I'm Fine With The Expos

In my new tradition of not buying current products, I skipped doing much with this year's Topps Archives product.  You know that they always have great autographs in that set though, so I had to go check out what was available on Ebay.  The Cardinals selection was underwhelming, but there were former Cardinals in the set wearing other uniforms. 

They are in the Expos Anniversary Set. 

I'm fine with the Expos.  It's not like it's the Cubs Anniversary set, but even then, if it's the right Cardinals player I am going to go for it.  Let's check out the cards. 

This is Ken Hill's second appearance on the blog this week.  Personal best for writing about Ken Hill.  Solid starting pitcher during the 1990s, he actually made his Major League debut as a Cardinal, but was traded to the Expos after a few years.  Hill's best years were as an Expo, so it's probably pretty fair to put him in an Expos set.  Although, I am not sure how many people would associate him with that team? 

This guy is definitely an Expo, or maybe a Rockie. 

Nobody remembers Andres Galarraga playing for the Cardinals, and I have a feeling that if you asked Andres about it he would prefer you forget about it too.  Not his best year.  Interestingly enough he was traded to the Cardinals for Ken Hill.  Kind of connects my two former Cardinals cards here.  Hill ended up getting traded back to the Cardinals, Galarraga went on to hit a lot of home runs and win a batting title or two with the Rockies.  

All the Expos cards in the Topps Archives set are on the 1969 Topps design.  There are also non-autographed versions of all these cards.  Might have to get the Bartolo Colon Expos cards, not willing to shill out for the autograph.  

Adding To The Title Wave Of Set Posts.....

I know that there have already been several blog posts in 2019 about different set projects that I am working on at that moment.  It feels like the number is higher than two, but I am going to post a third one today.  It's not only a post about a set project, but it is a brand new set project.  Fresh off the presses.

At some point in December, I sat down and wrote different ideas for set projects I could work this year.  It was a good list and there were several good ideas in a notepad on the desk in my office.  Unfortunately, my two year old daughter colored over all of the pages in purple crayon and ripped out the other pages.  It was a good list, I remember most of it.  The first set on the list was the 1998 Donruss Preferred Title Waves set.

The cards look like this:

It's a die cut insert set.  I have tried to track down on the ratio for these cards, but I do not think that they were very difficult to come across based on the availability of the cards, the price, and the fact that there 30 cards in the set with almost 2000 copies of each card.  That's 60,000 cards.  

I best remember this set as the cards that came in tins.  I think I used to have some hanging around the house, but I am fairly certain they fell victim to a Goodwill run.  Not my picture, but the packaging tins looked like this.....

Thanks Ebay for the picture.  Each tin had a different player on them.  There were different sized and different colored tins, but that's not why I am here.  

There are thirty cards in the set with each card featuring some sort of accomplishment connected to an award or accomplishment of the player on the card.  The card is then serial numbered to the year that the event, or accomplishment took place.  The card at the top celebrates Andres Galarraga winning the 1996 National League Home Run title, so the card has 1996 copies.  

I have a good chunk of the set, but there is really no rhyme or reason to what I own.  I feel like these are cards that I have found in cheapie bins at card shows and the whatnot.  I found a copy of the Manny Ramirez card in a top loader with a $0.50 orange sticker attached.  

The card actually looks like it has been sitting in the sun or something.  Might have to replace this card.  Checklist with the cards I have highlighted red.  

1 Nomar Garciaparra 1997

2 Scott Rolen 1997

3 Roger Clemens 1997

4 Gary Sheffield 1997

5 Jeff Bagwell 1997

6 Cal Ripken, Jr. 1997

7 Frank Thomas 1997

8 Ken Griffey, Jr. 1997

9 Larry Walker 1997

10 Derek Jeter 1996

11 Juan Gonzalez 1996

12 Bernie Williams 1996

13 Andruw Jones 1996

14 Andy Pettitte 1996

15 Ivan Rodriguez 1996

16 Alex Rodriguez 1996

17 Mark McGwire 1996

18 Andres Galarraga 1996

19 Hideo Nomo 1995

20 Mo Vaughn 1995

21 Randy Johnson 1995

22 Chipper Jones 1995

23 Greg Maddux 1995

24 Manny Ramirez 1995

25 Tony Gwynn 1995

26 Albert Belle 1995

27 Kenny Lofton 1995

28 Mike Piazza 1993

29 Paul Molitor 1993

30 Barry Bonds 1993

In all, I have 19 of the 30 cards, which puts me just north of 60% of the set being completed.  I think the biggest challenge in completing this set will be the fact that I need to find a lot of the "big name" players from the late 1990s.  It's going to take some patience to find most of the remaining cards, maybe not Mo Vaughn, at a good price.

For example, there are several copies of the Griffey card floating around on Ebay, almost all of them are around $20 or higher.

and if I just wanted to finish off the set and cross it off the list, I could go buy one of these cards this afternoon.  It would probably be at my house by the weekend.  Same with the other cards I am missing on the checklist.  However, I feel like I am likely going to go the auction route on several of these cards.....

An auctioned copy of the Griffey card.  No, I did not win this one.  I did not even bid, but a difference of $18 is worth a little time to complete this project.  Add in that I am still putting the finishing touches on my Topps Glossy Mail-Ins, and I am going to give myself until April to finish this project off.  

A Post About Cats Part 2

I am not a really a cat person.  There are a few cats in my life, not many.  Here is my run down.  

Cats at work.  Love those food wrappers.  

Cats at the zoo.  

Cat Barber, who was the subject of the original post about cats.  

A song about cats

Grumpy cat

and The Big Cat 

I am not specifically trying to collect the long time Expos, Rockies, and Braves first baseman.  He did appear as a Cardinal for one season in 1992, which was not the best moment in his career.  I still enjoyed watching him play for the Rockies and Braves after he left St. Louis.  So, why collect him at this point?  

First, I actually picked up two of these cards....

This second card is the white parallel, with a print run of 199, and the top is blue with a print run of 150.  At this point, there are two other reasons for my small Big Cat collection that I have been assembling over the past year:  

First, I really enjoy the fact that Topps has put some of the 1980s and 1990s players in their products over the years.  Always fun to look back at players from your childhood and teen years.  

Second, I never really had a problem with the Expos even though they were in the Cardinals division for a long time during the 1980s and early 1990s.  Kind of harmless in many ways outside of a few years in the 1990s while the Cardinals were terrible.  At this point, since the franchise does not really exist, many of the cards of their former players have become fun to collect.  There just a few put out every year, but it's nice to see players like Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, and Andres Galarraga back on baseball cards.  

Expos Sweetness

There is something I really miss about having the Expos around baseball.  The Nationals are not really the same thing.  For most of my childhood, the Expos were in the same division as my Cardinals, and while they had some really great players, they were never dreaded or hated the same way as the Mets and Cubs.

The Expos were the lovable team in the National League.  If you team didn't win, but the Expos won it was really hard to be upset.  As a Cardinals fan, they didn't beat the Redbirds in the standings often, but when they did there was really nothing to be upset about.  Add in the fact that the Expos had really awesome uniforms and some really great players and you've got some great cards to chase down as a collector.

I specifically look out for a few players who appeared for both the Expos and Cardinals, as well as a few former Montreal players who were just fun to watch.  One of my favorites was a fairly memorable Expo who had a forgettable year as a Cardinal.  I am talking about the Big Cat....

Andres Galarraga has a bunch of Cardinals base cards from his time on the Cardinals and nothing else since that time.  Cannot say that I blame the different card companies for skipping him with the birds on the bat.  His 1992 season, spent with the Cardinals, was easily one of his worst year's of his professional career.  Luckily, card companies have celebrated his time with the Expos.  

My latest Galarraga comes out of this year's Topps Tribute set.  This is a great looking baseball card....

As usual, the Big Cat has a great signature.  The card stock and finish on these cards is really nice this year too.  I like the Expos pictures too with both a still shot and action shot in the background make the card pop.  The other feature I kind of like on the card is the years of his career in the lower right hand corner.  Pretty cool feature to help out younger collectors who may not necessarily remember Galarraga as a player, or weren't around for his time as a player.  

Another sweet Expos card makes me a very happy collector.  

Big Cat's Lost Year

I did not touch any packs of Topps Archives Signature this year, but I do have a few cards from the set that I have picked up over the past month or two since the product first hit the shelves of my local card shop.  There were some interesting selections in the set as far as Cardinals cards go since most of them are probably better known for wearing some other uniform.  Take it a step further, their Cardinals years were not very kind.

There are four of them, and I do not have them all yet, but I am getting close.  I am going to start off tonight with my favorite out of the bunch...

The Big Cat.

Galarraga only spent one season on the Cardinals and broke his hand on a hit by pitch in one of the first games of the season.  He never quite recovered and had one of the worst seasons of his career.  The Cardinals let him go, the Rockies signed him, and the rest is history.

Obviously the majority of Galarraga cards in the set are Expos and Rockies cards, but Topps always manages to squeeze into Archives Signatures those brief stops during a player's career that's fans my not always remember well.  I am not sure how many people remember Big Cat on the Cardinals, and even though it was not his best year, I have always liked Galarraga and am happy to own this card.

The Minty Big Cat

This is seriously a card product that people buy?  5 cards for $1,250?

That's steep, so the cards have to be incredible right?  Absolutely.  I love how they look.  I also love the fact that I bought one of a really good player for $9.99.  Considering you have to average $250ish per card to break even I am not liking the odds of getting anywhere close to your money back if you buy a box of "The Mint"

Sounds kind of snooty.

Well, the cards are really really good looking at least.  This is my $9.99 autograph.

There is a little chipping on the bottom of the card, but for $9.99?  I am really happy with this card.  I know in yesterday's post I promised an autograph of Andres Galarraga in a Cardinals uniform which this is not, but I promise the next time I write the words Andres Galarraga and autograph in the same blog post it will be accompanied by a picture of an autographed card of him wearing a Cardinals uniform.

A Venerable Old Card Part 29

Last year I picked up a "pack" or box of Topps Archives Signature while I was at a card show in Raleigh.  I pulled an Andruw Jones autograph that just happened to be a 1/1.  Sounds pretty cool, but it was not a card of Braves Andruw Jones.  Nope, it was the worst version of Andruw Jones you could possibly imagine:

Dodgers Andruw Jones.  

I know a few Dodgers fan and I feel pretty safe in saying that Andruw Jones is a four letter word to most of them.  So, in spite all of the great things this card has going for it:

• It's an autographed card of Andruw Jones
• It's an Allen & Ginter card
• It's a 1/1
• Have I ever mentioned that Andruw Jones has a very nice signature?

Throw out all of those positives.  The correct answer for teams that Andruw Jones can have a card for are: Braves, Yankees, and maybe the White Sox.  Although the White Sox one feels like a bit of a stretch too.  Which brings me to this week's card.....

I went looking to see what Cardinals cards were available in the Archives Signature set after it hit the card shops a week or two back.  After scouring the trade groups on Facebook and the auctions on Ebay I have are Dennis Eckersley, Eric Davis, Andres Galarraga, and Mark Mulder.  

If you are not a Cardinals fan that sounds like a decent list of names.  If you are a Cardinals fan and remember the contributions of those players you probably feel a little bit let down.  This is actually the second year in a row that Cardinals fans have had a list like this to choose from in this product.    

A quick run down:

• Eric Davis- I love Eric Davis, but he was at the end of his career as a Cardinal and was only a part time player at that point.  1999 was a bad year, 2000 was really good with a .303/.389/.429 slash line.  Still, he had a lot of other good years that Topps could have used that would probably be a bigger draw to collectors.  As a Cardinals fan, I have a bunch of Eric Davis autographs.  They are all Reds cards and I am cool with that.  
• Eck - He was also at the end of his career.  The two years he spent in St. Louis were his worst as a relief pitcher and he was upset at the fans towards the end of his time since they booed him for blowing saves.  
• Mark Mulder - He won a World Series ring with the team in 2006 by sitting on the bench after his shoulder fell off.  Not his fault, but the Cardinals traded for him and he never made a serious contribution to the team winning.  
• Andres Galarraga - The Big Cat was brought over to be a power hitter for the Cardinals post Whiteyball era.  Manager Joe Torre and hitting coach Don Baylor supposedly knew what had caused him to regress in his later years as an Expo and were going to turn him around.  He broke his hand in the third game of the season, played poorly during the first half of the season, but well enough for Don Baylor to take him to Denver when the Rockies hired him as their manager.  

Every team has players like these.  Good names with good careers, but for whatever reason they never worked out in that place.  As a Bulls fan, Rays fans will shake their head with approval over this name being in this category, I often think of Hideki Matsui.  

After some contemplation I have decided that it would actually be pretty cool to own a few more Cardinals cards of one of these players.  I am pretty sure that all four of them have appeared in this space at different points over the last few years, but more than likely they were cards of them wearing the uniform you'd most likely associate them with: Eck and Mulder with the A's, Davis as a Red, and Galarraga as an Expo and Rockie.  

I have to say though, I have always really liked Andres Galarraga and have a pretty nice run of his cards in my collection.  In fact, one of my favorite 1990s autographs is his Stadium Co-Signers card with Larry Walker.....

two former Cardinals with really nice signatures.  This is just an awesome card.  There are other cool Galarraga cards around my boxes of cards outside of this one, but almost none of the cards I own of Galarraga feature the Big Cat with the birds on the bat.  

I know he has about a dozen Cardinals cards in all.  The first card of his that I ran across when I started writing this post was this cool 1992 Bowman card.  

I am not sure what is going on with the wind breaker, but I am sure if his arms weren't going across his body there is probably a Cardinals logo or something there somewhere.  Those pants are weird considering the team had abandoned the polyester uniforms at the end of them 1991 season in favor of the button up unis.  Pretty much the same thing they wear now.   Since there is a batting cage in the background perhaps Andres wore some old pants around the ballpark pre-game.  

Not sure that Galarraga in a Cardinals uniform is as cool as say Piazza in a Marlins uniform, but I am going to track them all down.  Some of the standard sets that I collected every year in the 1990s like the Topps base set are already somewhere in my collection, but there are several other Galarraga Cardinals cards that were in other sets that I did not touch.  I need an autograph too.    

So, here's to a few more Andres Galarraga cards in a Cardinals uniform

High Tek Big Cat

I feel like I have been moving in slow motion this month on cards.  I have had four snow days now this week and am finally using one today to catch up on things that I want to do, like baseball cards.  I have scanned about a dozen cards this morning, uploaded some pictures, sorted out a few stacks of cards, and even put a few things into boxes.  My wife is happy about that last one.  After I was finished I had my choice of cards to write about and decided to go with this cool Andres Galarraga card.  

The Topps High Tek set was right up my alley and I have done so little with picking up much from this 90s inspired product.  When I first started this blog, it's almost been three years now, one of my first projects I undertook was to complete a Topps Tek set.  It was not too difficult to accomplish outside of one pain in rear Jason Kendall card....

Topps released other version of the Topps Tek set, but none of them held a candle to the original 1998 version which featured 90 cards with 90 variations of each card.  Seems ridiculous, but I love them.  The latest version of the Tek product is really similar to the 1998 set in appearance and features loads of cool on card autographs.  I have picked up several autographs from the set already including a Jason Heyward and Oscar Taveras, but I am also want to work a little bit on some of the cool 90s names in the set too.  The Big Cat definitely fits that category.....

1997 Donruss Signature Andres Galarraga Autograph

Every good Rockies hitter over the twenty years of the franchise's existence has undergone the same scrutiny over whether they are a thin air hitter or a hitter everywhere.  Dante Bichette was a Coors Field hitter and so was Vinny Castilla.  There are also players on the Rockies that hit everywhere.  Larry Walker, Todd Helton, Matt Holliday just to name a few.  One of my favorite early Rockies players was Andres Galarraga who signed with the Rockies after a disappointing stint as the first baseman for the Cardinals. 

1997 Donruss Signature Andres Galarraga Millennium Marks Autograph

To be fair, Galarraga actually broke his wrist after being hit by a pitch during the home opener playing for the Cardinals.  He sat a couple of weeks, rushed back to the field and hit a whopping .186 with 2 home runs before the All-Star Break.  After a few days off at the break, Galarraga would hit .296 during the second half of the year with 8 home runs.  Sure the power numbers were off, but Galarraga would end up catching the eye of Cardinals hitting coach, Don Baylor, who ended up managing the Rockies.  The Rockies signed Galarraga as a free agent that off-season, while the Cardinals traded for batting helmet tossing HOF Gregg Jefferies.  During the following season in 1993, the Big Cat would pace the National League with a .370 batting average, 22 home runs, and 98 RBIs.  Galarrage would go on to have five or six more solid seasons playing primarily with the Rockies and Braves, but he bounced around to the Giants, Rangers, Expos, and Angels.

Of course, I added this Galarraga autograph primarily because he appeared with the Cardinals, but I also always enjoyed watching him play.  He was a great hitter during his prime and was a really good defensive first baseman.  Probably not a Hall of Famer, but he's not that far away in my opinion.  Galarraga has several autographs floating around with most costing less than $20.  

30 Year Top 50: 2001 Topps Heritage

#2- The 2001 Topps Heritage set is an absolute masterpiece on cardboard.  While, it's not my number one set on my countdown I had a long debate about putting this set up one more notch from where it sits at #2.  The concept of the Topps Heritage set is simple: start with the 1952 Topps card design and issue a set of modern cards following the design, photography, and overall set up of the set.

1952 Topps Johnny Lipon

Topps would end up resizing the cards from their 1952 size to fit the mold of the 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 modern card size.  The rest of the set would follow the 1952 set to a tee.  Both sets were 407 cards which included short prints in the first eighty cards of the set and the high numbered cards at the end of the set.  The first eighty cards in both sets were also printed in both black and red blacks.  While most cards in both sets featured red backs, the variation on the backs gave collectors something extra to track down.  

2001 Topps Heritage Andres Galarraga 

In my opinion, Topps did a fabulous job of recreating the 1952 cards onto a modern piece of cardboard.     One of my favorite features on the 1952 Topps cards are the pictures.  I am not sure how to create that effect with a photograph, but 50 years later many of the cards in the 2001 Topps Heritage set could fit in with the 1952 Topps set.  Really, before this set was issued Topps did not do enough as a company to highlight it's history within the industry.  While they can be annoying with the history thing at times now, they had not worn it out when they released this set.  The Andres Galarraga card above is a low numbered short-print with the black back.  The low numbered short prints are not as short-printed as the high short prints, but they can be a little bit tricky to track down.  

2001 Topps Heritage Edgar Renteria 

The cards in the middle of the set are referred to as the "commons" of the set.  They obviously are not very difficult to find on the secondary market and can be found in large lots often if you are looking to complete the set.  While they are not as valuable or as rare as the rest of the set, I still love looking through the commons just to look at the cards.  Most of the Cardinals cards in the 2001 set are in the "commons" group which lessens does lessen the monetary value of the set, but it is one of my favorite Cardinals team sets that I own.  Will Clark and Eric Davis in a Cardinals uniform is cool, but I also like some of the horizontal cards like this Edgar Renteria.  

2001 Topps Heritage Jeff Conine

The high number cards in the set tend to be the tougher finds and were seeded at a rate of 1:2 packs, or 12 per box.  In other words, it took several boxes of Topps Heritage to assemble a complete run of high print cards.  However, the boxes for this set did not stick around very long and collectors were generally forced to trade or buy their way to complete this set.  Some of the high numbers are common players, some are mediocre, and there are several stars which are difficult to find.  What makes a great set?  This Jeff Conine card was the last short print I needed to finish this set off several years ago.  I found a copy of the card on Ebay, watched it, and at the last minute tried to buy it.  I ended up spending almost $10 on a Jeff Conine card.  The high number short-prints in this set still sell at premiums and several of the cards have dried up.  

2001 Topps Heritage Cal Ripken

In my opinion, there are three tough high numbered cards: Cal Ripken, Mike Piazza, and Manny Ramirez.  Those three cards rarely sell for less than $10, but can push $20 if you are trying to use an auction site and the bidding gets competitive.  However, I think most people that have assembled this set have run into a card or two that was surprisingly difficult to track down, or cost a little bit more than they had anticipated.  

2001 Topps Heritage Fernando Vina Autograph 

The Topps Heritage set also featured a strong set of inserts that the Topps has generally run throughout the Topps Heritage line over the past decade.  One of the most exciting parts of the Topps Heritage release every year is the autograph list.  There are usually some really good signatures in the sets and the cards certainly carry a premium over some of Topps other autograph issues.  I actually originally owned two of these autographs, but decided to downgrade a bit after cashing out for $1,100.  Currently, I own a Fernando Vina autograph from this set.  I know it does not really seem impressive, but the autographs in this set truly carry a premium.  Most Fernando Vina autographs sell for less than $5.  This Fernando Vina autograph rarely sells for less than $30-$40.  In fact, I thought about looking for a Sean Burroughs autograph after he played for the Durham Bulls a few years ago, but after fidning that the cheapest copy was $50, I decided I really did not need one.  Imagine what good players sell for, if you can even find them.

Overall, an outstanding set and worth your time to pick up a few for your collection.  This set is an excellent challenge for the persistent and the completed set is awesome to look through.  In my opinion, the best product that Topps has put out during my time collecting baseball cards.  

30 Year Top 50: 1991 Topps Stadium Club

#27-The next entry in my countdown was one of the great innovative products during my time in collecting and the Topps answer, two years later, to the release of the Upper Deck sets.  The Stadium Club set was released and hailed as Topps high end set.  The packs MSRP topped Upper Decks at $1.25 per pack for Series 1, but the cards often sold for more than that.  Series 2 climber even higher to $2 a pack.  At the time though the cards were worth their price.

1991 Topps Stadium Club Jim Abbott

The cards arrived in foil packs, just like Upper Deck, and had edge to edge pictures that featured either great action shots of the players or very nice portrait style photography.  Even though it took Topps two calendar years to answer the bell on creating a "premium" baseball card to match Upper Deck, it was well worth the wait for many collectors.  Two of my favorite cards are pictured here.  Above, I have always loved this Jim Abbott card.  The one handed pitcher for the Angels had a unique way of making his physical limitations work and still perform as an above average Major League pitcher.  This card captures his pitching motion perfectly.  Below, is a picture of Ozzie Guillen wearing a White Sox throwback.  Stadium Club always had tons of cards like this and I love the old fashioned White Sox uni.  

1991 Topps Stadium Club Ozzie Guillen

The Stadium Club set still had it's limitations.  First, it lacked important rookies.  The 1989 Upper Deck set hung it's hat on innovation, but also featured the rookie cards of several important players.  The biggest rookie cards in the 1991 Stadium Club release were Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez, and Kenny Lofton.  That's actually a pretty good clump of rookie cards with what should be one Hall of Famer and two good above average players.  However, Stadium Club ended up having another common problem of sets in the 90s.

1991 Topps Stadium Club Jeff Bagwell

The set was completely overproduced.  Just like Upper Deck, the word "premium" in the 1990s meant that Topps still produced these cards in ridiculous quantities.  The cards are beautiful and if you felt the need to pick up this set, a quick trip down to your local card shop would find plenty still in stock and at a very reasonable price.  I still love this set and every once in awhile spend my extra dollar to rip open a pack or two of old Stadium Club.  

Like the 1991 Stadium Club set?  Not in the Top 50 is the 1998 Stadium Club set.  Actually, there are many good Stadium Club sets and they all generally follow the clean design and great photography mold established by the 1991 set.  The 1998 Stadium Club set is my favorite though, but there are many others out there to collect.  Let's take a look at the 1998 version.

1998 Topps Stadium Club Jermaine Allensworth

There are a few more game action shots in this set then some of the other Stadium Club issues and that is one reason I like looking at these cards.  There is a John Smoltz robbing someone of a batting practice home run and also a Scott Hatteberg card I am pretty sure the Moneyball people knocked off during the movie.  This Jermaine Allensworth card is a perfect example of a great in game shot.  I like that the ball is in the picture after he's bunted it.  Jermaine Allensworth also always had cool baseball cards despite not being very good.  

There were also some good inserts, but the highlight for me was the Co-Signers autograph set.  The Co-Signers cards were also in the 1997 set, but they were signed front and back.  The 1998 version featured the players signatures side by side.  

1998 Topps Stadium Club Co-Signers Roberto Alomar/Tino Martinez Autograph

The Co-Signers set obviously had some pretty big names which were teamed up with other big names. In my quest to find a Tino Martinez autograph, he was a Cardinal, I found a rather cheap and damaged USA baseball autograph.  However, a few weeks later I ran across this card and added to my collection too.  I like the Tino Martinez autograph, but I like the Alomar autograph more.  Of course, there were also big names that were combined with some duds.  For example, I owned a Matt Morris and Roger Clemens Co-Signers card for a couple of years, ended up trading it, but always felt like the Morris ruined my Clemens autograph.  Same with this card which I still own:

1998 Topps Stadium Club Co-Signers Randy Johnson/Jaret Wright Autograph

I understand that Eric Gregg's double wide strike zone during the 1997 playoffs made Jaret Wright and Livan Hernandez look like Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax, but I've always been sad that's he's on this card.  My all-time favorite Stadium Club Co-Signers autograph from this set belongs to Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker.  Both were on the Cardinals.  Both were on the same team at the time of the card.  Both have really nice signatures.  Both were really good players.  

1998 Topps Stadium Club Co-Signers Larry Walker/Andres Galarraga Autograph

30 Year Top 50: 1986 Donruss

#42- The 1986 Donruss set was an incredible set at the time of it's release and a few years in the early to mid 90s.  The set featured one of the hottest rookie cards of the 1980's and several other rookie cards that were above average.  For awhile, the Jose Canseco rookie in the set could sell or trade for upwards of $100.  However, with the demise of Jose Canseco the value of his rookie cards also crashed hurting the overall value of this set.

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Jose Canseco

I am not going to rehash the whole Jose Canseco saga, but he was incredible at the height of his career and fell really hard.  At the time of this set's release, the Donruss Jose Canseco rookie card was one of the most sought after cards.  Often a rookie card makes or breaks a set and in this case the fate of this set followed the Canseco card.  In the late 80's when the Canseco rookie was at it's height, the card also brought up the values of several other rookie cards in the set including Fred McGriff, Paul O'Neill, and Andres Galarraga.  

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Paul O'Neill

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Andres Galarraga

1986 Donruss Rate Rookie Fred McGriff

In the end, the "other rookies" in the Donruss set ended up being almost as important as the Jose Canseco.  All three players had careers that were probably better than Canseco's, especially Paul O'Neill who was a key player on four World Championship teams.  None of the four players are Hall of Famers and that has brought down the value of this set to around $20.  It's not the 1988 Donruss set, but it's also not nearly as good as the 1987 set.  

My reason for including this set in my countdown is the simple fact that for a few years in the late 80s this was a great set.  In 1989, Jose Canseco hit 42 home runs to lead the American League while stealing 40 bases and driving in more than 100 runs.  That same season, Fred McGriff enjoyed his second thirty plus home run season, when 30 home runs was a big deal, and draws comparisons on that season with Mark McGwire on Baseball Reference.  O'Neill and Galarraga enjoyed solid seasons, but would have more impact later in their careers.  

Despite it's loss in value the 1986 Donruss set can teach us two important lessons.  First, the 1980s cards all generally lack the kind of cardboard value that vintage cards enjoy.  No fault of the collector's, but its hard to value a card when there are thousands upon thousands of copies of a card.  For me, these sets are still great to take out and look at.  I love the polyester uniforms and seeing cards of players I loved watching as a kid.  Cardinals cards of Danny Cox and Mike Laga.  Yellow Pirates jerseys.  

Second, there are many in the card industry that try to say that the on field product has little effect on the price of a player's cardboard.  If that statement were true, than the Jose Canseco card would still retain some shred of value instead being able to find raw copies of the card for under $5. 

I had such as conversation with the Editor of Beckett Baseball Card Magazine Chris Olds on Twitter during the Cardinals and Nationals game last week.  Basically, I took the view point that Bryce Harper's regular season and postseason performance would have to greatly improve for him to maintain his current level of card values.  

For example, in the mid 90s collectors went crazy for Andruw Jones cards when he played well, as a teenager, in the 1996 playoffs.  Sixteen years later, Andruw Jones is a role player with a low batting average and no defensive skill.  Not to say that is what Harper is to become, but collector's eyeing a high end rookie should look at the cards of Canseco and Jones to better understand the high risk that comes with adding high end rookie cards to their collections.  

Like the 1986 Donruss set?  Not in my Top 50 is the 1984 Donruss set.  This set is very similar to the 1986 Donruss release.  For years, this set was a highly valuable and high sought after piece of cardboard.  There were three important rookie cards in the set, which like the 1986 Donruss, lost value and popularity with the demise of the players.  Most importantly was the Don Mattingly rookie card. 

1984 Donruss Don Mattingly 

Mattingly had a great start to his career, but it was derailed by injuries.  His cards had trouble maintaining their values over time.  Mattingly has moved on to become a successful manager with the Dodgers and still is popular with Yankees collectors.  The other two key rookie cards were the Joe Carter Rated Rookie card and the Darryl Strawberry rookie.

1984 Donruss Darryl Strawberry

1984 Donruss Joe Carter

Strawberry's career followed a similar path as Jose Canseco.  Again, not going to rehash the entire saga, but he was a really good player who turned out to be very average.  His cards are still sought after, but do not maintain much in terms of value.  Joe Carter was a highly thought of prospect who turned into a nice everyday player.  Above average, but not a Hall of Famer.  More importantly he hit a game winning, series ending home run in the 1993 World Series.  

  

2005 Prime Patches Larry Walker Dual Patch Card

Larry Walker was never great while he was riding out the final days of his career as a Cardinal, but I always loved watching him play as an Expo and Rockie.  Early in his career Walker was a great combination of power, defense, and average.  During his last season strike shortened in Montreal, 1994, Walker hit .322 with 19 homers and 86 RBIs.  He also lead the National League in doubles with 44.  Once he signed with the Rockies his numbers took off in the thin air of Coors.  All Rockies have a home/road split, but he wasn't Vinny Castilla or Dante Bichette where all of his damage came in the thin dry Denver air.

Walker would spend ten years on the Rockies which included an MVP award in 1997, a home run title, and three batting titles.  After the trading deadline in 2004 he cleared waivers and was traded to the Cardinals for the mighty Chris Narveson.  Tony LaRussa batted Walker second in front Pujols, Edmonds, and Rolen during their MV3 year and the team made a World Series appearance and a National League Championship Series appearance too.  His last season and a half did not met his usual numbers and he retired after the 2005 season.

Walker has a fair number of relic cards out on the market, but most of the jumbo and patch pieces are exclusive to the 2005 Prime Patches set.  Which is where my my newest card hails from:

2005 Prime Patches Larry Walker Dual Patch Card

There are a few early 2000 Fleers, but they are pretty plain.  Walker also has some autographs which can be pretty tough to find.  My two favorites are the 1997 Donruss Signature Series which features a whole card signature.  They are all like that.  I also love the Stadium Club Co-Signers with Andres Galarraga.  Both cards pictured below.

1997 Donruss Signature Series Larry Walker Autograph 

1998 Topps Stadium Club Co-Signers Larry Walker/Andres Galarraga Autograph