RTP #32 - Special Guest Ted from Crinkly Wrappers

Welcome to the latest edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special guest is another first time guest, Ted from Crinkly Wrappers.  Ted is an avid Blue Jays collector and an all around great guy.  I sent Ted a stack of Blue Jay inserts and parallels along with the final card he needed for his base 2009 UD Icons set (Dan Uggla).  In return, Ted was VERY generous with me.  Here are the highlights.

Let's start with the hit.  This is a 2004 Donruss Throwback Threads Mike Hampton jersey #'d to 250.  Of course was one of the most expensive mistakes in Rockies history, but I didn't (and still don't) not like him.  Gotta love triple negatives.  I like that the pinstripe has a bit of a slope to it, gives it character.

Our Todd Helton card of the Day is one that I was shocked I didn't have.  This is the 2010 version of Toppstown.  I bought one box of Series 1 in 2010, but nothing else because of financial concerns.  I think I will pop on a box of Series 2 and U&H and put that set together this year.  Prices seem reasonable now.

Here are a pair of 1995 Topps that I needed.  As great as the design is on the base set, I don't like it because it reminds me of the stupid strike in 1994-95.  In case I haven't told this story before, I turned 18 in October of 1994 and my big present was going to be World Series tickets no matter where they were.  Obviously that didn't happen and I avoided baseball like the plague up until the McGwire/Sosa home run derby in 1998.  I have forgiven the game for this lost moment of my youth, but I don't think I will ever forget it.  I hope football doesn't turn a generation of fans off this year.

Back to frivolity, and what better way than with some pretty cool mascots.  I think I have done a disservice to the Tigers here because as cool as Paws is, he is no match for the best mascot in the game.  I love the Pirate Parrot and it matches the team perfectly, unlike a certain Dinosaur in Denver.

Moving to a Jose Reyes blue parallel from Opening Day.  It seems like Reyes has really fallen far.  When I got back into the hobby, his cards were relatively expensive but now they are approaching semi-star status (say that three times fast).  The second card is one of two George W. Bush cards in the Presidential First Pitch insert set.  I don't understand why they made two cards for Bush and Obama and yet left out many Presidents that could've filled those slots with left out men like Clinton, Bush Sr., Ford, or Ike.

Two Texas stars from the Opening Day Toppstown set.  I haven't got a bad thing to say about either of these players other than I wish they were Rockies (especially Kinsler).  Can you imagine a Tulo-Kinsler double play combo for the next decade?  I know I can and will probably have to because there is no way Texas will let him go.

Ted helped me out a lot with my Icons set bringing my total number needed down below 10 for the base set.  I have been working on a set want list for a little bit and I hope to get one posted within a week or two.  Those things take forever to put together.  I really wish I had been better prepared before I started the blog, but I am almost caught up with wantlists and can get back to concentrating on providing quality, inexpensive entertainment to my millions of readers (well 50 or so if I am lucky).



Thanks again Ted for the trade and we are currently working on our next trade as well.  Make sure you check out his blog here because Ted has some real nice stuff on there.  Well that just about wraps up this edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tune in next time for another trade with a fellow rock collector.  Until then, we are officially signed off.

Rockie Trading Post #31 - Special Guest A.J. from The Lost Collector

Welcome back to another edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special guest is first-time visitor A.J. from The Lost Collector.  For those of you that haven't had contact with A.J., he is a Yankees collector and also has an impressive Tino Martinez collection.  This trade was brought about by my Tristar box breaks from a few weeks back.  I sent A.J. a few of the Yankee prospect parallels along with a few other random Yankees in exchange he sent me some very nice Rox and Opening Day card.  His review of the trade is here.  My review is just below.

Let's start off with the gem of the trade, in my eyes at least.  A 2010 Topps Update Ubaldo Jimenez All Star jersey.  I honestly don't care that it wasn't game worn.  I would prefer that no jerseys are called game used because then they would be cheaper for those of us that don't care.  I just like that they look good in most instances.

Here are a couple of #'d parallels of Rockies at very different points in their careers.  Avery Barnes, shown on his 2010 Bowman Chrome purple refractor, is just beginning.  He was the Rockies 11th round pick in 2009 and is sort of a light hitting speedy outfielder type player.  Todd Helton is of course the greatest Rockie ever and probably has a few years left as a major leaguer, but he is past his prime and is no longer the star of the team.  This is a 2008 Topps Triple Threads emerald parallel #'d to 240.  I now have two of the three Rox emeralds from that set, I only need the Matt Holliday for a complete team set.

Next up we have Todd Helton as a youngster.  From left to right we have a 2000 Fleer E-X, a 1998 Collector's Choice Starquest, and a 1998 Pacific Paramount platinum blue parallel.  The Paramount parallel is actually a really tough pull at 1:73 packs with a 250 card set.  That means on average one of these cards came out of every 500 boxes.  I am happy with it, but I am so glad Pacific is no longer around with their multiple rare parallels.

Let's move onto the only player that could conceivably be in the current argument for best Rockie ever other than Helton, Larry Walker.  The first card is a 1999 Pacific Paramount base card.  There are 7 parallels (4 rare ones) of this card that I will hopefully track down in my lifetime.  Finally we have one of my favorite sets that I have seen from my collecting sabbatical, 2000 Fleer Impact.  In my 2011 Mountains to Climb post, I said I wanted to pick a set from 1996-2005 and try to build it.  I think 2000 Fleer Impact will be that set, assuming I can find a box of it.  I really like the design, even though it does look sort of plain...it just works for me.

Now we get into the Opening Day portion of the trade.  Here are two inserts of a potential future member of the "Greatest Rockie Ever" debate, Troy Tulowitzki.  The Stadium Lights is my first, so I need one more of this card for my Rockie binder.  The Superstar Celebrations is actually the 3rd I have, so it is up for trade if anyone needs it. 

Two cool looking horizontal blue parallels, which I am finding is going to be the hardest completion of the master set.  Both are great photos, but I want to complain just a bit.  I am tired of Topps putting both horizontal and vertical cards in sets.  Sure some of the photos don't work as well in vertical positions, but they look horrible in a binder.  Perhaps they should leave the vertical photography for the flagship set and maybe make Opening Day or a new set a showcase for great horizontal photography.

Here are a couple more inserts.  The Jose Bautista is the easiest Spot the Error in the set.  It is so easy that I only scanned one side.  The Toppstowns are a surprisingly difficult to complete insert set.  They only show up 1:4 packs and it's a 25 card set, so it really isn't THAT surprising.  But I am used to easily getting way more Toppstowns that I need.

Let's close it out with a couple of base cards.  The Ubaldo was the last card I needed for the base team set for the Rockie binder.  The Mark Reynolds is a little sad for me.  It shows him photoshopped with his new team, the Orioles.  Now the Rockies won't be able to pad their strikeout totals against him anymore.  It's just a shame.

 
Thanks again A.J. for the trade and I already have our 2nd trade on the schedule for posting.  Check out his blog here and trade him your Yanks.  He'll give you a very nice deal.  Well that just about wraps up another edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tune in next time for a first time visit with a Blue Jays collector.  Until then, we are officially signed off.

Topps All Star Rookie Wantlist

Finally I have finished my Rookie Cup checklists.  I went a little bit further than just the cups though.  I am collecting the entire Topps All Star Rookie teams even years without the cups on the cards.  I only want the base cards from the flagship set only.  Yes the Opening Day, Chrome, and Heritage have cups too (and thank you to those traders that have sent me some) and in some cases look better than the flagship, but I am going to keep with the main set for now.

Completed Team Sets - 62/65 = 95.4% COMPLETE

red = on the way

1960 Topps

316

1961 Topps - COMPLETE

1962 Topps - COMPLETE

1963 Topps - COMPLETE

1964 Topps

125

1965 Topps - COMPLETE

1966 Topps - COMPLETE

1967 Topps - COMPLETE

1968 Topps - COMPLETE

1969 Topps - COMPLETE

1970 Topps - COMPLETE

1971 Topps - COMPLETE

1972 Topps - COMPLETE

1973 Topps - COMPLETE

1974 Topps - COMPLETE

1975 Topps - COMPLETE

1976 Topps - COMPLETE

1977 Topps - COMPLETE

1978 Topps - COMPLETE 

1979 Topps - COMPLETE

1980 Topps - COMPLETE

1981 Topps - COMPLETE 

1982 Topps - COMPLETE

1983 Topps - COMPLETE

1984 Topps - COMPLETE

1985 Topps - COMPLETE

1986 Topps - COMPLETE

1987 Topps - COMPLETE

1988 Topps - COMPLETE

1989 Topps - COMPLETE

1990 Topps - COMPLETE

1991 Topps - COMPLETE

1992 Topps - COMPLETE

1993 Topps - COMPLETE

1994 Topps - COMPLETE

1995 Topps - COMPLETE

1996 Topps - COMPLETE

1997 Topps - COMPLETE

1998 Topps - COMPLETE

1999 Topps - COMPLETE 

2000 Topps - COMPLETE

2001 Topps - COMPLETE 

2002 Topps - COMPLETE

2003 Topps - COMPLETE

2004 Topps - COMPLETE

2005 Topps - COMPLETE

2006 Topps - COMPLETE

2007 Topps - COMPLETE

2008 Topps - COMPLETE

2009 Topps - COMPLETE

2010 Topps - COMPLETE

2011 Topps - COMPLETE

2012 Topps - COMPLETE

2013 Topps - COMPLETE

2014 Topps - COMPLETE

2015 Topps - COMPLETE 

2016 Topps - COMPLETE 

2017 Topps - COMPLETE 

2018 Topps - COMPLETE 

2019 Topps - COMPLETE

2020 Topps - COMPLETE
 

2021 Topps - COMPLETE

 

2022 Topps - COMPLETE

 

2023 Topps - COMPLETE

 

2024 Topps

214

 

2025 Topps

 

2026 Topps

Rockies Week in Review #2

Overall Record
12-3 1st Place NL West...best record in the majors

Record for the Week
6-1 

A four game sweep of the Mets (they are bad this year) and 2 of 3 vs. the Cubs made for a really great week.  In last week's predictions I was hoping for a 5-2 week, but expecting 4-3...happily I am not a good prognosticator.  The only time I get to watch Rockie games are when they play either the Cubs or Reds (and the odd TBS game), so it is a little sad that the Cubs are not on the schedule at all after the second series coming up at the end of April.  Maybe since we have a three game series with the Yankees later this season, ESPN might acknowledge the Rockies' existence (Yeah, right!).

Most Valuable Rockies Batter of the Week
Troy Tulowitzki

With apologies to Pujols fans, Tulo is the best player in baseball right now.   He is on an 8 game hitting streak and homered in each of the 4 games vs. the Mets.  For all of you that think he might just be "Colorado good," all 4 of those games were in New York.  I predicted Tulo to be the MVP this year and thus far he has been, but there is still a LONG season to go.  But so far so good.

Least Valuable Rockies Batter of the Week
Jose Lopez

Last week's MVB, Jose Lopez, is this week's LVB.  I am going to chalk this up to a coincidence, but if it happens too many times I may cancel this segment hehe.  After having a pretty good start to the season, Lopez went 1-16 this week.  His last at bat of the week was a double, so maybe the mini-slump is over. 

Most Valuable Rockies Pitcher of the Week
Jhoulys Chacin

Chacin is coming into his own this April.  He only pitched once, but it was a complete game six-hit shutout against Matt Garza and the Cubs.  As long as Jhoulys is pitching like he is, I am not worrying about getting Ubaldo back until he is ready.  Could he make the All Star game this year like Ubaldo last year? 

Least Valuable Rockies Pitcher of the Week
Felipe Paulino

Another week, another reliever in this spot.  This week's LVP is Felipe Paulino who gave up 6 earned runs in 2.1 innings this week, including 5 in 0.1 in the loss against the Cubs.  Paulino has been pretty good this year other than the one game, after picking him up in the offseason from Houston for one of my favorite Rockies ever Clint Barmes.   I will give him the benefit of just a bad day, so I won't start groaning when I see him coming in...YET.

Next on the Horizon
3 games vs. the Giants and 3 games @ the Marlins

The soon to be former champs are coming to Denver.  This will be a nice test for the young season.  I am going to predict a 4-2 week losing one to each team.  Hopefully I am wrong in a similar direction this week.

Sunday's Afternoon Blaster - 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces

Welcome to this week's Sunday Afternoon Blaster.  This is a purchase from my local Wal Mart which I hadn't noticed prior to this week.  Either I missed it or Wally World has a stash of old blasters in the back.  We shall see in the upcoming weeks.  Last week's monstrosity of a repack blaster, well monstrosity is overstating it a bit but it wasn't good, inspired this purchase.  I got one pack of the 2007 version of this set in that box and I figured 2008 would be just as good, we shall see.  There are 3 Rockies in this set, of which I own 2.  The goals for this blaster are card #30 Matt Holliday and a cool short print or parallel that is very tradable.

Card coloration is it's availability

white = I'm keeping it

green = available for trade

red = already claimed/traded

Man, Dice-K was everywhere in 2008, wasn't he?

Today's blaster is 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces.  8 four card packs, nothing guaranteed.

On with the show.

pack one

43 Chin-Lung Hu - Dodgers

85 Chris Carpenter - Cardinals

4 Chipper Jones - Braves

46 Robin Yount - Brewers

pack two

8 Jim Palmer - Orioles

23 Jim Thome - White Sox

32 Justin Verlander - Tigers

18 Alfonso Soriano - Cubs

pack three

86 Carl Crawford - Rays

65 Jorge Posada - Yankees

YSL 782 Babe Ruth - Yankees

81 Ichiro - Mariners

67 Eric Chavez - Athletics

pack four

57 Pedro Martinez - Mets

29 Troy Tulowitzki - Rockies

39 Roy Oswalt - Astros

90 Ryan Zimmerman - Nationals

pack five

15 David Ortiz - Red Sox

1 Brandon Webb - Diamondbacks

76 Greg Maddux - Padres

48 Ryan Braun - Brewers

pack six

2 Justin Upton - Diamondbacks

102 Nolan Ryan - Astros (short print)

53 Carlos Beltran - Mets

88 Frank Thomas - Blue Jays

pack seven

79 Russell Martin - Dodgers

64 Joba Chamberlain - Yankees

YSL 1336 Joe Gordon - Yankees
25 Joe Morgan - Reds

11 Carl Yastrzemski - Red Sox

pack eight

50 Joe Mauer - Twins

22 Kosuke Fukudome - Cubs

74 Luke Hochevar - Royals

60 Whitey Ford - Yankees

IMPRESSIONS
Design: A-
They named this set well, because these are Masterpieces.  Most of the paintings aren't as good as the 2007 set, but there are only a couple that I didn't think looked that good.  The Verlander card is my favorite due to the detail of the scoreboard during his no hitter.  Fantastic.  I am on the fence on the textured front. It just doesn't feel like a card, but I can overlook it because at least it's different.

Inserts / Hits: D-
This is not the product for hit seekers, at least not the blasters.  I am not aware of any insert sets other than parallels in this set, but I don't think there are any.  I will say one thing about the (usually ignored on this site) Yankee Stadium Legacy cards in this blaster.  I was not bothered by them one bit because they did not replace a regular card.  These types of basically uncompletable sets only bother me if they impede my attempt to collect something else.

Value: B

Not bad, nothing great popped out other than the Ryan short print (which looks great in its rainbow goodness).  But there were some good cards and I feel like I go my money's worth out of this.  And when all is said and done, that's all I am looking for.

Rox in the Box: 1
Well I missed out on the Holliday to finish this set, but it's not horrible or anything.  I got 1 Rockie out of 32 cards, that's right where it should be considering there are 30 teams.  I was hoping for the Holliday, but I did not expect it.

Will I Collect This Set: F
As good as this set is, it really just isn't my style.  I have always thought card collectors fell into one of two main categories, photography lovers and stats lovers.  I am more the latter, but I am not a crazy new school sabermetrics fanatic.  But when I started collecting the numbers fascinated me more than the pictures.  This is a set ideal for the photography/art lovers though.

Overall: B
This is great set for what it is.  I would never want a flagship set to be like this with all the retired players and funky design, but for a side set this isn't bad at all.  Just like with 2008 UD Timeline, I was right on the fence for collecting this set, but the short prints decided it for me again.  Even though I am not going to pursue this set, I would buy a (discounted) blaster again just for the fun of seeing these cards in person.