Platinum Level Sparkles

 2011 Topps Update was one of the products I first opened a lot of when I was still new to the hobby. Nowadays the biggest draw in that set is the Mike Trout rookie card but for me I've tried to take a look back and see if there's more than just that to the set.

To be clear the answer is no.

But in spite of that I did pull the trigger on the Hunter Pence platinum parallel All Star Game jersey card. It's limited to 60 copies as a lot of serial numbered parallels from 2011 were. Considering how Houston Astros era Pence fits firmly in my wheelhouse for early baseball memories, this is very welcome. Wasn't too expensive either despite how he did go on to be a two time World Series winner with the San Francisco Giants.

Pence's career in hindsight is kind of interesting because he was never a superstar but he was an All Star (if that makes any sense) and he became more of a supporting cast member the moment he left the Astros. He'd have solid moments with the Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers but his time with the Giants overshadows his time with the Astros even if his time in Houston was arguably better from a pure production perspective (16.2 bWAR in parts of five seasons with the Astros vs 9.8 bWAR in parts of eight seasons with the Giants).

I will never escape these die-cuts, they're just so cool

Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong but I do have some vague memories of people wondering what the heck happened to Pence and how he went from a near face of the franchise type All Star to a role player who's hitting like a bench player. Overall his stats don't show any drops or anything except him naturally aging out of the game later in his career, maybe he just had some really bad stretches here and there idk.

Then again I won't lie, I know Pence had a long and good career that lasted until 2020 but as far as I'm concerned everything after 2012 is a nondescript blur. The only thing I remember clearly is that Andrew McCutchen once imitated his swing and folks on Twitter thought it was funny.

This is mostly because I'd prefer to remember early Pence. The guy who was part of the same rookie class as Troy Tulowitzki, Tim Lincecum and Ryan Braun.

To the point where my broken brain actually sought out his flagship rookie card too. I wasn't collecting in 2007 and I've had very limited interactions with it overall but that design is an all-timer (the slick black helps).

Also y'know, wanted an excuse to show the Troy Tulowitzki rookie card.

Bringing it back to 2011, I also went ahead and got the Toppstown insert of Pence. I think collectors were mostly indifferent to these at the time but I have fond memories of these. Mostly because these were used to unlock digital Topps Attax cards on a now-defunct website called Toppstown and I actually did complete the 2011 Topps Attax set on that site.

Unlike the codes for other promos going on back then, these did not unlock anything physical or good. As such these were usually immediately thrown in the trash. And another man's trash was my treasure. That's also why the actual physical 2011 Topps Attax means more to me than it probably should but that's another post for another time if I ever get around to getting the necessary pieces for it.

Mmm, a whole blogpost rambling about Hunter Pence and cards from 2007 and 2011. Welcome to 2024 folks!

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.