Five of the Pooj

Y'all know I collect Mark McGwire (Closing in on 1200 unique McGwires!), but you may not know that my favorite Cardinals first baseman of all time is actually the guy who took over for Big Mac.  Yessir, Albert Pujols!

Pujols was just a phenomenal hitter with the Cardinals.  Phe Nom En Al.  No Willie Mays, but then, who is?  I loved watching him hit, and back in his Cardinals days, he was even a good defender and a very smart baserunner.  I only pick up cards of Albert when they speak to me, not every one I can find, like McGwire.  No, they have to be good looking cards.  Not necessarily rare or expensive cards, though that never hurts right? 

Here are my 5 favorite Pujols from my little collection:

2013 Topps Heritage #470 SP - I had to include at least one card from Albert's time with the Angels.  This one speaks to me a couple of ways.  The 64 Topps set was always a favorite of mine, ever since my grandma let me look through my uncles little collection.  The uncles had lots of 64's.  This is a good shot of Albert, he still looks young and in shape.  And the fact that this card is an SP is just icing on the cake.

2005 Topps Gallery #5 - Actually, I am not sure why this card is a favorite.  It's pretty muddled, even for Gallery.  But I like the composition in this set.  The inner frame that pops from the background is nice.  I like the use of fonts, especially the last name font.  Just a common, base card, but it made the list anyway!

2002 Topps Pristine #6 Gold Refractor #/70 - OK, so not just a common base card here.  This guy was a tough pull, being numbered only to 70.  And the 'gold refractors' from back in the day seem to have held some decent value as well.  But the real reason I like the card is the way the refractor finish works with the color scheme on this card.  In real life, it looks even better!

2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber #133 - OK, I know, this is two cards.  I put both here so you could see the difference between a more common version, and my favorite, the one on the right.  Obviously, the one on the right is the 'gold' version.  Here are the backs:

A little hard to see, but the gold version is #d 1/25, making it my lowest numbered Pujols!  Boy, they sure threw a lot of visual distraction on this set.  Seems like they were going for an 'in the middle of painting' motif.

And lastly, I had to go with my favorite of my Albert Rookie Cards.

2001 Bowman #264 RC - Most of the imperfections are scanner related here.  This is the card I personally think of when I think Pujols RC.  I'm sure other folks who were actually collecting in 2001 might think of a different one.  Doesn't matter, I like it.

So if you have some nice looking Albert Pujols you want to part with, let me know!

Next up, my 5 favorite Willie Mays cards in my collection.