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.