DATA: 2008 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue (112)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: FINALLY! It’s taken a while to get a hold of one of these at a decent price. Joey’s 2008 Stadium Club 1st Day Issue card. I guess there is a variant on this too? I’m confused about the whole Stadium Club setup, so whatever. This card is number out of 599 and is thicker than a regular stock card. It’s not quite as this as a filler or relic card though. I was surprised by this, not sure why it’s that way. Glad to add it to the collection though. There are still a few more to track down… anyone up for a trade?

DATA: 2009 Topps Series 2: Silk Collection (50/50)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: What a great gimmick by Topps to get folks like me to buy more baseball cards – if you can even call this a card. It’s the first silk card in the vottoTRON collection, and we were more than happy to make room for it. It’s nice they leave that little window open on the case of the card… you know… so you can make sure it’s really silk and not just cotton. Cotton would just be… wrong. Or Rayon. ugh.

Isn’t it nice that Topps match the card to vottoTRON’s design? Approved!

DATA:2009 Topps Printing Plate: Yellow (1/1 #390)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: YO! Folks, we finally have a 1/1 up on vottoTRON. It is a glorious day… only overshadowed by the return of the MAN himself last night in Toronto. Yeah, we’re pretty glad Mr. Votto is feeling better and back in the lineup.

So, what is there to say about this bad boy? Well it’s the first printing plate in the collection, and our first 1 of 1. It’s the yellow plate from Votto’s 2009 Topps Series 2 card (#390). Yellow always seems to be the step-child of the CMYK family, doesn’t it? Black is cool. Magenta is sexy. Cyan… exotic. Yellow just doesn’t get it’s due.

DATA: 2008 Topps Holiday Factory Set Rookie Variation (14 of 20)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: Tell you what, Joey has a ton of 2008 Topps cards. I can only imagine there will be even more in ‘09, but sheesh, there were a lot in ‘08. The Reds were well represented in the 2008 Holiday Factory set, featuring rookie variation cards of including Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto. I didn’t actually purchase the set, but just picked up the Votto card.

h/t to bdj610’s Topps Baseball Card Blog for the information on the factory set bonus cards.

DATA: 2009 Topps Series 2 (390)

ACQUIRED: E to da B-A-Y

PING: I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I just don’t know if I like this photo on a baseball card. Yes, it’s dynamic, has movement and it’s something you don’t see on a whole lot of cards – the lunging bunt attempt. But, there’s something awkward about it. Plus, the photo is overall pretty dark. When you put this in a binder around a bunch of other cards, you can really see how dull this photo is. I think I’m leaning towards it being a bad choice by the art directors at Topps. For a much praise Topps has been getting this year on their photography (deservedly), this one is just laying a turd in the end.

As a Reds fan though, seeing that rookie cup on a card of a Reds player is pretty nifty. Let’s keep those comin’,

DATA: 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Updates Blue (BDP9)

ACQUIRED: Man, I don’t remember

PING: It’s Bowman. It’s Blue. It’s Votto. Numbered 069/300, this card is holding it’s own.

DATA: 2009 Topps Turkey Red (TR33)

ACQUIRED: ebiznaz

PING: I know I’ve said it a bunch, but I love the retro stuff. The Turkey Red inserts in this years Topps are perfect. They were certainly fun when they were released as sets in ‘06 and ‘07, but the inserts do make them a bit more special. It also allows players like Joey that didn’t make the past sets to get the Turkey Red treatment. As a player collector, this makes it pretty fun. Of course, Joey is looking stoic as usual on this release. Even in a posed follow-thru, you can still see the ball leap off his bat for another one of his opposite-field taters.

DATA: 2008 Upper Deck Rookie Debut (6)

ACQUIRED: ebizzle

PING: So, from what I can gather, this is an insert card in the 2008 Upper Deck series 1 set. The card centers around Joey’s debut with the Reds on September 4, 2007. It wasn’t until the next afternoon that Joey really broke down the door, going 3-3 with a dinger and two runs scored. A few friends and I went to the game specifically to see his first start. Oh my, he did not disappoint. That was a fun afternoon.

DATA: 2009 Reds SGA

ACQUIRED: The Reds Team Set giveaway on Sunday, June 7, 2009

PING: The best Joey Votto card? A free Joey Votto card! Oh, and a bunch of other Reds as well. It’s always one of my favorite giveaway days of the years – baseball card day at the ballpark.

Here’s the design for the 2009 Reds set. Not bad at all. Definetly a step up from last year’s design. I’m not 100% sold on the motion blur, but it’s kinda fun and that’s how giveaway cards are suppose to be. Overall? Well done.

DATA: 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

ACQUIRED: bayTRON

PING: I love Upper Deck’s Goudey and couldn’t wait for Votto to get his own card in this year’s set. Though there are a lot of not-so-flattering “illustrations” in this set, Joey ended up doing alright. I especially love the tight crop, showing Joey briefly admiring a shot to the left-center gap before hustling around to second for a double.

In regards to ‘09 Goudey – I would have like to have seen the illustrations take on a few liberties, taking out logos (like the Majestic logo on Joey’s sleeve), simplifying wrinkles in the jerseys, taking the vent holes out of the new-style helmets, and other stuff like that. I think it would have amounted to a more timeless release with those types of artistic choices. All-in-all though, the simplicity of the card design and lack of glossy finish really do it for me.

UPDATE: I just realized how close the photo on this Goudey card is to the Reds 2008 SGA Joey Votto card. Crazy.

DATA: 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic

ACQUIRED: bayTRON

PING: The Reds are dearly missing Joey Votto right now. The season has started off with such great promise, and Joey was just the man to keep it going. He’ll be back, and he’ll be mashing, but lets hope the Reds can keep it together in the mean time.

Of course, all this promise started to come together when Joey was playing for Team Canada in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. I was lucky enough to catch game one in Toronto, featuring Canada vs. USA. Though Canada lost, Joey tore it up, going 4-for-5 with a homer and two doubles. Damn, boy!

As far as the card goes, I kinda like this oddball set. It’s fun and all commemorative and junk. I bet this is the only card I’ll ever own from the set, and that’s just fine with me. JV is looking a little dorky in his Team CA duds, but that’s not his fault, right?

Anyone know if there is an Upper Deck WBC set, and if there might be a Joey Votto card?