A Pair of 2013 Tribute Jersey Cards

It's been a busy week this and I am a little bit behind on my posting.  Two weeks ago I started to work on putting together a few cards from the 2013 Topps Tribute set.  I've not opened any wax from this product and probably will not, but I am trying to track down a few nice hit cards to add to the collection.  I've already added a nice Carlos Gonzalez autograph and have a few more pieces in mind to pick up.  Two pieces I've been eyeing are the two jersey cards below.

2013 Topps Tribute Carlos Beltran Jumbo Jersey

 2013 Topps Tribute Adrian Beltre Jersey 

Both cards are "jumbo" pieces of jersey.  There are regular square jersey pieces in the set too.  The relic pieces on these cards are slightly jumbo, but products like Five Star offer a much better version of "jumbo" than this product.  My main interest in these cards are the two players on the front.  Beltran is a given since he is shown in Cardinals jersey, but I have actually been trying to pick up a few of his non-Cardinals cards here and there.  He's had a great career, and while he's not a Hall of Famer, he's been a great player for a really long time.  Beltre has also had a great career, but at 34, he still has a few years left in the tank and has already over 2000 hits, almost 350 home runs, and has won multiple Gold Gloves.

30 Year Top 50: 2001 Pacific Private Stock

#36- I have already made a few posts about this set if you want to take a few minutes to read another post or four.  The set was arguable its my one of my favorites and if my countdown were based solely on my dislikes and likes, this set would probably be in the top 10.  The Private Stock release was the swan song for Pacific in the world of baseball cards.  They bent a few rules in the cards that appeared in the set, but the release was an overwhelming success.

The draw of the Private Stock release was the fact that the every pack had one relic card.  While most people recognized it was the easiest way for Pacific to dump it's entire holding of baseball memorabilia, collectors risked drawing a Pokey Reese bat card versus picking up a patch card of Greg Maddux, Tony Gwynn, or other star.  There were also some cards that broke licensing rules that were highly sought after.  The two biggest were the Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.  I own two copies of the McGwire, but the Sosa has an extremely limited print run (I have heard anywhere from 1 to 5).  No, I don't have one.  See the McGwire here.

Private Stock had two basic types of relics cards.  There were jersey cards:

2001 Pacific Private Stock Barry Larkin Jersey Card

and there were also bat cards:

2001 Pacific Private Stock Craig Biggio Bat Card

Some of the players in the set had only a bat card, some had a jersey card, some had a home and a road jersey, while others featured both a bat and a jersey.

2001 Pacific Private Stock Barry Bonds Jersey Card

2001 Pacific Barry Bonds Bat Card

Cooler yet were the patch cards inserted in the set.  The patch cards skipped around throughout the set. Some of the patch cards are really cool and feature really cool players.  Others are not so great.  For example, as a Cardinals fan I was always a little disappointed that Pacific used Garrett Stephenson as the Cardinals player with a patch.  Not really my favorite player, or even a likable player.  Other teams faired better:  

 2001 Pacific Private Stock Todd Helton Patch Card 

As a collector, if you are looking for a collecting challenge this set is a great amount of fun.  The cards are rather plentiful still and can be easily found on Ebay or COMC.  Since the supply of cards is plentiful, collectors will often trade or sell these cards often and for a small price.  I am still missing some of the patch cards, but was able to buy or trade for almost all the other cards in the set for under $5.  The lone exception was the McGwire card.

Like the 2001 Pacific Private Stock set?  Not in my Top 50 countdown is the 2003 Playoff Piece of the Game set.  There were multiple issues of this set, but I have always liked this issue the best.  Similar to the 2001 Pacific Private Stock, the 2003 Playoff Piece of the Game set (POTG) was a relic per pack product.  However, there were some slight difference in the product.  First, the major difference was the inclusion of autographs in the POTG.  Some of the autographs were duds.   I believe I have a Runelyvs Hernandez running around my card collection somewhere, but there were also some great autographs available too.  This is my favorite one that I own:

2003 Playoff Piece of the Game Frank Thomas Jersey/Autograph

The major drawback of the autographs of course was the sticker.  I still love this card.  There jersey/bat/patch cards had the same cards had the same design as the autographs.  The one really cool aspect of the cards was the jersey picture on the back of the cards.  

2003 Playoff Piece of the Game Adrian Beltre Jersey

I always thought it was pretty cool that Playoff put the picture of the actual memorabilia used for the card on the back.  I guess there are varying degrees of game used and given the recent jersey gate scandal.  Not as cool as the Private Stock set in my opinion, but there are definitely cards worth owning in this set.   

2012 Topps Triple Threads

I have made it through an incredibly busy past week at work and am ready to enjoy a few weeks off with my wife and son.  I am going to catch up with some mailing, trading, and blog posting.  I will be continuing my countdown and ending my second blog contest tomorrow.  In the meantime, Triple Threads was released two weeks back and I haven't had a chance to share yet.

Speaking of countdowns, I could do a countdown of my favorite Triple Threads releases.  It's one of my favorite annual releases of Topps.  There is something for everyone in this set.  Autographs, patches, jersey pieces, low print runs, and really cool designs.  I didn't get a box of Triple Threads this year, but I am tracking down cool singles.

I've got a couple of cool jersey cards tracked down already and have an eye on an autograph or two.  So, I checked out the checklist for Cardinals and Rays to see what was available in this year's Triple Threads release.  The Cardinals set is pretty much a repeat from all the other Topps releases this year.  They have a Jon Jay, Matt Adams, Jason Motte, and Allen Craig.  There is also a Gibby autograph, but I'd prefer to keep my Hall of Famers on card and the Gibson is a sticker.

There are also some David Freese cards in the set that will end up being my Cardinals targets for Triple Threads.  Namely, I would love to add the World Series MVP and Mr. Freese card.  If I could pick up an autographed version I would be really happy.

So, my pick up this week started me off with my Rays.  I received a Desmond Jennings jersey and Evan Longoria jersey, but also got an Adrian Beltre to balance out the trade.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Evan Longoria x7 Jersey "Dirt Bag"

2012 Topps Triple Threads Desmond Jennings x4 Jersey

2012 Topps Triple Threads Adrian Beltre x6 Jersey "Toro Raro"

Longoria actually has a few different jersey patterns in the set this year.  This is my favorite.  One of them mentions Eva Longoria.  Not sure about that.  I was happy that Desmond Jennings was included in the set and actually have another Jennings jersey card on the way that is far cooler than this one.  It will be here in a few days. 

30 Year Top 50: 1997 Bowman

The 49th entry on my list is the 1997 Bowman set.  This set was released at the height of Bowman mania in the late 90s.  You remember the guarantee cards that Bowman used to put in packs offering to buy your set back if it wasn't at least worth $120?  I'm sure the people at Topps and the Bowman brand manager sent lots of care packages over to the people at Beckett.  Seriously, there are several Bowman sets on my list, but some of these sets haven't held up very well over time.

The 1997 set has kind of had a lot of twists and turns over the years in regards to collectability and value.  Upon its initial release the hot and trendy cards in this set belonged to Kerry Wood, Travis Lee, and Miguel Tejada.  All three players made it to the big leagues and contributed something to their teams.  Wood and Tejada obviosuly more than Lee, but there are some other good rookies in this set too.

There is also Eric Chavez, Lance Berkman, Jayson Werth,  and Aramis Ramirez.  The two best cards in my opinion however belong to the only two potential Hall of Fame players with rookies in this set.  Remarkably both cards have flown under the radar for years on card value and repsect with in the industry.  Let's take a look at the two cards.

1997 Bowman Roy Halladay RC

Halladay has the easier case to make in terms of Hall of Fame credentials, so I will get his card out of the way first.  If you are looking to add this card to your collection it will probably cost you around $5 if you are willing to look.  Beckett lists them at $12 and they sell between $4 and $7 on Ebay without shipping.  I acutally prefer the 97 regular Bowman cards over the Chrome.  I am aware that the Chrome card lists and sells for more, but I love the black border of the base set and think over time you will see that feature make these cards a little more desirable for grading.  Dark backgrounds show imperfections easier and make them more condition sensitive.  

Basically, the guy spent ten seasons pitching north of the border and flew under a lot of radars during that time.  He's played for the Phillies for the past three seasons winning fifty games and throwing a no-hitter in a playoff game.  He's not pitched the Phillies to the World Series, as he was brought in to do, but he has a playoff ERA slightly north of two with two loses to Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter.  

Halladay will cross 200 wins this season, or next, and is also above 2000 strikeouts.  Checking his Baseball Reference page  shows that he is already exceeded the Hall of Fame metrics using the Black Ink and Hall of Fame Monitor while he is slightly off with the other two metrics.  However, Halladay is signed for two more seasons and should further improve his overall totals.  A nod should also be given to the fact that he pitched on many third and fourth place Jays teams and still was very successful, and was also successful pitching in that tiny little park in Philadelphia.  On to the next one.

1997 Bowman Adrian Beltre RC

When this card set was released everyone was all over Scott Rolen as the third baseman of the coming generation.  Rolen played great for about seven or eight years.  Rolen hit a huge home run in the 2004 NCLS off of Roger Clemens, possibly should have won the NL MVP that season, and racked up a whole bunch of Gold Gloves.  Then he got run over by Hee Seop Choi, cried a bunch, and got traded around a few times.  About that time, up came David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman and people jumped on that bandwagon too.  Longoria a few years later.

Now, during that entire 15 year span of baseball Adrian Beltre has been a very good third baseman.  Beltre has put up over 300 home runs, 2200 hits, 1200 RBIs, been named to five All-Star teams, won four gold gloves, and finished second in MVP voting twice.  Did I mention he only turned 33 this year?    Take a few minutes to check out Beltre's Baseball Reference page.  Scroll down to the bottom and find the column that shows comparable players and these names appear: Ron Santo, Cal Ripken, Carl Yastrzemski, Al Kaline, Brooks Robinson, and Orlando Cepada.  It's money in the bank that Beltre plays five more years, at least, and the argument for putting him in the Hall of Fame is going to get louder and louder.  Back to the card.

Beltre actually has a whole bunch of rookie cards, including a very tough autographed rookie, that appeared in the Bowman set.  This is a very affordable rookie of a great player and an easy add for any collector.  Honestly, how can you go wrong spending three or four dollars to add a potential Hall of Famer's rookie card to your collection?  

Like the 1997 Bowman set?  Not appearing in my countdown is the 2003 Bowman Draft set.  This set has a similar black card design and some very solid rookies including: Jonathan Papelbon, Robinson Cano, and Ryan Howard.  At this point none of these guys are Hall of Famers, but it's another good addition to your collection.

2003 Bowman Draft Jonathan Papelbon RC