Today I'm doing another Putz post since I still had a bunch of his cards to get through, so this will be the first of his last two posts; the beginning of the end, if you will. Here's 15 new J.J.s that are dy-no-mite!:
Today we kick things off with a few Donruss base/inserts from 2004 and 2005. I really like how the Mariners' blue and teal (or whatever they call their colors) are featured in the first four, even if the Champions cards leave a bit to be desired in the design department thanks to all that unused space. Those four are also related in that they're the first representatives of each set in my Putz collection. I do have a few other versions of his '05 Donruss Signature card, though, including Century Proofs Gold, auto, and INKcredible auto. 2004-05 Panini sets are a bit of a weak spot in this PC for now, but there's plenty of time to address that!
I don't really have a good way to group this with anything else today, so it gets featured by itself! I was really more of a fan of the earlier Total sets, especially 2002, but I won't rule out piecing together the other ones, like 2005, in the future. The back of this one is quite interesting in its future assessment of J.J.: "Putz had been relieving for less than two years when he saved nine games in '04. Long term, he's a middle or set-up man." Wrong again, Topps! Just two seasons later he busted out with 36 saves, and other than some injury issues, has been a pretty effective closer.
This isn't my first experience with 2007 Fleer--I have the same two versions of Rich Hill--but I see the set rarely enough that I'm intrigued whenever I do. The top card, of course, is his base version, but the latter, which I tried to scale a bit to give an accurate idea of proportion, is a "mini" that's something like 25% smaller (maybe? I'm not good at math...) and has a die-cut rounded upper-right corner. That feature is pretty difficult to show off in a scan like this, but trust me, it's there. Now to track down the Gold Mini Die-Cut version....
This pair represents the first two '08 Co-Signers variations of Putz I've picked up, which feels strange since I've looked over what seems like a ton of them on COMC. These are the only two whose prices were right, but there's eight more to go and I intend to get 'em all! Of these two I prefer the Hyper Plaid since Putz is more visible, and anyway, doesn't "Silver Gold" sound like any oxymoron?
The last bunch of cards today hails from 2007-2012 Heritage sets. The '07 isn't the first of its ilk as I had already picked up the superior Chrome version. Similarly, the '08 Black Back goes with the Chrome I already have (though not the SP base version). The '09s come from what I think may be Heritage's best design, based off the 1960 set. I was happy to pick up the 2009 Series II card as that's the one Larry from My 2008 Topps Set Blog got autographed for me! It's comforting to know that while his uniform changed that season, his facial hair did not. The 2012 base puts me one step closer to his run of cards from that year, all of which are Topps brands, of course. I'm 2/3 of the way to those 21 issues, with the Topps Mini Silver /5 being the only real challenge.
With one post left, Putz's latest IHAS count stands at 123, with three more 1/1s. It won't be too much longer until he joins most of my other baseball PCs in reaching the 50% mark!
Tune in next time for some cards from a different sport....
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