Braves Collection: Horacio Ramirez

2005 Topps Total Silver Parallel #453 He could have been someone. Or maybe not. He got off to a promising start, but was just too damn inconsistent to ever be trusted. Then came the injuries. Now he's splitting time between AAA and the majors and in 2007 managed an awesome 7.16 ERA for an ERA+ of 61. Ouch. The real mystery is that the Mariners let him start 20 games. Stick a form in him. He's done. I'm not big on parallel sets except for trying to get Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz cards. 2005 Topps Total was a different story though. I had just gotten back into collecting, but was focusing on the stuff I collected "back in the day", along with the big three guys. Still, I was curious about what was up with new cards and I bought a blaster. I was hooked. I hit every Target in the area and bought up as many blasters as I could find. Eventually I bought a hobby box as well. I'm still a few cards short of the regular set, but I'll get there. 

One day last year, I was in a local card shop and he had a partial set of 2005 Topps Total Silver that was missing only 50 cards for 20 bucks and since I knew I had at least 200 at home, I figured I'd give it a shot. Naturally, I'm still short, still, and again, I'll get there.

I didn't collect it long enough to say I miss Topps Total, but the 2005 set was excellent and is my idea of what a baseball card set should be. Lots of cards. Lots of different players, including the mediocre and bad ones.