Jorge Alfaro is a serious Dude

Sometimes, I become interested in a Baseball player solely because of their picture on their Baseball Picture Card. This is one of those times.

I never did get to see Jorge Alfaro play Baseball, live, on any of the numerous "screens" that permeate our daily existence now. That should have been easily do-able when he played in the media favorite NL East. But by the time I figured out this interest in seeing the man play the game of Baseball, he was already in the NL West, which basically doesn't exist when you live in the Middle West, unless you can watch MLB Network on a continuous loop, which, I, can not. Yet.

It all worked out in the end, however, as my Baseball Cards routinely help with such issues. I am only now finalizing the final homes of some cards received from COMC so many months ago, I forgot just when that was, and with a large new batch of cards waiting for me out there in WA. So, it was time...

The Card That Started It All

2020 Topps

That one seemed like a pretty unique Baseball Picture Card image; I can't even recall another example of "side eye" on a card. You really have to wonder just what his teammate must have done out on the diamond to earn this look from his Catcher. Though of course, maybe The Ump did it. But this one is definitely the card that brought Jorge Alfaro to my attention.

Not long after obtaining it, a bit of the perpetual chore of sorting another one of the 0-7 year old stacks of Baseball Cards permanently overpopulating the top of my card desk quickly had me stopping a stack thumb-through when I saw more Alfaro images. i.e. even before I read his name on the card. Once that happened a couple-three more times I did begin to deliberately watch for his cards in those stacks. 

Following are my finds, in simple sequential release order; any other way to do it would be anything but in-order-received, which I forgot, anyways...

2017 Topps Meijer purple parallel

(surely one of the worst designs, ever, for creating parallels, though bookended the year before and year after with 2 other strong contenders for that title)

2017 Heritage High Number

(whereas 1968 Topps cries out for a 'parallel' improvement on every single card)

2018 Stadium Club

I always enjoy Catcher-on-the-basepaths cards; one doesn't see too many of those and such cards could probably make a fun little side collection. I sometimes wonder if Catchers are less prone to being picked off a base, and/or actually less likely to generate a "CS" stat - Caught Stealing - than players from other positions, when compared to their sprint speed. Where's those analytics guys when I need one? 

I do have an enjoyable side collection of 'leading off' cards; perhaps one day this card will migrate to a new home.

2019 Big League

I will forever be disappointed with a simple design choice in the 2nd year of the Big League set; I liked everything about the set until the designers somehow created a pastel version of a tech-grey plastic Baseball pennant, like a mini black hole sucking all the color right out of the cards. Things improved the next year in the product, but that was a product no one could purchase, cuz, retail flippers changed it to an online only product. Perhaps some day I will revisit 2020 Big League, hope so.

As for Jorge up there at the plate, well, hitting is serious business as we all know, and he seemed to prefer remaining in focus on the concept, even when posed for a Baseball Card -

2020 Heritage

I love those cards from the rare cloudy day in Florida. Quite fitting for the theme at hand, here. And this is one of the better looks you will find, on real cardboard, at the Marlins' fantastic shoulder patch. Heritage is frequently quite good for showing those off. And it's a little stealthy given the automatic-via-software placement, but that is one heckuva signature. I might have to investigate those, further. Drag-drop that one a little to the right and down slightly, and this card would improve, muchly.

2021 Topps

Those teammates out there better get it together.

2021 Heritage

Another great Florida card. I quite like those; I just don't care for paging through 350 of them at a time, year after year after year, exactly same as year before, most of which refuse to let Florida (or Arizona) actually appear much. 

Card That Fell Off the Bubble

2018 Topps Update

I sooo wanted to include this card in this little project, but, alas, my collecting rules these days preclude mixing horizontals with verticals. So this card will have to wait its turn to appear in the always ever more wonderful Horizontal binder, with more examples of the Lurking Umpire, which is rather freaky on this particular piece of cardboard. Do you hear that Darth Vader breath on this one? I do. Run, Jorge, run. Or, is this card an out-take from some lurid Topps Attax set that was supposed to be called The Catcher With Three Arms?

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

2018 Topps Now

("El Oso" means "The Bear" in English).

Alas, no more Jorge Alfaro cards are being produced these days. Only a few appeared from his half season of work in San Diego, and none from his even briefer stints at the MLB level in Colorado, Boston, or another short stop in Washington this past September. One should never count a back-up Catcher out, however, until they themselves decide to move on. 

After the 2021 cards I found I did not feel any of his Padres cards matched this goofy little page of Baseball Cards, and Jorge languished in my "Players" box until I turned to the vast library of every-Baseball-Card-ever-made known to us as COMC, where I found the just exactly perfect image to wrap up this collection. Once you scroll through the entirety of Alfaro's Baseball Card oeuvre there, you will see plenty of more expected Baseball expressions, including sufficient happy ones as seen here. I do hope Señor Alfaro can continue his career en el Béisbol, perhaps at an academy back home in Colombia, or maybe re-climbing the coaching ladder to the Bigs with one of the 30 MLB minor league systems, as he laboriously did in the mid-10s, appearing in Topps Pro Debut for four years sequentially, possibly a record. Until such a never-say-never deal may appear some day, I will quite enjoy this particular entry in my Players Collection, courtesy of Baseball Cards.

The Result

Repack to the rescue?

It's been a long, busy and successful year, in everything except one area of Life which you, dear Reader, might be particularly fond of: the enjoyment of Baseball Cards. Of course success in economic endeavors is great for obtaining more Baseball Cards. But ultimately there is something even more important than money in the enjoyment of Baseball Cards, which is simply Time, itself. Without time to sit down and casually paw through a stack of Baseball Cards, turning a few over, sorting them some, etc., solely obtaining them can become rather hollow. And when one is hundreds of miles from their card collection, even Free Time is not enough for a little Baseball Card relaxation.

Lately when I have found myself particularly missing Home, and the Baseball Cards therein, I end up drawn once again into a store I don't otherwise really care to visit. One completely full of corporate junk products with the prices set at: Maximum, and also full of already sick people trying to figure out how to make themselves feel better while busily shedding their germs: Walgreens. 

A touch harsh, yup, but riddle me this: who goes to Walgreens for fun? I do, that's who. I can easily tune out those aforementioned concerns as I make a bee-line straight to some quick, EZ relief of my symptoms, too. So as it turns out, I must thank Walgreens for hooking me up with what should be a basic staple of American life, in my not humble at all opinion: cheap Baseball Cards.

It has been an interesting year for me in that regard at least, with a variety of Baseball Card experiences on just 3 or 4 visits to the mini box store, which has been a plus compared to visiting the Big Box store options lately.

My go-to @ Walgreen's is that there Baseball Collector's Edge box, generally of 50-ish loose cards and one sealed pack. It rarely disappoints, completely. Eat your Wheaties, cuz them things are tougher than they look, and let's "rip" one...

Well we're not off to a good start, even though I quite like this card and already have copies permanently enshrined in 2 collections — a complete set of 2024's "The Neon," and also one in a nascent City Connect collection of Rockies cards. This one is letter perfect for that still under construction page, for one of the best CC unis. But I don't really want year old cards in my repack products.

So this repack began with four cards a year old; oddly, two from Series One and two from Series Two. I concluded the repack packer was being careful in disposing of recent cards, even when I pawed straight into more '24 -

I lost all desire to own any more Topps Holiday after a few years, and that has just never rekindled. Perhaps this card will make an exception to that rule, as I also keep a few Sunglasses cards from any pile of cards I have. Maximum Neon could use at least one bling-out on a binder page, I guess, and Holiday Neon is None-More-Neon.

Year old Baseball Cards though, that's not what I want to see in a repack, silly rabbit. Fortunately, those stopped at 5 cards, and amidst the swirling Donruss & Fleer junkwax, the nuggets began to appear:

2001 Bowman

Another good Sunglasses card? Or a good Eye Black card? Albeit one with a live Baseball, incoming.

This card, with its odd half-shadow lighting, won't make an eventual best-of 2023 Heritage High Numbers for me, but I scanned it to remind myself that Kimbrel might could mebbe qualify for a page of 9 uniforms, 9 Topps designs now after reaching the team total in 2025. We'll see.

and boom goes the dynamite

Or maybe the fuse just sputtered, there in a failed-foil scan. Anyhow, that's Jose Bautista, who's future was so bright there in 2006 Topps Updates & Highlights that he had to, yup, wear shades. That there definite year-end Best Sunglasses Card winner has an intriguing card back, too:

which reveals that after 75 MLB games with 4 MLB teams across 2 seasons,

Jose Bautista had not yet hit a Home Run.

He must not have been lucky enough to face Paul Foytack, I guess.

&, I quite like the always-sunny-at-Topps optimistic prescience here, with Topps Card Back Writer confidently calling career-so-far .190 hitter Bautista a "crucial component" and in Pittsburgh "to stay." Next stop, Hall of Very Good.

see what I did there?

I have to wonder what Hitting Coaches might say about that card. A keeper though, bright, and just so ... live, as in Baseball, being played. I did begin to worry, however, that this card might be the duly required Hall of Famer card in a repack, in the mind of the repack packer person. Because I would likely fail a question on Tony Fernandez's HoF status, voting in the affirmative.

This repack, though, seemed to be leaning into this HoVG trend -

this is from one of the years of the Gallery 1.0 product(s), as distinct from the 2.0 revival beginning in 2017; the earlier iterations are a set of checklists I have zero experience with, card-in-hand. This card didn't yay-or-nay me much, though I like the camera's perspective point. The back however,

Pitcher-At-The-Plate.

Keeper.

1997 Pinnacle

Pop-Up.

Sunglasses.

'nother Keeper.

1992 Pinnacle

This card is moving me into acceptance of a conclusion that of all the 1990s sets of Baseball Cards that might still exist in an unopened state, the one I might most want to peruse pages and pages of its cards, said set might just be this one. Mesmerizing. Classy.

This is a Public Service Announcement:

1993 Fleer Ultra is not aging well.

Another sometimes seemingly required inclusion in a repack is a taste of, Oooohhhhh, Shiny....

oh well. I was way looking forward to scanning this one, as it is around an 8.5 on the Oooohhhhh, Shiny scale, in-hand, which is quite impressive, particularly on a sunny day. Sometimes they scan fabulously, sometimes they don't.

Otherwise the other stick-in-my-head aspect of this card will be the set name from whence it came, 1995 Pinnacle Select Certified. I would have to wonder what a Marketing 101 textbook would comment on that mouthful. 

But the Pop-Up page will need an Oooohhhhh, Shiny rep, so into the collection it goes. Repacks are so good for the side collections, such as:

another entry for page 2 of truly Devout players

OK, quiz time:

How long has it been since you held a 1994 Stadium Club Baseball Card in your hand?

I'll bet you didn't know that last name there, straight off the DYMO•Tape machine about which youngsters are like, what's a DYMO•Tape machine, well on that cool facsimile of DYMO•Tape the faux impressioned plastic letters are actually embossed onto the Baseball Card as part of the printing. A Deluxe Baseball Card, in the sky. I did not remember that, not having held a 1994 Topps Stadium Club Baseball Card in my hand since, 1994.

Pop-up Hot Pack.

Sunglasses Hot Pack.

Manager - Dave Roberts, foil-fail scan strikes again

'nother keeper.

TOPPS

2005

I like 2005 Topps a little more every time I see it.

However I think it might be a long time before I discover another Baseball Card with not one but two hitters in a batting stance, even though this is the second one I have scanned for you recently.

Overall the repack packer had come through for me, with a respectable quantity of collectable Baseball Cards, for MY collection(s), anyway. I had not pulled an actual Hall-of-Famer Baseball Card, but I liked the optimism that Dave Roberts will "get the call" one day, which seems likely, to me.

My eventual memory of any of these little overly-glued, rectangular boxes will often depend on what actual sealed pack is included. Here, it was a re-run, same as my last  $6 "Collector's Edge" purchase before this one -

1988 style

Again. Not my hope & dream when I successfully open/destroy one of these boxes, but the pack is sealed and a small portal back in time to 1988 -

a favorite name from my youth, still going strong from Vintage, on into Junk Wax

Should I put a card of a Pitcher wearing a Batting Helmet in with the Pitchers @ Plate cards? Decisions, decisions.

Maybe the blue uniform on a blue plaid (did I just type that?) Baseball Card isn't a problem, after all, when you are at the Stadium nice and early on a sunny late morning. NY Mets - Donruss Card Miner nailed this one. A great First Card upon opening the pack.

now that's how to MVP Baseball Card

yet more Hall-of-Very-Good action

this repack packer's got skillz

did I mention liking these MVP cards?

Both, in one pack!

Wait.

The Braves and the Dodgers both play in the National League.

Which can have only one MVP.

(googles)

& What about George Bell and Andre Dawson, 1987 MLB MVPs?

do their 1988 Donruss Baseball Cards say MVP on them too?

I was told there would be no homework assignment.

88 Donruss, strikes again.

the pack tries to make amends...

all of the above, and a Diamond King

(what's up with those blue, green & yellow diagonals doh?

I'm not sure suprise color spaghetti helps out, on this design)

but wait, there's more

got racing stripe? New York, Mets.

Were these things created in suburban Chicago, or deep in NYC?

88 "Plaidurday" Donruss Mets Team Set? Hmmm.

Ha!

Now you can't ever unsee this Baseball Card, either.

Were they the M&M's back then?

And there's _that_ digit? Don't see that every day.

How much do you think the guy wants for that pair of white pants there in the back? 

And where's his customers?

but wait, the train is still here in the HoVG station...

the Giants & Giants though?

and finally, the Last Card is reached, another famous name:

however that was not an opportune day to take a Baseball Picture Card photo; RJR has better Baseball Cards than that one.

1988 Donruss. They just don't pack 'em like they used to.

Rescued.

only the best Names

Right now, I am just starting to anticipate my next trip to the grocery store, cuz last week silly me went to one without Baseball Cards, which was dumb. The reason I am starting to anticipate some brand new pack fresh Baseball Cards is the new 2025 Archives product.

I've enjoyed three blasters so far and it was tough not to scan even more great selections. Let's go to the tape...

I mean, with a Rookie Card card like this one, you gotta pull for the guy.

this card, just has a lot going on

not my first Running Sprinklers card, but not my 9th, either

or even 3rd?

autos, autos, I must have autos, give me ink on my Baseball Cards

Ok, here ya go

This card, is even a bit more eye-catching, 'in-hand' which is because the unusual soft-light created by a Spring morning in Arizona has an uncanny resemblance to something we all see way too much of, but only on "screens" days: "AI" generated imagery. I absolutely do not think this card is such but rather is a very good capture of a Spring morning in Arizona, quite well done. 

Although the image has that now all-too familiar double-take happening, there is also another assurance it is real. That would be the TV Camera on the tripod. Fortunately, big AI is unable to choose such unexpected concepts/ideas/images/whatevers unless it has seen/read/heard (i.e., "crawled")  the concept/idea/image/whatever multiple times. Not hardly anyone's first-ever-seen TV Camera card, but also one only generally seen a few times a year at most. So, totally real Chase Petty Rookie Card. Great name.

I'm in the money?

Not "-the- black" of course, from over in Topps Baseball where until all of a sudden just recently in Update, it's gone away again. 

Still, a Black Rookie Card card is cooler than a not-Black Rookie Card card. Even if you can't read the foil.

the longer the name, the better 2005 Topps becomes

this is another intriguingly lit, brand new card

though here it appears a classic light stand off to Salvy's left supplied the illumination

Result, good. My Salvador Perez collection will be a couple pages - with this one.

"Black 64 Foil" - not a descriptor I thought I would ever type, I would have to say.

Mr. Redlegs approves, like he does on most cards he comes running on to.

I mean, if you're a Mets fan, you gotta want this card, amirite?

I'm glad to have mine, and I'm not a Mets fan

Here's     Johnny

Have you ever wondered what 1970s Stadium Club could have been like? This long-time SC checklist regular may just have his best Stadium Club card yet, right here in 1996 Topps, or something. Unless, of course, this is already an SC card, which would carry zero surprise.

Team color ink, on-card

64 Night Card RC Rookie 

menacing

the best Night Cards are black Night Cards

that's a 10-4, in the money

I'm not typing it out, but you heard it in your head, anyway

I mean, when's the last time you saw 2 batters in their stance, on the _same_ Baseball Card?

that's pretty ...

may your Baseball Cards be many

more 64 Night Card action

that means, this guy has a Black Night Card Rookie Card card out there, waiting

cool

2005 Topps just says it all, every time

but, I wish this image was used on a '96 - you'll see

Pitcher Face inset, represent

prolly best 2025 Look-In card, easily

maybe the Cooperstown Collection licensing agents don't complain about the fronts of the recent Carl cards, because they're just checking the back for the logo

didja ever notice the Guardians logo essentially says "GO" ?

now ya did

Night Card set?

best 2025 Empty Seats card contender

And, you probably can't read his name in the scanned foil there - "Kumar Rocker" - but I remember seeing this fun name in Baseball headlines multiple times, a few years back, for some kerfluffle or other. But I can't remember why. Now here he is, back in my consciousness. Will I ever see his name again? With Rookie Card cards, one never knows.

Best 2025 tribute card

ahh, c'mon Topps

I like Complete Career Stats cards

personally would expect a Final-Year image for the concept, quite often

but, this one, well, there's 100 brand new 2025 2005 Topps Baseball Cards for me to binder up and flip through, forever and ever

however

there's only 99 spots in the binder for them

haven't put a card in my Chris Sale collection lately

welcome back

Shoots, Scores!

promoted straight to the binder, instantly

Seriously?

total How Not To Do Its

gotta meet qutoa AFAP

this intern, should be left off the 2026 roster 

for the Topps Baseball Club

this is The Way

Horizontal Lead-Off Rookie Card

this is not The Way

Hopefully his first Mariners card, sometime quite soon I expect, will be from the October game where he pretty much single-handedly beat my Favorite Team, all by himself in Game 3 or 4, forget. He weasels his way on base somehow, then steals TWO bases.

That guy, there, on that Baseball Card stole TWO bases in one inning, in the playoffs, then scores as the M's win 2-0. That guy. Way to go, Tigers.

It was one heckuva of an October Baseball display; it also included some not-routine glove-work at 1st, iirc. Great to see him get a long-term contract in Seattle now, that game couldn't have hurt. So here's hoping for some appropriate 2026 Mariners cards for Naylor, who is also clearly overdue for a good Nickname card.

Exhibit C?

I suspect not. Am still working on collecting more Exhibits for you before the discussion section.

Man, I could sure go for a complete run of Hall of Famers on this design.

black Baseball Card

black secondary Team Color

Win-Win

Finally, another Tigers card.

Sometimes these tease me into thinking Topps really likes us, right now, Topps really likes the Tigers, finally

This particular pull though, was quite bittersweet.

That's because the day I obtained my first Justyn-Henry Malloy Rookie Card card, in full team color glory even, was also the day the Tigers released "J-Hen." I was really hoping he could "stick" on the team. His hyphenated first name is directly tied to his preferred uniform # - 44. As, in 'hammerin' as in 'Hank'. I was quite looking forward to such a proud Baseball homage taking the field for the Tigers every day, and more than occasionally hammering one. Alas.

here kid, have another Ty Cobb card

we can't be bothered to obtain licensing for any other Tigers great

next year, we'll make three more for ya

Red Alert!

Red Alert!

We've got a vehicle on a Baseball Card.

Please enjoy closely, because it might be a few years till you see this again.

Oh, and biggest on-card Bat Barrel ever?

Exhibit D?

I think so.

That Verlander card though is a bit of an affront, and a bit of an oh-what-could-have-been. If Verlander were to retire this winter, which is not going to happen, his career could have been perfectly book-ended by this card, and his famous 2005 Topps "Draft Pick" Rookie Card card that doesn't have the RC logo, so

Nice shoe though. Better than Max's.

Exhibit E

yup, think so

more Team Color goodness

however it remains sad how bangin' this card could have been, with a simple use of white 'ink' instead of foil, foil, f the foil

the 96s keep growing on me

at scanning time I was still thinking to do a page of just the RCs

Official Rookie Card logo = Red, White, & Blue

Red, White, & Blue Rookie Card cards = hellz yeah

more 64 Night Card RC action

also, best Redbirds City Connect card, zero question

you can never go wrong with a road uniform on a Team Name card design

see: Kristian Campbell card up there

Powder Blue, bonus

Last year in the Heritage minis, Arenado wore this (albeit the regular white version) uni for a coveted "Throwback" card, many of which Topps completely butchers with very bad photo selections that refuse to show off the Throwback uniform. But are still worth extra money, because, people are dumb, I guess. Here in Archives, I guess Throwbacks are free, as they should be. Nice checklist here for Cardinals fans, seems to me.

Did I mention the 96s keep growin' on me?

Watch it Fly

perfect

Look at that Baseball on the way, just like Stan is

Houston, we are go for Completion