The #7 Card Off of My Most Wanted List

The scan did not turn out too well, but this is the Purple parallel of the 2006 Special FX.  I previously had the Green and the Blue.  I still need the Red.  As the only Dodgers cards available for Alomar, these are some of my favorite cards of Alomar.

Venezuelan Sticker

This one caught me by surprise one day.  I wish there was a record of the Venezuelan stickers out there, because I had no idea this even existed.  I am thrilled that it does because Alomar has so few Rangers cards out there, even though he was pretty good in a backup role.  I also question where the stats came from because it has Alomar with a ridiculously high batting average.

Card #395: 1992 Donruss Cracker Jack #10

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Cracker Jack
NUMBER: 10
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

As is typical with the Cracker Jack cards, this card is about one-quarter of the size of typical cards.  I do like the fact that this card features a different picture from the base Donruss set, unlike the 1991 cards from Topps that recycled the base set photography.

Rookie Cup Chrome

Time to catch up on some of my recent pickups.

This is the Chrome Reprint of Alomar's 1991 Topps from 2005 Rookie Cup, which is still one of my favorite sets for this collection.  There were some great cards out of it, including my favorite card in my entire collection, the trophy relic.  These chrome cards are nice too.  They are serial-numbered out of just 25.

Card #394: 1999 Kenner Starting Lineup Classic Doubles #2

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Kenner
SET: Starting Lineup Classic Doubles
NUMBER: 2
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Wichita Pilots

This is the card I really like from the Classic Doubles Starting Lineup item.  This card depicts Alomar with the Wichita Pilots, one of the minor league teams he played for in the Padres system.  It should be noted however that the picture is a recent shot of Alomar and it is photo-shopped to show him with the Pilots.

Card #393: 1999 Kenner Starting Lineup Classic Doubles #1

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Kenner
SET: Starting Lineup Classic Doubles
NUMBER: 1
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

One of my favorite Starting Lineup items in my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection is the Classic Doubles item, which was actually two figures with two cards.  One figure and card was a current (in 1999) representation, meaning that it shows Alomar with the Indians.  Nothing too exciting or unusual there.  The other one though is interesting.  I will cover it in the next post.

Card #392: 1993 Pacific Spanish Prism #8

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Pacific
NUMBER: 8
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Prism
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Prior to getting this card, I had only one of these Prism inserts.  That was Carlos Quintana for my Red Sox collection.  I like these cards.  Pacific was new to a real baseball set in 1993 and they already proved they were committed to making nice-looking inserts.

Card #391: 1993 Humpty Dumpty Canadian #5

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Humpty Dumpty
SET: Humpty Dumpty
NUMBER: 5
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is kind of an interesting oddball card.  Humpty Dumpty was a smaller chain of grocery stores.  The cards were smaller than normal cards and came in cellophane wrap.  These cards were only available in Canada.

Card #390: 1999 Skybox Thunder Rave #37

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Skybox
SET: Thunder
NUMBER: 37
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Rave
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

The Rave inserts were the rarest of the Skybox Thunder parallels, just as they were for several other Fleer/Skybox products over the years, such as Circa.  This was definitely a set geared toward younger collectors.

Card #389: 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars True Blue #82

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Leaf
SET: Rookies & Stars
NUMBER: 82
SUBSET: NA
INSERT/PARALLEL: True Blue
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is the less rare parallel from the Leaf Rookies & Stars set that was hugely popular upon release, mostly due to the inclusion of J.D. Drew's first card.  There were 500 of these cards, though they were not serial-numbered.

Revolution Shadow

That almost has a dark fantasy sound to it, doesn't it?  This is one of my favorite of the Pacific parallel types.  I like the dark coloring of the foil.  It is also a fairly rare numbered card, numbered to just 99.

Card #388: 1999 Skybox Thunder Rant #37

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Skybox
SET: Thunder
NUMBER: 37
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Rant
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Skybox Thunder took the place of the Circa sets as sets appealing to the younger generation.  With bold colors and ridiculous text on the back, the cards were somewhat embarassing.  This is the Rant parallel with purple foil lettering.

Red Auto

I have been acquiring Sandy's new stuff in a strange order.  I still do not have the base auto or the regular insert, but I have two of the serial-numbered autos now: the red and the blue.  This is the red and it is numbered out of just 50.   Oddly, I got it for a lot cheaper than I did the blue, which was numbered out of 199.

Card #387: 1999 Pacific Paramount Red #70

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Paramount
NUMBER: 70
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Red
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Ho hum, another Pacific parallel.  Paramount is one of my least-favorite sets from Pacific, and I say that as a pretty big fan of the brand.  It just did not add anything really new.  At least the red parallels had nice colorful foil.my co

Card #386: 1999 Pacific Prism Holographic Purple #41

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Prism
NUMBER: 41
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Holographic Purple
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Here is another of the parallels from 1999 Pacific Prism.  I don't like this set quite as well as the next year's set when there were many more parallels available.  Still though, the parallels in this set were pretty damn cool.

Card #385: 1998 Donruss Elite Aspirations #54

YEAR: 1998
BRAND; Donruss
SET: Elite
NUMBER: 54
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Aspirations
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I always liked the Donruss Elite parallels from this set.  I like die-cut cards in general, and I also like the colors that were used.  The deep red of this card is particularly impressive.

First Recollection in Awhile

It has been quite awhile since I have been able to add one of these Recollection autographs to my collection.  This was not one of the ones I wanted the most, but it is definitely a nice one that I am very happy about.  It is the All Star subset card and features Alomar in his chest protector, so it is a pretty good addition to my collection.  It also crosses one of the cards off from the ones that I tried to acquire last year in an ill-fated deal.

Card #384: 1997 Bowman Chrome International #94

YEAR: 1997
BRAND: Bowman
SET: Chrome
NUMBER: 94
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: International
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I really like the International parallels of this set.  The player's country flag makes up the background of the card.  The Chrome version is even nicer than the regular Bowman card as well.

Card #383: 1999 Pacific Prism Holographic Blue #41

YEAR: 1999
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Prism
NUMBER: 41
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Holographic Blue
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Going back to my Jason Varitek focus, Prism has been one of my favorite Pacific sets.  The parallels were significantly different from each other and from the base cards.  So when I picked up my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection again, I had to complete the Prism rainbow.  The blue is my personal favorite, and also the rarest.

At Last...

I have been hoping that something like this would happen for a long time and now it finally has.  Sandy Alomar Jr. has some new cards.  I always figured that Archives would be the most likely set to finally do it, and it was.  Sandy Alomar Jr. was the very definition of a fan favorite in his years with the Cleveland Indians.  So I always thought he would make a good addition to the Topps Archives Fan Favorites set.  And that is exactly what has finally happened.  This is the blue parallel and is numbered out of 199.  Alomar has a few other cards in the set as well.  I will be picking them up as I can.  This was a good start though.

Card #382: 1989 Broder Rookies Superstars Final Series NNO

YEAR: 1989
BRAND: Broder
SET: Rookies Superstars Final Series
NUMBER: NNO
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: San Diego Padres

There are about a million of these things.  Which is good, but it makes the Padres the team for whom Sandy Alomar has the second-most cards.  Even though he only played in eight games for them, compared to the White Sox, for whom he played parts of four seasons.

¿Amigos de Beisbol o Hermanos de Beisbol?

This card lists them as friends, but obviously Sandy Alomar Jr. and Roberto Alomar are brothers.  It always seems strange to me to see them side by side.  Sandy is huge compared to Roberto.  Their father was more Roberto's size.  This was the last card I needed from Pacific's Amigos de Beisbol insert set.  There were three such inserts featuring Sandy.

Coming Soon: Archives released and actually featured a number of new Sandy Alomar Jr. cards.  I have not picked up all of them yet.

Card #381: 1988 Broder Rookies IV Final Series #10

YEAR: 1988
BRAND: Broder
SET: Rookies IV Final Series
NUMBER: 10
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: San Diego Padres

Just another unlicensed Broder card here.  These things and the Star sets make up the bulk of my Padres cards of Alomar.

I Don't Know What This Is

I picked this up recently.  It looks like a commemorative coin for the 1997 World Series, but I have never seen anything like it before.

Here is the back:

I like the item.  It is definitely not a card, but it will go well with my more unusual oddball items.

Card #380: 1992 U.S. Playing Card All Stars #JC

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: U.S. Playing Card Co.
SET: All Stars
NUMBER: JC
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is kind of an interesting action shot.  Alomar appears to be in motion, I am not sure his feet are even touching the ground, and his helmet is in the air too.  Judging by the decorations, this picture might have actually been taken at the All Star game.

1998 Topps Chrome Refractor

The 1998 Topps Chrome Refractors have been fairly elusive for some reason.  I saw the base card one time on COMC but before I had a chance to buy it, someone else snatched it up.  But I was able to add the World Series highlight card over the weekend for a very reasonable price.  I like this one better anyway.  Alomar had a terrific World Series in 1997 and may have been the MVP had Cleveland not blown it in Game 7.

Card #379: 1990 Baseball's Finest Stars #NNO

YEAR: 1990
BRAND: Unknown
SET: Baseball's Finest Stars
NUMBER: NNO
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is one of the many cards from the late 1980's/early 1990's known as Broder cards.  Print runs are unknown, manufacturers are unknown, and Beckett does not list them.  It is tough to find information on these sets.  They are cheap and pretty easy to find.  And there were a lot of variations.  There will be several more of these as we move along.

A Rare Two-Card Mailday Today

Maildays in general have been rare for this collection, but today was a pretty good day:

1.  Hooray for Tek progress!  This is Pattern 71 and a member of a trading forum sent it to me for free.  I am down to needing just nine more Tek cards.  Progress has been very slow of late, but it is moving.

2.  I love this card.  This is the 2004 Upper Deck R-Class First Class Autograph card.  I love the photo on the card and the fact that this is a rare White Sox autograph card.  In fact, it is the only one.  There is a 2005 Upper Deck First Pitch Signature Stars autograph that pictures Alomar with the White Sox, but it has a Texas Rangers logo.

So that's the terrific mailday I had today.  Still no new Alomar cards in 2016 so far.  I still have hope for Topps Archives.

Card #378: 1990 Donruss Learning Series #40

YEAR: 1990
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Learning Series
NUMBER: 40
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This set was offered as part of a promotional educational packet for students.  I don't remember being offered when I was in school, so of course I had to try to find the card much later.

A Venezuelan Oddball

This one snuck up on me.  I had never heard of this card before it showed up on Ebay one day.  This is a Venezuelan sticker card.  I was aware of some Venezuelan sticker cards, including one from 2000, but this one shows Alomar with the Rangers.  And of course Alomar has so few cards with the Rangers that I had to jump on this.

I recently missed out on an item from my Top 15.  The 1998 Fleer Tradition Vintage '63 Classic went for a surprising amount of money on Ebay.  I was very disappointed.  Very few Alomar cards have been popping up lately, and to miss on one I needed, not to mention on my Top 15 is extremely annoying.  Oh well.  Maybe it will reappear some time.

Alomar still does not have any new cards in 2016.  Roberto has shown up in a number of sets.  I still have hope for Topps Archives though.

Card #377: 1991 Baseball Card Magazine #57

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Baseball Card Magazine
SET: Baseball Card Magazine
NUMBER: 57
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I don't really get it.  The 1990 Alomar card was a replica of the 1969 set.  This one came out a year later and is a replica of the 1966 set.  Huh.

Finally, a New Card

This is the 1997 Score Showcase Series Artist's Proof.  Initially the card appeared on Ebay with a Buy It Now price of about $25.00.  Luckily a second one appeared just a few days later with a much more reasonable price.  I was glad I waited on it.

So this is the first new card added in a long time.  Things have been really slow on this collection lately.  Hopefully some new cards get released soon, but I am not optimistic.

Card #376: 1990 Baseball Card Magazine #63

YEAR: 1990
BRAND: Baseball Card Magazine
SET: Baseball Card Magazine
NUMBER: 63
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

These cards were inserted into one of the many baseball card price guides that existed in the early 1990's.  There were typically three cards together that had to be cut apart.  This card's design is based on the design of the 1969 Topps set.

Card #375: 2006 Upper Deck Gold #677

YEAR: 2006
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: Upper Deck
NUMBER: 677
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Gold
TEAM: Los Angeles Dodgers

One of the very few Los Angeles Dodgers cards of Alomar, this is the gold parallel and is serial-numbered 270/299.  The picture is kind of boring, but I do like this card anyway because the only cards that feature Alomar with the Dodgers are the 2006 Upper Deck and its various parallels.

Card #374: 2001 SP Game Bat Milestone Piece of Action Trios #OTA

YEAR: 2001
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: SP Game Bat Milestone
NUMBER: OTA
INSERT: Piece of Action Trios
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

This was my first White Sox relic card and it features game-used bat pieces from Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Sandy Alomar Jr.  The bat pieces have White Sox logos burned into them as well.  This is definitely a favorite card.  Alomar is definitely the lesser of the three players in 2001, but that is fine.

Card #373: 1990 Score McDonald's #2

YEAR: 1990
BRAND: Score
SET: McDonald's
NUMBER: 2
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

These cards were only available at 11 McDonald's stores in Idaho and Oregon for a three week period and came four to a pack with the purchase of fries and a drink.  Quite frankly, I am surprised this was not harder to find than it was with that kind of distribution.  The picture is the same one that would appear on Alomar's base card from 1991 Score.

Card #372: 1991 Topps Rookies #1

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Topps
SET: Topps
NUMBER: 1
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Rookies
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

These cards came one per retail jumbo pack.  The set is similar to the All Star glossy set, featuring a glossy front, but focused on rookies from the year before.  This is a decent shot of Alomar warming up a pitcher before a game.

Card #371: 1991 Kenner Starting Lineup #15

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Kenner
SET: Starting Lineup
NUMBER: 15
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

My second Starting Lineup figure of Alomar came with this card.  The card is interesting in that they crowd can be seen fairly clearly.  I think that companies have tried to distance themselves from this somewhat over the years.  It was a lot more common awhile back.  This figure also came with a coin, which I won't put up as part of this series, but can be seen early on in my blog.

Card #370: 1995 Topps Pre-Production #PP4

YEAR: 1995
BRAND: Topps
SET: Pre-Production
NUMBER: PP4
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is the Pre-Production sample that was available in special 1994 Topps Factory Sets.  Each set came with a pack of four of these cards as well as one Spectralite parallel.  It is virtually the same card except for the missing 1994 stats and the number.

Card #369: 1997 Pinnacle Certified #12

YEAR: 1997
BRAND: Pinnacle
SET: Certified
NUMBER: 12
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I don't really understand the purpose of this set and the Totally Certified set.  The different-colored parallels are nice but having two sets like this doesn't make a lot of sense.  This is the base card of the lower-end set.  I do like the photo though, with the hockey mask and full catchers' gear.

Card #368: 1998 Pacific Omega #69

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Omega
NUMBER: 69
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Pacific released a ton of sets in 1998.  Omega was somewhat interesting because of the design.  It helped it stand out at least a little bit.  Omega made waves by including Mike Piazza in the set in each of the three uniforms he wore that season.  Of course, that has no bearing on this card.

Card #367: 1998 Topps Tek #27 Pattern 81

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Topps
SET: Tek
NUMBER: 27
SUBSET: Pattern 81
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

My second Topps Tek pattern of Sandy Alomar Jr. will be known as the "Eye of Horus" pattern.

An Over-Sized Oddball

I recently found one of the Indians Fan Club oddball sets from McDonald's on Ebay.  I did not know it at the time, but these cards turned out to be quite a bit bigger than standard size cards, which did not thrill me too much.  I don't really like really large cards, but this is a card I was able to cross off of my needs list.  And I have a bunch of random Indians cards from this set left over, some of which might even make some money.  I do really like the photo here though.  Nice action shot of Alomar hitting.

Card #366: 2003 MLB Showdown Trading Deadline #4

YEAR: 2003
BRAND: MLB Showdown
SET: Trading Deadline
NUMBER: 4
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

Another MLB Showdown card, this one is from the 2003 Trading Deadline set and features Alomar back with the White Sox.  Unfortunately MLB Showdown did not see fit to include Alomar as a member of the Rockies in the regular set of the year.

A Nice Rare Pickup (Sort Of)

This is kind of the 1997 Finest Embossed Refractor.  Unfortunately this is apparently some kind of promo or prototype as it is not actually embossed.  Oh well, it joins my 1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Gold card which is not serial-numbered.  It is a nice placeholder card until I can get the official one.  More than anything, it is just nice to finally find something again.  This has been a very slow year for my Alomar collection thus far and I am kind of getting frustrated.

Card #365: 2005 MLB Showdown Trading Deadline #28

YEAR: 2005
BRAND: MLB Showdown
SET: Trading Deadline
NUMBER: 28
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Texas Rangers

I love this card.  I never played the MLB Showdown game, but I really enjoyed the cards, particularly since they usually had a lot of lesser players.  Alomar by this time was just a backup catcher and he had very few cards released anymore.  He really only had the Topps Total card with its parallels and an autograph card that featured him in a White Sox uniform other than this card with the Rangers.  And this is the only action shot.  That is why I love this card.

Card #364: 2001 Fleer Premium #104

YEAR: 2001
BRAND: Fleer
SET: Premium
NUMBER: 104
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

This is one of the rare cards showing Alomar on the base paths.  Alomar was not really known for his baserunning ability.  This is also one of the cards that features Alomar in a uniform that does not match the team on the card.  Here we have Alomar in an Indians uniform, but a White Sox logo.

Card #363: 2002 Fleer Tradition #352

YEAR: 2002
BRAND: Fleer
SET: Tradition
NUMBER: 352
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

I really like the action in this card.  There are not a ton of action shots of Alomar with teams other than the Indians.  I also like the design on these cards, paying tribute to the 1934 Goudey set.  The flag in the bottom right corner is added in memory of the events of 9/11.

Card #362: 2004 SP Authentic #168

YEAR: 2004
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: SP Authentic
NUMBER: 168
SUBSET: All Star Moments
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This was a card from a subset in the SP Authentic set and is serial-numbered out of 999.  These cards were meant to celebrate some of the bigger All Star Game moments.  Alomar, as has been mentioned several times on this blog, hit a home run to win the 1997 All Star Game MVP award off of San Francisco's Shawn Estes.  Roberto Alomar won the 1998 All Star Game MVP, giving the brothers back-to-back awards.