A more local LCS (Part 2: Topps Archives)

Depending on the World Series schedule and duration, November may be one of the dark months without a single game of Major League Baseball. This just happens to be one of those months, as Game 7 of the World Series occurred on Wednesday, October 30th.

2018 Topps Archives #233 Trea Turner

When all was said and done, Trea Turner and his fellow Washington Nationals were World Champions. Turner was involved in a highly controversial interference call in Game 6. His speed carried him up the first base line at a rapid clip, knocking the glove off of first baseman Yuli Gurriel's hand before the bad throw arrived. Just two batters after that, Anthony Rendon, who led off the post a few days ago, crushed a home run into the Crawford Boxes past Houston's left field, giving an ever-so-slight shrug to the umpire as he crossed the plate.

One thing led to another, and Dave Martinez ended up being the only manager in World Series history to be ejected (during the 7th inning stretch, no less) yet still win the game.

This whole situation was partly caused by Trea Turner's speed, which is the subject of one of the cartoons on this card back. In 2018, Topps selected the 1981 set as one of the designs for that year's Archives, and it's a pretty faithful reproduction of the original, right down to the lack of an official Topps logo on the front. The only issue is that the Nats have never worn the curly W on a white-fronted hat like the ballcap has on this card, nor does it match the red cap Turner is wearing in this posed shot.

The card back is about right, other than squeezing the team name into the top banner in a practically microscopic font size. There are even two cartoons, just like the originals, and the second one mentions the time Turner hit for the cycle against the Rockies on April 25th, 2017. That was during a four game series the Nationals played in Denver, winning three. In fact, they scored in the double digits in all three of their wins, raining on the usual April parade the Rockies celebrate. Colorado had just swept the Giants and were in first place. By the time the Nationals left, they were 14-9 and a half-game back.

I distinctly remember the TV announcers referring to the Nationals and that series as a "buzzsaw".

2018 Topps Archives #69 Gary Carter

That and all the Topps Archives cards in this post came out of a discount box at Colorado Sports Cards. Part 1 showed the goodies that CSC stocked for themselves, and parts 2 and 3 will show cards from the consignment boxes they have set up in the center of the store. Upon checkout, the owner mentioned the particular boxes I thumbed through were set up by Adam, one of my favorite dealers at the local card shows.

1959 Topps was another design selected for 2018 Archives, which we've seen before, courtesy of Julie. I picked plenty more of these out of the discount box. Due to Washington's championship, I thought it fitting to feature a card from the previous iteration of their franchise, the 1994 World Series Champions Montreal Expos.

Specifically, I picked the late Gary Carter, pictured here as a smiling Expo. He was the first player to enter Cooperstown with the Expos on his plaque. He played with a few NL teams during his career, but he started off in Montreal, spent a decade there, and played his sunset season back north of the border in 1992.

2018 Topps Archives #143 Carson Fulmer

1977 Topps was the third set design used in 2018 Archives. I don't know the original set that well, and I haven't really seen it since those Antique Mall Mystery Packs from several years ago. It does contain a cartoon, and this one tells us that Lefty Grove (correctly depicted as a southpaw) once won 20 straight decisions at Fenway. Most likely, that was when he was a member of the Red Sox rather than during his earlier days with the Philadelphia Athletics. He was the AL MVP in 1931, and there are a whole lot of bold numbers on his Baseball Reference page.

I don't have anything in particular to say about Carson Fulmer, nor can I see any particular connection he has to Lefty Grove. Fulmer's not even a lefty. But this photograph caught my eye. At first glance, it looks like Fulmer is standing in front of a distant, snowy mountain. I have a pretty good idea what those look like, since I can see them by looking west from anywhere in Denver. A closer look reveals it to just be some wintry tree branches.

I was further confused by the orange dots in the lower right. I'm assuming that's an orange tree, so this might be a Spring Training shot. The thing is, the White Sox play their Spring Training games in Arizona, not Florida. We certainly associate citrus fruits more with Florida than Arizona. Heck, it's even in the name, "Grapefruit League". But further research shows that Arizona has quite a citrus industry all its own.

I'm just more used to seeing cacti on the Cactus League cards.

2016 Topps Archives #169 Jorge Soler

It's been a while since I've seen 2016 Archives. I bought a pack when it was still in stores, but it's been rather dry ever since. Compared to other Archives sets in this discount box alone, it was pretty scarce. I only found this one Jorge Soler card which used the 1979 design.

Finding so many Archives cards not long after opening those thrift store bags gives me a rare opportunity to examine these older sets back to back. And the 1979 set looks great here, right down to the retro Topps logo. I'm not nearly familiar enough with these sets to get picky about color combinations or font sizes, but I do notice some slight differences when newer sets are picked for Archives.

Jorge Soler, who is now on the Royals, somewhat quietly led the AL in home runs in 2019, with 48. I'm sure the highlights were there; he just seemed to fly under the radar this year. In any case, back then he was a Cub, preparing to break the longest curse in pro sports, and honoring Ernie Banks with a #14 memorial patch.

2012 Topps Archives #160 Prince Fielder

I didn't realize Soler was a home run leader, but at least I knew which team he was on. But for Prince Fielder, unless you're a Rangers fan, his departure from the big leagues seemed not to really register. I've had several people ask me what happened to him, and when I looked him up, I was surprised to see he hadn't played since 2016. He signed a massive free agent contract with the Tigers in 2012, was traded to the Rangers after the 2013 season, and "retired" in 2016 following a career-ending neck surgery.

The Rangers had to keep him on the 40-man roster through 2017 while they got an arrangement worked out with an insurer for the rest of his contract. That contract was supposed to run through 2020, and Prince was quite upset when it became clear he wouldn't be able to finish it.

But in 2012, when Topps Archives became what we know today, they featured the big slugger on the 1984 design, all ready to go in his new Tigers uniform. I'm sure that most fans, and especially the Tigers, expected Prince Fielder's career to at least keep pace with the annual releases of Topps Archives.

2012 Topps Archives #92 Jordan Walden

I found a few other 2012 Archives in these boxes, the most eye-catching of which was the black-bordered 1971 design. It's reprinted on occasion, and not just in Archives. Even the originals have been showing up here since the early days of this blog.

I'm sure this card will hold up better than real '71s, but this one is already showing some signs of wear on the right edge. Black borders are as fragile as they are beautiful.

Topps probably expected Jordan Walden to be more of a star during his career than he ended up being. The 2011 season, which this card focuses on, was by far his best. He earned 32 saves for the Angels, got some Rookie of the Year votes, and even an All-Star appearance. The Angels traded him away for Tommy Hanson, who ended up being one of many Angels players to pass away long before their time.

Walden last played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2015 but never returned to his former glory, nor did he earn more than a handful saves here and there.

2015 Topps Archives #75 George Brett

As you can see, I found lots of assorted years of Topps Archives, but the main one was 2015 Archives. That year, Topps expanded the set to 330 cards (including SPs), while reducing the number of reprinted set designs from four to three. 1957 was one of those sets, and the original is one of several 1950s issues that are entirely absent from my collection. Those early years of Topps are pretty spotty. I thought I had the Elmer Valo card, but I guess I've just seen it across the Cardsphere so many times that it's embedded itself in my memory.

Consequently, I don't have much to say on the design, other than it's quite sparse. It was groundbreaking at the time, being the first set to use a color photograph, as well as giving us the standard 2.5" x 3.5" dimensions we know today.

George Brett has a bit of a goofy look in this photograph, posing with a completed swing. It's a strange shot regardless of his expression. I never hit lefty like Brett, but the way the bat is positioned relative to his body just looks a little off to me.

Another thing that irks me a bit is that Topps omitted five years of Brett's statistics, ending in 1988. He played for the Royals through 1993, and even earned a batting title in 1990.

2015 Topps Archives #214 Orlando Cepeda

There's nothing wrong with posed shots, and I realize that action shots were few and far between for a long time in the hobby. They were so rare as to be worthy of a subset in 1972. Maybe it's just because I grew up in the era of action shots, but when posed shots are visibly wrong relative to the background, it bugs me a little. It's not even that Orlando Cepeda isn't displaying the usual stretch we see from a first baseman. It's just that when we look where he's standing in Wrigley Field, he'd be taking this throw from Row 17 behind the dugout. He's not even playing catch along the foul line.

I like seeing Wrigley Field on cards, and this is probably my first of Cepeda. It just sort of breaks the illusion that this is what he looks like in the field when you realize that a real throw like this would hit him square in the back.

The same issue dings Cepeda's card as happened with George Brett's. The final few seasons of Cepeda's career are gone, stopping in 1970. He played through 1974, and this clearly carries across designs, since we're on 1983 Topps now.

At least his 1967 MVP season is on here, the same year he won his only World Series ring with the Cardinals.

2015 Topps Archives #219 Kurt Suzuki

And after Wednesday's game, Kurt Suzuki can now count himself in the rare company of players who have won a World Series ring. The entire World Series roster of the Nationals all put themselves on that list for the first time, by the way. Even journeyman Fernando Rodney hadn't found himself on a championship team before.

I bet Kurt Suzuki is even happier now than he looks in that inset photo in the lower left as a Twin. He even hit a home run off the great Justin Verlander in Game 2, his first postseason home run, and the first World Series home run hit by a Hawaiian-born player.

2015 Topps Archives '90 Topps #1 Draft Picks #90DPIMS Max Scherzer

In what must be an agonizing statistic for Detroit Tigers fans, following the 2019 World Series, every member of the 2014 Tigers rotation has now won a World Series. Just not with the Tigers. Verlander did in 2017, David Price and Rick Porcello did last year, and Aníbal Sánchez and Max Scherzer got their rings last week.

Max Scherzer was a first-round draft pick in 2006, and Topps put him in a 1990-themed insert set with a little #1 Draft Pick logo up in the corner, just like Frank Thomas's rookie card. First-round picks aren't always successful, but sometimes they're unbelievably dominant. There were a few insert sets designed in the 1990 Topps style, and joining the heterochromatic Scherzer in that set are Buster Posey, Kolten Wong, Jay Bruce, and Mike Trout.

2015 Topps Archives '90 Topps All Star Rookies #90ASIMT Michael Taylor

Topps reused the 1990 design again in a slightly different insert set, this time replacing the #1 Draft Pick logo with the Topps Rookie Cup. There are far fewer big names in this set, so I was able to pull quite a few out of the discount box. Michael A. Taylor, who includes his middle initial that was omitted from this card, is the center fielder who made a great diving grab to help his team advance past the NLDS round.

Yes, I know this is a Nationals-heavy post. They just won the World Series!

2015 Topps Archives #151 David Wright

Like Prince Fielder, David Wright is another player whose career was cut short by health problems. 2015, the year of this card, marked the only time Wright made it to the World Series, and they lost in five games to the Kansas City Royals. Interestingly, half the World Series this decade went the full seven games.

1976 Topps is the third and final design used in the main set of 2015 Topps Archives, and I'd put this one down as my favorite of the three. That Sparky Lyle card already buttered me up a bit, and the positional variation of the design element in the lower left only gets better with age.

2015 Topps Archives #104 Kolten Wong

Speaking of Kolten Wong, he just won his first career Gold Glove. DJ LeMahieu shifting over to the American League opened that door a bit, but Wong earned every bit of it. You can tell from the little player icon in the lower left. Second basemen in this set got this awesome depiction of turning a double play. The shortstop icon is nearly as great, which shows a stolen base attempt.

By the way, Wong played in the 2013 World Series, quite an experience for a rookie with little more than a late-season call-up under his belt. He went 1-for-1, but since it was not a home run, he left the door open for Kurt Suzuki to get that Hawaiian-born player record.

2015 Topps Archives #134 Duke Snider

Archives always has a great mix of current players and retired legends. I don't think Topps expected David Wright to switch groups so suddenly, but either way, Duke Snider is a great player to share the 1976 design with. The outfielder icon in 1976 might not be as exciting as some of the others, but we get a Brooklyn Dodgers cap in the photo to make up for it.

Snider has the same sort of odd-looking posed lefty swing as George Brett. Maybe it's that a real swing doesn't normally end up that high behind your head. And unlike Brett, there's no indication of twisting the torso. I can't quite put my finger on it. It almost reminds me of that pantomime grand slam that Michael Morse "hit", one of the great moments in pre-Championship Nationals history.

2015 Topps Archives #172 Corey Dickerson

It's been a few posts since I showed an actual Rockies card. That's uncharacteristic of me, I know. Many of the recent sets I've shown predated the Rockies, and a set focusing on retired stars doesn't really leave a whole lot of room for Rockies greats. In fact, the team is still waiting to send a delegate to Cooperstown. Vinny Castilla appeared in this set as a short print, but that's a whole different story.

Corey Dickerson isn't even a Rockie anymore anyway, but rest assured, there are plenty of Rockies cards yet to come in future posts. But not in part 3. That will be shorter than this marathon post, and will have the non-Archives goodies I pulled from this great discount box.

The Trading Post #108: All Trade Bait, All The Time

It was my own fault, I suppose.

Here I was, mentally acknowledging that I actually felt, you know, good. Happy. Content. And of course that lasted all of about eight minutes, because I had unwittingly tempted fate. Following that thought, what did Blogger decide to do to cut me back down to size than to overwrite a completed post when I was uploading the images with a completely blank draft?

Thanks, autosave.

So please forgive me if this second draft isn't as cheerful or well-written as the first.

But that doesn't change the fact that a fellow blogger, specifically All Trade Bait, All The Time, sent a PWE as part of his Operation Cardboard Christmas initiative. There are several piles on my side table from the usual generous bloggers, including one from Nachos Grande that I haven't even opened yet. But it's the holiday season, and I decided to let this Christmas-themed one jump the line a little bit.

1998 Topps #274 Andres Galarraga IL

The Winter Solstice happened just three days ago, and the days are finally getting longer. It still gets pretty dark at a quarter to five, but the trend is heading in the right direction toward its astronomical opposite, the Summer Solstice, a date that this Topps subset card is only three days removed from. (Yes, I ended a sentence in "from". Deal with it). Interleague play was a big change for the 1997 season, but the way this particular game played out is pretty much what you'd expect for one played at Coors Field.

Heading into the bottom of the ninth with a three run lead is a good situation to find yourself in. But sometimes things don't go your way, and that inning on June 18th, 1997 got away from Rangers' All-Star closer John Wetteland rather quickly. An early error let the leadoff runner on, and after he allowed another batter to reach, Andres Galarraga promptly evened the score at 9 with a three-run homer before an out had been recorded.

As this card tells us, the Rockies kept the Blake Street magic going the rest of the inning, loading the bases, still without recording an out, until the sharp-eyed Walt Weiss came up and drew a walk, forcing in the winning run. As the Rangers' win probability continued to fall of a cliff, that walk elevated the score to 10-9, elevated John Wetteland's ERA accordingly, and led Topps to document the occasion on their first of two straight gold-bordered sets.

That was just the sixth Interleague game in Rockies history, and just the second at home. You can spot an empty Rockies dugout behind the Big Cat's power stroke, and his pinstripes further cement this as a Coors Field card. To my eye, this looks better than a lot of the base cards in 1998 Topps, partially because it's a lot more readable. I do have one gripe, which is that the home team is usually listed on the right, opposite to this card's design. But that's the only point of confusion, as the pinstripes, stadium, and wild 9th inning pretty obviously locate this in a pre-humidor Coors Field.

1997 Upper Deck #197 Vinny Castilla GI

Vinny Castilla was on base during the above scenario, drawing an intentional walk two batters after Galarraga's homer. Remember those? When pitchers had to throw four actual pitches to put a batter on? Those were the good ol' days. And perhaps went just a little further in rattling Wetteland that day than if his manager could do it with a gesture.

Anyway, Galarraga's fellow Blake Street Bomber appeared on another subset card, this time from 1997 Upper Deck, shiny but somehow devoid of copper. I once opened a box of '97 UD, and these Global Impact subset cards were everywhere. I seriously wonder if they were double printed. My fellow blogger must have experienced the same, as he sent me Larry Walker's card in a previous trade. That covers the countries to America's north and south, Walker being from Canada and Castilla from Mexico, even though his card looks more like the Italian flag. You can just barely make out the central eagle feature of the Mexican flag under his left shoulder.

2005 Bowman #56 Jeff Francis

If Bowman International parallels existed in 2005, this one could have had the Maple Leaf behind Jeff Francis, giving us a nice tour of the world's flags. But this is a base card, one with a nice splash of red on the sides. I guess you could sort of pretend that's the Canadian flag. Jeff Francis didn't appear in a Major League game before 2004, but seven appearances that season was enough to qualify him as a veteran in 2005 Bowman, earning these red accents on his card instead of the usual blue for prospects.

I will never really understand Bowman, try as I might.

His photo on the back caught my eye, as it's pretty similar to his 2005 Diamond Kings card, sent by Daniel. In that, Francis is pictured wearing Canada's World Baseball Classic jersey along with his Rockies cap. At the time, I guessed that was an artist's rendering, perhaps to drum up interest in the first-ever WBC in 2006. But Francis has the same jersey on the back of this 2005 card, leading me to assume that it must have been taken during a qualifying round.

Canada never had much success in the World Baseball Classic, which was created in the wake of the International Olympic Committee's 2005 decision to remove baseball following the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The sport was absent from both the London and Rio games, but it will be making a return in Tokyo 2020, surely thanks to the increasing global popularity of baseball. Israel was a favorite underdog in the 2017 WBC, and it's even gaining traction Down Under. I hope the WBC continues in 2021 and beyond, and I think it's important to keep interest going, which was part of the reason that baseball was removed from the Olympic lineup in the first place.

I can't say I fully agree with the IOC's original decision, as there is lots of interest in the sport outside of the USA. "World" Series jokes aside, both Japan and Korea have highly competitive leagues, and the first three players in this post are from three different countries, Venezuela, Mexico, and Canada to be specific.

2016 Topps Archives #174 Tom Murphy (RC)

Tom Murphy adds the USA to that list, and he's a catcher prospect that the Rockies keep banking on.

The two big news stories this offseason are the Angels signing Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, and yet another Marlins fire sale. But in case you missed some of the more minor news, the Rockies are bringing back Chris Iannetta for 2018, penciling him in as the primary catcher. Veterans Jonathan Lucroy and Ryan Hanigan became free agents when 2017 ended, and it doesn't look like the Rockies are pursuing either of them. But no one can catch 162 games, so that means that Murphy and Tony Wolters will be the backups.

The batter's eye at the Salt River Fields practice facilities, Spring Training home of both the Rockies and Diamondbacks, is becoming a frequent sight on their Topps cards, especially in sets with lots of posed shots like Heritage and Archives. This 1979-esque card will go along nicely with several other cards from 2016 Topps Heritage. I just hope that Murphy starts showing up in the lineup as often as he appears in my collection.

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #19a David Dahl (RC)

The Rockies outfielder situation, as usual, is a lot clearer. Even with the likely departure of Carlos Gonzalez, David Dahl and Raimel Tapia are waiting in the wings, and there has to be somewhere to put them. Topps is already mentioning Dahl in the same breath with retired legend Todd Helton. Both Dahl and Helton turned in .315 batting averages in their rookie year, which is about the extent of what's on the back of this sparse Gypsy Queen design.

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Green #24 Adam Ottavino

In addition to that GQ base card, this green parallel arrived, which is a bit better centered than the Tapia card that Scott sent in a recent trade. Surprisingly, even though this appears to be precisely the same thickness as Dahl's card above, it feels a lot sturdier.

I have seen a few examples of this year's Gypsy Queen set, but I didn't truly notice the gentle rainbow gradient at the bottom of the design. Somehow the green border made it a little easier for my eye to catch. On the photo side, GQ tends to be hit or miss for me. This one is quite nice, and the shadows aren't obviously highlighted, unlike a particular Ben Zobrist card that I haven't quite been able to forget.

Ottavino had a rough season in 2017, but that was largely due to one rough road outing against the Dodgers. We started this post with that theme, where John Wetteland gave up four runs without recording an out in the middle of what was otherwise a pretty solid season. There's just no telling what will happen on any given day, and it doesn't even need to be in Coors Field. I'll kindly remind you that both roller coaster games in the 2017 World Series took place at sea level.

Depending on what happens with Greg Holland, Adam Ottavino is likely to play a larger role in the 2018 Rockies bullpen, despite his rough patch last year. The team as a whole is set to look quite a bit different next year, with numerous players throughout the talent range hitting free agency. Holland, CarGo, and Lucroy I already mentioned, Mark Reynolds is still on the market, and Tyler Chatwood and Pat Neshek have already signed on with other clubs. There's still lots of young and retained talent; I just hope that reaching the 2017 Wild Card game isn't the high water mark for the next decade.

The Rockies still have some work to do this offseason. But not right now. It's the Holidays, and I hope the Rockies and their front office are all set to spend some quality time with friends and family.

And I wish the same for you.

Just like I did the first time I wrote this.

The Trading Post #93: Night Owl Cards

March is usually the snowiest month in Colorado. But in the Denver area, we've barely seen a flake fly in weeks. It's definitely odd, seeing what the climate's been doing these days, and if we're getting summer-like weather at the end of winter, it makes me wonder what actual summer will be like.

2016 Topps Wal-Mart Holiday Snowflake #HMW152 DJ LeMahieu

Pretty much the only snowflakes I've seen recently came on this Holiday Snowflake card, a Wal-Mart exclusive set. Everyone was writing about these a few months ago, but as I haven't set foot in a Wal-Mart in years, I didn't pick any of these up. I also missed out on the Marketside insert cards that came in those frozen pizza boxes. But thanks to Night Owl Cards, this particular Wal-Mart exclusive found its way into my collection.

Unlike many others, I didn't really mind the smoke effect that Topps gave to their base cards in 2016. Seeing snowflakes there instead doesn't make this any better for me, just different. And definitely more festive. This is more like a Topps base card than 2016 Opening Day, as the Topps logo is in foil. But that's the same Jake Lamb in a throwback Diamondbacks jersey, trying to break up a double play being turned by a 2016 NL award winner.

2017 Topps #335 Jeff Hoffman (RC)

This is the third time that Night Owl has sent me cards, and judging by this 2017 Topps card, he couldn't get these Rockies extras to me fast enough. He's no fan of any other NL West team than the Dodgers, particularly not the Giants, but I'm fine with being his designated destination for Rockies cards.

I wrote about Jeff Hoffman earlier this month, but he still doesn't have a lock on a rotation spot as we near Opening Day. But even for the short time he's had in the majors, he did get a chance to get a great Coors Field card in 2017 Topps, probably with a blurry DJ LeMahieu in the background. I've only purchased one retail pack of the product so far, but sometimes these new sets show up in trades pretty quickly. And it's starting to seem familiar already.

2017 Topps #81 DJ LeMahieu LL

It doesn't get the same purple pinstripe color-coding on the front, but Topps has made a giant leap forward by color-coding the back of this League Leaders card the same color as the rest of the Rockies cards. I think that's the proper treatment for an award winner. Perhaps even better is that DJ gets the whole card front to himself, not needing to share it with runners-up or another league as in past years. And as Night Owl himself observed earlier this week, that can make for some odd combinations.

DJ and Daniel Murphy were neck-and-neck for the NL batting title as the 2016 season drew to a close, but the Rockies middle infielder edged out his fellow second baseman by a single point, hitting .348. I even snagged him for my 2017 Fantasy Baseball team in Monday night's draft. I'm certainly hoping for another strong performance.

2013 Topps Chrome #71 Ryan Wheeler (RC)

Ryan Wheeler had a card in 2013 Topps.

Various versions of it tend to pepper incoming trade packages, even this shiny and minimally curled one from Chome. But I've never featured it on the blog before. He played in a handful of games for the Diamondbacks and Rockies over three seasons, but never really made much of a splash. Pun not intended related to the Sea Turtle design.

2013 Topps was the year of the "Chase". If you flip this card over, you get a look at Wheeler's valiant attempt to eclipse Tris Speaker's all-time doubles record of 792. At the time, Wheeler had six. As of his most recent MLB appearance in 2014, he chipped away at that a little, leaving just 782 to go. I particularly like Topps highlighting that 792 number, a number that should be familiar to anyone who collected an overproduction-era Topps set.

2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary #A65-AG Andres Galarraga

I bought a small amount of 2016 Archives at Target last year, and I initially thought this Andres Galarraga card was an insert card from it. But it turns out that there was another Wal-Mart exclusive last holiday season, the 65th Anniversary variety. It's more or less like Topps Archives, but contains 65 lettered base cards, one for each of the past 65 flagship designs. Andres Galarraga's 1997 card was chosen as the reprint for that year, and I think it looks a heck of a lot better and easier to read without gold foil.

All the backs from this obscure reprint set, one that I largely missed amidst the contemporaneous flurry of Topps snowflake cards (pun definitely intended on that one), are done up in the style of 1975 Topps. I imagine that's why Night Owl made a purchase of this set to begin with, as his love of the '75s is well-known across the Cardsphere. That card back calls out Galarraga for being a five-time All-Star, and for two each Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards, but they neglected to mention his batting title in 1993. Not only did his mark of .370 put the Rockies on the map in their inaugural year, but he did that at the height of Tony Gwynn's career. That's basically like being a leading goal scorer during Wayne Gretzky's heyday.

1997 Select #127 Neifi Perez R

1997 Select isn't something I run across very often. But red foil is always welcome, a relative rarity that appeared on occasion in the late 1990s. The silver area has an interesting herringbone-like pattern with a slight texture. He was never my favorite Rockie, and a Google search turned up his name on a list of most-hated Royals, and for being the first player disciplined under MLB's banned stimulant policy. Then again, he did turn an unassisted triple play in the minors, a tidbit I learned from Night Owl's previous mailing. Quite a legacy.

Pinnacle, on the other hand, missed a giant opportunity by not making this a horizontal card. Or at least by chopping off the action that is obviously occurring at second base to make room for the herringbone foil. Try as I might, I don't think I'd ever be able to determine who got a cameo appearance on this rookie subset card. But it does hit the Coors Field mini collection nicely.

1996 Fleer Ultra Rising Stars #2 Marty Cordova

Everyone knows Night Owl loves his night cards. Fortunately, it seems he had one to spare. This surprisingly thick Fleer Ultra insert card is of 1995 AL Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova. Now, I like the Minnesota Twins as much as the next guy (as long as that guy isn't Brian), but I wasn't sure why this one was included. Perhaps Night Owl is just spreading the gospel of night cards across the Cardsphere. But upon closer examination, Night Owl's eagle eyes (pun intended, again), spotted a special place at the bottom of this card. Below the backdrop of celestial pinpoints is a young Coors Field as viewed from the center field Rockpile. It's looking toward Downtown Denver's skyline, one that has undergone quite a bit of change in recent years.

This is definitely an insert set I'll be chasing. I already had three cards from this set in my collection, and surprisingly, or rather alarmingly, somehow I never noticed that Coors Field was a key design element. It took a fan of an NL West rival to bring that to my attention.

1996 Sportflix Hit Parade #11 Dante Bichette

And as long as we're on the topic of American Leaguers, we'll wrap up with another 1996 insert card, this one from Pinnacle's 3-D Sportflix brand. Dante Bichette is the primary subject of this card, but there's a lenticular animation of an unidentified Seattle Mariner crushing a ball out toward left-center. The umpire and catcher both appear to stand up to watch the ball sail away, but the catcher seems to be looking in the wrong direction as the ball leaves the bat, and his view is obscured by the Sportflix logo anyway.

Perhaps the technology wasn't quite there yet, but an animated reproduction of one of Bichette's many home runs, such as his memorable 1995 Opening Day game-winner, would have really made this card incredible. With the pace of technological change, it's entirely possible that we'll start seeing highlight reels embedded in cards before too long. There's no reason the Topps Bunt app couldn't do that right now, but in the physical world, a little screen of some kind with a power source on a printed circuit board would make a set unlike any the Hobby has ever seen.

Topps already has us paying a couple hundred bucks a pop for the likes of Museum Collection and Tribute. How much more could it be to get a box with little computerized baseball cards?

Break Time!

The All-Star Break is upon us.

It's billed as the halfway point of the season, but in reality it's about a week or so past that. The Rockies have predictably begun their July slide, winning only three of their last seven, though somehow they've managed to hold onto third place. They're an even .500 in the four games I've attended this year, and I witnessed them trade blowouts with the Phillies this weekend, stopping by Coors Field twice over a four-game set to enter the Break. Thursday's 11-2 win was plenty of fun to watch, with Trevor Story hitting two home runs, including one monster to deep left field, almost to the concourse.

Sunday's game was much more in the Phillies' favor. The Rox dropped the contest 10-3, despite Carlos Gonzalez crushing one to the third deck in right-center. I've seen him hit more than a few that direction this year, though none quite as far as that. I hope it bodes well for his appearance in tonight's Home Run Derby, where he's matched against the defending champion, Todd Frazier. Like Cincinnati last year, this year's home crowd in San Diego also has a hometown participant to root for in Wil Myers.

This year's field is heavily weighted toward the NL West, which is sending three participants—Myers, CarGo, and Corey Seager. The other five divisions have one representative each. Fortunately for the Derby, Petco Park is less of a pitcher's park than it used to be, which may not matter much anyway with batting practice pitches.

2016 Topps Archives #104 Evan Longoria

In addition to the Home Run Derby selection, the All-Star Final Vote has been completed. Evan Longoria finished fifth out of five in the American League final balloting. Personally, I gave my AL votes to Ian Kinsler, though he finished third to Michael Saunders. Of course, my NL votes went to Trevor Story, not only because he's a Rockie, but because he had quite a day on Thursday when Final Vote balloting was underway. Sadly, he finished third to Brandon Belt, but if his rookie season is any indication, he'll have plenty of other chances to play in the Midsummer Classic.

2016 Topps Archives #57 Charlie Blackmon

Charlie Blackmon appeared in 2014's All-Star Game, going 0-for-2. Arenado and CarGo are the lone Rockie representatives this year, but Blackmon's made enough of a name for himself (or has a good enough beard) to earn representation in 2016 Topps Archives.

Usually it doesn't take this long for me to start talking about the cards, but I've seen a lot of baseball in person this weekend, which is my idea of a great summer. Blackmon gets the 1953 Topps treatment, one of three classic designs found in 2016 Archives, along with the 1979 design used for Longoria's card, and another you'll see later.

Longoria, by the way, was one of the players the Rockies passed over in the 2006 Draft, along with Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and a few other now-obvious selections. The Rockies did draft Blackmon two years later, though this 1953-style card doesn't provide that level of detail.

2016 Topps Archives #130 Tom Seaver

I haven't bought much 2016 product yet, and when I took this trip to Target, I was on the hunt for the recently released Stadium Club set. There was none to be found, so I ended up with this pack of Topps Archives instead. It wasn't my first choice, but I consistently gravitate toward this set, and the distinctive matte finish on the cards still remains.

This card of Tom Seaver represents a common gripe about Topps Archives. From 1977 through 1982, Tom Terrific pitched for the Reds, yet he is shown as a Met on this 1979 design. There are lots of factors going on here, since he played for several teams throughout his career, and Topps only chose three set designs for the base set this year. He's probably most well-remembered as a Met, the team he played for when he won his only World Series championship in 1969.

I suppose we're a fickle bunch, us card collectors. But let's be honest here; Evan Longoria wasn't even born in 1979. And Charlie Blackmon certainly wasn't born in 1953. His parents might not even have been. But here we are, complaining about Tom Seaver appearing as a Met on the '79 design instead of as a Red. Which is fine with me. Isn't the whole point of this set to see players as they weren't pictured?

2016 Topps Archives #12 Robin Yount

I guess franchise players like Robin Yount take that debate out of the equation. He earned his way into the 3,000 hit club with one team, and though he never won a World Series, he was the face of the Brewers from almost their inception until 1993, a few years before they switched leagues.

Like Yount, quite a few players now in the Hall of Fame hung up the spikes in 1993, including Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk, and George Brett. Other than the inaugural ballot in 1936, 1999 marked the first time that at least three players were elected on their first ballot in the same year. Fisk needed a second ballot to get in, but Yount, Ryan, and Brett all got in during their first year of eligibility. That's becoming less rare, as both 2014 and 2015 each saw three first-ballot players enshrined in Cooperstown, primarily the Braves' 1990s rotation.

2016 Topps Archives '85 Father/Son #FS-GG Ken Griffey Jr. / Ken Griffey Sr.

Ken Griffey, Jr., along with Mike Piazza, are the newest members of the Hall of Fame. Junior outshined his dad in that department, but still got a nice 1985-themed Father/Son card in this seven-card insert set. Both Griffeys hail from Donora, Penn., which is worth keeping in mind for a later card in this post. This card is new enough to reference Ken Jr.'s induction to the Hall, while also serving as a checklist of sorts, providing the card number of each man's rookie card.

2016 Topps Archives #279 Josh Donaldson

After 1953 and 1979, the third set represented in Archives this year is 1991, one of the first sets I ever collected. They only made minor changes to the design, just slightly modifying the team logos in the lower right (never really noticed that chevron before), and changing the anniversary counter in the upper left from 40 to 65. The watermark logo on the back is changed in the same way, but they got the brick red color just about perfect.

Twenty-five years really zips by. Seeing a set you collected as a kid in an Archives set is the baseball card equivalent of hearing songs you listened to in high school on the Oldies station. Still, these 1991 cards might be my favorite ones yet to appear in any Archives set.

2016 Topps Archives #271 Ted Williams

Ted Williams, the last player to hit over .400, gets a card in the 1991 style as well. These are sort of like sunset cards, in that we get complete career statistics on the back. Williams played from 1939-1960, and that .406 mark appeared in only his third season. It is pretty cool to see a stat like that on such a recent card, especially since the industry hasn't ever had the opportunity to feature a current .400 season on the back of a post-war card.

In case you were wondering, Williams went 185-for-456 in 1941. Interestingly, he had exactly one more hit in the following season, but somehow worked in 66 more at-bats, good for a still-awesome .356. Those early-'40s years helped him on his way to a .344 lifetime average, which stands as sixth-best in baseball history.

I find it interesting that Topps chose the 1991 design for The Splendid Splinter, as Williams started up his own card company in 1993, though he was a bit late to the party, closing up shop during the strike of 1994 after just two sets.

2016 Topps Archives #282 Lou Brock

I pulled a couple other 1991 cards, and though you wouldn't know it so far, this turned out to be a bit of a Cardinals hot pack. Lou Brock joins a long list of Hall-of-Famers, and while I have few cards from his era, this photograph is new to me.

2016 Topps Archives Blue #61 Kolten Wong /199

This is the only parallel I pulled from the 18-card pack, and while I like Kolten Wong as much as the next guy, he hasn't made as much of a name for himself yet as most others in this pack. Granted, there are some real superstars here, but a blue-bordered parallel numbered to 199 is a hit no matter how you slice it.

2016 Topps Archives #141 Stan Musial

The Cardinals hits wrap up with this Stan Musial. It's just a base card, but it might be my favorite one in the whole pack. I absolutely love that Popeye expression he's wearing, as the legendary lefty is definitely staring something down. The old Topps logo appears, like it does on the rest of the '79s, and the back of the card even has a trivia question on it.

Your category is Baseball Dates. The question is, "What happened on June 2nd, 1925?"

Nothing in particular jumps out at me, but the upside-down answer gives almost any baseball fan more than enough information. That was the day "Lou Gehrig replaced Wally Pipp—and the rest is history."

Lou Gehrig appeared in last year's Archives set on a 1983 design, and he's in 2016's set on the same 1979 design as Musial. Not sure if there's a connection there in how Topps chose its trivia questions, but a reference to Gehrig's amazing streak of 2,130 consecutive games played on a card of the 1988 Donruss Puzzle guy from Donora, Penn. shows how awesome this set is. When you look closely at a pack like this, it's not even a disappointment that Target was out of Stadium Club.