Roger That

You only have to win by one.

 

Despite slogging through what has been a disastrous 2025 season, the Colorado Rockies scratched out an all-time great win last night, topping the Pittsburgh Pirates 17-16. It was a classic Coors Field game, reminiscent of the pre-humidor days, and not for nothing, gave the Rockies a winning record since the All-Star break.

 

A 17-16 win is a team effort no matter how you slice it, but the big hero at 20th and Blake was center fielder Brenton Doyle. 

 

Colorado started the 9th inning down by 4, which was heroic by itself, as the game started 9-0 before the Rockies even came up to bat. I had been keeping an eye on the increasingly wild score throughout the evening, and finally turned the game on in the 8th inning just as rookie Yanquiel Fernández hit his first-ever big league homer, as a pinch-hitter, no less, to make it 16-12.

 

As the Pirates just traded their primary closer David Bednar (who played a role in the Yankees' similar implosion against the Marlins last night), reliever Dennis Santana came in to close out the game, and his stats looked great on the surface. Even with a bit of Blake Street Magic hanging in the air, I had thought the hole the Rockies dug in the first inning would be too much to overcome. But after a home run here, a full-count triple there, and an RBI single to set the stage, just like that the winning run came up to the plate in Brenton Doyle. The Rockies were seeing Santana's pitches well, and it was one of those situations where, as the saying goes, "the man in the on-deck circle is in scoring position."

 

2025 Topps #44 Brenton Doyle

At that point I turned to my wife and said, "well, home run wins it!" Sure enough, with a runner on and one out, Doyle clubbed an 0-1 pitch over the left-center wall to complete one of the most epic comebacks in baseball history. And by the way, all this led to pitcher Dugan Darnell getting the lucky win in his MLB debut.

 

It was a wild night in baseball across the league. Five of the fifteen games ended with a walk-off, and the win probability charts in three games warranted a "WHEEEE!" on BlueSky from everyone's favorite baseball fan, Sarah Langs.

 

Baseball is the best!

 

That card, by the way, our first look at 2025 Topps here on the blog, was given to me for my birthday by family friend Roger, who has become a significant source of cards these past few years. It was part of a complete Rockies team set from 2025 Topps Series 1.

 

1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now #61 Dante Bichette

We'll come back to more Series 1, but before that, it's worth repeating just how memorable last night's game was. Fans are already placing it among the top five Rockies games ever. Indeed, there have been some greats at Coors Field over the years, such as an early summer game in 1996 where the Rockies beat the Dodgers 16-15 which I've written about several times, a July 4th game in 2008 where the Rockies beat the Marlins 18-17 (which is being highlighted on today's broadcast as I write this), and of course their tiebreaker game against the Padres in 2007. And right from the jump, Coors Field has been known for wild slugfests.

 

Dante Bichette was on site to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for a game in April this year, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the opening of Coors Field. And he would know all about it, as he famously hit a 14th-inning walk-off shot to seal the deal against the Mets on Opening Day in 1995, the very first game to take place at Denver's shiny new ballpark in LoDo.

 

He's on the road in this photo from 1998 Sports Illustrated Then & Now, a set that pops up around here from time to time. It's a simple, full-bleed set printed on thick card stock, one of Fleer's many late-'90s products. This one is also from Roger, as are all the cards in this entire post.

 

It's nice to have card buddies.

 

2025 Topps #343 Ezequiel Tovar

Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who won a Gold Glove last year along with Doyle, got in on the fun last night, too. While he represented the lone out in the bottom of the 9th, he tied an MLB record by hitting four doubles throughout the game. Topps captured him here with a great horizontal action shot of him sliding into home plate, which is actually a nice bit of variety compared to many of the other photos found in the Series 1 Rockies team set, as we'll soon see.

 

2025 Topps #311 Charlie Blackmon

A Rockies fan is a strange thing to be right now. Their record is abysmal. The Kris Bryant signing was an unmitigated disaster. And as the season began, it was mentioned that this was the first Opening Day in team history without at least one of Andrés Galarraga, Todd Helton, or Charlie Blackmon on the roster. Without one of them, and with Ryan McMahon just being traded to the Yankees, there aren't a lot of big names to draw in the fans.

 

At least not on the home team. The Rockies email newsletter was all too happy to tell me that Rookie of the Year star Paul Skenes was pitching today for the Pirates, if I wanted to come by this weekend.

 

The ballpark is always my happy place, but it's tough times right now.

 

In any case, Blackmon retired at the end of last season after a 14-year career. Topps graciously gave him a "Sunset Card" in the 2025 set, showing him rounding second at Coors one last time, with the out-of-town scoreboard looming behind him in right. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that it's precisely the same shot and angle as Doyle's card that led off this post.

 

2025 Topps #256 Jake Cave

So is Jake Cave's card, as are three more cards in the Rockies team set.

 

I like the angle, and it makes it extremely easy to spot a Coors Field card for my perpetually-under-construction Frankenset, but let's have a little more variety, please!

 

Jake Cave was here just for 2024, mostly playing in right field. He is continuing his career in Korea as a member of the Doosan Bears. I thought I'd include him to illustrate the lack of photo variety, and because my wife liked him. 

2025 Topps #1 Shohei Ohtani

Roger had a gift for me on Opening Day as we met up for pre-game beers, and it was this Shohei Ohtani card, the Dodgers superstar who was honored with Card #1 in the 2025 set. He included it in a toploader, which was for the best because it was a freezing cold and snowy day. The Rockies and A's went to extras that game, but my wife and I watched the final inning from the warmth of the team apparel store.

 

This 2025 set looks pretty good in person. The border elements and logos are done up in foil, and I believe that's a first for a Topps flagship set other than some of the gold lettering they used in the 1990s and 2000s. The two colored stripes on the top and left are reminiscent of 1982 Topps, and I quite like the tiny baseball diamond in the lower right. Look carefully and you'll notice that there's a minuscule dot on the diamond, signifying the player's position.

 

2022 Bowman Draft #BD-136 Ryan Ritter

Roger threw in a Bowman card or two, including this one of Ryan Ritter, who has made a bit of a splash for the Rockies in his rookie year before landing on the IL in mid-July. The Bowman Briefing on the back has him as a "gap hitter with power potential", which sounds like a player tailor-made for the vast Coors Field.

 

In general, the team is going for youth. They traded McMahon and a couple relievers for a haul of prospects, and young guys like Ritter are showing promise. And the guy they called up to take McMahon's spot, the delightfully named Warming Bernabel, is making a name for himself quickly, as he already has more extra-base hits in his first seven career games than Trevor Story did.

 

Hope springs eternal.

 

As it must.

 

1999 Fleer Tradition #168 Hideo Nomo

But for all this talk of slugfests, extra-base hits, home runs, power to the gaps, double-digit runs, and generally just speaking the name Coors Field aloud, one must remember that one man managed to throw a no-hitter here. 

 

Hideo "The Tornado" Nomo took Major League Baseball by storm when he left Japan's NPB to pitch for the Dodgers, a spiritual predecessor to the great Ohtani. His unconventional windup was mesmerizing to watch, and somehow he found a way to silence Colorado's bats for nine straight innings. It's a feat that has yet to be repeated at 20th and Blake.

 

He was traded to the Mets by the time Fleer printed their 1999 Tradition set, and he began the journeyman phase of his career shortly thereafter, including three appearances for the Royals in 2008 for all you Immaculate Grid fans. His second and final no-hitter came with the Red Sox in 2001, which remains the only one thrown at Camden Yards in Baltimore. It's still considered a hitter-friendly park, but nothing like Coors.

 

Kyle Freeland came quite close to a no-hitter in 2017, so I don't want to go so far as to call it an unbreakable record. But of all the parks to do it in, Coors Field presents a unique challenge that even the resident ballclub hasn't truly figured out yet.

 

Thanks, Roger, and let's go Rockies!

 

 

What’s All This NOW?

Once upon a time, I did more posts during a single Hanukkah than I've done in all of 2023. There has been so little time for things like blogging during a busy year like this. So many of you read my previous post and offered condolences about the passing of my father, and I thank you all. 

But beyond that, there are some big life changes in the works which will be coming to fruition over the next couple weeks. My fiancée and I are planning on buying a house together (so yes, I will have a new address), and that should be happening very soon. I just don't want to jinx anything because it's not a done deal quite yet. 

And shortly after that, yes, I said fiancée! We are getting married in early October.

So in other words, house hunting and wedding planning has been my focus this year, sadly coming along with quite a bit of grief. It has been a bittersweet year. My baseball card intake has slowed dramatically, but there have been enough to build a nice little blog post full of Rockies and one very personal oddball.

2010 Bowman 1992 Bowman Throwbacks #BT14 Troy Tulowitzki

Long ago, in the days before the Rockies never lost 100 games in a season (a record spoiled yesterday), Troy Tulowitzki was the starting shortstop for Colorado. He was quite the fan favorite, earning a spot not only in the Bowman base set, but also in this 1992-themed Throwback set. This huge 110-card insert set is a very accurate reproduction of the original '92 design. The only major change is that the team-by-team opponent stat breakdown is a much more crowded table than in 1992, simply because interleague play had not yet arrived. There are 20 teams crammed onto this 2010 card back, but it's still mostly readable. We've been squinting at card backs since long before I was born.

Interestingly, with the new MLB schedule design, where each team plays at least one series against every other team each year, they'd need 29 rows on this table, as well as the season and career totals. I don't know how feasible that really is.

2010 Bowman #123 Troy Tulowitzki

Here's that base card I mentioned earlier. A typical black-bordered Bowman card that I'd never be able to pick out of a lineup. It does have a nice action shot of Tulo in what was then called AT&T Park. That's an easy stadium identification, partly because I see NL West parks on TV constantly, and partly because the Chevron banner with the happy-looking cars was quite distinctive.

Chevron does still have a banner out there in left field at Oracle Park, but it's not quite as cartoony as it was back then.

2007 Fleer #338 Troy Tulowitzki (RC)

All these Tulo cards came from an assortment of Rockies my fiancée found in a clear bag at the local thrift store. 

Why do you think I'm marrying her?

It was mostly duplicates, but these three are new to my collection, and she only spent a dollar or so on the bag, so really it's much the same as if I found these in a quarter box. I haven't been to a card show since long before the hobby exploded, and I don't know if dime boxes are even around anymore.

This card is from the very last days of Fleer, the 2007 set. An extremely young Tulowitzki, who at that point had only played in the Majors as a late-season callup in 2006, is wearing the highly unusual uniform number 63, presumably a spring-training shot. Dexter Fowler is the most famous Rockie to wear that number.

Despite his young career, the card back still had good things to say about him, specifically his two-RBI, two-run performance on September 23rd, 2006.

2023 Topps Now Card of the Month #M-JUL Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

I did order a couple of Topps NOW cards this year. The first was July's Card of the Month, which ended up being of Vlad, Jr. who won the 2023 Home Run Derby in Seattle. He's happily hoisting the trophy after hitting 25 home runs in the final round of the Derby. The card back points out that he is part of the only father-son duo to win the Home Run Derby. Longtime fans might remember that his Hall of Famer dad won his Derby back in 2007.

I ended up getting this card for free. Somehow I had enough Topps loyalty points to get a code for a 100% discount. I actually redeemed that prize a couple years ago, but had a pretty tough time figuring out how to actually use it. It was not obvious at all and it took me numerous tries. But I ended up figuring it out, and now have a nice reminder of another All-Star Weekend.

2023 Topps Now #564 Elias Diaz /943

The other Topps NOW card I picked up, and paid full price for, was this one of All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz, the catcher who is the first-ever Rockie to win the award. He must have been inspired by all those power hitters the night before, leading to his 8th-inning home run finally giving the National League a win at the All-Star Game.

He was beaming as he hoisted the Ted Williams MVP trophy in Seattle, and 943 collectors thought this was a worthy moment to immortalize on cardboard. It was also the highlight of the Rockies season, which, as I mentioned, is the first 100-loss season in team history.

2023 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #RA-BS Brian Serven (AU)

Even though I haven't been very active in the baseball card hobby this year, I'm still known for it. My fiancée's friend's husband has recently gotten into card collecting, and when we went to visit over the summer, we had a great chance to connect over cards. He's more into football cards, which I know very little about, but still it was fun to find a fellow collector. He even gave me this Rockies autograph card of Brian Serven, another of the team's catchers.

Serven, 28, has spent about a half-season of time in the big leagues since 2022, but in that time he has accumulated a negative bWAR, and he's not getting much playing time in Triple-A Albuquerque either. Players can always turn it around but we might not be seeing much more of him as a Rockie. Still, it's always nice to add an autograph to the Rockies collection, especially an on-card one.

1945 Roto-Panel Johnny McIntosh

Our final card is an eBay pickup, that oddball I mentioned at the beginning. I'm not too sure what this truly is. It's advertised on eBay as a "Roto-Panel" from 1945. It's certainly not in Beckett, and there is no card number. It's only about as thick as a magazine page.

But I do know who it is. Johnny McIntosh (coincidentally wearing #63) goes by "John" now, but to me he's always been "Granddad".

He played football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (not the "honeybees" - an oft-repeated family story), and even made it as far as the 1945 Orange Bowl, where he had a receiving touchdown. He was teammates with Frank Broyles, who ended up coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks for two decades.

Granddad lives in Tennessee now, where he retired after a long career with Union Carbide. He's about to turn 100 at the end of November. It's been several years since I last saw him, but I'm glad to be able to have him occupy a very unique spot in my collection.

The Trading Post #148: Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer

Rod at Padrographs is no stranger to on-card autographs. Just a couple days ago, he announced to the Cardsphere that he had completed his 585-card Padres Autographs frankenset, an impressive feat to say the least.

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft Top Prospects #CTP-15 David Dahl (AU)

Surely in his travels he has run across many non-Padres autographs, and that's presumably where he found this autographed David Dahl card from a 2014 Bowman offshoot. He offered it up for free on a post back in April, and I took the opportunity to make my Rockies autograph collection just a slightly bigger fraction of his amazing Padres collection.

It lacks any type of certification, so this is definitely from an in-person signing that happened long after printing. It's impossible to tell whether it was a TTM signing or presented by a fan who managed to encounter Dahl at a Spring Training game, but he definitely held this one in-hand at some point.

I often have a hard time keeping Bowman sets straight, but I've seen this one before. Trevor Story's card from the base 2014 Draft Top Prospects set arrived last year from the now-defunct Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out blog. This one is shinier and Chromier, and slightly modifies the card number from "TP" to "CTP".

Unlike many Bowman prospects, David Dahl has spent lots of time in the Majors. But while he debuted the same year as set-mate Trevor Story, he's been beset by injuries year after year. He has yet to play a full season, and even the shortened 2020 season hasn't given him a break. He remains on the 10-day Injured List, but the Rockies are hopeful that he'll return soon.

Sadly, a serious 2015 injury in Double-A led to the removal of his spleen. Not only has he suffered one freak injury after another, but also lacking a spleen is certainly not helpful in the age of coronavirus. Despite the risk, he chose not to opt out of the 2020 season, and we may still see him in action in these final few weeks. He might even make an impact in the Postseason if the Rockies can snag yet another Wild Card spot, which is their only hope. First place in the NL West is hopelessly out of reach, as usual.

Thanks to Rob for the free card, and congratulations on your completed frankenset!

The Trading Post #137: Big Shep's Cards (Part 1: Topps)

For my 300th post(!), I'm kicking off a three-part series of cards I purchased from Big Shep's Cards nearly a year ago. It was a giant stack of several hundred cards, and it took a while to organize, let alone pick a small handful to feature on the blog. Most were from the 1990s and early 2000s across all brands. We'll start Part 1 with Topps, my favorite card company ever since the beginning of my collecting career.

1994 Stadium Club Team #110 Nelson Liriano

I rarely see them on the blogs, but the early-'90s Stadium Club team sets show up in my travels surprisingly often. I see them at card shows, I see them at local card shops, and I've seen them in many trades. The 1994 set is maybe a little less common than 1993, and by now I've added the complete Rockies team sets from both years.

Not every team was represented in these team sets, and Topps trimmed the number of teams from sixteen in 1993 to twelve in 1994, but the Rockies were found in both years. As a Rockies fan, I am normally shut out of a whole slew of sets, especially inserts, simply by virtue of being a fan of a less-adored team. Dodgers and Yankees collectors have little idea what this is like. Rockies fans, on the other hand....

Anyway, sorry, Astros fans. You'll have to settle for a cameo this time. This one is Steve Finley, trying to break up a double play inside Mile High Stadium against middle infielder Nelson Liriano. I remember Liriano quite well from the early days of the Rockies. However, I missed his second and final stint with the Rockies in 1998, where he played a dozen games before retiring for good.

Steve Finley would also conclude his career with the Rockies, though much later, in 2007. He managed to play for every NL West team during his long career.

1994 Stadium Club Team #243 Bruce Hurst

One could not be faulted for thinking this is a Rockies card. It shows Bruce Hurst in a Rockies uniform, complete with the 1993 Inaugural Season patch on his right sleeve. Hurst, making his Infield Fly Rule debut 300 posts in, pitched very briefly for the Rockies in 1993. He started three games, pitched 8.2 innings, posted an ERA of 5.19, and then re-entered free agency.

The longtime Red Sox veteran didn't have a fantastic end to his career. His ERA with the Padres in early 1993 was even worse than it was with the Rockies later that year, a whopping 12.46. The Padres sent him and Greg Harris to the Rockies, in exchange for Brad Ausmus, Doug Bochtler, and PTBNL Andy Ashby.

Ouch.

Hurst decided he had enough of the NL West, and signed with the Texas Rangers. Looking closely at the vertical gold foil in the upper right tells us that this is indeed a Rangers card. He went 2-1 in 8 games, and didn't return to playing baseball once the strike was settled.

With the increase in Topps's use of Photoshop, cards like this have become a thing of the past. They make our collector's OCD go a little crazy, but it's kind of fun to see other uniforms in your team set, sometimes with a little note on the card front. "NOW WITH RANGERS", or something to that effect.

1993 Bowman #147 Johnny Ruffin

It was a similar story with 1993 Bowman. Johnny Ruffin never played for the Rockies. For that matter, he never played for the White Sox either, the team he's actually pictured with. Before purple took more of a center stage, the White Sox and Rockies often wore very similar uniforms. They still do on occasion, when they both suit up with pinstriped home whites. In fact, the one time I saw the White Sox play in Denver, it wasn't that easy to tell a Rockies fan and a White Sox fan apart.

I knew which one I was, though.

Coincidentally, the Rockies had a player named Bruce Ruffin, though no relation to Johnny. Perhaps that and the similar uniform led this card to migrate into the wrong team stack.

The younger Ruffin signed with Chicago at the young age of 16, but was one of many prospects that ended up not living up to the hype. Unfortunately, he ended up running into some legal trouble as well. I did see him play once, as he came on in relief for the Reds during the final Rockies home game of 1993, the same game that Upper Deck snapped Joe Girardi's photo for the 1994 set.

2002 Topps Opening Day #17 Juan Pierre

Once upon a time, Opening Day was more than the foil-less downmarket set it is today. Nearer its inception, there was a colored border that was arguably prettier than the actual base set, not to mention a large foil seal. I like this copper color way more than the mustard yellow found in 2002 flagship. The border has shown a chip or two, but it looks just as good on the back. And those color-coded ribbons on the top and bottom have that chevron on the end, a throwback to many of the 1970s Topps designs.

Speaking of the Reds, I am fairly certain those are some Reds coaches in the third base dugout behind a sliding Juan Pierre at Coors Field. Not many teams had those red-on-black caps, but a few had red-on-dark blue.

No one will mistake this one for a White Sox card, that's for sure.

2014 Topps Trajectory Relics #TR-TT Troy Tulowitzki (MEM)

Our final two cards are of the "hit" variety, starting with a familiar-looking relic card of Troy Tulowitzki. This is from the Topps Trajectory insert set, which came in both relic and autograph flavors. I blogged about one of the autographs just over five years ago, but I never realized that the large circular area on the left would be a perfect spot for a relic. There's no autograph sticker to cover up the photograph, which makes this design a little more well-balanced in relic form.

It also took me five years to notice that the player's uniform number can be found on this busy design, toward the bottom.

Unlike Johnny Ruffin, who took over five years to make it from the minors to the Big Leagues (although he started at age 16), Tulowitzki accomplished that in just fourteen months, according to the card back.

2012 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs #218 Wilin Rosario (AU)

Concluding the Topps portion of this series is another "hit', this time an on-card autograph of catcher Wilin Rosario. It will go nicely with a mini relic I already had of his. There are a whole bunch of Wilin Rosario cards in my collection, and now I have an autograph to go with it.

I was inundated with so much 2012 Bowman at various card shows that it's one of the few recent Bowman sets I can recognize and assign to the correct year. I think that may be because it looks like an upside-down version of the "notch" found at the top of the newer iPhone devices, especially in the prospect set. It doesn't pop as much with a black border, and is muted further still when it's a Chrome card. I'm just happy I can pick out at least one Bowman set from the past decade.

I have a couple more stacks ready to go. The next one will be Fleer, although with as busy as December gets, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to write that one up for post #301.

By the way, congratulations to Nick on hitting his eight-year anniversary yesterday!

The Trading Post #133: Chavez Ravining

Relatively speaking, Alex Markle at Chavez Ravining and I have been trading a lot this year. There have only been a small handful of swaps, but compared to my general level of activity in the hobby and in the Cardsphere this year, it's been a furious pace.

Luck smiled upon me earlier this year, and I won a contest on his blog. We'll get to that later on, but Alex also happens to know that I like green cards. I like green in general, and my next iPhone purchase is likely to be in that color. And what better team to lead off with than that most green of teams, the Oakland Athletics?

2019 Topps '84 Topps Silver Pack Chrome #T84-22 Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson played for a ton of teams during his long career, but mostly with Oakland. The inset photo of Rickey on this shiny 1984 design looks like about the right vintage to match the design, but the main photo is that famous 1991 shot of Henderson, when he broke the all-time stolen base record by swiping third and triumphantly lifting it towards the sky.

That photo graced numerous cards throughout the hobby in 1992. I hadn't seen it for a while, so thanks to Topps for digging it out of the archives for another one of their Silver Pack releases. Anyone who has run across a Silver Pack card before will recognize the background refractor pattern.

It doesn't stand out, but sharp-eyed readers will notice a small "35th Anniversary" seal in the upper right. Yes, 2019 marks the 35th anniversary of the 1984 set, which also happens to be my birth year. Along with nearly everyone else my age, it took until 1987 for me to discover card collecting, but Topps missed no opportunity to commemorate an anniversary, and they also mentioned Don Mattingly's rookie card from that set.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relics Emerald #TTUR-58 Matt Kemp /18 (MEM)

It's fine to call something "green" when it's a normal thing like a Silver Pack card or an iPhone. But when you get into the rarefied air of Triple Threads, throw in a relic, and stamp an /18 serial number, suddenly you find yourself using the term "Emerald".

Speaking of anniversaries, Dodger Stadium opened in 1962, and in 2012, the Dodgers wore a commemorative patch to mark the 50th anniversary. It's rather blurry, but we can see that on Matt Kemp's right sleeve. Of course, the main event is that Dodger Blue relic, outlined in a nearly-accurate home plate shape. Above that, we see that Kemp earned an NL Player of the Week award in mid-April 2012, his third straight time winning that award, dating back to September 2011.

Now, the Rockies often play the Dodgers around the ends and beginnings of seasons. Of course, they're divisional, so they're kind of always playing the Dodgers, including this very weekend. But I checked the game logs, and the Rockies didn't suffer this particular flurry of offense by Matt Kemp. The Padres were not so lucky, though.

2019 Bowman Prospects Camo #BP-143 Brendan Rodgers

While we're still on the topic of green, I will point out that the green-backed 1991 Bowman set is one of very, very few Bowman sets I can correctly pick out out at a glance, and 1989 is only on that list because of its universally-hated non-standard size. Despite the frequent complaint of unmemorable designs, the brand is still going strong in 2019, colored parallels and all. This one of young Rockie Brendan Rodgers is the Camo parallel, the only colored border in the 2019 Bowman Prospects set that doesn't involve a serial number.

The middle infielder got his first look at the big leagues this year, but only appeared in 25 games before needing season-ending shoulder surgery. He has yet to hit his first big-league home run, but did smash a couple extra-base hits before adding his lot to the disappointing season the Rockies had.

On the card back, the "Up Close" section keeps the spirit of Studio alive, telling us that Rodgers is a video game streamer and has a bulldog named Pudge.

2019 Bowman Prospects #BP-145 Roberto Ramos

Roberto Ramos, appearing on the standard-issue Bowman border, has yet to debut in the MLB. Under the old roster rules, we'd probably have seen him in a September call-up by now, but that will have to wait. He hit 30 home runs and hit .309 in Triple-A this year, so it's surely only a matter of time.

I had a pretty good handle on the Rockies' farm system for a while, but they called most of them up this year, leaving behind players I haven't heard of such as Roberto Ramos. He will have to change that uniform number when he makes it, as it's currently worn by starting pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez, who recently earned his first win since 2015.

2019 Bowman #22 Nolan Arenado

Nolan Arenado cards keep showing up around here, and that's fine with me. He remains my favorite active player, and even if the Rockies are getting blown out, you can count on him for a great defensive play or two anytime he's in the field. He's no slouch at the plate, either. The layer of dirt on his uniform is just a small piece of evidence about what a great player he is. If he keeps it up, he'll be in the company of some truly legendary players.

Which brings us to the main attraction, our contest winnings.

2016 Topps MLB Debut Medallion #MDM-CR Cal Ripken Jr.

And what a beautiful card it is. I've seen manufactured patches from time to time, and even sold one to my favorite dealer at a card show, but these medallions are pretty cool. It's about as thick as cards come, and it features one of my favorite retired stars, Cal Ripken, Jr.

Every Hall-of-Famer, even the Ironman with 2,632 consecutive games played, had to debut sometime. For Ripken, that day was August 10th, 1981. Incidentally, that's not when The Streak began. He wouldn't become an everyday starter until May of 1982, finally deciding to end the streak on his own terms in September, 1998.

When I started sixth grade, one of our regular weekly projects was to cut a current event out of the newspaper and bring it in to class. I was just getting my bearings in middle school, but I clearly remember three or four of my classmates presenting stories of Cal Ripken, Jr. breaking Lou Gehrig's record of consecutive games played. It was in early September, 1995, and I was glad to see that at least a few new kids I shared a classroom with were interested in baseball. I also remember my teacher correcting everyone's pronunciation of Mike Deveraux's surname, which is not "Dever-ox".

Thank you, Alex, for running this contest and giving me a trip down memory lane with one of my favorite all-time players!

Rockin' Retro Group Break the First (Part 1: Rockies)

Seeing as how Nachos Grande shipped my haul from his current group break today, it's probably a good idea for me to look at the retro cards he sent last time. I haven't blogged since the World Series ended, and then some, so I haven't offered my congratulations to the Red Sox for winning their fourth championship of the millennium, nor have I expressed condolences for the loss of Willie McCovey. May he and Stan Lee rest in peace.

Will I ever be caught up again? Time will tell. In the meantime, prepare to start seeing a lot of Topps Gold Label in these parts.

2017 Topps Gold Label Class 1 #15 David Dahl (RC)

David Dahl, who wisely scheduled his recent wedding for after the postseason (just in case), gives us our first look at the recently resurrected Topps Gold Label. After the success of Stadium Club's rebirth, Topps decided to dig into the archives for more ideas. Unfortunately, they brought the idea of a fractured set along with the name. I've never been thrilled with the concept, but at least there is some actual structure to all the variants, as opposed to the purely random variant chaos they've been giving us in flagship for a long time.

In a nod to the early Gold Label sets, the baseball fundamental depicted in the primary photo helps you identify which of three "classes" the card is in. A photo of a position player fielding indicates you're holding a Class 1 card. There's also an unbelievably faint vertical banner (almost like a security strip) on the left side of the card. Even under a magnifying glass, the light has to be just perfect to even glimpse it.

2017 Topps Gold Label Class 2 #15 David Dahl (RC)

Class 2 for a position player is a batting photo, which is slightly redundant, since the secondary picture already shows Dahl at the plate. Fortunately, the security strip is a touch easier to read, especially in the spot where it overlaps Dahl's uniform. The back is identical in both classes, and it mentions the record-tying 17-game hitting streak that he opened his career with. Dahl has a Gypsy Queen Allen & Ginter card that alludes to this as well, but Gold Label tells us that he shares this record with a Cincinnati Red named Chuck Aleno, who set the mark back in 1941.

1941 was a good year for hitting streaks.

2017 Topps Gold Label Class 3 #3 Trevor Story

I don't have a clue on the relative scarcity between the three classes, but I managed to obtain an example from each of them. Trevor Story on the basepaths signifies Class 3, confirmed by an even more visible security stripe. Story's been around for a while, so he doesn't get that nifty gold foil RC logo that David Dahl has, but there's still plenty of gold to go around, including the Topps logo in the upper right, which uses a logo I've never seen before. Seeing a capital "T" like that is just strange.

Story is a great all-around player, though he does strike out at an alarming rate. Still, he's excellent at the plate, and he now has a Silver Slugger award for his efforts, joining fellow Rockies Nolan Arenado and German Marquez in that award class.

1998 Topps Gold Label Class 1 #77 Dante Bichette

Brand-new sets of Gold Label aren't exactly "retro", but the inaugural 1998 set is. True to form, Dante Bichette's fielding pose identifies this as a Class 1 card, even though it's unlabeled. There's much more of a relief on this original set, especially the stamped logo, which contains the proper Topps font. It's delightfully thick and solid, and appears to be acetate, though it isn't transparent anywhere. The only slight gripe I have is that Bichette is wearing home and away jerseys on his two photos, but I'm splitting hairs. It's awesome that Nachos Grande found unopened boxes of these retro sets.

2016 Donruss Optic #9 Carlos Gonzalez DK

Shiny, too! Did I say shiny? It comes in the form of Donruss Optic, the quasi-Chrome set, and this time it's the normal white border, unlike the purple-bordered variety I once received from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary, which I had slightly mislabeled until two minutes ago. Same painted look, same shiny finish, same unreadable kerning on the card back.

Seeing this in the normal white border makes me appreciate the colored borders even more. Purple is such a bold color, unique in baseball, that the base card almost seems like a different set. It looks more metallic, somehow more serious and weighty than with a fun purple border. I don't dislike it; it just has this visual sense that it could have been carved from an ingot of silver.

1998 Bowman Chrome #53 Neifi Perez

1998 Bowman Chrome is an under-represented set in my collection, which will become a theme throughout this post. Before this, I only had six cards from the set. I can at least fill one side of a page now, and Perez will be up toward the top. Under the right light, the Chrome finish makes Perez' uniform lettering, Jackie Robinson patch, batting glove, and shoes really pop. I don't recall most Chrome cards looking like that. Usually the player's outline is more prominent, but it's a really eye-catching look, almost like there are little jewels in the card.

Design-wise, it's a Bowman set that I can vaguely place within a 5-year window, but it looks very similar to 1999 Bowman. As with many years, the accent colors maintain the red/blue distinction between veterans and rookies. Todd Helton's card this year was a blue card; that's how retro we're talking here. And the card back is typical of Bowman, with a single year of stats and a scouting report. We're told about Perez' performance on June 26th, 1997, a win over the Giants in which he "participated" in five double plays. Knowing Perez' tendencies, I checked the box score to ensure he didn't "participate" by grounding into one. Luckily, his team had the ball (as the defense, weird, I know) during each of those five.

I wasn't really collecting in 1997. In fact, '97 was one of just two seasons in which I didn't go to a game at all. The other was 2000, which happened to coincide with the rise of a now-defunct online instant messaging program.

2002 Fleer Triple Crown #131 Larry Walker

2002 Triple Crown, the next retro set, is quite unfamiliar. Before this break, which massively expanded my hoard of this set, I had one single, lonely card in the bottom portion of a 2002 Fleer page. Too bad, because it's really a nice set, probably my favorite so far in this break. The three silver bars on both top and bottom look vaguely like something Pacific would have done. I don't think they ever did the whole selective glossy thing, where the player is glossy but the background is matte. It's nice to touch, one of those sets I can't resist touching perhaps a bit more than I should. Any lenticular card is like that in the extreme, of course, and my collection of 1994 Sportflics was a little mistreated by my 10-year old self and my fingernails.

Fleer didn't seem to make the trek to Denver in 2001 to snap their photos, since almost all the Rockies in this set are in their away uniforms. Confusingly, that involved pinstripes at the time, but Larry Walker is clearly sliding into third in front of a Cardinal (?) who is definitely considered to be part of the background.

2002 Fleer Triple Crown #107 Ben Petrick

Same goes for the tall Giants player behind Ben Petrick, who is flinging away his glossy catcher's mask. The cause of that is a bit unclear. It's likely a foul, but it could have been an extremely wild pitch that took an odd bounce or three. I don't recognize the Giant on this card, nor can I find anything out about the blue ribbon on his jersey. All I know for sure is that it's in SBC Park, a place where many Rockies were photographed for Fleer's multitude of 2002 sets.

The back of Petrick's card mentions another catcher whose name I haven't heard in years, Jason Kendall. Apparently, Jason's father, Fred, an ex-MLBer himself, served as a coach on the Rockies at the time.

2002 Fleer Triple Crown #251 Todd Helton PS

Fleer Triple Crown (not to be confused with the longer-lived Donruss Triple Play), included a few subsets at the end of the checklist. Pace Setters was one of them, and in addition to a little extra silver foil, the card took the opportunity to recount Helton's already stellar statistics both at the plate and in the field. Helton earned three Gold Gloves in his career, and if the Platinum Glove had existed at that time, he might have been in the running for that, too. Helton had numerous years under his belt by the time Yadier Molina reached the Bigs, and that's who has been winning most of the NL Platinum Gloves since its debut in 2011.

Nolan got it this year, though.

If Coors is such a hitter's park, then standout defenders playing there had better be getting that kind of recognition.

2012 Panini Cooperstown #97 Al Barlick

Things got a little weird after '02 Triple Crown. I'm fairly certain that I have an umpire or two in my Conlon Collection cards, but they're extremely rare. Topps has even gone so far as to edit umpires entirely out of photographs. But just look at Al Barlick's "You're Out!" call. If I were the batter, I would do everything humanly possible to make sure I got on base. Maybe even lean into a four-seam fastball.

He had a 27-season career as an ump, taking off a few years to serve in the Coast Guard during WWII. He earned "the utmost respect" from players, and he looks a bit more docile, if stern, on the card back. He became a member of Cooperstown in 1989, and since he's not wearing an official team logo, his forehead isn't oddly cropped out like many cards in the Panini Cooperstown set.

Barlick is one of just ten umpires in the Hall of Fame, and I doubt we'll be seeing anyone new enter the Hall anytime soon. Jim Joyce perhaps, but if Joe West makes it into the Hall before a Rockie does, I'm going to continue my fandom under protest.

1997 Sports Illustrated #27 Jamey Wright

Our final set is 1997 Sports Illustrated, a co-branded set released by Fleer. It's another set I only had a single card from, so this is mostly new to me. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but a grainy, sepia-toned headshot was probably not it. It's part of the Fresh Faces subset, documenting the early years of journeyman pitcher Jamey Wright's career. His longest tenure was with the Rockies, but after that, he spent time on nine other teams. Despite that, his only postseason appearance came in 2013 with the Rays as his career was drawing to a close.

Young Rockies pitchers held a lot more promise in 1997 than in later years, although that reputation is finally changing. But case in point, Fleer basically tells us on the back of this card that Roger Bailey, whose career would be over after 1997, had better stuff that Wright.

1997 Sports Illustrated #109 Vinny Castilla

Position players have always had an easier time at Coors Field than pitchers, and Castilla is so nonchalant that he's comfortable blowing a bubble as he jogs after a popup, batting gloves casually flopping out of his back pocket.

This is a player at ease.

The full-bleed photography found in this set is appealing, which is to be expected. Unfortunately, Sports Illustrated no longer has any photographers on their full-time payroll. I'm sure it saves money, but it erodes their brand if anyone else can pay to license the same photograph. That 1991 Topps set we all love so much had SI to thank for a lot of those images. And in a world where Topps has exclusivity, sports photographers don't have it easy.

1997 Sports Illustrated Great Shots #13 V.Castilla/A.Galarraga

The final bit of strangeness comes with this 5x7 folding photograph of who we're told is Andres Galarraga and Vinny Castilla. It's a 1997 set, but the player on the left really does not look like Vinny to me. He might be quite a bit younger, but I'm not 100% sure on identity here. And we can't see much of Galarraga's face at all, as he's clearly attending to something in his eye.

It's an odd picture on an odd card. The back is blank, and there's no card number, but the cropping works well to fit the fold of the paper. Each player is definitely on his own side.

This is a really great selection for a group break. It's nice to get the latest and greatest cards since it saves me a trip to Target, but to unearth these old gems really makes things different and reminds us how things have changed.

When I started today, Jason Kendall was not a a name I thought I'd hear.

That about wraps up the Rockies (and umpires, because there are no Rockies in the Hall yet). Part 2 will feature the Athletics.

The Trading Post #118: Nachos Grande

Shipments from Chris at Nachos Grande have been a common fixture in my mailbox so far in 2018. Here's another, and there's still one more yet to come. The prolific blogger has had his Trade Stack theme going on for many years, and I finally managed to claim one.

To claim his Trade Stack #88, I mailed a few 2018 Topps cards sent to me by Peter at Baseball Every Night, plus a couple more from 2017 Topps Archives that probably came my way in one of Chris' own group breaks. As I wrote in my note, the cards came full circle. Chris, who is much more on top of his blog than I am, already posted a month ago about what Trade Stack #88 earned him in return.

2014 Topps Heritage #2 Michael Cuddyer / Chris Johnson / Freddie Freeman

Trade Stack #88 was mostly retro-themed, starting off with a couple of multi-player cards from 2014 Topps Archives, modeled after the iconic 1965 set. Even on this three-player card, the famous pennant is visible right on top, above Michael Cuddyer. Thanks to Cuddyer's prominent photograph, we know that the now-retired first baseman won the NL batting title in 2013, kicking off a run of four titles for the Rockies in the past five seasons, interrupted only by Dee Gordon in 2015.

Two Braves appear on this card, the first being Chris Johnson, who hasn't played in the Majors since 2016 and is now in Baltimore's farm system. Freddie Freeman, on the other hand, has been extremely hot to start the 2018 season, including an RBI single against the Rockies in yesterday's home opener at Coors Field. He's certainly the best player the Braves have, but they're developing lots of young talent.

The beginning of the baseball season also means the beginning of Fantasy baseball, and Freeman has been the second-most valuable hitter in my league, behind only the even hotter Didi Gregorius. Things on my team are getting of to a bit of a slow start, but I did pick one of Freeman's young teammates, Ozzie Albies, who was the R in Freeman's RBI I mentioned earlier. Ablies also hit one out of a snowy Coors Field as just the second batter of the day, which was about an hour late thanks to the snow. Or as the Rockies put it on Twitter, #SnowpeningDay.

2014 Topps Heritage #7 Anibal Sanchez / Bartolo Colon

Speaking of Fantasy baseball, Anibal Sanchez always reminds me of 2006, the first of two times I ended up as the runner-up in my league. I briefly mentioned that when Sanchez' equivalent card in 2014 Topps arrived (well, a parallel), which he also shared with Bartolo Colon and Hisashi Iwakuma. For whatever reason, Topps chose to just feature two players instead of three, giving lots of room to the ageless Bartolo Colon.

Sanchez, by the way, is pitching out of the bullpen for none other than the Braves this season, but he began his career as a Marlin. And in September 2006 against the Diamondbacks, he threw his only career no-hitter.

No hitters are hugely valuable in my points-based fantasy league, stacking with the Win, the Shutout, the Complete Game, and all the strikeouts. I had Justin Verlander's in 2007 and it was worth 126 points, if memory serves. I don't remember the point value, but Sanchez' in 2006 upended the league's playoffs quite a bit. It advanced a competing team that wouldn't otherwise have won. I met that team in the final, and even though my team scored a whopping 550 points that final week, Andruw Jones went on an absolute tear for my opponent, hitting 5 homers and helping them outscore my team 558-550 in a heavyweight bout.

This was twelve years ago, people.

Anyway, I'd have won the league if not for that no-hitter, so the way I see it, Anibal Sanchez owes me about $600.

1998 Upper Deck Retro #103 Travis Lee FUT

Shifting back to cards, the retro theme carries on, thanks to a set literally called Upper Deck Retro. This Futurama subset has an elongated hexagonal frame that 1999 Starquest borrows from, and the set itself has a nostalgic feel that pretty much everyone else borrowed from, and continues to.

Travis Lee was one of the top rookie prospects of the day, and let's not forget that 1998 marked the inaugural year for the Arizona Diamondbacks. This card just has his 1997 minor league statistics on the back, but the paragraph mentions his home runs as a full-fledged member of the Diamondbacks, with 17 by the time the All-Star Break happened. He finished his rookie year with 22, a high water mark he wouldn't pass. Lee finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in '98, trailing Todd Helton and winner Kerry Wood.

1998 Upper Deck Retro #106 Mike Caruso FUT

Mike Caruso, another prospect for the much more established Chicago White Sox, only played three seasons in the big leagues, despite finishing third in his own league's Rookie of the Year voting. 1998 and 1999 were decent seasons for him, but he had a gap until he briefly returned in 2002 for a handful of games as a Royal. That's all she wrote for Mike Caruso, one of the least-recognizable names in the entire 30-card subset.

This was an early attempt at a retro set. The design is about right, but the card is a little too smooth, the photo a little too sharp despite the sepia filter, and the jewel-like Upper Deck hologram diamond on the back always looks out of place on these retro cards.

2000 Fleer Tradition #352 Barry Larkin

2000 Fleer Tradition was fully on board with the retro craze, and they gave us a set that is pretty close to 1954 Topps, at least on the front. Topps seemed not to really care, nor did they with 2002 Upper Deck Vintage, so I bet UD was pretty surprised when Topps' legal team came knocking in 2009 after the release of O-Pee-Chee.

Regardless, the card back of 2000 Fleer Tradition is nothing like 1954 Topps, but it is a bit hard to read. The color scheme is sort of like an inverted 1989 Topps. Barry Larkin, the topic of Chris' top player collection, had a few more seasons left in his Hall of Fame career by the turn of the millennium, and it is nice to see a single team listed next to each year.

Perhaps Charlie Blackmon will be a lifetime Rockie, as he just signed a contract that will keep him in Denver for a few more years, possibly through 2023. That seems like a long time away, but it will be here pretty quickly. I was sure that Verlander's no-hitter I mentioned earlier was his second, in 2011, but it was over a decade ago, back in 2007.

2012 Bowman Draft Draft Picks #BDPP109 Johendi Jiminian

There was an extra spot in the PWE, so Chris tossed in a Rockie that wasn't part of the trade stack, one I've never heard of. The longer the Bowman card number, the longer the player's shot seems to be at making it to the big leagues. Indeed, Johendi Jiminian has been toiling away in the minors since 2010. Although he did make it as high as Triple-A last season, he still hasn't cracked the code, and is now part of the Mariners farm system.

It broke the retro card theme, but that's fine. It's part of an even twelve-card trade, and I think it worked out just fine for both sides!