It seems like Scott is getting more and more hobby love here lately. There seems to be some new competition for his cards on eBay - especially the newer stuff. Speaking of newer stuff, it appears that Scott is making a resurgence in checklists across the board. Having said that, there are always older cards that I still need to add to my collection. Here are the ones I've picked up this month:
1997 New Pinnacle - Artist's Proof #172. I've said it numerous times, I miss Pinnacle. One of the things that Pinnacle brought to the table was Dufex. I don't know a single collector of 90s era cards that doesn't love Dufex. I'm not sure why I waited so long to add this one to my collection, but I'm definitely glad to have this one to go along with the checklist card of Scott from this set.
1998 Leaf - Fractal Matrix Die-Cut #199. A thoroughly confusing set indeed. The bronze x-axis cards were limited to 2,000 total copies. Of those, the first 400 were die-cut. The finish on these cards just cannot be fully appreciated in the scans. The etched foil used on the fronts of these cards looks incredible in-hand.
1998 Pacific Paramount - Holographic Silver, SN#/99. In my opinion, Pacific is just as missed in the hobby as Pinnacle. The cards they created in the 90s brought something to the hobby that I cannot adequately explain in just a blurb about these cards. This card is the second to last one I needed to complete the run with just the platinum blue remaining.
1998 Pacific Online #577. Back in 1998 the internet was still in its infancy (for me at least), but Pacific was leading the way with integrating cards and the internet. These cards have a code on the back that could be entered into their website for a chance to win a "Online Winner" card. To this day I have not seen a single Online Winner for either card that Scott has in the set. Fun fact about this particular card, the location of the code is in the upper right on the back of the card. The other copy I have of this card has the code printed on the lower left of the back of the card. So naturally, I had to pick this copy up when I saw it was different than the one I already had.
1999 Bowman - Gold #260, SN/99. Patience was certainly a virtue with this card. I have seen it for sale several times throughout the years, but it wasn't until recently that I saw it available at a price I deemed appropriate for the card. There isn't anything particularly exciting about this card. But Bowman added gold foil to the Bowman logo as well as the facsimile autograph on the front of the card. Add a serial number to the card and some collectors place an unrealistic premium on the card. Especially these days with the current collecting atmosphere still elevated slightly over pre-covid collecting activity.
1999 Pacific - Red #332. True to form, the red parallels for Pacific were available only in the retail offering. They were inserted at a rate of one per pack and there is a certain appeal about the red foil Pacific cards that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it is due in part to me not buying any Pacific retail cards as a kid, so I didn't see them until fairly recently. Whatever it is, I'm glad to add this one to the collection.
2002 Bowman - Gold #96. Similar to the 1999 Bowman Gold above, this card doesn't offer anything overly exciting. In fact, this one is even less exciting than the 1999 version as this one isn't even serial numbered. They weren't even tough to come by as they were inserted one per pack. But, as a completist, I needed this one for the collection.
2021 Topps Archives Signature Series Retired Player Edition - 2010 Topps Redsfest #6, SN/90. I'm still not a huge fan of all of these buyback type sets. That said, I'll never say "no" to an on-card autograph of Scott. As long as I can acquire these for a reasonable price, I'll continue to add them to my collection.
2021 Topps Archives Snapshots - Tintype Titans TT-SR. A nice candid shot of Scott graces the front of this card. A throwback to a young player with a fantastic career ahead of him. The back of the card doesn't feature any stats, which is unfortunate, but it does mention his WAR being the highest among any eligible third basemen for the Hall. Of course, this card comes in multiple different parallels which I've also been adding to my collection as I see them come up for sale.
2021 Topps Archives Snapshots - Tintype Titans Negative Inverse TT-SR, SN/25. One of the various parallels of the card listed above this one, this is definitely my least favorite of the bunch. The one saving grace for this card is the serial numbering on the back of the card - hand numbered cards are one of my weaknesses in this hobby!
2021 Topps Gold Label - Framed Autographs FA-SR. Topps Gold Label has always been one of my favorite releases and this years' did not disappoint with the addition of Rolen to their autograph checklist. A nice heavy card with an on-card autograph is always welcome in my collection. I'm also glad that Topps decided to use the Cardinals era Rolen for this release. Now I just need to chase down all of the different parallels there are for this card. Which seams to be a pretty common occurrence these days.
1999 Bowman's Best - Atomic Refractor #55, SN/100. I don't think it's any secret by now that I am a huge fan of atomic refractors and this one is a beauty! The pattern on this one is probably the least pronounced, but it shines with the best of them! Just like most refractors, the scans do not do this card any justice. A huge thank you to fellow Rolen collector, Michael, for hooking me up with this card!
1999 Skybox E-X Century - Authen-Kicks #8, SN/205. Another addition to the collection thanks to Michael is this unique game used memorabilia card. A piece of game used shoe finds its way into my collection with this one. What makes this card even nicer, in my opinion, is the hand written serial numbering on the front. I'm a sucker for hand written serial numbered cards. Just something about them makes them feel more limited. Someone, with very distinctive handwriting, went through and numbered each and every one of these cards.
Here are some other cards I've picked up over the course of this month:
That's all for this month. I'm hoping that things pick up a bit over the next couple of months. I'm getting really close to a few collecting goals for the year and I'd love to finish the year strong!
