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!

 

 

There Is NOW a Bird on the Field

I haven't been particularly interested in any 2022 product, beyond of course Stadium Club, whenever that hits shelves, and Opening Day. However, Topps has managed to extract some money from me by printing up a couple Topps NOW cards that caught my attention.

Early in this crazy 2022 Postseason, while the 111-win Dodgers were hosting the San Diego Padres, a member of the avian community decided to pay Dodger Stadium a visit.

2022 Topps NOW #1066 Goose On The Loose /2889

In the 8th inning of NLDS Game 2, a Greater White-fronted Goose, initially misidentified on the broadcast as a duck, took up a position in shallow right-center field. Play continued for a bit until the grounds crew managed to trap the exhausted animal in a recycling bin and carry it off the field.

This is right up my alley. I've become quite the avid birder these past couple years (in case you're wanting an explanation for my dramatic drop-off in posting frequency), so of course I bought the Topps NOW card showing the goose as it flew around the infield. I must admit a touch of envy, as the only photograph I've ever managed to capture of this species was far less sharp.

The goose became a mascot of sorts for the Padres during the remainder of their run in the Postseason. They managed to upend the Dodgers to eliminate one of several heavily-favored teams that had an early exit this season. Perhaps their feathered friend helped them out a bit.

All kidding aside, this poor goose was in all likelihood scared out of its wits. Mid-October is roughly the tail end of the fall migration season, and its journey south was probably disoriented and interrupted by the bright beacons of light at Dodger Stadium. Most bird migration happens at night, which is better for the birds to avoid predators and take advantage of cooler, calmer air. But our well-lit cityscapes play havoc on their migration paths.

This bird ended up being lucky, all things considered. A frightening but brief visit to Dodger Stadium is a lot better than flying into a window, which sadly is how up to a billion birds each year meet their untimely demise.

Fortunately, many cities in the busiest migration paths, or "flyways", have recently implemented initiatives to encourage businesses and residents to turn out the lights during the busiest times of migration season. This is also done at the 9/11 memorial in New York, where they turn off the upward-facing shafts of light for several minutes to allow disoriented birds to scatter and continue on their way.

Maybe playing Postseason games at 1:30pm on a Wednesday isn't so bad after all.

2022 Topps NOW #699 Wynton Bernard /787

I did pick up a second Topps NOW card this year, this one of longtime Minor League player Wynton Bernard, who finally got his long-awaited call up in mid-August. He had been toiling away in the minors for a decade before making his Big League debut at the age of 31.

The Athletic did a great story on him, detailing how he leaned on his mentors, including Ken Griffey, Jr., in his long, winding journey to The Show. His FaceTime call with his mother where he shared the good news was a bright spot in the social media world.

His debut game was August 12th, and he tallied his first hit (following a replay review), stolen base, and run that day. It was a real heartwarming highlight of the Rockies season, one in which they contributed mightily to the 111-win count of the Dodgers.

Topps didn't miss a beat, giving Bernard his first Major League card. Prior to that, he only had a few minor league cards dating back to 2014, although I'm not sure if Topps Now cards count as true Rookie Cards. The goose made an impression on oddball-loving collectors, earning a print run of 2,889, but only 787 collectors like myself picked up Wynton Bernard's quasi-Rookie Card.

So there you have it, those are the two most important highlights of the 2022 season according to Infield Fly Rule.

The Three Dollar Group Break (and a contest winner!)

Peter, everyone's favorite Darryl Strawberry collector and author of the Baseball Every Night blog, recently ran a highly affordable group break of 2017 Topps Series 2. For the price of a rack pack at Target, I was happy to sign up for the Rockies slot, once someone kindly brought this one to my attention on Twitter.

I have to admit that I'm not keeping up with the Cardsphere on a daily basis. I'm much more likely to scroll through at least four days of posts at a time, which would explain why I'm listed as the last commenter on many of your posts. But I found out in time to shell out three bucks for some Rockies, knowing I'd end up with most of the team set, and likely a few inserts on top of that.

2017 Topps #371 Chad Bettis

Even though this is Series 2, the card was sent to printing a little too soon. Bettis, expected to be a key figure in the Rockies' 2017 rotation after being "declared good-to-go" following his treatment for testicular cancer, had some unfavorable test results during spring training and had to undergo another round of treatments. That seems to have been successful, and his rehab is progressing nicely. He may even make an appearance this season, perhaps when rosters expand in September.

Bettis isn't the only pitcher this year to be affected by the disease. Jameson Taillon of the Pirates (and my fantasy team) was treated in May but is already back on the hill. He's scheduled to face Jon Lester and the Cubs to close out the first half tomorrow, Lester himself being a cancer survivor. Here's wishing all three pitchers continued good health.

2017 Topps #415 Pat Valaika (RC)

Series 2 is a great place to find some lesser known players that have been making an impact in the early stages of the season. Pat Valaika, brother of former MLB player Chris Valaika, has been a reliable utility infielder for the Rockies, and has played nearly every position this season. "Patty Barrels", as the TV guys like to call him, has six homers this year, more than DJ LeMahieu, the starting second baseman and All-Star reserve.

This card also marks one of the first appearances of Coors Field's raised wall in right-center field on a baseball card. It's a blurred background, but you can see the heightened fence over his shoulders, which is now equally high as the out-of-town scoreboard in right field. It's still a hitters park, for sure, and as a longtime fan, one of the more noticeable changes related to that was the removal of the Darryl Kile memorial banner, visible on this shot I took in 2007.

2017 Topps #516 Tony Wolters

Other than Greg Holland, much of the Rockies' success this year can be attributed to their rookies. It's obviously trailed off a bit in the past few weeks, but Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Jeff Hoffman, and others kept them right at the top of the standings well into June. Catcher Tony Wolters, stepping in for the injured Tom Murphy, has been doing a great job as the starting catcher. Murphy, on the other hand, came back from the DL in late June and was quickly sent down to the minors.

I haven't said much on the design of 2017 Topps yet other than a handful of trade posts and my annual Opening Day blaster. I think the design looks particularly good on this card, as the lines and angles on the banner match pretty well with Wolters' uniform. It is still odd to see anyone besides Andres Galarraga wear #14 for the Rockies, even though lots of players have, including Josh Rutledge, Greg Norton (one of my least favorite Rockies ever), and even Troy Tulowitzki, once upon a time.

2017 Topps #467 Adam Ottavino

Adam Ottavino, the only Rockie to ever wear the number 0, has been one of the shakier options in the Rockies bullpen this season. Greg Holland has been lights out except for a few instances, but Ottavino has a rather alarming 5.81 ERA so far in 2017. The Rockies are a high-scoring team, especially like last night when they beat the White Sox 12-4, so they are often able to leave their relievers with a bit of wiggle room. But on the other hand, their record in one-run games has been pretty good this season.

2017 Topps #397 Stephen Cardullo (RC)

Stephen Cardullo, last season's surprise rookie, managed to finally make it to the majors just before his 29th birthday. He added some real pop to the Rockies bats in late summer last year, but his inspirational story didn't last, as the Rockies cut him earlier this season. Still, not only did he manage to hit a grand slam the day he turned 29, but also earned a spot in Series 2 of 2017 Topps, complete with the rookie card logo and everything, not to mention a nice example of a first baseman's mitt. It seems likely that this will be both his rookie card and sunset card, all in one, but it's still a great story and would make a nice episode of 30 for 30, a fantastic sports documentary series that is now also a podcast.

2017 Topps #385 DJ LeMahieu

I realize that few of you have even heard of the five players so far, so we'll move on to a more recognizable name, and one of the four Rockies elected to the 2017 All-Star team. You can just barely make out the seams on this rapidly-spinning baseball that DJ is about to field, something he's been doing a great job of on the right side of the infield. His production at the plate has been less than stellar this season, but he'll always have the batting title from 2016, and a nice little .348 in red italics on the back of all his future Topps cards. Or at least for the next five years, assuming Topps doesn't revert back to giving us complete career statistics.

I'm not sure what stadium this is. I had originally thought Chase Field, due to that odd split that the outfield wall is doing behind his right shoulder. But photos suggest the split in that ballpark is different, so I'm at a bit of a loss. Can anyone help out?

2017 Topps #400a Nolan Arenado

Here's your NL All-Star starting third baseman, Nolan Arenado. He just edged out Kris Bryant for that honor, and we'll see him Tuesday in Miami. Hopefully he gets a chance to flash the leather in front of a huge crowd, so the rest of the baseball world can see what us Rockies fans see pretty much every night. He did commit a very rare error on Wednesday night, bringing his 2017 total up to just three. And those three have come in the last three weeks, meaning he had a perfect fielding percentage until June 17th. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was right around the time the Rockies started losing their grip on first place. They now sit 8.5 games behind the Dodgers, and even the Diamondbacks have slipped a bit, now at 5.5 games back.

2017 Topps Major League Milestones #MLM-3 Trevor Story

The nice thing about packs is that you're certain to find a few insert cards, the lack of which is the primary drawback to factory sets. This group break didn't disappoint, and included one documenting Trevor Story's amazing debut in April 2016, tying an MLB record for 10 home runs as a rookie in the month of April. It was quite a sight, watching six in his first four games, including two in the home opener. There were lots of jokes being thrown around by us fans along the lines of "He's on pace for 243 home runs!"

Of course, he came back down to earth and finished the 2016 campaign with 27, matching his uniform number. He would certainly have made it at least into the 30s if he didn't experience a season-ending injury at the end of July. And the rookie home run sensation has grown even bigger this year, thanks to Aaron Judge of the Yankees, and Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers. Both of them will participate in Monday's Home Run Derby. Bellinger has 24, despite not being called up until April 25th. And Aaron Judge is the only player league-wide to hit 30 so far. No Yankee rookie has hit that many in a season since Joe DiMaggio in 1936, and it's not even the All-Star Break yet. Judge has a real shot at Mark McGwire's rookie record of 49, and he just needs 8 more to tie Frank Robinson and Wally Berger in 2nd place.

2017 Topps '87 Topps #87-180 Andres Galarraga

Retired players have their spot too, such as this throwback to the 30-year old (!) 1987 Topps, the set that really kicked off the overproduction era. It's nice to see such a faithful reproduction of the old set, aside from the glossy finish and silver foil, of course. But the back is pretty much just like you remember it, except for the gum stain. Andres Galarraga's "Big Cat" nickname is clearly visible on the collar of his undershirt, and this photo clearly dates to the Coors Field era, in the early days of the Blake Street Bombers. It's tough to tell for sure, but I'd date this one to 1996, based on the sliver of a small memorial patch on Galarraga's right sleeve. That patch had the initials "MDM", after Michael McMorris, the son of then-owner Jerry McMorris. Michael passed away from cystic fibrosis in 1996, and was honored with that patch throughout the season.

Finally, a little housekeeping before I head off to catch the Rockies play the White Sox tonight. I announced a contest for my 200th post, offering a 36-card Moon Mars Space Shots set. There were 12 entries, including plugs on their own blogs from two of the ten commenters.

And the winner is...

GCA of The Collective Mind, thanks to the bonus entry from this blog post! Congratulations, and thanks to all who entered.

The Trading Post #71: garvey cey russell lopes

Regular baseball games have gotten back underway following the All-Star Break, and the Rockies have already won their first series in the second half. Last night they completed their first win while trailing after seven innings this year, thanks to lots of heads-up baserunning by Trevor Story, and even more defensive blunders by the worst-record-in-baseball Braves.

Perhaps not an incredible accomplishment, but still, these are games the Rockies should be winning. They dropped Sunday afternoon's contest 1-0, but still won the series.

2000 Fleer Tradition Update #U7 Brent Mayne SH

Of course, those 1-0 games have a high potential to go to extra innings, especially when the lone run comes on a walkoff hit. Brent Mayne, a catcher, once found himself called upon to pitch in an extra-innings game, and even earned the win, thus getting a place in this Fleer Tradition Season Highlights subset. The game is still talked about in Rockies fan circles, and is occasionally aired in condensed form on the Rockies' cable channel.

It goes to show how low the bar is to be remembered on the mound for the Rockies. Jamie Moyer and Brent Mayne are among the more famous Rockies pitchers, the former being the oldest pitcher to earn a win in baseball history, the latter not even being a pitcher.

Anyway, this was from a stack of cards sent by garvey cey russell lopes (gcrl), the well-known Dodger blog titled and written in the broken-shift-key style of e.e. cummings. He sent over a nice variety of cards earlier this year, and not just Rockies, as you'll see later.

2016 Bowman Prospects #BP121 Jeff Hoffman

With all this talk of Troy Tulowitzki, it's only right that I examine the other side of the trade a bit more. I've talked plenty about Jose Reyes, who is now back with the Mets. But the Rockies also got a few pitching prospects, the most promising being Jeff Hoffman, pictured on this 2016 Bowman card. Hoffman is still in the minors, but appeared in the All Star Futures game last week and performed well.

2016 Bowman #31 Charlie Blackmon

Bowman's still keeping the same practice of making the base and prospect cards just a bit different. That's part of why I almost never know what year of Bowman I'm looking at—there are basically twice as many sets as there are years. Still, Bowman Prospects is technically an insert set, so I guess it sort of makes sense in that twisted form of Bowman logic.

At least it doesn't have a random "Chrome" logo like David Dahl's card did last year. What it does have is center fielder Charlie Blackmon underneath a fly ball in left-center at Coors, the deepest part of the ballpark. The design of this card looks a lot like a graphic you'd see on MLB Network or ESPN, so if that's what they were going for, I'd say they nailed it.

1998 Pacific Omega #80 Ellis Burks

Pacific, that rascally sort-of-oddball company, was definitely going for a baseball theme here. There are supposed to be three photos, but I wonder if this card may have been misprinted a bit, since the foil area on the right has very little detail, at least when you look at it. It's hard to say, though, since the few other cards I have from this set look about the same. It's just that the scan shows more detail, and we all know how hard it is to scan shiny cards.

2002 UD Piece of History #89 Todd Helton

A bit more horizontal goodness, this time from Upper Deck. 2016 is the third season since Todd Helton's retirement, and his cards are starting to become fewer and further between as newer product hits the market. There are lots of exciting young players to carry the torch, but Helton is still missed, as is his prodigious production of doubles. At least I can get a Helton Burger at his eponymous burger stand behind the left field bleachers.

In a few years, we'll start to hear some Hall of Fame talk around Helton. His 592 career doubles, good for 18th all time, should help his case. With very few exceptions, virtually everyone above him is in the Hall of Fame, save for a couple active players, Luis Gonzalez, and the obvious snubs of Pete Rose and Barry Bonds.

The Rockies have yet to send someone to the Hall, or even sign someone who ended up going. Whether they used steroids or not, both Larry Walker and Todd Helton are linked to rumors of steroid use, though nothing definitive like Bonds and McGwire. Plus they have the "Coors Field effect" to contend with, even though Walker played nearly half of his career elsewhere. With the deliberate exclusion of known and even rumored PED users from Cooperstown, it may still be a while before a Rockie gets in, though Mike Piazza's nearing induction is a promising step in the right direction.

2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Signature Turn of the Century #9 Brian Rike /500

Of course, for every Hall-of-Famer, there are countless players who never make it to the big leagues. Lots of them can be found in sets like Bowman and Donruss Elite, sometimes even with an autograph attached. That's the case for Brian Rike, a Rockies draft pick that didn't progress past Double-A. He went in the 2007 draft, just a few spots above a guy named Giancarlo Stanton. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he just hit a Roger Maris worth of home runs on his way to winning Monday's Home Run Derby.

Can't win them all.

2003 Sweet Spot #230 Clint Barmes SB P2 (RC) /1200

Clint Barmes had a few good seasons with the Rockies, and played for various NL teams until his retirement last year. For his rookie season, he got this manufactured patch relic, serial numbered to 1,200. This is in the running for the thickest card in my collection, and it's got quite a bit of heft to it. Coincidentally, Barmes played in just short of 1,200 career games, and game number 333 would have been right in the middle of the 2008 season. A bit of Baseball Referencing pinpoints his 333rd game to July 29th, 2008 against the Pirates, the team he'd spend the second-longest with after the Rockies.

2001 Topps Gold #761 Colorado Rockies TC /2001

gcrl was kind enough to throw in a Rockies team card from 2001 Topps Gold, back when the serial numbers were gold instead of the black they use now. Commemorating the 2000 season, this card also mentions Brent Mayne's win from the dugout, plus Todd Helton taking a .400 batting average into late August. The team barely squeaked over .500, winning 82 games but still finishing in fourth place.

1993 Topps Gold #825 Mike Walker (UER)

That about does it for the Rockies cards, but the fun doesn't stop there! gcrl took a look at my Eight Men Out list and sent a record-setting three cards from it! Now, I'll be honest. I know pretty much nothing about Mike Walker, other than that he played for the Mariners. He was very briefly in the rotation for Seattle, and in fact didn't play in the Majors beyond 1992. In fact, this card has a slight error on it, as the last row of stats on the back say his time with the Mariners was in 1993, rather than the correct year of 1992.

But what is really interesting about this card is that it only exists as a Topps Gold card. If you happen to recall the size of the 1993 Topps set, it's a huge 825 cards, the largest in Topps Flagship history, except when they numbered the 1981 Traded set sequentially, rather than starting back at 1 and adding a T.

Anyway, I busted a fair bit of 1993 Topps in my younger days, and I always wondered why I never found a Topps Gold checklist. As it turns out, Topps picked six players that didn't make it into that giant set and gave them Gold cards, rather than printing gold-parallel checklists. Mike Walker had one of those cards.

1993 Topps Gold #394 Bernardo Brito

And Bernardo Brito had another. Brito also had a brief time in the Majors, then bounced around the minors and Japanese leagues for a while. Keith Brown of the Reds was yet another checklist substitution, a card I pulled in around 1993, which first made me aware of these non-checklists.  As it turns out, Topps did the same thing in both 1992 and 1994, though I didn't realize it until I saw a '94 card on Wrigley Roster Jenga just a few days ago. Topps printed Gold sets from 1992 through 1994, so I'm not sure why I thought the practice was exclusive to 1993. Current Topps sets don't make these changes; we just have a dozen colored parallels of checklists now, but at least they're also season highlight cards.

Walker and Brito were both on my Eight Men Out list in an effort to snag a few more of these relatively rare cards, but that wasn't the last from gcrl!

1994 Fleer Update #U110 Karl Rhodes

Several years ago, I bought a couple medium-sized Priority Mail boxes on eBay full of assorted cards. I got gobs of duplicates from 2005 Topps Update in one, which is why so many of my trading partners see cards from that set as filler. Another yielded a complete set of 1993 Topps Traded, minus the Helton Rookie, a card I later purchased from my favorite card show dealer. And in one of those boxes came a near-complete set of 1994 Fleer Update, missing only this card of Karl Rhodes, another Eight Men Out need.

The Helton rookie I can understand. In fact, the star rookies are often missing from various Traded and Rookies sets I've purchased as new from various sources. Griffeys, Madduxes, Palmieros have all been missing. But why Karl Rhodes (aka Tuffy) would be the lone card missing is beyond me. Perhaps a young Cubs fan set it aside for an autograph session, or it just got lost in the shuffle somewhere. But that's another complete set I can put on my blog tab, the last thing Fleer would do before they all dropped acid and gave us the 1995 set.

Hey, what else is there to do when there's no World Series?

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.