Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives Classic Combinations

This is the last of the 2012 Archives insert sets for me to complete.  This one was based on a 1958 subset – I finished it last month (or this month if you factor in when I got around to cataloguing this stuff).

 

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Info about the set:

Set description:  10 Classic Combos honoring the 1958 subset – which was arguably the first subset in baseball card history – and the dual player cards in that set. Topps put a twist on that by matching a current player up with a star from today on the same team.

Set composition:  10 cards, 1:32 (retail only)

Hall of Famers: 11 – George Brett, Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Ryne Sandberg, Whitey Ford, Mike Schmidt, Roy Halladay, Johnny Bench, Carl Yastrzemski

Doc Halladay with the nod as the only current player to be inducted, though that will go up.

How I put the set together:

• 1 card in a trade (Cardboard Catastrophes)
• 2 cards from the NSCC
• 3 cards from Sportlots
• 1 card from eBay
• 2 card from COMC
• 1 card from Beckett Marketplace

Thoughts on the set:  I like revisiting the design of older subsets, and staying mostly true to the original.  There are some other “Combos” subsets Topps has done as inserts.  2000 and 2001 Topps did an insert that was it’s own design.  The Heritage product usually mimics it’s tribute set – so for example, the same year as this, 2012 Heritage, has a subset that looks like the combos subset from 1963 Topps.

I kind of like what Topps did in 2000 and 2001 the best.  But this is cool, nonetheless.

Card that completed my set: #58-YE Yastrzemski & Ellsbury

I picked up this card from Beckett Marketplace last month.

Best card (my opinion):  #68-VB Votto & Bench

I think this is the best combination across teams.  You have 2 guys who are very singularly associated with their team who won an MVP there.  The others tend to be guys who were good players and either you have a pitcher with a hitter (Mays & Lincecum or Schmidt & Doc) that doesn’t really seem connected, or guys who didn’t quite pan out to the extent the old-time Hall of Famer did (Hosmer or Castro).

Kaline & Cabrera and Koufax / Kershaw were definitely the other ones I’d consider, with Ford and Sabathia pretty cool, too.

My Favorite Reds card: #68-VB Votto & Bench

Duh.

Here’s a scan of the whole set:

 

Any other tidbits:  Here’s a pretty fun post I did comparing old and new for these 2 retail subsets from 2012 Topps Archives:

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives In Action

One more of these 2012 Archives insert sets.  This one I give an A for the idea, a B-minus for the execution.

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Info about the set:

Set description:  10 subjects – a few current players, a few retired inclusions – in the design of the 1982 In Action subset.

Set composition:  10 cards, 1:32 (retail only)

Hall of Famers: 5- Cal Ripken, Ichiro Suzuki, Ken Griffey Jr., Roberto Clemente, Tony Gwynn

How I put the set together:

• 1 card in a trade (from the illustrious Night Owl)
• 4 cards from Sportlots
• 1 card from eBay
• 4 card from COMC

Wish I could say I pulled one card from a retail pack, but I bought 2 hobby boxes back in the day from this product and I think the 1 or 2 retail packs was more than I should have gotten anyways.

Thoughts on the set:  I like revisiting the design of older subsets, particularly this one – the 1982 In Action subset is awesome!  However the photos Topps picked here weren’t necessarily the greatest out there.

Card that completed my set: #82IA-JE Jacoby Ellsbury

I picked up this card from COMC in December last year.

Best card (my opinion):  #82IA-JK John Kruk

The Ichiro card has the best action shot, and the Griffey card is neat because his father actually had a card in the set.  Clemente had a card in the 1972 In Action subset, and Ripken is the only guy in this set who actually has a 1982 Topps card.

Those are all interesting – but Kruk is one of my favorite players from when I was growing up and I’ve liked him even more as a media member.  I love that he’s in a smaller set like this.

Here’s a post I did that compared the provenance on these retail sets.

My Favorite Reds card:  There were none.

Here’s a scan of the whole set.

Finished what I wanted! – 2012 Topps Archives Autographs

I have a little bit of a different post this time.  It’s not a complete set or anything – but I did finish off all the autographs I was collecting from this set.

Here’s my original post about the Autographs from this product.  The gist of it is – there are 41 short printed regular cards at the end of the base set.  One of them is the stupidly Short Printed Bryce Harper in the 1984 design that basically makes it impossible to complete that set.  If you don’t count that card – the 40 SP’s are all retired players on designs from their playing career.  So these are alternate photos of cards these guys previously had.  These are called Fan Favorites.

I always think stuff like that is cool.  So I have the full set (minus the Harper), including those cards.  All of those 40 cards have an autographed version, however there were 33 other Fan Favorite cards that were autographed that weren’t in the set:

Dick Groat (61), Bobby Richardson (66), Bud Harrelson (69), Cleon Jones (69), Maury Wills (70), Boog Powell (71), Mickey Lolich (73), Hank Aaron (73), Bill Lee (74), Gary Carter (75), Al Oliver (77) George Foster (78), Greg Luzinski (78), Amos Otis (79), Bob Boone (79), Doug DeCines (80), Bobby Grich (80), Buddy Bell (81), Ben Oglivie (81), Joe Charboneau (81), Willie Wilson (81), Steve Rogers (83), Ron Kittle (84), Steve Balboni (86), Tommy Herr (86), Wally Backman (86), Carney Lansford (90), Bobby Thigpen (91), Doug Drabek (91), Jack McDowell (91), Denny Martinez (92), Jimmy Key (96), Ray Lankford (98)

I decided I would be collecting all of those except the Gary Carter and Aaron.  The Aaron was just exceedingly rare, and the Carter was more of a separate special card – he had recently passed away and the card was in the 1975 design.  Carter’s rookie card is a 4-player prospects card from that set.

So I have been collecting 31 cards from here.  I got the last of those – Willie Wilson – from COMC late last year.

Here’s the scans of those:

I also got a few other cards because they were interesting to the set, and to round out the binder pages – which were 7 short after all the inserts.  I got 2 of the Fan Favorite Autos that were in the regular set.  First was Ken Griffey Sr., just because it’s fun to get an affordable member of the Big Red Machine.

I also got Sid Bream’s card because he wrote bible verses along with his signature, which seemed kind of neat.

I got one card of the 1983 mini framed autographs just to have an example of that one – Bert Blyleven, think I paid $25 for a number of years ago.

Then I got one gold version from each of the 4 sub-sections of the base set that was also “time appropriate”.

Last – I got Orlando Cepeda’s relic card from the 1956 relics subset.  This isn’t time appropriate – his rookie card was 1958, and he started with the Giants – but it’s the closest I could get other than the only card that is, which is the uber-expensive Roberto Clemente card.

Anyways, no completed set type info since it’s not a completed set – just fun to show off!

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.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives Deckle Edge

This is the fourth 2012 Topps Archives insert set I’ve completed – after the 1968 3-D, 1977 cloth stickers, and the 1967 Sticker insert sets.

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 Deckle Edge cards from 1969 that were inserted into Topps packs back then.  Here’s my previous post comparing the current set with the old Deckle set.  The cards have perforated edges and a card size slightly smaller than standard.  The photo is sepia toned and there is a blue facsimile signature.

Set composition:  15 cards, 1:12 (2012 Topps Archives)

Hall of Famers: 8 – Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Carl Yastrzemski, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, Joe Morgan

How I put the set together:

• 4 cards from two hobby boxes
• 1 card from a retail pack
• 3 cards from trades
• 2 cards from the National card show
• 1 card from Sportlots
• 4 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  This and the 3-D are my favorite insert sets from 2012 Archives.  I like that Topps produced these cards in the same size as the 1969 versions.  They seem very true to the original.  I like the set size, too – 15 cards is attainable, even though these are only 2 per box.

Card that completed my set:  69DE-12 Roberto Clemente

One of two cards I picked up from a COMC purchase last November (Black Friday).

Highest book value:  69DE-12 Roberto Clemente

Best card (my opinion):  69DE-6 Ichiro Suzuki

A good action shot, classic Ichiro swing.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none. Joe Morgan is featured in an Astro uniform – which is appropriate for a set based on 1969.

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives ’67 Stickers

This is the third 2012 Topps Archives insert set I’ve completed.  The first two were the 1968 3-D and 1977 cloth stickers.  This is the 1967 Sticker insert 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 1967 stickers set, which were issued as a regional test issue in 1967 for the Pirates and Red Sox.  Here’s my previous post comparing the current set with the old set.

Set composition:  25 cards, 1:8 (2012 Topps Archives)

Hall of Famers: 5 – Willie Mays, Jim Palmer, Tom Seaver, Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski

How I put the set together:

• 6 cards from two hobby boxes
• 1 cards from a jumbo pack
• 4 cards from trades
• 12 cards from Sportlots
• 1 card from COMC
• 1 card from the NSCC

Thoughts on the set:  I like these cards – in general I love the concept behind Topps Archives and Lineage with the insert sets.  I probably like these less than the 77 Stickers and the 68 3-D cards, but they’re cool inserts.  I wish they’d have had more than one cross-over between the two sets (Carl Yastrzemski is the only player with a card in this set and the original sticker set).

Card that completed my set:  67S-TL – Tim Lincecum

I picked the last card up on Sportlots in December.

Highest book value:  67S-MM – Mickey Mantle

Best card (my opinion):  67S-RM – Roger Maris in a Cardinals hat!  They got the year right by including this – though even some hardcore baseball fans may not realize Maris finished his career in St. Louis.

My Favorite Reds card:  there are none

Completed insert set – 2012 Topps Archives ’77 Cloth Stickers

This is the second 2012 Topps Archives insert set I’ve completed.  The first one was the 1968 3-D insert, this one is the 1977 cloth stickers.

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 1977 cloth stickers, which were issued as its own product – not as a test or an insert to 1977 Topps packs.  Here’s my previous post comparing the current set with the old set.  The set uses the exact same design as the 1977 Topps set and the 9 players who have a card in both the original and the Archives set.

Set composition:  25 cards, 1:6 (2012 Topps Archives)

Hall of Famers: 11 – Willie Stargell, Jim Rice, Steve Carlton, Joe Morgan, Rod Carew, George Brett, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, Robin Yount and Gary Carter.

How I put the set together:

• 8 cards from two hobby boxes
• 2 cards from a blaster
• 3 cards from trades
• 7 cards from Sportlots
• 3 cards from Check Out My Cards
• 2 cards from the NSCC

Thoughts on the set:  The 68 3-D and Deckle Edge are my favorite insert sets from this product, but I like this set as well.  It’s better than the Sticker set from Lineage from 2011 – which was basically just a parallel using the Lineage card design.  25 cards is an attainable goal, too.  Overall – the inserts were a big plus to me as far as 2012 Archives goes.

Card that completed my set:  GC – Gary Carter

I picked this card up at the National Convention this year out in Rosemont, IL.

Highest book value:  DJ – Derek Jeter

Best card (my opinion):  JB – Johnny Bench

A really good action shot of the greatest catcher of all-time.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen cropped versions close up with his face in this photo, but I like this card with the design.

My Favorite Reds card:  JB – Bench

There’s also a Joe Morgan card that’s pretty cool.

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 (2012 Topps Archives)

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.

2012 Archives & related sets – Big Red Machine

Topps Archives has tons of Big Red Machine cards.  It’s got Big Red Machines out the wazoo, BRM’s out the yin-yang!  No guys from the 1990 World Series team however.  I’ll do this set by set (ending with an overview of player by player).

Base Set

Despite 5 of the 9 Big Red Machine members being included in the product, there are actually only 2 guys in the Archives base set.  The first being Joe Morgan, who has a card in the 1954 subset, and the second being Ken Griffey Sr., who has a Fan Favorite SP on the 1977 design.

Normally, I’d show pictures of what cards are in the original sets, but there are so many options here that I won’t.  If you factor in the SP cards from 201-240, there are so many years that I’d end up including almost every year they had cards anyways.  That said, here’s a breakdown of who is in the originals from the 4 main years of the Archives set:

1954 Topps – None

1971 Topps – 8 of the 9 (missing Griffey) and 2 subset cards:

Sparky Anderson MG, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion RC, Pete Rose, Cesar Geronimo RC, George Foster RC, NL HR Leaders (Bench/Perez), NL RBI Leaders (Bench/Perez)

1980 Topps – all 9 and 1 subset card:

Detroit Tigers CL (Sparky MG), Bench, Perez, Morgan, Concepcion, Rose, Griffey, Geronimo, Foster, Rose HL (10th season 200+ Hits)

1984 Topps – 7 of the 9 (missing Sparky and Bench) and 6 subset cards :

Perez, Morgan, Concepcion, Rose, Griffey, Geronimo, Foster, Superstars Retire HL (Bench along w/Yaz & Perry), NL Active AVG Leaders (Rose), NL Active RBI Leaders (Perez), NL Active HR Leaders (Perez), NL Active Hit Leaders (Rose, Perez), NL Active SB Leaders

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Parallels

Topps only included parallels of the first 200 cards, so Morgan is the only player with a Gold parallel or a printing plate from the base cards.

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Fan Favorite Autographs

The SP card of Griffey Sr. from the 1977 design also appears in the autographed fan favorites.  Additionally, George Foster is the 3rd Big Red Machine member in this product, as he has a Fan Favorite Auto from the 1978 design.

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Reprints

The reprints bring it up to 5 BRM members, as Topps issued reprints of Sparky Anderson’s rookie card (1959 – from his playing days), the first single player card for Johnny Bench (1969).  Additionally, Joe Morgan’s cards from 1967 and 1973 are included.

Since there are printing plates for each of these, that’s 4 more cards with 4 printing plates #/1.

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1969 Deckle Edge

Joe Morgan didn’t have a Deckle Edge in the original 1969 set, but Topps gave him a card in this year’s Archives set.  Unfortunately, they used a photo from his 1980 stint with Houston, not the stint from the late 1960’s from the era of this set.  As with all inserts in this product, there’s 4 printing plates for this card, too.

Original – Pete Rose was the only BRM-er with a card from the original Deckle Edge set.

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1977 Cloth Stickers

They definitely love Joe Morgan in this product – he and Bench both have a card in this insert set.

This again means there are 2 more sets of printing plates out there.  I found a picture of one of Bench’s from eBay – the printing on this one looks really beat up.

Original – Bench, Perez, Morgan, and Rose all have cards in the original 1977 Cloth Sticker set.  I’m kind of surprised Foster, who won the ’76 All-Star game MVP and was en route to smashing 52 homers and the the NL MVP at the time these were released.

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1958 Classic Combinations

Topps matched Joey Votto up with Johnny Bench here.  A good choice, I must say.  There actually isn’t a printing plate inserted of these cards – they didn’t do this for the retail only inserts.

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Autographed Originals

There is an exchange for a buyback autograph of a Johnny Bench original card.  These were supposedly numbered out of 5.

So, all told – if you wanted to collect every single Big Red Machine card I mentioned above, you’d have 46 cards to find. If you didn’t want the 1/1’s – that number would be 14, and if you didn’t want any parallel versions of cards, you’d have 13 (I’m not counting the relics of the cloth sticker as parallels, though you could make the argument they are).

George Foster (1) – FF Autograph

Griffey Sr. (2) – FF SP, FF Autograph

Sparky Anderson (5/1) – Reprint, 4 Printing Plates

Bench (12/4) – Reprint, Cloth Sticker, Classic Combination, Autographed Original, 8 Printing Plates

Morgan (26/6) – Base, Gold Foilboard, 2 Reprints, Deckle Edge, Cloth Sticker, 20 Printing Plates

 

2012 Topps Archives – other Autos, Relics and Memorabilia

I already covered the Fan Favorite Autos from 2012 Topps Heritage – but here’s a brief description of the other autos and relics available in the product.  As always, odds shown are for hobby packs.

Relics

1956 Relic – 55 cards (1:120)

Archives is a product centered around autographs; the only relic available is a in the design of the 1956 Topps set.  There is a mix of current and retired players, but ‘s there’s only one guy with a 1956 relic and a 1956 Topps card – Roberto Clemente with a bat inset.  It’s a pretty rare find and has been going for $250 on eBay lots I’ve seen.  In line with what I’ve done before – I’ll show it next to his original card.

Gotta love the original, but the new one is pretty nice, too!

Autographs

Originals Buybacks – 15 cards (1:8,292, #/5 – Hobby only)

Topps bought back original cards of some legends, added serial numbering (out of 5) and a Topps Original Autograph stamp, and had them signed.  Frank Robinson was the unique exception here – he autographed 88 different cards – all bought back from when he was a manager.

Framed 1983 Minis – 25 cards (1:995, #/25 – Hobby only)

There are two “types” – miniature replicas of actual 1983 cards, and current players on 1983 design.  Kind of cool – you’ve got Nolan Ryan in the set, and Nelson Cruz, who now plays for Ryan.  I actually bought a Blyleven on eBay, just to have an example.  Hall of Famer, cool card – for 25 bucks.  I like that the backs are true to the originals as well.

6-player booklet Autographs – 10 cards (odds not listed, #/1 – Hobby only)

These 6-player booklets have 6 different autographs and were supposed to have been inserted into hobby packs, but I’m actually starting to wonder about that.  I haven’t seen a single one on eBay yet – and it’s been a month since release, so that’s got to make you wonder.

80′s Icons Cut Signatures – 50 cards (odds not listed, #/1 – Hobby only)

These cards were inserted as redemptions – though it looks like you can’t tell whose signature you’re gonna get.

Karate Kid Autographs – 2 cards

These random box toppers are 5 x 7 of autographs of 2 stars from the 1984 film – Daniel’s chief rival, Johnny Lawrence, and Cobra Kai Sensei John Kreese.

Touched by Greatness – Cal Ripken (#/100)

This is also a box topper, and was inserted as a redemption for an oversized card featuring an autograph and a hand print of the Iron Man.

Other items

Topps Originals (1:14,740)

These are buybacks stamped with a “Topps Originals” logo – but no autograph.

Topps Originals Redemptions (1:44,200, 100 total)

These cards are redemptions for an original Topps card, pack, or set.  There was one redemption on eBay – it would have been a pretty cool way to start my lifetime Topps project – a box of 1980 Topps!  Too bad I started 2 years too early 🙂

Topps Vault Redemptions (1:196,000, 20 total)

These are also redemptions – for unique items from the Topps vault, like uncut sheets, player contracts and other goodies.  Again – these are some more pictures from eBay.  The bottom one is a redeemed card – an Atlee Hammaker player contract.  What?  They don’t want to keep it on file any longer?