Parallels and Numbered cards I've pulled in the last decade or so

With Ronald Acuna and Max Scherzer participating in the playoffs this year, I figured now would be as good a time as ever to show off some of the cooler parallel and numbered cards I have pulled over the past decade or so. 

We start it off pulling from my Tigers binder. The Miguel Cabrera Gold Refractor was pulled from a box of 2011 Topps Chrome back when it came out, and is numbered to 50. I almost like how the Atomic Refractors from that years set look better than the Gold Refractors, so I find it funny how the Gold ones are numbered lower. The Suarez card isn't numbered, but it is a nice parallel of a rookie card of a guy who darn-near hit 50 Home Runs this year. Too bad. I really wanted another guy to join the club. 

The last card from my Tigers binder is a 2015 Topps Victor Martinez League Leaders Snow parallel card numbered to 99. Yeah, Altuve and that Brantley guy for the Indians are on it, but it has a Tiger on it, so therefore, it is a Tigers card. I pulled this out of a pack of 2015 Topps Series 1. 

On to my Favorite Player binder. In 2017, I pulled 2 low-numbered parallels of Hunter Dozier, and I considered that the collecting gods were telling me to super-collect him. I pulled a base '17 Bowman card of him and a base '19 Topps card of him since then, and also added a base '19 Topps Archives, and '17 Topps Chrome Refractor and '19 Topps 150th Anniversary parallel through trades and a card show. That still puts me at over 50% of my Dozier collection being parallel cards. I also need to mention that I pulled a Blue '17 Topps parallel of Evan Longoria and somehow didn't scan it. 

On to my Refractor binder, and here are two guys who are having good seasons. I pulled these 2 out of Purple Refarctor packs from 2010 Bowman Platinum.

The next 2 are from a Purple Refractor pack of 2011 Bowman Heritage. Not sure if the Machado is a rookie card or not, but the Matt Harvey is, and it makes me wish he would've panned out better.

My Relic binder only features one, a Black parallel of a jersey insert from 2019 Topps numbered to 99. This card was pulled from the same pack of a card in my next scan.

Nothing too special in this picture, but I did pull the Nelson (Steroids) Cruz from the same pack as I pulled the Kershaw. The Cruz is numbered to 76, the Rivera is numbered to 62, and the Miley is numbered to 25.


These are some serial numbered cards I pulled that had the serial numbers on the front. The Luke Jackson is numbered to 10, the Jose Santiago is numbered to 40, the Cabrera is numbered to 29,  and the Harper and O'Neill (hits I pulled in the last year) are numbered to 50.

Normally, I would save this card for the end, but I wanted to feature the guys named at the top of the post at the ending. This '07 Upper Deck Jose Contreras Printing Plate was the first one I've ever pulled. I ended up pulling a Mark Canha Printing Plate from a pack of 2017 Topps Series 2, but traded it to a guy who super collects Canha.


Here is the Acuna I promised. I pulled this one from a pack of '17 Bowman. He was nobody at the time, but since it was a Blue parallel, a rookie, and numbered to 150, I put it in a sleeve and put it in my rookie card binder. Last year when people started talking about him, I checked to see if that blue card I remember pulling was him, and sure enough, it was. It is probably one of my best pulls ever, depending on how his career turns out. The 2015 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor next to it is also one of my best pulls. I hope he can regain the form he had during the Cubs Championship year.
The Studio cards underneath them still fool me. I purchased probably 10-15 packs of Studio in 2005. Not a crazy amount, especially for me at the time. I pulled a Scott Podsednik Studio Stars Acetate card out of the first pack, and was hooked, so I kept buying more. I believe you got an insert in every pack, and I pulled a few more Stars cards, but I pulled a ton of these Portraits cards. I may have pulled one or two from other Studio/Donruss sets/years, but these 4 aren't even all that I pulled. I know for sure I pulled another one of Kirk Gibson, and I think I have a low-numbered checklist and a low-numbered Ichiro card from the set as well. I was just surprised at pulling so many of these and how low the numbering of the cards are. For me to pull 5 cards #d to 30 or less out of less than 20 packs, I think I beat the odds by a good amount.

On to the last guy of the bunch, Max Scherzer. I'm going to highlight him because he is one of my favorite players. In the 2009 offseason, the Tigers traded away Curtis Granderson to the Yankees and I was pissed. Number one because they traded Granderson away, and he was a star. Number two because they got Phil Coke back. He was one of my favorite Yankees from the past season because he gave up so many Home Runs. Number 3, because in my opinion, they didn't get much else back with Austin Jackson and Max Scherzer coming back. Boy, was I wrong about Scherzer. Around February 2010, I loaded up on Max Scherzer cards to get signed in Spring Training that March. I loved how X-Fractors look, so I found a cheap 2008 Bowman one of Max, and a cheap jersey card, and I was set. I pulled his 2008 Stadium Club and 2008 Topps cards 2 years ago. That Spring, I got Scherzer to sign the '08 Bowman Chrome X-Fractor, the '10 Upper Deck jersey card, and the '08 Stadium Club card. I wanted to get more signed the next year, but he basically shut down signing other than for little kids. If only I had my son a few years earlier...

Fast Forward to 2019, Max has 3 Cy Young Awards, a 20 K game, 2 No-Hitters, will get 3,000 Strikouts next year, and is back in the playoffs. He should get in the Hall of Fame, and I got his X-Fractor rookie for probably 1-5 bucks, and it is signed. For all of the bad luck I've had in my life, this one almost makes might make up for it

Here are all of my other Scherzer 'hit cards', the autographed '08 TSC, '08 Topps, '10 UD Jersey autographed, another Jersey card, and a numbered Donruss card. 

I hope you have had fun checking out some of my better cards and that your home team (except for the Yankees) does well in the Playoffs. I am probably pulling for the Dodgers in the NL (although I'd be ok with the Nats getting through), and my Rays in the AL (although it will probably be either Houston or the Yankees). I would probably give the Astros a slight edge. I think if the Astros made it out of the AL, they will win it all. I really want the Rays to get to the World Series, because that might be my one chance to cross attending a World Series game off of my bucket list. My wife has already given me the ok, but I don't think she has a clue at how expensive the nosebleed seats will be. I don't think they will make it, but we can only hope. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy