Random Ray - 1994 Leaf MVP Contender

I am trying to only use base cards on my Random Ray posts, but for today I am going to use an insert card. I stumbled across a stack of these 1994 MVP Contender cards a few days ago and felt the need to reminisce in a blog post. These were really popular back in the mid 1990s and were inserted at just 1 per box and limited to just 10,000 copies.  Those numbers sounded super scarce back in the day.   

Not exactly a rare insert after all and these sell for roughly $1 on COMC and Ebay.  

I am going to go ahead and post the more exclusive "Gold" copy of the card, which is even more limited at only 5,000 copies. It's so limited that it will cost you an extra $0.50 to buy it. The Gold copies were actually a redemption card that you could get by mailing Leaf two of the regular MVP cards.  

This feels so exclusive.  

I like the overall design of the card with the National League logo in the back, done in greyscale, with a color photo of Lankford over the top. Maybe I am partial to the red, but I think the bright colors on the uniform actually help this card have a little more pop with the higher contrast. I also have a copy of the Andres Galarraga card from this same insert set, which is a good looking card, but lacks the color contrast with the black and purple Rockies uniform. 

Still a nice card, but you can compare the contrast between the two cards. Andres Galarraga was also briefly a Cardinal in the early 1990s.

I am not always huge on large text, but I actually do not mind the large MVP text on the side of the card.  

The back is a little thrown together with the National League logo tying together the two sides of the card. I like the gold letters on the top and side with the black and gray backgrounds. Good color contrast. I also like the effort on putting a full player photo on the back.  It feels like the just threw it on there. The write up on the bottom of the card is nice making a connection between Ray's 1994 season and Lou Brock's 1967 season. 

Small detail. I like the MLB logo that Leaf used on the side of the card. This is the logo that the players wore on their uniforms during the 1994 season.  

2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 6

It seems like it was just last month when the 2022 Blake Snell Autograph Count was only at 2. Hardly any of the newly added Snell signatures are from this current year. I am having good success in finding autographs from his time in Tampa with low prints runs. These cards were either too expensive at the time of their release, or I just never found one due to print run limitations.  

I do not know why I do not have a copy of this 2019 Triple Threads card of Snell that I found last week. I used to love this product, but have really gone away from it over the last few years. I have been down on sticker autographs, down on relic cards, and the little sayings on the card have gotten weird at times.  

This card seemed too nice to pass up.  

This Triple Threads autograph has a really low print-run at just 9 and it was an auction on Ebay. I really did not think I was going to win it, but here we are. I like the different colored patches on the front with the white piece, striped piece, and solid blue piece.   

The "Early Honors" phrase is explained on the back of the card.  

Neat little factoid about Blake Snell.  

I have seen this stat before. Interestingly, Shane Bieber of the Indians/Gaurdians also won a Cy Young Award in 2020 prior to turning 25 in 2020. The feat has also been accomplished several times in the National League over the past 40 years, with Clayton Kershaw, Dwight Gooden, and Fernando Valenzuela all winning before 25 and Corbin Burnes coming close at 26. 

"The Relics Contained On This Card Are Not From Any Specific Game, Event, or Season"  

Just reminded me of why I do not really care for relic cards.  

The Peak of Good Pitching

Remember that time NC State got eliminated from the College World Series in the middle of the night two years ago?

Yes, it was because of COVID.  

No, don't leave a comment about COVID below.  

Anyway, my Wolfpack reached the College World Series and was in a position to win the National Championship thanks to the efforts of pitcher, Sam Highfill who pitched a shut out against Vanderbilt opposite Rangers first-round pick, Jack Leiter.  

Highfill is from Apex, North Carolina, is best known for its abundance of trains and its cheesy water tower. It's also the town where I happen to live, just a few blocks from both the train tracks and the water tower.  Both are walkable from my house.  

The water tower has some art work on it and is stamped with the words, "The Peak of Good Living" and is located smack dab in the middle of the town. Nobody who lives in Apex is actually from Apex, but local legend has it that the water tower was built first and the town filled in around it.  

Seems plausible. 

Back to baseball. I am not going to rehash the whole reason as to why NC State was sent home from the College World Series at 2 in the morning, but the community rallied around Highfill and the mayor of the town started lighting up the water tower red at night.

Here is the famous/infamous water tower. Note the railroad crossing sign in the foreground.  

While half of that College World Series team is now playing in the Minors, since Highfill was only a freshman, he is still in college at NC State. He missed most of this past season, but did manage did manage to appear last summer in a few games for the USA Baseball National College team.  

The inclusion of Sam Highfill cards is part of the reason I have been opening packs of the USA Baseball cards. Unfortunately, there have been no sightings of good Sam Highfill cards. A few base cards, but nothing too exciting. 

The town of Apex gets a nod at the bottom of the back of the card on the right side.  I like the green frame around the edge of the card and the green box used on the back as well.  More on the use of the color green later in the post.  

I just bought a pair of his autographs from Ebay from less than $10. Highfill is a well-thought of college pitcher, but I am not sure he's high on the board for the MLB Draft. Not quite the same energy level as when Carlos Rodon was at NC State.  

First up, the base autograph. Yes, it's a sticker autograph, which is a bit of a bummer. It is also the autograph of a college kid that cost less than $5. Panini has started using on-card autographs for the college players in Donruss Elite, so I thought they might change the USA Baseball cards too. Guess not.  Do you think that USA Baseball has to pay the college kids for autographs now that they have NIL rights?

Just curious. 

Hopefully Sam got paid some money for signing these cards.  

Notice that Panini went away from the green for this card with only the green bar at the bottom for the team name and another at the top as part of the design around the card brand logo.  

Next up, is a relic/autograph card.  

I like this card much better than the first one. The USA Baseball set has a lot of green included on the packaging this year, as the primary color of both the packs and boxes. Plus, green also shows up on the border and backs of the base cards. Feels like a good move, especially considering that their facility is very green with all of the trees around the field. Green is a prominent color.  

I wish Panini had used the green background on the base autograph as well.  The green on this card also has a star pattern, which actually lightens up the background quite a bit in places. They should have gone simple here and just used the dark color.  No matter, it's still a much better looking card than the first Highfill autograph, but both are welcome additions to the collection.