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.