1996 and The Holy Trinity: A Blog Bat Around

 Nomar Garciaparra's monstrous 1997 Rookie Campaign officially ushered in what became known as the Holy Trinity of Shortstops. You might remember the exclusive club. Joining Boston's newly-minted hero was 1996 A.L. Rookie of the Year Derek Jeter and the Mariners' Alex Rodriguez, who, at 21 years of age, was the "veteran" of the group and whom had already posted over 14 in career WAR. To say they weren't your father's shortstops would be an understatement. 

All three appeared in the Majors in 1996 and each appeared on cardboard that year as well. But they aren't the subject of today's post. That's being reserved for one player, one design, and, well, three aspects of the game.

Looking through certain cards in the collection, I was struck by the idea of doing player runs for a few of my favorite players. But not your typical run of, say, the standard Topps (and Traded) regular base card runs that a lot of collectors do. No, my vision began with the idea of getting every card (well, within reason) that features the 1991 Topps Chipper Jones photo and design. Topps has certainly abused it to no ends, as it has appeared on many insert cards over the years. Add to that autographed versions, gum stained versions, OPC versions and well, I could certainly have a 12-15 card "rainbow" of the Braves great Rookie Card. 

Once I decided that the 1991 Chipper design would become a real project, I decided to up the ante. I'd try to create a run featuring as many Topps designs as possible- but without including the original Topps card. Again, inserts such as The Cards Your Mom Threw Away, Chrome Vintage, and the Pre-Production card from '96 Topps add different flavors to the run.

So as I was recording these three Chipper cards based on the 1996 Topps design, it occured to me that the three cards depicted Jones at the plate, on the field, and on the bases. And what makes this such an unusual thing, at least to this collector, is that I don't recall ever seeing these three aspects of the game featured on the same card design, but from different years, for one player. With the rise in the number of Photo Variations used in Topps and Topps Update, perhaps there's another out there- but those would be from the same set release.

Let's do this as a Blog Bat Around. Let's see your 3 (or more) cards that feature the same player and the same card design, but from a different year. Bonus points for some kind of theme that connects all three.