Cut Short

"Fernandez's statistical possibilities boggle the imagination."

2014 Topps Spring Fever #SF-20 Jose Fernandez

So said Topps in 2014 about Jose Fernandez, the Marlins ace who lost his life Sunday morning in a boating accident. He was just 24 years old, but already had a Rookie of the Year award and two All-Star appearances under his belt.

This card has appeared here before, marking the Baseball Solstice in the 2014-2015 offseason. No one could know that it would make another appearance under much worse circumstances. Fatal boating accidents have struck active Major Leaguers before, as you may recall the 1993 incident that claimed the lives of Tim Crews and Steve Olin. Even outside the baseball world, 2016 has seen its share of untimely celebrity deaths, including Prince and David Bowie, to lesser-known figures like Anton Yelchin and Christina Grimmie.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of Jose Fernandez, as well as the Miami Marlins organization.

I've had a post in mind for a while that's a bit of a downer, and I feel like today might be an appropriate day to share it. Of course, this is not to take away from what happened with Jose Fernandez, who was one of the most promising young pitchers in the game.

A little over a month ago, I did a Cubs-focused post with cards I had obtained at a card show in early 2015. Those cards, and others from that post, have been sitting on my card table for quite some time. As I went through them recently, a theme started emerging that really wasn't all sunshine and roses, like it usually is on this blog, various lamentations about Rockies' losses aside.

1994 Fleer Golden Moments #5 Bo Jackson

Bo Jackson, a multi-sport star, was poised for all-time greatness, but experienced a hip injury on an innocent-looking tackle in 1991 that put an end to his NFL career. The Royals didn't expect him to return to baseball, either, but the White Sox gave him a chance, as depicted on this Fleer insert card that mentions the injury. "Bo's Back", according to the back of this Golden Moments card, long before Topps made an insert set of the same name. Jackson helped the White Sox reach the playoffs in 1993, which was the first postseason that I remember watching. Wilson Alvarez, Tim Raines, and Bo Jackson were some of the first American Leaguers I ever watched on TV in the 1993 ALCS.

He played for the Angels the following year, but decided to retire from baseball after that strike-shortened 1994 season, yet another player whose career was ended by the strike.

2011 Topps Opening Day Blue #106 Todd Helton /2011

Todd Helton had a stellar career for the Rockies, and he was my answer when I was asked the other night during a business trip to the Dallas area who the best-ever Rockies player was. All those doubles and a World Series appearance count for a lot. He was loved in Denver (though there was that DUI incident), but you can't play this game forever. Helton retired in 2013, leaving a bit of a vacuum at first base, even if he does have a burger stand named after him at the ballpark. And he played in the era in which Topps Opening Day Blue parallels still had serial numbers. In gold, no less.

1982 Topps #781 Pete Rose IA

Ten years after Topps debuted the In Action subset, they used it again in the 1982 set. All-time MLB hits leader Pete Rose got a card that likely depicts one of his 4,256 hits. Like Rickey Henderson, Rose is the career leader in several statistics, which are games played, plate appearances, at-bats, and of course hits. Rickey leads not only in stolen bases, but also runs scored, and times caught stealing.

Rickey, of course, is in the Hall of Fame, but Pete Rose is not, despite his accomplishments. His gambling scandal landed him on the list of players permanently ineligible from baseball, which has kept him out of the Hall.

There are a lot of names on that list, including the names you might expect like Joe Jackson and other Black Sox players, along with players, umpires, and managers from long ago that were involved with throwing games. Clearly, baseball does not look kindly on gambling. If you're in a position to affect the outcome of the game, that's one thing, but even Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were briefly banned in the mid-1980s for the mere sin of representing a casino in a promotional capacity long after their careers ended.

The Hall of Fame can choose to keep out the all-time hits leader (other than Ichiro, sort of), but if they keep that up, as well as snubbing pretty much any steroid user, enforcing their own sense of morality risks cheapening the value of the Hall itself. A baseball Hall of Fame that doesn't include Pete Rose, Joe Jackson, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, etc... really doesn't give you a complete list, does it?

2013 Topps Chrome 1972 Chrome #72C-RB Ryan Braun

Unless that policy changes drastically, here's another guy that won't be in Cooperstown anytime soon, Ryan Braun. He was suspended for about half of the 2013 season after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Whatever accomplishments remain in his career, he's unlikely to get full recognition for them, even if he happens to lead the Brewers to their first-ever championship someday.

Topps is still happy to print nice, shiny cards of Braun in the great 1972 design, so at least Topps knows what the fans want.

2010 Topps Chrome Refractors #209 Daniel McCutchen

It's not just the superstars that used steroids, even players you've never heard of did too. That's why I think steroid use wasn't such a big deal in and of itself. Bonds stood head-and-shoulders above the league even when a large portion of his competitors were using the same compounds. But Daniel McCutchen tested positive as a Minor Leaguer in 2013, and was slapped with a 50-game suspension. He has no relation to the other McCutchen on the Pirates, Andrew, but believe me when I say I experienced a moment of panic when I saw "McCutchen suspended 50 games for positive drug test" on the ESPN ticker just a couple weeks after I selected Andrew as my Fantasy team's first pick.

Daniel McCutchen, despite his use of PEDs, didn't have his performance enhanced that much. He was almost 27 before his Major League debut, and even then, finished with an 8-11 career record over five seasons. He even had an infinite ERA in 2012, giving up two earned runs in one appearance without recording an out. The old divide by zero error doesn't strike many pitchers, so clearly PEDs help some more than others.

All that aside, at least Topps gave him a nice bunting card in 2010.

2014 Topps Archives #175 Yogi Berra

If you've watched any Yankees games this year, you've probably seen a little numeral 8 on their uniform sleeves. That's a memorial for Yogi Berra, the Yankee great who passed away about a year ago. There aren't many players whose count of World Series rings exceeds his uniform number. He was a comedic genius, too, so he'd probably say something along the lines of "I guess I beat the spread" if he were presented with that statistic.

Yogi does look good on the 1989 design in 2014 Archives. I'd say this photo is better than most of what was found in the actual '89 set.

2012 Bowman Sterling Refractors #47 Jordan Pacheco

Even the normal course of baseball transactions leaves some disappointment in its wake. Jordan Pacheco, who appears on a very shiny, serial-numbered Bowman Sterling card, is no longer with the Rockies. He's bounced around the NL for the last few years, but he was one of my favorite young Rockies who came of age as Helton's career was wrapping up.

This card pretty much feels like a Topps Chrome card, maybe a tiny bit thicker. I can't remember if I got it from Christian, my usual dealer at card shows, or from the new guy who bought all of Adam's inventory, the other dealer at the monthly show that I liked to visit. Adam bowed out of the hobby, and as I haven't been to a show since then, I don't know if the new dealer is still active.

2012 Finest #90 Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes was briefly a Rockie following the blockbuster Troy Tulowitzki trade. The Rockies cut him following a domestic violence incident, and he's now back on the Mets where his career began. If the Mets don't choke like they did in 2007, Reyes should make the playoffs again with last year's NL pennant winners. They're tied with the Giants for the NL Wild Card spots, but the always-dangerous Cardinals are definitely in the hunt.

The Marlins, where Reyes played for one season as shown on this color-coded Topps Finest card, are a bit further out, but they've been a factor in the Wild Card race for some time. To lose their ace in such a tragic accident marks a bitter end to the 2016 season. They cancelled their game against the Braves today, and the league observed a moment of silence before each of today's games.

2014 Topps Gold #25 Troy Tulowitzki /2014

More than Pacheco, I really liked Troy Tulowitzki. I've seen this photo numerous times before, and it's a reminder of the days when the Tulo chant echoed throughout Coors Field. Now they do the chant in the Skydome, but he might make the playoffs two straight years if the Blue Jays hold on to a wild card spot in the tight AL East. That's definitely not what would have happened if he stayed in Denver.

CarGo was quoted on the back of Tulo's card, right under the serial number. He says, "When [Tulowitzki]'s not playing, we are a completely different team." Players like Arenado, Story, Blackmon, Gray, and Dahl have helped the Rockies forge a new identity following the trade, but somehow it'll never be quite the same.

Of course, the same goes for the Marlins, and for a much worse reason. It puts things in perspective. When they trade your favorite player, it never feels good. But when an accident like that happens to a 24-year old who made his mark in America after defecting from Cuba, it's a whole different story.

2012 Topps A Cut Above #ACA-17 Tim Lincecum

I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't be writing any of this today. Maybe every one of these words is inappropriate given the situation. But it helps, just remembering that even if things didn't end up that great, there are always good memories to look back on.

Tim Lincecum's career has gone through some tough times recently. He has three World Series rings, but a competitor like that always wants to do the best he can. The two-time Cy Young winner's statistics have been consistently trailing off for years, but he keeps setting his sights on a comeback. The Angels gave him a chance, but he went 2-6 this season. As we saw with Bo Jackson over twenty years ago, hip surgeries aren't easy to come back from.

This die-cut card is from the same set as a Troy Tulowitzki card I got via trade recently, and it shows Lincecum's trademark wild hair. He had a lot to do with the Giants' even-year magic, and without his presence, the streak might come to an end.

2014 Topps The Future is Now #FN-3 Shelby Miller

Shelby Miller has also had a rough go of it. He's back in Arizona's rotation, but he was demoted to Triple-A for a month or so this summer. He's getting things back on track, but went 2-9 in the first half. Zach Greinke hasn't had a great first season in Arizona either. And the trade that brought Miller to Arizona was so heavily in the Braves' favor that plenty of sportswriters could hardly believe it. I was expecting a better season out of Arizona, but maybe that will wait until next year.

2012 Topps Opening Day #189 Mariano Rivera

Lots of iconic players that have been the faces of baseball for the past couple decades finally decided to call it a career. The Yankees are having a tough time succeeding in, let alone making the playoffs since Rivera's retirement in 2013. Rivera set the all-time high-water mark for saves, with 652. And that's not even counting the 42 postseason saves he had in his storied career. Five World Series rings (and oh-so-close to a sixth), a World Series MVP award, and the last player to wear the number 42, the same as his postseason save count.

He appears on this foil-free Topps Opening Day card, but Rivera will always be associated with the last game of the season much more than the first.

2007 UD Masterpieces #14 David Ortiz

Ortiz has been just as important to Boston's recent string of championships as Rivera was to the Yankees. He's up to 37 home runs on the year, which is his final season, or so he says. The Red Sox will be in the 2016 Postseason, so Ortiz still has room for a little more. No one has ever hit more home runs in his final season than Ortiz has now, and there's still a week left in the regular season.

Like Rivera's saves, Ortiz's 17 postseason home runs carry more importance than his 540 in the regular season. He's certainly worthy of an Upper Deck Masterpieces card, and he still had two rings yet to earn when this was printed, one against my beloved Rockies.

2012 Bowman Gold #63 Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod isn't as well-liked as Ortiz or Rivera, but he's still one of the greats. And will probably be in line behind Ryan Braun in the Not-in-the-Hall-of-Fame club. He entered the majors at just eighteen years of age. I knew he was a young rookie, but I checked Baseball Reference to be exactly sure. I thought I had heard seventeen at one point. His first game was on July 8th, 1994. That date looked very familiar, and I collected enough cards back then to remember seeing that date on John Valentin's 1995 cards as the date he turned an unassisted triple play for the Red Sox.

Even weirder, guess who the Red Sox were playing that day? Yes, Seattle. A-Rod was in the hole when it happened, but A-Rod got to witness an unassisted triple play in his very first Major League game. You can even see him in the dugout during that clip. I remember hearing about it on the radio, but I had no idea that a rookie in that game would go on to be such an important figure in the baseball world. Who would know that? The announcers barely realized what happened during the play.

He's known for one of the most valuable contracts in baseball history, and there was talk of him hitting 900 home runs before his career ended. However, he was suspended for the entire 2014 season over his involvement with PEDs. He retired earlier this season with 696 career home runs. He probably wouldn't have caught Bonds or Aaron, but if he played in 2014, I bet he'd have passed Babe Ruth.

1998 Topps HallBound #HB2 Tony Gwynn

Topps was spot-on with this 1998 card of Tony Gwynn, predicting that he was on his way to being voted into Cooperstown. That prediction came true in 2007 on his first ballot. Topps did a pretty good job with these. They picked fifteen players for this die-cut insert set, and all are indeed in the Hall of Fame, or at least they should be. Most who aren't I've already mentioned, which are McGwire, Bonds, and Clemens. The only arguably borderline case in the set was Juan Gonzalez, who did have two MVP seasons, but was one of the main faces of the steroid scandal, which torpedoed his already unclear chances.

Tony Gwynn won eight batting titles in his career, and he was rightly awarded with a plaque in Cooperstown. His career average was .338, and that's the highest any recent player has attained by quite a bit. Come on, he's the only guy in the top-20 with a color photograph.

Sadly, he only got to enjoy that Hall of Fame status for less than a decade. He passed away in 2014 from what he attributed to a tobacco-caused cancer.

2013 Topps Chasing History #CH-55 Ken Griffey, Jr.

Like Gwynn before him, Ken Griffey, Jr. is now a member of the Hall of Fame. He's the highest draft pick to ever make it, and Mike Piazza, his counterpart in the class of 2016, was the lowest draft pick to ever make it. This Chasing History card, one of my favorite insert sets from 2013, told us that Griffey could consistently be relied on for at least 20 home runs a season. Sometimes a lot more. In 1998, while McGwire and Sosa were battling to break Roger Maris' record, Griffey quietly finished in third place with 56, the same count he had in 1997.

Plus he was the guy to collect back in the 1990s, along with Frank Thomas. Those two guys were the blue chips of pre-strike Beckett values.

2007 UD Masterpieces #65 Alex Gordon (RC)

I guess at the end of the day, despite tragedy, misfortune, illness, disappointment, and the simple passage of time, the game carries on. Sometimes it's as simple as this: you get to win a World Series, and your biggest problem is being dropped from the 2006 Topps base set. Cory Lidle, on the other hand, made it into the 2006 Topps Update set, but for a sad reason.

Baseball has been there for this country in hard times. It helped distract people from the depression as soon as they figured out how to light a field. It helped normalize relations with Japan after World War II. And it helped America start healing after the world-changing events of 9/11. It just becomes a little paradoxical when it occurs within the baseball world itself.

And we won't get to hear the legendary Vin Scully guide us through the game after this season, as we have since 1950.

I'm sure we'll see the Marlins wear a memorial patch next week and for the duration of next season. But they lost more than their ace pitcher with amazing reflexes. They lost a bright young athlete who loved the game and who loved life.

The Trading Post #41: Baseball Cards Come To Life!

Bo from Baseball Cards Come To Life! "loves big trades".

1993 Leaf #120 Checklist

All the way back in April (before the Rockies drifted down the NL West standings and Tulo was still wearing the purple pinstripes), Bo and I swapped medium-sized flat rate boxes full of baseball cards. The box I sent him wasn't quite as full, but after I unpacked what Bo mailed, the cards took up two entire rows of a 5,000-count box.

So I didn't quite know how to tackle this one.

I thought about splitting up this post into Topps and Non-Topps as I've done before, but there was significantly more UD, Pinnacle, Leaf, etc... than Topps, so it wouldn't have been balanced. Instead, much like getting a heavy parcel full of cardboard, I'm just going to give this to you in one giant, heaping spoonful.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice the late Ken Caminiti in that checklist card above, and given that he was part of the monster 12-player trade between the Astros and Padres in 1994, I figured any one of those players on a checklist card would be a perfect metaphor for this trade.

It's an interesting photo, because if one didn't know the rules of baseball, one might think that Caminiti were lunging for that ball as though the championship depended on it. Unlike most team sports that feature a constant battle for the ball, when you think about it, the fact that the offense pretty much wants the ball as far away from any human (especially baserunners) as possible once it leaves the bat is quite unusual.

Of course, that card is from the well-loved 1993 Leaf set, which Bo sent over in pretty darn close to complete form. I needed around 20 cards from series 2; I probably have that half complete now.

1993 Stadium Club #458 Alex Cole

1993 Stadium Club wasn't quite as complete, but I still received at least 400 cards from it, and all in numerical order, a huge help! Of course, 1993 was the first year Rockies and Marlins started making regular appearances on cardboard, and Alex Cole, with his trademark goggles, was an easy player to spot on the field. For the same reason, so was Chris Sabo on the Reds, a player that was mentioned during the Rockies' broadcast last week.

1991 Stadium Club #81 Chuck Finley

There was plenty more Stadium Club to be found, like this great action shot of Chuck Finley from the inaugural 1991 set, when they touted their use of Kodak film in obtaining their images. The shallow depth of field focuses on Finley's delivery, but the downside is that I have no idea who's at the plate, making it difficult to date this card.

1994 Stadium Club #100 Joey Cora

Here's a bit of a different view of the common double play shot. Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach is trying to break up a double play, and you can even see the base bending underneath Joey Cora's nameplate. It's a crowded area around second base, as Ozzie Guillen is in on the action as well, just under a decade before he'd go on to manage the White Sox to a World Series win.

1998 Stadium Club #192 Dante Bichette

Of course, the Rockies are still in the hunt for their first-ever World Series win, but at least they've been there, something many other expansion teams are not lucky enough to claim.

Dante Bichette was one of the Blake Street Bombers, and here he's casually sitting around on a cart for his 1998 Stadium Club photo shoot. I always liked the embossed baseball stitching on the corner of this set, and I think this is the first year of the updated Stadium Club logo.

I am guessing that this was shot during spring training. You can see the letters "HI" on the front of the cart, probably the property of Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Arizona. Up until recently, that's where the Rockies held their spring training games, and my sister and I even made it down for a game in 2008.

That's about it for Topps, but there's still lots more to come.

1992 Classic/Best #286 Andy Pettitte

Bo included a few oddballs among all these cards, like a few from the minor league Classic brand. Most of them were no-namers that never made it to The Show. A few did, like Joey Eischen and Mark Sweeney, but there were a couple of real superstars in there, like Jim Edmonds and Andy Pettitte.

I saw him pitch at Coors Field once, back in 2002. The Yankees beat the Rockies that day in a 20-10 slugfest. Pettitte came a long way between wearing a minor league uniform and pitching the Yankees to numerous World Series wins.

1995 Signature Rookies Tetrad #58 Todd Helton

Like another Denver sports superstar, Todd Helton went to the University of Tennessee. He was proficient in both baseball and football, even serving on the same football team as Peyton Manning. Surprisingly, Helton is listed on this oddball card as a pitcher. It's true; he was quite a proficient closer before making the switch over to first base.

In fact, he's not the only multi-sport player the Rockies have targeted in the draft. Russell Wilson, current quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, was picked by the Rockies and even played in the minors for a year or two. He still shows up for spring training as a Texas Ranger, but at this point, he probably ought to stick to the NFL.

1993 Pinnacle #521 Darren Holmes

Darren Holmes was much more baseball-focused than Wilson, and he leads off a few Pinnacle cards, this one from 1993. This was one of the first Rockies cards, sneaking its way into Series 2 like most of the 1993 releases. The logo on the front is from the 1992 expansion draft, while the Rockies logo on the back is an old version that was tweaked just a bit before they began their first season.

During the 1994 strike, we had a little family outing to a mall-anchor department store to get Darren's autograph. He signed several items for me, most of which I still have. The baseball is a bit faded, but the cards and 8x10 photo are as sharp as ever.

1993 Select #77 Luis Sojo

You'd think with as much as I go on about green cards, you'd have seen some 1993 Select by now, but the set just never grew on me. Somehow the green isn't as vivid, maybe because of the two-tone design they use.

I like this picture of Luis Sojo. The Angels' second baseman probably looks like I did playing second base in little league, squinting his eyes and just hoping that the baseball gods would guide the ball into his glove. While I'm sure a few liners ended up over my head, the back of this card tells a different story.

1993 Select #77 Luis Sojo (Reverse)

That might be the best snow cone I've ever seen on a card.

1995 Pinnacle #208 Bo Jackson

How's that for a sunset card? Nevermind the guy's baseball career; that is an awesome awesome Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet!

By the time this 1995 card was printed, Bo Jackson had played his last game. He spent a year with the California Angels (before all that "of Anaheim" nonsense) as a Designated Hitter. The reverse only has his 1994 and career total stats, plus a rarely-seen line of "Career Highs"—the baseball card version of those little bars that stay elevated on a stereo equalizer.

It's a very 1990s card.

1995 Ultra #155 Mike Kingery

Mike Kingery was one of my mom's favorite players during the early years of the Rockies. He was an unassuming, yet capable, center fielder. Not a Jim Edmonds by any means, but he made plenty of clutch plays in the cavernous outfield of Coors Field.

This is a play at the plate, although not the usual dusty, sliding affair we're used to. That's definitely a Giants' catcher (probably Kirt Manwaring) unceremoniously tagging Kingery on the leg for an unfortunate Rockies' out.

Fleer went a little nuts with the foil here, using both gold and silver foil, different letter styles for the first and last name, plus the team logo for good measure. The photography still works well in spite of all that.

1998 Fleer Tradition #471 Scott Brosius

Honestly, Fleer got pretty darn good with the photography in the post-strike era, although the designs always felt like they were trying too hard. They broke with tradition in 1998 and 1999, calling their flagship set "Fleer Tradition". Again, the photography is sharp and action-packed, and we even get a cameo of Rafael Bournigal, an under-the-radar Major Leaguer you've probably never heard of. His offensive stats are mediocre, but he had a stellar career fielding percentage of .988.

1996 Donruss #78 David Segui

Besides that stack of 1993 Leaf, there wasn't much Donruss in this huge box. There were a few from the 1996 set, known in collector circles as "the loincloth set" for the rather obstructive placement of the square jumble containing the logo, city, team, position, brand, and uniform number. There was no room for the player's name in all that, so we find that in a color-coded ribbon toward the top.

Almost everyone was following Stadium Club's lead by now, offering a full-bleed design with some interesting photography. This on-deck photo must be from the always-windy Candlestick Park, based on that San Francisco ad on the stadium facade.

1995 Collector's Choice SE #246 Mike Stanley

I'll wrap up with a bit of Upper Deck. Here's a slightly more conventional play at the plate, with Yankees catcher Mike Stanley bracing for an impact with Tino Martinez. I thought this might have been Edgar, the other Martinez, the one who spent his whole career in Seattle, the one who has a left-field bar area named for him at Safeco Field, but no. It was the soon-to-be Yankee Tino.

1995 Collector's Choice #442 Curt Leskanic

Here's another spring training photo, similar in design to Stanley's card, but from a set entirely separate from the blue Special Edition cards.

Curtis Leskanic was a strange guy. He was a pitcher's pitcher, not quite Turk Wendell-level, but still plenty odd. He claimed that he put more juice on his fastball by shaving his right arm to cut down on wind resistance. And for all I know, that's his Social Security number on his name sticker. I hope he hasn't suffered a lifetime of identity theft due to this card. But Baseball Card Bust has a different theory.

1994 Upper Deck #399 Terry Mulholland

1994 Upper Deck was well-represented, and it'll fit nicely into an already-large collection I have of that set. But I don't think I had this card. The dugout shot makes it interesting, and I'm guessing that this was not taken on a day he started. He looks relaxed enough to know that he's not climbing the mound that day.

I remember him as a Philadelpha Phillie, partly because he was on that team at the height of the baseball card bubble, but also since he pitched in the 1993 World Series, the first I ever watched. He played for a lot of teams in his long career, though surprisingly never for the Rockies.

1996 Upper Deck #27 Gary DiSarcina

Here's a double play card, always a blogosphere favorite. While the action is great, and I have an appreciation for middle infielders, perhaps the best aspect of these is the cameo. You're sure to find a baserunner, and occasionally the other middle infielder (like in that Joey Cora card way up at the top). 2B Damion Easley is nowhere to be found here, but we do get a cameo of Chris Gomez, a Detroit Tiger at the time.

DiSarcina makes it look easy. I played second base in little league, and I could never pull this off.

2007 UD Masterpieces #8 Lou Gehrig

This has been a hugely long post, certainly my longest, so thanks for hanging in there. I know that 1990s overproduction cards aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I would have been beyond ecstatic to get a box like this in my elementary school days. Even all these years later, I'm still pretty stoked and humbled that I've found such a generous community of like-minded bloggers, and that 48 people are even subscribed to this thing.

This box included enough cards to tell a bit of a story, leading off with Ken Caminiti, and wrapping up with a humble and appreciative Lou Gehrig, from a set that was one of Upper Deck's literal masterpieces.

Thank you, Bo, for all these great cards, and thanks to each and every one of you who takes the time to read my blog.

'Twas the Season

You might think it's a little late for me to post my winnings from a contest that Jeff at 2x3 Heroes ran at the end of 2014.

And you'd be right. I sat on this one for quite a while.

Back in December, I put my name in Jeff's virtual hat and won the final of 15 available slots in his 'Tis the Season giveaway. I'll get to the bulk of my winnings later on, but Jeff was kind enough to throw in a small helping of Rockies cards to sweeten the deal.

2009 Topps Wal-Mart Black Border #166 Jeff Baker

Starting things off is a black-bordered parallel from 2009 Topps. This looks fantastic with the black jerseys that the Rockies wear on occasion, and even the foil looks pretty good when the rest of the card is blacked out. My scanner significantly lightened up the shadows; this looks darker in person.

2000 Ultimate Victory #90 Ben Petrick

Continuing the theme of colored borders, Rockies catcher Ben Petrick appears here on an Ultimate Victory base card. These are a little fancier than just the plain Victory set, as these have a nice blue and silver foil, as well as a slight raised surface on the player's outline.

2009 SP Authentic #85 Brad Hawpe

Though this penultimate SP Authentic set fell flat with collectors, the 2009 set has grown on me more and more. I actually have quite a few of these, as they tended to turn up frequently in eBay bulk lots a few years ago. Its simplicity is quite the contrast to the previous two cards, and I actually find it pretty distinctive.

2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2499 Matt Holliday

Jeff was sure to throw in a Coors Field card, from the unbelievably gigantic 2008 UD Documentary set. Two cards for every game played (one for each team) means there were close to five thousand cards in this set. The Rockies July 6th card, #2499 featuring Matt Holiday, falls right smack in the middle. I have to wonder if any devoted collectors actually completed the whole thing and filled a five-row storage box.

1994 Ultra #188 Armando Reynoso

This Reynoso card is from a set that is far easier to complete, 1994 Ultra. Reynoso was one of my favorite pitchers in the early days of the Rockies, and had an amazingly effective pickoff move. I even remember him hitting a home run, still a rarity for pitchers not named Madison Bumgarner.

My girlfriend said that she'd like to start seeing more than just Rockies cards on this blog. My collection spans all teams, but my trade packages tend to be limited to just the Rockies. I know I have two upcoming posts that feature non-Rockies, including a former Eight Men Out card. so keep your eyes peeled for those.

2014 Donruss #227 Carlos Gomez DK

I'm not sure whether Jeff intended to include this card or if he just glanced at the "Carlos G" name and tossed it in.

When I first saw it, I thought to myself, "I don't remember Carlos Gonzalez ever having a beard like that," so Jeff may have made the same false identification as I did. Upon closer examination, this card is actually of Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez.

Like most of the recent Donruss cards, it's a faithful homage to the original designs both front and back. It's probably losing points with collectors for being "too retro", a second strike against the Panini brand that is already devoid of MLB logos and team names.

Which is probably why I thought a Brewer was a Rockie.

More on that later.

2014 Topps Football #225 Demaryius Thomas

That's unusual, you might be saying. Again, you'd be right.

Most of what I won in this giveaway consisted of football cards. They filled most of a small Priority Mail box, aside from a team bag of Rockies cards.

As a Colorado native, I do consider myself a Broncos fan, although with all the continued and worsening PR disasters, pro football keeps dropping down my list of preferred sports. The Patriots' antics with deflated game balls would be quite the scandal under normal circumstances, but it pales in comparison to all the domestic violence that keeps coming to light.

Regardless, though I traded most of them to my usual dealer at last month's card show, I did pick out a handful of cards to save, most of which were Broncos.

2014 Topps Fantasy Strategies #FFS-ED Eric Decker

Or at least former Broncos.

Eric Decker led off his career well in Denver but is now playing for the New York Jets, as pictured. I love all this green. I might have to keep an eye out for more Jets cards if they look this good.

2014 Rookies and Stars Longevity Team Logo Holofoil #40 Chris Ivory /32

So is this guy, although I've never heard of him. But I'll be happy to keep any card numbered as low as /32. As I primarily collect baseball, it's highly unusual to see an official team name and logo on a Panini card. But if I collected more sports, I might be a little more used to this. By next year, all the major sports (and many minor ones) will have exclusive deals with just one card company, as the NFL Player's Association license goes to Panini.

As a card collector, this is disheartening. Though the hobby got pretty out of control when there were a half-dozen producers, at least there was competition. It's ironic that professional sports leagues, who so strongly encourage sportsmanship and competition, have engaged in anti-competitive behavior for well over a century.

2014 Upper Deck Football #38 Bo Jackson

I guess that wouldn't really matter to a guy like Bo Jackson. As probably the best multi-sport player of modern times, he's sure to continue to get both official Topps, Panini, and Upper Deck cards any time they feel like including retired legends in their upcoming sets. Even then, UD is still shut out of his NFL and MLB careers, so they had to dive back into his college days for this one.

But it's a heck of a tough way to get a licensed card with multiple card companies.