Completed insert set – 2011 Topps Lineage 75 minis

I just finished up a few posts for completing the 1990 Topps Batting Leaders set.  That was a challenging set to finish up – but not as much as this set.  Normally, I wouldn’t consider collecting a parallel set – but I’m a sucker for anything “retro”.  Now, the 2011 Topps Lineage set was a great idea – but the execution was a bit off.  The card backs, which are the same as the base Lineage set, are atrocious.

For reference – I did a post on the guys in both the original 1975 set and this set.  See that here.

Since this is a parallel – I’m going to do the post in the same manner as I do a base set (i.e. – there’s more information below!

Info about my set:

How I put the set together:

• 153 cards from my first hobby box
• 41 cards from my second hobby box
• 1 card from a Group Break
• 5 cards from trades

Card that completed my set: #197 – Andre Dawson

This was his card from the All-Star rookie subset – though for the Lineage mini cards, Topps didn’t include the ASR trophy on the card.

General set info:

Set composition: 200 cards – 1:6 odds

48 retired players, 142 current players, 10 All-Star Rookies (6 were retired players)

Player with the most cards in the set: 10 players – 2 cards

Each of the players in the All-Star Rookie Team subset have 2 cards.

Johnny Bench, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Cal Ripken, Chipper Jones, Ichiro, Andre Dawson, Andruw Jones, CC Sabathia, Tom Seaver

First Card and the Hundreds: #1 – Sandy Koufax, #100 – Babe Ruth, #200 – Tom Seaver ASR

Highest book value: #13, #194 – Cal Ripken

Most notable card: #1 – Koufax (see above)

This isn’t a set that has anything notable – so for this I picked the #1 card.  Sandy Koufax was re-signed as a Topps sponsor in 2011; that was a pretty big deal at the time.  I also picked this card for the base set because it had a photo-shop goof – but I noticed that the parallel has a different picture, which really surprised me.  More on that in my next post.

Best card (my opinion): #110 – Thurman Munson

I picked Monte Irvin for the base set – but for the parallel there’s a different criteria.  Out of all the 1975 cards, there are 18 players who have base cards in both sets.  Only 2 of those cards feature pictures that I think are of the appropriate era – around 1975 – for this set.  Joe Morgan is the other, and I like Munson’s card better.

Second best card (also my opinion): #158 – Monte Irvin

I love this card – so it beats out that Joe Morgan card I mentioned above, which isn’t my favorite photo.

Favorite action photo: #190 – Bert Blyleven, #76 – Roberto Alomar

These guys were new HOF-ers when this set came out.

Favorite non-action photo: #158 – Monte Irvin (see above)

My Favorite Reds card: #33 – Tony Perez

I just like this shot of a younger “Big Dawg”.