Cards from Everyone's Favorite Blog Turned Online Shop

I have often thought about what this blog could potentially lead to for me.  I am mainly hoping to improve my writing and research skills for a future as an author.  Whether or not that actually happens is still up in the air, but it is one of my major life goals.  I'm sure that some of my fellow bloggers share my goal, but others have different goals for their time and effort.  I am writing specifically about Andy and Jon, the two great guys behind Community Gum.  They have turned their really cool blog into an online card shop in case you hadn't heard, although they still maintain their writings as well.

What this is leading to is a purchase I made from the guys.  Well, actually it was two different purchases that were combined into one.  The first was the Rockies from a case break of 2011 Bowman Draft and the 2nd was Rockie parallels from a 2012 Topps case break.  Here is a little showing of what I got from Jon and Andy.

Here is the entire Rockies team set from 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft.  I am especially happy to get the Alan Johnson because it knocks another name off my One of Every Rockie collection.  He started one game last year and might never pitch another with Colorado because he is currently an unsigned free agent.  The other 4 guys all appear in 2011 Topps Update (Nicasio twice).  This disappoints me because this set's purpose (if there is one) should be to feature guys with less of major league track record.  For example, some of the Rockies September call ups like Tommy Field, Hector Gomez, and Jim Miller should have been in this set.  But I still got an Alan Johnson, so I guess all is not lost.

Here is the 4 card team set from 2011 Bowman Draft Prospects.  This set only features players drafted in 2011.  Anderson and Story were both first rounders, with Story being a sandwich first rounder received as compensation for the loss of Octavio Dotel.  That should be a good turnaround for the Rox, especially since Dotel was only in Denver for like 3 weeks.  Thomore was a 2nd round pick and Riggins was a 7th rounder.  I have no idea why there are facsimile signatures on two of these and not on the other two.  Is it Topps' sloppiness or is there a real reason behind it?

These are the parallels that I got.  The two Alex Whites are the base refractor and the gold refractor #'d to 50.  I didn't mention this earlier, but I am happy to see and actual Rockies card of Alex White rather than the crazy Rockies/Indians hybrid that was in Topps Update.  The Tyler Anderson is a base refractor as well.  I didn't scan the Chrome Draft Prospects team set, but on them the border was white rather than black.  Once again, I have no idea why.

The big hit (for the Rockies at least) that the guys pulled from the Bowman Draft case was this beauty.  It is a blue refractor autograph of Trevor Story #'d to 199.  I think Story could eventually develop into a pretty good (if not great) major leaguer, but I don't think it will be in Colorado.  Obviously he is blocked at shortstop by Troy Tulowitzki, but Colorado also has big time prospects at third base (Nolan Arenado) and second base (Josh Rutledge).  I could see Story bypassing Rutledge much easier that Arenado, but I foresee him being super prime trade bait instead.  I could see the Yankees wanting him to replace Derek Jeter in a couple of years.

Here are some of the gold sparkle "urine-fractors" that I got from the guys.  I still don't like that Chacin card.  The Pomeranz card is interesting to me and possibly some of my astute readers with a good memory.  The photo used on that card is the same that I used on my 2011 Quarry Card of Pomeranz except it is zoomed in a bit.  Take a look and compare and tell me which is the better card (unless you think Topps is better).

Yeah, Topps is probably better, but they do have 60 years of card-making and designing experience on me.

Here is a couple more from the golden set.  I like that Todd Helton is shown on the active leaders cards with the likes of Pujols and Chipper because he belongs in their tier.  Most people don't think of him on their level though which is just a shame. 

The star for the Rockies out of the 2012 Topps case is this black parallel of Troy Tulowitzki.  I got it for very good price because there was a slight nick on the left border of the card.  I SOOOOO don't care, especially for a card #'d to 61 of a star like Tulo.  That nick probably saved me quite a few dollars on buying this card and while it is slightly noticeable it doesn't take away from the card to me.

Andy was also kind enough to throw in some 1993 Stadium Club cards that I needed for my team set.  I am officially anointing him the King of Stadium Club among card bloggers.  The guy seriously love the full bleed sets.  I like them, but I also think a border is an important part of a card design.  Sure some are bad, but they give a little differentiation between different sets.  To me there just isn't enough difference between some of the Stadium Club (and Ultra and Upper Deck) sets.



Once again, thanks guys for giving me such a great price on these cards.  Don't forget to check out their site and get in on their case breaks.  You won't be sorry.