By the page: Carlos Delgado

I have wondered a few times how Carlos Delgado's career would have turned out if he had stayed a catcher instead of the move to his permanent position at first base.  I'm sure that many Blue Jays fans are happy with the way things turned out for Delgado.  Not having the every day grind of being behind the dish allowed Delgado's bat to shine, and a great career ensued with the Jays, Marlins and Mets.

Delgado is one of the players who seems to have dozens of cards in my Jays monster box, so I decided to dig 9 of them out for your viewing pleasure.

Top row:  Bat over shoulder

Love the look of the early career Top Prospect card from Upper Deck in the center.  Can't say that I ever remember Carlos being that thin.  I also managed to find a couple of cards that feature the rare red hat.

Middle row:  Fielding 

I thought these were three great shots of Delgado showing off his glove at first base.  I put the horizontal card in the center not only because it's horizontal, but it's a great photo of him reaching for a grounder.  Ultra and Stadium club usually feature some great photos, and these 3 are no different.

Bottom row:  Hitting

Some more great photos here, especially the outer cards that both feature the baseball in the shot.  I almost put this row in the center, but I thought that the fielding cards looked much better. 

I think this might be one of the best pages that I've put together.  I really like the look of the photos, and the sets that are featured on the page are some of the best that have been produced over the years.

Thanks for reading, Robert

By the page--1994 Pinnacle

While going through the large box of Blue Jays last Sunday, this group of cards kind of jumped out at me.  Looking at the three rows, it was pretty easy to divide up the cards to put into groups of three.

Top row:  the hitters

The Borders card is fantastic, the catchers mask flying one way and his helmet flying in the other direction.  The Sprague card is the only horizontal card on the page; it's tipped that way in order to have the backs line up.  The Alomar is a great shot of him catching a throw at Yankee Stadium.

Middle row:  the pitchers

The cowboy hat on Dave Stewart is a fantastic card in my opinion.  We'll see how his managerial skills are now that he's the full time GM in Arizona.

Bottom row:  the rookies

Rob Butler was really hyped as a prospect in Toronto because it is his hometown.  6 seasons and 218 ABs later, the dream was over.  Alex Gonzalez on the right was one of the few players that can say he played for both the Blue Jays and the Expos.  If you need me to describe how Carlos Delgado did as a Blue Jay, you'll have to wait for the next  by the page post...

To be honest, I prefer the black bordered Pinnacle from a couple years prior.  Never the less, this was an easy page to put together and features a good cross section of Jays players from the 90's.

Thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: Carlos Delgado

Carlos Delgado is one of a handful of players that I'll likely show off multiple pages of cards for.  The last time I looked, there were almost 200 cards of him in my Blue Jay collection, so it will probably be pretty easy to come up with several pages to display.

For the first page that I'm going to show off on this post, I wanted to put together a page of cards that featured sets that weren't as common.  I also wanted to find a couple of photos (where is that squirt gun card?) that featured good photography.

First, I'll show off my favorite trio...

One can only imagine what path Carlos' career might have taken had he remained a catcher.  Thankfully, we only had to witness 5 innings worth over 2 games during his career.  The 2000 Topps Gallery card in the center is a hilarious photo, almost appearing as if Carlos is scared of his bat.  The 2003 Upper Deck card on the right is a great photo of bat meeting ball, which for Carlos translated into 1413 base hits during his 12 seasons (3 partials) in Toronto.

Let's look at the full page:

I even snuck in a parallel card, for old times sake.   I was always a fan of the silver signature cards from MVP (don't ask me why, I can't describe it), and the '99 set is a favorite of mine. 

There's 9 more cards out of the box, bringing the total up to 43.  There's plenty more where that came from.

Thanks for reading, Robert