Here it Is

 

I promised something big and here it is.  This is easily the best card in my Alomar collection.  This is a jumbo bat nameplate relic from a game-used bat.  The bat piece is from the area that his named is burned in.  It is obviously a 1/1.  What makes the card even more interesting is the fact that Alomar is with the White Sox in this card.  His time with the White Sox is very underrepresented.  He played three stints with Chicago and parts of five seasons.  He was a backup catcher by that time though and did not appear in a lot of sets.  But now, the best card in my collection shows Alomar with the White Sox.  That's something.

2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Cards

The big one is coming tomorrow.

I am just going to put all of these together in one scan.  The next seven Alomar cards I bought were all variations on the same card.  Earlier this year Topps released a set listed as a 2021 set.  It was a huge set with a lot of off-the-wall players included.  Sandy Alomar Jr. is not a completely unusual subject to include in the set, but it is odd that he is shown with the Padres instead of the Indians.  It would have been even weirder to see him with the White Sox, Rockies, Rangers or Dodgers.  I would have loved it if they showed him with the Mets.  Anyway, I picked up a number of the parallels so far and continue to look into them.  

Tek Diffractor

 

The big one is still coming.  

In the meantime, this is 1998 Topps Tek Diffractor Pattern 11.  I seem to have slowed to a stop on getting the Topps Tek cards.  I still need four more.  This is my sixth Diffractor.  I do not have any delusions that I will be able to complete that run.  These things are pretty hard to find, and often expensive.  So I will grab them when I can.

Rediscovering 1990 Topps

Yet another buyback today, but this one is not autographed.  This is from the Rediscover Topps buyback series and is the bronze version for the 1990 card.  I have always been partial to the 1990 Topps design, even if this card is a little boring.  It would have been interesting if Alomar stayed with the Padres, but with Benito Santiago there, the team probably made the right move by trading him.

Incidentally, today is the anniversary of the trade that sent Alomar, along with Carlos Baerga and Chris James, to the Indians for Joe Carter.  It was a great deal for the Indians who got two members of the team that would star for them for years to come and help lead them to the postseason for the first time in decades.

Field General

2021 Topps Allen & Ginter featured one of my favorite insert sets of recent years.  It was a set dedicated to catchers.  It featured current and former players and a couple of my favorite players appeared.  Of course, Sandy Alomar Jr. was one.  Jason Varitek and Carlton Fisk also made it in.  I still think they should have made an even larger set, with some under-the-radar players.  But I discussed that on the other blog.  Sandy appears here.

Another 1/1 Buyback

This marks my third 1/1 autographed buyback from one of the Topps Archives Signature Series sets.  This is the 2005 Topps Rookie Cup.  Now, these are very much artificial 1/1s.  I am pretty sure Rookie Cup appeared in at least one of the other several Archives Signature sets Alomar has appeared in.  Still, it's fun to add a 1/1.

By the way, something really, really big is coming.

Big Buyback Auto

This is definitely one of my favorite buyback autographs I have picked up so far.  As I have mentioned before, I really like picking up cards of Alomar with teams other than the Indians because there are comparatively so many fewer cards.  He had very few cards with the Rangers.  He was a backup catcher by this time and spent just one season in Texas.  It is interesting to note that his father also played for the Rangers.  This is the 2005 Topps Total Silver parallel.  Topps Total was a great set because its size allowed tons of cards for each team and allowed them to get role players in the set.  This card is also nice because it is a 1/1.

Orange Big League Auto

I showed the regular version of this card a couple of days ago.  This is the orange parallel numbered to 99.  It does not have the number 15 written in one of the loops like his signature in the base version.  Like I said before, that is not a typical characteristic of his signature.

More Archives Signature Buybacks Coming

Not one of the rarest cards from the Archives Signature buyback autographs, this 1999 Finest is serial-numbered to 89.  Nevertheless, it is kind of a cool-looking card.

I have two very rare Archives buyback autographs coming.  And something REALLY huge soon after that.

Big League Auto

Alomar appeared in an autographed insert set for Topps Big League in 2020.  That was kind of an outside-the-box appearance.  This is the base version and I noticed something kind of interesting about his signature.  The number 15 is written in one of the loops of his signature.  This is not something that is always present, but is on this card.

Throwback Thursday

For the second time, Sandy Alomar Jr. appeared in one of the Topps online-only Throwback Thursday sets.  The first time was during the 2016 World Series when he appeared along with Mike Napoli on a card celebrating past and present of the teams in the Series.  This time, he appears alongside his Hall of Famer brother Roberto, once again.  This set celebrated family members who played in the Majors.  The only surprise is that it did not include their father Sandy Sr.

Another Top 15 Hit

I can't remember where on the Top 15 list this card was, because I adjusted it a long time ago after receiving this card.  Anyway, this was weirdly hard to find.  It's the blue parallel from Topps Rookie Cup and it is serial-numbered to 50.  So, not exceedingly rare.  Nevertheless it took a few years to find it.  So, another card off the Most Wanted List.

Rookie of the Year Recollection

One of the Recollection autographs from Donruss I wanted the most was the 1991 Award Winner card.  The Award Winner was the very first Sandy Alomar Jr. card I ever got.  The lighting is a little off on it, making everything a lot darker than it should, but that is part of the charm of the card.  I still need to find the elusive Diamond King card though.  This was the #10 card on my Top 15 Most Wanted list, so time to cross another one off.

Hero Decks Playing Card

 

I am not really sure why I never came across this card before.  I was aware these sets, a playing card set with players from each team on them.  I have one of the sets for the Red Sox and there were updates over the years with some more recent players added.  Alomar is of course one of the top catchers in Cleveland team history, so it only makes sense he would appear in a set commemorating the best players in team history.  As the card says, he was a Rookie of the Year and six-time All Star.  He also won a Gold Glove and an All Star Game MVP.  He likely could have been the World Series MVP in 1997 had the Indians held on.

2020 Topps Rookie Card Retrospective

I am a little surprised that Alomar was included in the 2020 Topps Rookie Card Retrospective insert set.  There have been a lot of sets over the last few years that he could have been in, that he was not.  Particularly stuff involving All Star Game MVP awards, Rookies of the Year, etc.  But, here he is.  This is a thick card, recreating his 1989 Topps card with a metal RC logo embedded in it.

There were parallels as well, and I was able to get the black version.  This is serial-numbered to 199.

 

1990 Donruss Recollection Autograph

I have still been attempting to track down the Donruss Recollection Collection Autographs.  At one time there was a guy that offered several of them up to me at once, but he kept flaking out on working out the deal.  One of my big disappointments in this collection.  I still have a ways to go, including the card that I want the most: the 1991 Diamond King card.  

I did manage to get this one though.  This is the 1990 card with black ink.  I particularly like to track down the Padres cards from this set.  I have tons of Indians autographs.  Not nearly as many with the other teams.

Let's Catch Up

I have added a number of new Sandy Alomar Jr. cards to my collection since the last post.  I have not been blogging much at all.  Now, I want to catch up.

Up first is this:

I showed the base version of this Topps Now card awhile back.  This is the game-used base version with autographs of both Sandy Alomar Jr. and C.C. Sabathia.  Alomar continues to be the Cleveland first base coach.  Of course, Cleveland is now known as the Guardians.  I am wondering if he is waiting on Terry Francona to retire and become the team's manager.  For some reason I do not see his name in consideration for too many managerial positions lately.  That seems odd.