Completed insert set – 1995 Topps Finest Inserts

After their only standard inserts in 1993 and 1994 were the Black Gold cards, Topps had two inserts in 1995.  One of them was based on the Finest technology.  It’s technically just called Topps Finest on the packs, but this set is often called Total Bases to distinguish it from the actual 1995 Topps Finest product.

Info about the set:

Set description:  This set uses finest based technology on the front of the card, with a player photo on a silver background. His name and team are at the bottom in a color that matches the player’s team. The set features top 15 players in total bases from the 1994 season in order of how they finished.  The horizontal backs show another player photo with statistics breaking down total bases by hit.

Set composition:  15 cards.  1:36 (1995 Topps series 2)

Hall of Famers: 3

Frank Thomas, Tony Gwynn, Kirby Puckett

How I put the set together:

• 1 card from my wax box
• 14 cards from COMC/Sportlots

Thoughts on the set:  I generally like most Topps Finest designs, and I also love when an insert is a specific theme and Topps sticks to it.  And I really like this design not particularly crazy about this design, however – it looks more like Topps Chrome than Finest to me.  Also – I hate the peel or don’t peel thing that Topps did back then.  As you can see from my scans – some of them have been peeled – some haven’t!  But, overall – it’s a very nice set with some 1990’s goodness.  One of the few Finest sets with no refractor versions.

What do you think – should I peel all of them?

Card that completed my set:  #13 – Kirby Puckett

I got this from COMC back in November in their black Friday sale.

Highest book value:  #7 – Barry Bonds

Best card (my opinion):  #3 – Ken Griffey Jr.

A tremendous card of my favorite player.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.

Saturdays Suds: Baseball & Beer #53 – Miller High Life

For my next “Saturday Suds”, I’m going with a very common national beer – but a good one in my opinion!  Saturday Suds is where I post about a beer that has something to do with baseball (or at least I’ll try to figure out some way to correlate it with baseball)!

Brewery: Miller Brewing in Milwaukee, WI

I know Miller has merged with South African Breweries and has a joint venture with Coors – but the Brewery is still Miller Brewing.

Beer:  Miller High Life & Miller High Life Light

“The Champagne of Beer”

Description:  This pilsner was first brewed in 1903.  Here’s what the website has to describe it:

“Miller High Life, the “champagne of beers,” dates to 1903. A classic American style lager, Miller High Life is known for its consistently crisp, smooth taste and iconic clear-glass bottle. Miller High Life embraces its rich heritage and is known by its drinkers as an authentic, unpretentious beer. It’s common sense in a bottle. Ingredients: Water, Barley Malt, Corn Syrup (Maltose), Yeast, Hop Extract.

We brew the golden pilsner with the yeast our founder brought over from Germany with light stable galena hops from the Pacific Northwest, and a select combination of Malted Barley.  This combination made it a favorite in 1903, and it remains one today.”

Today, High Life doesn’t do quite as well as Miller Lite – but it’s a better beer in my opinion!  Of all the cheaper lagers or light beers out there, I prefer High Life to just about any except for maybe some of the regional ones I’ve tried.  It’s got enough flavor that you realize it’s still a beer, and it’s great when you’re grilling out of if you find it at a ballgame.  Though I don’t often see it at MLB stadiums.

Medium:  I’ve had this many places, but most recently I bought a 12-pack of 12 ounce High Life Light bottles.  You can get it in cans, 40 ounces and on tap.

How it’s related to baseball:  Let me count the ways!

First, off the Brewers play at a place called Miller Park, the one ballpark in baseball named after a brewery.  Of course you can find High Life at Brewers’ games!  Specifically, High Life sponsors a promotion for $9 tickets on Mondays in Milwaukee!

Miller, and High Life specifically, sponsored baseball well before the Brewers were in town.  In the 1950’s, you could find High Life on the scoreboard in right-center field:

Of course there are many other things I found showing the Miller High Life sponsorship Milwaukee sponsorships over the years.  First up – there’s a pin that I think is from 1958.

And there’s a really cool album from the 1960’s with what I can only imagine are some Braves fight songs!

And – most interesting since this is a baseball card blog – there’s a 1991 set of Brewer cards sponsored by Miller High Life!

But, finally, the thing I think about the most when it comes to Miller High Life and baseball?  This commercial, with the delivery guy.  “Man, they can’t even hear my through this glass!”

Completed insert set – 1995 Topps Traded At the Break Power Booster

Continuing with a bunch of the completed insert sets that I’ve neglected – I’ve moved on from the more recent Topps sets to sets that are actually in my Lifetime Topps project.  This one I completed almost a year ago.  This is actually a Topps Traded insert – though you could technically say this is a partial parallel set.

Info about the set:

Set description:  The first 10 cards of the ’95 Traded made up a subset called “At the Break”.  The cards have the wording “At the Break” split by a baseball on the left side with a wood design with the player name and team logo at the bottom.   Topps created refractor versions of the same cards and inserted them 1 per box.  They are printed on much thicker stock with diffraction (“power boost” background.  The card backs have a head shot and mid-season statistics for the player.

Set composition:  10 cards

Inserted:  1995 Topps Traded packs.  1:36 odds.

Hall of Famers: 3

Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn,

How I put the set together:

• 1 from my ’95 Traded Wax box
• 9 from online card dealers

Thoughts on the set:  It’s a cool set.  I like the thicker card stock, and the refractor like technology is pretty nice, too.  I kind of wish it wasn’t just the first 10 cards of the set – but I also like the idea of having “mid-year” stats on the back of cards in a Traded set.  Topps could do something like that these days and I would like it.  I also like that the first three cards are Thomas, Griffey and Bonds – the three best hitters of the 1990’s!

Card that completed my set:  #2 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I got this card from COMC back in November as part of their Black Friday promotion.

Highest book value:  #5 – Cal Ripken

Best card (my opinion):  #2 – Ken Griffey Jr.

Griffey or Mo Vaughn have the best photos in this set.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.  Though Barry Larkin would have been appropriate since this was his MVP season.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Career Day

I completed an insert set from 2012 Topps series 2 almost a year ago that I forgot to post about – Career Day.  This was finished up with a trade from Jeff’s Collections.  Ryan Braun (cheater) was the final card – so I don’t know how I feel about that part! 🙂  Considering I completed this back in 2013, though, this post has been a while coming!

Info about the set:

Set description: “Celebrating some of the biggest single-game performances in MLB history”.  These cards are horizontally oriented, with the words Career Day down at the bottom and the date of the accomplishment and a small write-up over those words.  The player is shown above with a faded background and the team logo to the right side.  The back shows the player’s stat line from that day, and describes the player’s day.  There are 14 retired players and 11 current stars.

Set composition: 25 cards, 1:6 hobby odds (series 2)

Hall of Famers: 13 – Al Kaline, Stan Musial, Sandy Koufax, Joe DiMaggio, Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Yogi Berra

How I put the set together:

• 5 cards from my HTA Jumbo box
• 2 cards from other hobby/retail packs
• 1 card from Sportlots
• 17 cards from trades

Thoughts on the set:  This is a good idea and a nice design.  Like many insert sets from Topps, I like the idea, but not enthused by the execution.  It’s really a set to talk about big days that handpicked players had – not the “biggest days of all time” like the sell sheet description says.

• Albert Pujols – 10/22/11, World Series game 3.  Three homers in the World Series – that certainly qualifies.
• Reggie Jackson – 10/18/77, World Series game 6.  See the above – 3 home runs in the World Series.
• Stan Musial – 5/2/54.  Musial became the first player to hit five home runs on the same day – blasting 3 homers in the first game of a double-header and 2 more in the second.
• Sandy Koufax – 9/9/65.  Koufax’s struck out 14 batters – the most in a perfect game.
• Joe DiMaggio – 7/9/37.  DiMaggio became the first player to hit for the cycle and hit 2 homers.  It’s been done a few times since – including by DiMaggio again!
• Mike Schmidt – 4/17/76.  Schmidt hit 4 homers, one of only 13 players who have done this.
• Willie Mays – 4/30/61.  Mays also hit 4 homers in this game.

Some of the other active players I understand keeping – but I’d have tried to include a few of the following games:

• Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series
• Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout, 1-hitter
• Clemens and Johnson’s 20-K games
• Mark Whiten’s 4-homer, 12-RBI game against the Reds in 1993
• Jim Bottomley and his 12-RBI game in 1924
• Wilbert Robinson’s 7-hit, 11-RBI game in 9 innings in 1892
• Shawn Green’s 19 total bases (and 4 homers) in 2002
• Roy Halladay – pick either your no-hitter in the post-season or his perfect game

Card that completed my set: #CD-10 – Ryan Braun

I got this card in a recent trade nearly a year ago with the Jeff’s Collections.  Doesn’t look like Jeff’s blogging any more – but he did help me out at the time!

Highest book value: #CD-22 – Mickey Mantle

Best card (my opinion): #CD-12 – Reggie Jackson

It looks like Topps got one of Mr. October’s 3 swings in the photo.

My Favorite Reds card: #CD-17 – Joey Votto

Beats out the Bench card.

 

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Gold Futures

I’m moving on to going over some recently completed insert sets from flagship Topps, and the next one is from 2012 Topps.  In accordance with the Gold edict Topps issued in 2012, this one is Gold Futures.

Info about the set:

Set description: “Featuring young stars who are on their way to creating golden moments of their own.”  This black-bordered set has a gold interior line with a ribbon at the bottom containing the player’s position and number.  In the middle is the team logo, which can conveniently be replaced with a relic piece if necessary.  There’s a write-up on the back that is geared toward the player’s

Set composition: 50 cards, 1:6 hobby odds (series 1 & 2)

Hall of Famers: none – these are all young stars.

How I put the set together:

• 20 cards from s1 & s2 Hobby / HTA Jumbo boxes & packs
• 2 cards from retail packs
• 20 cards from trades
• 1 card from a card show
• 7 cards from online purchases

That’s a really good percentage from trades or packs, much better than some of my most recent efforts.

Thoughts on the set:  Not a bad set, and though the idea is far from original, I think having a set of future stars is one you could re-hash just about every year.  The design is a little different from most of the other insert sets from 2012, with the black border.  50 cards is too much.  And I don’t like when a set is so clearly designed to swap in a relic.

Card that completed my set: #GG-37 – Jordan Walden

I got this card via a Beckett Marketplace purchase in May.

Highest book value: #CF-16 – Mike Trout

Best card (my opinion): #CF-16 – Mike Trout

I like the Buster Posey card quite a bit – he’s taking his catcher’s mask off to field a pop up.  But calling a guy a “future star” when he is 2 years removed from his Rookie of the Year season and in the midst of an MVP season seems a little disingenuous.  So I’m going with Mike Trout, as he’s clearly the best future prediction from this set.

My Favorite Reds card: #GF-8 – Aroldis Chapman

The Cuban Missile wins in a landslide.  Since he’s the only Red in the set.

Completed insert set – 2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps

I also finished the 2011 version of Topps’ humongous reprint set this summer – just a couple of months after the 2010 “Yo Momma” set.  This one is called 60 years of Topps.

Info about the set:

Set description: “The 60-year of Topps chronicled with a reprint of one card from every year.  Each card back narrates the story of that year’s design as well as other interesting minutiae”.  Topps basically cut and pasted the wording from last year on their sell sheets – though the last word was “tidbits” in 2010 instead of “minutiae”.

Set composition: 118 cards, 1:3 odds

Hall of Famers: 55. About the same as the year before, even though there are only 2 series while the yo momma cards were inserted in all 3 series.

Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Monte Irvin, Ernie Banks, Phil Rizzuto, Mickey Mantle, Pee Wee Reese, Stan Musial, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Al Kaline, Tony Perez, Brooks Robinson, Tom Seaver, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Mike Schmidt, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount, Bruce Sutter, Phil Niekro, Eddie Murray, Paul Molitor, Andre Dawson, Jim Palmer, Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, Dennis Eckersley, Greg Maddux, Roberto Alomar, Frank Thomas, Barry Larkin, Yogi Berra, Warren Spahn, Eddie Mathews, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Harmon Killebrew, Orlando Cepeda, Duke Snider, Steve Carlton, Johnny Bench, Goose Gossage, Don Sutton, Gary Carter, Cal Ripken, Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Craig Biggio

How I put the set together:

• 32 cards from various hobby boxes/packs
• 9 cards from various retail packs
• 22 cards from trades
• 28 cards from an eBay lot
• 26 cards from online dealers
• 1 card from the National

Thoughts on the set: This idea had kind of jumped the shark after doing in 2010 with the Yo Momma cards.  Topps would also insert reprints into 2012 Archives – so I think they should have just done 1 set like this over that time. This probably was the year that made the most sense since it was the “60th” year of cards – but it felt kind of silly after they had the same thing in 2010.

Still, it was an impressive list of players and a fun set to collect.  And one thing I like better about this set than the one from the year before are the card backs.  The write-ups on the back are much more about the specifics of the set design and history compared to the 2010 “yo momma” cards.

Card that completed my set: #75 – Steve Carlton (1967)

I got this card from Beckett’s marketplace in July.

Highest book value: #91 – Cal Ripken (1983)

Best card (my opinion): #20 – Nolan Ryan (1971)

One of the most prominent forms of advertising in Topps’ history is also one of the best cards out there.  They don’t directly say anything on the back of the card about the RC Cola ad, however.  I also really like card #61, which shows Warren Spahn with the Boston Braves.

My Favorite Reds card: #115 – Josh Hamilton (2007)

This beats out the 1967 Tony Perez, which is a great card.  Since I haven’t started collecting 2007 Topps yet, I’d never seen this card.  I always had a soft spot for Hamilton’s time with the Reds – I wish we could have kept him somehow.

Any other tidbits: Topps goofed with 1979 – they featured the same Eddie Murray card in both series 1 and 2 as the 1979 version.

The 1957 Mantle card with the “ghost player” is featured in this set – but the write-up on the back is silent to the fact and the front has been edited to not show the “ghost” figure.

Also, the back of Juan Marichal’s 1961 card discusses the fact that Topps started taking pictures of guys without hats so they didn’t have to airbrush the photos later on.  Finally, the back of Frank Robinson’s card discusses card #537 – which featured rookies Pedro Gonzalez, Ken McMullen, and Al Weis as well as “happening to include the future all-time hits leader”.  A subtle non-mention of Pete Rose a few years before the hobby got all up in arms for what Topps did on the back of the 2013 base cards.

Completed insert set – 2010 Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out

This was an insert set a long time in coming.  4 years later – I finally finished up the “yo momma” set.  This is easily the largest insert set I’ve completed – it’s a 174 card set across all 3 series (58 cards each – 1952 through 2009).

Info about the set:

Set description: “cards chronicle the entire history of Topps with a reprint of one card from every year.  Each card back narrates the story of that year’s design as well as other interesting tidbits”.

Set composition: 174 cards, 1:3 odds

Hall of Famers: 56. A whole boat-load.

Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, Ernie Banks, Duke Snider, Luis Aparicio, Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, Bob Gibson, Carl Yastrzemski, Stan Musial, Brooks Robinson, Juan Marichal, Jim Palmer, Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, Dave Winfield, Robin Yount, Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray, Paul Molitor, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn, Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken, Phil Rizzuto, Al Kaline, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Warren Spahn, Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Mathews, Gaylord Perry, Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, George Brett, Dennis Eckersley, Joe Morgan, Babe Ruth, Tommy LaSorda, Lou Brock, Willie Stargell, Robin Roberts, Roy Campanella, Andre Dawson, Wade Boggs, Barry Larkin, John Smoltz, Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson

How I put the set together:

• 39 cards from various hobby boxes/packs
• 35 cards from trades
• 51 cards from eBay
• 48 cards from online dealers
• 1 card from a card show

Thoughts on the set: Since there are 3 cards for each design, it’s a good set to put in binders (if you’re willing to not go in the number order, which I am).  It’s also an interesting read to go through each card.  I like the set.  Topps would beat this reprint idea to death over the next few years, and the 60 year anniversary may have been a better idea – but it was certainly a cool set at the time.

Additionally – if you look at the list of hall of fame players above, you’ll note that this set is STACKED.  Topps signs a number of retired guys every year, and there’s often some turnover year-to-year.  But they had a heck of a list 4 years ago when they did this set.  Many (but not all) of the most notable rookie cards in the company’s history are included.  Aaron, Mays, Koufax and of course Pete Rose are the best-known guys who aren’t included, but just about anybody else I can think of is included.  And Topps didn’t include multi-player rookies, so guys like Nolan Ryan have later cards but not their rookies.

Card that completed my set: #125 – Roger Maris (1960)

I got this card from Beckett’s marketplace back in May. This is actually a pretty cool card of Maris – not one of the more recognizable ones like his ’61 or ’62 card.

Highest book value: #45, 49 – Cal Ripken

Like many of the more famous players, Ripken has multiple cards in this set.  Apparently he passed Mickey Mantle in most valuable card of retired players, so these beat out the vaunted 1952 Topps reprint of Mantle’s first Topps card.

Best card (my opinion): #97 – Frank Thomas NNOF

In the first series, Topps came out with the regular card from Frank Thomas.  It was pretty cool – in the second series they came out with a reprint of the super-rare and expensive error with no name on the front.

My Favorite Reds card: #22 – Johnny Bench

This is a no-brainer.  Possibly the best Topps card of a Reds player ever.

Any other tidbits: Frank Robinson’s Topps Traded version from the 1972 Topps set is included, one of the first “update” cards.

In addition to that Thomas NNOF – a couple of the cards are variations or parallels from the year’s base set.

The 1982 version of Steve Carlton’s card is done in the “blackless variation”, which was a production error that Topps had for a limited number of cards that year.

And the 2001 version of Vlad Guerrero is the HTA parallel that I think was only available in certain factory sets.

The first 2006 card is the Alex Gordon card that was (mostly) pulled from packs, or inserted as a version with the center cut out or the picture never printed.  The 2006 one is actually a gold parallel – which actually never was produced.

And the 2007 version of Jeter’s card – however, this is the common version as opposed to the one with Mickey Mantle and George Bush photo-shopped into the background.

Other things that are about the history of Topps cards (as opposed to the player or baseball-specific) include:

• The 1952 Mantle card references the infamous “river dump” of High Series cards that supposedly makes that set so legendary.  The “dump” is also referenced on the writeup on the back of the 1953 Johnny Podres card.
• The 1953 Jackie Robinson card points out the images were hand-painted in color from black and white photos.  The original artwork pieces go
• Harmon Killebrew’s 1955 card references Topps discounting packs of the last series to sell off inventory.
• The 1957 cards for Frank Robinson and Whitey Ford reference how Topps switched to 2.5″ x 3.5″ card dimensions that set the standard size for cards going forward.
• Carl Yastrzemski and Willie McCovey’s 1960 cards discuss how they were the iconic first cards for the new SPORT Magazine Rookie Star and Topps All-Rookie subsets.
• Nolan Ryan’s 1969 card points out that this was the last year a Topps pack cost a nickel.
• The 1951 Topps set isn’t included in this insert, however it is showcased on the third 1975 card.  Topps discussed it’s MVP subset there – with Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella shown for winning the 1951 MVP awards.
• The ’82 Steve Carlton card I mentioned above discusses the printing issue that caused the “blackless” cards that year.  The ’90 Thomas card also mentioned the defect that caused his name to be missing on the front.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives Reprints

I’m doing pretty well with the 2012 Topps Archives insert sets.  It’s not one of my favorite insert sets, but I finished the Reprints set 2 years after Archives was released.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “50 different cards featuring Hall of Famers on classic Topps Reprints.”

OK, reprints are cool, but when Archives came out, Topps had done “Cards Your Mom Threw Out” the year before’s bast Topps set and “60 years of Topps” in 2012 series 1 and 2.  So this just didn’t make sense.  Another redo of an oddball set would have been better.

Set composition:  50 cards, 1:4

Hall of Famers: 34 – Yogi Berra, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Monte Irvin, Ralph Kiner, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Duke Snider, Harmon Killebrew, Sparky Anderson, Brooks Robinson, Cal Yastrzemski, Willie McCovey, Whitey Ford, Juan Marichal, Joe Morgan, Fergie Jenkins, Rod Carew, Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, George Brett, Gary Carter, Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Willie Stargell, Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn

How I put the set together:

• 12 cards from two hobby boxes
• 2 card from retail packs
• 4 cards from trades
• 8 cards from an eBay lot
• 3 cards from a card show
• 21 cards from online purchases

Thoughts on the set:  I’m glad they didn’t continue doing this in 2013 and going forward.  Reprinting old cards is far from a unique idea.

Card that completed my set:  1976 George Brett

I picked up Brett from COMC in July.

Highest book value:  1984 Cal Ripken

Best card (my opinion):  1959 George Anderson

If you’re going to do a reprint set – at least it should be an interesting one like a card from Sparky’s playing days.  The 85 Tony Gwynn is up there as well – again, because it’s not an obvious classic, but a solid card that may have been one of the best in the set.

My Favorite Reds card:  The 1973 Joe Morgan is the best one to me.  It beats out the ’69 Bench and the ’81 Seaver.

Saturdays Suds: Baseball & Beer #52 – Gunther Beer

My next “Saturday Suds” is one I’ve had as a “to-do” post for quite a while.  Over 2 years ago I did a post about National Bohemian, which was a sponsor for the Washington Senators for a few years and for the Baltimore Orioles for quite a while.  I learned of another beer that had advertised with the Orioles in the past.   Like the Knickerbocker beer from New York that I did last month – Gunther is a defunct brand.

Brewery: Gunther Brewing Company in Baltimore, MD

Beer:  Gunther Beer / Gunther Ale

Description:  Gunther’s main product was a lager style beer.  I can’t describe it since it’s been out of production for 40 years!

George Guenther moved from Bavaria to Baltimore in 1881 and started brewing beers shortly thereafter.  He operated his company under a few different names (most using the Gunther/Guenther surname) at first, and opened the main plant for Gunther Brewing Company in 1900 on Conkling Street in what is now Baltimore’s Canton Historic District.  Along with National Bohemian – these two breweries helped give this area the nickname “Brewer’s Hill”.

Making it through prohibition as a bottler and manufacturing company, Gunther was a popular local option along with Natty Boh.  Like many other local breweries, Gunther felt the squeeze in the 1950’s, eventually getting bought up by Hamm’s (a Minneapolis brewery), who discontinued the brand.  When Hamm’s couldn’t penetrate the Baltimore market, Gunther was sold it to Schaefer, who eventually discontinued it in the 1970’s.

Medium:  Like I said it’s defunct – but Gunther was an early proponent of selling beer in cans.

How it’s related to baseball:  Gunther was a beer sponsor for the Baltimore Orioles for quite some time.  Not only the Baltimore Orioles you know of today.  Prior to 1954, that franchise was the St. Louis Browns, and there was a minor league team of the International League that was sponsored by Gunther.

In 1954 when the Browns moved from St. Louis and became the Orioles, Gunther was one of the original sponsors.  There’s an interesting story regarding Gunther and Ernie Harwell, who was the Orioles first play-by-play announcer.  When Gunther became the primary sponsor in 1956, Harwell assumed he would be fired. But when he was meeting a Gunther agency man for lunch, their waiter, unaware who his customers were, asked them to sign a petition to keep Harwell.  The impression worked and Harwell stayed on for a few more years before moving to Detroit.

Gunther had a slogan for the relationship with the new team in town – “Get on the Oriole bandwagon with Gunther”.  They were a sponsor until 1960 when Hamm’s discontinued the product – there was a Gunther ad as the scoreboard sponsor in the outfield.

It went through two separate designs.  The second one had a light up option on the slogan – Happiest Hit in Beer – where the word “hit” would light up to display if the official scorer had ruled a play a hit or error.

Hamm’s later took over the sponsorship of the scoreboard until National Bohemian became the primary sponsor in 1965.  But because of the early association with the Orioles, you can find a lot of brewmania – including this Gunther hall of fame statue of Baltimore’s favorite son, Babe Ruth.

Additionally, there were some postcards of Washington Senators players that were sponsored by Gunther.  They came out around 1947-1948.  I couldn’t find too much on them except that they’re listed in Beckett.

Today, they’ve turned the old brewery into upscale apartments but stayed true to the Gunther heritage:

Completed set – 2011 Allen & Ginter

I’ve been catching up on a bunch of completed insert sets lately, but I also have a regular set to show off.  It’s been 3 years, and Ginter is a set I’ve only collected in 2011 and 2012 – but I finally finished up 2011 Ginter. This is a pretty big one to complete.  The SP’s aren’t too crazy for Ginter, but this isn’t a set I’ve actively gone after, so I’m glad to get close to it.

Info about my set:

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

• 126 (114/12) cards from my first hobby box
• 98 (86/12) cards from my second hobby box
• 94 (89/5) cards from trades
• 5 cards from a card show
• 25 (6/19) cards from Sportlots
• 2 SP cards from Check Out My Cards

Card that completed my set: #321 – Mark Reynolds (I got this from Sportlots back in February)

General Set Info:

Set composition: 350 cards (299 current players, 1 retired player, 15 historic figures, 35 World’s Champions)

Earliest active player from this set: #7 – Mickey Mantle (retired players), #204 – Jim Thome (active players)

There’s two answers to this – Thome is the earliest active player out of players who were playing when the set came out.  Thome made his debut of September 4, 1991.  But Mantle is the earliest (and only) retired player – debuting April 17, 1951.  I didn’t realize back in 2011 that Mantle was the only retired player in this set.  Today’s Ginter sets are different – guys like Aaron and Mays are found all over the set.

Player with the most cards in the set: every player has just 1

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Carlos Gonzalez, #100 – Albert Pujols, #200 – Josh Hamilton, #300 – Ryan Braun

Highest book value: #262 – Manny Pacquiao

Most notable card: #262 – Manny Pacquiao

Including Pacquiao was a big deal, and he’s the most valuable card.  I think he’s also the most notable, because this was the boxing legend’s first card of any kind.  His autograph in this product still sells for a killing. I will say that there is an argument that the next card is actually the most notable.

Best card (my opinion): #147 – George W. Bush

This is a great card.  It’s Bush throwing out the first pitch in game 3 of the 2001 World Series – the first Series game in New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  You don’t have to be a Republican or like “43” to appreciate that.  He autographed some cards as well.

Second best card (also my opinion): #298 – Peter Gammons

I don’t think you can beat HOF announcer Peter Gammons.  If not for the really cool card of the former prez – I’d say this was my favorite card!

Best subset card: N/A

Favorite action photo: #220 – Prince Fielder

This card looks like Fielder is in a college football game.  A&G isn’t really made for action shots – though they work a bit better for this design than others.

Favorite non-action photo: #265 – Buster Posey

I don’t love the design for this Ginter set, but this is a “pose” card that seems to fit well with the Ginter look.

My Favorite Reds card: #80 – Joey Votto

There aren’t any Reds cards that stick out, so I’m going with the guy who was the reigning MVP.

Other Notable Cards: I think I’ve covered quite a few, but here’s a few more notable cards from the non-baseball portion of this set.