The Trading Post #158: The Collector (Part 1: Topps)

Just a few days ago, I said that Opening Day Mascots was my favorite insert set of all. I stand by that, but what I didn't know until I got this box of cards from Chris at The Collector was that it used to be a subset in the Opening Day set itself, circa 2007.

2007 Topps Opening Day #192 Dinger

Dinger is getting us pumped up for a two-part series, which will cover a Pay It Forward box that Chris sent to me early this year. After this, I'll finally be caught up on trade posts from all you generous bloggers and readers. I can't thank you all enough.

Like the Rockies' uniforms themselves, Dinger's shade of purple has evolved a little bit over the years. It's a bit darker these days. Even though this was a 2007 set, this photo was already a decade old when Topps picked it for the white-bordered '07 Opening Day set. It's from all the way back in 1997, which was the year that players league-wide wore the Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary patch. The obscured Met has that patch on his right sleeve if you look closely.

This is one of the few Dinger cards that doesn't mention the dinosaur fossil story, an often embellished tale which does have a grain of truth to it. Instead, the card back tells us about how he works with elementary school kids to advocate literacy and fitness, and that he's a hit with fans of all ages.

The 2007 Opening Day design differs from the base Topps set in an obvious way. The border is white with gold foil instead of the bold black with silver foil we got that year. The Mascot subset has one other slight difference from a player card, and sharp-eyed readers might notice that there's no facsimile signature. 

Fortunately, I have the real thing.

2007 Topps Opening Day #73 Cory Sullivan

Looking at Opening Day side-by-side with Topps base really makes it obvious how different Opening Day used to be. This link has Cory Sullivan's black-bordered 2007 Topps card, and they have a pretty different feel. There's a minor difference, in that the facsimile autograph is shrunk slightly to make room for the Opening Day logo, but the white borders and gold foil make it feel a lot different. The black borders are nice, but they make the card feel a little claustrophobic. It's subtle, but this looks a little more open to my eye.

Other than that, not much is changed. The card back is identical, other than the card number of course, and the Opening Day logo, which occupies a usually conspicuously empty area on the left.

2008 Topps Opening Day #162 Jeff Francis

The whole box of cards was organized chronologically, making sorting extremely easy. That was much appreciated. That meant that this 2008 Opening Day card was quite nearby in the whole stack, and the red borders make this pretty easy to spot at a glance. The design is pretty similar, but there are a few differences here as well. There's no color-coding to speak of on the front, but the polka dots at the top have gold foil. That's just colored ink in the base set. Anywhere else that has foil is gold instead of silver, but the differences don't end there.

The major complaint everyone has about the 2008 set is the notch at the top, which is where the Topps logo lives. Maybe you've gotten more used to that by now, because your smartphone probably has something like that. But if you don't like that feature, you'll like Opening Day even less, because Topps made another notch at the bottom for the Opening Day logo. That forces the facsimile signature up slightly without resizing it, and that led Topps to simply crop the photo more tightly.

Have a look at the 2008 base card, pulled from my existing collection:

2008 Topps #511 Jeff Francis

The card backs are again identical, other than the Opening Day logo appearing like a watermark (think of 1991 Topps backs) and the card number.

The write-up is the same, and both cards praised Jeff Francis as the Rockies ace, pointing out that he was the Game 1 starter in all three Rockies playoff series in 2007. He won two, and the loss was Game 1 of the 2007 World Series, where he lost to Josh Beckett. It just so happens that tonight is Game 1 of the 2020 World Series, where we're seeing Clayton Kershaw face off against Tyler Glasnow.

2009 Topps Update #UH28 Matt Murton

Advancing one year into the Topps library, we come to 2009, with a mid-swing bat barrel shot of Matt Murton. I'm pretty good at remembering the Rockies who only played in Denver for a short time, but this one came as a complete surprise. He played 29 games as a Rockie at the end of his MLB career, which came to an end in 2009. He played in Japan for a while, then tried to mount a comeback via the Minors as recently as 2017, but that didn't pan out.

I really don't remember any of this. The only thing I remember about Matt Murton is that for a few weeks in the mid-2000s, he was The Guy to have in Fantasy Baseball early in his Cubs career. But now I have a Topps Update card to document his short time as a Rockie.

2012 Topps Archives #143 Marco Scutaro

On the other hand, I do remember Marco Scutaro. He only played 95 games as a Rockie, but he clearly made much more of an impact on my memory. He got a card in the first Topps Archives set, which used the 1980 design, among others.

As you see here, his only season with the Rockies was in 2012, and even then it was only for a few months. Near the 2012 trade deadline, the Rockies and Giants did a swap, Scutaro for Charlie Culberson. Luckily for Scutaro, he ended up being a part of the Giants' even-year magic. He was named the MVP of the 2012 NLCS, catching the final out off the bat of Matt Holliday on a rainy night in San Francisco. A really rainy night, actually. He'd go on to get his only World Series ring that year.

On the other side of the trade, Charlie Culberson remained with the Rockies for a couple years, and is currently with the Braves. He played in his own NLCS as recently as last Wednesday.

Long before all this, Scutaro was a Minor Leaguer featured in the documentary film A Player to be Named Later, which chronicled several players and their journey through Triple-A.

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary HTA #HTA-12 Troy Tulowitzki

I'll have all the other brands in Part 2, but this is our final Topps card of the post. It has the feel of an insert, which would go well with all the other inserts I showed in Part 4 of the previous trade series, but it's actually from a 25-card set distributed through Topps' Home Team Advantage program. You had to go to a Topps-authorized hobby store to get this, and I haven't frequented local card shops recently to know whether it's still active.

The silver foil Diamond Anniversary logo on the front clearly dates this to 2011, right in the middle of Troy Tulowitzki's tenure with the Rockies. The card back gives us one of Tulo's "Diamond Deeds", and they picked August 10th, 2009, the same 5-for-5 day they profiled on his Career Day insert a year later.

It was a really good game for him and the team.

Most of this box from Chris included brands other than Topps, and I'll have about twice as many cards coming up in Part 2. Until then, enjoy the World Series!

2007: The World Series that got away

Every year, a team loses the World Series. For some teams, that happens a lot, but many of them have the talent and good fortune to go on and win in other years. Others aren't quite so lucky.

In response to Collecting Cutch's contest, in which he asks bloggers to recall a year in which their favorite team didn't win the World Series, the Cardsphere has turned out a batch of excellent posts. There are a few ways to interpret this contest, such as picking a year in which your team had no chance of going anywhere. Finishing in last place with 58 wins is technically one way to "not win the World Series". But entrants tended to pick a season in which their team came oh-so-close to winning it all. Teams like the 2003 Yankees, 1996 Braves, and 1990 Athletics simply lost the Series. The 1980 Dodgers, 2003 Red Sox, 1960 Orioles, and 2016 Red Sox fell varying lengths short of winning the pennant, or short of even making it to the postseason.

The Rockies have never won their division, but they came extremely close in 2018. For Rockies fans, a playoff appearance has always been a question of "will we win the Wild Card?" That's happened five times. And one of those years, they did the improbable and not only advanced to the NLCS, but made it all the way to the World Series.

2007 Upper Deck #304 Clint Barmes

That year was 2007, also the year of one of the least-favorite Upper Deck base sets ever. Clint Barmes was a middle infielder with a few seasons under his belt, but it all came crashing down in 2007. Despite what Upper Deck tells us, that "Barmes has consistently upped his production", his 2007 campaign was one to forget, and one that he spent most of with Triple-A Colorado Springs. He did get called back up in early August, but didn't appear on the Rockies postseason roster until their next Wild Card, in 2009.

Upper Deck did manage to give him a great action shot, which they squeezed in between the columns on both sides. His glove looks a little flat, so it's possible that this lunge didn't quite snag the ball, but we'll never know because the border cuts it off. It's appropriate for this championship that fell just out of reach.

2007 Topps Update #UH209 Troy Tulowitzki SH

A large reason why Barmes had a forgettable 2007 season was this man, Troy Tulowitzki. The talented shortstop was an enormous reason why the Rockies did as well as they did, and he almost won the NL Rookie of the Year award. He made a strong case for Barmes' starting spot, and even managed to turn an unassisted triple play in just his 46th game in the Big Leagues, as this Topps Update card documents (but does not depict). Footage of the actual play shows Tulo wearing a different uniform than the purple jersey.

I've mentioned this before, but I was at the game the day before that rare event happened to occur. It was against the Braves, and while I got to see future Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz pitch, it would have been amazing to see another future Hall-of-Famer, Chipper Jones, line in to such a play. It was my first of four games I attended that season, and the familiar chant of "Tu-Lo!" echoing across Coors Field graced the ballpark for many years to come, even when he visited Denver as a Blue Jay, another game I attended.

2007 Topps Heritage #247 Jamey Carroll

Part of why the 2007 season was so amazing is that even the regular guys did pretty well. Journeyman utility player Jamey Carroll spent two years in Denver, and his trip to the postseason in 2007 was the only one of his career. Even in hitter-friendly Coors Field, he didn't put up stellar numbers, but he did hit a pinch-hit grand slam during my second trip to the ballpark that year, a work outing against the Cubs that the Rockies won in blowout fashion. I had a new camera by then, and snapped a shot of the center field fountains that were activated after that home run.

He also drove in the winning run in the 2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker game. More on that later.

The Rockies have put plenty of great fielders on the diamond, and the back of this '58-design Topps Heritage card tells us that Carroll had a stellar .995 fielding percentage in 2006, the best among NL second basemen.

2007 Topps #205 Cory Sullivan

Cory Sullivan was once tasked with patrolling the jumbo-sized center field bordering that fountain, and he did well, as I recall. I don't remember any home run-robbing plays like Ian Desmond flashed the other night, but he had the speed to do it. Longtime readers might remember him as the player who hit two triples in one inning a year prior. He's still well-known among Rockies fans, as he's an in-studio host for the Rockies' TV network.

2008 Topps Heritage #394 Ryan Spilborghs

Ryan Spilborghs shared outfield duties with Sullivan, and "Spilly" remains a fixture in the Rockies broadcast booth to this day, even though his career ended in 2011. He started in center field that day against the Cubs, and I took this picture of him casting a shadow on the outfield grass. I was a real shutterbug back then, and that photo still graces the banner of my blog's Facebook page. It's one of my favorite photos, and I took it from one of the top rows of the center field bleachers.

I tried really hard to only use cards from 2007 in this post, but I couldn't find a card of Spilborghs in the 2007 binder, so I had to advance one year. The 1959 design is one of my favorites, but it took a while for Topps to place him in more than a small number of sets.

I could go on with guys like this all day. Seth Smith, Jeff Baker, Kaz Matsui, Yorvit Torrealba, Willy Taveras. They weren't superstars, but they got on base, got key hits, and came through in the clutch. The Rockies are never going to be a team full of top-dollar free agents, so for them to have success, they need the right mix of average utility players that pull more than their weight and come through at the right time. When that happens, they tend to do pretty well. Exactly that happened last year in the Wild Card Game against the Cubs. In the extra-innings pitchers duel, none other than Tony Wolters got the game-winning hit. ESPN couldn't even say his name right.

2007 Topps Co-Signers Silver Bronze #4a Garrett Atkins w/Jeff Francis /175

The Rockies have always been such an offense-driven club, but their pitching was quite good in 2007. The staff ace was Jeff Francis, who shares some ghostly card space with third baseman Garrett Atkins. This bronze Topps Co-Signers card was sent to me long ago by Wes, before his recent retirement and even before a couple blog name changes.

Atkins was a middle-of-the-lineup guy, and he rewarded the Rockies with 25 home runs in '07. More importantly, Jeff Francis went 17-9 that year, putting him in a four-way tie for second place on the Rockies single-season wins leaderboard.

2007 Topps Update Red Back #UH43 Ubaldo Jimenez

It wasn't until 2010, but Ubaldo Jimenez eventually eclipsed that record, winning 19 games. No Rockie has ever cracked the 20-win mark, but there are pitchers in the rotation right now who are capable of doing just that. Kyle Freeland already has one and it's just the first day of April.

Jimenez had two relief appearances in 2006, but he really got going as a member of the rotation in 2007. He and Tulowitzki gave fans a glimpse of what the Rockies would be like for several years to come. It was a young team. Of all these players so far, Clint Barmes had the most experience as a Rockie, and he was only in his fifth year.

2007 Ultra #57 Brad Hawpe

2007 Fleer Ultra, the final Ultra set to grace the hobby, had a card back very similar to 2007 Upper Deck. There is a ton of empty white space on that back, but room enough for Fleer (really UD by that time) to tell us that the right fielder was "Part of a rising young core of hitters for Colorado". Hawpe hit even more dingers in 2007 than Atkins, with 29, a career high.

I love Coors Field cards, and these lefties really get great ones. When they're at the plate, we can see right into the Rockies dugout, which is more or less an extremely close-up version of what I see when I go to the ballpark. I tend to favor the third-base side, mainly to keep the sun out of my face, but it's also nice to see my team while they're not on the field.

Speaking of right field, this is a good time to bring up the third game I attended in 2007. It was an early-September night game against the San Francisco Giants, my first time seeing them play. If memory serves, I was was there with my dad and sister, and we sat out in right field, above the out-of-town scoreboard and underneath the overhang. That was fortunate, because if I'm thinking of the right game, it was rainy. I don't remember a delay, just a cold and wet night. Brad Hawpe was the closest player on the field to us, and while he had a hit, the Giants won that night. I even witnessed one of Barry Bonds' 762 home runs.

2007 Finest #53 Matt Holliday

Other than Tulowitzki and maybe the two pitchers, casual Rockies fans probably haven't heard of most of these players, or maybe they don't have the context that current broadcasters Sullivan and Spilborghs used to play for the team. We got pretty deep into this post before I got around to the big names, and they're plenty important to the cause, but this is a team sport first and foremost. Mike Trout, who has better stats than anyone by their age-27 season, has played in a grand total of three Postseason games so far. The Angels are on the upswing, but baseball is a sport where a superstar really needs his teammates to shine.

Topps Finest has always been a pretty small set, so only the big names like Matt Holliday get included. The power hitter led the 2007 team with 36 home runs and 120 runs scored, the last one being pivotal to win game 163 and eclipse the Padres to win the Wild Card. It's easily the most controversial play in Rockies history and, to be honest, probably wouldn't pass replay review in this day and age. It's important to note, though, that Garrett Atkins hit a home run in the 7th inning that evening that was incorrectly ruled a double. If replay review existed, the game would have been over in regulation. But no one really talks about that.

Either way, the call in the 13th inning went the Rockies' way, and he remained such a fan favorite that the Rockies brought him back for the last couple months of 2018. He even appeared on last year's postseason roster, going 2-for-8 and bringing a ton of postseason experience to the clubhouse.

2007 Topps Opening Day #81 Todd Helton

And here's that last big name you've been expecting all along, Todd Helton. I've used a lot of 2007 Topps in this post, so here's a look at the white-and-gold interpretation of the filmstrip design, courtesy of Topps Opening Day. Helton, whose number 17 has since been retired by the club, is the most well-known player on this whole team. He had been in the Majors for quite some time before he got a taste of the Postseason, and was an integral part of the Rockies sweeping both the NLDS and NLCS before encountering the buzzsaw that was the Boston Red Sox.

2008 Upper Deck #484 Garrett Atkins

That brings us to the final game I saw in 2007, Game 3 of the World Series. My boss got tickets from a business contact, and decided to take me, the resident baseball fan, to the game. This card is one of the great Coors Field cards, and I dipped into the 2008 binder a second time to find it. That's Hideki Okajima on the hill for Boston, and he faced Garrett Atkins twice, once each in Games 3 and 4. Atkins struck out in Game 3, but took Okajima deep in Game 4, bringing the Rockies to within 1 run of Boston. It would be the last run they'd score that series.

This card might depict that home run, which I think would be preferable for a card of a Rockie, but it might depict that strikeout in Game 3, which would be pretty awesome for this baseball fan. Other than Topps Now, I've only found one card from a game I attended. 50/50 that this is another one, and what a game it was.

Even though they lost, it is a magical experience to watch your team play in a World Series. Yes, I had my camera. And I'll never forget it.

Still, it would be great to win one of these.

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

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

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

2010 Upper Deck #129a Alexei Ramirez

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

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

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

2010 Upper Deck #67 David Ross

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

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

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

2010 Upper Deck #28 Buster Posey (RC)

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

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

2010 Upper Deck Pure Heat #PH-2 Albert Pujols

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

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

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

2007 Topps #205 Cory Sullivan

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

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

2007 Topps #172 Morgan Ensberg

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

2007 Topps #26 Jason Jennings

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

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

2007 Topps #300 Vladimir Guerrero

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

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

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

2012 Triple Play #63 Ryan Howard

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

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

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

1991 Donruss #483 Mike Scott

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

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

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

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

1991 Donruss #445 Kirk Gibson

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

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

1991 Donruss #471 Barry Larkin

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

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

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

The Trading Post #78: Blog Reader Chris

As I write this, I am watching the Chicago Cubs play in a World Series game.

It's quite a momentous occasion. The last time that happened, I couldn't have used much beyond a typewriter to write that sentence.

This has been quite an interesting postseason. There have been lots of surprises, including both eventual pennant winners. And of course the San Francisco Giants had a little bit of even-year magic left in the tank, but not quite enough to keep that pattern alive. My blogging activity has been pretty quiet this month, but I've made a bit of a dent in some card organization projects. I even went to a card show a couple weekends ago.

And there are still trades coming in. Blog Reader Chris, who does not have a blog of his own to my knowledge, sent a few Rockies earlier this month, as well as a couple non-Rockies, which I'll get to later. Chris is a Cubs fan, so I figured that tonight would be an appropriate night to pen this post. In case you hadn't heard, it's the first time since 1945 they've played in a World Series, and while they still have four wins to go to break the truly long drought, a Cubs pennant is something very few of us have seen.

2006 Topps Update #UH173 Cory Sullivan SH

There's been very little of the Rockies in the news lately, besides who will take over for Walt Weiss as Manager. But I'm still a fan, and compared to the Cubs, it wasn't really that long ago when the Rockies last played in the Fall Classic. Cory Sullivan was a member of that team, which was his only trip to the Postseason. He's part of the Rockies TV crew now, along with his former teammate Ryan Spilborghs.

Sullivan pulled off an exceptionally rare feat in 2006, as shown on this Updates & Highlights card. You know, the set that used to be called Traded and is now called Update? Anyway, Sullivan made it to third base on his own batted ball twice in the 5th inning of an away game early in 2006, something that happened on occasion back in the 1880s. Sullivan was the first to do it in 80 years, and it was previously done in 1926. So it's a pretty rare feat.

Almost as rare as a Cubs pennant.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I am rooting for them!

2004 Topps Opening Day #12 Jay Payton

Opening Day used to look quite a bit different from the base set. The border color is different than the plain white that year, and there's even a bit of foil to be found. Compare that to now, where there's barely any foil even on the flagship set. Opening Day is having a hard time differentiating itself, except for the consistently great insert sets. 2004 is of course known for that tiny foil outline of the player in the lower left corner. It's a bit like 1973 Topps, just more meta since it matches the actual photograph. You can even see the tiny "24" in the corner, and I don't just mean the numerals to the left of the outline. The outline itself even has his uniform number that you can make out surprisingly well.

2007 Upper Deck First Edition Leading Off #LO-WT Willy Taveras

Willy Taveras, clearly pictured as an Astro here, had signed with the Rockies in 2007. Between the Astros and Rockies, the poor guy lost two World Series in three seasons, but at least he led the majors in Stolen Bases in 2008.

This 2007 UD card is from the Leading Off insert set, and there has been some good talent in that spot for the Rockies. Eric Young, Dexter Fowler (now a Cub), Charlie Blackmon, and Willy Taveras.

2007 Topps Update Red Back #UH143 Jeff Baker

This trade was a real throwback to that 2007 World Series, as many of those players didn't spend a ton of time in Denver. Jeff Baker played off the bench in the 2007 Postseason, and got an RBI hit in the NLDS against the Phillies. He looks quite chilly while playing the Mets in Shea Stadium, a few seasons before that park closed. Chris put this one in a penny sleeve, and that's because its a rare (though not necessarily sought-after) red back parallel. I've run across a few of these, but only in the first two series, if my memory serves.

2007 Topps Update Red Back #UH143 Jeff Baker (Reverse)

Baker was a young player at this time, and the card has his Minor League stats on it. It's a reminder of some of the past teams in the Rockies farm system, which changed just a couple seasons ago. Tulsa and Colorado Springs are affiliated with other clubs now, but Asheville remains the Single-A team. Also interesting to note is that Baker was born on a U.S. Military base in Germany.

2015 Topps #366 Jhoulys Chacin

A bit more recent in Rockies history is Jhoulys Chacin. He's officially the Rockie with a name more difficult to spell than LeMahieu. This card is from the recent 2015 Series Two base set, but by then he'd already been released by the Rockies in an effort to fix up their rotation. I found the move fairly surprising at the time, as Chacin had been a reasonably reliable Rockies starter. Topps incorrectly predicted that "he's likely to return to the heart of Colorado's rotation." He played for Los Angeles of Anaheim (I guess that's how you say it without the team name) this season, but other than his 2013 season, he usually ended up with a losing record.

It seems like a good move now that the Rockies have significantly improved their rotation, but I could conceivably see them bringing him back as a bullpen guy.

2006 Ultra RBI Kings #RBI12 Todd Helton

Fleer Ultra was looking pretty plain by the time Upper Deck took over the brand, a far cry from its gold-laden glory days of the early 1990s. This has the look of a relic card, and there could very well be relic versions of this card out there, but it doesn't scream "Ultra" to me.

They got the statistics right, though. A clean-shaven Helton had already become the Rockies career RBI leader with 915 at the time of printing, about 65 more than Larry Walker, and well on his way to his final tally of 1,406. The 147 pictured on the card refers to his 2000 season, in which he led the majors, edging out Edgar Martinez by two.

I'm sure I'll find a few Cubs in the duplicates box to send in return for all these Rockies. They always turn up when you do a big organization.

That wasn't quite it, though. Around the All-Star Break, I blogged about the 1988 Donruss Stan Musial puzzle. My mom found a few examples of the 15-piece mini puzzle, but the full 63-piece puzzle has eluded me.

1988 Donruss Stan Musial Puzzle #58 Musial Puzzle 58-60

Until now, that is. I put up the eight or nine puzzle cards I needed to finish the set on my new Wish List page (it needs work, I know), and Chris sent them over shortly thereafter. I did end up with a paper shower taking those pieces out of their standard-sized frames, as is common with those perforated puzzle cards, but they fit together just fine and are now in an 8.5"x"11" sheet protector, along with several other Donruss puzzles I've acquired over the years. This was the first time I assembled one piecemeal, though, and the colors and alignment aren't quite perfect. But that's just a reminder of the years-long "chase" I've been on to assemble the puzzle, and also of the great group of trading partners I've found, whether they have a blog or not.