I Love Oddballs

I happened to check Ebay recently and saw someone selling some random singles from a Padres giveaway set honoring Jack McKeon, aka "Trader Jack".  These cards featured some of the better players that McKeon has traded away as manager and general manager of the Padres.  One of those trades involved sending young star catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., and two other players to the Indians for Joe Carter.  And this is that card.  I love seeing new oddball cards, particularly when they benefit my collection.

Another Buyback?

Well if it is a White Sox buyback, I am there.  This is the Silver Rediscover Topps buyback of the 2006 Topps Update and Highlights card.   It is my first White Sox buyback card and is the last card issued of Alomar during his playing career.  It was a little pricey, but I had to add it.

Caught Up: 2016 Archives Fan Favorites Autograph

I am now caught up.  This is last year's Archives Fan Favorites Autograph.  I already had the blue and red parallels.  For some reason it took until now to get the base version.  Fan Favorites was one of my favorite sets.  I would love for Topps to bring it back, but will settle for the Autographs for now.  It is fitting that Topps used the 1990 design for Alomar as it was his Rookie of the Year season, his most famous season.  His 1997 season was better, but 1990 put him on the map.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1992 O-Pee-Chee

This is the Signature Buyback from the Canadian version of Topps, O-Pee-Chee.  Not Premier, just the regular set.  This one is serial-numbered to 16.  Topps has kind of overdone the 1992 card, it appeared as a reprint of sorts in Archives 65th Anniversary along with an autographed version.  So I see this shot frequently.  Still a nice card though.

Catching Up: 1998 Topps Tek Pattern 78

I posted on a thread for 1998 Topps Tek collectors the patterns that I still needed.  One of the other collectors quickly contacted me and told me he had one of the patterns I needed.  So here it is: Pattern 78.  I now need just seven more patterns to have all 90.  I have a feeling this may take awhile though.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1994 Stadium Club

I am getting caught up.  I just received this a week or so ago.  But I have still been catching up on other scans.  This is my eleventh Archives Signature Buyback and it is the 1994 Stadium Club card numbered to 25.  I picked this one up mostly due to the photo on the card.  Alomar is throwing over the head of a White Sox player (Robin Ventura?) to try to catch someone stealing.  It is a pretty cool action shot.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier

I threw in a barely serious bid on this one.  This is one of the more common of the buyback signatures, if not the most common.  It is serial-numbered to 99 and is from one of the more forgettable sets of the junk wax era.  Still though, it is one more Alomar I needed and I like having a variety of brands.  O-Pee-Chee Premier qualifies.

Catching Up: 2017 Topps Tier One Prime Performers

Earlier on, I talked about buying into a group break for 2016 Topps Archives Signature and getting the 1994 Finest buyback signature.  I decided to try it again on a 2017 Topps Tier One break since Alomar appeared in the set with an autograph and some parallels.  I did manage to get the basic autograph issue, which I was happy about.  It is serial-numbered to 300 and features a very nice on-card autograph.  The best part is that Alomar even signed his uniform number in the loop of the "L" in Alomar.  Just a nice signature.

Catching Up: 2017 Bowman 70th Anniversary Buyback - 1991 Bowman

Yet another buyback from this year.  It would be nice to see Alomar make it into more newer sets, rather than having just a ton of buybacks.  This is from the Bowman set.  I read somewhere that the red foil stamped cards (which this one is) are 1/1s.  I have not been able to confirm that however.

Catching Up: 2017 Topps Rediscover Buyback - 1989 Topps

Here is another bronze buyback from this year's Topps set.  Just like the Archives Signature, I had to add the buyback of Alomar's rookie card.  Plus, it is always nice to add Padres cards.  I like to get the underrepresented teams a lot.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1998 Topps Tek

This one cost a pretty penny, but how could I not jump at the 1998 Topps Tek Archives Signature Buyback?  Especially since it is a 1/1.  The 1998 Topps Tek set is my biggest priority.  For what it is worth, this is Pattern #10.  I doubt that Topps did more than one pattern for this buyback.  This card has absolutely become one of the centerpieces of my Alomar collection, and in fact, I have placed it at the top of my Top 10 Favorites list in a tough decision.  

Catching Up: 2017 Topps Rediscover Buyback 1991 Topps

This year Topps has started making buybacks of more recent cards, which means a whole bunch of possible Sandy Alomar Jr. buybacks.  This was the first one I picked up, the bronze version of his outstanding 1991 base card, featuring a great photo and the Topps Rookie Cup.  I still have to track down the Archives Signature buyback.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1991 Stadium Club

I threw out a barely serious bid on this one and ended up winning it.  I am not complaining at all.  This is a very low serial-numbered card, numbered to just four.  This is also my first Stadium Club buyback autograph for Alomar.  It is a welcome addition to my collection.

Catching Up: 1998 Topps Tek Pattern 8

I have not had much luck on the Topps Tek front lately.  I received this several months ago and have not been able to find one since.  This is Pattern #8 and leaves me just eight patterns shy of having all 90.  They are getting harder and harder to find.  If anyone has one or knows someone that does, I am willing to pay extra to track them down.

Catching Up: 2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary Green Back

I won't bother showing the front of this card, it is the exact same as the base version, which is a reprint of the 1992 Topps front.  This is the Green Back version, serial-numbered to 150.  It is not the most exciting of cards, but it is a reasonably low-numbered parallel.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1989 Topps RC

I had to have Sandy Alomar Jr.'s rookie card from the buyback autograph set.  I have his Donruss Recollection Autograph from Donruss Timelines.  I also have his 1989 Upper Deck buyback, though that one is not autographed.  So I had to add his Topps autograph.  This one was definitely at the top of my list when I first found out that he would be in this set.  Plus, there is the fact that this is a Padres card, just my second one from this set, and most likely the only ones available.  Just a cool card.

Catching Up: 2006 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary

This card was not too exciting.  It is basically a reprint of his 1992 Topps card, though the back is a similar design to the 1975 Topps set.  The real key to this set is getting the autographed versions.  Unfortunately, I have yet to add that one.

Catching Up: 2016 Topps Throwback Thursday

I was really excited when Topps made this Then and Now card as part of its online exclusive Throwback Thursday sets.  These cards were made of the two teams in the 2016 World Series and featured past stars along with current players for each team.  The cards were based on the 1978 Topps manager cards.  Alomar appeared in his third World Series in 2016, this time as a coach for the first time.

Catching Up: 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Red

This card completes the rainbow for the 2006 Upper Deck Special FX set, and gives me all of Sandy's Dodgers cards, with the exception of printing plates.  This card also knocks the #14 card off of my Most Wanted List and the most-wanted Dodgers card.  So this card was a pretty big deal.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 2002 Topps Chrome Traded

This is, without a doubt, one of my favorites from the Archives Signature run for Sandy Alomar Jr.  There were so few Rockies cards of Alomar since he spent only the second part of the 2002 season with them and then was immediately back with the White Sox in 2003.  There are even fewer autographs and relics.  In fact, there might only be two more autographs out of this set.  Plus, this card is numbered out of only three, so it is incredibly rare.  It is also a Chrome Traded card, so it is not just a standard Topps card.  This one is tough to top, but wait a few days for a contender.

Catching Up: 2016 Topps Archives Father/Son

Last year's Archives set featured the first non-buyback cards of Sandy Alomar Jr. since his playing career ended.  On top of the Fan Favorites autograph, there was also this insert that Topps originally used in the 1985 base set.  This features a 1970 Topps card of Sandy Sr. and a picture of Sandy Jr.  There is also an autographed version of this card, but it is extremely rare.  Hopefully this card is a sign that Topps will manage to fit the occasional Alomar card in sets from now on.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1994 Finest

There is actually an interesting story behind the acquisition of this one.  Kind of.  It is not likely that I would have sought this one out.  There were tons of Indians cards.  I do like the fact that this is a Finest buyback, but it is not exceptionally rare, at 25 serial-numbered copies.  But I got it in a group break through Ebay.  I have never had much luck pulling Sandy Alomar Jr. cards from packs.  There were several years that I never pulled any cards, pretty much from the time that I officially started the player collection to the point that it was mostly an afterthought.  I bought into the group break by buying the chance at all Sandy Alomar Jr. cards from Archives Signature from a case.  This was the only card of him pulled, but hey, an autograph is an autograph.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 2001 Bowman Heritage

Up next is this 2001 Bowman Heritage buyback.  It is serial-numbered to 25 and is my second buyback autograph for the White Sox.  I liked this set quite a bit, with the simple, retro design and black-and-white photos.  They look great autographed too.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1990 Topps

Here we have the 1990 Topps buyback autographed card, which is not exceptionally rare as it is serial-numbered to 34.  I actually always liked the colored borders on this card.  This card of course knocks the Padres off of the list of teams that I needed to acquire to get one of each team.  It is not the most exciting of cards, but I have the Padres now.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 1999 Bowman Chrome

Here is the second of my Archives Signature Buyback cards I picked up:

This one is the 1999 Bowman Chrome card.  I am not sure what made Topps decide on the numbers they used for each card.  I am pretty shocked that a Bowman Chrome card would have 50 signed cards whereas a regular Topps base card would have five.  I do like the picture on this card, which is why I decided to pick this one up.  Plus Bowman Chrome is an interesting enough brand for this set.

Catching Up: 2016 Archives Signature Buybacks - 2003 Topps

As I promised last week, I am coming back.  I am going to start with showing off all of the new cards I have picked up in the last nine months or so.

Sandy Alomar Jr. actually started getting some new cards last year.  Many of them were buyback autograph cards from Topps Archives Signature.  I have not gone completely overboard picking them up, but I have managed to add several.

I had a couple of requirements for cards that I wanted to get.  I wanted to cover all of the teams, in particular, the non-Indians teams.  I wanted to get cards that had interesting pictures.  And I wanted to get non-flagship cards.

My very first card from the set fulfilled the first requirement by representing the White Sox:

2003 Topps is not the most exciting of cards to lead things off, but I got the White Sox out of the way first.  Besides, this card is serial-numbered out of just five, so it is rare enough to be a pretty good get.  The signature might have been better if it was in black ink instead of blue, due to the dark background.

Coming Back Soon

I have a number of new cards to show off.  In the meantime, it is a good day to remember that Sandy Alomar Jr. won the All Star Game MVP in the 1997 game in Cleveland.  He was the reserve catcher that season and hit a tie-breaking two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off Giants pitcher Shawn Estes.