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!

The Trading Post #115: Nachos Grande (Part 2: Rockies)

Let's say you're me and you run across a mid-1990s insert set that is completely new to you. Knowing my history, which master set do you think it might be from?

1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders #9 Howard Johnson

If you guessed 1995 Stadium Club, you'd be correct.

I've written at length about how I keep running across various insert sets and subsets from 1995 Stadium Club, and apparently there's still more out there, because my initial spoken reaction to seeing this card was, "what the hell is this thing?"

I don't quite know where to begin, but the giant eagle grasping a baseball in its talons is as good a place as any. Even with the starburst, the championship rings, the stained glass look, and oh yeah, the baseball player, it manages to stand out in this crazy design. 1995 Fleer would be a footnote if someone made this a base set instead of just an insert set.

There are a whopping 40 cards to be found in this insert set, and this, obviously, is the first one I've seen. It's just as well, because I'd be concerned about some sort of chain reaction if I had them all in one place at the same time.

If you can break the spell this card holds over you and flip it over, you'll learn that Howard Johnson collected a few rings throughout his career, which began as a Tiger in 1982. I wasn't aware (and am not sure Topps didn't just make this up) that players earned rings for All-Star appearances and leading the league in various statistics. Howard Johnson, a Rockie only in the strike-shortened 1994 season, was a two-time All Star, and had a pretty solid 1991 season, leading the NL in RBIs and home runs, the latter stat with just 38. What this card neglects to mention, and what you certainly do earn rings for, is that Johnson was a member of two World Series-winning teams, the '84 Tigers, and the '86 Mets.

But I guess the eagle snatched those two rings away.

1999 Upper Deck MVP #69 Kirt Manwaring

As jarring as that card was, it's a bit jarring just to return to a bit of normalcy, provided by Nachos Grande in part 2 of his Season of Giving shipment. Granted, this Upper Deck card is missing their trademark hologram, but that's a minor thing compared to large birds of prey. It looks to me like catcher Kirt Manwaring (who had a cameo on a 1994 Dante Bichette card) got under this one a little bit, making it unlikely that it's the home run mentioned on the card back. That shot, his first one of the 1998 season, came on July 12th against his former team, the San Francisco Giants.

The photo is clearly from the 1998 season, based on that All-Star Game commemorative patch. In fact, that very All-Star Break took place less than a week before Manwaring's first of only two homers that year. But that was a night game, and Coors field looks far too sunny, even for a mid-July night game.

1998 Sports Illustrated Then and Now #70 Vinny Castilla

Turn back the clock another year to 1997, and you'll find the league-wide Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary patch on Vinny Castilla's uniform. This one is from the same Sports Illustrated set that we saw with Larry Walker a few posts ago. However, Vinny Castilla didn't fare as well on the Killebrew-Brock-Robinson ratings as Walker did. Castilla earned four baseballs out of a possible five on Power and Fielding, classified as "Above Average". On Speed, he just got a middling three baseballs, only worth "Average". Castilla only stole two bags in 1997, so perhaps even that is generous.

I still don't have many from this set, but at least now I know they're not all horizontal.

1999 Private Stock #75 Edgard Clemente

The Giants and Rockies were at it again at Coors Field on September 25th, 1998, a game whose box score is on the back of this rarely-seen and slightly shiny Pacific card. Edgard Clemente, who had three partial seasons as a Major Leaguer, got his first career extra-base hit in that game, an RBI triple off of future Rockie Shawn Estes. The Rockies would go on to lose this game, but that early fall date in 1998 caught my eye.

I'm pretty sure I was in California when this game happened, possibly even watching it during dinner at a Northern California restaurant with my dad. Shortly after I started high school, he took me on a trip up the West Coast, starting in L.A., going north up the coast to the redwoods and wine country, and departing from San Francisco. I recall watching a Rockies/Giants game among a handful of Giants fans one evening, which must have been this game, since the other two in that series, which concluded the 1998 season, were day games. I recall a couple sitting behind us throwing up their hands in frustration at a particular play, and that very well could have been this RBI triple from Mr. Clemente.

Some say the sense of smell is the best sense at triggering old memories. For me, it's my sense of baseball.

1999 Fleer Tradition Warning Track #353W Mark Brownson

However, I have no memory of this Mark Brownson guy. The red foil tells us that he made his MLB debut in 1998. The red foil, in conjunction with the "W" in the card number and the "Warning Track Collection" seal in the bottom right, identifies this as a parallel, which I've seen only once before.

That debut game, interestingly, was a complete game four-hit shutout against the Astros. Unfortunately, lightning only struck once, as he appeared in just 11 games during the rest of this three-season career. At least he had some solid defense to back him up, as he never had to suffer watching an unearned run cross the plate.

1998 Topps Rookie Class #R3 Todd Helton

Moving along to rookie cards of Guys You've Heard Of, Todd Helton was appearing left and right in the Hobby during 1998. Topps gave him a card in 1998's Rookie Class insert set, a 10-card affair that looks very familiar to me, thanks to Travis Lee's card that I pulled long ago, one of the first Diamondbacks cards to make its way into my collection. Topps did a decent job selecting those ten players, also giving us Derrek Lee and Paul Konerko.

1998 Flair Showcase Row 3 #12 Todd Helton

Fleer went even shinier than Topps in 1998 Flair Showcase, a fractured set that I'll elaborate little more on other than to say this is the most common of four varieties. The redundantly named Flair Showcase Flair (Row 3) cards are easier to find than the even more redundantly named Flair Showcase Showcase (Row 0) cards.

When players are in the dugout, does that mean they're sitting in Row 0?

While pondering that deep thought, I read the back, which mentions Helton's time as a quarterback at the University of Tennessee, along with Peyton Manning and a guy named Branndon Stewart, who made his name at Texas A&M, though didn't go into the pros.

1998 Pinnacle Performers Swing for the Fences #30 Ellis Burks

If ever there were a perfect time to do a home run leader promotion, it was 1998. Following up their Swing for the Fences promotion in 1997, Pinnacle brought it back for '98, but unfortunately went out of business before McGwire and Sosa finished their record-setting season with 70 and 66, respectively.

If you can't keep the lights on while running a home run promotion in 1998, then perhaps the industry just isn't for you.

Ellis Burks, one of fifty players found in this contest, did not come close to McGwire or Sosa, hitting just 21 for the Rockies and later the Giants.

2013 Pinnacle #65 Carlos Gonzalez

After their disastrous 1998, it would take a long time before Panini would bring the Pinnacle name back from the dead, though that was just for 2013. Panini has focused most of its efforts on bringing back Donruss since then, but I wouldn't mind seeing this black-bordered set around a bit more often. Besides, batting helmets these days have so many vents and contours it's not as blatantly obvious as it used to be that it's an unlicensed set.

The longtime Rockie still doesn't have a place to land in this year's strange offseason, and the word "strike" is already being thrown around thanks to the extreme lack of free-agent signings. I'm just going to stick my fingers in my ears and pretend I didn't hear any of that. But on the bright side, bullpen carts are possibly going to make a comeback.

2003 Topps Heritage #270 Aaron Cook

Pretty much every trade package has something retro in it, usually Topps Heritage. However, 2003 Heritage isn't one I run across very often, despite the '54 design being one of my favorites ever. It's surprisingly tough to find, and I only have about two pages' worth. The black-and-white action shot is tiny, but you can still see a glimpse of the Rockies' 10th Anniversary patch on Aaron Cook's pitching arm.

I'm curious if the green-and-white backs on 1954 Topps contributed significantly to my love of green cards, because they're great. Even the cartoons have such a distinctive art style that I hesitate to call them cartoons. Really, they're more like comics. The 1930s Superman style is quite visibly different from the cartoony look that was common in the '70s and on (perish the thought) Topps Big.

2007 Upper Deck Goudey Red Backs #199 Brad Hawpe

Speaking of comics, what we now recognize as the first modern comic book was published in 1933, the same year as the original Goudey set. Upper Deck followed Topps' lead with the Allen & Ginter brand and brought back the famed 1933 set, right down to the accurate 2-3/8" x 2-7/8" dimensions. The hologram was of course new when UD brought it back, as were the Rockies and about half the other big league ballclubs.

Brad Hawpe doesn't make it to the blog very often, which is surprising, since he was a key player in the 2007-2009 era when the Rockies were doing well in the playoffs. He spent seven seasons in Colorado before keeping his career going with a few other teams and retiring in 2013. The right fielder was a fan favorite, and the PA announcer at Coors Field somehow managed to make his name sound like a single syllable when it was his turn to bat.

2003 Fleer Box Score #87 Larry Walker

Here's another new-to-me set, 2003 Fleer Box Score. Fleer was cranking out whatever they could in 2003, and not giving a whole lot of thought to the design. This card of Larry Walker is nice enough, but you have to flip the card over to get the actual box score highlighting Walker and his three-homer, eight-RBI day in St. Louis (note to BBWAA: that's a road game) on April 28th, 1999, although we don't get the equivalent box score for the Cardinals.

The front is graced by a random box score between the Pirates and the Brewers, neither of whom Walker ever played for. I assume that appeared on everyone's card, much like how the 2003 Fleer Authentix set had a section map of Yankee Stadium on every card. It's probably the first and last time you'll see Rob Mackowiak's, Scott Sauerbeck's, and Brian Boehringer's names on this blog. Josh Fogg was here once before, though, and he was a Rockie for three seasons, so he may yet appear again.

1998 Fleer Tradition #340 Larry Walker TT

Larry Walker had more than enough multi-homer games to give Fleer plenty of material, such as Tale of the Tape, a sparkly subset from 1998 Fleer Tradition. The Fleer logo has a similar look to Electric Foil parallels from 2014 Stadium Club, and it would be just as hard to spot if not for the same sparkly finish on the giant white banner.

The multi-homer game in question is from August 31st, 1997, during Walker's MVP season. It was just their second interleague game at home against the Oakland A's, one of five teams I still haven't seen, though I plan on remedying that at the end of July. Walker took Mike Oquist deep twice, chasing him from the game before he recorded an out in the 5th inning. Fleer tells us that the longer of the two went a whopping 493 feet, which remains one of the longest ever hit at Coors Field, and the first one to end up in the upper deck (odd not to capitalize that).

2012 Bowman Chrome #156 Michael Cuddyer

Chris threw in quite a bit of Bowman in this package, but it took a star rather than a prospect to really capture my attention. That and the shiny Chrome brand. Michael Cuddyer is listed as an outfielder, but he played quite a few games in Colorado as a first baseman, paving the way for Justin Morneau and Mark Reynolds in future seasons. And even for an established veteran who had just made his first All-Star appearance, Bowman, in true form, reached way back to his high school days for one of the tidbits on the back. We're told that he was Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year, which, upon further research, is not quite correct. Cuddyer did indeed win such an award, but it was the Gatorade award for the state of Virginia, not the National award.

2015 Topps Rainbow Foil #208 Wilin Rosario

We'll wrap up this year's Season of Giving with Baby Bull, aka Wilin Rosario. You can't tell from the scan, but this is a shiny card. It's not a Chrome card, so it can't be a refractor, but it looks like one. That means it must be the Rainbow Foil parallel, which I haven't seen in a while, and frankly, I sort of forgot about them.

I've yet to pick up any 2018 Topps, but I've seen plenty on the blogs. Point being, it's a bit strange to see a Topps base card with borders, as Topps is on their third straight year of embracing full bleed. I wouldn't say the design looks dated; in fact, it's continuing to grow on me. It's just noticeably not the latest and greatest.

I'm still recovering from that Howard Johnson card, but I appreciate Chris taking the time to grow my collection and further expand my knowledge of the enigma that is 1995 Stadium Club.

Perhaps the eagle and all those championship rings are foreshadowing of the upcoming Super Bowl.

The Trading Post #102: The Collector

It's always a bittersweet day, the last day of the regular season. 162 games throughout the spring, summer, and fall, with few days off. And more often than not, unless you're the Yankees, that's the end. Time to pack your bags and wait for spring.

But not this year.

This year, the Rockies are heading to the Postseason for just the fourth time. They've still never won the NL West, but the existence of the Wild Card has given us Coloradans a few tastes of October baseball, or as we like to call it in these parts, Rocktober.

1994 Flair #372 Marvin Freeman

A bespectacled Marvin Freeman was a member of the Rockies when they first made the playoffs in 1995, but he had elbow surgery right after the season ended, so he missed their first Wild Card appearance against the Braves, his former team. He still made his mark on the Rockies, starting the game the first time the Rockies pitched a combined shutout at Coors Field (I think my dad was there that day), and he remains atop the single-season leaderboard for ERA, with 2.80.

As usual with 1994 Flair, there's gold foil for days, and it'll go really nicely with that Frank Thomas card my mom picked out. And it was part of a stack of 50 cards that Chris from The Collector sent as part of a 50/50 swap offer he made in mid-August. He already got my half of the trade, and this is the second time he's sent me cards.

I know Jaybee's blogroll is dwindling a bit, but it's nice to see newcomers keeping our community fresh.

1998 Topps Chrome #310 Ellis Burks

New shiny cards also keep my collection fresh, and I got a nice, flat, Chrome card of Ellis Burks. Burks, an ex-Red Sock, made up a pretty large portion of what I sent Chris, as he lists "former Red Sox" on his wantlist. My duplcates box is running a bit thin these days, so other than a few recent cards, former Bostonians who later suited up for the Rockies is about all I could find.

In my opinion, 1998 Topps looks way better in this shiny silver than the gold border and foil the normal cards had that year. It's not quite as imposing as the oversized Super Chrome cards Topps released in '98, but it shows Burks rounding the bases after hitting one out at Candlestick Park, with a dejected Giants infielder returning to his spot on the diamond. That makes me think this might be a late-September game, because the Rockies regularly heated up in September, regardless of where they were in the standings, and beat up on the Giants to spoil their playoff hopes as the season drew to a close.

I'm telling you, you can set your watch to the cycle of a Rockies season.

1997 Finest #28 Jamey Wright B

Jamey Wright, despite pitching six seasons for the Rockies over two stints, has only appeared on this blog once before. That card came from Cards from the Quarry, who has since dropped from the active blogroll, leaving just Rosenort and me to cover our region of the NL West.

Wright's second appearance comes on an unpeeled Finest card from 1997, part of a stack of pristine cards from the same set. I'll get to peeling right after I publish this. It's what I do. Nick liberates graded cards from their plastic enclosures, I peel shiny cards.

The back of this card, clearly not important enough to ship with a protective coating, talks about Wright's ability to generate ground ball outs. Even after just a couple years of Coors Field's existence, it was obvious that fly-ball pitchers were going to have trouble. That's partly what's made Jon Gray so successful, and he's who the Rockies will send to the mound on Wednesday for the Wild Card game in Phoenix to face Zack Greinke.

2002 Topps Ten #84 Todd Helton RUNS

After having never seeing the Topps Ten set before, it's shown up in two consecutive trades. Helton made it further up the Runs leaderboard than Pierre climbed the Triples list, just one run behind Alex Rodriguez, but still a dozen behind Slammin' Sammy Sosa, who hit a not-league-leading 64 in 2001.

Science nerds among you may have heard of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, where you stumble across a particular thing or fact, then you suddenly start seeing it everywhere. That's not exactly what's going on here, as I truly never had this set in my collection before, but it's oddly coincidental that a set from 2002 just started appearing repeatedly with no warning.

2008 Upper Deck Timeline #24 Matt Holliday

Helton and Matt Holliday were both part of the Rockies when they made their magical run to the World Series in 2007, and Helton was still around the next time in 2009. Those two and Troy Tulowitzki were the faces of the Rockies the last time the Postseason came to Denver.

Thanks to that playoff run, the Rockies got a lot of cards in 2008. Upper Deck did an especially good job, slotting Matt Holliday into the one-hit-wonder UD Timeline set. Holliday led the NL in RBIs in 2007, and also won the batting title, an award the Rockies have practically monopolized ever since they became a franchise. None other than Charlie Blackmon will walk away with that award in 2017, just a year after DJ LeMahieu edged out Daniel Murphy.

This card makes no mention of his NLCS MVP award, but does mention a 17-game hitting streak he put together in August 2007. I also see quite a few similarities on the card back to UD Masterpieces, just a bit more modern-looking.

2015 Topps Triple Threads #36 Carlos Gonzalez

Besides a couple guys from the broadcast crew, only Carlos Gonzalez remains with the team from their previous Postseason appearance. Matt Holliday, Ubaldo Jimenez, and a few others are still in the league, but the rest of the roster will be experiencing Rocktober for the first time as players.

This ultra-fancy and ultra-thick Topps Triple Threads card made me laugh just a bit when they tied his "CarGo" nickname to something that could also describe his flashy Lamborghini. It's a cute pun, but perhaps something better suited to Bunt or an Opening Day insert set than something like Triple Threads.

By the way, Topps, you can have that idea of a "Players and their cars" insert set. I'd collect the heck out of that one.

2017 Topps Heritage #258 David Dahl / Raimel Tapia (RC)

For the most part, this post has looked back at past Rockies glory, but guys like this could play a huge role in helping the Rockies to success in future years. Most of the pieces were there last year, but it took a new manager and a beefed-up bullpen to finally crack the secret to success and the third-best record in team history. Dropping two out of three to the Dodgers this weekend doesn't bode well for the NLDS if they win the Wild Card game, but they did give a lot of playing time to the young guys on Sunday.

It's hard to see a Rookie Stars two-player card on the 1968 burlap design without thinking of the famed Nolan Ryan / Jerry Koosman rookie card. Both Dahl and Tapia got semi-regular playing time this season, and while they're not necessarily known to casual fans yet, they'll ensure the Rockies will have a strong outfield for years to come.

2016 Topps #661B DJ LeMahieu SP (42 Jersey)

Finally, last year's batting champion appears facing the Giants yet again, although this short-print was taken on Jackie Robinson Day in 2015. Candlestick Park was no more, instead taking place in AT&T Park right on the bay. The Rockies won that contest by an appropriate score of 4-2, and while its a bit tricky to tell who's who when everyone wears the same uniform number, the label on the runner's batting helmet gives him away as Angel Pagan. That's enough information to pinpoint this play to the bottom of the 6th, when Buster Posey grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

I almost never deliberately chase short-prints, but I'm happy when I happen to run across one. Thanks to Chris and this 50/50 swap, I found one that is specific enough to find the actual play. I didn't even have to shell out for a $10 Topps Now card to do that, but I hope there are several more of those to come in the upcoming Postseason.

The Trading Post #97: Nachos Grande

I've been pretty out of the Cardsphere loop lately. I entirely skipped the 30-day Card Challenge, for example, although I suppose I could do it all in one go, like Night Owl and Dime Boxes did this weekend. In fact, this is only my third post in April, my lowest monthly total since...well, February. Between watching half my fantasy team go on the DL in the first month (Bumgarner, Sanchez, Beltre, others, and now Cespedes), and keeping an eye on the Rockies' textbook April hot streak, I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. The weather's been getting nicer too, and I took a pretty strenuous hike last weekend with some friends, but since this weekend has brought us our annual spring snowstorm, what better time to pick my virtual pen back up?

Fortunately, I've had plenty of potential blog post topics, such as a trade sent by Nachos Grande long before the season started.

2013 Topps Heritage #164 Dexter Fowler

Dexter Fowler was a fan favorite around here, spending time with Houston, Chicago (of course winning the World Series last year), and now St. Louis. I was about to say that he's really made the rounds in the National League, but then I realized Houston moved to the AL. I remember, really, I do.

But back when 1964 took its turn in the Topps Heritage set, Fowler was spending his final season as a Rockie. This retro-themed shot of a hatless Fowler in the dugout offers a pretty intimate look at the day-to-day job of a ballplayer. The action shots are always a crowd-pleaser, but hanging out in the dugout while the other part of the batting order is taking its turn is roughly as common as playing the field. Many of them find interesting ways to pass the time, such as (Buster Posey's good friend) Hunter Pence coming up with personalized handshakes for each of his teammates.

2012 Elite Extra Edition #91 Tom Murphy

The injury bug has bitten the Rockies, too. Their shiny new free agent, Ian Desmond, has yet to play in a game this year. David Dahl and Jon Gray are on the DL, and CarGo narrowly missed a broken hand during an unfortunate foul ball last week. Catcher Tom Murphy is down as well, the subject of this red foil card from Donruss Elite. He's been called up to the big leagues twice, but his potential is still yet to be fully realized. For now, that means most of his cards are in the Donruss Elite and Bowman sorts of brands. But if he becomes the star catcher he's expected to be, we should be seeing a lot more cards of him.

I'm sure that's just a batting glove in his back pocket, but it looks slightly like he has a duck tail.

Anyway, Mark Reynolds and Tony Wolters have been filling in nicely in the Rockies' lineup, good enough to keep them in first place. Because they just won this weekend's series in Arizona, they've held on to first place into the month of May, barely, despite the absolute destruction that the Washington Nationals visited upon them this past week. But they've bounced back nicely with an exciting come-from-behind win and will go for the sweep tomorrow.

1994 Bowman's Best #R72 Ellis Burks

Bowman's Best did shiny red cards better than just about anyone. Ellis Burks, who had just joined the Rockies when this card was printed, was already an established power hitter. He even had eight grand slams to his name before becoming a founding member of the Blake Street Bombers, tacking on even more before his retirement in 2004.

Topps knew they had a hit on their hands with the production of shiny cards like this, a set that appeared after the seminal 1993 Finest set. I would like to know what the design in the upper left is supposed to be. It looks a bit like the NFL shield. But maybe it's just some sort of home plate thing.

Standard practice for close to two decades over at Bowman was to use red colors for veteran players, and blue colors for rookies.

1994 Bowman's Best #B11 John Burke

Fortunately for our exploration of this design, Chris was kind enough to include both. They look really good side-by-side, especially since the design elements are a mirror image. Burke's card is noted as a "Blue Chip", though Burke only went 4-6 in two seasons with the Rockies, his only time spent in the Majors. Burke was more of a speculative small-cap than a blue chip, but others in this set went on to do great things, such as Shawn Green, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, and Chipper Jones, to name a few.

I can only imagine what a green card from this set would have looked like. Throw in a yellow with that and you can make the Microsoft logo.

1994 Topps #780 Jason Bates / John Burke

Burke showed up again along with Jason Bates on the Rockies' Coming Attractions card in 1994 Topps. This movie theater-themed subset caught my eye, as I can still recognize the first factory set I ever bought in a split second. Jason Bates, who found a bit more success with the Rockies than Burke, is called out as a "switch-hitting shortstop with power." Burke, on the other hand, was at that time the career leader in strikeouts as a Florida Gator. Besides those one-sentence tidbits, this card gives us a rarely-glimpsed bit of info: the scout who signed the player. Randy Johnson (no relation to the Big Unit) signed Bates, and Bob Gebhard, the first General Manager of the Rockies, signed Burke.

I'm surprised that doesn't make it onto Bowman cards. It would be perfect for a prospect-heavy set like that, and might give hope to fans and collectors who want to be part of baseball but aren't good enough to play.

2014 Topps #237 Michael Cuddyer / Chris Johnson / Freddie Freeman LL

When it comes to League Leader cards, the players are much more likely to have found success than a pair of prospects. Michael Cuddyer won the NL batting title in 2013, one of many times that trophy has been brought to Denver. Rounding out the top three are two Braves. Chris Johnson hit .321 in 2013, but hasn't had a stellar career since. He broke a bone in Triple-A a few weeks ago, and was released by the Indians in 2015. The likelihood of him making a comeback is looking slimmer by the day.

Freddie Freeman, on the other hand, the second runner up to the 2013 batting title, is still performing well as a Brave. He went deep on Friday with a go-ahead two-run shot, and is finding a nice home at SunTrust Park, the Braves' shiny new stadium.

2014 Topps #20 Charlie Blackmon

I often remark on how different Todd Helton looks without his goatee. But that's nothing compared to Charlie Blackmon without his lumberjack beard. He has a little bit of scruff on this 2014 Topps card, but he looks like a completely different person. He's just as capable in center field as Fowler was, beard or no. And it's a Coors Field card, worthy of a spot in my Frankenset. This 2014 set does make me miss the previously ubiquitous silver foil and white borders that were once so familiar.

But what's still familiar is great trading partners, a Rockies team that is hot in April (though winning all these one-run games is a little weird), and shiny Topps cards from all eras of the Colorado Rockies.

Underwhelmed

It's been a couple weeks since my last post, and there's been a lot going on in that time between work and family matters. That doesn't leave much time for cards, let alone blogging, but I've still been the recipient of numerous trade packages, which I'll get to in due time.

Shortly before I visited my sister and brother-in-law one Saturday in mid-March, I ran into the Target by their home and picked up a pack of 2015 Topps Heritage. What I found inside was, you know, fine.

2015 Topps Heritage #40 Phil Hughes

I have to admit that I'm rather bored by Topps Heritage these days. In 2001, the idea of digging 49 years into the Topps archives and releasing a full-sized set of modern players on a vintage design was novel and refreshing, especially after the absolute craziness that was the late 1990s. But by now, it's gotten to be old hat.

My enjoyment of Topps Heritage has started to tie directly into my fondness for whatever vintage design existed just under a half-century ago. Last year's was a winner, and I was counting down to the 1962-themed release ever since the brand's inception.

2014 Topps Heritage #302 Adam Eaton

2011 Topps Heritage #194 Jordan Walden (RC)

But this year's release, which is based on Topps' 1966 product, didn't wow me, especially after their strong efforts with the 2015 base set and last year's instant classic 2014 Stadium Club.

2015 Topps Heritage #403 Adam Lind

The Hughes at the top of this post and that Photoshopped Adam Lind card above are the only two base cards I found interesting enough to include in a post. Lind was involved in one of the many off-season transactions this winter, but he's yet to appear in a regular season game as a Brewer. Digitally-altered uniform or not, he's still on board with the beard craze, as well as a slightly fuzzy-looking bat.

Can you even imagine what it would have been like to have Photoshop in 1966?

I do hope Topps continues making the product, as there are sure to be some fantastic sets once the theme gets to the early- to mid-'70s, but we're going to be in a bit of a dull period for a while. At least in my opinion, the 1968-based set two years hence will likely be the only sort-of highlight for the remainder of the decade. Assuming Topps can weather what I expect to be five years of weak sales, the early 2020s promise a slew of great designs.

Topps doesn't have much choice in the matter. It's an odd thing, the design choices made fifty years ago being directly tied to a product's current success. But this whole hobby is heavily influenced by the past, so a product like Topps Heritage really is a fitting thing to have in the marketplace.

Like the use of Photoshop, there are still some modern touches on the set, including the "New Age Performers" insert set that's been printed for several years.

2015 Topps Heritage New Age Performers #NAP-5 Mike Trout

Not that I'm a huge Mike Trout fan, but this was the highlight of the pack. This insert set can be found in 1:8 packs, so I did pick well off the shelf at Target. And Mr. Trout is probably the best player in baseball right now, as he was selected first overall in my fantasy baseball league, which held its draft on Sunday. I had 4th pick this year, so I selected McCutchen after the true elites like Trout and Kershaw were taken, but more on my fantasy team in a future post.

I'm sure I'll eventually end up with most of the Rockies team set from 2015 Topps Heritage thanks to my numerous trading partners, but for now, a pack of 9 cards pretty much satisfied my desire to have a look at the product.

Until about 2020, that is.