2019 Topps Update Greatest Moments

Alomar appeared on another card late in 2019.  From the 150 Years of Baseball insert set came this card that also celebrates his All Star Game home run in 1997.  Unfortunately it uses the same photo as the Topps Archives Snapshots card, just one that is zoomed in a little more.  I have picked up the blue parallel, base and black parallel so far.  All at the same time.

Another Buyback

This was one I had my eye on for some time.  I have been going back and forth on whether I should consider this 1989 Bowman card as part of my Alomar collection for a little while.  Technically, it is more of a Sandy Alomar Sr. card that just happens to have Sandy Jr. and Roberto on it.  I guess if Topps does this though, that is good enough for me.  Getting the autographed buyback of it is just kind of a cool thing.

86 Down, 4 to Go

I tracked down pattern #55 recently.  I just need four more to go.

1997 Topps World Series Buyback

I did have to grab this one.  Numbered to just three, this is the first time I have seen a buyback from this subset.  It does not scan well, but it is a very nice card.  I still think that if Jose Mesa had not blown the last game of the 1997 World Series, Alomar would have been the World Series MVP.

2019 Archives Signature Buyback Group Break

I bought into a two-case break for the 2019 Topps Archives Signature series some time ago.  I did this once before and picked up a card, so I figured my chances were reasonably good here too.  I did score a couple:

I have no idea if the gold ink cards are supposed to be some sort of variation, or if they are there for smaller print-run cards, or if they were just a fluke thing.  It is pretty cool though.  The 1997 Bowman is the rarer of the two, numbered to just eight.  The 1992 Topps card was not likely to be picked up by me, it is kind of a boring card, but adding it this way is just fine. 

Honestly I am a little tired of Topps doing these things with Alomar.  There is not much new to do with this idea.  I try to avoid getting cards I already have.  Although I am still looking for one of the 2005 Topps Total cards. 

Black and White Auto

Here we have a Black and White autograph parallel card from the new Archives Snapshot card I talked about in the last post.  There are a number of parallels from that set, but this is the only one I have picked up thus far.  I could be wrong, but it looks like Alomar may have signed his uniform number in the loop in his signature.  Though it looks like an 18 instead of a 15, so I have no idea.

Hey, New Alomar Cards!

Towards the end of the year, some new cards of Sandy Alomar Jr. were actually released.  This was pretty good news and kind of unexpected.  Of course the year also saw a couple of online-only cards released with the Topps Now card and the Topps X card from the Francisco Lindor set. 

This was the first card released, an insert in the Topps Archives Snapshots set.  This card celebrates Alomar's winning of the All Star MVP in 1997.  This was after Alomar hit a home run off of the Giants' Shawn Estes in the seventh inning.  That eventually won the game. 

I had been saying for a while now that I wanted to see Topps acknowledge his All Star Game MVP in one of the various sets the brand has released.  Looks like they finally did it.

Lindor's Set

Around the time of the All Star Break, I saw that Topps was releasing a special set that was put together with the assistance of Indians' star Francisco Lindor.  The set was devoted partially to Lindor's home country of Puerto Rico, also the home country of Sandy Alomar Jr.  I was cautiously optimistic that he would include a card of Alomar in it, particularly since he is a coach with the Indians.  When the checklist dropped, I saw that there was indeed a Sandy Alomar listed, but it did not specify whether it was Jr. or Sr.  I bought one anyway, thinking it was likely that it would be Jr.  And I received the above card.  Yep, that's Jr. alright.  So, now Alomar has appeared in two online only sets this year.  Pretty exciting.

Topps Now: July 9, 2019

What?!

Yep, Sandy Alomar Jr., a coach, has appeared on a Topps Now card.  The card celebrates the All Star Game tribute in which retiring former Indians star pitcher C.C. Sabathia threw out the first pitch to Alomar.  This is pretty damn cool.  I never thought I would see Alomar on a Topps Now card.  There were autographed versions too, but they were ridiculously expensive.

By the way, Sabathia never pitched to Alomar in a Major League game.  Alomar left the Indians to join the White Sox after the 2000 season.  Sabathia debuted in 2001.

More Archives Buybacks Part 3

And here is yet another White Sox buyback.  This is not anything really special, other than that it is a Chrome card.  I do kind of like the pose here though.  And of course, it is nice to add another White Sox autograph.