Brady Anderson, 1997 Stadium Club Instavision #17

In my experience, attempting to scan a card with foil, chrome, holographic images, lenticular images, or any other kind of bells and whistles is a real roll of the dice. Some look dull or indistinguishable compared to the real thing, and some actually look better than they do in hand. The light from the scanner can bring out something brilliant. This holograph is a mixed bag. You don't get the bright colors and mirror-like reflective effect in the scan, but it did capture two distinct images from the scene of Brady Anderson's Orioles-record 50th home run of the 1996 season.

The game in question is the regular-season finale at Toronto's SkyDome, a Sunday afternoon game on September 29. The O's had already clinched the American League Wild Card, but they at least began the game with a few regulars in the lineup. Brady of course batted leadoff, and belted Blue Jay starter Pat Hentgen's fifth pitch over the fence for his landmark 50th home run, breaking a tie with Frank Robinson for the team single-season record. As Anderson followed through on his swing, Hentgen had no choice but to bolt upright and follow the trajectory of the ball. It was the Baltimore outfielder's 12th leadoff homer of the year and it made him the 14th player in major league history to touch 'em all 50 times in one season.

Yet Hentgen shut down the O's after that, and Toronto used some well-timed hits to give him his 20th win by a 4-1 score. Pat got the Cy Young Award, but Brady and the Birds got to keep playing.