A Different Kind of Rainbow

In nature, a rainbow is an arch of colors formed by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere.  But in our hobby, a rainbow typically describes a card and the different (colored bordered) parallels for that card.

Today... I'm going to share my own interpretation of a cardboard rainbow that was recently sent to me by Tom over at The Angels, In Order.  After sifting through the stack of cards he sent, I was immediately drawn to this card:

2011 Heritage Red Tint #145

I'm sure most of you have heard of the 1962 Topps second series, green tint variations.  Well when Topps released their Heritage set back in 2011, they honored the original set by including green tint variations for cards #110 to #196... just like the original set.  In addition to the green tint variations, Topps took it one step further by producing a blue and red tint variation for each of these numbers.  I'm not 100% certain... but I believe the blues were Walmart exclusives while this red parallel were Target exclusives.

It didn't take me long before realizing that Tom actually sent me a few colored parallels that makes up today's colorful post.

1992 Topps Gold Winner #100

Back in 1992, collectors exposed a flaw in a promotion called Match the Stats Game, so Topps countered with creating a special gold parallel with the word "winners" on them.  If you'd like to read more about the fiasco... click here.  In short... these parallels are much more plentiful than the regular gold parallels that were inserted into packs of Topps baseball cards.

I'll admit... I can totally remember doing the flashlight trick and receiving my fair share of Gold Winner packs... but I don't think I ever pulled the Jose Canseco shown above.

2014 Topps Green #58

Imagine you're a super collector who is trying to chase every single card of your favorite player and there are a bunch of parallels you need to chase... some of which are super short printed.  That could be interpreted as a challenge... but others might view it as annoying.

Personally... I'm not fixed on collecting every single parallel of every card out there, so parallels like this green retail only card are always welcome around here.

2014 Topps Blue #205

That same year Topps also produced over ten other colored parallels for each player... including this exclusive blue one found in Walmart packs.

2013 Opening Day Blue #187

The final colored bordered parallel I'll share with you guys is this parallel of Coco Crisp that's serial numbered to 2013.  Topps Opening Day offered fans only three different parallels in that product:  purple, printing plates, and the Opening Day Blue you see pictured.  I'm not exactly sure how often collectors pulled these from packs, but it happens to be serial numbered to 2013.

Thank you Tom for this awesome package of Athletics.  I really enjoyed sifting through the colorful cardboard and researching the differences among the colored borders.  I know you're currently on a break from blogging.  Hopefully I'll get a nice package of Angels out to you in time for your return.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!