The card market (at least for most Rolen cards) seems to be really cooling off this month. Sure, there are some outliers with some cards fetching crazy money. But most cards right now can be had for really great deals. Here's what I was able to pick up this month:
1998 Zenith - 5x7 Impulse #16. This card just does not come up for sale very often. And typically, when they do, they have a cut across the back. These cards were some of the original "rip" cards and they contained a normal sized baseball card inside. Since many collectors were chasing the Epix cards, especially the emerald parallels, a lot of these cards were cut open. This one however, is completely intact. It comes to my collection this month via a hobby contact I made on Instagram. Another collector there reached out to me telling me that he had several Rolen cards that he wanted to sell. I purchased several other cards from him but this one wasn't one of those. After he had already shipped my cards out, he messaged me telling me that he had several oversized cards as well. He sent me a picture of the ones he had and when I saw this one, I knew I wanted it. I asked him how much he wanted for this one and he told me that he would send it to me for free, for my collection! Thanks again, Brad!
2001 Pacific - Game Jersey Patch #5, SN157. I've owned a copy of this card before. I sold it off several years ago when I needed money more than cards and I regretted it almost immediately. This copy surfaced for sale on ebay and I picked it up as soon as I saw it! Limited and serial numbered to a completely random 157 copies; this card includes a nice chunky patch from a Phillies jersey worn by Scott in an actual game. Not like the jersey swatches/patches that are largely used in today's cards.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Base Autograph Green #BA-SR1, SN25. Here is another card that was released this year as a 2023 card. Like I said last month, Leaf is definitely growing on me. Sure, these cards feature sticker autographs, but that fact is reflected in the prices of these. They cost about half as much as a licensed on-card auto. The photograph they chose for these works for the lack of licensing that Leaf has. Team logos and names are obscured by the "pose". As long as these remain as inexpensive as they are (or less), I'll continue adding them to the collection. There are plenty of parallels to chase for these.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Base Autograph Printing Plate Black #BA-SR1, SN1. I don't chase printing plates. But I will add them to the collection when the price is right. Leaf slapped a sticker auto on this one, so it's a little more appealing than just a plain printing plate. The image on the front of this one is kind of tough to see, but I suppose that is just the nature of a printing plate that represents a single color in the CMYK printing process.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel Auto Iron Donut Circles Red #S-SR1, SN2. I was really surprised that I won this card in an auction. This particular parallel is limited to just two copies, so I figured it would sell for quite a bit more than it did. These things look incredible in-hand. The little circles really refract light beautifully. The photo Leaf used on these isn't quite as good at hiding the no logo thing as the photo they used on the card above, but it still works. With this picture of Scott in his batting stance, his arm covers the front of his jersey where the "Phillies" would be.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel Auto Lutetium Crystal Green #S-SR1, SN5. I'm starting to sound like a repeating record here with these Leaf cards, but I love this one! Same story, I got this one for what I feel is a steal of a deal. And the great thing about this one; it uses the "cracked ice" refractor pattern that is one of my all-time favorites! The scan here looks pretty good, but in-hand, these things are very reminiscent of some of our favorite 90s cards. These green parallels are limited and serial numbered to just five copies and I feel like over time, these will be nearly as coveted as some of the Pacific cards from back in the day.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel Auto Lutetium Crystal Red #S-SR1, SN2. When I saw this one pop up on ebay, I knew I had to have it for my collection. Not only am I loving these cards, but this one is a team color match red parallel. And, like the red one above, these are limited and serial numbered to just two copies. And now I have number 1 of 2 for both of them! It seems like there is almost unlimited parallels of these cards, so I'll keep picking up new ones as I see them so long as the price remains affordable.
2023 Topps Archives Signature Series Retired Player Edition - 2007 Topps Heritage #106, SN63. It wouldn't be a good month in collecting if I wasn't able to add a new Archives Signature card to the collection. Relatively speaking, there are a lot of these cards out there with 63 of them being inserted into boxes. These Heritage cards seem to normally sell for more than other cards used for these releases, but this one was well within my range for purchase. I'm a big fan of the on-card auto on cards that do not feature a facsimile signature on the card that obscures the autograph. I also appreciate the fact that the auto is really easy to see on this card.
2024 Topps Pristine - Pristine Pieces Autograph Relic #PPAR-SR. Easily one of my favorite product revamps are these Pristine cards. They made their grand return in 2022 and I instantly fell in love with them. This year's release is no different. What isn't represented well in this scan is the refractor finish on the front of the card. It is gorgeous in-hand! The on-card autograph remains a staple as well. The only nitpick about this card is the jersey/photo combination that they used. I wish they would have chosen a photo of Rolen in a red Reds jersey since the jersey swatch is red. But that's a fairly common thing with Topps. They just don't care about that little detail.
2024 Topps Pro Debut - MiLB Legends #MILB-3. Topps really loves reusing the 1987 woodgrain look. They have done it a lot over the past handful of years. I'm not completely mad about that with this one though. Their Pro Debut release highlights players in the minor leagues. As the little blurb on the back of the card says, Rolen absolutely crushed at Reading in 1996 and was a no-brainer for promotion to the Phillies big league club. The photo they used for this one is interesting. I'm guessing the pool of photos for them to choose from of Rolen in Reading wasn't very deep. Regardless, I definitely want to pick up the parallels for this one. There is a green foil, and orange foil, and a FoilFractor version.
2024 Topps Tier One - Tier One Legend Relics Dual #T1LR-SR, SN25. See, this is what a jersey card should look like. The red jersey matches the photo they used of Rolen. The photo they chose isn't the greatest, but at least it matches the jersey swatches. These cards sold for far too much (in my opinion) upon initial release. So waiting definitely paid off for me in the long run. I was able to pick this card up at a fraction of the price. That's some frugal collecting right there! The only card from this lineup that I'm missing is the triple jersey, but that's a 1/1 card and it's currently locked up in another great Rolen collection.
2024 Topps Tier One - Autographed Tier One Relics Jumbo Patch #AT1JR-SR, SN10. For a product named "Tier One", these cards kind of drop the ball in my opinion. Sure, it's a good looking card on the surface. But if you look at it closer, you'll see what I mean. First, it's a sticker auto. I understand that stickers keep the costs down and allow companies to pack out the cards without fear of the athlete not shipping the cards back soon enough. But it's Tier One - they should be signed on-card. Then there's the "patch" they used on this card. I have seen this white jersey piping on so many cards recently. To me, it's not really a patch. I'm sure others agree. But at least they designed the card in such a way that the sticker isn't overly noticeable. And I think I'd be more ok with these if they called it something like "prime jersey" instead of "patch". All of that said, I'm still excited to add this card to my collection this month!
2000 Ultra - Feel the Game #10FG. I had a copy of this card in my collection already. But the one I had was damaged at the hands of the USPS. So when I saw this copy on ebay, I figured it was a great time to pick up a clean copy with no bends around the piece of game used jersey. I really like the photos that they chose for this card. The candid portrait shot showing Scott focused on the game is a nice touch. They used a nice holofoil for their Ultra logo, the Feel the Game logo, and his name on the front of the card. I think they should have used a little more of that somewhere on the card.
2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary #136 - Rose Gold Refractors, SN75. I'm still missing a handful of these to complete the rainbow. Since other releases have come out, the opening of TCPA have slowed way down. Luckily, for me, I'm a patient collector. The slow down on these being offered for sale means lower prices overall, for the most part. There are a couple of the different parallels that will likely command a premium, but those will be the lowered number ones with more collectors attempting to complete their own rainbows.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Steel Auto Prismatic Blue #S-SR1, SN10. I was able to get another one of these Leaf Trinity Steel autos this month. This blue parallel serial numbered to 10 copies looks great in-hand (like the others). There are only two more Steel autos for me to potentially pick up to complete the Steel rainbow: the Gold numbered to 1 and the Red numbered to 3. Since those are both serial numbered to less then five copies, I'll consider this Steel rainbow complete...for now.
2024 Panini Boys of Summer #11, SN275. This Boys of Summer card is THICK! I had to dig out my 180pt magnetic one touch to get this card scanned. Panini did limit the print run on these. This one, serial numbered to just 275 copies, is the base card. Of course there are also parallels of this one. Six of them in fact. There are parallels numbered to: 149, 99, 25, 10, 5, and 1. The parallels don't look much different from this one though as the only real difference (aside from the numbering) is the color of foil they used on the fronts of the cards.
2004 Topps Pristine #31. For some reason I thought I already had this card. But as I was looking through my collection, I realized that I only had the gold refractor. This was the perfect time to fix that little oversight and pick one up. They don't appear to be short printed or anything, but they aren't very common to see for sale on the secondary market. As a big fan of Topps Pristine, I had to pick this one up as soon as I saw it!
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights - Black #UH180, SN57. These black parallels seem to have somewhat of a cult following within the collecting community. I blame the high prices mostly on set collectors. When this one came up for sale as a buy it now, the seller also allowed offers. I submitted an offer and they instantly accepted! Rolen doesn't have an overwhelming number of Blue Jays cards; so I am really excited to add this one to the collection this month!
2024 Panini Donruss - Retro 1984 Materials Orange Ice #33. I'm still torn on these cards. This orange parallel does have a little more going for it than the base version. It's certainly not the "game used" material that is the appeal on this one for me. It's the orange cracked ice for me. I did notice that my other cards like this one have a white piece of material whereas this one has a grey swatch. Who knows if it was really worn by Rolen or not. We can't even be certain if it's from a jersey or a pair of pants. Regardless, it was inexpensive enough for me to add to the collection this month.
2024 Topps Tier One - Tier One Autograph Green Foil #T1A-SR, SN30. These cards have really cooled off this month. I'm glad I've exercised some patience in picking up these parallels. These are great looking cards featuring an on-card auto. So at the price I paid for it, it was a no-brainer to grab this card this month. I'm down to just needing the two holofoil parallels to complete this run of Tier One cards.
2024 Topps Pristine - Pristine Pieces Autograph Relic Pristine #PPAR-SR, SN99. We won't get into my nitpicks about this card, as I've already covered them on the base version above. What I do really enjoy about this card (that isn't overly apparent in the scan) is this card has that razzle dazzle! The "Pristine" refractor pattern really makes the light dance in different directions on the surface of this card!
2024 Topps Tier One - Tier One Autograph Blue Foil #T1A-SR, SN35. With the addition of this Blue foil parallel, I'm down to just needing a couple more parallels to complete this rainbow. I feel like I've already talked about everything I can about this card because I've picked up the other parallels. Like I said with the Green foil parallel above, I'm glad I waited a little while to let the prices of these come down to earth.
2024 Topps Pristine - Pristine Pieces Autograph Relic Gold Refractors #PPAR-SR, SN50. Like a lot of great looking cards, this scan makes the card look pretty dull and flat. In person, this card really shines! I'd really like to repeat what I did with the 2022 Topps Pristine release and secure the entire rainbow of these cards. I'm still missing the Orange/25, Red/5, and the Superfractor/1. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm still missing a couple from the 2023 release of these. I need to track down the ones I'm missing from last year too!
2024 Panini Boys of Summer - Red #11, SN149. I was able to add this card to the collection this month for next to nothing. Certainly far less expensive to pick up these singles as opposed to opening the product myself hunting for all of the parallels. Like I said above, the only real difference between the base and the parallels is the color of foil used on the front of these. This one is obviously red foil. I still can't get over just how thick and heavy these cards are!
2024 Topps Pro Debut - MiLB Legends Orange Foil #MILB-3, SN25. The foil they used on these really does shine brightly in-hand! With orange being my favorite color, I just had to have this parallel when I saw it pop up for sale on ebay this month. I've seen a few different copies of this card sell for prices all over the board. Patience and timing worked out perfectly for me on this one as I was able to pick it up for next to nothing.
2002 Upper Deck Sweet Spot - Signatures #SR, SN291. I was really excited when I saw this card pop up for sale this month. I've nearly purchased a copy a few times over the years, but the autographs on those copies was pretty faded. This one though, this one looks great! I really like the signature on this card as it shows an important step in the evolution of his autograph. I've also always been a big fan of these Sweet Spot autographs. Some may argue that they're similar to sticker autos that are all too common these days, but I think the leather and the stitches elevate this "sticker" auto.
2023 Leaf Trinity - Clear Auto Purple #CA-SR2, SN10. The scan of this card is not indicative of just how cool this card really is. The clear acetate that this card is printed on definitely reminds me of one of my favorite sets (1998 Topps Tek). The autograph here is a sticker, which takes a little away from the overall cool factor in my opinion. But Leaf designed these cards in such a way that the sticker is almost camouflaged. Now that I have this one in my collection, it most certainly makes me want the other parallels!
2024 Panini Donruss/Optic #12
These are a continuation of the rainbow I'm chasing for this set. While I've made some really good progress on these, I am still missing several of them. I still need eight parallels for the Donruss rainbow and four for the Optic rainbow. That doesn't include any of the parallels numbered to 5 or less.
I wasn't really anticipating adding too many cards to the collection this month, yet here we are! As the prices continue to come down, I'll continue picking cards up that grab my attention. And as always, I will keep hunting for those cards missing from my collection from the 90s and early 2000s! Check back next month to see what else I've been able to acquire!
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