Card #369: 1997 Pinnacle Certified #12

YEAR: 1997
BRAND: Pinnacle
SET: Certified
NUMBER: 12
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

I don't really understand the purpose of this set and the Totally Certified set.  The different-colored parallels are nice but having two sets like this doesn't make a lot of sense.  This is the base card of the lower-end set.  I do like the photo though, with the hockey mask and full catchers' gear.

Card #368: 1998 Pacific Omega #69

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Pacific
SET: Omega
NUMBER: 69
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

Pacific released a ton of sets in 1998.  Omega was somewhat interesting because of the design.  It helped it stand out at least a little bit.  Omega made waves by including Mike Piazza in the set in each of the three uniforms he wore that season.  Of course, that has no bearing on this card.

Card #367: 1998 Topps Tek #27 Pattern 81

YEAR: 1998
BRAND: Topps
SET: Tek
NUMBER: 27
SUBSET: Pattern 81
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

My second Topps Tek pattern of Sandy Alomar Jr. will be known as the "Eye of Horus" pattern.

An Over-Sized Oddball

I recently found one of the Indians Fan Club oddball sets from McDonald's on Ebay.  I did not know it at the time, but these cards turned out to be quite a bit bigger than standard size cards, which did not thrill me too much.  I don't really like really large cards, but this is a card I was able to cross off of my needs list.  And I have a bunch of random Indians cards from this set left over, some of which might even make some money.  I do really like the photo here though.  Nice action shot of Alomar hitting.

Card #366: 2003 MLB Showdown Trading Deadline #4

YEAR: 2003
BRAND: MLB Showdown
SET: Trading Deadline
NUMBER: 4
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

Another MLB Showdown card, this one is from the 2003 Trading Deadline set and features Alomar back with the White Sox.  Unfortunately MLB Showdown did not see fit to include Alomar as a member of the Rockies in the regular set of the year.

A Nice Rare Pickup (Sort Of)

This is kind of the 1997 Finest Embossed Refractor.  Unfortunately this is apparently some kind of promo or prototype as it is not actually embossed.  Oh well, it joins my 1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Gold card which is not serial-numbered.  It is a nice placeholder card until I can get the official one.  More than anything, it is just nice to finally find something again.  This has been a very slow year for my Alomar collection thus far and I am kind of getting frustrated.

Card #365: 2005 MLB Showdown Trading Deadline #28

YEAR: 2005
BRAND: MLB Showdown
SET: Trading Deadline
NUMBER: 28
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Texas Rangers

I love this card.  I never played the MLB Showdown game, but I really enjoyed the cards, particularly since they usually had a lot of lesser players.  Alomar by this time was just a backup catcher and he had very few cards released anymore.  He really only had the Topps Total card with its parallels and an autograph card that featured him in a White Sox uniform other than this card with the Rangers.  And this is the only action shot.  That is why I love this card.

Card #364: 2001 Fleer Premium #104

YEAR: 2001
BRAND: Fleer
SET: Premium
NUMBER: 104
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

This is one of the rare cards showing Alomar on the base paths.  Alomar was not really known for his baserunning ability.  This is also one of the cards that features Alomar in a uniform that does not match the team on the card.  Here we have Alomar in an Indians uniform, but a White Sox logo.

Card #363: 2002 Fleer Tradition #352

YEAR: 2002
BRAND: Fleer
SET: Tradition
NUMBER: 352
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Chicago White Sox

I really like the action in this card.  There are not a ton of action shots of Alomar with teams other than the Indians.  I also like the design on these cards, paying tribute to the 1934 Goudey set.  The flag in the bottom right corner is added in memory of the events of 9/11.

Card #362: 2004 SP Authentic #168

YEAR: 2004
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: SP Authentic
NUMBER: 168
SUBSET: All Star Moments
INSERT: NA
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This was a card from a subset in the SP Authentic set and is serial-numbered out of 999.  These cards were meant to celebrate some of the bigger All Star Game moments.  Alomar, as has been mentioned several times on this blog, hit a home run to win the 1997 All Star Game MVP award off of San Francisco's Shawn Estes.  Roberto Alomar won the 1998 All Star Game MVP, giving the brothers back-to-back awards.

Card #361: 2000 Upper Deck MVP Draw Your Own Card #DT26

YEAR: 2000
BRAND: Upper Deck
SET: MVP
NUMBER: DT26
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: Draw Your Own Card
TEAM: Cleveland Indians

This is probably better than I could do at 9 years old, so I won't say anything about the artwork.  It would be cool to be a 9 year old and have your artwork displayed on a baseball card though, so kudos to little Jason for that.

Another Gallery Auction Card

This is my third different one of these.  The only difference between them is the auction points on the back.  I previously had one for 25 points and one for 50.  This one is 100 points.  I am grasping at straws for new cards to pick up.  Ebay has been very dry lately.  This is just my sixth new card this year, and of them, three have been team cards, one was a card with no foil, and now this one.  Not the most inspiring of new pickups.  It has been frustrating not finding anything lately.  Hopefully that will change soon.  It would be great if he would show up in one of the new sets.  So far, only 2016 Topps has been released and the buybacks seem to stop after 1987 for common players and Alomar is not one of the players Topps decided was a big enough star to do buybacks after 1987.

Card #360: 1989 Sportflics #223

YEAR: 1989
BRAND: Sportflics
SET: Sportflics
NUMBER: 223
SUBSET: NA
INSERT: NA
TEAM: San Diego Padres

It is very hard to get a good picture for this card.  You can mostly see the Alomar picture in this scan, it is just a profile shot.  This is the only Sportflics card Alomar appeared on even though the flash-in-the-pan brand lasted one more year then briefly came back in the mid 1990's.  Alomar appears here on a special rookies card with Gary Sheffield of the Brewers and Gregg Jefferies of the Mets.  All three players would go on to having decent, long careers.