Five from Igor

Many thanks for the well wishes on my last post.  Time for better things!

I decided to try an easy post to get back in the swing of things, hence this "5 From" post. 

Today, we look at the five favorite Juan Gonzalez cards in my collection. Juan does not have many of the 'big dollar' cards that some of the previous "5 From" posts have shown off.  He was a really big name for a few years in the 90s, but lack of longevity and some steroids whispers took the shine right off of him for collectors.  But that just makes it possible to get some of the harder to find inserts of him at affordable prices.

Here's an example.  This card is in my collection, but doesn't make the top 5 Juans for me.  It is some kind of strange Leaf card from 1998.  They seem to have had a bunch of different die cut variations.  X-Axis, Y-Axis and Z-Axis, with variations within those designations too.  This is a Y-Axis version.  Not a bad card.

I got this out of a quarter box, I think, 10 years ago.  It came in a top loader with a price sticker that said it was the "Y-Axis Die Cut - RARE" and a $150 price tag!  Oh how the mighty have fallen, but at one time, to at least one seller, this was a pretty pricy card.

Anyway, on to the top 5!

5. 1999 Topps Gold Label - Race to Aaron - A pretty card for sure, and it features my all time favorite ballplayer, Hank Aaron.  Gold Label is still one of my favorite sets.  Gonzalez never quite threatened any of Aaron's marks.

4. 1999 EX Century - Favorites for Fenway - I am not sure exactly what about this card is so appealing to me.  It is kind of a hodgepodge design wise.  The blue toned background of Fenway kind of clashes with the colorful player photo.  And as far as I can tell, none of the players in the insert set played for the Red Sox.  Good framing of Gonzalez though.

I saw some pics of versions of these with red or yellow toned backgrounds, but TCDB does not reference them, so I don't know what the deal is there.

The spaces between the blueish lines are actually transparent, here is another pic of the card with something behind it so you can tell:

I really need the McGwire of this set!!

3. 1997 EX 2000 - Hall or Nothing - Another see through EX mini-masterpiece card!  Die cut too, you know I like those.

2. 1994 Finest Refractor - This is my biggest dollar value Juan Gone card.  I'll take any refractors from this far back, regardless of player.

And #1...

1990 Donruss Reverse Negative - This is #1 purely for sentimental reasons.  Back in the day, reverse negative 'errors' were both a common occurrence (Dale Murphy, John Littlefield) and highly sought after.  This one caught everyone's attention in 1990, but enough were produced that it isn't really worth anything these days.  Still awesome!!!

Anyone got any Juan Gone suggestions?  Are there cards of his I should really have a copy of?