Random Ray - 1996 Topps Chrome Refractor

I have been writing these Ray Lankford post for the better part of a year and have not really dipped into the shiny part of the collection. Let's put the start date on shiny at 1993 with the first Topps Finest set and there is plenty of overlap between Ray Lankford's career and the advent of shiny baseball cards. Sure, current players have way more than players from the 1990s, but still a good variety to show off.  

I am going to start off with one of my favorites, the very shiny 1996 Topps Chrome Refractor.  

Just an incredible card. This was the very first Topps Chrome set. It's amazing how well this set has aged given that the 1996 Topps set is hit garbage. The 1996 Topps Chrome set has some of the same shortcomings, namely there is no good rookie card. Still, this is one of those years where the Chrome cards look much better than the standard flagship cards.  

The best part of this card for me? I love the way the red on his uniform and batting gloves pop on this card. The red does not look that brilliant on the regular Topps card. 

Back of the card.  

Not a huge fan of these card backs. 

The biggest problem for me is that Topps shrunk the stat box for a blah action photo and a green home plate. What's the deal with the blue horizontal pinstripes? Seems really random.  

Oh, how many different fonts did they use on the back of the card?  

I could go on, but I will say something nice. Topps did a really good job with the write-ups on the back of their 1996 Topps cards. It takes effort to find and write about a good week by a player on a last place team (the 1995 Cardinals were horrible) and tie their season accomplishments to two players who appeared for the team several decades prior. 

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 10

This 2020 Topps Stadium Chrome Autograph of Blake Snell is the 85th Blake Snell autograph in my collection. This was a card that I missed out on during my COVID writing slow down. I do not even remember previously trying to purchase this card. Not really a pricy card either, so I guess it just fell through the pandemic cracks.  

Good looking card.  

Stadium Club is really good at photography and the brand seems to excel at making landscape baseball cards with action shots of pitchers. Look through a set at the pictures of the modern pitchers. So, nice action shot of Snell's follow through in a game against the Red Sox. I like that the batter is looking back at the catcher and umpire, but clearly no ball or strike call has been made. Snell pitched one game in Boston in 2019, which was a 6-1 Rays win. He pitched 6 innings, struck out 7 batters, and the Rays hit 4 home runs.  

The design on the front is solid. The color boxes are a different look for Stadium Club, but they do not get in the way of the picture, which is why people buy Stadium Club cards. Well, it's why people used to buy Stadium Club cards. The little dots around the top and middle of the card are not from the scanner, they are really there. They do not have any texture. I am not sure why, but they seem unnecessary.  

Back of the card.  

Nice stat line and write-up about Blake Snell's 2019 season. It was not a great year for him, but Topps makes it sound nice. Although, the Rays did not help him out very much. Snell only won 6 games that year and his FIP (Fielding Independent ERA) was a run lower than his regular ERA. If you're not into the sabermetric stats, that happens your defense is horrible.  

Anyway, clean design with the picture at the top, stat line at the bottom with the write-up in the middle.  

Blake Snell weighs 215 pounds? A lot of people with that weight this week. 

Upgraded To The Gift Shop Window

I bought a Ben Sheets autograph last week.  

 

This is from the per-pack-autograph product, Upper Deck Ultimate Signatures. 

I have long dabbled in Ben Sheets cards, but rarely post them.  

Last year, I posted a rant about how Ben Sheets name does not appear anywhere at the USA Baseball facility, which is five minutes from my house and I drive past it everyday driving to work. If you don't want to read the rant, Sheets single-handedly won the Gold Medal Game at the 2000 Olympics, but somehow is not recognized anywhere by USA Baseball. Other players who did not win an Olympic Gold Medal Game with an incredible pitching performance are recognized at the USA Baseball facility.  

Well, I recently had the chance to attend a game to watch the College National Team.  

There is actually a pretty significant expansion project taking place at the facility, which includes a new training building. 

Most importantly, there have also been changes to the gift shop, which now features a timeline of important events and accomplishments of the USA Baseball program. 

Look at that. Win a Gold Medal, appear on the gift shop window.  

Pujols Post - 2023 Topps 1988 All-Star

I really hate how much Topps reuses their previous designs in their current card products, but at the same time it is fun to relive some of the sets from my childhood. I had a good time collecting baseball cards in 1988. At some point every week, I would walk a few blocks to Ben Franklin to buy a few packs of baseball cards. 

Fleer was boring that summer with the striped design, but I loved the Topps and Donruss sets. There are so many cards that I love in those two products. My parents ended up buying me the 1988 Topps factory set for Christmas that year too. I opened the box and sorted the cards out over the better part of a week. I had to read all the card backs. I was not just going to put them in numerical order as quickly as I could.  

One of the best parts of the 1988 Topps set was the bright yellow All-Star cards. They're not the 1958 All-Star cards, but they are probably my favorite from the my childhood. Naturally, I was excited to find an Albert Pujols card on this design out of the 2023 Topps set a few weeks back.  

Here is the front of the card.  

Love that yellow background and Topps did not miss on the font colors either. The National League players had the word "All-Star" in blue with the "National League" heading in red, vice versa on the American League players. They even used the tight cropping on the player photograph.  

Well done.  

Here is the back of the card.  

The orange is a little too bright here, but it might be hard to duplicate the original color without the cardboard stock. I thought it was a little odd that Topps used the slugging leaders from a different year other than 2022, considering Albert's slugging percentage was really high last year. 

Then I did a little digging.  

Albert's .550 slugging percentage would have placed him second in the National League if he made enough plate appearances. As a part time player, Albert only took 351 plate appearances (307 at-bats) and did not qualify to appear on the official National League leaderboard for slash line statistics like batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He could still appear on counting number stats.  

Albert lead the National League in slugging percentage three different times during his career with 2006 being his career high, so I understand the decision behind using the leaderboard from a different year on the back of this card.  

Great looking card and you can find it cheap on Ebay and COMC.  

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 9

This 2019 Topps Now Game-Used Base and Autograph card is the 84th Blake Snell autograph in my collection. I have had my eye on this card for awhile and I am glad I finally added it to my stable of Blake Snell autographs.   

Here is the front of the card.  

I don't love scanned encased cards, they rarely turn out very well.  

I took a picture.  

That's better.  

So much to love about this card. Nice action shot of Blake Snell pitching in the 2019 playoffs against the Astros, along with a swatch from a base, and Snell's signature to top it all off.  The card is celebrating Snell's save in Game 4 of the ALDS, which appears to be the only one of his professional career. In fact, this is one of only two relief appearances Snell has made since reaching the Majors. Both were in the Postseason.  

I don't do much with memorabilia cards, but love that the game-used item on the card actually appears to be used. It's at least really dirty.  

 I ran the sticker serial number through the MLB Authentication website. Here is what I found: 

The base was used for Game 3 and Game 4 of the ALDS against the Astros. Both games won by the Rays, who would lose the series in seven games. I am more curious about the fact that Kevin Cash used Blake Snell late in a game to extend a playoff series. 

If only Kevin Cash used this same strategy in the 2020 World Series......

Back of the card.  

Nice action shot of Snell and Zunino shaking hands after the game along with a disclaimer about the game-used base being from Tropicana Field.  

Overall, this is a great card. Glad someone bought it from Topps and resold it to me on Ebay.  

Friday Five: Favorite Adam Wainwright Autographs

It has been really hard to watch the Cardinals this summer. The worst part has been watching Adam Wainwright trying to reach 200 career wins, currently he's at 198. Waino has not been himself this season and I fear he is likely going to fall short of 200 by two wins. 

Rather than dwelling on the negative, I took some time last night to flip through my Adam Wainwright cards. Wainwright has not signed many certified autographs beyond the first few years of his career, which came before I started writing about my cards. I have not really shared any of these on my blog prior to this evening, but thought they would be a fun post.  

Honorable Mention: 2006 Topps Co-Signers Autograph 

Wainwright actually has two autographs in this set. There is a Co-Signers dual autograph card, which also is signed by Anthony Reyes. It would be a pretty sweet add to the collection, just never got around to finding a copy. Especially given that both played an important role in the 2006 Postseason for the Cardinals. I put this card as an Honorable Mention largely due to condition issues. My scanner did a good job of hiding the blemishes, but this is a black card with not-great quality card stock. The edges are a little chippy. However, I do like the Spring Training photograph with Wainwright wearing number 70. 

5. 2007 Topps Finest Autograph 

This is the only card in this countdown that has previously appeared on this blog. I traded for this card back in 2014 and gave it a post. It's a nice card, but I wish Topps had blended the sticker a little better. Nothing worse than a white baseball card with a silver sticker slapped on top. Actually pretty common practice at this time. I did not scan the back of the card, but the "No Pressure" label on the bottom is in reference to Wainwright's Game 7 performance against the Mets in the 2006 National League Championship Series. 

Not a Cardinals fan? Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth inning, and Carlos Beltran up with a trip to the World Series on the line.  

My favorite Wainwright moment.  

4. 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars Autograph 

This is the only Wainwright autograph I ever pulled out of a pack of cards. The 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars was the greatest/worst box I ever opened. I got this Wainwright autograph along with Ruddy Lugo and James Shields. Lugo and Shields were both on the Durham Bulls at the time. I think both cards are now under $2 on COMC these days. My other autographs were Kelly Shoppach and Colter Bean, but did I mention Adam Wainwright? The sticker is showing here, because my scanner is having a really good Friday. Seriously, Upper Deck did a really good job of blending it on the front of this card. The card is also acetate and has some nice front and back features. Maybe another day when I feel like making more scans.....

3. 2004 Bowman Sterling Autograph/Jersey 

This was the first Wainwright autograph in my collection. I picked this up from a local card shop in St. Louis back when I lived there. Relatively cheap as I recall too, less than $20. I might rank this a little higher, but the autograph is partially off the sticker. I have contemplated replacing this card at some point, but many of the sticker autographs on other copies of this Bowman Sterling card are also missing part of Wainwright's signature. It's really hard to do much better than what Wainwright did on this card. The red jersey swatch is a nice bonus. Bowman Sterling is a good looking product, I just wish the autographs were on-card.  

2. 2006 Upper Deck F/X Special Endorsements Autograph 

I like the looks of this card and I also like how Upper Deck blended the sticker autograph. You can barely tell that Wainwright did not sign the actual card. Sticker autographs are a sub plot on this post and this is the best of set of stickers that Adam Wainwright signed during a two-year window early in his career. I believe this was a random EBay purchase at some point in 2006 or 2007. If this were an on-card signature, I might have picked this card as the top Wainwright autograph in my collection. Still really nice at 2.  

1. 2004 Topps Traded Signature Moves 

Good design with an on-card signature, and a complete Wainwright signature. I know a winner when I see one and this is not a sticker autograph.   

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 8

The 2011 Bowman Sterling Autograph is the 83rd Blake Snell autograph in my collection.  

Not many 2023 Blake Snell autographs, so maybe it's time to circle back and check a few older cards off my list. The Bowman Sterling card in this post was a bit of an odd hole in my Snell autograph collection. I I already own two 2011 Sterling Snell's, but both are parallels and I was missing the base autograph.  

Here is the front of the card.....

Snell was selected by the Rays in the 1st Round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school. Topps put Snell in two end of year Bowman products, Bowman Draft and Bowman Sterling. Both Snell autographs are stickers. Both cards are relatively cheap considering that Snell has won a Cy Young and is in contention for a second Cy Young.

Fresh out of high school Blake Snell had a better autograph than the current version of Blake Snell. A few more letters in this signature compared to more recent cards. The picture is a little goofy with Snell wearing a t-shirt and cap, most likely on a back field of the Rays training facility. However, I am sure the  Topps people were also busy trying to squeeze in photos for all ten of the Rays 2011 First Round selections.  

That's not a typo. The Rays had 10 first round picks in 2011 and they botched all of them outside of Snell. Some flamed out in the Minors, some made it to the Majors and weren't that good, and another is serving a life sentence for murder.  

The back of the card features Snell high school stats, which is better than typing "Congratulations" in giant font across the back. Nice write up too. The effort was definitely there on this card. 

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 7

The 2023 Topps 1988 Topps Autograph is the 82nd Blake Snell autograph in my collection.

Before I get to my latest Snell, I am going to encourage you to stay up late for a Padres game to watch Snell pitch before the end of this season. Better yet, find a weekend day game. Snell is pitching great, I dare say he's the favorite to win the National League Cy Young at this point.  

I love the looks of this latest Blake Snell card. The 1988 Topps set does not get enough love. There is no good rookie card in the set, but that doesn't mean that we cannot appreciate its quality design. Love the team names at the top with the simple white borders and diagonal name box.  

Topps stayed true to the original 1988 Topps color schemes with the cards insert and autograph cards in this year's set. I know it seems odd to pair the 1980s Padres brown color scheme that shows up on the player name plate and border with the blue colored team name, but I think it looks good.  

Nice action shot of Snell pitching in a Padres City Connect Uniform.  The pink, yellow, and pastel blue feel like something the Marlins should be wearing.  

Standard Blake Snell autograph centered on the picture and it's on-card.  

Back.  

A little odd here with the player bio information still appearing at the top of the card, but the rest of the card is taken up by Topps' standard "Congratulations" message. The "San Diego Padres" team name that is squeezed between the two is an even odder choice, especially when you consider it did not appear this way on the 1988 Topps cards. The team name is also printed in large font on the front of the card.  

Overall, another quality Snell autograph.