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.