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Monthly Mailbag - October 2024

Last month was a great month for new additions to The Rolen Collection, and this month was just as great! Here's what I was able to add this month:


2004 Donruss Diamond Kings - Hawaii Trade Conference #104, SN15 - Scott Rolen

2004 Donruss Diamond Kings - Hawaii Trade Conference #104, SN15. This card has an embossed logo of a pineapple on the front of the card that just does not translate very well in this scan. I've seen these Hawaii Trade Conference cards on my master checklist ever since they came out, but I had never seen one until recently. When I saw this one surface on ebay, I knew I wanted it even though there isn't much flash to it. I shot the seller an offer, which they quickly countered, and I accepted their counter offer. I'm happy to add this one to the collection this month!


2004 Topps eTopps - Event Series Playoffs #PSES-8, PR1119 - Scott Rolen

2004 Topps eTopps - Event Series Playoffs #PSES-8, PR1119. I was really surprised when I got this card in the mail. Most of these cards are so old now that the original cases that they're in are all scratched up. This one though, looks pristine! With regards to the eTopps brand, I really wish they would make a comeback. I suppose one could say that they're similar to the current Topps Now offerings, but there are several differences - one of which is the beautiful overall quality of these eTopps cards. They remind me of a Topps Pristine card.


2005 Bowman Heritage - 51 Topps Heritage Blue Backs #8 - Scott Rolen

2005 Bowman Heritage - 51 Topps Heritage Blue Backs #8. This is a card that has been in my collection for a while now. I just scanned it and added it to the website this month because I finally took the time to research it to figure out exactly what card it was. As you can see on the front of the card, it says, "Topps Heritage". That's what was confusing to me because this is actually from Bowman Heritage. I'm not quite sure how I feel about these oddball sized cards. On one hand, I appreciate the nod to history as these were created to mimic the original 1951 Topps Blue Backs. On the other hand, they just aren't the same as a typical card; they move around a bit inside of any one-touch or toploader that they're stored in.


2005 Upper Deck ESPN - Magazine Covers #MC-20 - Scott Rolen

2005 Upper Deck ESPN - Magazine Covers #MC-20. The three guys featured on this card (and the magazine cover) were so much fun to watch back in 2004/2005! I've passed on adding this card several times over the years because they just sold for too much for my taste. I'm guessing that is in large part to the crazy Pujols collectors who were buying these up for their collections. I saw this one pop up this month for a good price, so I jumped on it!


2006 Flair Showcase - Hot Gloves Printing Plates Cyan #HG-28, SN1 - Scott Rolen

2006 Flair Showcase - Hot Gloves Printing Plates Cyan #HG-28, SN1. I don't normally chase printing plates, but I saw this one come up for sale this month at a price I thought was reasonable. The seller had the best offer feature turned on, so I threw out an offer and it was accepted! This card literally went from ebay to my collection in just two days! That is by far the fastest I've ever received a card shipped via the USPS!


2023 Leaf Trinity - Base Autograph Black Foil Platinum #BA-SR1, SN1 - Scott Rolen

2023 Leaf Trinity - Base Autograph Black Foil Platinum #BA-SR1, SN1. This card could have been in my collection earlier than this month. The previous owner reached out to me on Instagram letting me know that he had the card and I messaged him back with some recent comps on the card. He decided that he wanted to try selling it on ebay instead, so he messaged me again once he listed it. I put in my initial placeholder bid and sat back and watched it. When the hammer fell, I was the top bidder for this one and I was able to add it to the collection this month. There are several different 1/1s from this release, so I'm certainly happy to be able to add at least one of them to The Rolen Collection!


2023 Leaf Trinity - Divinity Gold #D-SR1, SN10 - Scott Rolen

2023 Leaf Trinity - Divinity Gold #D-SR1, SN10. The gold holofoil on the front of this card looks absolutely beautiful in-hand! One of these surfaced immediately after these cards were released, but patience paid off for me (and my wallet) with this one. Waiting a fair amount of time, hoping another one of these would become available, I was able to pick this card up for about half of what the first one sold for. As usual, the sticker auto isn't my favorite, but this is a pretty good looking card that is limited to just 10 copies.


2023 Leaf Trinity

  • Steel Laser #S-68

  • Steel Lava Blue #S-68, SN99

  • Steel Stars and Dots Blue #S-68, SN99

More 2023 cards released in 2024. And there are a TON of them. Looking at the checklist, there are 60 different foil background parallels for these cards. And they're all serial numbered anywhere from 1/1 to /99. This is very reminiscent of 1998 Topps Tek or 2000 Pacific Prism with so many parallels. Someone else out there is most definitely working on the rainbow for these too as I've lost out on several different parallels recently. Some of them are going for far more money than I ever thought possible for a non-licensed Leaf release. I'll put this project on the long list of cards to pick up at a leisurely pace.


2023 Leaf Trinity #54 - Scott Rolen

2023 Leaf Trinity #54. This is the base card that was released. There are no parallels of this base card, instead, they released the cards I posted about just above this one with all of the parallels. On the back of this card, Leaf talks about some of Rolen's career accomplishments: his 17 big league seasons, his 7 All-Star appearances, his 8 Gold Glove Awards, and his contribution to the Cardinals team who went on to win the World Series in 2006!



2023 Panini Immaculate Red #147, SN25 - Scott Rolen

2023 Panini Immaculate Red #147, SN25. I picked this card up off of ebay for next to nothing last month. Little did I know, it was going to get lost in USPS purgatory. There was absolutely no movement on this card indicated on the USPS website. I reached out to the seller on ebay and they let me know that this wasn't the first time they had this happen to cards they mailed out. They reassured me that the card was, in fact, mailed out the day after I purchased it. Since the card wasn't even remotely expensive, I agreed to wait it out. I was cautiously optimistic that the card would eventually show up. And to my surprise, one month after I purchased the card, it finally arrived in my mail box! My only nitpick with this card from Panini; I wish they would have used an image of Scott batting for a memorabilia card featuring a piece of baseball bat.


2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Autographs #CPA-SR - Orange Refractors, SN25 - Scott Rolen

2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Autographs #CPA-SR - Orange Refractors, SN25. I love these cards! What I love even more is saving money when I'm adding cards to my collection. I feel like I stole this card this month. An on-card autograph of a Hall of Fame third baseman, limited and serial numbered to just 25 copies, for less than lunch...yes please! And, it's the orange refractor parallel - my favorite color!


2023 Topps Now - Autographs Purple #610C, SN25 - Scott Rolen

2023 Topps Now - Autographs Purple #610C, SN25. I missed these cards when they were originally offered on Topps' website. When they hit the secondary market, the prices were obscene! I had already chalked these cards up to never being in my collection because I couldn't bring myself to pay the asking price for them. Especially the parallel versions! That was until this month. This card popped up for sale with a low buy it now price and I couldn't hit that button fast enough. I love the picture that Topps used for this card. Scott holding his Hall of Fame plaque. And the on-card autograph in a spot that was designed for a signature takes this card to the next level in my opinion.


2023 Topps Update - 1988 Topps Baseball All-Star Autographs Black #88ASA-SR, SN50 - Scott Rolen

2023 Topps Update - 1988 Topps Baseball All-Star Autographs Black #88ASA-SR, SN50. I really like this card. It has the throwback design element going for it. It has Scott featured as a National League All-Star from the St. Louis Cardinals. And the autograph is on-card! These black parallels are not very forgiving when it comes to overall condition as the edges are incredibly susceptible to chipping which becomes very evident by whitened areas around the card.


2024 Leaf Lumber - Grain Assault Bronze #GA-SR1, SN35 - Scott Rolen

2024 Leaf Lumber - Grain Assault Bronze #GA-SR1, SN35. There are nine different paralles of these Grain Assault cards from Leaf. This Bronze parallel is the most common with 35 copies being available. I know I won't be able to get them all as the 1/1 is locked up in another amazing Rolen collection. But I would like to track down some of the other parallels of this card because I really like the woodgrain front they used on these cards!


2024 Leaf Metal Hockey Legends - We Own This City Diagonal Shimmer Gold Pre-Production Proof #NNO, SN1 - Scott Rolen

2024 Leaf Metal Hockey Legends - We Own This City Diagonal Shimmer Gold Pre-Production Proof #NNO, SN1. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this "card". I'm not even sure exactly how they were released. This card feels incomplete, like it's just missing the entire step of adding the back to the card. This piece is really thin like it's just the foil front of the card. I picked this up this month because I have the four printing plates used for the front of the card, and this 1/1 was inexpensive. I've seen a couple other foil variations of this available on ebay, and if I can get the price comparable to this one, I'll buy the others as well.


2024 Panini Boys of Summer - Blue #11, SN99 - Scott Rolen

2024 Panini Boys of Summer - Blue #11, SN99. I picked up a couple of these cards last month. I was able to get this Blue parallel this month for far less money than the cost of one of the boxes these were inserted in. I'm sure that's common knowledge in the hobby though - buy the singles you want for way less than the cost of an entire box. I do like the picture Panini used for this card as it obscures quite well the fact that they can't use logos.


2024 Panini Donruss - Retro 1984 Materials Gold #33, SN10 - Scott Rolen

2024 Panini Donruss - Retro 1984 Materials Gold #33, SN10. This is a rather boring parallel in my opinion. It's just a simple yellow colored card that they call Gold. They could have used some of the cracked ice foil that they used on other parallels to elevate this card to the next level. Becuase it isn't as visually appealing as some other parallels, I passed on this card twice upon initial release. This one surfaced this month and I was able to get it for a really good price!

2024 Panini Donruss - Signature Series Green Laser #60, SN15.

  • Signature Series Green Laser #60, SN15

  • Signature Series Gold #60, SN10

I love almost everything about these cards! From the resurfacing of the Donruss Signature Series lineup, to the photo they used, to all the different foils! I really do wish they could have gotten these cards signed on-card, but I get the reasoning behind the stickers. I still think they should have gone with the original "parallels" of the Millenium Marks and the Century Marks. But I digress.


2024 Panini Donruss Optic

  • Green Velocity #12, SN149

  • Purple #12, SN49

A continuation of the Rainbow for these I started a couple months ago. I'm down to just needing: Gold Velocity/10, Green/5, Black Finite/1, and Black Pandora to complete this rainbow. If you know where any of those are hiding, please send me a message!



2024 Topps Chrome - On The Spot Die-Cut Autographs Black Refractor #OSA-SR, SN10 - Scott Rolen

2024 Topps Chrome - On The Spot Die-Cut Autographs Black Refractor #OSA-SR, SN10. I still think these are some of the coolest cards released this year. The die-cut on these wrapping around the flaming baseball is just awesome in my opinion. Then you add the black refractor, serial numbered to just 10 copies, and the on-card autograph! The only thing that would make me like this card even more is if Rolen was in a Cardinals jersey here.


2024 Topps Museum Collection

  • Archival Autographs Gold #AA-SR, SN25

  • Archival Autographs Amethyst #AA-SR, SN15

  • Archival Autographs Gold #AA-SR, SN25



2024 Topps Pro Debut - MiLB Legends Green Foil #MILB-3, SN99 - Scott Rolen

2024 Topps Pro Debut - MiLB Legends Green Foil #MILB-3, SN99. The foil on the front of this card really shines! It even looks bright in the flat scan presented here on this website. While the picture is kind of awkward because of the face Rolen is making, it isn't every day that you see a picture of Rolen playing for the Reading Phillies. I appreciate what Topps did here, celebrating players in their MiLB playing days.


2024 Topps Tier One - Tier One Talent Autograph Green Foil #T1TA-SR, SN25 - Scott Rolen

2024 Topps Tier One - Tier One Talent Autograph Green Foil #T1TA-SR, SN25. Overall, Topps Tier One really never disappoints. I love the old photo they used on this one of the hard-nosed third baseman showing his prowess on the base paths. And they always come through with the bold on-card autographs. I was able to add this Green Foil parallel to the collection for a really good price this month.


2024 Topps Five Star

  • Golden Graphs #GG-SR, SN40

  • Golden Graphs Aqua #GG-SR, SN30

  • Golden Graphs Purple #GG-SR, SN25

Topps did a great job with their Five Star offering this year. As the name of the card (Golden Graphs) indicates, these cards feature a great looking on-card gold ink autograph. I'm hoping the gold marker or paint pen used for these cards holds up during the test of time! These are the easiest to find out of the eight different offerings. The base is numbered to 40, the Aqua is numbered to 30, and the Purple is numbered to 25. The other parallels I still need to track down are: Blue/20, Green/15, Gold/10, Orange/5, and of course the Red/1.


That wraps up the newest additions to the collection this month! Overall, I think it was a really great month. I added just over one card per day this month. While that is a slower pace than what I need to get to 4,000 unique Rolen cards in my collection, I can't hate it either. I've got several cards in transit already that are set to arrive next month, so I'm already pretty excited about what the future holds for the collection!


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The Rolen Collection is not affiliated with Scott Rolen or Major League Baseball in any way.

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