Sunday, June 28, 2015

Card #309: 1993 Topps Micro #85

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Topps
SET: Micro
NUMBER: 85
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I am not sure of the point of the Topps Micro sets.  They were about the size of stamps.  Just seemed like perfect cards to lose.  Particularly if you put them in nine-card pages like I do.  Oh well.  Just one more card to add to my collection.  Or three since Topps did this for three years.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Card #308: 1992 Panini Stickers #271

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Panini
SET: Stickers
NUMBER: 271
SUBSET: All Stars
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This one is a little better.  The foil coating on the card is reminiscent of a number of parallels that were to come as the 90's progressed. 

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Another Red Label

My most recent pickup is one of the Red Label parallels from Topps Gold Label.  These are pretty hard to find these days since they were serial-numbered to just 50 and the cards are 15 years old at this point.  This is the problem with focusing on a player from the 1990's now.  So many cards are hard to find.  Alomar is not a superstar player, so his stuff does not show up real often.  Maybe when he is named a manager this offseason, that will change.  I hope.

Anyway, here is the Red Label:
This is the Class 2 Red Label from 1999.  Meaning that my two most recent cards are bother 1999 Topps Gold Label variants.  As mentioned, the card is serial-numbered out of just 50.  I paid more than I would have liked for this, but cards are becoming harder and harder to find these days.

I am no longer going to be updating the Resolutions unless I get something that effects them.  This card is not at all related to any of them.

Card #307: 1992 Panini Stickers #44

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Panini
SET: Stickers
NUMBER: 44
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Here is yet another Panini card.  There really is not much to say about these cards at this point that has not been said in other posts.  It is just sort of there.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Another Weirdly Hard-to-Find Card

I finally got the last base card from the Topps Gold Label sets, this is the 1999 Class 3 card:
This card was hard to find, which is kind of weird since it is just a base card.  I don't know how hard to find the Class 3 cards are, but this is the first one I had seen of this set.  I had the Black Label version before this one.  I always liked the designs of these cards.  Unfortunately they don't make cards like this anymore.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  4/5 previously achieved.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #306: 1992 Classic #46

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Classic
SET: Game
NUMBER: 46
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Here is yet another Classic card.  This one is from the first series 1992 set.  I love the photo on this card of Alomar chasing after a foul pop up.  A lot of action in this shot.  I'm not completely sure about the location of this picture, I can't really see the person in the background well enough to tell what uniform he is wearing.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

A Top 15 Hit

On my list of my Most Wanted Card for Each Team, I was resigned to either picking a printing plate or an over-sized team issue card for the Texas Rangers.  Neither of each seemed terribly likely.  Printing plates, while not in high demand, are difficult to find.  Nevertheless, this popped up late last week:
Not the most exciting printing plate.  In 2005, Topps released printing plates for the backs of cards.  This is one of those cards.  I spent a little bit more than I probably could have for this card, but it was a chance to take a card off of my Top 15 list and my Most Wanted Ranger card.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  This was a Top 15 card, but not one of the cards from the list as of January 1, 2015.  So still at 4/5.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #305: 1991 Post Canadian #23

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Post
SET: Canadian
NUMBER: 23
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Ah, food issues.  I love food issues and wish they were still common.  Unfortunately I have not seen any food issue cards since about 2003 when there were some Cracker Jack tiny cards.  I really liked the food issues without an MLB license.  This card adds to those factors by being Canadian and featuring some French translations as well.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

More Tek Progress

When it rains, it pours.  Two more patterns I needed showed up on Ebay recently, giving me four new Tek patterns in the last week or so.
These are patterns 66 and 40 respectively.  That means I need just 13 more patterns to have all of the base patterns.  Getting closer.  Hopefully more pop up again soon.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  The two Tek patterns help, but don't get me there yet.  Still at 4/5.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #304: 1991 Classic I #T39

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Classic
SET: I
NUMBER: T39
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I always liked the Classic cards.  I have never actually seen the game the cards came from, but that never stopped me from adding a bunch.  Each card has trivia questions on the back.  Those are always kind of fun to determine how much you really know about baseball.  Nice oddball items.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

1997 Century Marks Auto

This is the first time I have seen one of these pop up:

This is the Century Marks Autograph from 1997 Donruss Signature.  The blue background distinguishes it from the Millenium Marks (green) and the basic card (red).  In addition, the card is serial-numbered.  However, the Century Marks cards are just the first 100 of the 1,000 for the Millenium Marks cards.  Kind of odd.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  4/5 previously achieved.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #303: 1989 Star #125

YEAR: 1989
BRAND: Star
SET: Star
NUMBER: 125
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: San Diego Padres

I have no idea where this card came from.  It is not a minor league card and it is not one of the Star sets with multiple cards of the same player.  So I have no idea what this card is.  It is not any different than the cards that came in sets of one player.  I like it nonetheless.  The strangeness is appealing.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The New Most Recent Card in My Collection

I got this card, which is a 1992 card bought back for a 2014 set, the most recent new Sandy Alomar Jr. card:
This is the gold version, serial-numbered 3/5.  This is likely to be the most recent card at least until Leaf releases a new buyback set.  This is the third year Leaf has done this, so I assume they will do it again in 2015.

I was going to have a full post about this, but I might as well put it here: I am very disappointed in Topps Archives once again.  There is still no Sandy Alomar Jr. card in the set.  I am beginning to wonder if there will be another Sandy Alomar Jr. card that is not a buyback.  I was really hoping he would show up this year.  But no, there is a Roberto Alomar card, and he is shown with the Indians.  Because Topps is screwing with me.  Other players who have cards include: Brady Anderson, Jeff Conine, Dontrelle Willis, Vinny Castilla, Rob Dibble, Jose Vidro, Edgardo Alfonzo, Joe Freakin' Oliver, and Mike Bordick.  But no Sandy Alomar Jr.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  4/5 Previously achieved.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #302: 1989 Procards #7

YEAR: 1989
BRAND: Procards
SET: Procards
NUMBER: 7
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Las Vegas Stars

My second minor league card of Alomar is also my first card of him with the Las Vegas Stars, the team for which he won the Minor League Player of the Year.  One of the things I like the best about my single player collection is the ability to go after minor league issues.  I don't get very many in my Red Sox collection.  I have a few, sure, but nowhere near as many for individual players as I do for Alomar.

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

And Now the Autographed Version...

Back on April 9, I posted about a 1998 Stadium Club Co-Signers card I received that did not have the autographs on it.  Well just recently I managed to find the autographed version of it on COMC:


I will keep the non-autographed version, but I definitely prefer this one.  Initially I saw this card in the Sold Out page and I was cursing myself for not checking earlier, but remembering that a similar thing happened before with a rare card where it showed back up in the available items, I decided to check back.  And for just $16.00, I was able to add my second of the three Co-Signers cards to my Alomar collection.  Oddly, both of the cards I have are combined with Yankees.  As a Red Sox fan I don't much care for Yankees players.  It is odd to have autographs of Andy Pettitte and Tino Martinez at all for me. 


All that being said, I would love to see a dual autograph of Alomar with Mariano Rivera to celebrate his game-winning home run in the ALDS in 1997.  That card would likely be very pricey though, and it would not be because of Alomar.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  4/5 previously achieved.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #301: 1989 Panini Stickers #192

YEAR: 1989
BRAND: Panini
SET: Stickers
NUMBER: 192
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: San Diego Padres

This is the only Panini Sticker card of Alomar with the Padres.  This is almost certainly due to the fact that Alomar was one of the top prospects in the game heading into the 1989 season.  It is a little strange that he did not make it in 1990 as well though. 

Monday, June 8, 2015

Card #300: 2004 Donruss Timelines Recollection Autograph #20

YEAR: 2004
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Timelines
NUMBER: 20
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Recollection Autographs
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This was my first autograph card of Sandy Alomar Jr.  The Donruss Timelines set included a number of buyback cards of Alomar that were autographed.  This was one of the more recent cards bought back and autographed.  Besides the signature, the card also features a stamp and a serial number.  The 1996 Donruss design is not one of my favorites, but of course it looks much better with an autograph.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Card #299: 1998 Kenner Starting Lineup Extended #15

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Kenner Starting Lineup
SET: Extended
NUMBER: 15
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This was the first Starting Lineup I acquired still in its original packaging, but not the last.  I always enjoyed the Starting Lineup figures, at least after I picked up my first figure, a John Valentin some time in the late 90's.  Unfortunately I missed the high water point of their popularity.  By the time I was into them, they were on their way out.  Alomar appeared in the Extended Series in 1998 after his highly successful 1997 season.  This was his first appearance since 1991.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

A Weirdly Hard to Find Card

Here is my most recent pickup, a 2001 Topps Chrome Retrofractor that I picked up off of COMC.  This card was hard to find for reasons I am not really clear on.  This is the first time I have seen one pop up on any site.  I have seen the Traded Retrofractor a number of times, but this one took awhile to pop up.  Oh well.  I have it now.

RESOLUTION TRACKER:
1.  4/5 previously achieved.

2.  Previously achieved.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #298: 1991 King B #17

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: King B
SET: Fourth Annual Collectors' Edition
NUMBER: 17
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I had gotten the 1993 King B disc early on in collecting Alomar.  It wasn't until much later that I realized that there was an earlier disc.  These came in round cans of shredded beef jerky.  They are definitely unusual items.  I prefer the 1993 disc because my older brother gave it to me one day for nothing.  This one I had to seek out myself.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

My 1,000th (and 1,001st) Card

Huge milestone here.  This is the first player in my entire collection to hit 1,000 cards.  Not to mention I have finally made some more progress on my Tek needs.  I am down to needing just 15 more cards to have all 90 of the 1998 Tek patterns.
These are patterns 6 and 15.  Pattern 15 is one I thought would take me awhile to find.  15 was Alomar's uniform number with the Indians, so this pattern number, as well as the first, last, and card number patterns are typically in somewhat higher demand.

RESOLUTION TRACKER
1.  The Tek cards are one of the needed Top 10 items, but I still need 15 more.  I have previously gotten four other Top 10 items.

2.  Resolution now achieved.  I have 1,001 cards of Alomar now.

3.  Previously achieved.

4.  No progress.

Card #297: 2005 Topps Rookie Cup Original Relics #8

YEAR: 2005
BRAND: Topps
SET: Rookie Cup
NUMBER: 8
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Original Relics
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is my favorite card in my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection.  I love this card.  In order to make this card, Topps took two original 1991 Alomar cards, cut out the trophy on one of the cards and glued down this plastic trophy.  Just a really cool concept.  In addition, this is one of the rarest cards in my collection, serial-numbered to just three.  A damn cool card.