April Showers Bring May Cards: 2013 Update

A combination of some extra cash laying from a contract job and a sale at Blowout obviously equals buying cards. Nothing crazy exciting, but it's always nice to open some packs, get some new keepers and traders, and have something to show off here. Starting with probably the least exciting, a hanger pack of 2013 Update. I always like Update and the real draw here was the chance at pulling a Nolan Arenado rookie. 

Just when you thought I couldn't post any more of these

A pretty exciting addition to the collection, joining the 2013 Ramon Hernandez rainbow, the black printing plate used to make the cards. I know the magenta has been pulled and sold on ebay before I started this project and is probably stashed in someones collection, and I had all but given up finding one of the other three, so I was trilled just to get 1 of the 4, and who knows maybe the rest will pop up eventually.

Set Help From Zistle

More activity on the trade front from Zistle.com. Not the usual Rockies and Randoms, but mostly set help. The lone Rockies card was a Joe Girardi from 1993 Flair, which was the first real attempt at a high-end set, before everything was autographs and patches. I remember the Hockey version of Flair coming in cardboard packs instead of the regular wax, pretty impressive for 1993.

Buckstore Trade with more R's than a Pirate Ship.

Catching up on a trade post with Sportscard From The Dollars Store bringing in the 3 R's, Redskins, Rockies and Roughriders.. His side of the trade already posted here. After pulling a decent Senators card I was hoping it was needed at Buckstorecards, and it was. In return I got a black border Reid Brignac, not only is it a lovely black border parallel, but it catches me up on my Rockies frankenset.

First Ever Rainbow (or Way Too Many Ramon Hernandez Posts)

A pretty big moment in my collecting career, I finally finished the 2013 Topps Ramon Hernandez rainbow. The final tally checks in at 14 cards, not counting printing plates. Above you see the Orange factory set parallel numbered to 230 beside the Gold numbered to 2013.

Final Trade of 2013

The last post of 2013 featuring the last trade of 2013. A mix of stuff from the wantlist via Zistle. The above Ellis Burks was almost on my 30 best Rockies card list, and is a welcome addition to the Rockies binder.

Zistle Trade #14

A quick little trade, some 2013 Topps inserts in exchange for some Series 2 from my wantlist, including a Tyler Chatwood to finish off the Rockies and a catcher card for Hector Sanchez.

A Couple Thoughts on 2013 Topps Update

Among the sets that I look forward to the most, Update is right up there, and always has been. Since my early days of collecting I always looked forward to year end sets with rookies and traded players with their new teams. This years Update really doesn't do much for me at all though.

Postives: From what I have seen Topps did a really good job with selecting photos for this years set, lots of throwback and alternate jerseys. Yup, that's the list.

Negatives: My biggest complaint this year is the checklist, focusing on the Rockies because that is who I collect, 5 out of the 11 base cards are "new" or updated (first Rockies flagship cards) players. Part of this is because of the 4 All-Star cards, which do little for me, but that is more personal preference, I really don't need 2 more Michael Cuddyer base cards. As for the other players, Christian Friedrich has been on the DL all season and has not thrown a pitch in 2013, his rookie card is in last years update so I really don't see the point in including him (Michael Pineda also fits this category). Reid Brignac was let go by the Rockies in May, signed with the Yankees, was let go by them in June, then spent the rest of the year with the Rockies AAA team on a minor league deal, yet he has a card in update, as well as a Silk parallel for some bizarre reason. The worst is Rafael Betancourt, who had a card in Series 2, and has another card in Update with a very similar photo. And how did they not include Munenori Kawasaki, I am not even Blue Jays fan and I am pissed off by this.

A 2x3 PWE

Plain White Envelopes don't show up here very often, but a much welcomed one arrived the other day from Jeff at 2x3 Heroes. A couple 2013 Topps Series 2 to check off the list including a Gold Tulowitzki Chasing History, I really love how this design works on the vertical cards, the horizontal versions don't do much for me, but the vertical ones are among my favorite inserts of 2013. Justin Morneau goes into my small, but growing, Team Canada collection, along with a few base for the set, this package along with a few others that just arrived leave me 21 cards short of the set. A big thank you to Jeff for helping me out with my Series 2 list.

2013 Topps Update Wishlist

A Short list of what I, as a Rockies fan, would like to see in 2013 Topps Update .

Michael Cuddyer Autograph - A 2013 National League All-Star, Cuddyer has not had a certified auto since 2009. For a guy that has had articles written on how nice his autograph is (link), it's a shame he doesn't have more examples out there.

Jon Garland - As a fan of Garland, I was pretty disappointed at how short and unproductive his Rockies career was. He hasn't been with Colorado since early June, but if we can get Jamie Moyer in 3 sets last year long after he was released, I hope we can get at least one of Garland this year.

Edgmer Escalona - This was a make or break year for Escalona in Colorado and injuries combined with lack of performance probably has spelled the end to his Rockies career, but can we please get a card of the best player in MLB history named Edgmer.

Josh Outman - A left-handed reliever who has been solid out of the Rockies pen this year, but more importantly, we need a card in 2013 of a guy in the old-school sturrups.

Roy Oswalt -With a less than impressive 0-4 record and a 7.64 ERA before his injury, this has not been a good year of Oswalt, so this might be a possible sunset card.

Adam Ottavino -  A workhorse reliever I profiled with a Topps Total custom in May, can pitch multiple innings and has saved the Rockies bullpen with 79 innings pitched in 2012, and so far in 2013 has thrown 71 innings with a 2.79 ERA.

Nolan Arenado - Has had Bowman cards since 2010, but still doesn't have a "true" rookie card. After making his MLB debut in late April I would be shocked if he's not included in update.

2013 Orange Rockies Catchers

Another installment of 2013 Topps flagship parallels. This time it's the orange border from the Factory Set, numbered out of 230. These are challenging the pink borders for the ugliest version of flagship, and look even worse with the Rockies purple in the design. This brings me up to 12 different versions of the 2013 Ramon Hernandez and a pink parallel should be making it's way here via the COMC mailbox service to complete the rainbow.

2013 Topps Flagship Trade / Want List

2013 Topps Series 1, 2 and Update

  Updated Mar 26, 2015

Want List

Base: 507

Emerald: 337 Chris Iannetta, 375 Wilin Rosario, 532 Todd Helton

Chasing History Relics: CHR-TT Troy Tulowitzki Series 2 Bat Relic

Cut to the Chase: Carlos Gonzalez

Update 1971 Mini's: 1, 2, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 21, 24, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 50

Trade List 

Base: 17, 39, 42, 78, 82, 83, 93, 103, 149, 168, 169, 170, 185, 186, 211, 214, 240, 265, 279, 290, 298, 302, 310, 340, 345, 347, 349, 353, 364, 367, 370, 380, 393, 400, 402, 411, 412, 423, 425, 428, 429, 434, 436, 438, 444, 455, 461, 471, 481, 488, 489, 490, 493, 498, 508, 524, 528, 535, 546, 550, 558, 560, 569, 575, 582, 591, 603, 617, 634, 642, 653, 659

Emerald: 24, 175, 409, 459, 530

Gold: 64, 33, 407, 471, 620, 659

Target Red: 186 Pacheco

1972 Mini: 84 Ryan Howard

Black: 521 Evan Scribner

Calling Cards: 9 R.A. Dickey

Chasing History: 15 Willie McCovey, 81 Cliff Lee, 91 Joey Votto,

Chasing History Silver Foil: 14 Lou Brock, 30 Adam Dunn, 47 Willie Mays, 51, Kipnis, 59 Fred Lynn, 74 Musial, 77 Clemente, 86 Roy Halladay, 87 Lance Lynn

Chasing History Relics: Phil Niekro (Series 2)

Chasing the Dream: 14 Pomeranz, 15 Niese

Making Their Mark: 9 Skaggs, 12 Zack Cozart, 20 Bundy, 24 Manny Machado

2013 Topps Series 2 Box Break & Review

Kind of a weird box break as I didn't actually break this box myself. This box was won as part of Beckett's Box Busters Live after it was opened on a live stream. So a huge thanks to Beckett and Chris Olds for the cards. On to the review.

I used to hate Series 2, I hated that players that have spent the entire season with their new teams were still airbrushed, I hated that players that have moved on to new teams were still shown with their old ones, and I hated that a large part of the checklist has already been seen in either Opening Day or in the packaged "Team Sets". Of the 13 Rockies cards in Series 2, 12 are from the team set and 2 of these were also in Opening Day. The only new card is Ryan Wheeler, who is Photoshopped into a Rockies uniform. Chris Nelson is present in the Rockies set and hasn't been with the team since he was DFA'd on April 28th and has signed with and been cut by both the Yankees and Angels since then. Missing is Jon Garland who made the Opening Day rotation.

But those things don't really bother me anymore, I have come to terms with what Series 2 is. It is not an update to Series 1, it is Series 1: Part 2. As much as I would love a mid-season update set to bridge the gap between Series 1 and Update, which are released about 9 months apart, Series 2 is not that set. Once I came to that realization, I was at peace with Series 2.

What Series 2 does is continue on where Series 1 left off, with a solid base card design that is honestly one of my favorites of the last 20 years, and the photo selection makes for some great base cards. The parallels work very well with the design, even if some of the color choices are questionable. While I hate the 1972 Minis for both the awkward size and design, the rest of the inserts are great. The "Chasing it Down" inserts are gorgeous, as are "The Elite" on high end, thicker stock. The "WBC Stars" checklist is smaller than I would like, but the inclusion at all is appreciated.

I was also impressed at getting zero doubles in the box, leaving me very close to the base set. Overall, this product comes across as a quality release, and not just because these cards were free, but because it won me over as a former Series 2 hater.

Here is a breakdown of the box:

Base: 293 of 330 = 89% complete (No Doubles)
SP Photo Variants: 0
Black: 1 (521 Evan Scribner)
Gold: 5
Emerald: 5
Chase It Down: 4
Chasing History: 9
1972 Minis: 9
Making Their Mark: 6
WBC Stars: 5
The Elite: 2 (Babe Ruth, Joe Morgan)
Chasing History Relics: 1 (Phil Niekro)
Cut To The Chase Die Cut: 3

Things from Denver 2: 2013 Topps

Along with the Larry Walker bobble-head, there were some baseball cards in the care package from Denver. What I am guessing was a hanger pack of Topps Series 1 with a nice card I didn't even notice until entering it into Zistle. A jersey card of Curtis Granderson. A Will Middlebrooks gold card is probably the second best card in the lot. I avoided flagship this year to focus my budget on Gypsy Queen so this is a nice little sampler. More on 2013 later this week with a huge mailday.

2013 Topps Series 2: Just the Catchers

Something I have been meaning to do for a while is to break down just the catcher cards from sets, it's something I do anyway, I am just taking the time to post it now. I am leaving out cards of catchers batting, so no Evan Gattis, just cards that might land in the catcher binder. Starting off with John Buck, Buck is the only catcher allowed to custom paint his mask. This card does a poor job of showing it, a major disappointment for me considering how awesome his 2011 Topps card was.

Small Sportlots April 2013

Another small Sportlots order, I noticed the seller lowered the price on the Toys 'r us Purple Ramon Hernandez, probably the hardest to find of the retail parallels, so the search began to find more cards to even out the shipping. I can't believe I didn't pick up the 2011 Gypsy Queen of Gary Carter in an Expos uniform until now, I love seeing Expos jerseys in newer products. I already had the Craig Counsell base but not the foil, that completes the Craig Counsell Rockies Rainbow. Jim Abbott was a player I collected as a kid and didn't have a card of him with the Brewers until now, it fits into the "pitchers batting" collection and is my first 1999 Upper Deck card. Brandon Inge fits into the catchers with hockey masks collection featuring a pretty decent paint job on his 2000 Just card.

Ramon Wrapper Redemption Rainbow

Two separate eBay auctions merged into one post. Part of the quest to complete my first rainbow, the 2013 Flagship of now former Rockie and current Dodger Ramon Hernandez.

Pretty nice cards, I overpaid for the blue thinking they would be hard to find, but for cards that are reportedly limited to a print run of 150, they are very easy to find for reasonable prices. They don't scan great, but look really good in hand, similar to the emerald green parallels. I thought I made out ok with the silver as it's limited to ten and only 2 have shown up on eBay so far. The silver is a framed border, think Gypsy Queen framed parallels, and looks really nice with the name and the logo having an etched look, really simple and works well.

Small Sportlots Mailday

The ongoing saga of the 2013 Topps Ramon Hernandez rainbow continues with a reasonably priced camo parallel numbered to 99 from sportlots. Along for the ride were a few randoms for the wantlist to make shipping cost per card a little more reasonable. A Drew Pomeranz numbered to 199 from Bowman Sterling, I really like the looks of this set, they don't scan great but look really nice in real life, Chris Cowell and Jordan Pacheco go into the Rockies Catcher collection, Pacheco is a part time catcher so it's nice to get a card of him in catcher gear, even if it's a spring training shot from the terribly ugly Finest set. The Neely is a throwback to my youth as he was the first player I ever actively collected, and finished off with some 2012 Gypsy Queen photo variants that I already had, but were too cheap to pass up and are added to my GQ tradelist.

Blown Budget Mailday: 2013 Topps Platinum

We have a new record holder for the most I have spend on a single card. This is the first true 1 of 1 I have ever owned (I don't count printing plates because there are 4 of them), the thrill of the bid on eBay got the best of me here. It's a card I was pretty sure to never see again, but not being a huge fan of Ramon Hernandez, I could have lived without it. Interesting note, as far as I can tell Hernandez is the active leader for homer runs by a catcher with 160. There are have been trade rumors all winter, so I have officially jinxed Hernandez to either get traded or have a terrible year.

Between this, MLB 13: The Show and saving for 2 boxes of Gypsy Queen in April, March will be a slow month for card purchases other than chasing the rainbow on this card, I already have the Black and will be on the lookout for the rest of the parallels and maybe try and get a frame display or something for them.

Group Break Loot

I haven't had much luck with group breaks and this one wasn't the lucky winner, a bunch of base and 2 Drew Pomeranz "Chasing the Dream" inserts was all 2 Jumbo Hobby boxes got me. While the boxes of Topps were not kind, Cardboard Collections was, adding a large pile of Rockies to the package. Some nice parallels including an Emerald Pomeranz Bowman Platinum that was at the top of my mental wantlist, an new card for the Iannetta collection and what could be better than a purple bordered Rockies card. The rest of the box was full of Stadium club Rockies, most of which I did not have. Thanks for the break and the extra cards!