Gift Cards

At least once a year, and twice if I'm lucky and get a birthday bonus, I can count on my mom to check my Eight Men Out list and gift me a few cards around the holidays. This year a trio of cards slipped out of an envelope on Christmas morning, and fortunately they were not blown away by the whirlwind of gift-opening that my two-year-old nephew led.

2016 Topps Chasing 3000 #3000-60 Ichiro Suzuki

In 2016 Topps Update, Topps managed to squeeze in the final half of a 60-card insert set counting down Ichiro Suzuki's progress toward the 3,000 hit milestone. It led off with card # 3000-1 in 2016 Topps Series 2, culminating with this card #3000-60 in Topps Update. That final card does indeed commemorate hit number 3,000, which he hit on August 7th, 2016 at Coors Field, and which I had the great fortune to witness.

I purchased the Topps Now card documenting the event, but I also wanted this insert card in my collection, because it's not every day you can collect a card from a game you attended, let alone one about such a milestone.

Keep in mind, that was 3,000 Major League hits. He had well over a thousand more in the NPB before arriving in America, putting him well beyond Pete Rose in all-time professional hits.

By the way, if you're a subscriber to The Athletic, you should be reading Joe Posnanski's series, "The Baseball 100". It's a well-written countdown of the 100 best players in history, one player a day until Opening Day. The series began with Ichiro at #100.

1993 Topps Gold #396 Rich Sauveur

The Eight Men Out list has allowed me to finally complete a six-card subset I've been chasing for a really long time. It's not truly a subset in the strictest sense of the word, but it's as good a term as any. As you may have realized, you've never seen a Topps Gold checklist from 1992-1994. That's because Topps replaced those with cards of players that had been snubbed from the main set. Six each in 1992 and 1993, and four in 1994. This card of Royals pitcher Rich Sauveur completes the 1993 subset. It was a real team effort over the years. I pulled two myself, two came from gcrl, and two from mom.

As best I can tell, this is absolutely the only Major League card that Rich Sauveur ever had. There are some minor league cards, and he spent a little time on big league rosters for several teams throughout the years, pitching a grand total of 46 innings, but no one besides Topps ever gave him a card. He gave it a valiant effort, appearing in his final MLB game at age 36, but his career sadly never panned out. He is currently a pitching coach in the Diamondbacks organization, and can be found on the short list of Strike-era "replacement players".

Next, on to 1994!

1992 Upper Deck #HH2 Ted Williams Hologram

Do you remember that shiny Hank Aaron Upper Deck card from a few months ago? The one that was entirely a hologram and basically a one-card insert set advertising Upper Deck Heroes of Baseball exhibition games? Well, turns out Upper Deck brought it back in 1992, unbeknownst to me. It's numbered "HH2", clearly in sequence with that Hank Aaron card, but from one year later. I still have no idea whether the Heroes of Baseball games ever actually happened.

The card back gives a quick overview of Ted Williams's great career, mentioning his two Triple Crowns, his .406 batting average in 1941 (the year two "unbreakable" records were set), and his 521st and final home run in 1960. He remains the all-time career leader in On-Base Percentage, with a staggering .482. That's as close to half as this game will ever see. Even Babe Ruth was a few points behind, at .474. One interesting note on that statistic is that eight of the top nine are lefties, as are most of the top 30.

Ted Williams will unquestionably be on The Baseball 100 list. Probably even in the top ten.

Kudos to mom for unearthing this gem. I might never have known it existed otherwise.

The Last Minute Group Break (Part 2: Diamondbacks)

That did not turn out the way I'd hoped.

Here it is, Saturday night, and I'm watching the Diamondbacks in Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium, a game the Rockies could be playing in if Wednesday's wild Wild Card game went just a bit differently.

2017 Topps Bunt #109 Zack Greinke

Of the four Wild Card starters across both leagues, only Zack Greinke held it together in the first inning, and that ended up being the difference. Greinke joined Arizona for the 2016 season, and had a much better year in 2017, helping the Diamondbacks sink the Rockies and get their revenge for the 2007 NLCS. He's a bit removed from his near-Cy Young 2015 season with the Dodgers, but he stayed in the NL West and remained a thorn in the Rockies' side.

His card from 2017 Bunt came my way as part of Chris's late-spring Ultimate Group Break. You saw the Rockies in Part 1, way back when they were still part of the 2017 Postseason picture. The random luck of the draw netted me the Rockies' chief rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, as my second team. They're, let's just say, not my favorite team. They weren't going into Wednesday, so you can imagine how I feel now.

2017 Topps Archives #287 Paul Goldschmidt

That's partly thanks to this mischievous-looking fellow at the bat rack, Paul Goldschmidt. Goldy launched a three-run shot off of Jon Gray in the first inning of the Wild Card game before an out had even been recorded, and the D-Backs kept the Rockies in the rear-view mirror the rest of the way. There were four home runs, four triples, including a demoralizing one by reliever Archie Bradley in the 8th that really put it away, and a slew of hits, making for the offensive battle we all expected.

And ex-Rockie Daniel Descalso had one of those homers. I thought something like that might happen.

Anyway, here we are, and I'm watching the rest of the Postseason on the sidelines, as is usually the case.

Goldschmidt's card from 2017 Topps Archives obviously uses the 1992 design, one that I think is better color-coded than the Rockies cards in that set. The blue borders here aren't quite right, but the Rockies got yellow, light blue, and red. Chase Field also makes a rare appearance on the back, but doesn't quite capture the park as well as Ian Desmond's card did. This one has little more than the infield and dugout areas, but it does show the unusual dirt path between the mound and the plate, something found only there and in Detroit's Comerica Park.

2002 Flair #12 Mark Grace

When Mark Grace played there, it was still called the Bank One Ballpark, colloquially known as "The Bob", which is why the Diamondbacks' mascot is a bobcat rather than a snake. Bank mergers have made D. Baxter the Bobcat (get it?) a bit of anachronism, though Grace's teammate Jay Bell's son Brantley was the brains behind all this. Jay Bell, of course, scored the winning run in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, in which Mark Grace singled to lead off that fateful 9th inning.

The background photo of Mark Grace on this upscale Flair card has the look of a man who just won a World Series, and he's even sporting an alternate Diamondbacks logo to go along with his previous-year action shot. I haven't seen many 2002 Flair cards, and I particularly like the color of the foil. It's not copper, like we've see on so many Upper Deck cards, but more of a rose gold.

2008 Upper Deck #406 Eric Byrnes

Here's one for Nick's Short Term Stops theme. Not as a Diamondback. Everyone in Denver knows him as a Diamondback, as he didn't make many friends during the 2007 NLCS around here. But when I flipped this 2008 UD card over, apparently Byrnes spent part of 2005 in Denver, his second of three teams that year, forcing Upper Deck to abbreviate that to "ATH/RCK/ORI" on the vertical-backed card. He played just 15 games here, which was apparently something that we all just decided to forget.

2008 Upper Deck X #2 Conor Jackson

Yes, I'm a bit salty, but again, it's not something that just began on Wednesday. This goes way back. And I'm completely fine with the hitting clinic the Dodgers put on in the bottom of the 5th in Game 2 on their way to a 2-0 series lead.

But I guess it's good to have a rival. Who would the Yankees be without the Red Sox? Or vice versa? Who would Tom Brady be without air?

I kid, I kid.

Other than Greinke and Goldschmidt, these are all bonus cards that Chris included in my shipment, and I found quite a few cards to like, even of a division rival. Conor Jackson was swinging a decent bat for a few years, and the back of this Upper Deck X card documents his four home runs in September 2007. One of those homers helped beat the Rockies as the season was winding down, marking the Rockies' only loss between September 16th, 2007 and the end of the NLCS.

If the Rockies somehow won that game, they would have had a 22-game win streak heading into the World Series. That makes the Indians' accomplishment this year all the more impressive, but underscores just how amazing Rocktober was back in 2007.

2012 Triple Play #300 Real Feel Jersey (MEM)

In addition to this stack of hand-selected cards, Chris also threw in an unopened pack of 2012 Triple Play. I don't see a lot of love for Triple Play sets, especially recently, but I was lucky enough to pull this relic card out of that pack. The card doesn't depict any particular player or team, and thus has no need to disclaim that the relic "is not from any particular game" etc... like most relic cards do.

The coloring on this card happens to make it fit quite well with a bunch of Diamondbacks cards, and it might actually be a real D-Backs road jersey. The back gives us a lengthy history of the baseball jersey that would not be out of place on an early Score card, and it's one of six relic types you could pull, a few of the others being the base, batting glove, and bat. This is card #300, the final one in the Triple Play set that year. It's not officially listed as a short print, but the "short set" runs only to card #90. Even jerseys of no particular player must be relatively scarce.

Munnatawket Custom #1 Paul Goldschmidt

If the Real Feel jersey capped off the 2012 Triple Play set, then Paul Goldschmidt opened up the magnificent Munnatawket Mini custom set with card #1. I recently lamented that this set hadn't made an appearance around the blogs in quite a while. It's amazing that these have been kicking around for almost ten years, and I'm happy to add another to the small quantity I've managed to collect.

2008 Topps Update #UH293 Adam Dunn

Obviously, the Rockies are heavily represented in my Coors Field frankenset, but the ones that aren't are typically NL West teams. Dee Gordon's card from 2011 Topps Update is a prime example, as he's shown acrobatically turning two over Ty Wigginton with the left field bleachers in view. The Diamondbacks seem to have all sorts of Coors Field cards, including this one of strikeout king Adam Dunn.

And when you're a strikeout king without being a pitcher, that's a bad thing. At this point in his career, he was good for about 40 home runs a season, but he'd put up darn near 200 strikeouts doing it. This Update card points out that no player before Dunn was ever traded during the season when he was leading the league in home runs.

He's either striking out or hitting a home run here, and because you can spot the Coors Field signage on the dugout roof behind him, it's a fair bet that he might be hitting one of those 40-ish home runs instead of striking out. Dunn did hit one home run at Coors Field as a Diamondback, even though that was just a 44-game stretch before he became a free agent and signed with the Nationals.

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum #1 Chris B. Young

This Upper Deck Spectrum card (another card #1) caught my eye with this striking turquoise color, not really a Diamondbacks color anymore, but a pretty card nonetheless. It's not a color-coded set to begin with, but it came in a few colored parallel variations.

This gentleman is Chris B. Young, currently playing in the Postseason for the Red Sox, not to be confused with Chris R. Young, a pitcher for the Royals. They both have quite a bit of Postseason experience. Chris B. played in the 2007 NLCS against the Rockies with a few of these other guys, but Chris R. earned his ring with Kansas City in 2015. Both are still in the league, and it's still a touch confusing.

But that's nothing compared to Khris Davis of the Athletics and Chris Davis of the Orioles. Both are noted power hitters. They've never played together, but somehow they both managed to strike out exactly 195 times this season, tying for third in the American League.

I can't mention 200-strikeout hitters like the Davises and Adam Dunn without mentioning Tony Gwynn at the other end of the spectrum (pun not intended), who only had slightly more strikeouts in the final twelve years of his career.

Of course, that was a Strike-shortened period. I'm sure his total of 203 would be two or three higher if 1994 and 1995 were full seasons.

2003 Ultra #129 Junior Spivey

I don't especially remember much about Junior Spivey. I know he was on the Diamondbacks, and I probably saw him play once or twice, but I don't recall any specific plays. I just like this acrobatic card of him playing the infield, which is cropped perfectly to fit the card and even the little dip in the bottom banner.

The old Diamondbacks uniforms and colors are on display quite vividly on this Fleer Ultra card, as is their large snake patch on the left sleeve. In the days before HDTV, I never really got a good look at that patch, and it always looked like a hot air balloon or a parachutist to me. In reality, has the state, team name, and a large snake head.

I like seeing their occasional retro jersey, but I think there's only room for one purple team in the NL West, and we were there first.

2012 Topps Update #US22 Chris Nelson

I just couldn't do a whole post of Diamondbacks. I had to get this Update card of third baseman Chris Nelson in here to wrap it up. Even if the Rockies lost the Wild Card game, they're still my team. And they're even more fun to watch when they have a four-time Gold Glover covering the hot corner, who makes plays like this look effortless.

I talk a big game about not liking the Diamondbacks, but really, I'd like nothing more than to see our rivalry expand over the next few seasons.

Perhaps a rematch next year? This time at Coors Field.

Unless, of course, the Rockies finally win the division for once.

If it's copper, it must be Upper Deck

For holidays that you never get off from work, Valentine's Day and Halloween seem to be pretty big deals in this country. Restaurants and florists across the land are raking it in at enormously inflated prices. And the chocolate flows like honey on a day like today.

My parents have always made a bit of a special occasion around Valentine's Day when it came to us kids. In my family, it is an occasion worthy of at least a greeting card, some of which I have pretty specific memories of. Later on, I remember being in my mid-teens and my dad surprised me with a one-pound bag of plain M&Ms and a brand-new video game. I played that one quite a bit, and I even remember missing a four-minute time limit in one race by a mere six-hundredths of a second.

That tradition carries on, as my mom gave me a baseball card inside this year's greeting card. She picked one out when my back was turned at a recent card show in Denver, which I believe was her first-ever trip to a card show. She recently suggested that we visit one, which happened to be just a couple days before the monthly card show that one of my dealers puts on. So that Saturday morning, we stopped by Roy's table, the guy who sold me all this vintage, and picked out a few cards that she'll give to me on my birthday next month.

But while I was perusing some of the other cards on offer, she found one at another table that made for a great little surprise.

1999 Upper Deck Textbook Excellence Double #T8 Nomar Garciaparra /2000

I think my mom is kind of a Red Sox fan. She's always had this Boston hat that she likes to wear, the one with the red B. Just like Nomar's batting helmet, only softer. Derek Jeter was the other great shortstop in the AL East at the time, but Nomar was giving fans a preview that Boston was about to take its place near the top of that division. She asked if Nomar had won a World Series with Boston, and I couldn't quite remember. I knew he was part of a blockbuster trade, but had to look up when that occurred. Sadly for "Nomahh", he was traded to the Cubs just months before the Red Sox finally broke their curse.

She knows I like serial-numbered cards, she recognized the copper foil that completely dominated Upper Deck in the late 1990s, and couldn't pass up that eye-catching die-cut pattern on the right side. It's a lot like that postage stamp-shaped set that Pacific put out around the same time. It's a shame Pacific didn't stick around, because they really were quite innovative.

There was something about this design that looked familiar, possibly another insert set. So while I was answering all her questions about serial numbers, what's "rare", what the difference is between a subset and an insert set, I looked this card up on Beckett to see what it was all about. Apparently, this is the "Double" variety, obviously numbered to 2,000, and further differing from the base card by having copper foil instead of silver and offering the die-cut edge.

Triple and Quadruple varieties also exist that are more scarce, but I couldn't find an image of those. I'd just have to guess that more edges have the die-cut pattern, and likely there is a different foil color too.

But it still looked familiar, and it turns out I had five of the base cards in my collection. I really don't remember the "Textbook Excellence" name, but the overall theme jogged my memory.

Yes, the late-'90s were a lot to keep track of, especially since I probably didn't purchase a single card between 1997 and 2003.

1999 Upper Deck Textbook Excellence #T18 Ben Grieve

As expected, the base card looks a bit more normal, at least with four straight cuts. But an Upper Deck card from this era without copper looks sort of...off. Like Charlie Hough in a Marlins uniform.

This post also marks the first appearance of Ben Grieve on Infield Fly Rule. He was the 1998 AL Rookie of the Year, and although he didn't end up having a terrific career, he absolutely tore the Rockies to shreds in the early days of Interleague Play. In just six games against Colorado between 1998 and 1999, Grieve notched three doubles, three homers, and twelve RBIs. And only half those took place at Coors Field. It's a good thing he was an American Leaguer, because if he were in the NL West, he would have given Eric Karros a run for his money in his Rockie-slaying abilities.

Valentine's Day also happens to be right around the time that pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, so while I'm not the biggest Red Sox fan, this surprise card from my mom and the email I just got about the upcoming auto-renewal of my MLB.TV subscription are great reminders that baseball season isn't far away.

The Trading Post #89: The Chronicles of Fuji

Fuji recently vacated the Athletics' spot in the #supertraders group, but that didn't stop him from sending an awesome trade package in December. He even took the time to put everything in penny sleeves for safe keeping. It was one of those trades where I had to narrow things down quite a bit to keep this from being a 20-card post, as I was dazzled by a lot of what he sent.

1994 SP Holoviews #10 Andres Galarraga

At first glance, this looks like a recent card with a hologram sticker autograph. But it's actually from all the way back in 1994. Upper Deck went all in with the hologram technology for this insert set, though there is no Upper Deck hologram anywhere on the back. The card has a Topps Chrome-esque curl, but the silver area at the bottom shows the Big Cat's 3D face on the right, and a bunch of SP logos coming out of some clouds on the left. They give the design a bit more of a 3D illusion by superimposing Galarraga's photograph over the hologram.

The card number looks like a fraction: 10 over 38. I was wondering if this was some kind of a fractured set, as I haven't seen this one before, Then I thought it might be something to do with the uniform number, but that was clearly not correct, as he wore #14. It's simply card 10 out of 38, the total size of this insert set. Simple.

1997 SPx #SPX24 Andres Galarraga

The Big Cat shows up again on a similar card a few years later, but this one is die-cut. The write up mentions that in early 1997, he became the all-time home runs leader among Venezuelans, with 252. He'd end up with just shy of 400, still a monster number. And he only played five seasons as a Rockie, so he had plenty of power outside of Denver.

There are lots of holograms on this one, even more than in 1994. The areas of the X contain a bunch of SPX logos, and the arc in the middle contains a nearly identical headshot of Galarraga against a backdrop of Rockies logos. It's even got a bit of color to it, both in Galarraga's skin tone and in the purple areas of the team logo. And there's even the familiar Upper Deck hologram on the back, this time in gold. 

Shiny at its best.

2011 Topps 60 #T60-11 Troy Tulowitzki

Topps 60 is one of those giant insert sets that I've been casually chasing for a while now. Coincidentally, I'd estimate that I've completed about sixty percent of it. This one of Tulo in that familiar batting motion documents his slugging percentage as a cleanup hitter. Between 2005 and 2010, Tulo was second overall behind Miguel Cabrera. And Tulowitzki didn't even play in 2005, and was a late-season callup in 2006. So while this doesn't quite give us an apples-to-apples comparison, Tulo was doing exactly what he was supposed to in the #4 slot.

The back of the card gives the top ten players in this stat. There are some familiar names on here, like Bonds, Berkman, Fielder, and others. And tied for 6th was Astros third baseman Morgan Ensberg. He had a relatively short-lived career, but put together an all-star season in 2005. I even picked him for my fantasy team one year (probably the year after). He didn't have lasting power, but he was definitely part of the conversation for a while.

2011 Topps Diamond Duos Series 2 #DD-22 Troy Tulowitzki / Ubaldo Jimenez

Tulowitzki's post-swing pose finally made it onto a card, one of the two-player Diamond Duo cards, another large 2011 insert set. He appears with teammate Ubaldo Jimenez, neither of whom are even in the National League right now, let alone on the Rockies. The paragraph on the back talks more about Tulo's defensive performance, so it's a little odd that Topps used a batting shot here, especially given that he appeared in this insert set three times across two series.

The back also offers a statistics comparison between Tulowitzki and Jimenez, except comparing a pitcher's stats to a position player's doesn't seem that relevant. For example, Tulo had 338 RBIs by then, compared to Ubaldo's 655 strikeouts. 

2011 Topps Target Red Diamond #RDT-12 Carlos Gonzalez

2011 marked Topps' first year all by itself in the baseball card marketplace in over 30 years. That pesky Upper Deck wasn't making even unlicensed baseball cards anymore, and Topps took the opportunity of their reinstated monopoly and their 60th anniversary to churn out bunches of insert sets. The previous two I've come reasonably close to completing, but this one I've never seen before. It fits with the rest of 2011's diamond theme, but this is a Target-exclusive insert set. I wasn't buying cards regularly at that time, but I'm a little surprised I've never seen one turn up in a discount box. Usually the red- and blue-bordered ones stand out in discount boxes full of Topps base.

This insert set spanned 30 cards over two series, and contained a pretty even mixture of active players and retired greats. Carlos' two-homer performance on August 29th, 2010 is the subject of the paragraph on the back. That sounded familiar, making me wonder if I was at that game. But I wasn't. He just does that sort of thing a lot.

2008 Upper Deck Heroes Beige #55 Jeff Francis /299

Speaking of Upper Deck, here's a familiar-looking card of 17-game winner Jeff Francis from the well-liked Baseball Heroes set. I've shown the base version of this card before. While the base card is described as a "sand" color, this is the beige parallel, serial numbered to 299. The difference in color between the two is somewhat noticeable when placed side-by-side, but trying to recall it from memory would be a challenge. It would definitely be easy to skip over if you didn't know just what you were looking for.

Like other cards in this set, and that purple Todd Helton card from my previous post, the background has a matte finish, while the photo and logo are glossy. And it's definitely reminiscent of 1959 Topps. More on that later.

2014 Topps Update Power Players #PPA-TT Troy Tulowitzki

I've seen Carlos Gonzalez's card from 2014 Topps Power Players numerous times before, including this very trade package. but this is my first copy of Troy Tulowitzki's card from that set. The "wormhole", as I previously described it, is the same shape but uses different colors. And Tulo gets a real action shot as opposed to CarGo's posed image. There's also a pattern of dots in the background, which reminds me of what you see on Panini Prizm's Pulsar parallels.

Say that ten times fast.

1999 Topps Power Brokers #PB9 Vinny Castilla

I have to wonder if Topps looked through the archives and found inspiration for Power Players in this similar Power Brokers set from 1999. This one is shinier, but the overall color and design is pretty similar. Enough of the blue wall peeks through the distortion to indicate that they're in Shea Stadium, but between the action shot, blocky font, and a pair of electrodes, there's a lot going on here. There's even a rather large nuclear symbol on the back. To be honest, I didn't even realize this was a die-cut until I viewed it several times. It's a clear indication of history repeating itself, which happens more than you'd think in this hobby.

1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality #204 Marvin Freeman

In 1995, the sport of baseball, and its related card industry, was trying to recover from a disastrous strike that cut the 1994 season short. Topps came up with the idea to include computer-simulated statistics on some 1995 cards, such as Topps Cyberstats, and also this Virtual Reality partial parallel set in Stadium Club. Freeman had 10 wins in 1994 as the Rockies ace, but Topps thought it likely that he'd win another four for a total of 14.

1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality #204 Marvin Freeman (Reverse)

No one really talks about it, but the the back of 1995 Stadium Club wasn't that different from the thermal camera look that Fleer famously produced in 1995. The hobby went to some strange places that lasted for the rest of the decade.

Virtual Reality, and the Web itself were just getting off the ground in 1994, barely past the concept stage. Over twenty years later, Virtual Reality still isn't quite mainstream, but it's certainly moving that direction, and rapidly. Perhaps in another 20 years, cards (or something like the Bunt app) will have an actual VR component, allowing us to see video highlights at a glance.

Hopefully it's more like that and not another prediction of what might have happened without a labor dispute.

1995 Topps Embossed Golden Idols #112 Walt Weiss

Shiny cards usually look generally silver, like a mirror. It's fairly uncommon for the thing to just be straight, bling-y gold. But that's just what Topps did with the parallels for Embossed, adding to the oddness of 1995. I haven't seen a ton of Topps Embossed in general, and apparently these are one per pack parallels that took Topps Gold to its logical endgame.

It's a very texturey card. Weiss' images are raised from the card surface both front and back, and each of the concentric layers of the border has a different pattern. Furthest out are baseballs, further in are diagonal ridges, horizontal ridges, what looks like ice cream sprinkles, etc.... Lost in all that is some letting at the bottom that reminds us that Weiss was the 1988 Rookie of the Year, and there's a little more detail about that on the non-gold back.

1995 Score Gold Rush #338 Andres Galarraga

Beginning a transition from gold to green, Score's Gold Rush parallel set in 1995 gives us a shot of Andres Galarraga signing autographs. I think. Many ballplayers were sporting shades like this in the mid-1990s, but Galarraga did not go down the goatee route, the 1990s equivalent of the big, bushy beards we commonly see today.

Score also used a different, darker shade of gold on the border than Weiss' card. This one looks less like actual gold and more like a slightly reddish alloy. The foil is a tiny bit dinged up on the edges, as whatever Score used for this product, I've always found to be easy to nick.

2008 Topps Heritage Chrome #C50 Matt Holliday /1959

Moving fully into the green color theme, Matt Holliday's Chrome parallel from 2008 Topps Heritage is serial numbered to 1959, matching the design of that year. Remember that Jeff Francis card? Now it should be pretty obvious where Upper Deck got its idea for Baseball Heroes. Not that a circle is a hugely unusual shape or anything, but the diameter and placement are almost identical.

Being from 2008, this is from the year after the Rockies went to the World Series and Holliday won MVP honors in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. He also led a bunch of categories in 2007, including two Triple Crown categories. They didn't mention his memorable slide at the end of the 2007 regular season (hi, Padres fans!), but any green card always has a welcome spot in my collection.

1994 Finest Refractors #72 Joe Girardi

1994 Finest is right up there as my all-time favorite green set, with 2013 Topps Emerald close behind. Joe Girardi, now manager of the Yankees, spent a few seasons behind the plate as a Rockie, and even though he missed about half of the 1993 season due to injury, he still earned a spot in the Topps Finest set. Not only that, but this is the refractor version, a term we all know now but weren't so familiar with back then. 

This isn't nearly as rare as refractors from the debut 1993 Finest set, but it's still a great card, and a fairly scarce variation of one of my favorite sets. I have none of the refractors from 1993 in my collection, and only Kevin Stocker's from 1994, besides this. It was a trade package full of shiny cards from start to finish, covering all the great periods of Rockies history.

Thanks, Fuji!

The Trading Post #73: Texas Rangers Cards

The day after Ichiro's 3,000th hit, I caught another ballgame at Coors Field, this time against the Texas Rangers for the first of a short two-game series. That marks the 22nd of 30 Major League teams I've seen in person, with only a few American League teams (including the Astros) left. I never saw the Astros as an NL squad, nor the Expos before their move to Washington D.C.

2011 Bowman Draft Prospects Gold #BDPP3 Tyler Anderson

Tyler Anderson pitched a quality start, giving up only one run over seven innings. The Rockies took a two-run lead into the ninth, only to have it blown by then-closer Carlos Estevez. The Rockies lost 4-3, prompting me to leave a comment on this post at Texas Rangers Cards. Spiff, the longtime writer of that blog, offered to send a few Rockies to ease the pain of the Rockies losing three out of four games against the Rangers, in all of which they blew a late lead. They managed to rally in the fourth game, but not before going down by 2 in the 7th.

Anderson is one of those rare players on a Bowman card to actually show up in the majors, and he's gone 4-4 in his time as a Rockie so far. The facsimile signature on that Bowman card is about as thick as the card itself. And he's one of a promising batch of young pitchers the Rockies have, along with Jon Gray and top prospect Jeff Hoffman. Veteran Jorge de la Rosa remains an anchor of the pitching staff, which means the Rockies may have finally put together a solid rotation. The lineup has pretty much never been the weak link in the Rockies organization, so the last piece of the puzzle is the bullpen. Clearly, that needs a lot of work, but the Cubs didn't have a great bullpen until quite recently, and look how well they're doing now.

2011 Topps Diamond Duos #DD-GT Carlos Gonzalez / Troy Tulowitzki

When the Rockies can put up a bunch of runs, as they do on a pretty consistent basis, then they don't need to lean on their bullpen quite as much. But in close games, it's a glaring weak point in the armor. Between Trevor Story's season-ending surgery, Carlos Gonzalez sitting out most of the week with an ankle injury (he started that game but was taken out in the 2nd), and Mark Reynolds on the DL, that huge offense isn't putting up enough runs to take the pressure off the bullpen, even with Charlie Blackmon's recent flurry of long balls.

This Diamond Duos Topps insert card shows the Rockies dangerous offense, but with CarGo benched, Tulowitzki up in Toronto, and his replacement out for the year after an incredible first half (he's still tied for 3rd in the NL this year), it seems that the Rockies' annual July implosion has surfaced in August.

Photos are always small on dual-player cards, but I see Todd Helton in the on-deck circle behind Tulo, and both players wearing a memorial "KSM" patch. That patch is a memorial to Keli McGregor, President of the Rockies who died in 2010. His initials can be found at Coors Field above the visitor's bullpen, right alongside Helton's and Jackie Robinson's retired numbers.

2009 Upper Deck Goudey #145 Carlos Gonzalez

Of course, CarGo wasn't always a Rockie. He came over from Oakland in the Matt Holliday trade. Upper Deck has him listed as a Rockie, but still pictured as an Athletic (as an A?). Goudey is a lot like Topps Heritage, but the ubiquitous Upper Deck hologram on the back ruins the antique look a bit. Interestingly, he wore #28 in Oakland, the number that fellow star Nolan Arenado wears now.

2006 Topps #189 Jose Mesa

Jose Mesa became a Rockie in 2006 toward the end of his journeyman career. Topps has him listed with the right team, though he's still pictured as a Pirate. This card is clearly between Topps' days of airbrushing and Photoshop editing, which doesn't bug me as much as this card having the Pirates' color scheme. I would file this card with the listed rather than pictured team, but it does screw up the aesthetic a bit.

1993 Topps #132 Preston Wilson (RC)

Preston Wilson got a draft card in 1993 Topps (just like Derek Jeter), pictured in his high school uniform and swinging an aluminum bat. Wilson did indeed play for the Rockies in the early 2000s, leading the league in RBIs in 2003. But I wouldn't necessarily expect a Rangers fan to remember this, especially on a card that doesn't picture Wilson in a Major League uniform of any kind. The only way you can tell what team drafted him is by checking the tiny black lettering and the color scheme on the back. It wasn't the Marlins, but rather the Mets that picked him.

The back of this card also says that he was the inaugural Baseball America High School Player of the Year, an award that has gone to Bryce Harper, Josh Hamilton, Joe Mauer, and Justin Upton.

2014 Topps Update #US-5 Jair Jurrjens

Here's a great candidate for Nick's Short Term Stops theme. Jair Jurrjens came to the Rockies in 2014, but only appeared in two games. This is from the first of those two games on July 4th, 2014, judging by that patriotic hat. Jurrjens got rocked for eight runs by the Dodgers that day, on his way to an astronomical 10.61 ERA while wearing the purple pinstripes. He started another game about a week later, got a no-decision, and never appeared in another Major League game.

He did pretty well as a Brave, and I actually remember him being a Rockie, but I guess he was in the minors for most of his time with the organization. As a card from Topps Update, it's not one I was likely to run across on my own, so if the Rockies didn't blow that game last Monday, this might never have made it into my collection.

2011 Bowman Chrome Throwbacks #BCT9 Tyler Matzek

Now, it's no secret that I don't know Bowman very well. But I guess I do have a decent general idea of their design history, as this 2011 card of Tyler Matzek really didn't look like the 2011 design to me. I didn't have much faith in that determination, and I sure couldn't place what year it might have been from if I had followed that line of reasoning. It turns out that I was vaguely right, as this Chrome card is from a Throwbacks insert set using the design from 2001.

I probably couldn't describe the 2011 design at all (probably had a black border though); all I know is that it's not this. I do believe it's different from Anderson's card at the top, since the Draft Picks and Prospects cards have a different design than regular Bowman, further adding to the confusion. I guess that's why 2016 Stadium Club's similarity to 1997 Fleer doesn't bother me that much. Those are just two sets, but every Bowman set looks pretty much like every other.

2010 Topps Heritage #301 Ryan Spilborghs

Ryan Spilborghs was one of those under-the-radar players for the Rockies, usually having a decent season at the plate and some solid defensive plays. He's still a familiar face to Rockies fans, as he is a color analyst and postgame anchor on Root Sports, the Rockies' TV network. I snapped this photo of him from the bleachers in 2007 in a blowout win against the Cubs, shortly before the magical month of Rocktober.

1961 Topps isn't a set I know very well, which is the design used on 2010 Topps Heritage. The avocado green color on the back is definitely period-correct, though. And "Spilly" looks just like he does on TV!

2005 Upper Deck #70 Shawn Estes

Along with that Johnny Bench card, Shea Stadium seems to be showing up a lot lately. The Rockies used to wear pinstripes on the road, which is fairly unusual, and can be a little tricky to tell it's a road jersey if the home team isn't in the photo. I'm basing my guess of Shea Stadium on all those orange railings in the first level. I'm not sure why they put those there, but it looks like you had quite the labyrinth to go through to get to your seats.

Shawn Estes went a solid 15-8 for the Rockies in 2004, likely one of the better records in Rockies history. He only spent a year in Denver, so he wasn't able to follow up that performance. Even with that record, he still led the NL in Earned Runs. 

This card is from 2005 Upper Deck, a set I don't recognize and may very well not have any cards from besides this and the rest of what Spiff sent. The color coding is quite nice, and Upper Deck went down the full-bleed path long, long ago, something Topps is finally on board with, continuing with the quasi-3D 2017 design, which was just announced. 

2010 Upper Deck #3 Eric Young Jr. (RC)

By 2010, Upper Deck had run its course. No one really went after it, and they were practically begging for legal trouble by blatantly using team logos in the photograph and team names in the paragraph on the back. They did not, however, use the official Rookie Card logo, instead coming up with this bizarre 2010 Rookie logo, which is rather redundant to the "2010 Star Rookie" label in the bottom banner where the player's photograph typically goes.

1993 Upper Deck #793 Armando Reynoso

Upper Deck had a long way to fall after this legendary 1993 set, and fall they did. But the hobby was still graced with this set, and like Willie Blair's head peeking out in front of the UD lettering on his card, so too does the pitch thrown by pickoff artist Armando Reynoso. He wore #42 during his tenure as a Rockie, which wrapped up in 1996, the year before MLB retired #42 league-wide in honor of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.

1998 Collector's Choice #84 Neifi Perez

We can see evidence of that event on this card, as the Jackie Robinson MLB commemorative patch is visible on Neifi Perez' right sleeve. This UD Collector's Choice card has a lot going on, including Eric Young, Sr. behind the play, and Cubs fan favorite Ryne Sandberg likely out at second. Sandberg, a Hall of Famer and former manager of the Phillies, wore #23 as a Cub. That was a great number in Chicago, as this guy on the Bulls wore it too. Perhaps you've heard of Michael Jordan? 

It must just be coincidence, but there must be other times when sports stars in the same city shared numbers across sports. Larry Walker and Patrick Roy both wore #33 while in Denver, for example. I'm not an expert on uniform numbers, so can you think of any others?

1999 Upper Deck #90 Neifi Perez

1999 Upper Deck's design has always raised some eyebrows. It's been nicknamed "The Salad Tongs set" for obvious reasons, and while I never really minded it that much, it's flaws are quite apparent on this card, as we have absolutely no clue who the cameo is on this double play card. I can barely even venture a guess. Maybe a Dodger, simply based on the higher likelihood of this being a divisional game.

This was 1999, after all, and UD devoted quite a bit of space on the back to their website, encouraging collectors to "Get ONLINE" at www.upperdeck.com (back when browsers weren't quite smart enough to just add all that prefix stuff automatically). I wonder what visitors in 1999 would think of today's website? Would they be more amazed by the LeBron memorabilia for the Cleveland Cavaliers (also #23), by the fact that Officially Licensed NHL cards had top billing and baseball was nowhere to be found, by three of the six banners referencing Marvel Comics products, or maybe by newfangled digital e-Packs and social media links to Twitter and Facebook? It would all be a lot to take in during 1999. I don't think I'd even heard of the Cavaliers then.

2010 Upper Deck Pure Heat #PH15 Troy Tulowitzki

Die-cut cards existed before 1999, and I've seen some strange ones in my day, but this might be the weirdest. The die cut shape at the bottom doesn't seem to represent anything in particular, and I can't quite tell whether the card is supposed to have that ruffling at the bottom. More likely that's some damage from the printing process, as I've seen that pattern on cards before, particularly 1997 Score. But I couldn't really understand why Tulo's photo was cut off at the top of the card. Then I flipped it over and saw that it was from 2010 UD.

At first, I thought UD engaged in a bit of trickery and deliberately cut off the logo on the helmet to avoid running afoul of MLB's licensing rules, perhaps later in the release cycle when their legal troubles became apparent. The card number on the back is just a millimeter or so from the top edge, so it was clear that the upper portion of the card wasn't all here. Still, I couldn't figure out what that oddly-shaped die cut was supposed to represent.

After looking at similar listings on eBay, I realized I was reading too much into it. There is a better-centered die cut pattern on both the top and bottom of other cards, and the bottom doesn't angle back in like it does on mine. So maybe I just have an innocuous miscut. It's highly uncharacteristic of me to jump to conspiracy theory, but the way this one is cut doesn't violate the licensing rules they knew they were breaking.

2011 Topps 60 #T60-93 Carlos Gonzalez

Ahhh, a nice rectangle. How refreshing. This one is part of the 100-card Topps 60 insert set found in Series 1 and 2. Update tacked on another fifty cards. I wouldn't say I'm close to completing it, but I've found quite a few of these. This one documents Carlos Gonzalez and his 2010 NL batting title. All is right with the world when the Rockies have a batting champ.

1992 Upper Deck Heroes of Baseball Team Logo Holograms #NNO Colorado Rockies

This shiny hologram sticker came out a lot bluer than it really is, but I'm impressed my scanner didn't think this was just a dark rectangle. I had a hard time finding anything out about this card. Beckett doesn't seem to list it, nor does BaseballCardPedia. I'm guessing it's an insert from 1992 Upper Deck which seems like the obvious choice. But it might be some sort of promotional card as well.

Holograms are fascinating things. It was basically a UD trademark, and I think they should have done more with them during their early history. I think there were a few insert cards here and there, but mostly it was just team logo stickers. What if they made a set, even just a 100-card set or High Numbers or something in holograms? They might have advanced the hobby even further than they already did. I remember a few National Geographic covers that were holograms, and I spent maybe a bit too much time in one sitting staring into them, trying to see all the detail.

1994 Ultra Hitting Machines #4 Andres Galarraga

1994 Ultra used a lot of gold foil. A lot. The insert cards had to differentiate themselves somehow, so they got silver foil. This Hitting Machines card of Andres Galarraga previewed some of the craziness to come the next year in 1995 Fleer, They were just getting warmed up. I opened a lot of 1994 Ultra, and I know I have a few cards from this 10-card insert set, probably Barry Bonds. The set is full of Hall-of-Famers, as well as a couple more that should be.

Galarraga gave us one of the many highlights of the inaugural 1993 season, winning the first batting title for the Rockies with an average of .370. Before his knee injury that sidelined him for about a month, there was talk of hitting that mythical .400 average. He didn't quite get there, and there was concern that he wouldn't have enough at bats to qualify. 

It also gave me my first baseball research project. My dad bought a copy of the Baseball Weekly newspaper at the local Albertson's in late summer 1993 and had me pore over the NL batting statistics to find potential challengers to Galarraga's run at the batting title. I remember finding someone hitting .429 and alerted my dad immediately, until he pointed out that this particular batter was just hitting 3-for-7 on the season, and had no chance to qualify for the award. I have no idea who that batter was, but I can't imagine having something like Baseball Reference at that time instead of a newspaper that I couldn't do a Ctrl+F on. 

1993 Ultra #360 Jim Tatum (RC)

Fleer Ultra was one of my favorite packs to buy in 1993 at the local Wal-Mart. I spent a lot of time in that card aisle, which was right next to the snack bar, though I had to go past the pharmacy to get to the toy section where all the awesome Legos and Micro Machines were. I haven't been in a Wal-Mart in over six years, and that particular location was vacated and became a mega-church ages ago, but I can still recall the floor plan of that store from memory quite easily. It was located right next to that Albertson's, in fact. I know Galarraga's 1993 batting average by heart, too.

But I have to consult Baseball Reference a lot.

There were a lot of 1993 Fleer Ultra cards in this trade package, and many of them have been in my collection for almost as long as there's been a collection. Vinny Castilla has one where he's facing to the left, reaching out for the ball with his left hand, the ball isn't quite in his glove, his mouth is open as though he's shouting at someone, and there's a little gold rookie logo in the upper left.

1993 Ultra #344 Vinny Castilla

Yeah, that one.

So the logo's in the upper right. Close enough. 

But that Jim Tatum card is brand-new to me. And it might have the best view of a first baseman's mitt in my entire collection. A set you thought you knew can still surprise you even after all these years!

The Trading Post #66: Jaybarkerfan's Junk

The first time I attended a card show after my exit from the hobby in about 1996 came when I was in college. It was probably 2003 or 2004, at the now defunct Westminster Mall north of Denver. Alfonso Soriano was one of the hot tickets back then, and Todd Helton was solidly cemented as the Rockies' franchise player.

I learned a lot that day; that card prices had fallen quite a bit, overproduction cards were available for next to nothing, there were neat little relics of uniforms and bats, there wasn't much left in the way of Score or Donruss, and cards had gotten pretty shiny.

But the thing that stood out the most were serial numbers. Right there on the card was very official-looking proof of a card's scarcity. I came away with a nice stack of numbered refractors from 2003 Topps Chrome, just amazed that I had one of only 199 copies of each of the Black Refractors I purchased, like the below.

2003 Topps Chrome Black Refractors #327 Jose Hernandez /199

I found a few other numbered refractors of the slightly more common colors, like the /449 Golds and /699 Blues. I even snagged a few XFractor box toppers numbered to a mere 57, complete with the Topps Uncirculated slab. I was hooked, and they remain one of my favorite types of cards. This is partially why I was a bit annoyed that Topps removed the serial numbers from Opening Day blue parallels the past couple years.

But that affinity for documented scarcity made a particular trade package from #Supertrader head honcho Jaybarkerfan's Junk pretty amazing. I had a really hard time narrowing down cards to scan for this post, because pretty much all of them had this:

2002 Upper Deck Ballpark Idols #239 Rene Reyes /1750 (RC)

Yup, serial numbers. I don't recall much about Rene Reyes, but I vaguely remember him as a utility guy in the early 2000s. There was a lot in this package I'd never seen before, primarily because these types of cards (and this era) don't often show up in discount boxes. Plus the number of sets being printed up in the late 1990s and early 2000s was absolutely staggering.

It has all the correct dimensions of a standard card, but only has borders on three sides. The actual photo and the top banner continue right up to the edge, sort of like the Tibetan Flag. UD also uses one of their favorite devices to create a virtual 3D appearance, letting the photo overlap the other boxes, which makes the player appear to pop out of the card.

2002 Diamond Kings #160 Aaron Cook (RC)

Though they only had a few years left, Donruss was still printing in 2002, including their long-running Diamond King set. I wrote a bit about painted cards in my previous post, and Diamond Kings are perhaps the most well-known example of them. Anyone who collected at the height of the industry probably remembers them, though they aren't likely to know Panini still uses the brand today, nor that Topps has a product called Gypsy Queen with a similar look.

Cook's red beard is painted the correct color, but his hair isn't. He has red hair too, but the artist chose to go with a reddish-brown for the canvas background, rather than Cook's hair, which would have been correct. What I do like about these cards is that they have a rather unique surface, a lot like a playing card.

1993 Armando Reynoso The Queen of Spades

In fact, there were a couple of actual playing cards in here. This isn't from a set that Beckett recognizes, and there's no card number other than the Queen of Spades. I'm unsure about the provenance of this one, but I've played enough hearts to know that you don't want the 13 points this card represents (unless you shoot the moon, of course).

1997 Topps Chrome #26 Eric Young

Multiple exposures were quite the trend in the mid-1990s, and they do help create the illusion of action. The dirt spray helps too. I'd love to see a card or two like this in a modern set. Gold foil and glossy coatings were some of the pioneering innovations in the 1990s that stuck around, but multiple exposures and photos on the back are quite rare these days. I wouldn't mind seeing those make a resurgence.

Topps Chrome was only around for two years when this was printed, and already the dreaded curl was starting to show up. This isn't too bad, nothing like some of the 2010s I saw. And they used a mirror finish, rather than the odd dot pattern found in the inaugural 1996 set.

1996 Topps Chrome #122 Craig Biggio

I guess they are actually little diamonds, now that I look more closely. But there are dots around the border. I'm glad they got away from this type of pattern, otherwise I don't see myself liking Topps Chrome as much throughout the years. And I'm even more glad they use colored borders to differentiate parallels, rather than different dot patterns (though I suppose Topps Tek went down that road a bit).

2008 Finest Refractors Black #139 Seth Smith /99 (RC)

You might be a bit curious after those first few paragraphs where I went on and on about serial numbers, as few of the cards so far have them. Don't worry, they're coming. When it rains, it pours. To tide you over, this Finest card of Seth Smith is the rarest in the whole bunch, numbered to just 99 copies. As far as '08 Finest goes, that's middle-of-the-pack in terms of scarcity. And the black border works really well with the Rockies' pinstriped home uniforms. The Rookie Card logo is quite large, but doesn't obstruct anything and fits into this bold design quite well.

2013 Bowman Chrome Mini #137 Corey Dickerson

There was a nice little stack of these Bowman Chrome minis, including this one of Corey Dickerson, a rare look at a consistent major leaguer on a Bowman card. Usually the noise of the prospects drowns out the batch of established players, but they're in there. I guess collectors generally hold on to those types of cards, ditching the prospect cards of players who didn't pan out after a few years.

A couple of top prospects like Jon Gray and Tom Murphy were also included, but Dickerson is the only one to have made a name for himself in the Majors. He's not even on the Rockies anymore; instead he's having a decent season so far down in Tampa Bay.

2016 Topps Heritage #311 Jason Motte

Jason Motte, a reliever who has done quite well for the Cardinals (and a year as a Cub), was picked up by the Rockies in the offseason to add some much-needed depth to their bullpen. Trouble is, he's working through shoulder problems and has yet to throw a pitch in the Majors this season. Hopefully he'll be back by the time the Rockies start slipping down the standings, as is expected once the summer months roll around.

Also, that's my first look at 2016 Topps Heritage. 1967 isn't my favorite vintage set, but I do like the pale green of the card backs.

But Adam, where are all the serial numbers you promised? You've only done three so far, and one of those you already owned!

Fine. Brace yourselves.

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

I've seen more than a few Topps Co-Signers base cards over the years, but this is one of only a few that have a pair of facsimile signatures. This product only lasted three years, and while it's an interesting concept, the execution fell pretty flat. There are way more colored parallels than I care to count, but its easily in the double digits. Double that number again when you learn that there's an "A" and "B" variety of these parallels, both with a different ghostly teammate in the background. Though Jeff Francis literally gets top billing, this is considered a Garrett Atkins card, as he has the back entirely to himself, along with #022 of 175.

2008 Topps Co-Signers Silver Red #42a Todd Helton /400

Not much changed in 2008 Co-Signers, except the player is his own ghost on the "A" variety, only getting a teammate on the "B" variety. Both edges are a little beat up, but I've asked for red foil before, and there's a nice amount of it here. I assume that the "Silver" part refers to the background color, and the "Red" part to the foil and banners. It's just an odd thing to say, "Silver Red". I've never seen one, but there's also a "Hyper Plaid" foil color, itself with the same six banner colors available on Silver cards.

At least it's not a fractured set. But I can see why it flopped.

2012 Bowman Prospects Blue #BP12 Rafael Ortega /500

Rafael Ortega played two games for the Rockies in 2012, and apparently he's on the 40-man roster for the Angels right now, having appeared in a handful of games for them this year. I can't recall ever hearing of him, but Bowman Blue parallels often (always?) have serial numbers, and this one does. This one in particular is notable, as it's the final one in the print run, 500/500. I don't recall for certain, but I believe this is the only one in my collection like that. It's not any rarer than any of the other 499 copies, but there's something about that final one that is immensely satisfying.

2011 Topps Lineage Diamond Anniversary Platinum Refractors #118 Todd Helton

We'll take a quick breather here for a hyper sparkle Topps Lineage parallel. I am about a dozen cards from completing the base set, but I have a few of these parallels too. It's the same sparkle pattern found on 2011 Topps base cards, and there's a distorted glimpse of the Padres dugout in the background. Condition-wise, it's a bit off-centered, but I can't stop tilting this card under a bright light source to see the light bounce off all those facets.

2002 Donruss Production Line #PL-25 Larry Walker SLG /662

Back to our regularly scheduled serial-numbered programming, here's the inspiration for those Stat Line parallels found on current Donruss cards, where a player's statistics determine the print run. Natually, the better players will have more cards, because if they were to do one based off of Bartolo Colon's career HR count, it would be a 1/1. Interestingly, if they based it off his walks, it wouldn't exist yet. He's coming up on the all-time record for most plate appearances without a walk, and this weekend he became the oldest player to hit his first home run. As Night Owl says, that is reason enough to keep the DH out of the National League (or scrapping it entirely).

Incidentally, Night Owl received a pretty similar package, filled to the brim with scarce cards like this. Of course, his were Dodgers, but like that Orlando Hudson card from Colbey, another rogue NL Wester snuck into mine.

2003 Upper Deck Classic Portraits #152 Chris Capuano MP /2003 (RC)

I remember Capuano as a Brewer (in fact that's where he's pitching now, after bouncing around the league since 2011), but he got his start with the Diamondbacks. Though the sentence on the back documents his first MLB win on July 9th, 2003, the stat line claims he has "No MLB Experience". Perhaps that gives us an indication of just how much UD was rushing all these sets to market. The black marble background reminds me of one of the Bowman sets (1999?).

2004 Studio Rally Caps #RC-18 Joe Kennedy /999

Donruss went a little wacky with this insert set, having pitcher Joe Kennedy balance a baseball on the bill of his cap (or at least photoshopped one in). To me, it just looks like he flipped his bill up, rather than a true rally cap where you turn your hat inside out. If I were Joe Kennedy, I'd be happy that there are only 999 copies of this out there.

I remember David Freese's Rally Squirrel card, but I don't know if the Angels' Rally Monkey ever made it onto a card.

Superstitious lot, us baseball fans. I've sported a rally cap at Coors Field more than once.

1996 Donruss Elite #71 Dante Bichette /10,000

Players from the Blake Street Bombers era are a rarity on this type of card, since it was just beginning to be introduced in the early days of Coors Field. This one of Bichette, which reminds me a lot of 1994 Leaf Limited, is numbered to a staggering 10,000 copies. Makes you wonder how many cards were printed in a regular base set, if this special one has ten thousand examples. I spelled that out to match the card number, Seventy-One. Such was the gravitas of a serial-numbered card in 1995.

2013 Bowman Chrome Purple Refractors #36 Troy Tulowitzki /199

We haven't seen Tulowitzki yet, and this purple beauty from 2013 (I got the year right without looking it up!) is #42 of 199. Maybe you could start a Jackie Robinson themed serial-numbered card collection with just #42s. It would be a daunting challenge.

The paragraphs on the card backs of a prospect-heavy set like Bowman can usually be considered a scouting report, but with an established star like Tulo, his talents are well-known, like his "outstanding plate discipline" and that he's a "smooth defender with [a] rifle arm".

2012 Topps Tier One Relics #TSR-TT Troy Tulowitzki /399 (MEM)

The Serial Number parade rolls on (where does he find all these?), and we get a relic, to boot. Tier One is another of Topps' ultra-premium (and ultra-expensive) brands, one I rarely see in discount boxes. Even Triple Threads and Museum Collection end up in there sometimes. As this /399 relic is the least scarce card in 2012 Tier One, it's the closest thing to a base card that exists in that set.

It's hard to tell, but this doesn't look like silver foil to me. Rather, it looks more like a white gold. The color-coding is excellent, and the photograph is crystal clear. They chose an interesting stat for the back, writing about his career .389 average with the bases loaded. I imagine that's dropped a bit since then, but this is an absolutely gorgeous card. I wonder if this particular bat was used on any of those plate appearances.

2015 Bowman's Best Best of '15 Autographs #B15-BR Brendan Rodgers

The final card in this marathon post (you try narrowing this down!) is an on-card autograph of Brendan Rodgers. With Trevor Story making quite a name for himself already, this recently-drafted shortstop might have a tough time breaking into the big leagues, but if he does, and if he turns in a performance anything like Story has so far, this card will surely be a hot item in the Denver area.

Though it doesn't have a serial number like most cards in this post, it's a bold yet simple design, and is evidence of a Rockies farm system that is stronger than I can ever remember it being. Rodgers has lots of promise, Story is absolutely on fire, David Dahl is still coming along, and there are a slew of top pitching prospects to show for the Tulowitzki trade.

This was an amazingly generous trade package, and trust me when I say that the life of a #Supertrader is a good one. We still have openings for the Royals, Marlins, and Indians if you want in on some of this magic!