More 90's Parallel Madness

The late 1990's were when parallels started getting out of control.  Of course it has gotten worse since then.  This coincided with a time period when Alomar had his greatest season, so, he had a ton of cards.

1.  1999 Topps Chrome Refractor.  This is of course a parallel of a parallel set.  This was the second year Alomar wo.uld show up in a Topps Chrome set.

2.  1998 Topps Gold Label Class 3 Black Label.  This is a parallel of the third variation of the base card.  I don't really understand the Gold Label tiers honestly.

3.  1999 Invincible Platinum Blue.  The only difference between this and the base card is the color of the letters.  I am thrilled with this card because I bought it in a lot with some other Pacific cards.  The seller did not identify this card as a parallel and it was only through studying the picture that I realized it might be the Platinum Blue version and is serial-numbered to 67.

Card #116: 1998 Aurora Pennant Fever #15

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Aurora
NUMBER: 15
SUBSET/INSERT: Pennant Fever
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is one of the few insert cards of Sandy Alomar I have pulled from a pack.  Some of the Pacific inserts are annoying because there is no designation of title on the cards.  This is one of those.  You have to really know the set in order to tell what the inserts are.  Most of the inserts also have parallels.  Still, I love that I pulled this from a pack because historically I have pulled very few Alomar cards in packs.

Alomar Will Not Manage the Diamondbacks

I guess Arizona went with Chip Hale.  Alomar is still mentioned in the Twins rumors, but that does not seem as likely.  One of these days, he will get a managerial position.  Hopefully soon.

Sandy Alomar Jr. for Manager?

I have long thought that Sandy Alomar Jr. would make an excellent manager.  I always thought that Cleveland would eventually give him the job.  He was the interim manager in 2012 for the final twelve games of the season.  But after the season, Cleveland hired Terry Francona to manage the team, moving Alomar back to first base coach.  Since then, Alomar has been mentioned as a strong possibility for the White Sox, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, among other teams.

Well it is that time of the year again.  Teams are looking for new managers.  Houston, Texas, Arizona, and Minnesota all dismissed their managers going into the offseason.  Houston has hired A.J. Hinch, leaving three teams seeking new managers and Alomar has been mentioned in rumors with the Diamondbacks and Twins.

Today it was announced that Alomar is one of four finalists for the Diamondbacks job.  Jim Tracy, Phil Nevin, and Chip Hale are the other finalists.  I would like to see Alomar get some managerial position or other, and soon.  I do think he will make an excellent manager and it would also mean that Alomar would get some more new cards.  Alomar has not had many cards since his retirement, other than the occasional buyback card.  I would love to see some new stuff start to come out and one of the easiest ways for that to happen would be for him to be named manager.

So, hopefully on Monday when the Diamondbacks announce their new manager, it will be Sandy Alomar Jr.

A Very Interesting Oddball

Some time ago, I added this card:

This is the 1997 Pinnacle Fanfest card of Alomar.  1997 was the season that Alomar won the All Star Game MVP in his home ballpark.  This was only available through a redemption that was randomly inserted into sets available for sale at the All Star Game Fanfest in Cleveland in 1997.  So they were pretty rare.  I was excited to get this card.  However, recently I saw this for sale:

This is the actual redemption card that you could bring in and exchange for the above card.  Now, normally I would not care that much about this kind of item, but this card does feature two photos of Alomar, and they are different from those on the actual card.  Naturally, I had to have it.  It definitely is an interesting addition to my collection.

Card #115: 1998 Leaf #87

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Leaf
SET: Leaf
NUMBER: 87
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I really liked the Leaf design in 1998.  Unfortunately the player selection was not terribly impressive.  Of course that is more of a concern with the Red Sox team set.  For the purposes of this blog, it is enough that there is a Sandy Alomar in the set.  The photo is a little boring, which is too bad since the design is so interesting.

Card #114: 1996 Stadium Club #373

YEAR: 1996
BRAND: Topps
SET: Stadium Club
NUMBER: 373
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Kind of a badass pose on Alomar here.  The arms folded, stern facial expression, plus shot looking up at him with clouds gathering in the distance presents a very imposing shot.  I have the gold foil version, but I am aware that there is a silver foil version as well.  I think that the difference is whether the cards were retail or hobby.  I suspect the gold version was the hobby version.

Invincible

Okay, obviously I am referring to the brand here, because Alomar was hardly invincible as his injury history would attest.  I received this:

1.  1999 Invincible Opening Day.  From the many, many Pacific parallel sets comes this one with a stamp marked Opening Day and numbered out of just 69.  Why 69?  I have no idea.  Pacific was the king of parallels for a few years before ending their run of baseball sets in 2001.  Donruss took over for a few years before giving it up to Topps for good.

Card #113: 1998 Topps Chrome #135

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Topps
SET: Chrome
NUMBER: 135
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I was pretty much on a roll with getting Alomar cards in packs at this point.  That was good at this time because I was not really actively seeking Alomar cards.  I think I only ever bought one pack of 1998 Chrome and managed to pull this card.  Not much to say about it other than that.  It is the Chrome version of the 1998 Topps card.  That's it.

Late 90's Parallels

I bought two separate somewhat rare cards in auctions on Ebay recently.  Here they are:

1.  1998 Bowman Chrome International Refractor.  It is the refractor version of the parallel of the Chrome version of the base set.  So kind of like a third tier parallel.  I liked these cards with the map of where the player was from.  They were always more interesting with the international players too.

2.  1999 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Triple.  These is the version numbered out of 100.  I had never seen one of these before getting this one.

Card #112: 1995 Collector's Choice Silver Signature #273

YEAR: 1995
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: Collector's Choice
NUMBER: 273
SUBSET/PARALLEL: Silver Signature
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I believe I picked up two hobby boxes of this set, mostly in order to find the Red Sox in the set, but I also needed the Sandy Alomar.  Oddly enough, I did not get the base card at all, but I did get the Silver Signature version, which was my first parallel of Alomar that I received in a pack.  It appears that someone beat a throw in to the plate and scored based on the players in the background and Sandy looks a little annoyed.

Another Different Danbury Mint?

How many different versions of this card are there anyway?  The first one I got was a Colorado Rockies card.  Then I found a Cleveland Indians card.  Just recently I saw this Chicago White Sox card.  Is there one for the Texas Rangers?  Los Angeles Dodgers?  Maybe, just maybe New York Mets?  I really hope there is one for the Mets.

Card #111: 1998 Pinnacle Inside #15

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Pinnacle
SET: Inside
NUMBER: 15
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I mentioned in a previous post that I picked up a few of these packs, which came in cans of all things.  Well at this time in my Alomar collection, I was actually picking up a few cards in packs, or cans, in this case.  This is a pretty boring photo, but and interesting design.  Still, the can idea did not take off and Pinnacle was gone by the end of the year.

COMC Order

I have been kicking around the possibility of buying up some cards on COMC for awhile now and the other day the temptation grew to be too much and I bought the bullet.  Then I added a bunch of other cards:

1.  1996 Stadium Club Extreme Players Gold.  I never really looked into what you could win with the Extreme Players contest.  I don't believe Alomar was a winning player in it anyway, so I am not too worried about it.

2.  1998 Pinnacle Inside Diamond Edition.  I picked up a few of the Pinnacle Inside cans when they were new but I never got any of the parallels.  I have no idea how rare they were.

3.  1998 SPx Finite Spectrum.  SPx was always kind of a weird set.  I never picked up any packs but I believe they were pretty high-end.  There were a bunch of parallels too.

4.  1999 Bowman's Best Refractor.  I had the atomic refractor already, which is kind of weird.

5.  1988 ProCards Triple A All Star.  Not many minor league cards left I believe.  There is one: a Wichita card that appears to be a special insert and I have never seen for sale.

6.  1997 Fleer Tiffany.  I think 1997 Fleer Tiffany was much more rare than 1996.  I think those fell one per pack.  But I bought several packs and never pulled a Tiffany.

7.  1999 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Double.  A parallel of an insert.  I also recently picked up the much more rare Triple version.

8.  1997 Stadium Club Members Only.  I am a little annoyed with this card because the Members Only stamp is gone and the front is not any different than the base card.

9.  1998 Topps Gallery Auction 50 Pts.  I have no idea what these did either.  There are other point value cards.  I will keep my eye open.

10.  2003 Topps Chrome Refractor.  I fear that I am running out of easy-to-find non-Indians cards.  Don't get me wrong, Alomar's biggest success occurred with the Indians so I have no problem adding Indians cards, but it is always more fun to add a lesser team such as the White Sox.

11.  1997 Donruss Signature Series Signature Proof.  Another rarer parallel that is one of my first cards in my entire collection, including my Red Sox collection.

Card #110: 1998 Topps #135

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Topps
SET: Topps
NUMBER: 135
SUBSET: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I have not bought a lot of complete sets over the years but 1998 Topps was one of the exceptions.  I found it for cheap, there were a lot of Red Sox that I needed, and there was still the base Alomar card.  1998 Topps is not one of the better designs out there, but the photography was usually pretty decent.  This one is not much to speak of, but that's okay.