Roberto Alomar Collector's Thread

[thelesquad]

So here's one you don't see every day. The 1990 Venezuelan Grandes Ligas sticker.

View attachment 358556

If you're not familiar with these, here's the set page on TCDB:

1990 Venezuela Grandes Ligas Stickers Baseball - Trading Card Database

If you're a PC'er, and your player was active in 1989, well, there's a good chance he's in this set. The 1990 Topps set, after which the Venezuelan stickers were modeled, had 792 cards. But the sticker set only had 363 cards, so many players were missing. However as far as the stars go, they're all there.

As far as I can tell, these things were pretty much "unknown" to the mainstream card collecting community in the US until recent years. They've been discussed on a few threads here and there, including this one on FCB:

Venezuela Sticker 1990?

Anyone know anything about the Venezuela Stickers from 1990? There’s a few on eBay right now and I haven’t seen them before. They look a little like Topps cards from the same year. Are they rare or interesting? Thanks for the help. Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

www.freedomcardboard.com

I really find this stuff fascinating. Looking through my master checklist, I see 24 different Alomar cards/stickers that were only released in Venezuela. About half of these were from Panini, who distributed stickers there, but the other half are from various independent companies. And this 1990 sticker is by far the rarest, most obscure one of them all. Might be my best mailday of 2024?

PS: Just for fun, for you PC'ers of older players, here's a website dedicated to early Venezuelan cards/stickers:

Topps Venezuelans

Topps Venezuelans

toppsvenezuelan.weebly.com

This stuff is just so fun to find and obtain. I was ecstatic to pick up the Ryno.

 

[banjar]

Hells yeah!

This stuff is just so fun to find and obtain. I was ecstatic to pick up the Ryno.

 

[banjar]

More Exhibits. Now missing just 5 from the first series, and 13 from the second edition. Not as close as some of you guys though.

 

[banjar]

And now for something completely different. A contemporary oddball issue! The 2023 Canadian Baseball HOF card. It's not listed on their website for sale, but they still have some copies available for $2 each. Most excellent!


According to TCDB the print run was 500 copies. The 2023 card is actually a reprint of their 2010 card, issued to commemorate his induction into the Canadian HOF. But it's not an exact reprint. I think they lost - or no longer had access to - the original graphics files, so they recreated the card from scratch. It's basically the same, but with several color and formatting differences. Here's the 2010 card:



They also sold an autographed copy of the 2010 card:

 

[banjar]

Just for the hell of it, I randomly clicked on a card from the ol' collection. And unfortunately I landed on the 2002 Topps Home Team Advantage Indians Team Card. I really don't have anything to say about this one.

In other news, I hear FCB is now accepting nominations for least entertaining post of 2024. Cast your votes now!

 

[banjar]

Alrighty...a somewhat more interesting piccup this time. The 1998 Pinnacle Plus Team Pinnacle Gold, foil front version.

Neat card, with two HOF second basemen. And astonishingly hard to find. They are not serial numbered, but if I had to guess at the print run, I'd say 50 each of the foil front and foil back versions. Really glad to have this one. Makes me feel better about missing out on the 1998 Crusade Red that just sold at auction...I was 2nd bidder.

 

[JVHaste]

Alrighty...a somewhat more interesting piccup this time. The 1998 Pinnacle Plus Team Pinnacle Gold, foil front version.

Neat card, with two HOF second basemen. And astonishingly hard to find. They are not serial numbered, but if I had to guess at the print run, I'd say 50 each of the foil front and foil back versions. Really glad to have this one. Makes me feel better about missing out on the 1998 Crusade Red that just sold at auction...I was 2nd bidder.

View attachment 359596

Maybe it was VintageSnowmobiles that shot you down on the Crusade? Whats a red Alomar going for these days?

 

[banjar]

Thankfully it was not that guy. It was another Alomar collector. $586.

Maybe it was VintageSnowmobiles that shot you down on the Crusade? Whats a red Alomar going for these days?

 

[JVHaste]

How many of the 25 have you seen uploaded? It seems a few players have been massively underpulled at this point. What was Alomar in, the Donruss Update? Maybe you should completely lose your mind, go unhinged and start ripping wax until you get one. I am 0/2 on the endeavor

I think the best Red I have left would be my Miguel Tejada, I bet that would get at least 450 at this point if Alomar is upper 500s

 

[JVHaste]

BTW after doing some stock I think my most valuable card isn't even a Crusade, its probably this little guy:

Gaeas Cradle, Urzas Saga (UZ) Price History

Gaeas Cradle card price from Urzas Saga (UZ) for Magic: the Gathering (MTG) and Magic Online (MTGO).

www.mtggoldfish.com

 

[banjar]

Apparently the Alomar was in Donruss Series 1. Over the last 10 years I think I've only seen three, maybe four, for sale. Two from that jagoff vintagesnowmobiles, which still remain "for sale" after a decade, and two up for auction.

There's now one more, on fanatics collect, but it's graded as a 10 so I will not be throwing my money at that.

That's crazy that your most valuable card is an MTG. Who would have thunk it?

How many of the 25 have you seen uploaded? It seems a few players have been massively underpulled at this point. What was Alomar in, the Donruss Update? Maybe you should completely lose your mind, go unhinged and start ripping wax until you get one. I am 0/2 on the endeavor

I think the best Red I have left would be my Miguel Tejada, I bet that would get at least 450 at this point if Alomar is upper 500s

 

[JVHaste]

Apparently the Alomar was in Donruss Series 1. Over the last 10 years I think I've only seen three, maybe four, for sale. Two from that jagoff vintagesnowmobiles, which still remain "for sale" after a decade, and two up for auction.

There's now one more, on fanatics collect, but it's graded as a 10 so I will not be throwing my money at that.

That's crazy that your most valuable card is an MTG. Who would have thunk it?

I can't find the list of which guys are in which product, but I remember plain Donruss had the better checklist of the 4, with R+S having the worst (imagine if the rookies were a better crop, the football version got Peyton Manning!!). I'm 99% sure Griffey was on the Donruss list and there was a good auto set that year.

VintageBlowmobiles can suck my balls for $864.95 but ironically he says that's overpriced.

The scary part about that MTG card is its easily the type you just trade for nothing or sell for a buck back in the day... its just another boring land card that's hard to comprehend as a kid how important it is.

 

[banjar]

Vintage Blowmobiles. That is what I shall refer to that guy from this point forward!

 

[banjar]

Waaaay back in 2017 Topps put out the "Rediscover" inserts. Old cards they would buy back and stamp with "REDISCOVER TOPPS" in either bronze, silver, gold, or blue foil (in order of increasing scarcity). Then randomly stuff them inside packs as little goodies. The other day I saw the blue version of the 1989 Topps card and snagged it.

So here are homeboy's 1989, 1990, and 1991 Topps cards in the blue foil from that issue. I decided I kinda liked them when they came out, so what the hell, right?

 

[banjar]

Here's one I bought a few weeks back. 1994 Topps Black Gold Winner ABCD. I've been hoping these would come down in price over the years, but they all seem to sell for $200-$300 bucks. For obvious reasons, I guess. They are rare, and they have every single high value 90's player on them. The demand is high.

So I decided to just pull the trigger on this auction, and got it for somewhere under $200. A lot for kind of a novelty card, but it fills a hole in the collection.

Now I'm waiting to see if a copy of the redemption send-in version comes up for auction, or a reasonable BIN price...

 

[banjar]

There's been a trickle of things in the mail over the last month. Another 98 Tek Diffractor (up to 15/90) and another 99 Tek Gold (up to 21/60). Just things like that, what I call hole fillers. Cards I'm happy to have, that fill little holes in the collection, but nothing to get super pumped about. Here are a couple more that fall into that category...

2002 UD Diamond Connection Bat Around Gold /50. Alomar was featured in two of these, both of which came in the silver and gold versions, and this is the last one I needed. I saw it in a lot of Bat Around Gold cards offered by an ebay seller, so I made him an offer on just this one and he took it.



This is from 2005 Absolute, one of the approximately 2.6 billion Alomar cards that exist in that set. This card with Durham and Crede had 8 versions, of which I have 6. The missing two are SN /35 and /10. I have never been a fan of 2005 Absolute, so I am generally not a high bidder on these things.



All that said, I am in the hunt for a card I am super pumped about. If I land it, I'll definitely have a more exuberant post next time

 

[magicpapa]

I can't find the list of which guys are in which product, but I remember plain Donruss had the better checklist of the 4, with R+S having the worst (imagine if the rookies were a better crop, the football version got Peyton Manning!!). I'm 99% sure Griffey was on the Donruss list and there was a good auto set that year.

VintageBlowmobiles can suck my balls for $864.95 but ironically he says that's overpriced.

The scary part about that MTG card is its easily the type you just trade for nothing or sell for a buck back in the day... its just another boring land card that's hard to comprehend as a kid how important it is.

Checklist​

• 1 Tim Salmon U
• 2 Garret Anderson U
• 3 Jim Edmonds CTA L
• 4 Darin Erstad CTA L
• 5 Jason Dickson D
• 6 Todd Greene D
• 7 Roberto Alomar CTA D
• 8 Cal Ripken, Jr. D
• 9 Rafael Palmeiro CTA U
• 10 Brady Anderson U
• 11 Mike Mussina L
• 12 Mo Vaughn CTA D
• 13 Nomar Garciaparra D
• 14 Frank Thomas CTA U
• 15 Albert Belle CTA L
• 16 Mike Cameron D
• 17 Robin Ventura U
• 18 Manny Ramirez L
• 19 Jim Thome CTA L
• 20 Sandy Alomar, Jr. D
• 21 Dave Justice D
• 22 Matt Williams U
• 23 Tony Clark U
• 24 Bubba Trammell L
• 25 Justin Thompson D
• 26 Bob Higginson L
• 27 Kevin Appier D
• 28 Paul Molitor L
• 29 Chuck Knoblauch CTA U
• 30 Todd Walker L
• 31 Bernie Williams U
• 32 Derek Jeter CTA U
• 33 Tino Martinez D
• 34 Andy Pettitte L
• 35 Wade Boggs CTA L
• 36 Hideki Irabu D
• 37 Jose Canseco D
• 38 Jason Giambi U
• 39 Ken Griffey, Jr. D
• 40 Alex Rodriguez CTA L
• 41 Randy Johnson L
• 42 Edgar Martinez D
• 43 Jay Buhner CTA U
• 44 Juan Gonzalez CTA U
• 45 Will Clark D
• 46 Ivan Rodriguez L
• 47 Rusty Greer D
• 48 Roger Clemens L
• 49 Carlos Delgado U
• 50 Shawn Green D
• 51 Jose Cruz, Jr. D
• 52 Kenny Lofton D
• 53 Chipper Jones D
• 54 Andruw Jones CTA L
• 55 Greg Maddux U
• 56 John Smoltz CTA L
• 57 Tom Glavine U
• 58 Javy Lopez L
• 59 Fred McGriff L
• 60 Mark Grace U
• 61 Sammy Sosa CTA U
• 62 Kevin Orie D
• 63 Barry Larkin CTA U
• 64 Pokey Reese L
• 65 Deion Sanders D
• 66 Andres Galarraga L
• 67 Larry Walker D
• 68 Dante Bichette CTA D
• 69 Neifi Perez U
• 70 Eric Young L
• 71 Todd Helton D
• 72 Gary Sheffield CTA U
• 73 Moises Alou L
• 74 Bobby Bonilla D
• 75 Kevin Brown D
• 76 Ben Grieve L
• 77 Jeff Bagwell CTA U
• 78 Craig Biggio D
• 79 Mike Piazza L
• 80 Raul Mondesi U
• 81 Hideo Nomo CTA U
• 82 Wilton Guerrero D
• 83 Rondell White CTA U
• 84 Vladimir Guerrero CTA U
• 85 Pedro Martinez D
• 86 Edgardo Alfonzo D
• 87 Todd Hundley CTA U
• 88 Scott Rolen D
• 89 Francisco Cordova D
• 90 Jose Guillen D
• 91 Jason Kendall L
• 92 Ray Lankford D
• 93 Mark McGwire CTA D
• 94 Matt Morris D
• 95 Alan Benes L
• 96 Brian Jordan CTA U
• 97 Tony Gwynn L
• 98 Ken Caminiti CTA L
• 99 Barry Bonds CTA U
• 100 Shawn Estes D

 

[JVHaste]

Thanks @magicpapa , so it looks like Alomar is in plain Donruss along with Griffey, Chipper, Ripken etc. Now all we have to do is convince Jarjar to gamble his life savings opening the few boxes left to pull one!

 

[banjar]

Meesa no tink so!

Thanks @magicpapa , so it looks like Alomar is in plain Donruss along with Griffey, Chipper, Ripken etc. Now all we have to do is convince Jarjar to gamble his life savings opening the few boxes left to pull one!

 

[JVHaste]

Meesa no tink so!

If you did you could say "meesa in deep doo-doo now!" as you burn through your family savings, with one pack to go you see a glimmer of red. . . . as you pull a Kevin Orie crusade!