A more local LCS (Part 1)

Tonight, Justin Verlander's World Series record dropped to 0-6. This is his fourth World Series, and half of those decisions came with the Detroit Tigers, a 114-loss team that was a Postseason contender not too long ago.

2010 Topps Chrome #134 Justin Verlander

Even before most of those appearances, he was established as a top-notch strikeout pitcher, putting his name on the list with other Detroit greats like Hal Newhouser, Virgil Trucks, and Mickey Lolich, as mentioned on the card back. That dominance has continued in Houston, as he whiffed 300 batters in 2019 for the first time in his career.

Accordingly, Topps selected him for their 2010 Chrome set. The giant Tigers logo in the corner is as shiny as ever, but I've yet to see a card from this set that didn't have at least some rather serious curling. At least this one is curled along the x-axis, which is slightly less annoying than how most of the other 2010 Chrome cards in my collection are curled. It's not even straight on a couple of them.

This and the rest of the cards in this post came from Colorado Sports Cards, a newly-established card shop just a few miles from where I live. It's only a couple years old, so it isn't packed to the brim with Zephyrs-vintage memorabilia like Bill's. I'm sure that will come with time, though. And even if the pickings are a little slimmer, at least it's a much shorter drive.

Clearly they're not that much slimmer, as I found more than enough there to turn into two posts. Have a look at what else came out of the dollar box.

1992 Topps McDonald's #3 Rickey Henderson

In 1992, even McDonald's saw that gold foil was about to sweep across the card industry, so they partnered with Topps for a 44-card Baseball's Best promo set, putting "Limited Edition", the player's name, and the Golden Arches in a very appropriate gold foil. These were distributed at McDonald's in 1992 as an add-on purchase with a meal.

Happy Meal, indeed.

The black borders have held up well over time, and there don't seem to be any grease stains or lingering salt crystals anywhere. The McDonald's colors carry over to the back, with lots of red and yellow to be found. Stats-wise, it's pretty standard for a Topps card of the era, and it does mention Rickey's 1990 AL MVP award.

1992 Pinnacle Team 2000 #21 Larry Walker

Pinnacle took the gold foil trend even further, putting about as much on the back as on the front. "Team 2000" is in gold on both sides, as is Larry Walker's name. Pinnacle reserved their gold foil logo only for those who flipped the card over. They didn't overpower the photograph and just left "Pinnacle" in white on the card front.

Pinnacle thought Larry Walker would be a star in the year 2000, and were they ever right! He put up some truly amazing numbers throughout the '90s, even winning the NL MVP award in 1997. This card talks a lot about his defense, saying he has "sure hands, good range, and a rocket arm." He had a cannon in right field, inspiring Skybox to put a cartoon flame on one of his cards. Walker won seven Gold Gloves in his career, definitely earning all the gold foil Pinnacle gave him.

2000 Topps Hands of Gold #HG5 Tony Gwynn

By the time the year 2000 actually arrived (and what a party it was!), gold had blanketed the industry with a King Midas touch. Everything but Tony Gwynn on this die-cut card is either gold foil, gold colored, or the actual word gold itself. Hands of Gold is a seven-card insert set highlighting players with at least five Gold Gloves. I'm not sure why Larry Walker was skipped, as he had earned five of his seven by the time this card was printed.

Besides Gwynn, other defensive wizards can be found in this small set, including Roberto Alomar, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Omar Vizquel, who still has it in his early fifties.

I haven't run across a card like this in a while. Die cuts don't seem to be all that common anymore, especially ones with curved edges and an embossed design.

2018 Topps Gold Label Class 3 #65 Mike Piazza

Gold wasn't reserved just for insert sets back then, either. In the late-'90s, Topps gave a full set the same name as one of the higher-end Johnnie Walker products, Gold Label. Mike Piazza appeared in those early Gold Label sets, but this is actually from a much more recent set that resurrected the name.

Unlike in past years, there doesn't seem to be any particular pattern in the three different Classes of this fractured set. Class 1 was a hitting photo, Class 3 a baseruning photo, that sort of thing. From what I can find about 2018 Gold Label, I can't figure out a theme that weaves the three Classes together.

Regardless, the primary photo shows a clean-shaven Piazza at the plate, and there's an All-Star Game patch on his right sleeve. The Mets didn't host the Midsummer classic during his career, so this must be from an actual All-Star Game. That looks like the 2005 logo to me, held at Comerica Park in Detroit. That happened to be Justin Verlander's debut year, by the way. But more importantly to Piazza, that was his last of a dozen All-Star appearances, including 1996 in which he won MVP honors.

2000 E-X #49 Jose Canseco

E-X from Fleer/Skybox was a contemporary of the original Gold Label, but they abandoned the use of acetate for the 2000 set. Jose Canseco and everyone else in the 90-card set got plenty of shininess, regardless of the actual card material. It's a set that's color-coded by team, and the colors Skybox used for Tampa Bay reminds me of the EPA logo. The (Devil) Rays were still trying to figure out their identity a couple years in.

The card back includes a mirror image of Canseco's photo on the front, trying to maintain the illusion that E-X was still a transparent card set. Back on the front, the position is spelled out vertically in the lower left, which escaped my attention many times before I looked more closely. I was quite distracted by the vaguely shark-looking curved area in the center.

1997 Topps Screenplays #8 Tony Gwynn

After finishing up at the dollar box, I checked a shelf of unusual items toward the back of the store. There were some lapel pins back there, a Rockies team magazine from the early days, and a few of these Topps Screenplays cards, each packaged in a player-specific round tin. Inside the tin was a single card, safely tucked inside a foam protective case. They had three on offer. I passed over Juan Gonzalez and Mark McGwire in favor of another Tony Gwynn.

I've never seen one of these before, and it's awesome.

Picture a horizontal Sportflics card with the usual lenticular surface, but with a clear back. Hold it up to the light, give it a little tilt, and be amazed at how they managed to pack a couple dozen smooth frames into this surface. As cool as we always thought Sportflics cards were, they were basically just two frames. Sure, they figured out some smoother transitions for the 1994 set in the nameplate area, but nothing like this. Not even close. Thanks to Kodak's Kodamotion patent, it's like a tiny highlight reel.

Tony Gwynn's name even appears and disappears inside a blue filmstrip element, and the Topps Screenplays logo alternates with the Padres logo in the lower left. Whatever my scanner decides this looks like, trust me, it is better in person.

The tin itself was a little beat up and showing signs of rust, but I might have to go back and see if they have any of these left. You'll definitely want to show this off next time you are highlighting some favorite pieces of your collection; it's that cool.

2014 Topps #378 Ryan Zimmerman

Elsewhere around the store, I found a box of unopened packs. Nothing earth-shattering, so I simply picked a five-card pack of 2014 Topps Series 2, hoping for an insert card. I only found five base cards, but the one on top was Ryan Zimmerman, the Washington Nationals veteran who went deep in his first-ever World Series at bat. It was also the first World Series home run in franchise history. Gerrit Cole was none too happy about giving that up, but it went a long way (no pun intended) in getting the Nationals to seven games.

I started this blog in 2014, and that year of Topps flagship is the recent design I find most familiar. I was collecting a lot in 2014, and I played a lot of Topps Bunt that year, too. Odds are it will go down as the last Topps base set with a traditional white border.

1991 Score Rookies #33 Mickey Morandini

My final stop (before finding the dime boxes for Part 2) was at the glass cases along the side. They had a bunch of small sets for sale for just a dollar each. Topps Traded, Donruss Rookies, that sort of thing. The newest one I found was 1991 Score Rookies, not to be confused with the larger Score Rookie & Traded set. This one is 40 cards, and the cardboard inside is much glossier than anything Score would do for a few more years.

Mickey Morandini, a September 1990 call-up, was described as "gung-ho and hard-nosed" on the card back, and was the top Phillies prospect at the time. He was on the 1993 Phillies World Series roster, and made it to the All Star team in 1995, but he's known for one particular play in 1992.

On September 20th, 1992 at Pittsburgh, Morandini found himself playing close to the second base bag with nobody out and runners on first and second. Normally, that situation is ripe for an Infield Fly Rule to be called, but every so often, the stars align and a fielder spears a liner with runners in motion.

Yes, Morandini turned an unassisted triple play, catching the liner off of Jeff King's bat, stepping on second base to double up Andy Van Slyke, and finally tagging out Barry Bonds to suddenly get the Phillies out of the inning.

This play is so rare that there's usually some confusion when it happens. This particular announcer was telling Morandini to throw to first, which he didn't need to do. Troy Tulowitzki did exactly that when he turned his, throwing to Todd Helton at first just to be on the safe side after stepping on second base a second time. The announcers in Fenway had no idea what was going on when John Valentin got his until they watched the slow-motion replay.

Sadly, despite that amazing feat, the Phillies would lose anyway.

1986 Fleer Sluggers/Pitchers #33 Mike Schmidt

The next set I found was one of Fleer's 44-card Sluggers/Pitchers sets, this one from 1986. It featured 22 cards of each, with Sluggers in red and Pitchers in blue. Mike Schmidt has almost exactly the same pose as Rickey Henderson's McDonalds card, right down to the bat doughnut. Also like the McDonalds card, "Baseball's Best" appears on the card front without being part of the set name.

The card back has the usual look of mid-'80s Fleer, except it's horizontal. It's strange to see that orientation, although they did keep the colored columns for easy reading.

The career Phillie would retire in 1989, so Mickey Morandini never got the privilege to play with the Hall of Famer.

1986 Fleer Sluggers/Pitchers #39 Rick Sutcliffe

The other side of the perennial pitcher-hitter battle takes the form of Rick Sutcliffe. He was the 1979 NL Rookie of the Year and the 1984 NL Cy Young winner, so he's clearly worthy of the title "Baseball's Best", not just the title "Pitcher".

Clearly this is a posed shot of Sutcliffe on the mound at Wrigley Field, as you'll never see a pitcher begin his windup without a hat. I know they call it the Windy City, but it can't be that windy on a sunny summer day like this.

1987 Fleer Limited Edition #7 Joe Carter

The last small set I found was a year newer, 1987 Fleer Limited Edition. They reoriented the 44 card backs to the usual vertical position this time around, and used a festive-looking colorful design on the front. They call it Limited Edition, with a fancy cursive font front and back, but seeing as this was 1987, I question just how "Limited" this Edition was.

Tonight was Game 6 of the World Series, and Joe Carter knows all about Game 6. The most important hit of his career came in Game 6 of the 1993 Series, a walkoff home run that gave the Blue Jays their second straight championship. Tonight's Game 6 saw its share of home runs, including one by Anthony Rendon after a questionable interference call.

1987 Fleer Team Stickers #20 Houston Astros/Logo

The Nationals existed only as the Montreal Expos in 1987, so I wouldn't have found a sticker of them. I did pull this one of the Houston Astros. It contains their old logo, their old stadium, and their old league. Since then they've used several different logos, moved to a new park that was once called Enron Field, and switched leagues in 2013. They won their first World Series title in 2017, and they certainly have their hands full trying to win a second.

The Washington Baby Sharks have made a heck of a run. I'll be pulling for them in Game 7.

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 #100: Baseball Cards Come To Life! (Part 1: Topps)

Any time a trade comes in from Bo at Baseball Cards Come To Life!, you'll probably need to split it up into two posts. This isn't the first time Bo and I have swapped cards, and it's quite fitting that such a prolific trader ended up as my 100th trade. I was wondering who would end up with that frankly amazing number, and he packed a 400-count box to the gills which will earn him The Trading Post #101 as well.

2001 Topps Gold Label Class 1 #67 Larry Walker

I've consistently found that the best way to split posts is grouping Topps and then all the other brands. Starting with Topps, here's an exceptionally shiny card of Larry Walker from the Gold Label set, a brand that's fairly well-represented in my collection, except for the recent 2016 and 2017 releases, which I've yet to run across.

The 2001 set has just a tad more gold than I remember from past years, and Topps color-coded it with a deep purple at the bottom, a purple that amazingly scans better than it looks. It's much darker than the actual Rockies colors, especially after this year, when they changed the official hue to a lighter purple. That was just back in spring, but already I'm pretty set on official Rockies swag in the new color, thanks to a gift bag I won at Coors Field a couple weeks ago when I saw the Detroit Tigers visit.

I've been checking in with the MLB Ballpark app for years now, and I was lucky enough to be one of just ten fans to win. I got a notification and an email, and all I had to do was stop by a kiosk on the first level, which I combined with a beer and snack run my friend and I made. My Michigander buddy got a Tornadough pretzel, and I went back to my seat with a hat, t-shirt, water bottle, and limited-edition Nolan Arenado bobblehead, which now resides on my cubicle shelf at work. It contained no cards, but Bo more than made up for that.

By the way, after this year's round of interleague games, I'm down to only five teams I've never seen before. I wonder who I'll be able to see next year.

2001 Bowman Heritage #67 Larry Walker

In sharp contrast to the shininess of Gold Label (though with the same card number), Bowman went with a black-and-white scheme for their inaugural Heritage set. Patterned after 1948 Bowman, there's no name, team, logo, position, or anything. Just a rather striking white-bordered portrait and a little Bowman logo off in the corner. Like your typical Heritage card, it's printed on cardboard, making it just about as thick as Walker's Gold Label card from the same year, if a bit more flexible. The vertical back of the card discusses his usual accolades of batting titles, Gold Gloves, All-Star selections, etc.... But the card also mentions his childhood in Canada, where he played youth hockey with Cam Neely, the former Canuck who is now the president of the Boston Bruins.

2005 Topps Turkey Red #19 Jeff Francis

After a few years of Heritage, Topps decided to go even further with retro cards, designing a set based on the 1911 Turkey Red set, one that predated Topps itself by decades. Turkey Red as a Topps product waffled between being a main set and an insert set for several years, and they seemed to be everywhere around 2010. There's an interesting texture on the front, which I can best describe as an old book cover, maybe even what you might call pebbled. Think of UD Masterpiece, but more of a random pattern.

Like Larry Walker, Jeff Francis is also Canadian, even hailing from the same province of British Columbia. Of course, the back mentions hockey, telling us that the baby-faced Francis was nicknamed "Boomer", after old-time hockey player Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion.

Hockey's a big deal in Canada.

2002 Topps 206 #231 Ben Petrick

Preceding the revival of Turkey Red was Topps' take on the famed T206 set, when Topps realized they really had something on their hands with this retro thing. It looks more or less like the 1909-1911 originals, except for being cut in a standard 2.5" x 3.5" size. This is also when Topps started going a bit crazy with back variations, but this one is just the regular variety. By this point in his career, as the card states, Petrick had homered in six ballparks. That most of those came in a particular pre-humidor park in Denver shouldn't be terribly surprising.

2002 Topps Ten #26 Juan Pierre 3B

Who has heard of Topps Ten before? I sure hadn't. In fact, I thought this was just an insert card from 2002 Topps, which I'm rather unfamiliar with to begin with, but apparently this 200 card set was a one-year wonder released in retail channels. Judging by the checklist, it appears as though Topps decided to make a full set out of what we see today as league leader cards. The top ten performers in each statistical category (hits, slugging percentage, ERA, wins, and so forth) were each given a card. Get it? Topps Ten?

Anyway, finding speed demon Juan Pierre near the top of the triples list is rather expected. He played less than two and a half seasons as a Rockie, but still is among the top-20 Rockies in that category. In fact, he'd go on to tie for the National League lead with a dozen in 2004 as a Marlin, fresh off a World Series win.

Charlie Blackmon is literally running away with that statistic in 2017, with 14 so far and still a few weeks left to play. Nicholas Castellanos, of all players, is in second place across the Majors, with 10.

1997 Topps Stars #69 Ellis Burks

It's interesting seeing the first year of all these brands that I've become so familiar with. Many of them have staying power and went through a few iterations, but somehow the inaugural years seem to be a bit tougher to find. Maybe collectors are more inclined to hang on to them, or maybe the manufacturer goes easy on the print run until they have proof of concept—1993 Finest Refractors, anyone?

Topps Stars lives up to its name on this Ellis Burks card, as I count 95 between the front and the back. Many are partially obscured, but Topps really wanted to make sure you knew what this was about. The back is more focused on actual All-Star performances than subsequent years of this brand, telling us all about Burks' selection in 1990 that he missed due to injury, his late-inning triple in the NL's 1996 shutout of the AL, and even his balloting positions in 1996 and 1997.

Not sure if I'd pick a photograph of a pretty bad swinging strike, assuming this wasn't fouled back off the plate. Perhaps an even 100 stars on this card would have distracted me from where the ball is in this picture, but you know what they teach you in Little League.

Never take your eye off the ball.

2016 Stadium Club #242 Collin McHugh

Bo was kind enough to throw in a couple cards from 2016 Stadium Club, a set that I'd love to one day complete (really any of the recent Stadium Club sets), even tossing in another team! The Astros are doing quite well this year, leading the AL West by a healthy margin and are basically a lock to win their division this year. Collin McHugh didn't have a huge role to play in that, as he missed the first half with elbow problems. He's gone 2-2 this year, but left his last start early due to a rather painful-sounding torn fingernail.

I actually had no idea about this, but he's the guy the Rockies got for trading Eric Young, Jr. to the Mets back in 2013. About a month after that, Young was involved in a rather serious collision with Tim Hudson at first base. Meanwhile, McHugh would continue to put up some astronomically high ERA numbers until the Astros claimed him in the 2013 offseason. After that, it was off to the races, as he matched Jake Arrieta in Wins between August 2014 and when this card was printed.

You might notice the "MH" patch on McHugh's jersey. That's for longtime Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton, who passed away in September 2015, just before the Astros found a bit of success in the postseason. They shut out the Yankees in the AL Wild Card game, and lost a 5-game ALDS to the eventual World Series Champions, the Kansas City Royals.

2016 was a down year, but we'll get to see the Astros make another run this year, and they'll be playing for a battered and decimated city of Houston, following the events of Hurricane Harvey.

1997 Stadium Club #187 Todd Helton 2000 SP

Todd Helton is shown on this confusingly-named 1997 Stadium Club card wearing uniform number 11, with faint "TSC 2000" lettering going up the right side. The bottom has a layout similar to Larry Walker's Gold Label card, but this one makes me do a double take for a few reasons.

The back talks about his performance in high school, college, and Double-A, so this is clearly from way before Helton made his mark on the Big Leagues. I guess it took a while for him to settle in to uniform #17. I've seen a few cards from this short-printed subset, and the TSC 2000 always threw me off. Granted, everyone was getting pretty excited for the new millennium back then, including in branding and marketing. Who remembers Gateway 2000, for example?

At least he's batting lefty.

2010 Bowman Draft Prospects #BDPP24 Chad Bettis

There was quite a bit of Bowman in this trade package, but one that stood out is this early card of Chad Bettis, who just picked up his first win of the season against the reeling Dodgers, a team that is 1-14 in their last 15 games, including their current 9-game slide. They probably have enough of a cushion to still win the division, but this is not the time to be cooling off, especially because teams like the Indians and more importantly the Diamondbacks have been doing the exact opposite lately. The Indians have won 17 in a row, the longest streak in the Majors since the A's 20-game Moneyball run in 2002.

According to this card, Bettis is a baseball card collector, like his now-teammate Pat Neshek. He pitched well tonight, and returning to the hill after his much-discussed battle with cancer, he's performing admirably. On the postgame show interview with Nolan Arenado, the interviewer asked about the letters "RTTW" that are written on Bettis' glove—Run Through The Wall. After being swept by the Diamondbacks at home, the Rockies have the chance to do the same to the Dodgers tomorrow. In L.A., no less. That's certainly the level of grit you need to succeed in this sport, and the Rockies have shown it more than once this season, including dusting themselves off after a 3-game stretch back in April in which they were massively outscored by the Nationals. A "buzzsaw", as one of the TV guys put it. It will be an interesting few weeks as we see how all the tight Wild Card races play out.

Anyway, Bowman was still printing facsimile signatures in 2010, and Bettis' reminds me a bit of Chris Reed's signature, who signed a few for the custom Munnatawket Mini cards that made the Cardsphere rounds a couple years ago. I haven't seen anyone write about those in ages, but I still have a handful in my collection.

1988 Topps UK Minis #67 Mike Schmidt

Speaking of minis, Bo included several from Topps and others, some of which you'll see in part 2. Topps hadn't gone crazy with the stars yet, as there are only 12 front and back. I originally assumed this was a insert in 1988 Topps packs, but apparently Topps released a whole set for the UK market, advertised as "American Baseball" cards. That would explain the rather rudimentary "Talkin' Baseball" feature on the card backs. Mike Schmidt's card, the third card #67 in this post, discusses the Squeeze Play, which is admittedly an advanced maneuver, but the card directs you to card #29 to learn about the Bunt, and card #45 to see the definition of a Runner.

There's no indication of where these were printed, but I'd guess they came from the same Ireland facility that produced the Topps Traded and Tiffany sets back then. If nothing else, they're a great example of the fact that there is always more to learn about this hobby.

2010 Topps Pro Debut #104 Jordan Pacheco

There were even a handful of Minor League cards, such as this 2010 Asheville Tourists card of Jordan Pacheco. He had a solid rookie season in 2012, but gradually faded, ended up playing for the Diamondbacks and Reds for a spell, and is now playing in an independent league for the Long Island Ducks. I glanced at their roster, and recognized a few other former Major Leaguers, such as Alfredo Simon and David Aardsma.

The 2010 design with its huge logos is easily recognizable whether it's a Major or Minor league card. The team logo might not be familiar, but as someone who has followed the Rockies for years, Pacheco is a pretty recognizable name, despite his mostly uneventful career in Denver.

2001 Finest #61 Todd Helton

We'll end where we began, with a shiny card from 2001. Did anyone ever call this one the Doppler effect set? Because that's what it should be called. Perhaps it's not as strongly themed as the 2003 hexagon set (which I was just reminded of by a hexagon-heavy transition graphic on MLB Network), but still fits right in as a Topps Finest card. The purple even comes across better than on the Gold Label design, where it's a bit too dark to really tell what's going on. At least, it does in person. The scanner has a mind of its own tonight.

A pre-goatee Helton had just put up what would be the best season of his career. In the year 2000, he won the batting title, and led the league in hits, slugging percentage, RBIs, and of course doubles. As this card points out, he was only 8 home runs short of winning the Triple Crown. Sammy Sosa was still doing his thing at the turn of the millennium, but Helton fell short of a few others, including Bonds, Bagwell, Vlad, Gary Sheffield, and even Richard Hidalgo.

Just a few more dingers in 2000 would probably have made Helton's Hall of Fame case a lot stronger than it is. I guess we'll have to see what 2019 brings, but sooner or later, a Rockie really should be in Cooperstown.

This would have been a great trade on its own, but don't forget that there's a part 2 to all this, meaning we won't linger long on the 100th trade post milestone.

Yarrrr, Matey

It's time for my annual blaster of Topps Opening Day, and there was a theme to this 11-pack box that became apparent very quickly.

2017 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-12 Pirate Parrot

Not much has really changed with the brand for 2017. There is still no foil, it still partially parallels the Topps Base set, Target still just charges $10 for a blaster, the inserts are still awesome, and I still can't tell which pack is the Bonus Pack.

Speaking of inserts, the Mascot set continues its run, even if they missed an actual mascot name or two. The Pirate Parrot was one of a few mascot cards to fall out of this blaster, leading the charge with a Pirates logo flag.  The Pirate Parrot, of course, famously appeared on Taylor Buchholz' 2008 Topps card, another of the most frequent Rockies cards I see on non-Rockie blogs, after the humidor.

2017 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-23 Clark

If you look closely, Clark, a newcomer to the mascot realm, has a Sharpie in his right...paw (?) and is ready to sign some autographs for Cubbies fans at Wrigley. Clark refers to one of the Chicago cross streets at which Wrigley Field is located, the other being Addison.

Despite the Cubs' long and storied history, they only brought on a mascot in early 2014, according to the back. That leaves just three MLB teams without one: the Yankees, Dodgers, and Angels. Clark got to wave the "W" flag at the Cubs' victory parade last year, and maybe that's all the Cubs needed to break their century-long curse.

The Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988. Maybe they should look into it.

2017 Topps Opening Day Mascot Relics #MR-F Fredbird (MEM)

Have you picked up on the theme yet?

No, I didn't get 77 mascot cards in my blaster, but the NL Central was extremely well-represented, especially among the insert cards. Though I didn't expect to pull another printing plate like I did last year, a mascot uniform relic really fits the Opening Day set perfectly. It's even specified as a "Mascot-Worn Relic" right on the front. The Cardinals are not a pinstripe team, so no chance for one of those on the swatch, but it's a pretty fun card and shows that Opening Day doesn't take itself too seriously.

I also pulled Fredbird's base card, which helpfully informed me of his height and "hatching" date, in April 1979.

2017 Topps Opening Day Incredible Eats #IE-17 Cracker Jack & Mac Dog

One of the new insert sets found in 2017 is the Incredible Eats set, which looks to be a cross-promo with foodservice company Aramark. Their logo is on the back of both insert cards I pulled. The ballpark snack depicted here is about as baseball as it gets, a hot dog with cracker jacks on it. This snack happens to be available at PNC Park, home of, yes, the Pirates.

The foot-long hot dog at Coors Field makes an appearance in this set, a ballpark snack I've had more than a few of over the years. One of those with some onions on top really sounds good right about now. The set offers an interesting look at the cultures and cuisines that exist in various Major League cities (poutine in Toronto, pastrami in Queens, chicken and waffles in Houston, etc...), but the $25 stuffed corn dog at the Diamondbacks' Chase Field is not present.

2017 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations #SC-19 Gregory Polanco

The Pirates showed up again in the long-running Superstar Celebrations insert set. And twice more on the other two Superstar Celebrations cards in the blaster. This one of Gregory Polanco low-fiving Andrew McCutchen was my favorite of the three, and offers the best look yet at PNC Park, home of the Cracker Jack and Mac Dog. The Pirates ended up going on to a 12-1 rout of the Diamondbacks that day, starting off with Polanco's 3-run homer. Disappointingly, the video cuts out just before McCutchen and Polanco connect on their celebration.

2017 Topps Opening Day Edition #42 Yulieski Gurriel

The only rainbow foil parallel in the box was of Astros rookie Yulieski Gurriel. These Opening Day Edition parallels are stated to have a print run of 2,017, though no serial number appears, consistent with the past few years. There are a few games scheduled for April 2nd, but April 3rd, the day all 30 teams get under way, is printed in silver foil below the Opening Day logo.

What's that you say? The Astros are in the AL West now? Yes, I knew that, but it still doesn't sound right. And they suffered a computer hacking attack at the hands of the Cardinals not long ago. The issue has been settled, and the Cardinals were given little more than a slap on the wrist.

Gurriel is just a few months younger than I am, which is certainly on the old side for an MLB debut. But he played for Cuban teams since the tender age of 17, so this photo of him spearing a rocketing grounder isn't that surprising.

2017 Topps Opening Day #165 Alex Reyes (RC)

Perhaps some karmic adjustment has been forced upon the Cardinals, as their star pitching prospect will be missing plenty of time recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent just as Spring Training was beginning. At only 22, he has time to recover, but it will likely be a while before we regularly see him in Topps sets. The Cardinals, long a dominant force in the NL Central, now have the Cubs to contend with, along with a dangerous Pirates team.

2017 Topps Opening Day #115 Carlos Gonzalez

A few Rockies made it into the blaster, always a nice bonus. The Venezuelan slugger looks ready to take his place in the on-deck circle, all decked out in purple, right down to the batting gloves. He helped carry Venezuela to the second round of the World Baseball Classic, but they finished 0-3 in Pool F. The final will be on March 22nd.

But look more closely. What team logo is that on the roof of the dugout? Yep, Pirates. CarGo is scowling at the playing surface of none other than PNC Park. Even the Rockies cards can't escape the Pirates in this blaster.

2017 Topps Opening Day #100 Jonathan Villar

A Rockie even got a cameo appearance on another NL Central card, this one of a Milwaukee Brewer. Jonathan Villar, who represented the Dominican Republic in the WBC, narrowly missed an appearance in the final round, falling to Team USA partially thanks to this amazing catch that Adam Jones made to rob MLB teammate Manny Machado of a home run.

I'm not sure who that Rockie is. Possibly Cristhian Adames, who didn't get a base card in Opening Day or Topps Series 1. But if he has a cameo, the Brewers is as good a team as any when it comes to this particular blaster. Incidentally, the Rockies begin their season on the road in 2017, visiting the Milwaukee Brewers.

2017 Topps Opening Day #70 Jay Bruce

In case you forgot that there are five other divisions in MLB, here's one of Jay Bruce at Citi Field in a throwback Mets uniform. This one really jumped out at me, as those old Mets jerseys I grew up with are among my favorites from that era. It probably doesn't hurt that the first two regular-season games played in Rockies history were against the Mets in Shea Stadium. Even back then, the Rockies rarely began their season at home. 2017 will be no different, as Opening Day at Coors Field falls on Friday, April 7th against the Dodgers.

Some readers will recall that Jay Bruce wasn't always a Met. His previous team? The NL Central Cincinnati Reds. Todd Frazier almost made it into this post as well, before Bruce's blue and orange jersey caught my eye.

Between the snacks, the mascot, the players, division rivals, and even a clear opposing team, this blaster was almost like going to an actual Pirates game.

Antique Mall Mystery Pack: Astros

Despite having Dallas Keuchel and his angular beard, the Houston Astros were no match for the Kansas City Royals and their pennant-winning late-inning magic.

Serves them right for moving to the American league. Although they wouldn't have had a chance this year if they stayed in the NL Central, what with the Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs going 1-2-3 in that division. The AL West has three teams that have never won a World Series, and their most recent was the Angels squeaking by the Giants in 2002.

It's taken years, but I'm finally starting to get used to Houston playing in the American League. This year's All-Star Game and Postseason did a lot to cement that. But all these cards are from the Astros NL days, some even before there was such a thing as a Central division.

1994 Triple Play #29 Darryl Kile

This 1994 card is caught in the middle between the Astros' Shell Oil-colored uniforms and a major logo change. The late Darryl Kile, who threw a no-hitter toward the end of the 1993 season, is seen here on the value-priced Donruss Triple Play brand.

Especially as a kid, I always thought the transparent block letters at the bottom made for an innovative touch.

1994 Triple Play #22 Craig Biggio

Call me crazy, but I think that design starts to break down the more letters there are in the player's last name. Tall letters getting squished just looks a little strange. But this was probably my first-ever look at the new Astros logo in 1994.

1993 Donruss #504 Joe Boever

These Mystery Packs seem to be getting less and less interesting as I work my way through the pile. There's nothing that special in 1993 Donruss by itself, other than it marks the year that they finally made significant changes to the card backs after over a decade in business.

Also, I can't recall seeing a 1993 Donruss card in better condition. The gloss and color reproduction are almost perfect. I'd even consider getting it graded if I knew who the heck Joe Boever was. His stats say he had a 4-11 record in 1989 for the Braves without ever starting a game. You have to blow an awful lot of saves to earn a record like that.

1993 Pinnacle #423 Doug Drabek

Doug Drabek was much more reliable, although he didn't have a great 1993. Still, he was only a couple years removed from winning the Cy Young award as a Pirate. His son, Kyle, made the majors too, although he's only appeared in a handful of games in recent years. Griffeys, Alous, and Boones are hard to come by.

1991 Bowman #563 Andujar Cedeno

Early Bowman sets had more than a few pictures like this. It could have been taken outside any high school gym anywhere in North America. Unlike many Bowman card subjects, Cedeno did have a Major League career, but everyone has to start somewhere. Maybe if modern Bowman sets had cards featuring Colin Powell or Bobby Thomson, I'd be more interested in the brand.

1992 Topps #12 Luis Gonzalez

This may look like your run-of-the-mill Topps base set, but 1992 represents a major turning point. While the photography doesn't stack up to 1991, this marks the first flagship set that Topps printed on all-white paper stock. They also took advantage of the card back's landscape orientation and included a wide-angle image of the player's home stadium.

1992 bridged the old and the new, but also included longtime trademarks like the Topps Rookie Cup. Gonzalez proved worthy of the award, driving in the winning run in the 2001 World Series.

Not sure that one will ever stop hurting. After 9/11 and the heroics of countless New Yorkers, the Yankees should have won that year, and came oh-so-close. Yankees fans can still know heartbreak, despite 27 World Series titles.

There, I said it.

1993 Upper Deck #294 Casey Candaele

Of course, the Yankees have nothing on the Cubs, and Casey Candaele has pretty much nothing to do with the Cubs, other than having a baseball card who shows him at Wrigley Field, with the Steve Bartman section visible in the background. Leave it to the greatness of 1993 Upper Deck to show us that section a decade in advance.

1992 Donruss Coke Ryan #14 Nolan Ryan/1980 HA

Lots of players go their whole career without ever winning a World Series, let alone playing in one. Nolan Ryan took care of that very early in his career with the 1969 "Miracle Mets", but never appeared in one after that, despite all those wins, all those strikeouts, all those no hitters, and all those oddball baseball cards.

One thing is sure, though it won't be the Cubs, one of the teams that made it to the Fall Classic will win their first World Series in many years. I was hoping to see a Cubs/Blue Jays World Series, but it turns out we got the opposite. A team that won because of the infamous Bill Buckner error versus a team that probably wouldn't have won if there were replay review in 1985.

Time will tell.

There is one fun fact, though. This World Series between the Mets and Royals marks the first-ever between two expansion teams.

Up next: The San Francisco Giants.