Ultimate J.T. Snow Collection

JT Snow Page Twenty Two 1998

2008-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

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Ugh. This may be the worst page in the whole collection. The entire top row is aweful Pacific. The Aurora in the middle is ugly in design, ugly in execusion and features a photo of Snow taking an akward lunge of a swing. I hate you Pacific.

98 Pinnacle was nothing special and the insert beside it show a lack of imagination or maybe the will to live. I know i would think twice about my role in the world if i had designed these duds.

Bottom row is all Score. Another boring Score set from the late 90's. The Middle is a Press Proof. Whoopdie doo! At least the Update Score on the right has a nice photo. Lets move on and never think of this lame page again.

JT Snow Page Twenty One - 1998

2008-01-26T09:54:00.001-08:00

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Top Left hand corner is 98 Finest refractor. Again this is ruined by the protective coating. And you know i love refractors.

The other two on the top row are 98 Flair Showcase. Ok cards if a little overcrowded. But the thing that continues to confound me about this set is the way it is numbered. For example the middle card is numbered Sec 2, Row 2, Seat 102. What??? I can barely do division and you expect me to coalate a set with those kinds of wacky numbers? Not a chance.

Middle of the Page is 98 Leaf and next to it is an insert from the set, Fractal Materials. Much better looking than the base card plus it has a wierd leathery surface. Card is #'d 0772/1000.

Bottom Left hand corner is 98 Leaf Rookies & Stars. Nicest looking card on the page in terms of design and picture (obviously a spring training pic). As I recall a ton of cards in this set were shortprinted and still carry a premium. JT is not one of them.

Bottom Middle is *echh* Metal Universe. Why did they keep making these cards? Why photoshop a picture of JT and place him on a snowy hill? There was no public demand.

Last on the page is 98 Pacific Collection. Ugly as usual.

JT Snow Page Twenty 1998

2008-01-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

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So as you can see most of this page is 1998 Donruss Signature Series. I could not find a pack of these cards to save my life when they were released. I didnt frequent card shops at that time so it figures. I think all of these are Ebay purchases.

Upper Right hand corner is the nicest on, the blue Century Marks variant. I also like that its #'s 100/100.

Middle is the red unnumbered variant. I have no idea what the run on this one is. Does anyone out there know?

The rest are the green Millenium Marks. All #'d to 1,000. The cards pictured are 0388, 0646, 0754, 0870 & 0923. Always in the market for more of these so if you have any i have many nice cards to trade for them.

Middle bottom us Skybox Dugout access. On the back it has a little photo of former Angels Shortstop Gary DiSarcina saying nice things about JT.

Lower left is 98 Finest. Ok design, but we were still 2 years from Topps taking away the Protector Film on the cards. I hate the film.

J.T. Snow Page Nineteen 1998

2008-01-12T20:05:00.001-08:00

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So continued from last time we have 98 Bowman in the upper right hand corner. Two parallels here, a refractor and then a parallel to a parallel, the refractor for the home town insert. I am a nerd for refractors so honestly i am not going to complain about anything shiny.

The rest of the page is confusing Donruss product. I wasnt too heavily into the hobby in 98 so i have no idea what the idea behind Donruss collections was. As far as i can tell it was a giant set made up of every other set they put out that year. Why? No one wanted this. They were lucky they didnt get their liscence pulled right there and then for intentionally confusing collectors. I mean the cards have 2 numbers on the back! Arghhh. WTF?

Ok lame page other than the Bowmans. Next page is a ton of Autos.

J.T. Snow Page Eighteen 1997 - 1998

2008-01-10T22:10:00.001-08:00

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This page has the last of the JT cards in an Angels uniform (Technically. There is a Topps Rookie Cup card from 2005 that has him in an Angels Uni, but that is kinda an abberation).

Top left corner is 97 Score. Another boring design from 90's Score. Its not 94 bad, but its just boring. The cards next are the update series. Oooh look at that amazing parrallel version with the gold stamp. How was Topps the only ones to realize that refractors were the only parrallel that looked good. I could not care less about a gold stamp.

Smack in the middle is 97 Stadium Club. Really underated design. The only problem with these cards is that the blue name part was embossed which made them hard to stack. But a good card of JT, possibly a top 10 non insert.

Next to that is 97 Topps. Ignoring the design (which most people did anyway) this card starts an odd phenomenon between Topps and JT. As you can see it has him as "JT Snow Jr." Not sure why on his 5th Topps card they suddenly added the Jr. Don't get me wrong, i like the way it looks and i really like that only Topps products had it, but it just seems odd. Maybe it had something to do with the reconcilation with his dad, but i thought that came later. Anyway this quirk carried through to his last Topps issue in 06.

Below that is 97 Ultra, a series i love. Very simple and elegant. I love the way the name is foiled and in cursive. Like 89 Topps, but classier.

Bottom right is 98 Bowman an Ok set as Bowman goes, although it does look a little Windows 98 in its design. Next page has its parrallels which i will rave about.

Enough Laziness

2008-01-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

Ok so i guess since i have a lot of new visitors i need to update the site. I have been lazy but i have a new baby so that is a pretty good excuse right? Plus if all these other bloggers can do it so can i. So Page 18 will be up tonight. We are almost through the 90's so thats when things get really good.

J.T. Snow Page Seventeen 1997

2007-11-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

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Top Left hand corner is 1997 Leaf. Not a horrible design, but the bleed-in white sides look pretty bad. I remember when 1990 Upper Deck came out and i discovered that with a pencil eraser you could white out parts of a card. I vandalized many a card this way. But that is what 1997 leaf looks like to me, like a ten year old got a hold of the proofs and messed it all up.

The other two cards on the upper part are Leaf Limited "Counterparts" insert and refractor-like parellel. You know who is on the other side of the card as J.T.'s counterpart? Kevin Young. Whaaa? I don't think so. History has declared Snow the victor on this one. J.T. was the best defensive first baseman of his generation, had 4 seasons of over 95 RBI's and played in the playoffs many times. Kevin Young played his whole career with the Pirates. 'Nuff said.

Middle left is Metal Universe. Really stupid card that answers the question that no one has ever asked "I wonder what baseball would look like if people were shooting arrows at the players?"

Next to that are 2 cards from Pacific. I hate Pacific and as we go throught some of the upcoming years of cards on this site my hatred will grow.

Lower left is 1997 Pinnacle an underated design. Not a lot of clutter, a little bit of foil and some shine. A lot to like. Nice photo as well, with the Giants dark jersey.

JT Snow Page Sixteen 1997

2007-09-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

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Ok so now we are on to some good stuff. As you can see we have three versions of the 1997 JT Donruss Signature Series. In the Top left and middle we have Century Marks (#012/100 & 0085/100). On the upper right we have the red parallel. It is unumbered, so i don't know how many there are. The ones in the middle are Millenium Marks (#0205/1000 & 0296 / 1000). These are the first autographed issue card that i know of that feature JT in a major league uniform. I like them for that alone. Not a huge fan of the shot used, but i do like the auto's. I have tried to collect as many of these as i can, but people keep jacking up the prices. I guess 5 cards from the series is pretty good.

Lower left is EX2000, a weird di-cut set that i like for some reason. I must be a sucker, but it looks like JT is coming right at me.

JT Snow Page Fifteen - 96-97

2007-09-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

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Lets ignore the regular Topps issue in the upper left corner and look at the card next to it: 1996 Topps Chrome. This was the first Chrome issue and i know a lot of people don't like Chrome but i do. But 96 chrome was weird. It has perferations all over, which was really strange. I am glad they got rid of that.

Next to the chrome is Topps Laser. Really weird di-cut set that seems about 8 years too late to be hip.

In the middle of the page is 1996 Upper Deck. I really like this picture of JT, ranging to his left to get a ball.

Lower left hand corner is of course a Mothers Cookies card. I think i have every Dodger team set from this line through the 80's. Nice Sears potrait studio photo of JT.

Ok bottom right hand corner. JT in a giants uniform. 1997 Donruss 2nd Series. Man it broke my heart when JT was traded to the Giants. Of all the teams it had to be my most hated team. But he did look pretty cool in that uniform.

JT Snow Page Fourteen 1996

2007-08-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

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I am happy that we are almost through the mid-90's because i am so tired of the this era. Looka t 1996 Score on the upper right hand corner. What milquetoast card. And to add insult to injury i have three versions: regular, 'Dugout Collection' and the 'Artist Proof'.

Below the regular version in the middle row is 1996 SP. Now here is a set i actually like. All crisp photography with the player in question being seperated from the background and slightly embosed. Plus a little mug shot on the right completes the scene. I think the reason this set is forgotten is that there are no significant rookies. And as a bonus you know JT caught that ball as he made only 4 errors in '95. Best fielding first baseman of his era, hands down.

Bottom left hand corner is the last sportsflix in my collection. Interesting on the back that it says JT has 'tight defense'. What the hell does that mean?

Bottom right hand corner is the 1996 Stadium Club. Man i hated those Angles dark alternative jersey tops. If you squint they are almost the same as the Indians Uniforms.

JT Snow Page Thirteen 1996

2007-07-14T22:31:00.001-07:00

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Top left hand corner: Metal Universe. There were a lot of these types of sets in the 90's and none of them really worked. Each player had a different background and as you can see there were variants. I suppose the only people these cards are interesting to are the ones who have taken acid.

Next to that is 1996 Pacific Collection. To call these cards a part of a collection is an insult to collections everywhere. Just plain ugly.

Second line features 1996 Pinnacle. A simple design that won't win any awards but is nice in the midst of a lot of crap in the mid 90s. Nice clean shot of JT waiting for batting practice.

Bottom row is three, count em three, variations of Pinnacle Summit. Good lookin card with JT wearing eyeblack on the field, a look i like a lot. Do i need 3 versions of this card? Probably not, but that is what being a completist is all about.

JT Snow Page Twelve 1996

2007-07-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

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Top middle row is 1996 Fleer. This was one of the first sets since about1992 that was matte instead of glossy. A really nice, simple set. Great photography throughout. I lay good odds he caught that ball.

Odd thing about this page is that there are about 5 cards featuring JT batting right handed. 1996 was the last year he was a switch hitter. I remember thinking at the time that it was amazing that he still hit right handed, cause he was awefull.

In the middle of the page is 1996 Leaf Prefered. I like the design of this set, and it seems that it is one that has been lost in the glut of sets that came out in the mid 90's. Next to that is Leaf Signature series. To the best of my knowledge JT does not have a signed card in this set. If anyone knows differently i would love to know.

The bottom row features Leaf Steel. They are heavy and made out of metal. This is as stupid as it sounds.

JT Snow Page Eleven 1995 - 1996

2007-07-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

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Top Left corner is the very unattractive design for Ultra 95. Just a real clunker with poor photography. JT Looks like he is running away from a spider in that pic. Plus a giant gold stamp of a logo. Wrong way.

Next to it are two cards i really like. 1995 Upper Deck is a very nice set with full bleed photography and nice subtle stamping. Plus look at that photo. Many posed shots you don't think twice about, but laid out like it is, with the green grass behind, its just a near perfect baseball picture. One of my favorite base issue JT cards.

One card to the right of that is 1995 Zenith. Ok design, but another great photo with the bubble in mid expansion.

Now we move into 1996. All boring designs with pics that look like JT is lunging at a bad pitch or hit one off the end of the bat. But of course 1996 was JT's last year with the Angels. After a fantastic 95 which the Angels looked like the runaway winners in the AL West it all fell apart, they lost to the M's, Rod Carew got fired and before you know it JT was up the coast. In 96 his average fell 30 points and he drove in almost 40 less runs. On the bright side I did got to Angels photo day in Aneheim, and of course JT was given the day off. To think i went into Orange County and I didn't even get to see him. Damn.

In case you can't tell the duplicate 96 donruss in the middle bottom is a press proof.

JT Snow Page 10 1995

2007-07-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

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You cannot really tell, but the Select card in the upper left hand corner is actually a nice card. There is a gold outline around JT that shines in the light. Nice card.

Next to that is the 95 SP and its parallel card. I liked 1995 SP a lot. The backs have nice pics as well. And i loved the Rookies cards that led off each set with the highly chippable fronts.

Middle of the page: E-motion. Horrible set. Imagine having a set where you had to come up with a word for each card. JT's word? Stroking. Now i am an adult and that is still funny.

Lower left hand is the 1995 Stadium Club "World Series" stamp set. I actually pulled the Braves Super Team card in 1995 and won this whole set. I never pulled any great inserts and to win one that got me a whole set was unreal. I think its the last complete set i ever got.

Next to that is 1995 Topps. I actually have this whole set as well as i got a wax box. Thats why i have 8 Carlos Beltran rookie cards.

And last is 1995 Fleer Ultra. Remember in earlier posts i spoke of how much I liked Ultra? Well by 1995 the magic had run out.

JT Snow Page Nine 1995

2007-06-29T23:19:00.000-07:00

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1995 was a weird time for collecting. First there was the strike of 94 and then the lockout in early 95. Baseball seemed pretty messed up, and as an avid collector I hated looking at the backs of the cards and seeing incomplete stats. Topps even did their "what if the strike hadnt happened" stat insert. Man I hated all this. I love the numbers on the back of cards, the simplicity. And to look at the 94 stats and see them just drop off was lame. It also led to Bob Hamlin winning the AL rookie of the year instead of Manny Ramirez. Maybe the biggest insult of all. But this page contains the set that kept me interested in 95. More on that when we get to it.

In the upper Left hand corner we have JT's 1995 Donruss card. I also collected Hockey cards during this period and this design is pretty similar to 94-95 hockey. Its ok, a little heavy on the silver foil stamp. But dammit, I cannot read the names on these cards. Isn't that a basic when designing a card? If i hadn't memorized players by their batting stances this would have been a real problem.

In the upper right hand corner is 1995 Fleer. Quite possibly one of the worst conceived card designs ever. I think there were 6 different designs in the basic set and ALL OF THEM UGLY. Wow, look at that giant orange blob.

In the middle left is the set I spoke of earlier: 1995 Leaf. Not the prettiest set but it did have the card everyone wanted in 1995, namely the Hideo Nomo rookie. Nomomania. Not as exciting as Fernandomania, but for a little while it was a genuine mania. When this set came out I went to my local comic store, they also sold cards, and opened pack after pack trying to get that Nomo card. Weird thing is I didn't pay before hand and I eventually had to go steal $20 from my mom's purse to cover my rampage. Yet to this day I don't have that Nomo card. Never pulled it. But I do have 7 JT Snow's. So that's nice.

The lower left is the Pinnacle Museum Collection JT Parallel. I really liked this parallel set. Not quite as much as I am nerd for refractors, but I collected a great many of these. Plus a nice action shot of JT doing his Gold Glove thing. 1995 was the breakout year for JT. His first 100 RBI year, and the Angels almost won the west. Of course only 2 years later he was shipped off to SF. Sad.

J.T. Snow Page Eight 1994-1995

2007-06-29T23:04:00.001-07:00

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94 and 95. What a bad time for cards. For every SP set you had a million Fun Packs and Collectors Choice. This page has a couple of those lame ones.

Lets start at the top. Tale Of 2 Players sub-set. This card with Tim Salmon reminds me of the 2002 World Series, which of course was won by Salmon's Angels. That was one of the harder things for me to watch. As you can tell by the fact that i have this blog, I love JT. But i HATE the Giants. I am a die-hard Dodger fan so i had to root for JT to have a great series and for the Giants to lose. You know what happened of course. The Angels crushed the Giants spirit in game 6 and won it in 7. BUT JT was great in the series. He hit over .400 i believe. So i got the best of all worlds.

I do like the Members Only card in the upper right hand corner. Itsw just a Finest card in Stadium Club clothing, but its much better looking that Finest 94 so i am ok with it.

Ah Topps Rookie cup. I don't really know if they have revived this lately but it was always one of my favorite things. Just like the late 80's ROOKIE STARS that topps used to have. I still love that 89 Gregg Jeffries.

So 3 of the last 4 cards are those dreaded 'crap' i spoke of above. Triple Play, Fun Pack and Collectors Choice. The first couple are just ugly and stupid. Yellow and Green on a card? This was begging to be school notebook. But Collectors Choice is different for me in a weird way. I have a lot of these cards from 94 and 95, cause frankly they were cheap. But man they were horrible. 95 Collectors Choice was filled with really bad airbrushing and lame redemption cards (yay i get to see what Marquis Grissom looks like in a Braves Uni). Yet i almost had a complete set. I must have been desperate cause looking back i hate these cards.

Sorry for all the randomness. Like i said this was a lame time for cards and there is nothing special to say about any of these cards.

J.T. Snow Page Seven 1994

2007-06-25T22:18:00.001-07:00

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This would be the most boring page in the book if not for the autographed cards. But lets start with the two pinnacle insert on the top row. Was there anything ever as boring as mid 90' s pinnacle inserts? They always looked like they were designed by a high school drafting class who just got turned on to computers. So lame. I am glad Pinnacle no longer roams the land

Also lame? Score 'Gold Rush' Parallel cards. There was no advantage to this.

Ok so on this page are the first Autographed JT insert in the collection. The shame of it is, they are Signature Rookies inserts. You know its bad when the company has no contract with MLB so they have to airbrush the team name off the jersey. Guess what? I know he plays for the Angels and i can tell the photo was taken at the new Comisky. You arent fooling any0ne. Anyway, i will be listing numbered cards so for these autos i have #2417 / 7550 and #5696 / 7750. Geez that is a ridiculous number isnt it. I am suprised Snow didnt get carpel tunnel signing these ugly things. Just wait until we get to the Snow Autographix card with him in the Giants throwback jersey. Now THATS what an auto card should look like.

Middle bottom row: Sportsflix. Great concept that never really took flight. For some reason i still have a ton of 87 Sportsflix. Just odd.

J.T. Snow Page Six 1994

2007-06-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

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This would be the proper time to admit that i love refractors. I mean i cant get enough of them. Am I drawn to the lowest common denominator of :ooh, shiny"? I guess so. So anyway, on the upper left hand corner is my first refractor in the collection, the parallel to the 94 Finest card. I could stare at these things for hours. I have not yet laid down the chunk of change required to get a 93 refractor so i have to start here.

Next to the Finest card is a 94 Flair, a nice little set I think is underappreciated. Crisp photos and a simple design. Sometimes you dont have to do much.

Also on this page is the first appearance of a Pacific card. Man i hate Pacific. Always ugly cards with just horrible designs. On the bottom left hand corner there is a Pacific insert. Yes its shiny, just now like a refractor. I have to admit i bought this at k-mart in 1995 and it was actually in a JT Snow plaque. I know, I know. I really liked JT ok?

In the bottom right hand corner is the first Artist Proof in my collection. I suppose they were neat at the time, but looking back a stamp is not all that impressive.

J.T. Snow Page Five 1993-1994

2007-06-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

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A lot of cards i like on this page. Upper left hand corner is the Ultra All Rookie Team insert. Maybe it was just the gold foil, but again i always like the early Ultra sets.

In the upper middle is the Upper Deck rookie everyone wanted. Nice card and i think 93 UD is underated, probably because it was overproduced. Next to that is the 2nd series card which show JT sharing a tender bonding moment with Chili Davis.

Right in the middle is the 1st JT hologram card. Nothing all that exciting.

Next to that card however is an interesting card. 1994 Action Packed minor league card. People forget that with JT's super hot april 93 start, he eventually fell on hard times and was sent back to the minors later in season. It wasnt for long and he played himself back to the big club for good, but an interesting note and this card is the only relic of that demotion.

Another design that i liked that got lost in the avalanche of mid 90's product: 94 Donruss. Simple with crisp photos.

And we end with 94 Finest, a really ugly follow up to the beautiful 93 set. Ugly stuff.

J.T. Snow Page Four 1993

2007-06-10T22:31:00.000-07:00

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Contining with JT's Rookie year, this page has an oddball assortment of cards. The one in the upper left hand corner is from a card convention of some sort and feels like it is made from a thin strip of balsa wood.

In the upper left hand corner is a card from the Stadium Club team set. This was a very ugly design so i am happy Topps did away this idea.

The Studio card is intersting as it looks like the photographer caught Snow coming off the field after a 3 hour training session. I mean he looks drenched. I have to admit, i have the same jersey he is wearing. I bought it around 94 because i was such a big fan, but it was an XXL and never came close to fitting me. Its still in my closet and i have no idea why.

This page also begins the parallel cards as you can see by the Gold version of the 93 Topps regular series card.

Finally, i am pretty sure i am in the minority here, but i always liked 93 Ultra. It is almost the same design as 92, but i am ok with that. Plus i love the little 'Rookie' pennant that hangs down from the logo.

J.T. Snow Page Three 1993

2007-05-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

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This page contains one of my top 5 favorite JT cards in my collection. It is the Rookie Team Pinnacle insert in the middle. I always liked Team Pinnacle for its really nice artwork. But what makes this one special for me is the fact that it shows JT in a uniform he never wore. See the Angels changed their uniforms for the 1993 season, but Rookie Team Pinnacle was obviously completed before Score had seen the new uni's, so we ended up with a unique card of JT wearing the late 80's-early 90's California Angels uniform instead of the more familiar 93-98 design. Lets just be thankful he never had to wear the crime against humanity that was the Disney periwinkle uniform.

Interesting side note, the flipside of the Rookie Team Pinnacle is Ryan Klesko, who now plays in JT's old spot in SF.

Three other cards of note on this page: The O Pee Chee is a very nice card, with the "getting out of the box" photo that i always liked.

The SP rookie card always looked like a drawing to me. Love the set though.

The Score Select is a great card with a fantastic photo. This is from the select update set, which is embossed with gold trim and uses glossy blue as its primary color as opposed to the flat green of the regular issue set. The update is a great set that unfortunately is prone to some pretty bad chipping of the previously mentioned gold trim.

J.T. Snow Page Two 1992-1993

2007-05-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

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Three comments on the cards on this page:

The 1993 Topps Finest is easily the nicest looking of all JT's rookie cards. Having the embossed "chrome" look is common place now, but in 93 it was new and exciting.

The Fleer Major League Prospects insert is another favorite of mine. A definite "what if" card of him in the pinstripes. I would have to think the Angels got the better end of that trade. 1 no-hitter from Abbott vs 4 pretty productive years from Snow.

Ok the Donruss Gallery of Stars has to be one the uglier JT cards out there. Obviously Donruss help a contest where an 11 year old could paint pictures for an insert set. The giant Jay Leno double chin is particularly unappealing.

J.T. Snow Page One 1986 - 1991

2007-05-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

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So this is page one of my Snow collection. I have to say my favorite cards here are the odd sized 1987 Arizona card. JT as a freshman and posing right handed nonetheless.

I also love the Cape Cod card. This of course is from the set that also has Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell. Here he is in his familiar left handed stance, but oy look at that elastic waste band on the jersey.

The minor league cards also start here, including a his mass produced Best 1991 card where he has obviously just popped one straight up. Thanks Best.

Since I am just starting out i want to say that i am always looking for JT cards. I do like duplicates of game used and auto cards. I have a large collection and am willing to trade your favorite player for mine.