Serial Card Countdown (#15-11)

      Thanks again to The Diamond King for 100 serial-numbered cards! The countdown of my favorite cards in the box started last week with numbers 20-16. As we move along today, we have a bit less shiny and a bit more throwback. Let's get started!

#15: 2007 Topps Sterling - Framed White Suede Tom Seaver (43/50)

    Starting the day at #15 is the brother of the Nolan Ryan card from the last post. This is a nice card of a player I really like. I didn't realize how much I liked the design of Topps Sterling until I got these cards. I'm surprised Tom Seaver isn't mentioned more in the 'Greatest of all Time' debate. 

#14: 2022 Panini Three and Two Baseball Black Parallel Harry Heilmann (8/8)

    This card has the lowest numbering of any card in the box at 8. The TCDB said this card is serial-numbered /99, so if anybody could tell me why this one is different, it would be appreciated. Though Heilmann retired 90 years before the card was made, I still like to see the photos of players from way back in the earlier days of baseball. (Thank you to Fuji for the clarification on the parallel)

#13: 2021 Donruss Dominators Blue Manny Machado (072/249)

    The card was so shiny and reflective that it was a little bit difficult to find the actual numbering down on the bottom left-hand corner of the card. Manny Machado has shown few signs of slowing up, and should be headed toward the Hall of Fame, barring any unforeseen events. I'd also like to comment on how many cards from Panini are making the list. Thus far three of them have made the top 20. Who knew?

#12: 2004 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Blue Ivan Rodriguez (139/250)

    My fondness of Pudge and the odd design of the card took this one into #12. I'm actually not a huge fan of such a small player photo, but the rest of the design is kinda cool. 

#11: 2021 Panini Diamond Kings Legacy Lithographs Holo Blue Rogers Hornsby (91/99)

    This is a nice card. It almost looks as if Rogers Hornsby is living in a cave. Hornsby was always one of those greats talked about with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and the like, but looking back over his stats this morning, I remembered that he was in fact a beast: 

    He sported a career slash line of .358/.434/.577 and hit 301 home runs as a middle infielder in a time where homers were fairly uncommon (especially by today's standards). I had forgotten just how amazing he actually was. 

    Well, that wraps up this week's countdown. Next week we'll continue the countdown, headed for the top 10, before finishing the week after. Thanks again to The Diamond King for the awesome cards! And thank y'all for reading. Have a great week, and happy collecting!

Serial Card Countdown (#20-16)

    I won The Diamond King's last serial-numbered card guessing contest, and the prize was 100 numbered cards. Firstly, a huge thanks to The Diamond King for the cards! They are truly amazing, and I could take forever going through them.

    I said half an eternity ago that I would start the countdown, but never got down to it. Now I've finally started, and will hopefully remember to finish the four posts on the subject.

    I'm going to start the countdown of my twenty favorite of the numbered cards, and continue on down, posting every week until I get to number one. There were so many cards to choose from, so it was very difficult to narrow it down. But I finally did it, so here we go.

#20: 2020 Topps Major League Material Relics David Dahl (016/199)

    Alright, things get started with a former Ranger in David Dahl. The game-used patch took the card into the top twenty. Other than the lovely purple patch there isn't a ton on this card other than a decent action shot, but it's a great one. David Dahl has played seven years in the majors (2016, 2018-2021, 2023-2024) and is batting .268 with 324 hits and 46 home runs. He was an all-star in 2016 when he batted .302 with 15 home runs in 100 games.

#19: 2016 Bowman's Best Atomic Refractor Nomar Mazara (067/250)

    The design of this card was just too cool. Obviously, being a Rangers fan pushed it a little bit higher in the standings, but the background is plain awesome. Nomar played from 2016-2022, mostly with the Rangers, and in 684 games batted .256 with 85 home runs. He finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2016.

#18: 2018 Panini Immaculate Collection Clint Frazier (38/99)

    The patch on this card is enormous! And besides that, I like what they did with Frazier's photo -- it looks very....Panini. Well, that was the first word to come to mind anyway. Though Panini isn't my favorite brand of baseball cards, I like some of 'em (especially Panini Prizm...I dunno why, but I've always liked those). Clint played in the bigs from 2017-2023, and also played under the name Jackson Frazier.

#17: 2023 Bowman Chrome Pink Christian Yelich (082/299)

    Correct me if I'm wrong on the card identification, but I'm not very good at surfing the TCDB for unknown subsets yet. Anyway, I love Christian Yelich, and though the color scheme on the card is awfully strange, it resonates with me. I hope Yeli can have a healthy 2025 season, because it looks like he's coming back to form and I'd hate to see another season go down the drain, especially if it's one of his last good ones.

#16: 2006 Topps Sterling #76 Nolan Ryan (124/250)

    Three of the first five cards in my top twenty feature players who have played for the Rangers (not biased, shhhhhhhh). I really like this card, although it is a little bit difficult to read what the year was (I thought it was 2015 at first). I like the classic photo of Ryan tipping his cap, and think this is a worthy card to finish out the post with.

    Well, there's the top five cards in the countdown. I intentionally got the sheen on the cards -- I like that kind of thing, plus it helps to show how nice the cards look in-hand. I hope you enjoyed, and next Tuesday will be numbers 15 through 11. Thanks again to The Diamond King for the awesome cards, and thank y'all for reading. Have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!