DATA: 2009 Topps Finest Blue (69 353/399)

ACQUIRED: Cincy Reds Cards

PING: ANOTHER hook-up right here from Cincy Reds Cards. Joe is hooking up folks all over the place.

I’m diggin’ the Finest this year. Rad design. Joey is featured very nicely, with the team name and brand logo included, but understated. Nice restraint. Solid layout. It just works. Plus, blue always looks fantastic on chrome.

This particular card is number out of 399. Very nice of Joe to hook me up with a #’d card.

DATA: 2009 Topps Attax

ACQUIRED: Cincy Reds Cards

PING: I really don’t understand what Topps Attax really is, but this is a sweet card. Glad to add it to the collection and post it up on ye ol’ vottoTRON. Here’s a little video from Topps that explains it a little bit… but it’s marketing speak more than anything. “Strike out the competition!” Oh yeah. Well, whatever this whole thing is, I hope Joey is a good card to play in the game.

Again, Cincy Reds Cards… those cats are the shizzle.

DATA: 2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History Timeless Moments (TM-JV 042/149)

ACQUIRED: Cincy Reds Cards

PING: Joe from Cincy Reds Cards recently sent me a nice package of cards including my two favorite players – Joey Votto and Barry Larkin. This Timeless Moments card was included and one of my favorites. I like this card a lot more than I expected to. It’s got a nice finish to it, good thickness and the design is better than average. The Upper Deck logo in the top left corner kills it a little bit… something the UP logo does a lot with their designs. This design is a huge step up from last year’s A Piece of History design as well. This particular card is number out of 149 – kinda odd. I have been unable to locate a checklist for this set, so I’m not sure what other parallels, if any, are available of this card.

Thanks again to Joe for the card. More cards from that package coming soon.

By the way, this article on Joey and the family in Dayton that hosted him while he played with the Dragons is a must-read.

DATA: 2008 Topps Opening Day White Parallel (218 0523/2199)

ACQUIRED: checkoutmycards.com

PING: Now defunct Topps brand, Opening Day, commemorated the start of the baseball season by offering a low-cost pack of cards with a short checklist. Not a lot of flair in the set, really. I see it basically being a parallel of the 2008 Topps flagship set, just sold in its own package. But, what baseball card set would be complete without some parallels? Here we have the white parallel card from the 2008 Opening Day set. Numbered out of 2199, it’s not terribly rare… but I did have a mildly tough time tracking one down. It took a while. The foil stamp on the card is gold, just like the base set, but there is the opening day date also stamped on this version – March 31st, 2008. I like the card – it’s a nice one to chase down for a player collector. That said, I didn’t really miss Opening Day not being in market this year.