Completed set & “master set” – one last look at 1982 Topps

The 1982 Topps and Traded set is my 12th set completed in the project – and it completes the 80′s decade for regular cards for me!  I’ve also completed my “personal master set” for this year as well – which I’m defining as the base set, the traded set, and any regular inserts.  Here’s the “look back” I do for each completed set.

Also, because it completes the decade, look for a bunch of completed decade posts to be forthcoming this month.

Info about my set:

How I put the set together:

408 cards from the wax box

208 cards from a vending box

158 cards from trades

17 cards purchased from Sportlots

1 card purchased on eBay

Card that completed my set: #21 – Cal Ripken RC (and Bob Bonner too! – I didn’t get this in either my wax or vending box, so I finally bucked up and bought a nice copy on eBay for 18 bucks in November)

Set composition: 792 cards (658 individual player cards, 26 Future Stars tri-player, 26 Team Leaders, 22 All-Stars, 40 In Action, 6 Checklists, 6 Season Highlights, 8 League Leaders)

Representation of ’81 MLB season: There are 736 different players represented in the set – 658 individual player cards, and 78 players from the Future stars subset.  Of those 736 players, all but 4 of them played in the majors in 1981.

• JR Richard was attempting a comeback from the stroke he’d suffered in 1980, but would ultimately be unsuccessful and never reach the majors again
• David Palmer of the Expos was hurt and only pitched a handful of minor league rehab stints in 1981
• Pat Underwood of the Tigers went to the minors to switch from a reliever to a starter, and would come back to the majors in 1982
• Brian Milner was on the Future Stars card for the Blue Jays, but was in the minors.  The only cup of coffee he’d get was in 1978.

The 732 players represent 80.7% out of the ~907 players who played in MLB in 1981.

Last active player from this set: #610 – Rickey Henderson

Rickey played his last major league game on 9/19/03 for the LA Dodgers.  He came in as a pinch hitter against the Giants in the 7th inning, was hit by a pitch, and came around to score the 2,295th run of his career (still the MLB standard) on a single by Shawn Green.  Henderson kept trying to catch on – he played 2 more seasons of professional baseball in the minors with the Newark Bears in 2004 and with the Independent San Diego Surf Dawgs in 2005.

Player with the most cards in the set: Mike Schmidt, Pete Rose and Tom Seaver – 5 cards

These 3 guys all have 5 cards, though they get there in different ways.  They each have a base card, a card in the In Action subset, and an All-Star card.  Schmidt has two League Leader cards (for leading the league in Homers and RBI), Rose has a card in the Highlight subset (for breaking Stan Musial’s NL hit record) and in the Team Leaders subset (for leading the Phillies in Average), while Seaver is on a League Leader card (NL, wins), and the Reds Team Leader card (leading the Reds in ERA).

Seaver – #30, #31 (IA), #165 (LL), #346 (AS), #756 (TL)

Schmidt – #100, #101 (IA), #162-163 (LL) #339 (AS)

Rose – #4 (HL), #337 (AS), #636 (TL) #780, #781 (IA)

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Steve Carlton HL, #100 – Mike Schmidt, #200 – George Brett, #300 – Reggie Jackson, #400 – Johnny Bench, #500 – Rod Carew, #600 – Dave Winfield, #700 – George Foster

Highest book value: #21 – Ripken RC (see above)

Most notable card: #21 – Ripken RC (see above)

Not really much of a question on this.  Ripken’s first card is easily the most notable card in that set.

Best card (my opinion): #610 – Rickey Henderson (see above)

The all-time stolen base king ready to practice his craft.  This is probably my favorite Rickey Henderson card picture.

Second best card (also my opinion): #90 – Nolan Ryan

There are a lot of things going on with the 1982 Topps set design.  And this card uses all of them in a way that works.  The hockey stick design works with this photo of Ryan.  It’s showing him in that crazy tie-die Astros uniform from the 80′s.  Nolan has one of the sharpest and most recognizable autographs of any athlete, and the placement here is great.

Best subset card: #111 – Cartlon Fisk IA

Favorite action photo: #111 – Carlton Fisk IA

I kind of hate picking the same card for two categories, but I don’t think there’s much choice here.  This could be argued is the best card in the whole set.  It’s definitely the best action shot if you just go by the picture itself.

Favorite non-action photo: #239 – Jon Matlack

We have found the true originator of the “Discount Double Check” move!

My Favorite Reds card: #400 – Johnny Bench

Another card that works with the design.  Bench has a pretty cool signature himself.  There aren’t a ton of great Reds photos here, so I’ll go with the best catcher of all-time.

Topps Reprints:

• 1999 Ryan reprints – Nolan Ryan
• 2001 Through the Years – Ripken (cropped)
• 2001 Archives – Lee Smith, Al Hrabosky, Willie Stargell
• 2001 Archives Future Rookie Reprints – Ripken (cropped)
• 2001 Topps Traded – Reggie Jackson (’82T), Cal Ripken (’82T), Ozzie Smith (’82T)
• 2002 Archives – Claudell Washington, Robin Yount, Al Oliver
• 2005 Rookie Cup Reprints – Fernando Valenzuela, Mookie Wilson, Tim Wallach, Tim Raines
• 2010 CYMTO - Robin Yount, Steve Carlton, Rickey Henderson
• 2011 60YoT – Jim Palmer, Steve Garvey IA
• 2012 Archives Reprints – Jim Palmer IA

Yount is really the only duplicate, though they’ve cropped the Ripken RC twice.

Other Notable Cards:

There really aren’t any other notable cards, but I included cards that I like from the set – cards I considered for best action shot or best pose. I really like the Mookie Wilson; I think it’s the best action shot from a regular card (non-subset) in the set.  The Wallach was in the running for best pose.

My “Master” Set Info:

924 cards – 792 “base”, 132 “update”

• Update set: Traded

How I put the other sets together: I purchased the Traded set on eBay in 2010.  This was an interesting purchase – because I wanted to see the Ripken, which is the most expensive Topps card from the 80′s.  There were stickers inserted into packs, but they are identical to the Sticker product Topps released that year, so they aren’t included for me to collect.

Update set composition: 132 cards (131 players, 1 checklist)

In the update set not in the base set: 8 players

Total in base and update sets: 740 players

Highest book value in the update set: #98T – Cal Ripken

Most notable card from the Update set: #98T – Cal Ripken

Pretty easy.  Though it’s not his rookie card, this card is his first Topps card by himself, and is the most expensive base Topps card to pick up from the 1980′s (ahead of the 80 Rickey RC by a decent amount).

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives 3D

This is the first 2012 Topps Archives insert set I’ve completed – the 3-D insert modeled after the 1968 test set.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “Before the insert card craze of the 1990′s, Topps was experimenting and testing new technologies 30 years prior.  Topps pays tribute to 4 classic inserts featuring active and retired stars.”

This insert is designed like the test-issue 1968 3-D set, featuring 25 stars of today, utilizing life-like 3D technology.”  This is another tribute to a past oddball set.  The 1968 3D cards are pretty expensive to find, but is a cool set.

Here’s my previous post comparing the current set with the old set.  The set has a white border with a yellow player name and a pink oval with the team name.  The cards have (naturally) a 3D effect, and are blank-backed and unnumbered like the 1968 cards.  The old set had 12 cards, this year’s version has 15 cards.

Set composition:  15 cards, 1:8

Hall of Famers: None – only current players.

How I put the set together:

6 cards from two hobby boxes

1 card from a trade

1 card from a card show

6 cards from Check Out My Cards

1 card from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:  This and Deckle Edge are my favorite insert sets from this product.  I like that Topps produced these cards in the same size as the 1968 versions, unlike last year with Topps Lineage when they did a 3-D set in the standard size.  I like the set size, too – 15 cards is attainable, even though these are only 3 per box.

Card that completed my set:  Al Kaline

I picked this card up from a Sportlots purchase I made on Black Friday.

Highest book value:  Mickey Mantle

Best card (my opinion):  Roberto Clemente

A good action shot, but I like this card the best because Clemente was actually in the original test set.

I also think the Cabrera, Ruth and Kemp are good photos that go with the 3-D design.

My Favorite Reds card:  Joey Votto

He’s the only Red in the set.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Heritage Then and Now

This is the third of the “standard” insert sets in 2012 Topps Heritage that I’ve completed.  After this, I’ve still got the “New Age Performers” insert set (1 more card), the Stick-Ons and the JFK variations (1 more card as well) to finish up.  Plus a few SPs still as well.

Info about the set:

Set description:  ”10 cards comparing statistical performances of a player from 1963 and a current star”.  The front shows the 2011 Major League leader in a specified category next to a player who was in the top 10 in the same category in 1963.  The reverse shows the MLB top-10 in that statistic for both years.  The players’ names are in a black box with yellow writing and a star saying “63 Then” and “Now 12″.

Set composition:  10 cards, 1:15 odds.

Hall of Famers:  8 players – every retired player in this set is a Hall-of-Famer, however, Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax are featured twice.

Koufax, Aaron, Yastrzemski, Marichal, Killebrew, Spahn, Mathews, Aparicio

How I put the set together:

4 cards from 2 hobby boxes

4 cards from trades

1 cards from Check Out My Cards

1 cards from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:  Like a few others, this is one that returns each year for Heritage.  This set gets limited by the older players Topps signed to be part of the Heritage brand.  Still, Topps got almost every single leader from 1963 into this set.  In fact, they got all but two – they put Carl Yastrzemski on the average card instead of Tommy Davis.  Davis had the highest average in the majors, but Yaz was the AL batting champion.  And Warren Spahn is on the Shutout card instead of Koufax (whom they could have used as he was on two other cards).  Willie Mays would have been a cool option in the set, but he didn’t lead in any traditional stats in 1963.

Two things I don’t like here.  First, I hate when they don’t number sets – these are “lettered”.  Second, Topps used the same photo for the current players as the base card.  I wish they’d have either a) used a second photo, or b) copied both – meaning they’d use the photo from the older player’s 1963 Topps card as well.  I do like how putting the cards next to each other in the scan below creates an optical illusion as if the cards are slanted.

Card that completed my set: #TN-MV – Juan Marichal / Justin Verlander

I got the last card from Sportlots last month.

Highest book value: TN-KK – Koufax / Kershaw, TN-KV – Koufax / Verlander, TN-AK, Aaron / Kemp

Mickey Mantle isn’t in this set (and neither is Jeter from a current player standpoint), so all of the cards book for fairly similar amounts.

Best card (my opinion): #TN-MB – Eddie Mathews / Jose Bautista

The photos on this card are both very good.  The card with Aaron and Kemp is also really nice.  Kershaw and Kemp – Dodger Cy Youngs – is also cool.

Best Reds card: None in the set.  Kind of depressing they couldn’t get a league leader in either year.

Here’s the Statistic associated with each card and where the 1963 player ranked in the majors in that stat if they didn’t lead (and who actually did lead if they weren’t first):

• TN-AB – SB:  M. Bourn / L. Aparicio (he tied for the major league lead with Maury Wills)
• TN-AK – RBI:  M. Kemp / H. Aaron
• TN-KB – HR:  J. Bautista / H. Killebrew
• TN-KK – ERA:  C. Kershaw / S. Koufax
• TN-KV – K:  J. Verlander / S. Koufax
• TN-MB – BB: J. Bautista / E. Mathews
• TN-MS – IP:  J. Shields (Verlander was the league leader, Shields was 2nd – not sure why Topps passed over Verlander) / J. Marichal
• TN-MV – W:  J. Verlander / J. Marichal (tied with Koufax for the MLB lead)
• TN-SL – IP:  C. Lee / W. Spahn (2nd behind Koufax)
• TN-YC – SHO:  M. Cabrera / C. Yastrzemski (2nd behind Tommy Davis)

Completed set & master set – 2011 Heritage Minors

I finished the 2011 Heritage a few months ago, but recently I also completed the stepson of this set – the Minor League set.  I haven’t (yet) gone for the 2012 minor league product – I’m not sure I want to collect it again, and I’m pretty sure prices went down after release since there isn’t a Harper or Strasburg to chase.  There weren’t any inserts in this set, so this covers finishing both the set and my “master set” for this product.

Info about my set:

How I put the set (non-SP / SP) together:

202 (196/6) cards from my hobby box

44 (0/44) SP cards from an eBay lot

1 (1/0) card from a trade

3 (3/0) cards from Sportlots

Card that completed my set: #144 – Max Kepler (1 of 2 cards I got from a Sportlots purchase in early November)

General Set Info:

Set composition: 250 cards (200 individual player cards, 50 Baseball America All-Stars*)

* – The All-Star cards are all short-printed at 1 per 4 packs

Earliest active player from this set: #44, #239 – Mike Trout

When I’ve done this for other sets, I do either “last active player” or earliest player (meaning Ty Cobb played before Babe Ruth).  Earliest can also apply here – as in first player to break into the bigs.  I believe Mike Trout takes the cake here.  Trout made his major league debut on July 8th of 2011.  I’m not even sure how he was in this set because of that, but he beats out Matt Moore (who started the opening game for the Rays in the playoffs).

Player with the most cards in the set:  50 players have 2 cards because of the subset.

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Andrelton Simmons, #100 – Jaff Decker, #200 – Robbie Ray

Highest book value: #213 – Bryce Harper AS SP

The Harper regular card is even booking at more than any other SP’s.  This card books at 20 bucks right now.

Most notable card: #66 – Bryce Harper

Topps pretty much focused the whole set around young Mr. Harper.  As much as I don’t really like the guy, these are some pretty good photos.

Best card (my opinion): #173 – Matt Moore

I like a lot of the things about this card.  It’s a notable player, and I’m kind of a fan of Matt Moore – not sure why, I’m just kind of rooting for him to turn out well.  I like the old school socks to the knees.  And most importantly, I like the word “Biscuits” on the front of his jersey, prominently displayed on the card.

Second best card (also my opinion): #44 – Mike Trout (see above)

Best subset card:  #239 – Mike Trout AS SP (see above)

Either one of these cards is pretty cool in retrospect.  Considering what Trout turned into this year, and the fact that no one saw him coming up and just dominating the game.

Favorite action photo: #101 – Kellin Deglan

Catcher gear?  Check.  Diving to catch a foul bunt?  Check.  Crawdads as the mascot?  Checkmate!

Favorite non-action photo: #9 – Travis D’Arnaud

Particularly interesting given D’Arnaud was just traded to the Mets this weekend.  Not sure how he gets the Oakleys behind the mask, but this is a cool photo.  He’s wearing the same sunglasses in his All-Star SP card later in the set – but he’s batting on that card.

My Favorite Reds card: #129 – Billy Hamilton

The only player in the history of professional baseball to steal over 150 bases in a season.

Completed insert set – 2011 Topps Lineage Venezuelan

The main theme of Topps Lineage in 2011 was the insert sets – and this is the another one I’ve completed.  I think it’s the fourth one.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “Topps updates a tradition begun in 1959 with these 25 Spanish language variation base cards.”

That was the sell sheet wording.  These cards aren’t really the greatest representation of those Venezuelan sets – they are in Spanish, but like the regular Lineage cards, they don’t have stats on the back.

Set composition:  25 cards, 1:12 hobby odds

Hall of Famers: none, as the set is only current players

How I put the set together:

4 cards from my two hobby boxes

17 cards from Sportlots

2 cards from trades

1 card from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  Other than the base set, Lineage was a great idea.  But this is the least cool set of the insert sets.  The only difference from these cards and the base cards is that the backs are in Spanish.  This kind of compounds the negative that I (and everyone else I’ve read) has about the base set – no stats only write-up.  There were some differences between some of the Venezuelan sets from back in the day that Topps could have incorporated here and they didn’t.  I give this set a D – if it wasn’t that I just want to complete a master set of this product I wouldn’t have chased this.

Card that completed my set:  #TV12 – David Price

I got this from a Check Out My Cards purchase in December.

Highest book value:  #TV1 – Derek Jeter

Jeter is usually #1 when he’s in an insert set with only current players.  Pujols is 2nd here.

Best card (my opinion):  #TV3 – Felix Hernandez

Topps should have done a Spanish theme player-wise here, but they didn’t.  What about getting retired players and getting Dave Concepcion, Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Guillen, Andres Galarraga, Omar Vizquel in there?  Bobby Abreu, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, Johan Santana, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera – all guys who are Venezuelan and could have been great options for an insert.

King Felix is the only Venezuelan player in this set, so he gets my “best card” here.

My Favorite Reds card:  No Reds in this set.  Adam Dunn is in the set, but when he played for the Reds I wanted to trade him just about each and every year he was there.

Completed insert set – 2011 Topps Lineage Stand Ups

The real point of Lineage was the insert sets – and this is the third one I’ve completed.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “These colorful die-cut cards, patterned from the 1964 set, are designed to be displayed when folded.  Twenty-five current stars as well as reprinted cards featuring players from the original set will be included.”

That was the sell sheet wording.  Well – they ended up doing twenty cards of current guys and 5 cards of retired players who had cards from the 1964 Stand-Up set.  But they didn’t do reprints – they did new photos.  Which was pretty cool.  The cards feature a photo of the player against a solid background with yellow on the top and green on the bottom.  You could fold the top down and stand the card up due to the die-cut outline of the player photo.

Set composition:  19 cards, 1:6 hobby odds

Hall of Famers: Brooks Robinson, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax

The first 20 cards are current players, the last 5 are retired players.  All 5 of those guys are in the Hall, and all 5 had cards from the 1964 set.

How I put the set together:

3 cards from my two hobby boxes

14 cards from Sportlots

4 cards from trades

4 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  Other than the base set, Lineage was a great idea.  This set is cool – I love the throwback nod to an oddball set.  I also like that this one is only 25 cards, as opposed to the 50 cards that some other Lineage cards are.  The breakdown between old and new players (20 new / 5 old) is pretty good, too, though I kind of wish they’d just do one or the other.

Card that completed my set:  #TS5 – Tim Lincecum

I got this from a Check Out My Cards purchase in November.

Highest book value:  #TS23 – Mickey Mantle

The Mick is always #1 when he’s in the set…

Best card (my opinion):  #TS25 – Sandy Koufax

I like the shot of Koufax here – he’s following through on a pitch and it seems to go well with the design.

My Favorite Reds card:  #TS14 – Joey Votto

Votto-matic is the only Red in this set.

 

 

 

 

 

Completed insert set – 2010 Topps When They Were Young (and one of my new favorite cards!!!!!)

A look back at some of your favorite players when they were little kids!  Well – not your favorite players, but at least some Little League photos of some current major league players!

This was an insert exclusive to Series 1 from Topps 2010.

Info about the set:

Set description: “Featuring current photos of Major League Stars as Little League, High School, or College players.”

Or, in the case of Ortiz, as a 4-year old pointing at a camera saying “I will break you A-Rod”!

Set composition: 18 cards, 1:6 hobby odds (series one)

Hall of Famers: None – only current players.

How I put the set together:

4 cards from the hobby box

2 cards from an eBay insert lot

2 cards from a card show

7 cards from trades

3 cards from Sportlots

Thoughts on the set: Cool idea.  Decent player selection – A-Rod, Ortiz, David Wright, Verlander, Yadier Molina and Johnny Damon are the notable players.  But on some level, I kind of like that.  Good design that sort of copies the 1980 Topps set.  I do like that Topps put a current photo down in the lower right-hand corner – what good is the photo of them as a kid if you can’t compare it to the picture from today?

The backs are fairly interesting reading:

• Aaron Poreda went to the same high school as swimmer Matt Biondi.
• A-Rod was the Gatorade National Student Athlete of the Year.  Presumably for his work in chemistry.
• Brian Roberts grew up in Chapel Hill – because his dad was the coach of UNC.
• Clint Sammons and Jeff Francoeur were on the same high school team in Georgia.  I know, I have never heard of Clint Sammons either.
• David Wright played on an AAU team that also included BJ Upton, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman.  Wonder who played third?
• Gordon Beckham’s dad was a quarterback for South Carolina.
• Russell Martin lived in Paris as a youngster before moving to Canada, where he went to the same high school Eric Gagne went to.  I wonder how many players from the same Canadian high school were ever teammates in the majors (as they were in 2006).
• Cody Ross has a favorite player – Ken Griffey Jr. – after whom he named his dog

……..

Wait a minute?  He named his dog Griffey!!!!!!!!!!!

He stole my dog’s name!!!  This is definitely a surprise addition as one of my favorite cards ever!

Card that completed my set: #WTWY-RM – Russell Martin

I got this in a Sportlots purchase at the end of November.

Highest book value: #WTWY-AR – Alex Rodriguez

About 4 bucks currently.

Best card (my opinion): #WTWY-CR – Cody Ross

Ortiz was a pretty easy selection before I read the back.  Most of these cards show a) a mediocre player, and b) a picture from little league.  Ortiz is a) a pretty significant player historically, and b) a cool picture of him as a youngster.  It’s like he’s saying – “watch out, dude.  Someday I’m gonna break the curse of the Bambino.  And, yeah, that means I’m bowling over you, A-Rod, you sweater-vest-wearing fellow-steroid-taking d-bag.”

But it doesn’t top the Cody Ross dog-named-Griffey card.

Best Reds card: No Reds in the set.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Mound Dominance

I just finished up another of the smaller insert sets from this year’s Topps product – Mound Dominance.

Info about the set:

Set description: “Celebrating the greatest pitching performances of all-time”.  This set basically replaced Classic Walk-offs from series 1.  The cards are designed horizontally with a picture of the pitcher to the left and a green 9-box of the strike zone to the right with the team logo in the center.  The set discusses a dominant individual pitching performance from each of the 15 hurlers.

Set composition: 15 cards, 1:8 hobby odds

Hall of Famers: 9 - Tom Seaver, Sandy Koufax, Jim Palmer, Dennis Eckersley, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Phil Niekro, Warren Spahn, Bob Feller

Unlike that classic walk-offs set from s1, this set is skewed toward retired players – there are only 4 current players in the set.

How I put the set together:

5 cards from my HTA Jumbo box

10 cards from trades

Thoughts on the set:  Another good idea.  And I give Topps a pretty good grade for player inclusion, too.  Including Armando Galarraga is actually thinking outside the box a bit.  I like the nod to his should-have-been perfect game.  I also like the inclusion of Phil Niekro for his 2-hit shutout at the age of 47.  The design is kind of neat, too, with the strike zone.  And they got a lot of the best pitching performances out there.  Here’s some of the ones I’d have considered adding:

Consecutive scoreless innings

• Orel Hershiser – 1988.  You could even tie this one to a specific game – he pitched 10 scoreless innings in his last outing of the year to break the record (by that last inning) held by this dodger…
• Don Drysdale – 1962.
• Whitey Ford – 1961.  In a 5-game win over the Reds, Ford broke the World Series record for consecutive scoreless innings (29-2/3) held by…
• Babe Ruth – 1918.  The Sultan of Swat actually pitched 29-2/3 through the 1918 World Series.

Strikeouts

• Kerry Wood’s 20-k game should have been included, especially since he was still an option contractually when this set came out.  It’s possibly the most dominant pitching performance ever.
• Clemens and his 2 20-k games.
• Randy Johnson and either of his 19-k games or his perfect game.
• Tom Cheney and his 21 k’s in 16 innings in 1962.

No-hitters

• Hideo Nomo’s no-hitter in Coors Field
• Catfish Hunter’s perfect game where he went 3-4 at the plate
• Harvey Haddix’s 12 perfect innings in 1959 (when he’d eventually lose 1-0 in the 13th)
• Ummm – Don Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series?  This is the biggest oversight in this set.
• Back-to-back no-hitters by Johnny Vander Meer.  The second biggest oversight in this set.
• Fred Toney and Hippo Vaughn pitch a double no-hitter in 1917.

World Series

• Jack Morris 1991.  The third biggest oversight.
• Christy Mathewson 1905.  Three shutouts in the World Series?  Ummm – put him in!
• Mickey Lolich 1968.  Outdueling Bob Gibson to get 3 wins in the series – another great option here.

Other

• A 58-pitch shutout by Red Barrett in 1944

Card that completed my set: #MD-7 – Roy Halladay

I got this card in a recent trade with a reader of my blog, Hans.

Highest book value: #MD-8 – Nolan Ryan

Pitchers tend not to have nearly the “Beckett value” that position players have – but Nolan Ryan is the clear exception.

Best card (my opinion): #MD-10 – Armando Galarraga

As I mentioned above, I’m happy this event got a card here.

My Favorite Reds card: #MD-1 – Tom Seaver

Easy choice as it’s the only one.

Here’s the list of these cards - and the year when the dominance happened.

• Tom Seaver (1978).  No-hitter.
• Justin Verlander (2007).  No-hitter.
• Sandy Koufax (1963).  15 strikeouts in the World Series.
• Jim Palmer (1966).  Shutout in the World Series at the age of 20.
• Dennis Eckersley (1989).  4 pitches to close out the 9th inning of a WS sweep.
• Bob Gibson (1968).  17 K’s in World Series.
• Roy Halladay (2010).  No-hitter in the NLDS – one of 2 in postseason history.
• Nolan Ryan (1981).  His 5th no-no broke the record he shared with Koufax.
• Phil Niekro (1986).  Hurled a shutout at the age of 47.
• Armand Galarraga (2010).  Lost a no-hitter on a bad call by Jim Joyce on the last play of the game.
• Warren Spahn (1960).  15 strikeout no-hitter at the age of 39.
• Bob Feller (1936).  15 K’s at the age of 17.
• Jon Lester (2008).  An inspirational no-hitter after coming back from cancer.
• John Smoltz (1991).  Shutout in Game 7 of the NLDS to send the Braves to the WS.
• Dwight Gooden (1984).  11-K 1-hitter at the age of 19.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Classic Walk-Offs

Topps had a pretty cool insert set in series 1 that I recently completed – Classic

History of the Game is an insert set in 2010 series 1 as part of the “Baseball History” line of inserts.

Info about the set:

Set description: “Celebrating the greatest walk-offs of all-time”.  The cards are designed horizontally with three different picture frames of the player in his walk-off homer moment.  Sometimes Topps used the same photo all 3 times (see the Bench) sometimes they use 3 different shots.  The one in the top left is a color photo, while the other two are gray / sepia toned.

Set composition: 15 cards, 1:8 hobby odds

Hall of Famers: 4 - Bill Mazeroski, Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, Mickey Mantle

The set is skewed toward current players for what has to be contractual reasons – the 4 players above are all of the retired players in the set.

How I put the set together:

5 cards from my HTA Jumbo box

2 cards from some HTA Jumbo packs (which I bought to do the redemption)

8 cards from trades

Thoughts on the set:  This is a really cool idea.  Like many insert sets Topps does, I love the idea, but am a little nitpicky with the execution.  Having a set focused on some of the bigger walk-off home runs?  Great idea.  Not having Kirk Gibson, Joe Carter or Bobby Thompson in that set?  That’s blowing it for sure.  Like some of these sets, I’ll show you what I would add.  I’m going to make this a little different – as opposed to replacing a few cards, I’d actually double it and make it a 30-card set.  Which means I need to find 15 homers to add!

There have been two home runs to end a World Series.  Only one (Mazeroski) is included in this set – obviously this has to be included.

• Joe Carter – 10/23/93 off Mitch Williams of the Phillies.  Touch ‘em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!

There have been four homers that sent a team to the World Series.  Only the one hit by Magglio Ordonez  in 2006 was included – and since that completed a 4-game sweep, while the others were in do-or-die games, I’d have to say it’s the least dramatic.

• Bobby Thomson – 10/3/51 off Ralph Branca of the Dodgers, NL Tiebreaker Game 3.  The shot hear round the world.  There have been articles, books and documentaries written about everything regarding this home run – from the mystery of where the ball ended up to the fact that all 3 New York teams were the only teams in the “playoffs” that year.  The most famous homer in baseball history somehow didn’t make it into a set about walk-off home runs.
• Chris Chambliss – 10/14/76 off Mark Littell of the Royals, ALCS Game 5.  Chambliss couldn’t complete the walk-off since the Yankee fans mobbed the field – he later was escorted out to touch home plate by the umpires.
• Aaron Boone – 10/16/03 off Tim Wakefield of the Red Sox, ALCS Game 7.  Aaron Bleeping Boone!

That’s four I’ve added.  There have also been quite a few very notable World Series walk-off home runs that weren’t series clinchers – I’ve added the ones I’d include below.

• Tommy Henrich – 10/5/49 off Don Newcombe of the Dodgers, World Series Game 1.  The first walk-off homer in World Series history was off Don Newcombe and gave the Yankees the early series lead.
• Eddie Mathews – 10/6/57 off Bob Grim of the Yankees, World Series Game 2.  This isn’t the first walk-off you think of, but it tied the series 2 games apiece in what would be Hank Aaron’s only World Championship.
• Kirk Gibson – 10/15/88 off Dennis Eckersley of the A’s, World Series Game 1.  This is probably a top 5 in the most famous home runs of all time.
• Kirby Puckett – 10/26/91 off Charlie Liebrandt of the Braves, World Series Game 6.  We will see you tomorrow night!
• Chad Curtis – 10/26/99 off off Mike Remlinger of the Braves, World Series Game 3.  This has less to do with the homer and more with how Curtis shunned Jim Gray after the game.  Gray had gone pretty much attacked Pete Rose the game before trying to get him to admit to betting on baseball – it put a big damper on the All-Century Team celebration for anyone watching it.  Regardless of the fact that Rose was guilty as sin, it was inappropriate from Gray and the response from Curtis was awesome.
• David Freese – 10/27/11 off Mark Lowe of the Rangers, World Series Game 6.  We will see you tomorrow night (again).  This probably got left out because of timing issues as the set was in series 1 of the next year.  But they should have got it in there.

That’s 10 total, so I’ve got 4 more to add.  I’d also include the following:

• Gabby Hartnett’s “Homer in the Gloamin’” as darkness descended upon Wrigely Field in a 1938 game against league leading Pittsburgh – basically, if he hadn’t hit the homer, they would have replayed the entire game.  Instead, it vaulted the Cubs into an eventual National League pennant.
• Ozzie Smith’s “go crazy folks, go crazy!” homer – which was only the 14th of his career and the first he’d ever hit from the left side of the plate!
• Robin Ventura’s “walk-off grand slam single” in the 1999 NLCS.
• Ted Williams’ walk-off home run in the 1941 All-Star game.
• Chris Hoiles “ultimate walk-off”, where he hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the 9th on a 3-2 count with his team down 3 runs.  This is the only time this has ever happened.

Card that completed my set: #CW-7 – Mickey Mantle

I got this card in a recent trade with the Dutch Card Guy.

Highest book value: #CW-7 – Mantle

Best card (my opinion): #CW-1 – Bill Mazeroski

A walk-off World Series game 7 homer – the only homer that rivals Thomson’s as the biggest home run in baseball history.

My Favorite Reds card: #CW-5 – Jay Bruce

Beats out the Bench card.  I’m sure when Bench hit his in the 1973 LCS, it was a big deal.  But the Reds had already been to 2 World Series in the previous 3 seasons; clinching the division for the Reds for the first time in 15 years was a big deal for more recent Reds fans.

Here’s the list of these cards - and the year when the walk-off happened.

• Bill Mazeroski (1960).  Game 7 of the World Series – the only in history.
• Carlton Fisk (1975).  Game 6 of the World Series, in extra innings.  But they didn’t win the series the next night
• Johnny Bench (1973).  Game 1 of the NLCS.
• David Ortiz (2004).  Game 3 of the ALDS, to complete a series sweep.
• Jay Bruce (2010).  To clinch the division for the Reds after 15 years without a postseason berth.
• Mark Teixeira (2009).  Game 2 of the ALDS.
• Mickey Mantle (1964).  Game 3 of the World Series.  This was Mantle’s last World Series, and it broke Babe Ruth’s record for career Series blasts.  He would hit two more in the series, though the Cardinals would prevail.
• Alfonso Soriano (2001).  Game 4 of the ALCS.  Gave the Yanks a 3-1 series lead.
• Rafael Furcal (2004).  Game 2 of the NLDS.
• Jim Thome (2007).  September, well after the White Sox had been eliminated.  But this was Thome’s 500th career home run.  A cool addition if you ask me.  And if you’re reading this blog, I’ll assume you did.
• Magglio Ordonez (2006).  As mentioned above – this one clinched a 4-game sweep to send Detroit to the World Series.
• Scott Podsednik (2005).  Game 2 of the World Series.  He’d had no homers in the 2005 regular season, but Podsednik put the White Sox well on their way to a sweep.
• David Ortiz (2004).  Game 4 of the ALCS.  A much bigger walk-off for Big Papi – this one kept the Red Sox season alive.  They never looked back after it, becoming the only team to come back from a 3-game deficit.
• Derek Jeter (2001).  Game 4 of the World Series.  Mr. November.

Completed set – 1991 Topps

Since about March I’ve been doing retro cards and current year stuff, and now about 8 or 9 months later I’m back to the Lifetime Topps project.  I’ve got one more base Topps set that I completed before I get back to posting about my main project.

Like 1989 and 1990, I haven’t  quite finished off the “Master Set” yet.  For those sets, it’s because of the K-Mart Batting Leaders inserts.  For this one, I don’t have the 9-card promo set yet.  I’ll get them someday, I think, but that’s actually a pretty hard set to find at a reasonable price – much like those Batting Leader cards.  I’m also missing most of the All-Star Glossy insert cards.

So it’s just the “complete set” post for now.  But it’s worth pointing out – THIS SET IS AWESOME!  This is quite possibly my favorite Topps set of this project.  1980, 1983 and 1987 are up there for completely different reasons, but this set has a solid design, and more importantly – great photography.  It’s amazing how much better a set can get in one year, and the card stock didn’t improve or anything.  But going through this set one card at a time, I realized how many great cards there are.

Info about my set:

How I put the set together:

426 cards from the wax box

292 cards from a box of rack packs

29 cards I already had from back in the day

45 cards from trades

Card that completed my set: #710 – Kent Hrbek (one of 2 cards received in a trade from Scott Crawford on Cards that completed the set – one of 3 sets Scott got the last card to me for!)

Set composition: 792 cards (721 individual ML player cards*, 10 #1 Draft Picks, 26 Managers, 6 Checklists, 7 Record Breakers, 22 All-Stars)

*The 721  individual player cards include 10 All-Star Rookies and 6 Future Stars

Representation of ’90 MLB season: 

Out of the 721 player cards, 2 players featured did not play in the 1989 season.  Both were prospects who just didn’t make the MLB roster (Greg Colbrunn and Wilson Alvarez).  1 player was in a subset only and did play in the 1989 season – Alex Fernandez, the Golden Spikes winner and 4th overall pick who was the only member of the Draft Pick subset to make the majors in 1990.  The 720 players who did play represent 71.5% out of the ~975 players who played in MLB in 1987.

The 721 players represent 72.7% out of the ~990 players who played in MLB in 1990.

Last active player from this set: #333 – Chipper Jones

Jones and Omar Vizquel both retired at the end this year and, along with Jamie Moyer, were the only three players to play in the 2012 season.  Both Chipper and Omar played in the final game of the year (October 3rd), though Chipper played in the one-game playoff loss to St. Louis 2 days later.

Player with the most cards in the set: 3 players with 3 cards:

There are 2 subsets, and 3 players have a card in both the All-Star and Record Breaker subset – Bobby Thigpen, Ryne Sandberg and Carlton Fisk

Thigpen – #420, #8 (Record Breaker), #396 (All-Star)

Fisk – #170, #3 (Record Breaker), #393 (All-Star)

Sandberg – #740, #7 (Record Breaker), #398 (All-Star)

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Nolan Ryan, #100 – Don Mattingly, #200 – Darryl Strawberry, #300 – Kirby Puckett, #400 – Barry Larkin AS, #500 – Will Clark, #600 – Bo Jackson, #700 – Jose Canseco

These are a whole lot of the same guys as last year.  And these cards are a good example of how good the photography is here.

Highest book value: #333 – Chipper Jones RC

Most notable card: #333 – Chipper Jones RC

There were no cards from 1991 Topps in the top 60 cards that they did a couple of years ago.  But this is easily the most notable (and the only notable rookie card) from the set.

Best card (my opinion): #450 – Wade Boggs

This was borderline revolutionary to put something like this on a card in 1991.  This is a great card.

Second best card (also my opinion): #530 – Roger Clemens

Gotta love Clemens next to the strike out sign on the Green Monster.

Best subset card: #392 – Ken Griffey, Jr.

I’m biased since Griffey is my favorite player, but this is a great card displaying his fluid swing.  And there frankly aren’t that many subset cards in this set.  Which is another thing I like about it.

Favorite action photo: #170 – Carlton Fisk

This card was right up there as the best card in the set with the Boggs and Clemens.  If those cards weren’t ultra-unique in and of themselves, this would be the best card in the set to me.  It beats out the best card from almost any other set I’ve looked at thus far!

Favorite non-action photo: #450 – Wade Boggs (see above)

My Favorite Reds card: #92 – Danny Jackson

This card narrowly beats out a great action shot of Mariano Duncan turning two over a sliding Ozzie Guillen.  But I love this card because it shows Jackson’s unique leg kick and delivery.

Topps Reprints and others:

• 1999 Ryan reprints – Nolan Ryan
• 2001 Through the Years – Chipper Jones
• 2001 Archives – Dave Parker, Fred Lynn, Rick Reuschel
• 2001 Archives Rookie Reprints – Jones
• 2001 Topps Traded – Joe Carter (’91T)
• 2002 Archives – Dennis Eckersley
• 2002 Gallery Heritage – Jones, Jason Giambi (’91T), Luis Gonzalez (’91T)
• 2003 Gallery Heritage – Ivan Rodriguez (’91T)
• 2005 Rookie Cup Reprints – Dave Justice, Larry Walker, Sandy Alomar Jr.
• 2010 CMT – Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., Ryan
• 2011 60YOT – Roberto Alomar, Larry Walker
• 2011 Lineage Autographed Reprints – John Smoltz

Chipper’s 4 reprints beat out Ryan’s 2 (at least so far!)

Other Notable Cards: There really aren’t any “notable” cards aside from the Chipper Jones rookie – in some way, that’s the beauty of this set.  It relies on its own design and photography and does just fine.  There are a ton of great photos, so I pulled some of them: