Card #94: 1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow #144

YEAR: 1994
BRAND: Topps
SET: Stadium Club
NUMBER: 144
SUBSET/INSERT: Golden Rainbow
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I love the picture on this one.  Alomar is attempting to throw out a runner trying to steal.  A player who appears to be Robin Ventura is ducking down to get out of the way.  It is not often that a we see such an action-packed photo of a catcher trying to throw out a runner.  I am not sure I was aware at the time that I was getting the parallel.  I was just picking up a bunch of Alomars at the local card shop for the first time in well over a year.  I did not get the base card until just recently.

Yay, More Tek Progress

This is pattern 47.  It popped up on Ebay recently.  I now have only 28 more patterns to go.  Getting there, but I suspect it is going to take a very long time.

Card #93: 1995 Donruss #3

YEAR: 1995
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Donruss
NUMBER: 3
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

As you may be able to tell, my Alomar collection went through a long dry spell.  I stopped actively seeking Alomar cards sometime in the second part of the 1993 season.  I did not pick back up until some time in 1995.  Part of this was due to the almost constant injuries Alomar suffered.  Part of it was that my baseball card collecting slowed during this period in general.  I was still getting Red Sox cards but not as many.  I was still buying packs, but not as often.  And I almost never got Alomar cards in packs at all, and certainly none during this time period.  In fact, it would be a couple of years before I got any Alomar cards in packs.  I picked this one up along with several others at a card store, temporarily reviving the Alomar collection.  I like the photos on this card, very action-packed.

Another Card I Did Not Know Existed

Like the title says, this is another card that I was unaware existed:

I didn't know Upper Deck did gold versions of the Electric Diamond parallel until just recently.  I think these came one to a hobby box, so they were exceptionally rare.  I love this shot and was prepared to try to figure out when this occurred, but there are apparently several possibilities.  The runner who appears as if he may be safe is Red Sox middle infielder Carlos Rodriguez who had a decent rookie season in 1994 in short work.

Card #92: 1991 Leaf #528

YEAR: 1991
BRAND: Leaf
SET: Leaf
NUMBER: 528
SUBSET: Checklist
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is technically the back of the card shown above.  The front is just more of the checklist.  I remember wanting this card for a long time but having a hard time finding it.  When I did find it, I was a little disappointed to be honest.  I am not sure what I was expecting but the one small picture did not do much for me.

Some Random Pickups

I recently bought a small number of cards from a seller on one of the forums.  

1.  1991 Donruss AS Factory Set Variation.  The border is a little bit different on this variation from the one found in packs.

2.  1998 Paramount Gold.  I have a few of the color variations now from this set.

3.  1999 Skybox Molten Metal MS Xplosions.  This is my favorite of the group.  This card is made of a thin metal and is a very interesting insert.  It is my first ever from this set.

4 and 5.  These are from the 1998 Pinnacle Snapshots set which was a collection of 3 by 5 photos released as a baseball card set.  They came in packages designated by teams.  I like the second one better.  These will not go in my card album but will be with my other items, such as my SLUs and my comic book.

Card #91: 1992 Score Impact Players #40

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Score
SET: Score
NUMBER: 40
SUBSET/INSERT: 90's Impact Player
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

The Impact Players were one of the first insert sets I really remember going after.  There were a bunch of Red Sox in the set (Burks, Clemens, Plantier, Vaughn, and Cooper) and they all had decent photography.  For some reason it took a long time to get the Sandy Alomar Jr. card though.  I don't really know why that is.  But this is a terrific action shot of Alomar chasing after an errant ball with his mask flying in the other direction.

Extra! Extra!

This is the Extra Edition parallel of one of the many, basically identical Sports Illustrated sets from Fleer in the mid to late 1990's.  The cards featured stunning photography due to the partnership with SI.  This is definitely an impressive photo with the feel of movement of the bat through the zone.  This parallel is numbered out of just 98.

Card #90: 1993 Pinnacle #211

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Pinnacle
SET: Pinnacle
NUMBER: 211
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Card #90 was a landmark card for me.  Originally I had my Alomar cards in small binders with ten pages of nine cards each in them.  This card filled my first binder.  Unfortunately I would not get too deep into the second book before my first extended break from the Alomar collection.  This is a nice post-play at the plate that looks like Alomar got the out.  I believe that's Devon White of the Blue Jays behind him.

Card #89: 1993 Select #26

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Score
SET: Select
NUMBER: 26
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I love this card.  Alomar has a number of cards with great photography and a trend of extreme closeups of his fact wearing his catchers' mask seemed ready to emerge, beginning with this card.  I am not sure what provoked them to use this shot, but it seemed to work pretty well.  Select was a new set in 1993 and its big draw was on an individual stat to highlight with each player.  With Alomar, as with many catchers, it looked at his caught-stealing percentage, which was 44.9%, second in the AL.

The Beginning of Gold Refractors?

I really actually don't know.  I just got this card, along with the Dernell Stenson on my other blog and a David Wells card in a lot off of Ebay.  This is a 1999 Bowman Chrome Gold card of Alomar with a gold signature.  I think it is possible they decided to go gold refractor after this.  Believe it or not, I had no idea this parallel existed.  I never bought packs of Bowman Chrome in 1999 and for some reason I never saw any of these.  Well now I have one for my Alomar collection as well as one for my Red Sox collection.  And another one to do...something...with.  I don't know.

So there you have it.

Card #88: 1993 Leaf #83

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Leaf
SET: Leaf
NUMBER: 83
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

In 1993, Leaf joined Stadium Club and Ultra on the full-bleed photography bandwagon after three years of having gray borders.  I like this set, I like the marble corner and the gold Leaf logo.  The photography was impressive as well and they definitely did a different take on Alomar here.  He's running on the basepaths.  Alomar was not exactly a burner but it looks like he is either stealing or running on a wild pitch.  We don't see that very often.

Card #87: 1993 SP #118

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: SP
NUMBER: 118
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

1993 saw the first SP set issued by Upper Deck.  The set was notable for featuring an interesting factoid about each player and some nice photography.  The Alomar card features a play at the plate in what looks to be a Spring Training game against the Brewers.  The fact mentioned was that Alomar was the first Indians player elected to the All Star Game in three straight seasons since Ken Keltner.  Of course Alomar did not really deserve it in 1991 or 1992.

Another Rookie Cup

I have determined the 2005 Rookie Cup set is one of my favorite Alomar sets.  It seems like such a bizarre thing to focus on, the players who were awarded fake trophies on their cards after their rookie season.  Yet the set design is interesting, with some decent-looking parallels, reprints, and of course refractors galore.  But the best cards are the original relics.  I have the Alomar.  Now after adding the green version today, I still need the blue, silver, gold, and the refractors for the reprint.

Here is the green.

Card #86: 1992 Studio #161

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Studio
NUMBER: 161
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I definitely prefer the 1993 Studio design, but I like the pictures in this card better.  Even the studio shot is a little more interesting with Alomar wearing a batting helmet and a glove.  The action shot adds a little more movement to the card as well.  I would say I actually prefer this card to the 1993 card, despite the rather drab border.

95 Finest Refractor

Here is the new card.  Not much to say about it.  It's shiny and it has a protective cover.

I actually really like this one.  The fact that he is in full catchers' gear on the front makes this a very interesting card.  The refraction on it also goes very well for the colors.  It is just a nice-looking card.

Card #85: 1993 Studio #13

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Donruss
SET: Studio
NUMBER: 13
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I always liked this set.  The huge team logos looming over the players are very striking.  The reflective signature added a nice touch as well.  I always liked the Studio sets, through 1993 anyway, but this one was always my personal favorite.

Filling in Some Holes

Three packages came in over the last few days that all included multiple cards.  These were attempts to fill in a bunch of the base card gaps and the occasional parallel for good measure.

1.  1998 Crown Royale.  This was a weird set.  All the cards were die-cut, similar to the Gold Crown die-cut inserts.

2.  2003 Topps Home Team Advantage.  I don't really know what these were but adding another White Sox card is always exciting.

3.  1998 Topps Diamondbacks Inaugural WS.  The Diamondbacks were the last of the four expansion teams I needed.

4.  1998 Topps Diamondbacks Inaugural.

5.  1998 Sports Illustrated HL.  I had the Extra Edition parallel of this card but not the base card.

6.  1997 Score Artist's Proof White Border.  I kept seeing this on Ebay but it had too high of a price tag.  I got this one for a fraction of that price.

7.  1996 Stadium Club Members Only.  I still need a few parallels of this card.

8.  1996 Flair Gold.  There is also a silver foil version that is still on my Top 10.

9.  1995 Score Platinum Team Set.  I think these were only available through a mail-in special.

10.  1995 Collector's Choice Gold Signature.  I would like this better if it had a gold border like the 1994 set.

11.  1993 Stadium Club Members Only.

12.  1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond.  Terrific action shot.  There is apparently a gold version of this too.

13.  2001 Topps Home Team Advantage.

14.  2000 Topps Home Team Advantage.

15.  1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack.  Nice Roberto cameo here.

16.  1993 O-Pee-Chee.

17.  1994 O-Pee-Chee.

18.  1999 Skybox Thunder.

19.  1998 Upper Deck Special FX.  I did not know they did this set in 1998.

20.  1999 Pacific Red.  There are still a ton of Pacific parallels out there.

21.  1991 Sports Illustrated for Kids.  A friend of mine had this when I was growing up but refused to trade it to me, much to my dismay.  Now, I finally have one.

22.  1997 Sports Illustrated for Kids.  This one, I was unaware of until recently.

Card #84: 1993 Upper Deck #255

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: Upper Deck
NUMBER: 255
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

1993 Upper Deck had some amazing photography.  It is without a doubt one of my favorite sets when it comes to photography.  This Alomar card is a decent example.  There is definitely some action here as Alomar is delivering what looks like a frantic throw.  I suspect he is throwing to second base after fielding a wild pitch based on the action here.  The crowd does not look real excited though, so who knows?

Card #83: 1992 Score Proctor and Gamble #1

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Score
SET: Proctor and Gamble
NUMBER: 1
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I suspect that this was an All Star Game commemorative set, but I have only ever seen the Boggs from the rest of the set.  I am okay with that.  I got a Red Sox player and Sandy Alomar Jr.  Can't get much better than that.  This is definitely a 1990's set with the bright color scheme.  It is a fairly interesting card though, and a fun oddball to own.  Alomar and Boggs both.

Another Lost Card has Come Home

I had a post last week with four new cards for my collection in which I mentioned that one of the cards was not delivered.  After emailing the seller, he sent it and refunded the money (which was $0.18 but still):

Another step closer to having all of the base cards.

Leaf Gold Press Proof

The 1996 Press Proofs are a tad difficult to discern from the base set and certainly difficult to tell apart from each other.  They had more of a sheen to them.  The bronze and gold ones have to be looked at very carefully to tell apart.  I have had the bronze for quite a while and I just recently added the gold as well:

It is a little easier to tell with the scan I guess.

Card #82: 1990 U.S. Playing Card Co. #2S

YEAR: 1990
BRAND: U.S. Playing Card Co.
SET: Major League All Stars
NUMBER: 2S
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is my second Alomar card from a playing card set.  This is the 2 of Spades from the deck of cards.  The catchers were all number 2 in the four suits.  The picture is a pretty boring dugout shot.  Kind of a dull card, but still a nice oddball addition.

Oddball Mailday

I picked up some random oddballs from a member on the forums.

The first two cards are more Broder-style cards.  I have no idea how many more of these are out there.  But it's nice to add a couple more Padres to the Alomar collection that I did not know existed.  The third card is a Panini sticker card.  Panini is known now for releasing some old Donruss and Pinnacle brands but in the 1990's, it was strictly a sticker company.  The fourth card's back is written in Spanish.  I don't know what the reasoning behind this is.  Finally, the Mr. Turkey card design is very impressive.  And it covers up the fact that the company had no MLB license.

Card #81: 1993 King-B Discs #18

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: King-B
SET: King-B
NUMBER: 18
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

King-B was a brand of beef jerky that came in tins that looked like chewing tobacco.  I know this because my older brother used for years.  So the disc cards fit in just right in the bottom of the tin.  My older brother was a big fan of King-B Jerky and it was actually him that pulled this card.  He gave it to me for nothing.  I always appreciated that and this is undoubtedly one of my favorite oddball cards of Alomar.

Card #80: 1993 Donruss #39

YEAR: 1993
FRONT: Donruss
SET: Donruss
NUMBER: 39
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Here we go, a terrific action shot of a play at the plate.  It would appear that the runner was safe in this case however.  The runner is Luis Rivera of the Boston Red Sox.  I know this because I am, of course, a huge Boston Red Sox fan.  Now, let's do something fun.  Let's figure out when this picture was taken.  The wall in the background clearly shows that this picture was taken at Fenway Park, plus Rivera is clearly wearing a home uniform and Alomar a visiting uniform.  Alomar's 1992 stats indicate that he played at Boston in just two games on June 6 and June 7.  Looking at the box scores, Rivera did not score on the 6th, but did on the 7th.  And in looking at the play by play on the boxscore, the play occurred in the bottom of the 7th inning and Rivera scored on sacrifice bunt by Jody Reed off of Indians reliever Ted Power.  The Red Sox won 5-1 with Joe Hesketh getting the win, Danny Darwin the save, and Dave Otto the loss.  Alomar had one hit in the loss, a single.  So there you go.

Finally

Here is 1998 Topps Tek Pattern 63:

This card has had a wild ride.  I won this card off of Ebay in April.  After a little while, I received a package from the seller, but it contained a Pacific football card and not this card.  I contacted the seller a few times prior to receiving a response.  Eventually we agreed that he would refund the money, plus add some shipping cost for me to send the football card to the correct buyer and that buyer would send me this card.  I attempted to email the other buyer on a few occasions with no response.  Eventually I just sent it off to be rid of it.  I never heard from the other buyer despite repeated attempts to get this card.  After more than a month I received an email from the other buyer.  He told me he sent the card back and that he never received my address, despite the fact that I left my address in every single email I sent.  So obviously he never saw any of my emails.  I then contacted the seller again, making multiple attempts, once again.  Finally a week or so ago, the seller got back to me and told me he did have the card but had been on vacation, which is why he had no idea he had it.  He confirmed my address and sent the card.  So at last, pattern 63 has found its new home.  What a long, strange trip it has been.

Card #79: 1993 Topps #85

YEAR: 1993
BRAND: Topps
SET: Topps
NUMBER: 85
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

My first 1993 card was from Topps.  It was around 1993 that my Sandy Alomar Jr. card started really losing steam.  At one point in 1992, it was clearly my priority, but it would wane in 1993, which would last a very long time.  Most of the reason for that was the constant injuries Alomar seemed to suffer.  He was hurt more often than he was playing.  I always liked the 1993 set, but this card features no action whatsoever.

Sportlots Order

I ordered a few cards from a seller on Sportlots recently.  I ordered five cards but received only four.  The seller refunded the additional amount for the missing card, but this seems to be happening an awful lot recently.  I have had a number of items I just never received.  Oh well, it was not a terribly difficult card to find, so I will just re-order it somewhere else.

1.  1998 Topps Gold Label Class 1.  There are still a few base cards out there I still need.  This was one, though I did have the Black Label version.  The hockey-style mask is a big highlight.

2.  1998 Paramount Red.  The base is the card that I did not get.  I did get the red though which is slightly harder to find.

3.  1998 Donruss Gold Press Proof.  I liked the die-cut cards quite a bit.  Donruss does not do much here, but it works.

4.  1998 Sports Illustrated.  The short-lived Sports Illustrated set from Fleer had some terrific photography.  I love cards of Alomar in full catchers' gear.

Card #78: 1992 Bowman #140

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: Bowman
SET: Bowman
NUMBER: 140
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Nice flat-top, Sandy.  In 1992 Bowman made a big comeback.  This set is still revered to this day for featuring a number of high-profile rookie cards.  Obviously Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera, and others were the big stars.  It would not have been as successful though if the brand had not cut its production significantly.  Bowman was the very definition of an over-produced set through 1991 and they corrected that with this set.  The glossy stock and premium photography help too.  The Sandy Alomar is nothing to write home about, but this was a great set.

Card #77: 1992 O-Pee-Chee #420

YEAR: 1992
BRAND: O-Pee-Chee
SET: O-Pee-Chee
NUMBER: 420
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This was the last year that O-Pee-Chee released a set that was the same as the Topps set.  1992 was the second year that they released the Premier set which was different, but in 1993 and 1994, O-Pee-Chee only released one set which was more like the Premier set.  Anyway, this is Sandy Alomar Jr.'s card from the last parallel O-Pee-Chee set.  It is also the last card from the big card show.