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.