Don't You Hate it When...

I was recently filing some cards away and trying to get some things organized and decided to double check some of my recently completed sets.  When I cross checked the cards I had with the checklist for the set, I found out that 4 different insert sets that I thought were complete were in fact not.

I uttered a few choice words, dug around a bunch of stacks of cards scattered around my room and finally came to the conclusion that they were nowhere to be found.  I quickly jumped on Sportlots and Beckett.com and bought the cards.  I don't like it when sets I have deemed as complete are not.

Here are the cards I ended up picking up:

The Mattingly is from 2010 Topps, it is an Original Back Cards Your Mom Threw Out.  I was stupid enough in 2010 to decide to go after no only the Cards Your Mom Threw Out insert set but the parallel with original backs.   For those keeping score at home that is 174 regular backs and 174 original backs. Several times I had thoughts about abandoning the quest but I persisted and finished it off - or so I thought.  Luckily I was able to score the Mattingly for a couple bucks and re-finish the set.

The Ryan and Carew are reprints from Topps Archives.  The Carew looks very familiar and I am fairly sure I owned it at one time, however I do have the original so maybe that is what confused me.  That set has now been put to rest.

The Cooperstown insert card showcases a Mel Ott 500 HR baseball.  I am sure I got a copy, crossed it off the set list and the Giants list at the same time.  It was a cheap pickup and now both of my needs are satisfied.

Finally I was very surprised to see that I needed 3 Tall Boys inserts.  This was one of my favorite insert sets last year, for both the design and the player selection.  I liked the mix of retired players with current players.  I do think in this case I got an early checklist that wasn't accurate and missed these players.  Regardless, the set is now complete.

Upon reflection I know the root cause (other than my lameness).  Other than the Ott that I explained above, the other sets are all sets that do not use card numbers.  The Original Backs show the card numbers of the original cards.  The reprint set from Archives does the same.  I would suggest that they put card numbers in small font like they did in the original Archives sets.  The worst is the Tall Boys set.  It is lettered not numbered which is a disturbing trend that Topps seems to have embraced. They went away from it in this year's flagship and I can only hope they heard the feedback and learned a lesson.