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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.