Top 5 Cards: Paul Goldschmidt

Set to play in his 8th major league season, all spent with the Diamondbacks, Paul Goldschmidt is coming off one of the best seasons of his career and is once again, proving why he is one of the most consistent players in baseball.

Goldschmidt played for some really bad Diamondbacks teams for many years, but last year there was a turning point when they secured a Wild Card spot and beat the division rival Colorado Rockies in said game. Throughout the entire season, Goldschmidt was still doing what he does best, including finishing in the top 3 in NL MVP voting for the 3rd time in his relatively short career so far (he seriously deserves to win one soon).

I currently have 25 cards of Paul Goldschmidt with all but 1 of them being from 2015 and after. Now, here are my top 5 favorites.

#5 2017 Topps Finest Refractor

If you ignore the result of scanning this card and could see this card in hand, I promise, you'd understand why I put it on the list. The elements of this card are very bold when you see them in person. Whether it be the actual refractor part of the card, the red triangle design, or even the grey Diamondbacks uniforms that may not be well-liked by many, but I personally like them quite a lot as you'll see when I get to card #3 on the list. I didn't like the 2017 Finest design quite as much as 2016, but I must say that the refractors looked a lot better in the 2017 set. And since this card is a refractor card, I had to recognize that it was very well done by having it crack the top 5 on my list.

#4 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen

No, I didn't choose this card just because it's Gypsy Queen (although I did help the cause). I chose this card because despite being just 2 years old, these dark red Diamondbacks uniforms seem like they haven't been worn in well over a decade due to the team changing their uniforms for the 2016 season and again in 2017 when they made some more subtle changes. It wasn't that long ago that Arizona was wearing these red uniforms with the brown Dbacks on the shirt, but after becoming so used to seeing their new jerseys, it seems weird to see them in these "old" uniforms. I was never a big fan of these Dbacks jerseys, but Gypsy Queen pulled off the card in a way only Gypsy Queen could. So, it really wasn't just Gypsy Queen that made this card good, but the jersey as well as the nice image choice of Goldschmidt that puts this card at #4.

#3 2017 Bowman

I said that card #3 would help me explain why I actually like these Diamondbacks uniforms quite a bit. Please, hear me out, I know that they tinkered with the jerseys back in 2016 and eventually came up with these slightly-dark grey road uniforms with a faint amount of red trim on the sleeves and pants. I happen to think these jerseys look very clean and are a fresh, new take on what jerseys could look like someday for a couple of teams. Yes, I think there's room for improvement, but they did a nice job overall at providing a nice contrast to the much uglier home jerseys they wear. This is a huge testament to how much I like the jerseys, because 2017 Bowman was not a favorite set of mine, though not terrible. It kind provides a neutral card design for the picture to be able to stand out on which helps the cards case at making the list in the first place.

#2 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Purple Parallel

It seems like nearly every card on this list shows a different Diamondbacks jersey, and this purple parallel from 2017 Gypsy Queen is no exception. I wanted to choose between this card and the base card for the list, but ultimately, I decided that Topps did such a nice job with the purple parallels that it deserved to be recognized. The 2017 Gypsy Queen set was very much a transition year for the brand as a lot of things changed. One thing that was introduced was base card parallels. They had mini parallels in the past but hadn't expanded much past paper frames in terms of base card parallels. Therefore, considering that (I believe) these were the very first base card parallels in the brand's history, I think Topps did an excellent job pulling it off which is why this card made it so high up on the list.

#1 2017 Topps Heritage Blue Chrome Refractor

This low-numbered card (numbered out of 68 for 1968 Topps) was one of my major hits from 2017 Topps Heritage, and it's not even a relic or an autograph. This blue chrome refractor easily became my favorite card of Paul Goldschmidt as soon as I pulled it out of a pack about a year ago. Topps incorporated the blue into the 1968 Topps "burlap" design very well and made it look like it was part of the set in the first place. It includes the sky backgrounds that were widely-used in 2017 Heritage. However, in this case, the blue on the border and the blue in the sky look very nice side by side and help contribute to the overall card. I have built up and added to by Paul Goldschmidt collection over the last year, but my favorite card today remains my favorite card from 1 year ago, and that card is the blue chrome refractor.