The Joy of a Completed Insert Set - 2019 Topps Series 1 Iconic Reprints

I am closing in on sharing all the insert sets I picked up in 2019 Topps Series 1 as my COMC order with the last needed Series 2 inserts in on the way. 

I have been thinking about setting a stop date on my annual Topps set build.  I was born in 1971 and was thinking 2021 might be a good stop date, 50 years after my birth.  I am thinking I would rather build some of the 1950s and 60s sets plus the storage of all these sets is getting tough.  I would love to retire in about 10 years and we have talked of downsizing the house post retirement and I am not sure how much space I will have to store my collection.  No need to make a decision today but thought I would share what is on my mind.

Let's get to the cards!  Once again Topps decided to dedicate an insert set to reprints, this year they are calling them the Iconic Card Reprints.  I didn't mind these types of sets when they first came out but they are getting a little old and repetitive.  This year there are a few pre-war cards and Bowman cards mixed in which helps a bit but a 50 card insert set with a lot of recycled reprints in Series 1 was a little much.

Here are the cards in all their glory along with the back of the first card:

If you are interested in a look back at other sets I have shared from 2019 Topps Series 1 you can link here:

150 Years of Professional Baseball
1984 Topps
Cactus League Legends and Grapefruit League Greats 
Evolution and Revolution of the Game

Just for the "F" of It #17 - Lieutenant E. H. Shackleton 1910 World's Greatest Explorers

A couple weeks ago, I did a post with a book review that shared a pre-war card collection housed at the Library of Congress.  Almost all the cards shown featured baseball players but a non-baseball card caught my attention.  The card triggered a memory of one of the best leadership books I ever read called Leading at The Edge.  A former boss of mine suggested the book and it was a great mix of adventure and leadership lessons.

The book shares lessons from the legendary Antarctic adventure of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team of 27 polar explorers on the Nimrod and teaches about bringing order to chaos through true leadership. I read a lot and have plowed through dozens of leadership books that this book and the story of Shackleton has stayed with me years after I read the book.

I didn't know Shackleton had a card so when I saw it in the book, I did a quick search and while there aren't many out there on eBay, I was able to find this one:

This card is from a set featuring the World's Greatest Explorers and was produced in 1910 and it was fitting that I had to buy the card and have it sent to me from England seeing how Shackleton was from Britain.  The condition isn't wonderful but good enough for me to enjoy it Just for the Fun of It!

McCovey Monday #98 - 2019 Topps Archive Rainbow

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of almost 1400 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards on select Mondays.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

I am a fan of Topps Archives.  I know there are some issues with the tributes not quite matching up in design and/or font but I still enjoy seeing players on designs where they don't quite belong.  This year I was very happy to see Willie McCovey in the Topps Archive release and to have him featured on a card in the 1993 Topps design.  When the set came out and I saw his card for the first time, I was even happier as it didn't contain a photo that had been recycled dozens on times on card releases.  Here is the base McCovey:

I typical Topps fashion, any new release has to have a few parallels and outside of the 1/1, I have been able to pick up all the McCovey's:

The most common parallel is this purple border and my card is numbered 171/175.

Next up is the silver border and mine is numbered 20/99.

The last card in this group that I acquired was this blue bordered card which is numbered 16/25.

And the final parallel is the Topps Gold card reminiscent of the 1/pack parallels back in 1993.  This is unnumbered but I believe it is slightly more rare than the blue.

Here is the rainbow with the cards all together:

I was happy to see some new colors pop up this year in the parallels and I think they look pretty good on this throwback 1993 design.  Thank you Topps for honoring my favorite player.

Reyes Moronta Rainbow

Last year I decided to start collecting cards of Giants reliever Reyes Moronta.  I was looking to add a recent Giant to my slate of player collections and was drawn to Moronta for a few reasons.  First, he seemed to have a lively fastball with some decent stuff.  Second, I enjoy his portly physique - I always think its cool when someone who isn't in peak physical condition can excel at a professional sport.  I think Rick Reuschel's stint with the Giants started this type of appreciation.  The third and final reason was due to his inclusion in a couple of higher end products in 2018 as a rookie, knowing that higher end products produce some nice patch cards.

As I am typing this post, I am thinking my intro post to my Moronta player collection should have featured some of these amazing patch cards but that will have to wait.  Today I scanned and decided to share the a few of the Moronta cards released in 2019. 

By now I am sure most everyone has heard of the re-institution of Topps Total.  It was a set originally released in 2002 as a 990 card set featuring a deep list of players including a lot of bench players and relievers not featured in many sets.  The set continued as a 990 card set in 2003 then was shortened a bit to 880 cards in 2004 then down to 770 cards in 2005. 

This set has been one that I know a lot of collectors and bloggers have desired to be brought back and finally in 2019 Topps obliged.  I am guessing I am not alone in my frustration on how it was released however.  Topps did decide to make the set 900 cards in length which is great but it is an online exclusive and the format is broken down into smaller series or waves. Every three weeks, a fresh batch of 100 cards in the set is made available through 10-card packs. These packs sell for $10 each. I can't even imagine building a full set and haven't even decided to go after all the Giants yet.

I did decide to seek out the Reyes Moronta cards and have a fresh batch of 3 to share, what is a Topps release without some parallels:

I really like this card!  The design is a great throwback to the original Topps Total cards and nice and simple.  The player is the star of the card. This photo shows off Moronta's impressive physique along with some attitude no doubt after throwing a high 90s fastball by a batter for strike 3.

As you can see I have picked up the base card along with the red parallel /10 and the black parallel /5.  Surprisingly I saw 3 of the blacks show up on eBay before the first red.  There is a 1/1 parallel but unless it shows up and a ridiculously low price my 2019 Topps Total Reyes Moronta rainbow is complete:

Looks great, doesn't it!  If you have any thoughts to share about Topps Total that you haven't blogged about, feel free to share in the comments.

The Joy of Two Completed Insert Sets - 2019 Topps Series 1 Evolution and Revolution of the Game

Today I continue the sharing of the insert sets from my 2019 Topps Series 1 set build and I decided to share two together again, this time the Evolution 25 card insert set and the Revolution 10 card insert set.  Absent the similarities of the names, these sets don't have much in common.

The Evolution set is a card featuring one image on each side, the front sharing a photo of the past, the back a photo of how it has evolved today.  The first 10 cards showcase uniforms, the next 10 ballparks and the final 5 equipment.  The front photos are sepia toned while the backs are in full color.

I decided to share both sides of these cards since you need to see the backs to understand what evolution took place:

The Revolution of the Game set showcases 10 different people that influenced changes in the game.  Topps jacked up the numbering so there is no number 1 or 4, two number 7s and it goes to 11.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out how this happens but it pretty much an annual occurrence.

I am sharing all the fronts and the back of card #2 (the first in the set):

Pretty solid sets in my opinion.  I am glad the Evolution set continued in Series 2 as there are some key teams and ballparks missing here.  I like the variety of the people featured in the Revolution set, particularly the inclusion of Bill James.

If you are interested in a look back at other sets I have shared from 2019 Topps Series 1 you can link here:

150 Years of Professional Baseball
1984 Topps
Cactus League Legends and Grapefruit League Greats

Baseball Card Book Review - Game Faces Early Baseball Card From the Library of Congress by Peter Devereaux

I have been reading quite a bit of non-fiction lately which is somewhat of a change for me.  I would typically intersperse a non-fiction book into every 5-6 books I read but lately it has turned around and I am probably at about 2:1 in favor of non-fiction.  A lot of the fiction I read is mystery/action/suspense like James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, Jonathan Kellerman, John Grisham and perhaps my interests are changing as they aren't keeping my interest.  My favorite author is Stephen King and while I enjoy his books, the last few I have to read are super long and tackling an 800-1000 page book just seems a little overwhelming.

Luckily there are tons of great history and sports themed books out there to keep me occupied and I finished a pretty good one last weekend that I thought I would share, it features baseball cards - what could be better!

I really enjoyed this read, it is a history of baseball and tobacco cards from about 1887-1914.  This is a book that was published by Smithsonian Books in partnership with the Library of Congress and features photos of tobacco cards from the collection of Benjamin K. Edwards.  Edwards collected a wide variety of tobacco cards and had a collection of over 12,000 cards when he passed away in 1943.  They were gifted to a family friend, poet Carl Sandburg, upon his death.  In 1954 Sandburg donated the collection to the Library of Congress so that it could be preserved and future generations could appreciate it.

The baseball cards from this collection are featured in this book and shared along with a good US History lesson around the late 19th and early 20th century with a focus on the tobacco industry.  I learned quite a bit but the best part of the book is definitely the pictures of a bunch of cards from the famous T206, set to some famous sets that have been recently reprinted like Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter to rare sets that I had never heard of or seen like Fatima Team Cards and Buchner Gold Coin.

This book was published in 2018 and I picked up this copy on loan from my local library.  It is about 150 pages and a pretty quick and fun read.  I would definitely recommend it.

Some Oversized Giants Goodness

I joined a Facebook group focused on SF Giants cards a few weeks back.  A lot of the posts are people sharing their new Giants cards they have added to their collection.  It seems like Will Clark and Buster Posey are the favorites of the group which should surprise me.  I am still amazed at what a  following Will The Thrill has in the card collecting community, some of his auto cards go higher than Hall of Famers these days.  There are a couple big Tim Lincecum collectors with impressive collections and Joey Bart seems to be picking up steam.

I like seeing what others have added to their collection and occasionally some items are put up for sale.  A little while back, there was a posting with 2 cards that immediately interested me for $15 delivered.  I thought about trying to negotiate but ultimately decided I didn't want to miss out on them. They are cards that I have been desiring since their release in 2017.

These cards are box toppers from 2017 Gypsy Queen and the set is called GlassWorks.  These measure 4 1/2" by 6 1/2" and are super shiny silver.  The scans below show up blue. I love everything about the design of the cards from the shiny foil to the large picture to the Gypsy Queen artwork.

These two cards have been on my want list since 2017 but I never picked them up.  Prices seemed pretty high on the secondary market probably due to the difficulty in packaging them and mailing them.  The ability to pick up both Giants from the 25 card set was too good to pass up.  I do have the purple Posey parallel (say that 5 times fast) numbered to 150 which is nice but the base silver it the better looking version to me.

Trade Post - $30 a week habit

I haven't had as much time as I would like to read everyone's blogs, some days I wonder if I am missing out on some great content by not staying up with everyone.  Luckily I was reading a few blogs a couple weeks back and noticed a post by Robert at $30 a week habit where he had picked up a 1981 Topps Reggie Jackson and in reading the comments I saw he was working on the set.  I clicked on his want list link and saw he still had a ways to go.

Earlier that evening I had run across a box of 1981 Topps cards from a collection I purchased a couple years back so I decided to see if I could help him out.  I was happy to find a pretty solid stack including the Gibson and Baines rookie cards so I sent him a note to make sure I had the correct address.  As luck would have it, the next box I picked up had a bunch of 1978 Topps cards, another set he was working on.  Another solid stack later and I was feeling pretty good about helping a fellow collector out.

Robert offered to take a look at my want list and I was happy he did as he sent me some set builder for my 2019 Topps Heritage set and even more excitedly my 2008 Topps Heritage set.  The collection I referenced above had a nice stack of 2008 Heritage so I decided to put a want list together and go after the set.  It is a little daunting to try and go after a set that is over a decade old that also has 75 short prints.  This trade with Robert was only the second trade I have been able to drum up to help on the set.

Here is the nice stack of 2008 Heritage, modeled after one of my favorite vintage sets - 1959 Topps:

That is a nice stack of 29 new cards for my set and I decided to share a few of my favorites:

 These combo cards are great and when I inherited my dad's childhood collection, the 1959 Topps combo cards were among my favorites.

Of the 29 cards, 3 were short prints including these awesome All-Star cards.  I only wish these could be labeled with Sporting News versus Topps News.

Finally, Robert was able to knock 6 SPs off my 2019 Heritage list.

Thank you so much Robert for the return package!  You have jump started my energy around the 2008 Heritage set.  Fellow Bloggers and Collectors, if you have some Heritage cards for trade from either of these sets, please check out my want list.  I am sure we can work out a trade.

McCovey Monday #97 - 1971 Mattel Mini-Records

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of almost 1400 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards on select Mondays.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

Today I decided to dig into the binders and share a couple items that I have had in my collection for quite some time.  One of the fun parts of collecting players that played prior to my birth are tracking down items that I never saw in the wild and the items I am showing today were produced in the year of my birth.

In 1971, Mattel put out a special mini-record player called "Mattel Show 'N Tell " that contained 2 1/2" plastic mini records that featured sports stars.  The checklist includes 18 baseball players, 10 basketball players, 17 football players and 8 hockey players.  Fortunately for my collection, Willie McCovey was included in the set.

 Here is the McCovey, it features a recording on one side and a color drawing of the player on the other. The picture appears on a paper disk that is glued onto the smooth unrecorded side of the mini-record. On the recorded side, the player's name and the set's subtitle appear in arcs stamped in the central portion of the mini-record.  It is a little hard to see but it is there.

There is a second version of each players that has pictures on both sides:

This is a more rare version but I am not sure by how much.  From a Beckett pricing standpoint, the black version is listed at $25 and the dual sided is $30.  The double sided discs are ivory instead of black and while the first side has the same photo, the second side has an awesome action photo of Willie Mac sliding into home plate.

The Joy of Two Completed Insert Sets - 2019 Topps Series 1 Cactus League Legends and Grapefruit League Greats

As I continue my showcase of 2019 Topps Series 1 insert sets, I decided to lump two sets together that are similar in nature, Cactus League Legends and Grapefruit League Greats.  These sets celebrate players of today and the past that excelled in Spring Training.  Each set is 30 cards in size with the Cactus League set being horizontal in orientation and the Grapefruit League set being verticle.  These sets were retail only inserts with the Cactus League cards coming in the single packs and the Grapefruit League cards coming in blasters.

Once again I will share the fronts of all 60 cards and the back of card #1 of each set then let the scans do the talking:

 I am partial to the Cactus League set due to the presence of so many Giants and a couple of my player collections in Rickey and Reggie but it is hard to compete with the retired legend star power of the Grapefruit League set.  For whatever reason, the Grapefruit League cards proved harder to track down for me.

If you are interested in a look back at other sets I have shared from 2019 Topps Series 1 you can link here:

150 Years of Professional Baseball
1984 Topps