The Trading Post #144: Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer (Part 3: Not Topps)

For the first time in a very long time, I'm composing a post while watching the Rockies play a live baseball game. That's not a sentence I expected to write as late as August. Under normal circumstances, I'd be watching the middle weekend of the Summer Olympics. But it was not to be.

In any case, I finally have some time to wrap up a three-part post about a trade with Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer. A lot of you have sent me cards in 2020, and I'm woefully behind. I'm trying to keep up with thank-yous on Twitter, but it might be a while before I get a full post written for each of these trades. I'm even running out of places for each stack. On the bright side, I haven't needed to buy pages yet.

Let's see what non-Topps goodies Rod was able to find to round out this trade package.

1997 Donruss #200 Eric Young

It's Opening Weekend at Coors Field, and the Rockies took two out of three against Rod's Padres. A win Friday could have set up a sweep today, but Wade Davis didn't get the job done that night. Regardless, lots of Rockies have been rounding the bases this weekend, just like we see the speedy Eric Young (Sr.) doing here on 1997 Donruss. It's an under-represented set in my collection, and these cards Rod sent might finally force a second page in my '97 binder.

This design has a tiny silver foil element in the lower left, which contains both the team logo and the player's position. Donruss might have scaled this down to near-microscopic proportions in response to the "loincloth" that the '96 set was known for. The foil on this card isn't quite perfect, as the black border slightly covers up the silver foil elements. This copy in particular has a very slight remnant of a Red Sox logo right along the edge.

But making the design elements so small lets the photo do most of the talking, and Young got an especially good Coors Field card, perfect for the frankenset. I can't quite tell who the opposing team is, but based on the color, it's probably the Dodgers. Maybe it's even from that crazy 16-15 game on June 30th, 1996, one of the classic slugfests in the stadium's history that got extra airtime when they were broadcasting replays earlier this year.

Behind that probable Dodger, you can see an earlier iteration of Coors Field, before the right-center fence was raised. If this photo were taken today, the yellow line would be significantly higher, even with the top of the out-of-town scoreboard in right field. There's a banner too, and while advertisements have generally crept into more areas of the ballpark on the outfield wall (as well as onto all jerseys league-wide), in the early days it was generally limited to the area above the bullpens. I'm guessing this banner is from Carquest, an auto-parts chain that no longer markets under that brand in Denver.

1997 Donruss #185 Ellis Burks

The foil element looks much better on this Ellis Burks card, even though he's not in his home ballpark. Burks's career was longer than Young's by this point, so there's no room for a write-up on this card back. Young's had a few nice words to say, including a mention of the first-ever Major League home run in Denver, one of the all-time great Rockies highlights.

1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown #5 Dale Murphy

Few remember, but Dale Murphy was briefly a Rockie in the team's early days. He even had an RBI in that inaugural home opener. He decided to retire from baseball after a couple months with the Rockies. His time in Denver was mostly forgettable, but he had put together an excellent career in the years leading up to that, so excellent that Pinnacle thought he'd make it to Cooperstown one day, including him in a small 30-card boxed set with other prospective Hall of Famers.

I had expected to tie this card in with Larry Walker's uniform number retirement, which was supposed to happen in April. I even had tickets. Walker, of course, finally became the first Rockie to be elected to the Hall of Fame, in his last year of eligibility. It was a real nail-biter. Murphy, despite back-to-back MVP awards and 398 career home runs (none as a Rockie) has been snubbed by Hall of Fame voters. He wouldn't have worn a Rockies cap on his plaque anyway, but still.

Pinnacle did a pretty good job in building this 30-card set. Most players did end up getting the Call to the Hall, with some obvious choices like Ken Griffey, Jr. and Tony Gwynn. There are of course the steroid-associated players who aren't in, Bonds and Clemens and such, but Murphy is one of just a small handful of the 30 who have a pretty solid case but still don't have a plaque. A few weren't able to keep the early magic going, like Dwight Gooden and Will Clark. Others like Don Mattingly and Cecil Fielder just didn't have the longevity to put a truly legendary career together.

That just leaves two players. First is Joe Carter, who still has an interesting case based on his RBI count and also passes the Bill Mazeroski test for having a World Series walkoff homer. And second, Dale Murphy. Both players fell just shy of 400 home runs, but assuming you're not a "Small Hall" sort of fan, I agree with Pinnacle and think both warrant inclusion.

It is too bad that Murph wasn't able to squeak just two pitches out of Mile High Stadium in the thin Denver air and get to that 400 mark. But their stories aren't done yet.

2019 Donruss Optic Lime Green #126 Kyle Freeland

This particular variety of Donruss Optic gives 1991 Fleer a run for its money. I think this colored parallel is the Lime Green flavor (pun intended), but the colored border situation over at Panini is truly insane, so that's the one I am guessing. There is no serial number, which narrows it down considerably.

Freeland, 1-0 on this short season after getting the win Saturday, appears to be pitching in an early-spring Wrigley Field. You can see the basket and the brick, but the ivy is still dormant. Most likely, this is from April 30th, 2018, a loss against Jon Lester, which turned out to be an early preview of the 2018 NL Wild Card matchup. I suppose this could be from that game instead, but the ivy would look different in early October compared to late April. In fact, that very playoff game is precisely what Donruss mentioned on the card back, where he pitched 6.2 scoreless innings in a high-pressure situation, helping the Rockies advance to the NLDS.

2009 Upper Deck Starquest Uncommon Blue #SQ20 Matt Holliday

Matt Holliday was also a starter in that game, but this Upper Deck card was printed long before the Wild Card game had been introduced as part of the Postseason format. He went 1-for-3 with a double that evening before being replaced by Gerardo Parra.

I've seen varieties of this Starquest card before, or at least this image (I think). Matt Holliday looks radiant on this design with a big silver starburst behind him. Upper Deck calls this one a "Blue Uncommon", but it just looks silver to me. Maybe there's the faintest whiff of a shade like smoke blue, but not really. The only blue I see is in the Upper Deck logo itself, which remains a big hole in the baseball side of this hobby. Color confusion aside, we've gone a whole decade without a real Upper Deck baseball card and it is most definitely a loss.

I'm just not seeing the colors this time. I never would have come up with Lime Green on Freeland's card. And this simply isn't blue.

2009 Upper Deck #235 Liván Hernández

It's been quite a while since I've seen 2009 Upper Deck. It's a great-looking set, although I must admit that I have trouble telling the years apart with later UD base sets. Not nearly as bad as with Bowman, but it's tricky. That little baseball diamond hologram is still there on the card back, and I always appreciate getting a uniform number as part of the nameplate on the front.

I have to admit that I don't remember Liván Hernández as a Rockie. It was a brief eight-game stretch in late 2008, and by the time this set came out, he was on to the Mets. He was a real journeyman, playing for nine different teams in his career, almost all in the National League. That gave him time for ten career home runs.

With the sudden implementation of the universal DH, it's possible that we'll never see a pitcher hit a home run again, excluding the rare pinch hit situation. Position players take the mound sometimes, why can't a pitcher pinch hit? The universal DH also reduces the number of interesting baseball card photos available for pitchers, leaving us with shots like this of Hernández firing a comebacker off to first as one of the most unusual-looking pitcher action photos we're likely to see.

1992-93 Excel #36 Mark Thompson

We'll wrap up with a Minor League card, courtesy of 1992-93 Fleer Excel. First off, this has to be the only baseball card set I've ever seen that crosses years. Sets featuring the other major sports do this regularly, but it's very strange to see this on a baseball set. This is an oddball for plenty of reasons. It is officially a Fleer card, and I don't normally lump major brands in with "oddballs", but this is unusual.

Long ago, the Short-Season A Minor League affiliates of the Colorado Rockies, also known as the Rockies, played in Bend, Oregon. That just so happens to be the home of Deschutes, one of my favorite craft breweries. Anyway, as you can see from Mark Thompson's cap, it was easy to adapt the interlocking "CR" typeface into "BR", and later "PR" when the team moved to Portland, right into Rod's neck of the woods. The team logo can be found on the back, and it uses the old Rockies logo with the purple on gray arch rather than the black on gray colors we're familiar with. "BR" might look fine, but stretching "B E N D" into that space where "COLORADO" usually goes looks a bit odd.

We also have a single line of stats, as 1992 truly was Thompson's only professional season to that point. He appeared in several 1993 Rockies team sets, along with numerous other Amateur Draft selections, many of whom never made the majors. The Rockies and Marlins found in 1993 Topps Series 2 looks more like a Bowman checklist. Thompson, though, spent seven seasons in the Majors and was in the Rockies starting rotation in 1996. He had precisely 0.0 bWAR in those seven seasons, but he went 9-11 in 1996, really quite good for a pre-humidor Rockies pitcher.

He hit one home run in his career. It happened in Wrigley Field off of former Rockie Kent Bottenfield.

It's been a long journey we've been on with this three-part series. I certainly didn't mean for it to take over two months to finish. Blogging hasn't been at the top of my activity list lately, but I have been keeping up with reading most of yours. I can't make any promises about when I'll write my next one (though I still haven't missed a month, nor do I intend to), but thanks to all of you who give me so much to write about. Because of the continued generosity of Rod and many others in this community, I have plenty of content, just limited time to actually write it.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

The Trading Post #92: A Cracked Bat

She's back.

In case you hadn't heard, the always generous Julie has picked the flag back up at A Cracked Bat, her wonderful blog that had been dormant for most of 2016. True to form, she included lots of high end cards that I have no idea where she gets. It's good to have a female perspective on the hobby, but as I recall it's pretty much just her and Ana Lu from Hobby Cards Europe, aside from the occasional guest post.

2006 Fleer Tradition #165 Ryan Shealy (RC)

First base for the Rockies has always been pretty buttoned up by fan favorites. Andres Galarraga started off the franchise covering first base through 1997, passing the torch to franchise player Todd Helton, who retired in 2013. Ex-Twins Cuddyer and Morneau covered it for a couple years, as did Mark Reynolds last year. And the plan is to put newly acquired Ian Desmond there this year. Or at least that was the plan before he fractured his hand over the weekend.

So that doesn't leave a lot of room for guys like Ryan Shealy. He was drafted by the Rockies in 2002, and showed promise in his rookie 2005 season, but there just wasn't room for him. He was traded to the Royals for a couple relief pitchers, but only played three partial seasons for Kansas City.

Upper Deck had acquired Fleer by this time, and they kept the Tradition, um, tradition going for another couple years. Unlike the retro cardboard sets released around the turn of the millennium, this Tradition set is glossy and on white card stock. The yellow band at the bottom reminds me of the very yellow 1991 Fleer set, and I like the color coding and the little hat containing the team logo, a nod to 1981 Topps. 1981, of course, was the first year in ages that Topps had company in the marketplace, with Donruss and Fleer hitting the shelves. Fleer was on life support by this point, but Upper Deck was doing its best to save it.

Anyway, regardless of what was going on in the Hobby in 2006, it's for the best that the Rockies didn't unload Helton to make room for Shealy.

2006 Fleer Tradition Triple Crown Contenders #TC-8 Todd Helton

Even pre-goatee, Todd Helton was well worthy of being included in an insert set. This focuses on his stellar performance in the 2000 season, leading the National League, or rather, the "Senior Circuit", which I'd never heard before and had to look up, in hits, extra base hits, slugging percentage, and more. And yes, doubles.

Julie must have opened a box of this stuff since there were a half-dozen or so cards from it in the package. But these two vying for first base stood out to me.

2015 Topps Mini #683 LaTroy Hawkins

Minis also have a tendency to stand out, especially of veteran players like this. This isn't quite his sunset card, as he got a Blue Jays card in 2015 Topps Update before retiring. He was part of the Tulowitzki blockbuster trade, but I don't know if any Jays stats made it onto the back of that card.

You can imagine how tiny the statistics are printed, especially on a mini. Of course, 2017 cards omit all but the last five stat lines, which could be even fewer than five seasons if a mid-season trade took place. That new design decision also calls into question what a sunset card even is, since they won't have complete career statistics on their final card anymore. 2015 wasn't really that long ago, but a lot has changed.

The rosters have changed too, and it's surprising how different the roster is even a couple seasons later. Julie included the entire mini Rockies team set, minus Arenado and Justin Morneau's league leader card, who won the batting title in 2014. Blackmon, De La Rosa, LeMahieu are all in there, but plenty more, maybe even a majority, are long gone.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini #78 Charlie Blackmon

Before returning to a standard size, the minis got even minier. This is from the distinctive 2015 Gypsy Queen set, and it's a parallel just like the white-bordered one I got from Cardboard Collections. So now there are a couple parallel varieties kicking around my collection, on top of the base version (which I had to check for).

Makes me wonder how close I am to the rainbow. Probably still pretty far away, knowing Topps these days.

2016 Bowman Platinum Top Prospects #TP-JH Jeff Hoffman

Back in the land of 2.5"x3.5", Bowman Platinum continues its run after a break in 2015. Jon Gray's card, which recently found its way to me from Johnny's Trading Spot, is from the base set, but this card of Jeff Hoffman, the primary return piece in the aforementioned Tulowitzki trade, is part of the quasi-insert Top Prospects set. It's still sort of a continuation of the base set, but Bowman, ever-bent on making things as confusing as possible, didn't even use numerals in the card number. But it is available in all the same parallel varieties as the 100 base cards.

Hoffman isn't in the regular rotation yet, but with the unfortunate return of Chad Bettis' cancer, he might be appearing in more 2017 games while we wish Bettis a speedy and full recovery.

2016 Diamond Kings Framed #169 Tom Murphy

More young Rockies are likely to take the field in 2017, with Tom Murphy a leading candidate to appear behind the plate, sharing duties with Tony Wolters. I wouldn't call him a Diamond King just yet, but Donruss has to pick someone to show off their custom Rookie Card logo. Like that Charlie Blackmon card I linked to earlier, this is the framed parallel, with a raised cardboard border surrounding the card. The playing-card like feel of Diamond Kings cards, coupled with that frame, make this feel even more like a painting than other framed cards I've seen.

When I got a similar card recently from UD Masterpieces, I even said that Diamond King cards were going for that type of look. With this card, I'll say they finally got what they were always after.

1994 Collector's Choice Silver Signature #304 Eric Young

Before moving into the high-end cards, let's take a quick step back into the Blake Street Bombers era. 1994 Collector's Choice was a solid successor to the legendary 1993 Upper Deck, as the 1994 UD base set moved in a more modern direction and allowed them to begin their long fascination with copper. Silver Signatures are a fairly frequent specimen around here, even in Julie's past trade packages. Andres Galarraga gets a small cameo on the back, but the main attraction is this photo on the front. Judging by the blue on the outfield wall, I'll guess this is Shea Stadium. It looks like EY ran in a little bit too far on this popup, but he was a good defender so he likely made the catch.

2016 Topps Tribute #17 Nolan Arenado

Sometimes I wonder if Julie is an anonymous lottery winner or something. Because she sends me a lot of obviously expensive stuff. Judging from everyone else's posts, I'm not the only one. Nolan Arenado, my favorite current Rockie, gets an amazing-looking card in Topps Tribute. It's not much thinner than the whole stack of cards I've shown thus far, and has a very visible rainbow finish. Unlike some rainbow/refractor cards, this is pretty obviously so, meaning you don't have to hold it under the lamp just right.

Going back to the humidor from my previous post, this card points out that Nolan is the first Rockie to put up a 40-homer season since it was installed. Not even Todd Helton did that in the post-humidor era. Which makes a possible Hall of Fame case for Arenado more likely. I hope we don't have to wait that long to see a Rockie in Cooperstown, but if Larry Walker keeps getting the snub, I don't see who else would be on the horizon, other than Helton, who's a borderline case to begin with.

2016 Topps Museum Collection #79 Corey Dickerson

Corey Dickerson has been playing for Tampa Bay since 2016, so even these ultra-expensive sets can't get past the nature of late-breaking offseason trades. Dickerson is pictured as a Rockie, and there's some analysis of his stats on the back, but no mention of his January 2016 trade to the Rays.

It's quite a striking card, the black border with the thin silver foil frame. Some of the lines around the Museum Collection logo are surprisingly even thinner and mostly uniform. And the photograph is as sharp as they come. When I hold such a card, I can't help but wonder how they can even print something like it. That Eric Young card is pretty nice compared to something twenty years its senior, but we're definitely living in the high definition era.

2016 Topps Triple Threads Amethyst #88 Carlos Gonzalez /340

So far we have Tribute and Triple Threads, and don't forget about Tier One. Museum Collection is an outlier, yes, but the high end brands from Topps are clearly being brought to you by the letter T. These are getting so high-end now that serial numbers are making their way onto the cards. A print run of 340 signifies that this is the Amethyst parallel, so this just so happens to be the perfect color-coded variety to match the Rockies' colors. The purple areas you see will vary depending on which colored parallel you have.

Topps changed the Triple Threads logo for 2016, making me wonder if there was yet another high-end set out there. And as long as we're on T words, how about tessellation? The pattern of triangles in the background illustrates that concept of closely stacked similar shapes. By the way, Nolan Arenado isn't the only recent Rockie to hit 40 homers. CarGo accomplished the same feat in 2015, just a few days after Arenado hit the mark.

2014 Topps Triple Threads Unity Relics #UJR-JCH Jhoulys Chacin /36 (MEM)

Jhoulys Chacin's Triple Threads from two years earlier contained the logo that I'm more familiar with. It's still a pretty thick card, and is textured on the front similarly to the swatch. That double-height uniform piece is unique in my collection, as best I can recall. Unfortunately, though it does have one of the prized pinstripes, it is slightly misaligned. I even mentioned such a possibility in my previous post.

Sometimes I wonder how these things are constructed. I'd certainly never tear apart a card like this, especially one with such a low print run, but I am curious as to how these little scraps of fabric stay in place so firmly. I'd be surprised if it were glued, as I'd expect an adhesive to discolor and seep through the fabric. Perhaps one day I'll appease my inquisitiveness and sacrifice a relic card.

You know, for science.

The Trading Post #82: Cardboard Clubhouse

Since the inception of Infield Fly Rule, Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse has been one of my most frequent trading partners. He was part of my giant outgoing mailday on Monday, and many of my trading partners and #Supertraders should be seeing something from me, if it hasn't arrived already. I turned on the Broncos game last Sunday and nearly emptied out my trade box, packaging up a dozen or so PWEs and at least that many bubble mailers.

It's that time of year, and while I haven't gone for any of Topps' snowflake cards this year, hopefully I did manage to spread a little cheer around the Cardsphere. I've also been on the receiving end of a few packages recently, including a Christmas card from Adam that included a small stack of Rockies cards. Once I managed to de-glitter them, there were some nice surprises inside.

1993 Topps #551 Eric Young

It's set to hit subzero temperatures in the Denver area this weekend, and the snow is already falling, so Eric Young with a giant cactus behind him is a welcome sight. 1993 Topps, the second factory set I ever purchased, marked the first appearance of Rockies and Marlins in Topps base. Even then, they didn't show up until Series 2, but the league expansion did help the set balloon to an enormous 825 cards that year. That was still before any action shots could be used, so there are just a bunch of posed images. But there are a few interesting backdrops. Jerald Clark has a lovely seaside photo, and Jim Tatum has another desert landscape behind him. Marlins cards look similar, but much more tropical.

And very much above zero.

2008 Upper Deck Diamond Collection #DC-12 Manny Corpas

The Rockies had about fifteen seasons under their belt by the time Upper Deck was nearing the end of its baseball product. I seem to run across a lot of these Diamond Collection inserts. I'm not sure how common they are, but they're one of those sets that just seem to gravitate toward me.

Manny Corpas was a serviceable closer for the Rockies, racking up 34 saves throughout his career. He hasn't pitched in the Majors since 2013, but I can't help imagining that he'd still be an asset to the bullpen. The Rockies did just sign reliever Mike Dunn to a three-year contract, so the front office is clearly taking steps to address that weakness.

Still not sure about that whole Ian Desmond thing, though. They really have no option but to stick him at first base, a position he's never played. The outfield is pretty much stacked, but they only let you play three at a time. Between CarGo, Blackmon, potentially Desmond, and prospects Dahl and Tapia, they really need to convert some of that into pitching, as hard as it would be to see some of them go. It's almost like the Rockies are banking on the NL adopting the DH.

Last season Dickerson was traded for Jake McGee, so at least there have been some moves in that direction. But both players were a bit of a disappointment last season.

2012 Topps #460 Thomas Field (RC)

Between Tulowitzki and Trevor Story, the Rockies have been completely set on shortstop for quite some time. Except when Tulowitzki and Story were injured. Still, that didn't leave much room for Thomas Field, one of the few players to pass through Denver that I've never heard of, even though he got a Topps base card in 2012. He appeared in a mere 18 games for the Rockies, and in a few games for the Angels and Rangers the past few seasons. He seems like one of those players that tops out at Triple-A. But he did just sign with the Twins organization, so there's still hope.

1995 Fleer Ultra #376 David Nied

David Nied shows up a lot around here, and though he didn't become a household name like many of his teammates, he still was a rather familiar face of the early Rockies. Though it was pricey, I managed to buy a few packs of 1995 Fleer Ultra after the strike ended. Compared to the craziness of 1995 Fleer, Ultra gave us a foil-heavy but very clean set. This set has managed to grow on me quite a bit since I started this blog, but the two different foil colors still bug me a little.

1998 SkyBox Dugout Axcess #141 Vinny Castilla TRIV

This is one of those sets I had no idea existed until I started blogging and making trades. The Skybox division of Fleer definitely tried hitting the lower end of the market, something that Topps has been neglecting for some time. Dugout Axcess is a set I've seen before, but not this subset. Apparently there's a parallel of this card numbered to just 50 copies, which is surprising for such a low-end set.

Anyone care to take a guess at the answer to this Trivia question? There are some hints about an "improbable event" at "hitter-friendly" Coors Field in late 1996.

Yes, that was the only no-hitter ever pitched in Coors Field, thrown by the Dodgers' Hideo Nomo. The Rockies have been no-hit three times, twice by the Dodgers.

There are lots of other trivia questions on the back of this card, like what's Ken Griffey, Jr.'s given first name? What happened to Ivan Rodriguez on June 20th, 1991 besides his MLB debut? And there's an out-of-date question about the career home runs leader.

Junior's real first name is George, as was his dad's. Pudge happened to have his (first) wedding day the same day as his call up. And Hank Aaron was still the Home Run King in 1998, but Barry Bonds was well on his way to taking the crown.

1994 Stadium Club Team Finest #4 Andres Galarraga

Finally, this was the shiniest card in the envelope. Topps was still making these odd team sets under the Stadium Club brand in 1994, with an entirely different design from the regular Stadium Club cards. They did the same in 1993, the first of just two years this concept existed.

Adam, in fact, sent me an Eight Men Out card from 1993's Team Stadium Club set, so he probably found about as many of these cards as I used to. But this one's from 1994, and it has a Topps Finest finish on it, one of a 12-card partial parallel set, which I'm about halfway to completing now. Chrome wouldn't exist for another couple years, but Finest had already established itself, as did the curl that would forever plague beautiful cards like this. It was still such a new technology that Topps had to list the U.S. patent numbers on the back of the card.

I didn't know that a Rockie was honored with a card in this small set way back in 1994. And surprisingly, I don't have the base version. This card looks so familiar, but it's brand new to me. Maybe it's just the design. As much as I've collected since I was a kid, the sets I knew from 1993 and 1994 will forever be etched in my memory much more clearly than others. Recent Topps base sets I do pretty well with, but I can't match the set to the year for at least half of the 1960s and 1970s. And for Bowman, I might as well throw darts.

It's a little off-center, which has to be pretty blatant on a full bleed card to even notice. But I know exactly where this one will go in my binders, and it's a design I could basically draw from memory if I needed to.

Glad I could swap some holiday cheer with a longtime trading partner, and if your shipment just went through my local post office, I hope you enjoy yours.

The Trading Post #36: A Cracked Bat

I'm in the middle of the busiest 30-day period in a very long time. Between early June and early July, I'll have traveled outside the USA for the first time, gone to my company's annual sales conference, taken a road trip to three states I've never seen before, not to mention some very positive developments in my relationship.

That's partially why my only post since May was an Instagram photo from my trip to Austria, but as I am between major events at the moment, I'd like to take the opportunity to keep this blog active.

Returning to my long-running The Trading Post theme, here's a trade package from Julie at A Cracked Bat that I received this spring. Julie has sent me lots of cards this past year, and has been one of my best trading partners. I commented on a long-ago post of hers claiming a Kellogg's 3D mini, which I'll get to later.

2014 Bowman Chrome Dualing Die-Cut Refractors #DDC-SB Eddie Butler / Corey Seager

This isn't the first card from this die-cut set that I've received from Julie. I'm guessing she opened at least some 2014 Bowman, and found another young Rockies pitcher to send my way, as the previous card was of Jonathan Gray. Both Butler and Gray are promising pitchers on the Rockies roster, although Butler's cardmate got a bit more of the write-up on the back.

2005 Topps All-Stars #TAS1 Todd Helton

Topps was going a bit wild with the shiny patterns as recently as 2005, which shows up better on the scan than in person, amazingly. I tell all my trading partners that I love shiny stuff, and though it looks a little juvenile, it will do just fine.

1998 Pacific Omega Online Inserts #28 Larry Walker

This one is even wilder, though it's from Pacific, so that all checks out. Their Pacific Online set from 1998 is fairly well-known, as it's pretty much a Geocities website on a baseball card. However, as I just learned from this trade, they extended that theme to an Omega insert set that same year. They used the same URL, but made the whole thing look a little bit more like a circuit board. Maybe I'm stretching a bit, but I even see some 1994 Finest in this design.

2001 E-X #9 Larry Walker

Here's another one of Walker, although this one is more sparkly than shiny. All these premium Fleer brands may not have sold that well in their day, but they are certainly thicker than recent Topps Archives sets, a topic that's gotten a lot of press in recent weeks. Defgav at Baseball Card Breakdown even did a scientific test of the thickness of various brands with medical-grade equipment.

I don't have any details like that on this E-X card, although I can tell you that Walker's outline is printed with a very subtle outline.

2001 Fleer Premium #101 Todd Hollandsworth

More premium Fleer cards were included, such as this one of Todd Hollandsworth playing the outfield in an unmistakable Wrigley Field. Hollandsworth spent a short time with the Rockies, but is better known as the last of four consecutive Dodgers to win the Rookie of the Year award, his coming in 1996.

1996 Emotion-XL #171 Jason Bates

Jason Bates, on the other hand, spent his entire, though short, career as a Rockie. He got plenty of cards in the post-strike baseball card era, and here's yet another rarely-seen Fleer brand, Emotion-XL. What's so distinctive about it is that it strongly resembles some recent Gypsy Queen parallels, as it has a cloth-like raised paperboard frame.

2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Framed Blue #59 Wilmer Flores /499

Fleer also put a foil seal on theirs, so that Emotion set would feel right at home to any GQ fans.

2011 Topps Allen and Ginter Hometown Heroes #HH70 Troy Tulowitzki

This has been an unusually Fleer-heavy post, but there was plenty of Topps to be found, like this "Hometown Heroes" insert set from Allen & Ginter. I'm not wild about any of the tobacco-era resurrected brands, but A&G is the one I like the most in that space.

On this card, we learn that Tulowitzki is from Sunnyvale, California, right in the heart of Silicon Valley. In fact, one of the companies I work most closely with in my new role is headquartered there, along with countless other tech companies. The back of this card even mentions that he's from a "tech-heavy" region, surrounded by Santa Clara and San Jose.

I don't know whether the A's franchise will move out of Oakland, but they'd have plenty of local business clients and advertisers if that ends up happening.

2013 Topps Update #US226 Michael Cuddyer

I've always felt like the Topps Update brand has gone pretty heavy on All-Star Game and Home Run Derby cards, but this one of Cuddyer is a near-perfect prediction of where he'd be playing two seasons later. The Mets hosted that year, and Cuddyer may have liked the orange color so much that he wanted to wear it full-time.

1994 Select #145 Eric Young

The giant gold stripe down the center of 1994 Score Select cards doesn't place it among my favorite designs, but this card brings back fond memories. My sister and I watched a lot of Rockies games when we were kids, and Eric Young was one of my sister's favorites. I remember her frequently calling him "Mr. Smiley." One look at this card and you know that's appropriate. Young always brought a great energy to the early Rockies teams, and I'm happy that he's still involved with the organization as a coach.

2013 USA Baseball Champions #15 Frank Thomas

Occasionally, a few non-Rockies cards make it into a package. Frank Thomas was one of the biggest names of my early card collecting days, so it's always nice to get a card of him, even if it's not MLB-licensed.

In reading up on Thomas' Team USA days, I was surprised to learn that he didn't participate in the 1988 Olympics. But if he did, then he would have had a card in 1988 Topps Traded, and we all know that set well enough to know that Thomas didn't appear on a Topps card until two years later.

1980 Kellogg's #55 Joaquin Andjuar

As promised, here's the Kellogg's card that triggered this trade package in the first place. This is my very first card from the Kellogg's brand, and I picked it for those great Astros uniforms of the late-1970s. Jose Altuve had a recent throwback card with a better look at this uniform. I dig almost all of it, except for the uniform number on the pant leg.

They've been through quite a few uniforms since then, with varying degrees of how much orange they include. I feel like the Astros have been aimlessly hunting for an identity for quite some time now, going so far as to switch leagues, a move that still isn't intuitive to me. Almost every time I see them on the out-of-town scoreboard or ESPN ticker, my brain screams "interleague game!"

At least Orbit is back.

The Trading Post #34: Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary

This is already the fourth trading post I've done for cards received from Brian at Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. He is a great trader and consistently does a fantastic job of finding great cards for me.

2014 Topps Chrome Black Refractors #190 Carlos Gonzalez /100

When I tell people what I collect, I usually say something along the lines of shiny, serial numbered, or Rockies. Brian hit the trifecta with a low-numbered colored parallel from 2014 Topps Chrome. The refractor finish really pops on a black-bordered card, which is thick enough and well-coated enough to probably not chip, unlike the 1992 Pinnacles and 1971 Toppses of the world. The only thing that could make it better is if CarGo were wearing the Rockies black alternate jerseys, like Jeff Baker on my previous post.

In addition to that gorgeous rarity above, Brian sent a little bit of everything, starting with a brand that wouldn't be out of place in one of Nick's horror movies.

2014 Topps Gypsy Queen #9 Nolan Arenado

There's something unnatural about the way they process photos for this brand. It's probably some kind of HDR treatment, perhaps a bit of rotoscoping. But they make the shadows look extremely shadowy, and it just gives the card kind of a creepy feel.

I feel like these tobacco-era reproductions have gotten a bit long in the tooth, although this year's Gypsy Queen is a strong effort.

2001 Topps Heritage #147 Masato Yoshii

But when Topps Heritage first hit the shelves, it was a brilliant idea. Of course, Topps has since applied the usual gimmicks to the product, but when they repurposed the iconic 1952 design to launch the brand, I think we all knew it had staying power.

I usually find facsimile signatures completely distracting and interfering, but in the '52 set, there's a perfect little spot for them. And the first-ever Japanese player to suit up for the Rockies gives us one of the most interesting facsimile signatures of them all.

Brian was sure to include some mid-1990s cards decked out in gold foil. Of course, pretty much every card from that era had gold foil, but Topps Gold arguably kickstarted that trend.

1993 Topps Gold #606 Jayhawk Owens

Then, as now, the gold-on-gold lettering is pretty hard to read, but we can at least see that Topps elected to just use Jayhawk Owens' first initial, rather than his unusual name. I've heard a few explanations for this, ranging from Owens' own embarassment about his name, to Topps simply not believing that he went by Jayhawk.

1997 Pinnacle Inside #147 Neifi Perez

By the time Coors Field had a season or two under its belt, gold foil had taken the hobby by storm. Neifi Perez wasn't my favorite Rockie of the time, as he had a tendency to choke in the clutch, but he was a solid middle infielder.

One fun fact about Pinnacle cards that I learned quite recently is that they have an anti-counterfeit measure. We all know about the Upper Deck hologram, but Pinnacle did something similar starting in 1991. Flip almost any Pinnacle card over (or even Score, if you move a few years forward in your collection), and you'll see a small, gray rectangle with very narrow black lines.

1997 Pinnacle Inside #147 Neifi Perez (Reverse)

Assuming you are armed with an official Pinnacle Authenticator Lens, a card-sized piece of plastic that is ridged on one side, (sort of like a Fresnel lens), you'll be able to ensure that your haul from the dime box is the real deal. Picture a transparent version of a Sportflix or Opening Day Stars card, and you've got the idea. Align the ridges horizontally over the gray rectangle, and you'll see alternating rainbow colors. Do so vertically and you'll get some lettering like "Pinnacle", "Score", or on the card above, "PBI 97", for Pinnacle Brands, Inc.

I'm sure this could easily be defeated with the high-definition imaging tools we have today, but it was a clever and hopeful idea to implement as the baseball card bubble inflated.

Die cut cards may have been a bit less clever. There's really not much you can do with them besides cut a fairly boring curve or two, or just go completely nuts and give it more facets than a cut diamond. There's not a lot of middle ground.

2000 Crown Royale #45 Rolando Arrojo

My girlfriend thumbed through this stack when the envelope came. She seemed to enjoy a few of them (though wasn't so wild about '95 Fleer). When she got to this one, she said, in her best little-kid voice, "Who's the princess?!"

Seriously, Pacific.

Although, if anyone cared enough to send off a card like this for grading, finding a Gem Mint 10 with that many opportunities for flaws seems next to impossible.

2004 Ultra Gold Medallion #179 Rene Reyes

My collection of Fleer Ultra cards is heavily weighted toward the pre-strike era. After 1994, it drops off precipitously. That's why I had no idea that the gold medallion parallels from 2004 were die-cut. Yes, the upper left corner is curved, which reminds me of 1989 Topps and its related die-cut mini insert set from 2014. It's nice, but if all you're going to do is just round off one corner, why cut it at all?

Die cuts are usually interesting to look at, but they're pretty delicate, and are pretty tough to put in a 9-pocket page without dinging at least one of their many edges. Maybe I'll change my tune a bit if I complete one of those hexagonal triumvirates combos from 2014 Stadium Club.

1993 SP #153 Bret Saberhagen

Apparently I have a Bret Saberhagen player collection now.

This (literally) Super Premium set from 1993 gives you that aforementioned Upper Deck hologram in gold, as well as the usual legendary Upper Deck photography, and a bit of color-coding, to boot.

I'm guessing he wasn't pitching that day.

1995 Fleer Lumber Company #7 Fred McGriff

We'll wrap things up here with what might be the tamest card to be found in all of 1995 Fleer. I'd have been totally on board if they made this the base set, then saved the LSD-inspired craziness for an insert set.

What's extra special about this card is that it was from my Eight Men Out list! This particular card of the Crime Dog happens to be the last one I needed to complete this 10-card insert set, and it's the third time Brian spent the time and money to pick up a specific card on my behalf. The Eight Men out list has already been a huge success, and I have bloggers like Brian, as well as my family, to thank.