COMRockies

Time to show off some Rockies from the recent COMC package, which included some bigger cards from the mailbox system. First off, a nice on-card auto of Todd Helton from 1998, or the pre-goatee era. Only my second Helton autograph, a part of my collection that is severely lacking.

COMGQSP

Another COMC order arrived, meaning chipping away at my Gypsy Queen sets, starting off with 2011, a set I already finished but found the Rockies short prints for cheap so I added them for the team PC, I don't remember buying the Hanson, but I only paid 45 cents, pretty cheap for a short print.

Heavy Metal Mainiac

A Recent addition from the bay, a Wilin Rosario framed metal card from 2013 Museum Collection. I usually don't bother with the budget-breaking high end stuff, but I will make an exception the odd time, and if I can get my hands on one of these for a reasonable price, I will jump at it. These are super thick metal framed and really need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. For all the things that Topps does wrong, this is an example of something that they do right.

Why I am Still Watching My Team Being Terrible

It been a tough year to be a Rockies fan. After losing 7 straight, and going 6-25 over their last 31 games Colorado is a league worst 40-100 (tied with Texas). Injuries have played a part including using 13 different starting pitchers, and losing Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado, Micheal Cuddyer and now Troy Tulowitzki to stints on the DL. The bullpen is on pace to be historically bad, and things don't look like they will be getting better. Time to look for silver lining, and I came up with six reasons to turn the game on a sit through the mess that is the Rockies 2014 season.

Chance Ruffin has issues

I think the picture speaks for itself.

Acetate Appreciation: 2000 Fleer Tradition Hall's Well

The first thing I thought when I got this card is "Yuck." First off the bad pun of "Halls Well", then the horizontal design or more specifically not taking advantage of it with something other than a generic photo, and lastly the card back making no use of the acetate stock at all. Whatever is on the card back is as hard to read in real life as it is on the scan.

There are 15 cards in this set, inserted into packs of 2000 Fleer Tradition at 1:30 packs, or a little better than one per box, and they are all as boring as the Jeter shown here. As far as acetate insert sets go, this is one of my lest favorite.

TMV Spring Cleaning Loot

 I am a couple weeks behind on things so I am just finally getting around to posting some stuff that has been paying around for a while. This time is some free cards from the Too Many Verlanders spring cleaning giveaway. I managed to scoop up the Rockies and Redskins and was very happy with the results. Starting off with the Rockies card that was visible on the pile, a Carlos Gonzalez 1972 style mini that I needed.

I Got Wood!

I know, super cheesy post title that has been used plenty of times, but I felt the need to use it at least once. The occasion being getting my first mini wood card, a 2014 Gypsy Queen Jorge de la Rosa. I have wanted one of these for a while and finally found one that didn't break the budget. Upon receiving the card I was pretty happy with it, it does have a nice wood texture on the card front making a pretty unique card.

Zistle Trade #25

Another smallish Zistle trade to post, this time highlighted by a minor league card of Brad Ausmus. Ausmus was selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft from the Yankees, but was traded to the Padres before making his MLB debut. The small Rockies logo on his shin guard are enough to add this to the Rockies catchers collection.

Acetate Appreciation 1999 SkyBox Thunder - Turbo-Charged

First released in 1996 by Fleer as Circa, this line later became Circa Thunder and in 1999 was released as Skybox Thunder. Another weird set from the pre-Topps monopoly era, when every company had multiple brands and they had to try new things to get noticed in a flooded market. These Turbo-Charged were inserted at at rate of 1:72 packs, or one every two boxes. A ten card insert set featuring power hitters of the day, the design is fairly nice, but nothing ground breaking, not really doing anything unique with the clear medium. These cards are also very thin, making the card flimsy, something that I really don't like in acetate cards.

Custom Card: 1972 Topps Jair Jurrjens

Meet the 13th Rockies starting pitcher of 2014, Jair Jurrjens was aquired from the Reds Triple-A team and thrown to the wolves, giving up 8 runs over 4 2/3 innings against the Dodgers in his Colorado debut. He gets start number two against the Padres today, so lets hope that goes a little better for him.

Mitchell Boggs - One of Every Rockies Misfit

A card I didn't realize existed until a bored search through ebay for Rockies. Mitchell Boggs shown as a member of my favorite team, the "Colorado Baseball Club". This was pretty easy to miss when it came out as I don't really pay attention to the unlicensed Panini stuff and Boggs only played in 9 games with the "Colorado Baseball Club", probably a case of Panini using up some stickers. After adding this to may massive saved search list, one came up located in Canada with free shipping. I was beyond happy to pay $1.29 delivered for this card.

Canadian Cardboard

After picking up a few team Canada cards the last few months, I was waiting until Canada Day to post them. Then I got busy and forgot to post them, so here it is, one day late,my patriotic Baseball Canada post.

Jeff Francis - Participated in the 2006 WBC, starting one game and giving up 6 runs over 1 1/3 innings in a loss to Mexico.