Pujols Post - 2022 Topps Heritage High Numbers

It's the end of January and this is just my third post of the year and none of the posts have been on the topic of my baseball card room. I have spent some serious time in there recently working on cards. If only I had time to sit down and write about it.  

This is the current stack of cards that I am sorting out. 

Just loose singles that do not belong to a set. Most of these were organized while I was watching the NC State and Wake Forest basketball game on Saturday afternoon. I went to the women's game on Sunday against Notre Dame.  I should have brought a stack with me to the arena.  

Both NC State teams are good this year. The women's team has been ranked the entire season, the men's team is just outside the Top 25.  

On to the Pujols card.  

Topps has done a really good job with their Pujols cards this year. They have all been good cards including this Heritage card.  

The front of the card. 

Good shot of him clapping for something in the Cardinals dugout. While I was putting this card away I ran across his 2001 Bowman Heritage, which was his first appearance in a Heritage product. I thought the cards bookended well next to each other.  The first card is a black and white photo of a young, clean-shaven Pujols waiting to bat. The final card is in color and shows him on the bench, older with a beard. 

Lots of contrasts.  

I know, I am giving Topps too much credit and they likely did not put that much thought into their 2022 Heritage Pujols card. I would guess that Pujols will also appear in most of their 2023 products. I would be surprised if they did not use him beyond that for autographs and the whatnot.  

Back of the card.  

I love the cartoon on the top of the card. I also love when the player has been around so long that you need a magnifying glass to clearly read the stats on the back of the card. 

Excellent card.  

Pujols Post - 2022 Bowman Platinum

I took an excursion to do some shopping at the local big box stores this afternoon. I really should have taken a picture of the card aisles. They were completely trashed and picked over. There have been so many pictures posted to social media recently of big box store card aisles that are fully stocked and pristine. It's headline news after 2020 when there were grown men risking assualt charges over a box of Topps cards that cost $19.99.   

Maybe I expecting a lot out of my local stores considering the Target next to my house had a snake roaming the canned food aisle last year. 

I pulled an autograph of Matheu Nelson, former ACC Player of the Year at Free Seafood University. 

He went to Florida State, my bad.  

The seafood may or may not be free.  

Anyway, recent retiree Albert Pujols also made an appearance in my packs of Bowman Platinum.  

I like Albert and I hope he has saved up. He's on a fixed income now.  

This is a nice action shot of Albert waiting to hit. It would be nice to see the background, but it's Bowman Platinum. It's one of those sets where the background is swirls and lines, or whatever pattern Topps throws on the card for the year.  This one looks like it was based on the reverse card from an UNO card deck. 

Just kind of broke the post here. Sorry, I couldn't find another headline to fit with the pattern on the background of the card. Should have made the whole thing about UNO instead.  

Love that the write-up on the back gives his numbers against left-handed pitching. Let's face it, Albert was terrible on the Angels because they were running him out there for 600 at-bats a year. Righties and lefties. Meanwhile, the Dodgers and Cardinals ran him out there against lefties and he put together two good years.  

Albert Pujols versus left-handed pitching not only has news headlines, it has YouTube videos with key moments.  

UNO.

Random Ray - 1997 Donruss Preferred

Donruss Preferred were the cards that came in commemorative tins. It was all part of the late 1990s phase where card companies tried to one up each other through stupid packaging. The tins were better than the cards that came in the cans, Pinnalce Inside. Those had horrible packaging and mediocre cards. Donruss Preferred was at least a very nice product.  

Here is a picture of a Donruss Preferred tin. It's not mine, just a picture I found on the internet.  

Here is the 1997 Donruss Preferred Ray Lankford card.  

This a card did not scan very well, so I am going to put up a second picture. 

Such a great looking card with the gold foil card. Not sure this needs a lot of explanation, just a great looking card. The name plate, team names, and brand name are all small with the player picture taking center stage inside the gold frame. Why can't we have cards like this now?  

Back of the card. 

Simple stat line and the color photo are nice. The small write-up is quality, nut the biographical information on the right-hand side seems a little out of place. It's a small thing though.  This is a really nice card.