Top 5 Cards; Ryan Zimmerman

Just a couple of hours ago, the Washington Nationals' 2005 first-round draft pick and mainstay of the franchise, Ryan Zimmerman, hit the first World Series home run in club history.

The team was just coming off a move from Montreal to the U.S. capitol and, for a long time, their win-loss reflected their inexperienced roster. They didn't have a winning record until 2012 when the next big Nationals rookie, Bryce Harper, made his MLB debut.

Nonetheless, Zimmerman has stuck with Washington through the good and bad for well over a decade. He's had his ups, like hitting .303 and making the NL All-Star team in 2017, as well as his low points such as his injury-plagued 2016 campaign.

He's spent his entire MLB career so far with a single team, something that has become increasingly rare in today's game. It's whether this feat will continue that's still up in the air.

Zimmerman had just 171 at-bats during the 2019 regular season, the fewest in his career since his September call-up back in 2005. Though he's come up big in the playoffs, I don't foresee the Nationals exercising the 35-year old's $18 million option.

That said, I've heard Zimmerman state that money isn't on his radar this offseason. Whether Washington wins the Fall Classic or not, this team and these players have a bright future ahead of them.

Whether he earns $18 million or $1.8 million in 2020, I expect the 2-time All-Star to remain with the Nationals until he retires.

One of my largest active player collections, I've amassed 77 Ryan Zimmerman cards since I started collecting him a few years back. Behold, my favorite 5.

#5 2009 Topps Heritage

I promise, my love of the 1960 Topps design was not the only thing that influenced my decision to include this card in the top 5, though it certainly helped.

Rather, the card shows how much Zimmerman has changed over the last decade and a half. Both he, as well as the Nationals' logo and uniform, have evolved since this card was made back in 2009.

Thus, I suppose the card can make one nostalgic for 2 different eras, 1960 and the late 2000s, which is a pretty neat thing about Heritage.

#4 2018 Topps Stadium Club

No matter how many star players continue to emerge from the Nationals' organization (Harper, Rendon, Soto), Zimmerman will forever remain the first superstar in franchise history, and he'll always be a fan favorite in D.C.

Look no further than the "ZIM!" sign in the background of his 2018 Topps Stadium Club card. Given the crowd's reaction in the background, I can only assume that he's just hit a walk-off.

#3 2018 Panini Donruss Holo Green Parallel

The combination of the green parallel with the red color of Zimmerman's 2018 Panini Donruss card makes me think of Christmas time, but there's more to this card than those 2 colors.

For some reason, this card stands out to me among the average design of most Panini Donruss sets. The holo green parallel certainly helps with this, but so does Zimmerman's alternate uniform and the timing of this photograph.

I'm sure that most collectors if they looked through my Zimmerman PC, could find a couple of other cards to put at #3 instead of this Donruss parallel, but there's just something unique about this card that influenced my decision.

#2 2015 Topps Gold Parallel

The more polished the Topps Flagship set, the more polished the parallels, particularly the golds, will appear. Because 2015 Topps remains the greatest base design of the century, the product's gold parallels pair excellently with the base design.

The photo of Zimmerman in his 2015 card is an action shot just like the 2018 Panini Donruss card. As much as I try to look past logoless cards, I'll admit that the MLB licensing helps this card out a ton and picks up where the Donruss card is lacking.

#1 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Ryan Zimmerman

I don't think I've ever seen the Nationals play in this uniform, but after seeing this card, I really want to. Sets like Upper Deck Masterpieces and Topps Archives are perfect for special and unusual jerseys, and this D.C. uniform certainly fits the bill.

Plus, the attention to detail in regards to this card is just unreal. The photo, which features Zimmerman in the on-deck circle, is taken from quite a unique angle, something that we rarely see on Baseball cards.

Currrently, the Nats are on top of the Astros 5-3 at the top of the 8th inning. I'm not necessarily rooting for either team. I just want to watch an action packed World Series.

Whatever happens, I know an insanely talented team is going to win it all.

Polar Opposites

A little over a week ago, I received an email from Jon of A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts, telling me that he had a card for my 2019 Panini Prizm project that he wanted to send my way.

Though I was determined to find something to give back in return, he insisted on sending me this card and didn't want anything in exchange for it. I sincerely appreciate this act, Jon, though I'll make sure to find something for you in the coming months.

Anyways, when his letter arrived in the mail today, I had some idea of what to expect. Sure enough, I opened it up and was greeted by a red mojo parallel of Gary Carter, numbered out of 299 copies.

Out of the 2-dozen plus parallels in this 300-card set, I'd have to rank the red and blue mojos near the top along with the donut circle cards and the burgundy shimmer refractors.

Aside from Bowman mega boxes and Series 1, 2, and Update silver packs, Topps doesn't do anything with mojo refractors, but I've seen my fair share of them in Panini Prizm and Chronicles Baseball along with a ton of Basketball and Football sets.

Moreover, Carter is one of a handful of retired players featured in this set, and the photo Panini chose is perfect because I never would've guessed that the card is unlicensed.

I would've been more than happy with the Carter parallel alone. After all, Jon didn't ask for anything in return, and I need all the help I can get with this project.

However, he sent one more card my way, something that couldn't be more different than the Carter parallel but a card that I was absolutely stoked to get.

A couple of weeks back, I purchased my first 1952 Topps card from my LCS, a Cubs card graded by PSA at a 3. Now, thanks to Jon's extreme generosity, I have a card from every single Topps Flagship set.

Ever since the debut of the Topps Living set, I've become fonder of 1953 Topps. I only have a card or 2 from the online exclusive, but the details are unlike any other set, licensed or unlicensed, produced nowadays.

Having my first '53 Flagship card in-hand, I see wh Topps puts so much emphasis on the details in the Living Set. After all, that's what they did 66 years ago when they didn't nearly have as much technology as they do today.

Considering how long it takes me to complete sets that I already have a reasonable number of cards from, it would be nearly impossible to complete the 1953 Topps Flagship set.

That said, I'll keep my eye out for singles in the future because now that I have one of these cards in hand, I have an even greater appreciation for these beautiful cards.

Thanks again for the cards, Jon. This was a much-appreciated surprise.

Frankenset Page #67

It's been almost 2 weeks since the last post in my frankenset series, for no particular reason mind you. Now that I've finished recapping Sunday's trip to the Baseball card show, I figured this was the perfect time to resume.

Picking up where I left off, page #67 ventures into the 600s by featuring cards #595-603. After this post, just 7 pages remain in the series.

I don't usually like to make the frankenset page intros very long, so let's get right into things with the first card from page #67.

#595 1974 Topps Steve Blass

1974 was the 10th and final year of Steve Blass' major league career, though he barely pitched that season at all. Despite being an integral part of the '71 World Championship team, Blass was washed up just 2 years later, posting a 9.85 ERA through 89 innings pitched in '73.

It seems he just lost his ability to command his pitches, something his Wikipedia page claims also happened to Dontrelle Willis and Daniel Bard. Nonetheless, Blass retired after pitching just 5 innings in '74.

#596 1982 Donruss Bryan Clark

The only card on this page not from a Topps Flagship set, the 1982 Donruss set remains one of my favorite base design in the brand's history along with '85. 

Though I have a few scattered singles, I've never been able to amass a large number of these cards, nor have I tracked many down for my player collections. I'm pretty fond of the design, especially when paired with the uniforms of the early 1980s.

#597 2015 Topps Matt Shoemaker

Seeing "Future Stars" spelled out in foil at the top of Matt Shoemaker's 2015 Topps card reminds me of how recent his MLB debut was, despite being 33 years old. 

Even though he made his debut while in his late 20s, Shoemaker has had a respectable career, but his 1.57 ERA through 29 innings pitched with the Blue Jays this season brought him to another level.

Unfortunately, injuries cut his potential Cy Young award-winning 2019 season drastically short, but I'd love to see him come back just as strong next year. I do not, however, know what he plans on doing.

#598 1980 Topps Fred Kendall

Among the many types of cards that I found while searching through bins at the show last Sunday was a stack of 2011 Topps Platinum Diamond Anniversary parallels of which I purchased 4. 

Among the cards which I didn't buy were a couple of San Diego Padres' parallels where the players were wearing the same jersey that Fred Kendall has on above. The combination of this retro jersey with a flashy and modern parallel was certainly odd, but I must say that I'm a fan.

#599 2011 Topps Travis Ishikawa

Truth be told, I didn't even remember that there was a 2011 Topps card on this page until after I wrote the blurb about the set's parallels above. Seriously though, this set featured memorable parallels, legend SPs, terrific photography, and Mike Trout's iconic rookie card. 

More so than any other Flagship set, 2011 was the most iconic Topps product (as in Series 1, 2, and Update) of the decade, though I stand by that 2015 was the greatest design of the century.

#600 1977 Topps Jim Palmer

Of course, all the cards in my frankenset that end with -00 or -50 usually feature superstars and Hall of Famers. The 500th card in the set, for instance, was a 2016 Topps card of Albert Pujols, one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game.

Now, for the final card ending in -00 in the entire set, we have a fabulous 1977 Topps card of Jim Palmer. Thanks to the dark background, Palmer's orange jersey illuminates more than on a typical card. This, along with the yellow font that spells out "Orioles," makes for some unique color choices.

#601 2015 Topps Wade Miley

Ever since he left Arizona, Wade Miley has been a journeyman of sorts, playing for the Red Sox, Mariners, Orioles, Brewers, and, now, the Houston Astros. He truly revived his career in Milwaukee, and it seems to have continued into 2019, for I believe he's on Houston's ALCS roster.

Miley was only in Boston for one year (2015), the transition year between 2 consecutive last-place finishes and, eventually, a streak of 3 straight division titles.

#602 1970 Topps Ted Savage

I didn't' go as crazy with Topps Heritage in 2019 as I have in years past (ahem, 2017), so I find that I'm not burned out on the 1970 Flagship design like I was for the past few releases.

Rather, I still find the original 1970 Topps cards incredibly interesting, no matter how simple they may seem by today's standards. In 2019 Topps Flagship, you wouldn't look twice at a card like the one above, but there's something about vintage Topps that can elevate almost anything.

#603 2008 Topps Blake DeWitt

Last up, another of my favorite Topps Flagship sets, especially as far as modern releases are concerned, 2008. If the 2015 design is my favorite of the century, then 2008 is right behind it with 2011 coming in at #3.

The colors used for the team names are an excellent contrast to the white borders while the photography, just like the 2011 Flagship design, is stellar. They used a range of different images, resulting in one of Topps' better efforts over the last few decades.

Well-Priced Oddballs Galore; Card Show Recap #24 Part 3

I didn't head into Sunday's Baseball card show with as high of a budget as I do when I head to the monthly or bi-annually shows in my area, but I ended up with a variety of cards that rivaled these larger shows.

After passing some time with the dealers that I chat with each time I'm there. I ventured back into the separate room where I bought the Prizm parallels and 3D cards at the beginning of the show.

The vendor made an excellent offer on that group of cards, and he had about a dozen 4-row boxes of cards that looked promising, so I had an idea of where I'd be spending the rest of my time and money.

Usually, boxes of mixed sports cards that aren't priced wouldn't draw my attention, but the prices and variety of the first purchase made me hopeful. These bins were one of the craziest things I've ever seen at my local show, and I couldn't wait to start searching through them.

There was no rhyme or reason involved in the organization, so I simply chose a bin and got to looking. This led to 1/2 of a row devoted solely to 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter hot box cards back when they were silver glossy parallels as opposed to this years' gold foil.

Though I purchased my fair share of '18 Ginter, both packs and individual cards, I never came across a single of these parallels until Sunday's purchase where I found a surplus to add to my player collections.

None of the cards were priced as marked, so I still have no clue what I paid for each individual card. Instead, I just made an offer on a lot, and the dealer accepted it, leading to some incredible deals.

For some reason, many of the hot box parallels featured Cubs and Astros players, 2 teams that are heavily represented in my active player PCs. Though I missed out on Rizzo and Altuve, I'd say I landed most of the big names from the 2018 Houston and Chicago teams.

Seeing this design in person only makes me wish that Topps brought it back for '19 Ginter as well. The gold foil cards are nice looking, but I wouldn't choose them over the glossy silver parallels.

I haven't found any information about this TCMA set from the back of the cards, but they were even more common than the Ginter hot box parallels. Because the vendor was reasonable and there were a ton of cards of players I collect, I picked up a reasonable number of these vintage oddballs.

It seems like the set is from the late 70s or early 80s based on the cardstock as well as the players in the checklist. Most of these guys stopped playing in the early 1970s, leaving a few years between their retirement and the release of this TCMA product.

Whenever it's from, these cards will be excellent additions to my retired player PCs, particularly the card of Lou Brock on the Chicago Cubs.

There was also a selection of green-bordered cards from what appears to be the same set, though pitchers and sluggers are included in this portion.

Most of the players whose cards resembled the ones above were legends from the early 20th century, but there were a couple of names from the 70s just like the 9 above.

When I hear other bloggers or card collectors talk about oddballs, Hostess and Kellogg's are almost always mentioned, but one of my personal favorites, Drake's, is often left out.

An annual release throughout the 1980s, Drake's Big Hitters featured the greatest sluggers in the game in 1 set, usually in a checklist around 30-35 cards. The designs differed slightly each year along with the selection of players.

Looking more closely at the Boggs card, I believe I already have it in his PC, but the Rickey Henderson from '87 is definitely a new addition.

One day, I'd love to find an entire bin, or at least a row, chock-full of these terrific 2002 Topps Archives Reserve refractors, but I'll take anything that I can get from this set for the time being.

These gorgeous reprints combine my 2 favorite things about baseball cards; vintage designs and chrome refractors. These 2 aspects are drastically different, yet when they come together, you can't think about Al Oliver's original 1982 Topps card without a chrome refractor finish.

Chrome cards were also one of my favorite parts of the 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen set as they appeared in a 3-card hobby exclusive box topper.

In addition to the one box of Gypsy Queen that I opened, I tracked down a few more of these singles for my player collections via the show, including the Joey Votto card above. The serial numbered versions, like the Miguel Cabrera blue that I pulled, are unbelievably beautiful.

Deviating slightly from the chrome cards that I had previously spoken of, I'm transitioning to the 2 cards of Ken Griffey Jr on the Chicago White Sox that I picked up on Sunday. After all, it's not every day that you land a card of a player who only had 131 at-bats for the team their shown to be playing for.

In addition to the base card from 2009 Topps, I found the Walmart exclusive black parallel which looks awesome with the Chicago home uniform on the foreground. Griffey Jr is one of my largest PCs, so this duo of White Sox cards will be excellent additions to an extensive player collection.

The Platinum Diamond Anniversary and Cognac parallels from 2011 Topps significantly upped the appeal that regular Series 1 & 2 had.

Though I understand it would be challenging to do something like this every year, I bet Topps could've figured something out for 150 years of professional Baseball instead of choosing a boring gold stamp and calling it a day.

I didn't buy any packs in 2011, so my selection of these terrific parallels is somewhat limited. I was, however, able to change that with the addition of these 4 cards, 1 for the Cubs PC and the rest for player collections.

Last but certainly not least, a want list pickup that was hidden amongst the vintage oddballs and shiny parallels; the Houston Astros team card from 1979 Topps, featuring the entire team in front of the Astrodome.

I don't think I could've ended on a higher note, especially considering the huge variety of different cards that these bins delivered.

Needless to say, I'll be visiting this vendor as soon as I run into him again.