Back in 2014, I wrote about my favorite set of manufactured patches which features replica rookie cards. Wait. That's right, I did have to pay a premium for the two cards that wrapped up that set.
Anyways, today I wanted to show off some cards from another great looking manufactured patch set. Back in 2016, I picked up this Catfish Hunter off of COMC for $1.25:
2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-CH
One of the highest honors in baseball is to have a franchise retire a player's number. To put things in perspective... there have been thirty-six Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics players enshrined in Cooperstown, but the franchise has only retired six numbers and one of them is Jackie Robinson's 42.
Catfish Hunter's #27 was the first number to be retired in franchise history. The A's retired it on June 9th, 1991.
The dark green borders help the bright yellow swatch pop off of the card. I thought it was cool that Topps went out of their way to find a photograph of Hunter wearing one of those bright yellow road jerseys. Although they could have went a step further and found an early 70's photo where the A's used white numbers on their road jerseys. Oh well... beggars can't be choosers.
Sadly... this card was buried among all of the other Oakland A's cards I've accumulated the past two years... until I recently opened up a Christmas card from Daniel over at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop and saw these two cards:
2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-RH
2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-RJ
After putting these three cards together, I wondered how many other Athletics Topps produced for this set and discovered the only card I'm missing is the Series 1 card of Reggie Jackson that features a gray swatch with a green #9. I figured I might as well check out how many Padres made the checklist. There are two: Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield.
2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-DW
To my surprise... I own the Winfield, but not the Gwynn. I'll periodically look for both Mr. October and Mr. Padre on COMC and eBay. However I don't think I'm ready to pay a premium for either. And if I really wanted to go crazy, I could also chase down the Rod Carew, Frank Thomas, Jackie Robinson, and the two Montreal Expos also included in the set. But I'll save that for a future endeavor.
Getting back to Daniel's Christmas card... he also sent me the following inserts and parallels:
Oh how I miss the Money Ball Era guys. I've been meaning to create a special section in my collection for these guys, but I just haven't found the time.
Plus he threw in a few new era Oakland Athletics who are no longer around, but are still admired. And finally a quartet of shiny refractors:
I realize that Topps has flooded our hobby with refractors spanning every possible shade on the color palette, but I'm not gonna lie... they're still my favorite parallels of all-time.
Thank you for all of these awesome cards Daniel! You've inspired me to build another pair of team sets. I hope you and your family had a safe holiday season. Here's to a great 2018! I'll definitely hit you back with some Diamondbacks for your collection.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
Glad you enjoyed the cards!
ReplyDeleteI entertained completing the retired numbers set (even though they left garvey out again) but reconsidered when I was some of the prices. I settled for the dodger team set instead.
ReplyDeleteThose numbers are cool
ReplyDeleteI like the manufactured patches. They shouldn't be counted as a "hit" but I am always thrilled to get one. I have less than 5 in my collection.
ReplyDeleteMore cards I've never seen. I prefer them to a boring jersey or bat relic, particularly of a current player. The Reggie is my favorite of your group.
ReplyDeleteThose are some of the nicer manufactured patches I have seen. The colors look great on the cards.
ReplyDeleteI tend to like the manu-patches. There is a thought process to their production unlike the 'slap-a-swatch' on 'hits' which are often worthless AND boring. Daniel sent a nice batch of cards. His personalized greeting is among the best of them.
ReplyDeleteVery cool patches, but much cooler when they are all together!
ReplyDeleteOK, I have no use for these things. Really. They sit in a box and I never look at them. Never saw the point.
ReplyDeleteThanks for making this post. I just picked up a Carlton Fisk for a little over $2 to add to my Red Sox collection.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I like about colored parallels is when they match the team colors. I grabbed a bunch of cheap Celtics Prizm green (whatever they call their cards). I’ve also grabbed red Red Sox refractors in the past.
Daniel - Thanks again! I saw that DiMaggio set you're building. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to help you out with that set.
ReplyDeletegcrl - The Jackie Robinson will be mine.
Sport Card Collectors - I concur.
Billy Kingsley - Yeah. I've always considered hits to be autographs and game used memorabilia cards.. But these days, you're not even sure if the swatches card companies are using on their game used memorabilia is actually legit.
Hackenbush - There are actually 2 other Reggies in the set. A green #9 and a Yankees pinstripe one.
ketchupman36 - I like how Topps went out of their way to match the border colors too. Nice touch.
Julie Owens - Oh I kept the 1 of a kind sketch. Went straight into my blogger PC ;)
SumoMenkoMan - I've got my work cut out for me, but I will eventually get more.
night owl - If you have #42 sitting in a box, feel free to pull him out and ship him to California. :)
offy - Congratulations on picking up the Fisk. Wish they were all $2. I'd consider building the set. Love matching colored bordered refractors with team colors.