Pujols Post - 2022 Topps Chrome Platinum

How many times has Topps used the 1953 Topps design on a card of Albert Pujols?  

Probably more times than I can count on both hands. However, the latest card of Albert on a 1953 styled baseball card has been given the Chrome treatment. There are probably only two or three other Chrome Albert Pujols card on a 1953 design, so this is isn't totally overdone. 

Not yet.  

Here is the front of the card.  

So, the artwork on this year's Topps Chrome Platinum set is not the best. What's going on with Albert's beard? Why are half the players squinting their eyes or look cross-eyed?  I guess whoever made the art for these cards at least got the uniform right.  

Also a little weird seeing a Cardinals card with the position of "designated hitter" on the front. The designated hitter is still fairly new to the National League. I thought this might be a first, but it turns out several of the other Albert Pujols cards from the past year also had his position as DH.  The difference being the cards used the abbreviation of DH and did not write it out like this card.  

I did a little digging to see if Matt Carpenter had a DH card with the Cardinals, but does not. They are all third baseman or infielder cards. Albert took over the role that Matt Carpenter had played the previous season. 

Back of the card.  

It's a rehashed design, so there is not much to compliment or criticize here. Albert's career stats are really impressive and speak for themselves. You think they could have come up with a few more facts for the top of the card. Seems kind of empty and there is so much you could say about Albert.  

How's Baseball Season Going?

I am not here to talk about the Cardinals finishing last for the first time since 1990 or any of the horrible roster moves they made leading up to this season.

We could talk about the Durham Bulls?  

They're in first place again at the moment, because it's the end of the year and it's the Durham Bulls. If the past twenty-five years has taught us anything, the team will likely win a bunch of stuff during the next few weeks.  

The banner outside the stadium is about to be out of date.  

I have squeezed a handful of Durham Bulls games into my summer and have a few new players to collect, as well as a few old ones that I need to revisit. One of my highlights was getting to see a rehab start by Rays ace pitcher Tyler Glasnow.  

Really impressive player.  

I actually had seen Tyler Glasnow a few years back while he was with the Pirates Triple A team. He was good enough that I decided to add a Bowman Chrome autograph of him to my collection.  

Nice card.  

Most of Glasnow's autographs are under $20, many are under $10. While I still enjoy the Pirates autograph, I thought it would be nice to own an autograph of Glasnow in a Rays uniform and found one that was really cheap.  

This is the second Stadium Club Chrome autograph I have posted in the last two weeks, with the first coming in a Blake Snell post.  These are really nice cards with good stock, and nice finishing touches.  Glasnow's signature has been pretty consistent throughout the years. 

Great card, a few more Durham Bulls cards this week.  

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.