The Joy of a Completed Insert Set - 2019 Topps Series 1 150 Years of Professional Baseball

Back in 2006 I decided that I was going to start collecting the insert sets in addition to the base sets for Topps Flagship and Update products.  I started my collecting career as a set builder and thought this would be a fun way to supplement the base sets.  I have even gone back and created a want list of inserts for Topps starting back in 1992 with the Black Gold inserts up to 2005 and have made some decent progress on filling the gaps.

I allow myself some freedom to deselect certain insert sets for whatever reason I choose (the Bonds and Mantle HR History cards - too many cards, short printed serial number inserts - too tough to track down, etc.) and don't go after insert or relic sets.

For the last few years I was primarily picking up hobby master sets on eBay as either a pre-release or right after a product was put out then picking up any retail only insert sets I wanted on Sportlots or eBay.  This year Topps made me have to change my tactics as they increased the number of insert cards then inserted them at a reduced rate.  Master sets were almost impossible to find and when they were available the price was higher than I wanted to pay at one time.

This year, I went back to the old fashioned way of set building in the internet era.  I bought packs and blasters to build most of my base set and any inserts I pulled then picked up the rest online through purchases and a few trades.

I decided to show off and document the insert sets I have built in a series of posts and I will start with my favorite Series 1 insert set, the 150 card 150 Years of Professional Baseball set.  This set is number to 150 cards but has 3 different groupings of 50 cards, the first being Greatest Moments, the second being Greatest Players and the third being Greatest Season.  I enjoy this set for the history it chronicles and the great photography chosen on the cards.

I am sharing scans of the fronts of all 150 cards along with the back of the 1st card and will let the scans do the talking, enjoy.

I will share the rest of the insert sets I have completed in the coming weeks.  This year I decided to skip the retail player insert sets (30 cards each of Gleyber Torres and Ronald Acuna Jr.) and the Home Run Challenge inserts so you should see the rest in future posts.