A Sportlots Order Mash-up

A combination of Sportlots.com withdrawal and a little worry about 2018 postage increases led to finally sorting out the mass of cards in my cart and pull the trigger on a couple orders, presented here not by order, but mixed up by theme to a point. During my current Rockies re-organize and entry to tcdb (R.I.P. zislte) I realized all my Denny Neagle cards were boring, this is no longer the case. I have very few 2002 Upper Deck, but now I have the important one.

Top Baseball Parallels of All-Time (as voted by me) 6-10

This is a post that I have been mean to do for a long time and finally just getting around to it. Honestly, I am not overly fond of parallels, for the most part I find them annoying, but I still get sucked in and search out a few, the ones that really catch my eye. So, because I like lists and am lacking an real content, here is my two part, top 10 baseball parallels that I could think of this past week.

10. Upper Deck Collector's Choice - Silver Signature (1995-1996)

Probably the least flashy of the bunch, but the first really baseball parallel I collected, 1994 had them, but 1995 was the first year the border matched the color. I opened a ton of 1995 Collectors Choice SE and always loved pulling a silver parallel, I know the Golds are harder to come by, but I still like the look of the silver better.

9. Fleer Ultra - Gold Medallion (1996)
Ultra had Gold Medallion in other years, but 1996 was the year they went all out, going from a small icon in 1995 to making the whole background gold in 1996. Incredibly gaudy and over the top and oh so mid-1990's.

8. Topps - Red Hot Foil (2014)
Topps did a lot of this style from 2011 thru 2014, they had Cognac, Diamond, Hope Diamond, Gold Sparkle, Silver Slate, Sapphire and a couple I am probably missing, but the Raining Blood remains by favorite. They don't look as good with the Rockies, any red teams like the Angels and Cardinals make for a pretty sweet looking card.

7. 1999 Fleer Brilliants - 24KT Gold (1999)*
This one comes with an asterisk because I don't actually own any of them, numbered to 24 and in pretty high demand, you can have the Larry Walker I stole the scan of for only $299.99. This set was released for baseball, football and basketball and they all go for high prices, maybe the fact they are so hard to find makes people want them more, or maybe they are just really nice cards, hard to say until I actually track one down.

6. Upper Deck SPx - Radiance (2000)
These are hard to judge by the scan, but are very cool in hand. Very swirly and refractory. Limited to 100 and not as high in demand as Fleer Brilliants, but still a little more than I usually like to pay for a parallel.

My First "Too Many" Trade

A long overdue post with a trade from Too Many Manningham/Verlanders, he already posted his side here and here and I am finally getting around to posted what came my way. The coolest card is above, a Topps Stars 'n Steel of Dante Bichette, I have never seen these before, really cool card printed on metal stock. 

Last Trade of 2015

A small 4 card trade to end the year, starting with a sweet Expos painted card of Dennis Martinez and his perfect game. This just shows how nice these painted cards can look when the picture actually looks like the player.

COMRockies (Parallel Madness)

Still working the the most recent COMC package, starting with my favorite card of the bunch, a camo refractor of Rosell Herrera, numbered to 15, these are pretty hard to find for a reasonable price. I am not a huge fan of Herrera as a prospect, but this was too nice a card to pass up.

My Top Acquisitions of 2014

With the end of a year, there are always two things, a chance to look back at the year that was, and lists. Here is a combination of these two things with my top acquisitions of 2014. These are in a sort of order ending with my most favorite, but I decided not to number them as my order would change if I tried to to this again.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Framed Museum Collection Autographs Gold Wilin Rosario - My feels toward Rosario as a baseball player have soured, and he will most likely not be with Colorado when 2015 opens, but there Topps does that is as nice as the Museum Collection metal framed autographs. Scans in now way do these cards justice, they are just amazing.

Almost Acetate Appreciation: 2000 Stadium Club 3x3 Luminious

This is the second time I have been tricked into thinking a card was acetate then it wasn't. Usually when the card back has a mirrored image of the front, it's a good sign. This card is different in that its a regular chrome card, but the sideways lines in the card are actually die-cut slits. A very weird idea on an already weird card, part of the 3x3 Luminous insert set that has a left, right and center (this card being a right) that interlock into each other.  An interesting idea, but one that doesn't do much for me, as I really get annoyed by trying to store cards that are not the regular rectangle shape.

Top 30 Colorado Rockies Cards (7-1)

Here are the final cards with 6 of the 7 being from Upper Deck, in fact cards 2-9 are all Upper Deck releases. I expected UD to have a strong showing, but am a little surprised there was not more Score. 13 of the 30 are Horizontal cards, which I have to agree give better photos, but look like crap in binders. Feel free to leave comments on cards that I might have missed or cards that are to high or low, I would like to come back to this at some point so I will be keeping track and adding to the list and any help or feedback is greatly appreciated.

Breakdown of the top 30 by brand:

Upper Deck: 15

Topps: 9

Fleer: 4

Pinnacle / Score: 2

7. Walt Weiss - 1995 Upper Deck #413

The Rockies new manager and the second 1995 Upper Deck on the list. Just a great photo with a set that focuses on the photo. Bonus points for an Expo sighting.

Baseball Cards Come in the Mail!

A trade package just came in from Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life! who I found though Night Owl's brilliant One Card Challenge post, filling some random needs. My highlight is the 1996 Collector's Choice "Bichette Happens" card from the mulleted Blake Street Bombers era, I still can't believe it took me this long to get this card.