugout in the background. Pacific even kept it simple with silver foil. None of that red, green, or copper foil you'd find from them on occasion.

There are lots of specific game performances mentioned on card backs in this post, and this one is no different. Jeff Reed came on as a pinch hitter on July 27th, 1998 (back when I still got summer vacations), and ended up with a walkoff double in the 13th inning. Todd Helton got on base to start the 13th, and Reed came through with two outs to send fans home happy.

1999 Pacific #148 Darryl Kile

Incidentally, one of those two outs in the bottom of the 13th came from pitcher Darryl Kile, who pinch hit for Curtis Leskanic, worked a 3-1 count, and popped out to the catcher. Reed was on deck at the time and settled the matter a few pitches later.

It was one of those kinds of games.

In case you were wondering, that's not the game Pacific chose to profile for Darryl Kile's card. They went with September 20th, 1998, in which he pitched 10 shutout innings on 102 pitches in San Diego.

10 shutout innings; how's that for a lack of run support? Kile would have had a "Maddux" if the Rockies did anything at the plate that day before the 11th inning.

In that 11th, Larry Walker pinch-hit for Kile and singled in the game's only run. Dave Veres got the save, and Kile picked up a well-earned win, his last of the 1998 season, and good enough to earn a spot on a Pacific card.

2000 Pacific Crown Collection #96 Larry Walker TC

Pacific didn't have much baseball life left in 2000. They put a single set out in 2001 and decided to focus on other ventures. But 2000 offered some good Pacific sets, including the primarily Spanish-language Crown Collection. If you're wondering whether this card back thought highly enough of Walker's clutch hit back in 1998 that saved Darryl Kile's shutout, sorry to disappoint. In fact, this card is a team checklist, or rather a listado de jugadores del equipo, helpfully checking in card #96 for us.

I thought I'd point out the CHS memorial patch on this card, which the Rockies wore for most of the 1999 season following the events at Columbine High School.

2000 Topps Own the Game #OTG13 Larry Walker

This Own The Game insert card looked incredibly familiar, but what we have is ever-so-slightly different from a card Night Owl sent a few years ago. That one focused on Walker's batting average, but this one, showing Walker in a home uniform, looks at his slugging percentage instead. Now that I have a couple cards from 2000 Topps Own The Game, I can see that it's basically a league-leader set. And since Walker led the Majors in both average and slugging in 1999, he got two cards in this 30-card set, as did other players like Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and more.

Walker's slugging percentage was a whopping .710 in 1999, and .567 for his career to that point. That stat dipped ever so slightly by the time he retired, finishing at .565. That's currently 12th all-time, and still ahead of Hank Aaron, whom Walker was compared to on the card back.

Now that he's a Hall-of-Famer, you'll probably be seeing a bit more of Larry Walker on the blog. 

1999 Topps #438 Matt Belisle / Matt Roney (RC)

We'll get back to Hall-of-Famers before this post is over, but not before a quick detour to draft picks.

A pair of Matts appear on this 1999 dual-player card, Matt Belisle and Matt Roney. Though he's pictured as a Brave, Belisle is actually the only one of this pair to ever play for the Rockies. He was a Rockie from 2009-2014 and finished an even 32-32 in relief appearances before entering journeyman status. He pitched as recently as 2018.

Roney, on the other hand, accumulated a 1-10 record over two seasons, mainly with the historically bad 2003 Detroit Tigers, who went 43-119, the worst mark in the MLB since the 1962 Mets. Even recent Tiger and Oriole teams haven't been that bad.

At first, I thought one of the Matts here was Matt Holliday, whose Rookie Card also appeared in this set.

1999 Topps #442 Matt Holliday / Jeff Winchester (RC)

That's actually this one, a few card numbers away in the same subset. Holliday's career lasted about as long as Belisle's, retiring as a Rockie after the 2018 season. I guess I got to see his final game, which was Game 3 of the 2018 NLDS against the Brewers, in which the Rockies were swept. I crunched the numbers, and Matt Holliday has appeared in five-eighths of all Rockies Postseason games (fifteen out of twenty-four).

Rockies Postseason appearances are truly once in a blue moon, aren't they? Two dozen playoff games in club history, and just ten at home. Blue Moon wheat ale, born at the Sandlot Brewery in Coors Field, has a name that ended up being a little too appropriate.

Holliday's cardmate, the only non-Matt in this pair of cards, is Jeff Winchester, a catcher who never progressed past Double-A.

2007 Bowman Heritage Prospects #BHP15 Greg Reynolds

As long as we're doing Infield Fly Rule debuts, how about pitcher Greg Reynolds? I've mentioned him a time or two, but this is his first card here. He had a forgettable Major League career, finishing with a 6-11 record and a -1.5 WAR. Mostly, he's famous in Denver for being selected second overall by the Rockies in the 2006 draft, ahead of players like Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Max Scherzer.

It's a good retro card, at least. You don't see actual cardboard often anymore.

2018 Donruss #106 Kyle Freeland

Of course, the Greg Reynolds story is just one data point. They've drafted some greats, like Helton, Tulowitzki, Arenado, Blackmon, Holliday, and Story, to name a few. It remains to be seen how Kyle Freeland's career will shape up, but he's another highlight of the Rockies draft history. He grew up a Rockies fan, and came darn close to pitching a no-hitter a couple years ago.

Every so often, Bowman cards pan out. Turns out I was sent a Bowman Chrome Prospects card of Freeland way back in 2015. He's progressed well enough to get a card in 2018 Donruss, an obvious Coors Field card that shows the raised outfield wall in front of the bullpens, with a bright Comfort Dental billboard just beyond.

That section of Coors Field has been a rotating stream of Denver-area businesses over the years, and watching old highlight reels brings back memories of defunct brands that used to do well enough to advertise in a ballpark. Airtouch Cellular, for example, has been showing up on a lot of Larry Walker highlights recently, and that brand has since evolved into Verizon Wireless. US West was another, one of the Baby Bells that is now part of Centurylink.

These phone companies are something else with their mergers and acquisitions. Which is how you end up with bipedal robot battle tanks on baseball cards.

That about does it for the Rockies, but there were a handful of unopened packs thrown in, which are always a joy to open whether you've completed the set or not.

1989 Topps #269 Tom Bolton

1989 Topps was one of the first sets I completed, and by "completed", I mean I bought a hand-collated set at the local card shop when I was a kid for under $10. I should have known then that this would not be a successful retirement strategy. I even kept a sealed pack of 1992 Stadium Club squirreled away for a time until my curiosity got the better of me.

I don't really know much about Tom Bolton. Topps lost interest in him after he was traded in 1992, but Upper Deck kept him in their sets until his retirement in 1994. What really caught my eye on this card is the Ferris wheel in the background. It's one of the last vestiges of random card backgrounds, sort of like that legendary Luis Alvarado parking lot card in 1973 Topps.

And it says more than a little bit about the circus that's been following the Red Sox this offseason, beginning with Alex Cora's connection to the Astros cheating scandal and his subsequent departure from the Red Sox managerial position. And let's not forget the Mookie Betts trade that's been in question for several days, and the media frenzy surrounding it.

1990 Donruss Bonus MVPs #BC-26 Alan Trammell

I've had 1990 Donruss on my Completed Sets list for a really long time. Not quite as long as 1989 Topps, but I definitely obtained it during my first foray into the baseball card hobby as a kid. However, these one-per-team MVP bonus cards have proven surprisingly elusive.

Alan Trammell got the nod for the Tigers that year, and is the final card in the 26-card insert set. It's hard to imagine a 26-team league, especially when it seems like we'll see a 32-team league shortly. Anyway, Trammell, now a Hall-of-Famer, spent his entire career with the Tigers, and is currently part of their front office. A friend of mine who grew up a Tigers fan ran into him at a sports bar outside Coors Field when Trammell was a coach with the Diamondbacks. My friend felt that nagging sense of familiarity, but only realized after the fact who he had been talking to.

There are enough incomplete insert sets in my collection that I'll open packs of anything, and I'm still likely to find something worthwhile. I have a feeling that I'll catch up on my blog posts before I complete 1988 Donruss, unless I just buy the set outright.

2010 Upper Deck #516 Aaron Hill

The final unopened pack Nachos Grande threw in for me was 2010 Upper Deck. I have around five or six pages worth of this set, so I'm likely to find a slew of new cards even in one single pack. This Aaron Hill card is one of them. It shows Hill when he was with the Blue Jays, er, Toronto, and had just led the league with a mind-boggling 682 at bats in 2009, earning a small splash of red text on the largely empty card back.

There's also a small splash of red on the front, that "TED" patch on his sleeve. That was a memorial patch for Ted Rogers, the owner of the Blue Jays who passed away in 2008. That's the same Rogers family that founded the Canadian telecom Rogers Communications, for which the Jays' home park of Rogers Centre is named.

Below that is an official Blue Jays logo that got Upper Deck in a massive amount of legal trouble.

I consistently can't do a Nachos Grande shipment justice without writing 3,000 words. And I didn't even show you Jamey Wright's Metal Universe card with tiny Death Stars floating all over the place.

OK, here.

1997 Metal Universe #78 Jamey Wright

Thanks for reading!

The Trading Post #114: Nachos Grande (Part 1: Unopened Packs)

It was only last night when I opened the team bags and unopened packs that Nachos Grande sent as part of his Season of Giving holiday gift round. Somehow, I managed to delay gratification and let some surprises lay in wait until I got closer to being caught up on trade posts. I always seem to have a few irons in the fire, and a reader reached out to me just today proposing a trade. Trades are really an amazing part of this community, and they've accounted for just under half of my blog posts. There are more to come, as always. Sometimes I worry about running out of cards (or even sets) to talk about, but I'm discovering that there is abundance to be found in this hobby, even a couple decades after the bubble burst.

In addition to several team bags full of Rockies, which are coming in part 2, Nachos Grande included four sealed packs, which are fun to open no matter what's inside.

2010 Upper Deck #129a Alexei Ramirez

First up is 2010 Upper Deck, which was sadly the end of the line for the innovative brand, at least in the baseball market. They're still doing hockey cards, but the Upper Deck name isn't quite as relevant to their current product line. 

2010 was supposed to be an unlicensed set, and each card tells us that it is "NOT authorized by Major League Baseball or its Member Teams." UD was hoping that disclaimer would shield them from the consequences of letting MLB logos creep into most cards in the set, such as the White Sox logo on Alexei Ramirez' cap, and the Royals logo on about-to-retire journeyman Jose Guillen's helmet. It appears that Guillen was safe at second, but he's checking with the umpire since it must have been a close play. 

Alexei Ramirez didn't play last season. His 2008 rookie year came at the age of 26, as he had played in Cuba in his younger days. That only left time for about a decade in the big leagues, although he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Evan Longoria.

2010 Upper Deck #67 David Ross

Upper Deck complied with the no-logos rule on this card of David "Papa" Ross, capturing the veteran catcher as he whipped off his hockey-style catcher's mask. That is, they complied on the main photo, allowing a portion of the Braves logo to sneak in on Ross' black-and-white headshot at the bottom, which is also found in color on the back.

2010 might have marked the end of the line for Upper Deck, but little did David Ross know that he had two World Series rings in his future, first with the 2013 Red Sox, and second with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, after which he immediately retired.

When your final MLB game finds you on the winning end of Game 7 in the World Series, well, I'm sure there's not much that can top that. I'm sure Carlos Beltran will agree.

2010 Upper Deck #28 Buster Posey (RC)

Buster Posey, on the other hand, got his rings out of the way early. Barry Bonds could never bring the trophy to San Francisco, but Posey has helped do that three times, and was involved in a 2011 collision that changed how plays at the plate work now. Like Babe Ruth and Bob Gibson, when the game changes because of you, you'll be remembered for quite some time to come.

In 2010, he was as green as they come, putting up just a .118 average in a 7-game call-up at the end of 2009. Those early jitters rapidly melted away, as Upper Deck correctly named him a 2010 Star Rookie, complete with four little silver stars above the bottom banner. Posey would win the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year award and the 2012 MVP award, and both seasons found him crowned as World Series champion.

2010 Upper Deck Pure Heat #PH-2 Albert Pujols

A insert or two fell out of this pack; one from the I'm-not-bothering-to-complete-this 2009 Biography set, and a properly-cut Pure Heat insert of then-Cardinal Albert Pujols. I once received an extremely miscut example of Troy Tulowitzki's card from this 15-card insert set, but now I have one that shows what this set was supposed to look like. And yes, it looks much better. The set leans toward including hitters, but I associate "heat" more with flamethrowing pitchers.

The 2001 Rookie of the Year and three-time MVP led the NL in home runs in 2009 and 2010, a stat he wasted no time in chasing in '09, thanks to his 30 homers by the end of June, as this card tells us. His production has trailed off significantly since then, although he recently passed the 600 career homers milestone, and now is the all-time leader for grounding into double plays.

Feast or famine, I suppose. But before the days of Mike Trout, Pujols frequently found himself in the very top slot of fantasy baseball drafts. I managed to snag him 5th overall in that MVP season of 2009, a season in which I lost the league final for the second time.

2007 Topps #205 Cory Sullivan

There are plenty of Rockies to come in part two, but this Cory Sullivan card was the top card in a clear pack of 2007 Topps, the year of their magical run to the World Series. In case you weren't collecting 2006 Topps Update & Highlights, Topps made sure to inform you once again of his two-triple inning in 2006. The speedy center fielder, who shares an August 20th birthday with Todd Helton, is now part of the Rockies on-camera TV crew.

AT&T Park is always pretty easy to spot, thanks to the little splotches of orange in the stands. I've never been to the stadium, but it seems likely that I'll end up there one day, thanks to how involved I am in the tech industry. It looks like an interesting park, partially thanks to the 14-foot aquarium they recently added on the left field concourse. This was featured on an episode of Tanked, a custom aquarium reality show that was recommended to me by a coworker.

2007 Topps #172 Morgan Ensberg

As I dug deeper in this 2007 Topps hanger pack, which had no inserts but did include a stick of gum that cracked into a thousand pieces as soon as I started handling it, I found a commemorative patch the Astros wore in 2006. The orange and black patch on third baseman Morgan Ensberg's right sleeve commemorates the Astros' 45th year. The team started in 1962 as the Colt .45s, but were renamed as the more space age-friendly Astros in 1965, at the height (no pun intended) of the Gemini program.

2007 Topps #26 Jason Jennings

The same patch appears on ex-Rockie Jason Jennings, however I'm almost certain this is a Photoshop job. Jennings wasn't traded to the Astros until the 2006 Winter Meetings, and Series 1 of this set came out in late February 2007. Furthermore, the stadium looks a bit like Coors Field, as you can see spots of purple here and there, the "Coca-Cola Front Row Seats" lettering on the wall (not sure if those are still there), a purple-shirted usher in foul territory, and that sure looks like Todd Helton in the background. Finally, Jennings wore #23 during his single season with the 'Stros, not #32, his old Rockie number.

It's a pretty good Photoshop effort, but the details give it away.

2007 Topps #300 Vladimir Guerrero

Newly-minted Hall of Famer Vladimir Guererro was the bottom card in the pack, but I didn't really look at it while it was sitting on my side table. Perhaps it was appropriate to save this for after the Cooperstown balloting. The slugger already had plenty of solid seasons under his belt by 2007, one of five years in which he led his league in intentional walks. He was usually in the running for the MVP award, which he won in 2004.

Guerrero is shown casually hanging around the visitor's dugout with lots of baseball equipment scattered around. Helmets, bats, batting gloves, and more, making this a good mini-collection candidate. And all that Angels gear will reflect the team insignia he'll have on his Hall of Fame plaque, even though he spent more time as an Expo.

Nick is one of the biggest Vlad fans in our whole community. Maybe you should just read his post.

2012 Triple Play #63 Ryan Howard

The third pack was 2012 Panini Triple Play, a frequent sight in repack-like stacks. Ryan Howard, the great career Phillie, confusingly got card #63 in two straight years of Triple Play. His career kind of fell off a cliff toward the end, but he hit a whopping 58 homers in his MVP season of 2006, which Panini tells us zoomed past Mike Schmidt's 48 for the Phillies single-season record.

This card is all about home runs. While a helmetless Howard stares longingly at his uniform number in the upper left, the back also tells us about his 22-homer 2005 campaign on his way to Rookie of the Year, and that 2011 was his sixth straight year of 30-plus home runs. Even the trivia question digs the long ball. It asks us in which year Howard won the Home Run Derby, and that unsurprisingly happened in 2006.

That was about all that caught my eye from the Triple Play pack, but fortunately, there is one more to go.

1991 Donruss #483 Mike Scott

You can't talk about baseball cards for as long as I have without at least mentioning 1991 Donruss on occasion, but this is its first appearance on the blog. As Rockies-focused as I am around here, anything before 1993 is essentially an archaeological dig. 

Also, as much as I talk about green cards, it surprises even me that Series 2 of '91 Donruss never really came to mind. But here it is, in all its overproduction glory. I remember buying the factory set at my local card shop for a mere six or seven dollars, a low price even in the heady days of the overproduction era.

Mike Scott, the 1986 NL Cy Young winner, wouldn't last past the 1991 season. His best days were behind him, but those days included a 20-win season, a no-hitter that clinched a playoff spot, and a postseason appearance in the 1986 NLCS. No one gave him a true sunset card in 1992, but that's probably for the best, as his 1991 season consisted of two losing starts, seven innings pitched, and an alarmingly high 12.86 ERA.

The Astros certainly like their commemorative patches, don't they? Mike Scott and his 1990 Astros honored the Astrodome's 25th Anniversary, a building that was once called the Eighth Wonder of the World. It didn't have staying power, though. The Oilers left in the mid-1990s, and the Astros would get their own baseball-only park around the turn of the millennium. But unlike many abandoned stadiums, the Astrodome still stands.

1991 Donruss #445 Kirk Gibson

Of course, many more teams than the Astros wore commemorative patches. Though they were once known as the Robins, and several other old-timey names, the Dodgers celebrated their centennial in 1990, as you can see on Kirk Gibson's jersey. He only spent three seasons as a Dodger, but most casual fans remember him as one, thanks to his famous home run in the 1988 World Series, which of course is mentioned in the "Career Highlights" section on the back. His only MVP season came in '88 with the Dodgers, as well. But he spent twelve seasons with the Tigers over two stints, as well as a couple short term stops elsewhere in the Majors in the early 1990s.

Curiously, even though Donruss tells us on the back that the Royals signed him to a two-year deal December 1990, they still have him pictured and listed as a Dodger, complete with on-deck circle bat donut.

1991 Donruss #471 Barry Larkin

Barry Larkin, the Hall of Fame shortstop, is seen pulling back a bunt attempt, fresh off the Reds' 1990 World Series championship. Maybe I was a bit selective, but this set seems to have some decent photography, certainly better than the underexposed 1988 set. Depending on how you sort them, green can look odd side-by-side with the blue borders found in Series 1, but 1991 Score pretty much did the same thing, and that one seems to be remembered much more fondly. I'm not apologizing for the weird blots on the border that could literally have been taken out of my 1st-grade art class in 1991, but maybe this isn't as bad as everyone remembers. 

A pack of overproduction cards can be fun to open. They're usually in pristine shape, they take you right back to childhood, and sometimes, the packs give you superstar after superstar. You're unlikely to fill any gaps in your collection with them, but they're just so ubiquitous as to remain an obvious part of the hobby. In this pack, I also found Ryne Sandberg, Dave Winfield, a young Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, and Cecil Fielder. Not bad at all.

I basically got the equivalent of a repack you'd find at Target, and Nachos Grande also sent a bunch of hand-picked Rockies in team bags, coming up in part 2. Hard to beat that.

The Trading Post #73: Texas Rangers Cards

The day after Ichiro's 3,000th hit, I caught another ballgame at Coors Field, this time against the Texas Rangers for the first of a short two-game series. That marks the 22nd of 30 Major League teams I've seen in person, with only a few American League teams (including the Astros) left. I never saw the Astros as an NL squad, nor the Expos before their move to Washington D.C.

2011 Bowman Draft Prospects Gold #BDPP3 Tyler Anderson

Tyler Anderson pitched a quality start, giving up only one run over seven innings. The Rockies took a two-run lead into the ninth, only to have it blown by then-closer Carlos Estevez. The Rockies lost 4-3, prompting me to leave a comment on this post at Texas Rangers Cards. Spiff, the longtime writer of that blog, offered to send a few Rockies to ease the pain of the Rockies losing three out of four games against the Rangers, in all of which they blew a late lead. They managed to rally in the fourth game, but not before going down by 2 in the 7th.

Anderson is one of those rare players on a Bowman card to actually show up in the majors, and he's gone 4-4 in his time as a Rockie so far. The facsimile signature on that Bowman card is about as thick as the card itself. And he's one of a promising batch of young pitchers the Rockies have, along with Jon Gray and top prospect Jeff Hoffman. Veteran Jorge de la Rosa remains an anchor of the pitching staff, which means the Rockies may have finally put together a solid rotation. The lineup has pretty much never been the weak link in the Rockies organization, so the last piece of the puzzle is the bullpen. Clearly, that needs a lot of work, but the Cubs didn't have a great bullpen until quite recently, and look how well they're doing now.

2011 Topps Diamond Duos #DD-GT Carlos Gonzalez / Troy Tulowitzki

When the Rockies can put up a bunch of runs, as they do on a pretty consistent basis, then they don't need to lean on their bullpen quite as much. But in close games, it's a glaring weak point in the armor. Between Trevor Story's season-ending surgery, Carlos Gonzalez sitting out most of the week with an ankle injury (he started that game but was taken out in the 2nd), and Mark Reynolds on the DL, that huge offense isn't putting up enough runs to take the pressure off the bullpen, even with Charlie Blackmon's recent flurry of long balls.

This Diamond Duos Topps insert card shows the Rockies dangerous offense, but with CarGo benched, Tulowitzki up in Toronto, and his replacement out for the year after an incredible first half (he's still tied for 3rd in the NL this year), it seems that the Rockies' annual July implosion has surfaced in August.

Photos are always small on dual-player cards, but I see Todd Helton in the on-deck circle behind Tulo, and both players wearing a memorial "KSM" patch. That patch is a memorial to Keli McGregor, President of the Rockies who died in 2010. His initials can be found at Coors Field above the visitor's bullpen, right alongside Helton's and Jackie Robinson's retired numbers.

2009 Upper Deck Goudey #145 Carlos Gonzalez

Of course, CarGo wasn't always a Rockie. He came over from Oakland in the Matt Holliday trade. Upper Deck has him listed as a Rockie, but still pictured as an Athletic (as an A?). Goudey is a lot like Topps Heritage, but the ubiquitous Upper Deck hologram on the back ruins the antique look a bit. Interestingly, he wore #28 in Oakland, the number that fellow star Nolan Arenado wears now.

2006 Topps #189 Jose Mesa

Jose Mesa became a Rockie in 2006 toward the end of his journeyman career. Topps has him listed with the right team, though he's still pictured as a Pirate. This card is clearly between Topps' days of airbrushing and Photoshop editing, which doesn't bug me as much as this card having the Pirates' color scheme. I would file this card with the listed rather than pictured team, but it does screw up the aesthetic a bit.

1993 Topps #132 Preston Wilson (RC)

Preston Wilson got a draft card in 1993 Topps (just like Derek Jeter), pictured in his high school uniform and swinging an aluminum bat. Wilson did indeed play for the Rockies in the early 2000s, leading the league in RBIs in 2003. But I wouldn't necessarily expect a Rangers fan to remember this, especially on a card that doesn't picture Wilson in a Major League uniform of any kind. The only way you can tell what team drafted him is by checking the tiny black lettering and the color scheme on the back. It wasn't the Marlins, but rather the Mets that picked him.

The back of this card also says that he was the inaugural Baseball America High School Player of the Year, an award that has gone to Bryce Harper, Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, and Justin Upton.

2014 Topps Update #US-5 Jair Jurrjens

Here's a great candidate for Nick's Short Term Stops theme. Jair Jurrjens came to the Rockies in 2014, but only appeared in two games. This is from the first of those two games on July 4th, 2014, judging by that patriotic hat. Jurrjens got rocked for eight runs by the Dodgers that day, on his way to an astronomical 10.61 ERA while wearing the purple pinstripes. He started another game about a week later, got a no-decision, and never appeared in another Major League game.

He did pretty well as a Brave, and I actually remember him being a Rockie, but I guess he was in the minors for most of his time with the organization. As a card from Topps Update, it's not one I was likely to run across on my own, so if the Rockies didn't blow that game last Monday, this might never have made it into my collection.

2011 Bowman Chrome Throwbacks #BCT9 Tyler Matzek

Now, it's no secret that I don't know Bowman very well. But I guess I do have a decent general idea of their design history, as this 2011 card of Tyler Matzek really didn't look like the 2011 design to me. I didn't have much faith in that determination, and I sure couldn't place what year it might have been from if I had followed that line of reasoning. It turns out that I was vaguely right, as this Chrome card is from a Throwbacks insert set using the design from 2001.

I probably couldn't describe the 2011 design at all (probably had a black border though); all I know is that it's not this. I do believe it's different from Anderson's card at the top, since the Draft Picks and Prospects cards have a different design than regular Bowman, further adding to the confusion. I guess that's why 2016 Stadium Club's similarity to 1997 Fleer doesn't bother me that much. Those are just two sets, but every Bowman set looks pretty much like every other.

2010 Topps Heritage #301 Ryan Spilborghs

Ryan Spilborghs was one of those under-the-radar players for the Rockies, usually having a decent season at the plate and some solid defensive plays. He's still a familiar face to Rockies fans, as he is a color analyst and postgame anchor on Root Sports, the Rockies' TV network. I snapped this photo of him from the bleachers in 2007 in a blowout win against the Cubs, shortly before the magical month of Rocktober.

1961 Topps isn't a set I know very well, which is the design used on 2010 Topps Heritage. The avocado green color on the back is definitely period-correct, though. And "Spilly" looks just like he does on TV!

2005 Upper Deck #70 Shawn Estes

Along with that Johnny Bench card, Shea Stadium seems to be showing up a lot lately. The Rockies used to wear pinstripes on the road, which is fairly unusual, and can be a little tricky to tell it's a road jersey if the home team isn't in the photo. I'm basing my guess of Shea Stadium on all those orange railings in the first level. I'm not sure why they put those there, but it looks like you had quite the labyrinth to go through to get to your seats.

Shawn Estes went a solid 15-8 for the Rockies in 2004, likely one of the better records in Rockies history. He only spent a year in Denver, so he wasn't able to follow up that performance. Even with that record, he still led the NL in Earned Runs. 

This card is from 2005 Upper Deck, a set I don't recognize and may very well not have any cards from besides this and the rest of what Spiff sent. The color coding is quite nice, and Upper Deck went down the full-bleed path long, long ago, something Topps is finally on board with, continuing with the quasi-3D 2017 design, which was just announced. 

2010 Upper Deck #3 Eric Young Jr. (RC)

By 2010, Upper Deck had run its course. No one really went after it, and they were practically begging for legal trouble by blatantly using team logos in the photograph and team names in the paragraph on the back. They did not, however, use the official Rookie Card logo, instead coming up with this bizarre 2010 Rookie logo, which is rather redundant to the "2010 Star Rookie" label in the bottom banner where the player's photograph typically goes.

1993 Upper Deck #793 Armando Reynoso

Upper Deck had a long way to fall after this legendary 1993 set, and fall they did. But the hobby was still graced with this set, and like Willie Blair's head peeking out in front of the UD lettering on his card, so too does the pitch thrown by pickoff artist Armando Reynoso. He wore #42 during his tenure as a Rockie, which wrapped up in 1996, the year before MLB retired #42 league-wide in honor of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.

1998 Collector's Choice #84 Neifi Perez

We can see evidence of that event on this card, as the Jackie Robinson MLB commemorative patch is visible on Neifi Perez' right sleeve. This UD Collector's Choice card has a lot going on, including Eric Young, Sr. behind the play, and Cubs fan favorite Ryne Sandberg likely out at second. Sandberg, a Hall of Famer and former manager of the Phillies, wore #23 as a Cub. That was a great number in Chicago, as this guy on the Bulls wore it too. Perhaps you've heard of Michael Jordan? 

It must just be coincidence, but there must be other times when sports stars in the same city shared numbers across sports. Larry Walker and Patrick Roy both wore #33 while in Denver, for example. I'm not an expert on uniform numbers, so can you think of any others?

1999 Upper Deck #90 Neifi Perez

1999 Upper Deck's design has always raised some eyebrows. It's been nicknamed "The Salad Tongs set" for obvious reasons, and while I never really minded it that much, it's flaws are quite apparent on this card, as we have absolutely no clue who the cameo is on this double play card. I can barely even venture a guess. Maybe a Dodger, simply based on the higher likelihood of this being a divisional game.

This was 1999, after all, and UD devoted quite a bit of space on the back to their website, encouraging collectors to "Get ONLINE" at www.upperdeck.com (back when browsers weren't quite smart enough to just add all that prefix stuff automatically). I wonder what visitors in 1999 would think of today's website? Would they be more amazed by the LeBron memorabilia for the Cleveland Cavaliers (also #23), by the fact that Officially Licensed NHL cards had top billing and baseball was nowhere to be found, by three of the six banners referencing Marvel Comics products, or maybe by newfangled digital e-Packs and social media links to Twitter and Facebook? It would all be a lot to take in during 1999. I don't think I'd even heard of the Cavaliers then.

2010 Upper Deck Pure Heat #PH15 Troy Tulowitzki

Die-cut cards existed before 1999, and I've seen some strange ones in my day, but this might be the weirdest. The die cut shape at the bottom doesn't seem to represent anything in particular, and I can't quite tell whether the card is supposed to have that ruffling at the bottom. More likely that's some damage from the printing process, as I've seen that pattern on cards before, particularly 1997 Score. But I couldn't really understand why Tulo's photo was cut off at the top of the card. Then I flipped it over and saw that it was from 2010 UD.

At first, I thought UD engaged in a bit of trickery and deliberately cut off the logo on the helmet to avoid running afoul of MLB's licensing rules, perhaps later in the release cycle when their legal troubles became apparent. The card number on the back is just a millimeter or so from the top edge, so it was clear that the upper portion of the card wasn't all here. Still, I couldn't figure out what that oddly-shaped die cut was supposed to represent.

After looking at similar listings on eBay, I realized I was reading too much into it. There is a better-centered die cut pattern on both the top and bottom of other cards, and the bottom doesn't angle back in like it does on mine. So maybe I just have an innocuous miscut. It's highly uncharacteristic of me to jump to conspiracy theory, but the way this one is cut doesn't violate the licensing rules they knew they were breaking.

2011 Topps 60 #T60-93 Carlos Gonzalez

Ahhh, a nice rectangle. How refreshing. This one is part of the 100-card Topps 60 insert set found in Series 1 and 2. Update tacked on another fifty cards. I wouldn't say I'm close to completing it, but I've found quite a few of these. This one documents Carlos Gonzalez and his 2010 NL batting title. All is right with the world when the Rockies have a batting champ.

1992 Upper Deck Heroes of Baseball Team Logo Holograms #NNO Colorado Rockies

This shiny hologram sticker came out a lot bluer than it really is, but I'm impressed my scanner didn't think this was just a dark rectangle. I had a hard time finding anything out about this card. Beckett doesn't seem to list it, nor does BaseballCardPedia. I'm guessing it's an insert from 1992 Upper Deck which seems like the obvious choice. But it might be some sort of promotional card as well.

Holograms are fascinating things. It was basically a UD trademark, and I think they should have done more with them during their early history. I think there were a few insert cards here and there, but mostly it was just team logo stickers. What if they made a set, even just a 100-card set or High Numbers or something in holograms? They might have advanced the hobby even further than they already did. I remember a few National Geographic covers that were holograms, and I spent maybe a bit too much time in one sitting staring into them, trying to see all the detail.

1994 Ultra Hitting Machines #4 Andres Galarraga

1994 Ultra used a lot of gold foil. A lot. The insert cards had to differentiate themselves somehow, so they got silver foil. This Hitting Machines card of Andres Galarraga previewed some of the craziness to come the next year in 1995 Fleer, They were just getting warmed up. I opened a lot of 1994 Ultra, and I know I have a few cards from this 10-card insert set, probably Barry Bonds. The set is full of Hall-of-Famers, as well as a couple more that should be.

Galarraga gave us one of the many highlights of the inaugural 1993 season, winning the first batting title for the Rockies with an average of .370. Before his knee injury that sidelined him for about a month, there was talk of hitting that mythical .400 average. He didn't quite get there, and there was concern that he wouldn't have enough at bats to qualify. 

It also gave me my first baseball research project. My dad bought a copy of the Baseball Weekly newspaper at the local Albertson's in late summer 1993 and had me pore over the NL batting statistics to find potential challengers to Galarraga's run at the batting title. I remember finding someone hitting .429 and alerted my dad immediately, until he pointed out that this particular batter was just hitting 3-for-7 on the season, and had no chance to qualify for the award. I have no idea who that batter was, but I can't imagine having something like Baseball Reference at that time instead of a newspaper that I couldn't do a Ctrl+F on. 

1993 Ultra #360 Jim Tatum (RC)

Fleer Ultra was one of my favorite packs to buy in 1993 at the local Wal-Mart. I spent a lot of time in that card aisle, which was right next to the snack bar, though I had to go past the pharmacy to get to the toy section where all the awesome Legos and Micro Machines were. I haven't been in a Wal-Mart in over six years, and that particular location was vacated and became a mega-church ages ago, but I can still recall the floor plan of that store from memory quite easily. It was located right next to that Albertson's, in fact. I know Galarraga's 1993 batting average by heart, too.

But I have to consult Baseball Reference a lot.

There were a lot of 1993 Fleer Ultra cards in this trade package, and many of them have been in my collection for almost as long as there's been a collection. Vinny Castilla has one where he's facing to the left, reaching out for the ball with his left hand, the ball isn't quite in his glove, his mouth is open as though he's shouting at someone, and there's a little gold rookie logo in the upper left.

1993 Ultra #344 Vinny Castilla

Yeah, that one.

So the logo's in the upper right. Close enough. 

But that Jim Tatum card is brand-new to me. And it might have the best view of a first baseman's mitt in my entire collection. A set you thought you knew can still surprise you even after all these years!