Ryno refractors

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Forgot to tell anyone I've been on strike from blogging to protest COMC jacking up their bulk shipping rate. 

No, I'm only (half) joking. Just kinda fell into a "summer break" from blogging to deal with other stuff. But rather than vent about my frustrating life, I wanted to pop in with a little tribute to the recently departed Ryne Sandberg and pull out my best cards of him. 

Here's a cool refractor-that-never-was from 2007 eTopps imagining that Ryne got a card in 1982 Topps (and if so, this would be a refractor reprint, I guess?). Still fun/weird to see him as anything but a Cub, though these days he has a fair amount of Phillies cards, especially considering his managerial stint.

I'll nerd-out and point out the mistake on the back of designating this as a card in the 1982 Traded set ("#133T"), as that wouldn't make sense because he was traded to the Cubs before the '82 season, and so he would have been shown with Chicago in that year's Traded set. Plus the back color would be red, not green. And no doubt if Ryne had been included in the flagship '82 set, it would've been on a Phillies 3-player Future Stars card anyways. But looking past all that, it's a sweet card. (I've completed the little run of "what-if-ractors" and have been meaning to post about it for a couple years now.)

Next up is a double dose of "1990 Topps refractors", with a shiny reprint of his actual '90 Topps card on the left along with a revamped look using a different photo on the right. I've got "master sets" going for all years of Topps Archives Reserve (still slowly working on the hits, and still need Ryne's 2001 Rookie Reprint Relic) and Topps All-Time Fan Favorites refractors (over 90% complete now; this is the only Sandberg). The oft-maligned 1990 Topps design looks pretty good with a rainbow shine to it, as we've been seeing this year with all the 35th Anniversary tributes from Topps. Sandberg had an excellent 1990 season with a career high 40 home runs, hence Topps paying refractored tribute in previous years.

Ok, here's my best Ryno: 2004 Topps Retired refractor auto. I've mentioned before that I really love these things.

Here's the back in case you want to take a quick look at his stats.

Ok, breaking theme here at the end as this isn't a refractor, but still a shiny card. It's a cardart remix of his 1993 Topps Black Gold insert I made last year that I think turned out pretty good. I've been intending to do more stuff like this once I get back into the card-cutting groove.

Wrapping up, it's tough to lose a great, especially such a solid dude like Ryne Sandberg. RIP