Cardboard appreciation: 2025 Topps Hideo Nomo, 1990 insert

(Hi folks. I'm two work days away from vacation! It's all I'm thinking about. So let's get on with this so I can think about it some more! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 353rd in a series):

  

I don't remember how I discovered this Hideo Nomo card -- probably wandering on ebay at some point -- but when I did, I could feel myself jump in my chair from astonishment.

 

What? Hideo Nomo is back in Topps products?? When did this happen?

 

Nomo is one of my favorite players to collect -- ever. There are lots of past posts about that. But he hasn't shown up in cards pretty much since he retired. Outside of some faceless Leaf relic cards a few years ago -- and those really aren't cards -- there's been nothing. Lots of Ichiro and, lordy, too much Hideki Matsui, but no Nomo.

 

Obviously I had to have this card and I jumped on it. And I was giddy when it arrived. I showed it off so proudly (and I've been doing less of that lately). But something about the card didn't seem quite right.

 

It was confirmed when I went to TCDB to enter the card into my collection. There was a picture of the card, but the All-Star/name banner was blue, not red. I didn't know what I should do, check it off, don't check it off?

 

I suspected I might be dealing with a variation. So did others. A response to me showing off the card:

 

 

Ah yes -- the thing that was out of whack.

 

I was so excited by the card that I didn't notice that there was a red banner for Nomo, the Dodger. In the 1990 Topps set, the National League All-Stars received blue borders and the American League All-Stars got red borders.

 

We experienced collectors immediately suspected a variation afoot. TCDB just hadn't jumped on it yet. I think I was extra confused because it's highly unusual that I would notice something before it appeared on TCDB.

 

But sure enough, TCDB now has a red variation and a blue variation listed for each of the 1990 All-Star inserts. And at right around the same time, I nabbed the blue one -- the correct one, according to my synethesia (AL is always red -- or a warm color -- and NL is always blue -- or a cool color). 

 

 

 

I don't do this for just any player. Chances are I won't do it for anyone else. Also I was immediately irked at Topps for doing this kind of thing but I forgot that there have been color parallels for the 35th anniversary All-Star inserts for several years now.

 

But maybe -- urg -- Topps will produce these two variations and then change the outer orange border to all kinds of different colors, too. I see that TCDB has already listed plenty of color variations for the actual name on the card, red, pink, black, etc. That's Topps, making things impossible for collectors.

 

But I won't be thinking about that. Instead I'll enjoy that Hideo Nomo is back in cards again and how these are kind of appropriate for the 4th holiday.

 

Have a happy holiday. Don't get too noisy. I guess I don't have to say that to you guys. You're reader types. Thanks for being that way. Wish there were more of you.