What’s All This NOW?

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

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

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

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

2010 Bowman 1992 Bowman Throwbacks #BT14 Troy Tulowitzki

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

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

2010 Bowman #123 Troy Tulowitzki

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

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

2007 Fleer #338 Troy Tulowitzki (RC)

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

Why do you think I'm marrying her?

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

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

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

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

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

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

2023 Topps Now #564 Elias Diaz /943

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

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

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

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

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

1945 Roto-Panel Johnny McIntosh

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

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

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

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

There Is NOW a Bird on the Field

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

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

2022 Topps NOW #1066 Goose On The Loose /2889

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2022 Topps NOW #699 Wynton Bernard /787

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

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

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

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

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

The Trading Post #118: Nachos Grande

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

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

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

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

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

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

2014 Topps Heritage #7 Anibal Sanchez / Bartolo Colon

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

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

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

This was twelve years ago, people.

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

1998 Upper Deck Retro #103 Travis Lee FUT

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

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

1998 Upper Deck Retro #106 Mike Caruso FUT

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

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

2000 Fleer Tradition #352 Barry Larkin

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

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

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

2012 Bowman Draft Draft Picks #BDPP109 Johendi Jiminian

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

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

OD-10

Though that is Felix Hernandez's card number in 2016 Topps Opening Day, more importantly it's NASA-speak for the number of days remaining to MLB's opening day! A few games start up on Sunday, April 3rd, though most teams begin play the following day, which is what the foil parallels have listed.

Now that we survived our seemingly annual giant March blizzard in Denver, we can start digging out, waiting for a foot and a half of snow to melt and drain from our roofs, backyards, and baseball diamonds. But "snow series" have become more common in Denver, so we're not out of the woods yet.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-92 Jean Segura

Digging into my annual blaster of Topps Opening Day from my local SuperTarget, there's your first look at a 2016 card on Infield Fly Rule. Jean Segura is laying down a bunt with pretty good form. And like them or not, 2016 Topps finally got rid of borders for the base set for the first time, well, ever. There is that cloudy area behind the player, which does serve to frame the photo, but it's quite a departure from what we've seen since the 1950s.

But there's plenty more you can do with a bat than just bunt.

Like, oh, I don't know. Maybe belt an epic go-ahead home run with it in a deciding playoff game, then fling the thing one-handed right at the visitor's dugout and into the history books.

That would make a great baseball card.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-187 Jose Bautista

Yep.

This was the second card from the second pack in the blaster, and though I haven't seen one from 2016 Topps base, this is just about the same thing, though zoomed in a little bit. Along with that Dinger mascot card from 2014, these $10 Opening Day blasters tend to give me just what I'm after.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-17 Kris Bryant

Kris Bryant is one of the most promising young prospects in baseball, and he's certainly the most sought-after player in baseball cards these days. I'm sure I could flip this lowly base card on eBay for a buck or two. But I'd rather hang on to it, and I'm interested to see what he and the Cubbies will do this year. It's always hit or miss with "Future Stars" cards, but I think this one's a pretty safe bet.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-181 Justin Bour

Justin Bour maybe less so. Although he finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting behind the winning Kris Bryant, he still mashed 23 home runs last season. Yet he's far from a household name (maybe because he's a Marlin), but that could change at any moment.

I haven't said much about the design yet, and I do like this 2016 set. The banner in the corner reminds me of a blown-up 1993 Topps, and the layout is effective. No vertical names or distracting cluster of information. The team logo is pretty large, though not quite as imposing as 2010, but I'm not so sure I like how it's partially obscured behind the banner. The banner can slant either left or right, and it's pretty much dependent on the team logo which way looks best. The actual Marlin in the logo is almost entirely obscured here, but the Diamondbacks, Brewers, and Mets look pretty good with this banner orientation. The White Sox, Rockies, Cubs, and most others look better the other way.

This is also kind of a busy card, even without foil. The key elements are pretty clean, but add in the Opening Day seal, the Future Stars lettering, and the Topps Rookie Cup, it starts to look pretty cluttered.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-123 Johnny Giavotella

You might think this is one of the Superstar Celebration insert cards that Opening Day is known for. But no, just a base card. Baseball players have taken the Gatorate shower way further than the NFL, who still pretty much reserves that for clinching a playoff spot. In baseball, pretty much any game-winning hit can earn it. I've noticed that camera crews are getting pretty good at stepping out of the way in time. The photographer also used a really fast shutter speed here, as the water droplets are frozen in midair, cascading around Giavotella's neck.

You need a fast lens to do that, especially at the end of a night game. That means a wide aperture to grab enough light in the slightest fraction of a second. Which equals a shallow depth of field, thus causing all those blurry backgrounds people have been noticing in this year's set. That's been the case for quite some time, but there just must be something about this design that makes it more noticeable. Maybe the edge fading they're using instead of a true border. Regardless, I'll take some blurry backgrounds to get shots like this. Do we really want to return to all those posed shots Topps gave us in the late '60s where the left field facade of Yankee Stadium was clearly visible on almost every card? In my opinion, all these pin-sharp photos are just fine with me. These horizontal ones especially are like holding tiny HDTVs.

And we haven't seen one straining pitcher's face yet. But don't worry, that's coming.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-188 Troy Tulowitzki

No big deal here, just a Rockies franchise player batting for the Blue Jays.

As a Rockies fan, this is just weird. It's taking a long time to get used to this trade. I'm sure this is old hat to all you Dodgers and Tigers and Yankees fans who trade and sign and release players of this caliber on a regular basis. But our transactions are more along the lines of Daniel Descalso, Brandon Barnes, Brett Anderson, etc.... Yes, once in a while there's a Holliday-for-Gonzalez type of trade, and Jose Reyes did come over in the Tulo trade with all the pitching prospects, but more often than not, a casual fan has no idea who's coming or going.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-155 Jake Odorizzi

Jake Odorizzi, a guy who's been on my Fantasy squad once or twice, led off three straight Rays starting pitchers at the tail end of one pack. I think Odorizzi's been in the league a little too long to be labeled a Future Star. He'll be hitting that all-important 27th birthday in about a year, and I really don't see this guy becoming a late bloomer like Randy Johnson, who took a long time to develop control.

But even a middle-of-the-rotation guy like Odorizzi could be a game changer if he somehow ended up on the Rockies.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-113 Alex Cobb

The Rays have a pretty good rotation, though with Alex Cobb out until late in the season rehabilitating from Tommy John surgery, their success in the always-tough AL East is far from certain. Though if they do manage to win the division, it will be the first time in the Wild Card era that five different teams win their division in five consecutive years.

Thanks, reddit.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-49 Erasmo Ramirez

With Cobb Out, Erasmo Ramirez will have a more solid spot in the Rays rotation. He looks dwarfed by the pitcher's mound from this high angle, and it may be a Shadow Shots candidate for Johnny's Trading Post, even with the banner and the fade-out in the way.

I'm really not kidding that I pulled these three cards in a row. Three Rays righties, all with straining mid-pitch faces.

2016 Topps Opening Day #OD-39 DJ LeMahieu

Finally, it just wouldn't be right to leave out the Rockies. This is a great double-play shot of second baseman DJ LeMahieu, continuing the great tradition of Rockies middle infielders with difficult-to-spell last names. Looks like this is from Chase Field, as Jake Lamb is wearing a throwback Diamondbacks jersey, their original pinstriped design with purple and teal. Also don't forget that Pepsi ad on the outfield wall.

Speaking of Pepsi, the last time I had one was in 2009 at Angel Stadium with my dad. Not the last time at a ballgame, the last time period. Soda just isn't my thing.

Potato chips, on the other hand? Well, let's just say that the expiration date on a bag of chips is one of the most useless pieces of information in my day-to-day life.

I'll wrap up the base cards here, but I'll have another entire post devoted just to inserts and parallels. You already know I love Opening Day inserts, and this blaster was a pretty lucky one in the parallel department.

Stop by as the countdown continues!

The Trading Post #56: Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary

Brian might not have the longest blog name in the Cardsphere, but it easily wins the "Most Likely to Score 800 on the SAT Verbal Test" award. Many of us have simply taken to shortening Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary to HSCA, but I keep getting that acronym mixed up with HFCS, so I just spell the whole thing out.

Brian's a fellow #SuperTrader, and a PWE from him landed in my mailbox a few weeks ago, packed with some fairly unusual Rockies cards.

2012 Topps Black #242 Eric Young, Jr. /61

Not much unusual about the 2012 Topps base set, as we've all seen it numerous times. But this is a pretty darn rare border, the black bordered card numbered to /61. That's the rarest variety of this card, save for the /1 printing plates and such. Rather than just a plain black border, this is more of a charcoal gray, and matches nicely with EY Junior's purple.

1998 Fleer Tradition Promising Forecast #PF6 Todd Helton

I was out of collecting in 1998, so this is my first exposure (pun intended) to this weather-themed Fleer insert card. It's from the Promising Forecast insert set, but the weather pattern approaching (or leaving) the Carolinas looks pretty ominous, maybe even the remnants of a hurricane.

Helton was a Major League newbie in 1998, but his forecast turned out to be quite accurate, "fill[ing] the prodigious shoes of...Andres Galarraga." Modern superstars like David Ortiz, Paul Konerko, and Miguel Tejada also appeared in this set, but so did guys I've never heard of, like Brian Rose and Eric Milton. There was a bust or two (i.e. Kerry Wood), and the remainder were guys who went on to have more or less average careers, like Brad Fullmer, A.J. Hinch, and Ben Grieve, a player who particularly liked to beat up on the Rockies in the early days of Interleague play.

2007 SPx Winning Materials Blue #WM-MH Matt Holliday /175 (MEM)

Upper Deck's favorite letter forms the outline of a Matt Holliday relic card, numbered to /175. The S and P letters to the left have a very shiny rainbow finish, stealing some attention from the random black lines on the left. Holliday contributed plenty of "Winning Materials" in 2007, earning NLCS MVP honors that year.

2006 Upper Deck Future Stars #117 Josh Wilson AU (RC)

Brian threw in a couple other UD hits, these from the Future Stars set. Unfortunately, the forecast accuracy has run out, as neither of the players depicted ended up having a "Clear Path to Greatness". Josh Wilson never even suited up for the Rockies in the regular season, and I have to wonder about UD's photography here. The player's outline on this acetate card looks absolutely nothing like the photograph above the sticker autograph.

2006 Upper Deck Future Stars #156 Choo Freeman AU (RC)

Choo Freeman spent only three years in the Majors, and 2006 was his last. At least his picture looks right. Fortunately, the Rockies seem to have little trouble developing outfielders, and Josh Wilson has been a utility player as recently as last season. He's even come on as an emergency pitcher a time or two in his career.

Regardless of how the players turned out, I had no idea that Upper Deck dabbled in acetate cards a decade ago. Always something new to learn in this hobby.

1995 Score Hall of Gold #HG19 Dante Bichette

Like a Topps Stadium Club card sent by our fearless SuperTraders leader, this 1995 Score insert card is new to me, despite the fact that I opened several packs of 1995 Score in 1995. I'm familiar with the one-per-pack Gold Rush parallels, but the Hall of Gold insert cards are apparently something different. It's a huge 110-card insert set, so I'm really surprised I've never seen one of these before.

Bichette's record of 6 RBIs in one Rockies game has since been eclipsed—by Matt Holliday, in fact, but that performance and an All-Star selection earned him this shiny insert card. I've always found the foil on these Score cards to be a bit fragile, but this one looks to be in tip-top shape.

It's really quite amazing, getting a PWE that was pretty much brand new to my eyes, except for the 2012 Topps base design. The SuperTraders strike again!

Antique Mall Mystery Pack: Expos

We're past the two-year anniversary of Infield Fly Rule, a date in mid-January that I blew past about six posts ago (and long before the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50!). I did a giveaway and everything for my first anniversary, but this one slipped my mind. Once Off Hiatus Baseball Cards and Bob Walk The Plank write their anniversary posts, I know I didn't miss mine by much. The three of us entered this community right around the same time, though they've both done way more posts than I have.

But I have plenty of material to keep going, though perhaps not at the frenzied pace of others in the Cardsphere.

1994 Triple Play #91 Moises Alou

Material like yet another Mystery Pack from the antique mall. Obviously this one is of the Montreal Expos, the team that moved to Washington over a decade ago to become the Nationals. Perhaps no team suffered as much from the Strike as the Expos. As the 1994 season came to an abrupt close in mid-August, they had a commanding lead of the NL East, the best record in baseball, a small but passionate fan base, and a giant helping of bad timing.

Alou was one of the key members of that 1994 Expos team, but didn't get his chance to shine in the postseason until he joined the Marlins for their 1997 World Series championship. And I'm sure if you're a Cubs fan, all I have to do is say Moises Alou's name to trigger some unhappy memories. He did end up with his ring, though some other players from that team never did.

This might be the first time that I used the same set to end one post and begin the next. 1994 Triple Play must look a bit familiar by now, as the impact of those big cutout letters can't be missed.

Also, is it just me, or does the Expos logo look like a "JB"? A kid in my third grade class used to wear an Expos hat, and I spent months wondering what the heck JB stood for. I finally did see the puffy-looking "M" in that logo, but I don't remember who finally clued me in, whether it was my classmate, my dad, or someone else entirely.

1994 Triple Play #289 Cliff Floyd

Anyway, I thought I knew 1994 Triple Play pretty well until I saw this Rookie Revue subset card. It's part of the base set, but it's the first time I ever ran across anything like it. Upper Deck did some Star Rookie subsets that looked pretty much like this, didn't they?

1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond #19 Michael Jordan

That's right, 1994 Upper Deck! Those are some pretty similar designs, which makes me wonder if one copied the other, or if they came to this independently. Of course, this is one of Michael Jordan's more well-known baseball cards (perhaps second only to his 1991 Upper Deck card), but this happens to be the Electric Diamond parallel—UD's answer to Topps Gold.

1993 Ultra #420 John Wetteland

Alou and Floyd both won their World Series rings with the '97 Marlins, Jordan almost has too many NBA championships to count (fine, six), and Wetteland took home MVP honors for the 1996 Yankees, their first World Series in almost twenty years. Wetteland was a stellar closer, though he passed the baton to the legendary Mariano Rivera after that.

I am guessing that this photo from 1993 (not 1992!) Fleer Ultra was taken at Wrigley Field. The slope of that foul territory wall looks about right, and it's definitely a day game, still a common thing in Chicago. Plus Fleer shot a ton of photos in Wrigley Field. Go check 1991 Fleer Ultra to see what I mean.

1993 Topps #69 John Vander Wal

We saw a card of John Vander Wal not long ago, as one came via trade from Brad. But before he was a Rockie, he was an Expo, reaching the Bigs for the team that drafted him.

Flip this card over and you'll see a strong influence from Leaf's Studio brand, as we get John's player data, complete professional stats, and fun facts like how he studied Civil War History, and enjoys snowmobiling and RC cars and airplanes in his free time.

If that's not a complete ripoff of 1991-1993 Studio, I don't know what is.

Topps has consistently been my favorite card brand, and honestly, if someone besides them had the exclusive MLB license right now I might be less interested in the hobby, but you have to admire all the competition and one-upmanship that was going on back then. Sure, they all printed billions of cards that are now pretty much worthless, but there was a firestorm of new ideas that hit the hobby in the space of a very few years. Pictures on the back and white card stock from Score in 1988, holograms from UD in 1989, right through the first relics and serial numbered cards in the mid 1990s.

Compared to that, new sparkly patterns and border colors don't really capture the imagination in the same way as seeing competitors push the limits of innovation. Or even blatantly rip off each other's ideas.

1993 Topps #89 Eric Anthony

Whoops, looks like an Astro snuck into this pack!

Though their team colors are quite different, and they played home games about two thousand miles apart, "Astros" and "Expos" sound enough alike to be confused from time to time. As I recall, my dad often mixed the two up, so whoever put this pack together had the same thought process. But I still have to pause when considering whether the Astros are playing an interleague game or not.

1991 Score #210 Tim Wallach

1991 Score is on my list of completed sets, so like everyone's Tim Wallach extras, this one will be headed to Corey at the Stackhouse Law Office. Happy to help the cause!

1993 Upper Deck #635 Kent Bottenfield

I don't know if Kent Bottenfield has British ancestry, but his name certainly sounds British. And not long after this card was printed, the Rockies traded a 2-8 Butch Henry to Montreal for Bottenfield, who ended up going a decent 6-6 in two seasons for the Rockies. One of those eight losses that Henry gave up was June 15, 1993, a game Tim Wallach also happened to play in.

Turns out a decent number of these Expos guys made it to Denver at some point in their careers. And we're not done yet!

1994 Collector's Choice Silver Signature #293 Rondell White

I don't remember much about Rondell White other than recognizing his name from a bunch of Expos cards in 1993-1994, though he had a surprisingly long career, and even made it to an All-Star Game in 2003. Just one of those guys that would pop up from time to time on some random team and you'd wonder aloud, "Oh, is that guy still playing?"

The image on this Silver Signature card was probably taken during his rookie year of 1993. He's just a righty, but it looks like he's wearing a switch-hitter's helmet with ear flaps on both sides. But if you look really closely, you'll notice that he's using Tim Wallach's bat!

I'm actually starting to have a bit of an affinity for this Wallach fellow. He's turning up everywhere. That's the third time he's turned up in this post alone.

1993 Score #488 B.J. Wallace

Remember that Kirby Puckett insert from 1993 Score I had never seen before? Well, here's a subset from 1993 Score I have never seen before. I have a good sixty-plus cards from that set, plus a few from the Dream Team subset, and plenty of the caricature All Star cards, but never a Draft Pick card. B.J. Wallace was picked third overall in 1992, but never made it past Double-A.

At least Greg Reynolds, picked second overall by the Rockies in 2006 ahead of Kershaw, Scherzer, and others, made it to the Majors. To snag B.J. Wallace, the Expos passed on Jason Kendall, Charles Johnson, Johnny Damon, Preston Wilson, Jeffrey Hammonds, and, most notably, Derek Jeter.

Oops. Clearly the best in the business get it wrong pretty often.

1993 Topps Black Gold #7 Marquis Grissom

1993 marked the debut of Topps Black Gold, the awesome insert set of my childhood. I pulled a few of them from packs, but I always stared longingly at the Ken Griffey, Jr. in the card shop, the one that always had a pretty hefty price tag for a nine-year old.

A guy like Marquis Grissom was much more reachable, and like many Expos players of this era, he did go on to win a World Series after the strike. In fact, he did so the very next year with the Braves, the only time Atlanta won a World Series during their decade-plus of dominating the NL East.

1993 Topps Black Gold #22 Larry Walker

Sadly, unlike many of the players you see in this post, Larry Walker never won a World Series. In fact, he never even won a World Series game, as the Cardinals were swept by the curse-breaking Red Sox in 2004, his only appearance in the Fall Classic. The Cardinals did end up winning in 2006, one year after Walker's retirement. That has to be quite a disappointment for a borderline Hall of Fame candidate. Still, he was a well-liked player in Colorado, one of the few stars to play in both the Blake Street Bomber era and as a contemporary of Todd Helton.

If I had a time machine, or at least an alternate-universe machine, I'd want to see what would have happened in 1994. And I bet Larry Walker would too.