A Legendary Members Only Card - Jackie Robinson

I've been saving this card in my draft queue for a while now, so that I could post it today. As the back of the card notes, today was Jackie Robinson day, the anniversary of the date in 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and became the first black man to play in a Major League Baseball game.

The card itself comes from the wonderful 2014 Topps Stadium Club set. It's one of the Members Only parallels, which weren't serially-numbered, but are rumored to have a print run of around 7 copies each. I've been chasing down as many different Members Only cards as I can get from the 2014 set, but it's not often that I add one featuring a legitimate legend of the game. This one cost me a little more than my usual ceiling on these cards, but the price was good enough that I jumped on it right away.

I even got to spend Jackie Robinson Day at the ballpark. I am in Ohio again for training, so I went and watched the NL Central-leading Reds take on the Milwaukee Brewers, with all of the players wearing Jackie Robinson's #42 on their jerseys. My seat was right on the field, but it unfortunately it was also right behind the ball boy, so I couldn't really see the pitcher or much of the infield at all. That was kind of disappointing, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. The game was a nice back-and-forth affair, with plenty of offense and a lot of pitchers coming in to the game. The Reds eventually came out on top, winning 7-5.

Notable highlights from the game were Eric Thames hitting two home runs for the Brewers and Jesse Winker getting his first MLB hit, a double that landed about 35 feet from me and brought home the go-ahead runs for the Reds. I can barely see myself in videos of the highlight, but not well enough to tell other people how to find me. I was sitting right out in the sun for the whole game, and I am definitely feeling it now. My arms and face have turned a very bright shade of red, and my skin is probably going to be on fire tomorrow. It's already started a little, and I can really feel it on my scalp. In spite of the obstructed view and the sunburn, it was still a pretty good day. I have a pretty full day lined up tomorrow as well, and hopefully I'll be able to recover enough to make it back to class on Monday.