The Trading Post #53: Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum

Not long ago, Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum sent a pretty interesting small shipment in return for some Braves. It came in a bubble envelope, but had about the number of cards normally found in a PWE. You'll see why soon.

2015 Topps Update #US358 Nolan Arenado

This is the third time he's sent me cards, and he definitely knows I like Nolan Arenado. I rarely purchase Topps Update; rather it seems to find me pretty quickly through trades and at card shows. As is usual for Update, there are a whole slew of All Star Game cards, and though the back of this card has the normal red and blue color scheme, the front wears Purple with pride.

The All-Star hats were a little weird this year, but I see the century-old look they were going for. At least they didn't make everyone wear handlebar mustaches. Mike Trout certainly set the tone in that game by belting a first-inning home run, while Arenado took over in the field in the 7th for the Home Run Derby champ, Todd Frazier, and struck out in his only at-bat in the 8th.

Unless this is just a warm-up shot, this is the last out of the top of the 8th, when Jose Iglesias grounded out to 3rd with Mark Melancon on the mound.

There might be an oversupply of All-Star cards in Update, but it's not often you can date a card down to a single play.

2015 Topps Heritage #306 Rafael Ynoa (RC) / Jackson Williams (RC)

I've seen a lot of 2015 Heritage this year, and this dual-player card adds to what I've shown on the blog so far. But that same scoreboard/fence/net thing we previously saw on some Rockies' High Number cards is present on both Ynoa's photo and this Angels guy's. For all I know, Topps took a photo of the entire Cactus League on this single spot. Incidentally, this Jackson Williams fellow has signed on with the Rockies twice. He played a few games for Colorado when rosters expanded in September 2014, and re-joined the Rockies organization just a couple months ago.

2015 Bowman Draft #200 Brendan Rodgers

Unless you follow the draft and Bowman cards in general, you probably haven't heard of Brendan Rogers. But the Rockies picked this shortstop third overall this year, and here's hoping he turns out to be a great pick, unlike Greg Reynolds in 2006, who was selected second, just a few spots above Award Winners and MVPs you may have heard of, like Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Max Scherzer.

Ouch.

Anyway, he might be the future of the Rockies' shortstop position whenever Jose Reyes wraps things up in Denver, assuming he sticks around that long. I, for one, would love to see Reyes gone, especially in light of the domestic violence charges for which he'll stand trial just as the 2016 regular season opens.

2015 Bowman Prospects #BP19 David Dahl

Now that Jon Gray has made his Major League debut, David Dahl is probably the most promising prospect in the Rockies' farm system. But this card confuses me. It's branded as a Bowman Chrome card, but it doesn't have a BCP card number, nor, obviously, a chrome finish. Just a plain card. So either Bowman goofed up the logo and it should just be the red Bowman logo like you see on Rodgers' card, or there really is a Bowman Chrome set that doesn't have a chrome finish.

It's probably the former, but Bowman sets have been so convoluted for so long that the latter wouldn't surprise me a bit.

2014 Bowman Chrome Purple Refractors #54 Troy Tulowitzki /150

There, now that's what a Chrome card should look like. This purple-bordered beauty of Tulo happens to be serial numbered to 150, and there's a decent view of the Rockies' 20th Anniversary patch on his right sleeve. Of course I miss him, but it was fun to watch him in the postseason last year.

And to give you an idea of when I composed this post, the end of that Green Bay / Arizona game was pretty fun to watch too.

1998 Collector's Choice StarQuest #SQ13 Todd Helton SD

Helton had his share of postseason play, but long after this card was printed. He was still a clean-shaven rookie on this Star Quest card. The purple and white look great, and if there's one thing I miss about late 1990s cards, it's red foil. I first saw it on 1994 Stadium Club, and it's a bold look that I'd love to see make a comeback.

2002 Post #11 Todd Helton

2002 Post #22 Ryan Klesko

These two Post oddballs were still sealed in their plastic wrap, which insulated them from who knows what kind of sugary cereal. A rare non-Rockie makes an appearance on one of my trade posts, but he did play in the same division as the Rockies after the Braves traded him. I see a lot of NL West teams at Coors, so I definitely saw him in person a time or two. I'm pretty sure he was on my fantasy baseball squad in my early years of that activity.

So far you've seen almost every card Jeff sent. Think that would be about right for a PWE?

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Box Toppers #OB-TT Troy Tulowitzki

Not if this oversized box topper is part of the deal.

This giant thing is roughly 4"x7". The back is not terribly interesting, but the front has a much sharper image that you'll see on most A&G cards. I have no idea how rare these are, but I've sure never seen one. I have a Hideo Nomo Topps Chrome card about this size, so I'll probably squeeze it into that page.

You might have noticed a lack of Blake Street Bombers in this post so far. Have no fear.

1995 Leaf #135 Dante Bichette (AU)

Yep, that's autographed! And it's on the great 1995 Leaf, no less, a set I singled out recently as one of my favorites of 1995. I got a few Rockies autographs in their early years, like Joe Girardi, Eric Young, and Darren Holmes, but missed out on the biggest sluggers of that era. So I'll happily put this one in my Rockies autograph collection.

And on the subject of the card itself, this isn't the only shot of Bichette playing the field at Wrigley. He was "Mr. .310" and he excelled on a two-strike count, but the card companies loved when he came to Chicago.

There was some really interesting and unexpected stuff crammed into this envelope, spanning the whole of Rockies history, and likely several years into the future. Thanks Jeff!

The Trading Post #32: Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum

You might not recognize the blog featured in this trade post, as Jeff's Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum is a newcomer to the blog community. Jeff reached out on one of my Fantasy Baseball posts last month and offered an Arenado card for trade.

2015 Topps Rainbow Foil #62 Nolan Arenado

It's a little bit of a weird feeling. I've only been doing this for a little over a year, and already I have some seniority, a small following, and an opportunity to give a little exposure to new bloggers. And for Jeff to send me a shiny card of my favorite Rockie is a great way to start off a trading relationship! It's a parallel from the 2015 Topps set, and it indeed has a subtle rainbow finish underneath that shininess.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen #144 Justin Morneau

Most of my trades are blind. Each trader usually has a pretty good idea of what the other person will like. I didn't specify what I'd send in return, but in addition to that Arenado card, the other one that Jeff said he'd send was this 2015 Gypsy Queen of last year's NL batting champion.

I'm not the biggest fan of Gypsy Queen, although this year's design is the best in a while. It's the most distinctive one I can remember in the whole run of the brand, and I really like the onion dome design in the upper left.

2014 Topps #253 Todd Helton HL

Jeff threw in plenty of unexpected goodies on top of those two cards he promised. He sent two Helton cards from 2014 Topps, but the one above is actually a checklist that commemorates Todd's retirement at the end of 2013. It's not officially part of the Rockies team set, so it just has a basic red and blue color scheme, unlike the usual purple. It's dissonant, especially since the back of the card does have the purple theme you'd expect.

1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow #323 Joe Girardi

I've always been a fan of Topps Gold, the one-per-pack gold foil parallels that Topps produced from 1992-1994. They had the bright idea to extend that practice to Stadium Club in '94. It was just another thing that made (and continues to make) Stadium Club awesome. The base cards have a dark red foil, a color I've only otherwise seen on various Pacific sets in the late-'90s.

2003 Upper Deck #496 Juan Uribe

The whole time I had this post planned, I thought that card above was from Stadium Club. I checked the back to see what year it was from, found 2003, then wondered why it didn't have the Stadium Club logo they were using at that time. Only then did I spot the Upper Deck diamond in the upper left.

2003 Upper Deck #357 Michael Cuddyer

I had a couple nice sentences written about how Stadium Club has remained such an eye-catching brand over the years, but it really just goes to show you how poorly I know the Upper Deck sets of the early 2000s. I know I'm not alone in this, and Night Owl wrote recently about how tough it is to differentiate full-bleed designs.

Regardless, now-Dodger Juan Uribe got a great picture in 2003 Upper Deck. If you look closely, you can even see the letters-high pitch zipping by as Uribe pulls back his bunt. And Michael Cuddyer has already come and gone as a Rockie, but as I'm more of a set collector than a team collector, I am happy to receive cards pre- or post-Rockies tenure.

Looking really closely at this set, those four dots in the colored banner are a slight precursor to the three row of dots at the bottom of 2015 Topps. I don't think they add much to UD's design, nor am I a huge fan of the tiny "Major League Baseball" lettering. It's...accurate, I suppose, but pretty redundant.

1997 Collector's Choice Teams #CR13 Walt Weiss

The lion's share of this trade package was a stack of Rockies cards from 1997 Collector's Choice, some from the base set, others from the separately-packaged Rockies Team Set.

As Nick wrote last week, the brand could always be counted on for great photography. Weiss is fully midair while turning this double play at Dodger Stadium, and we even get a cameo of Raul Mondesi, the NL Rookie of the Year in 1994. Mondesi, you'll recall, was one of five consecutive Dodgers that won that accolade from 1992-1996.

Weiss had one of the best cards in 1991 Topps, a set filled with memorable photographs, many of which were sourced from Sports Illustrated, as I learned in another recent Night Owl post.

1991 Topps #455 Walt Weiss

Plenty of similarities there, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Thanks, Jeff, and welcome to the blogosphere!

And to Mom, Happy Mother's Day!