I realized, or came pretty close to realizing a life long ambition in 2025. For the first time in my life I was a season ticket holder to a baseball team. Not a major league team, but a AAA team, and as the guys on the field can tell you, that's pretty close. That team being the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Colorado Rockies AAA affiliate.
AAA or not, it did not disappoint and exceeded all of my expectations. I moved to Albuquerque at the end of 2024, and my house is less than a mile from the ball park, making it possible to walk to the games. My seats were on the wall on the left field line near the foul poll. These are actually "premium" seats, as they come with a large, elevated swivel chair and you have a bar top in front of you. I love them. Sure I could be behind home plate for the same price point, but I hate sitting behind a net, and most the baseball I played in my life, I watched from the view point of center field (sans one miserable year in high school when I was forced to play shortstop). The Albuquerue Isotopes don't have bleacher seating in the outfield, so this was the next best thing.
I also love being on the wall. My seats I quickly discovered, made it wise to bring a glove. They get a lot of action, and the balls tend to come in hot. A lesson I learned early in the season while bare handing a line drive. Didn't break anything, but I wore a bruise for a week. A perk of sitting here, I end up with a bucket of balls in my garage by the end of the season.
I used to come to one or two Isoptopes games a season when I lived about a three hour drive from Albuquerque. As it was, I never bothered to learn the players other than guys I recgonized from their time in the majors. When you go to every game, you get to know everyone down to the middle relievers. The Rockies, with their struggles, also had a lot of guys going up and down all season, so I learned a lot of different names. That said, the every day left fielder, well 5 out of 6 days (they play 6 game series in the PCL) ended up becoming my new favorite player. Sterlin Thompson. He wasn't on the 40 man roster, so he never got called up and ended having a great season and leading the 'Topes in about every offensive category. More in importantly, he was cool enough to acknowledge me with a wave before the start of every game. The Rockies added him to the 40 man roster after the season to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and I'll be rooting for him to make the team in Denver out of Spring Training. I'll just have to get acquainted with a new left fielder if that happens.
Some other guys I took a liking to were Zac Veen, Sam Hilliard, Sean Bouchard, and Aaron Schunk. All outfielders but for Schunk. Veen is a bit of a hot dog, but a lot of fun to watch. He'll likely be an opening day starter for the Rockies this year. Hilliard become Albuquerque's personal "Crash Davis" breaking the cities all-time career home record this season (it includes all levels and affiliations in the town's history, Dukes, 'Topes, Dodgers, Marlins, Rockies et al). Hilliard signed a contract to play in Korea next year, but really endeared himself to the city as just a great ambassador for baseball and carried himself with a lot of class as a ball player. Bouchard was a once weekly left fielder who I saw a lot of, and Schunk was just a funny guy. You may have read about him writing "call me if found" and his phone number on the back of his Topps 1/1 pro debut card. My daughter took a liking to him for his walk up music, "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys, which sounds a lot like "Brass Schunky" through a stadium PA.
I've renewed my tickets for 2026, and am looking forward to Opening Day in a couple months.
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On the baseball card front, Wallach was included in note one, but two different Topps sets this year! At least sort of. He wasn't actually included in the Topps Archives set, he was just one of the autograph inserts, but he was in the Shoe Box Legends set. Still, no complaints, it was a welcome surprise, even if it did cause me to blow up my budget chasing "special" insert variations instead of a few hundred more copies of something like his '87 Topps base card.
Thank to every one who read this blog and to everyone who sent cards this year. The numbers were a little down in 2025, but I was busy. I'm sure you understand. That said, here's a look at where the collection stands heading into 2026 with the annual run down of the numbers.
Current Cards in Collection: 36,324
Cards added in 2024: 741
Collection grew by: 2.1%
Top 25 Most Abundant Cards in the Collection
1. 1982 Topps............................ 1,792
2. 1984 Topps ........................... 1,287
3. 1987 Topps ........................... 1,236
4. 1988 Donruss ....................... 1,224
5. 1983 Fleer ............................ 1,073
6. 1989 Topps ........................... 1,041
7. 1988 Topps All-Star ............... 1,025
8. 1988 Topps .............................. 981
9. 1986 Topps All-Star ................. 820
10. 1990 Topps ............................ 783
11. 1990 Fleer .............................. 712
12. 1990 Donruss ......................... 637
13. 1989 Donruss ......................... 622
14. 1986 Topps ............................. 594
15. 1991 Upper Deck ..................... 583
16. 1989 Fleer ................................ 574
17. 1987 Donruss ........................... 556
18. 1985 Topps ............................... 536
19. 1982 Fleer ................................ 505
20. 1983 Topps .............................. 452
21. 1990 Upper Deck ..................... 444
22. 1991 Donruss MVP ................. 443
23. 1990 Score .............................. 435
24. 1988 Fleer ............................... 428
25. 1991 Donruss .......................... 421
For the first time since I started tracking this, back in 2015, there was no change in the order of the Top 25. I don't know what the odds of that are, but they've got to be small.
Top 10 Most Added Cards in 2024
1. 1988 Topps All-Star ........... 46
2. 1991 Upper Deck Checklist .... 36
3. 1982 Fleer ............................... 32
4. 1988 Donruss ..................... 30
5. 1992 Donruss ..................... 23
6.(tie) 1988 Topps .................. 22
6. (tie) 1993 Topps ................. 22
8. 1991 Leaf ........................... 20
9. (tie) 1987 Topps ................. 17
9. (tie) 1993 Donruss ............. 17
There were no huge additions this year, with 46 copies of the 1988 Topps All-Star card leading the way.
Notable No Shows
1994 Topps, 1983 Fleer, 1985 Fleer
Unlike in previous years, the cards that popped out on this list in 2025 were not obscure inserts or novelty sets. Three major issue base cards didn't show up in 2025, with not a single copy being added. We'll see if this trend continues, but I doubt it.
Welcome Back
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These are cards that were added in 2025, after having gone a few years without adding a new copy. The 1993 Memphis Chicks card leads the way, having added a new one for the first time since 2017. 1990 Donruss Learning Series (first since 2018) was right behind. There was also a trio of cards that made there first appearance since 2020, those being 1987 Indiana BlueSox, 1990 Sportflics, and 1993 O-Pee-Chee.
Top 15 All-Time Most Sent Cards
1. 1988 Donruss ........................... 531
2. 1987 Topps ............................... 501
3. 1989 Topps ............................... 491
4. 1988 Topps All-Star ................. 465
5. 1990 Fleer ................................ 434
6. 1988 Topps ............................... 432
7. 1990 Donruss ........................... 385
8. 1990 Topps ............................... 384
9. 1991 Upper Deck ..................... 380
10. 1986 Topps All-Star ............... 351
11. 1987 Indiana Blue Sox ........... 332
12. 1986 Topps ............................. 313
13. 1991 Donruss MVP ................ 311
14. 1989 Donruss .......................... 304
15. 1991 Donruss .......................... 291
As always, thank you to anyone who has ever sent cards. It's really sureal thing every time it happens and is always greatly appreciated.
For those of you still reading this far, I do have a bit more personal news from 2025. My wife and I had a baby boy, "Rocky," named after my wife's father. Here is, now at 6 months,
Hopefully he turns out to be a baseball fan.
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