The Joy of a Completed Insert Set - 1998 Topps Rookie Class

Since 2006, in addition to the Topps Flagship base sets, I have been collecting most of the insert sets as well.  I little while back I decided to fill some gaps in my collection and pick up the Topps insert sets from 1993 to 2005.  While I do have all the base sets in that range, this was a period where I didn't do a ton of collection.  Most of the sets have been picked up in factory form or bought complete without opening many or any packs.  I have decided to share the different insert sets as I complete them to document my progress and share the sets in case they came at a lull in your collecting as well.

This insert set is from 1998 Topps and is 10 cards in size.  These were inserts in the 2nd Series and according to Beckett.com they were inserted at a rate of 1 in 12 packs, not a very rare insert.  The players featured in this set are players who had under one year of major league service entering the 1998 season.

The player selection in this set is pretty solid.  Most of these guys had pretty good and lengthy careers, I am impressed with Topps foresight.  Each of these players played at least 9 years in the majors so as late as 2005 all these guys were still playing. 

The design is okay, not great on these cards.  They scan a little worse than they look in person, they have a shiny finish.  There are two photos on the front of each card with a full color action photo and a muted silhouette in the background.  The names are easy to read along the top in white lettering and the insert name of "rookie class" is in lower case letters along the side.

Here is the card back with the minor and major league records from 1997.  A third picture is included along with the player's bio information and a nice little write up.   This insert set isn't my favorite but the player selection makes is middle of the road insert set.

A Player to be Named Later

When I was young, I always thought trades that included A Player to be Named Later were always a little odd.  I thought how could a team agree to a trade without knowing who they would get back in return.  I wasn't knowledgeable enough to understand salary dumps, the length of minor league seasons, prearranged lists of possible players or any other complexities of the business side of baseball.

Back in 1985 the Giants made a trade that involved a different type of Player to be Named Later.  They traded their best player, All-Star Jack Clark, the the Cardinals in exchange for Dave LaPoint, David Green, Gary Rajsich and Jose Gonzalez.  I wasn't happy about the trade at the time, Clark was a fan favorite.  The trade took an interesting turn when Gonzalez, almost immediately after the trade, changed his name to Jose Uribe.

He told the press that there were too many Gonzalez's in baseball. Gonzalez was his father's family name so he changed his name to his mother's family name of Uribe.  I guess it worked out okay, I recall many a day at Candlestick Park where half the crowd would shout "U (oooh)" while the other half would follow with "Ribe (ree bay)".  It was fun but you had to be there I guess.

He was the starting SS for the Giants for about 8 years sandwiched between short stints with the Cardinals and Astros.  Sadly Jose died in a car crash back in 2006.

I recently finished off my 1988 Topps Big team set with this nice Jose Uribe card:

When checking out the back, his full named reminded me of what Coach Rocky Bridges called "The Ultimately Player to be Named Later".

Sometimes it is Better to be Lucky Instead of Good

I would have to say I have not been a very good blogger over the past year or two.  Daily posting has gone by the wayside.  I haven't put together a contest in forever.  I don't get to read and comment on all the blogs I typically enjoy as often as I would like.  I haven't posted all the cards generous bloggers have sent my way nor sent out as many packages as I would like.

Despite being a bad blogger, I still seem to have a little luck on my side.  I have won a few contests in my day and recently entered one over at Sports Card Info.  Typically Sports Card Info runs a weekly contest with a single card giveaway - usually an auto or a relic.  I used to enter every week but have lately limited myself to only enter when there is a card that will find a nice spot in my collection. A few weeks back I saw a high end relic of a future HOFer who isn't well represented in my collection so I entered.  As luck would have it, I won!

Check out this Topps Tier 1 relic of future HOFer Albert Pujols.  I like the design of the card with Pujols being the star.  Sure a patch would be nice instead of the plain gray relic but you can't expect a patch in all 331 cards.  I was very glad to bring this home.  This is my second Albert relic and a big improvement over the unlicensed Donruss Jersey Kings relic.

Thanks to Sports Card Info for the generosity and for helping me add a great card to my collection.  If you aren't following the blog, it is a worthy follow and who knows you may win a card for your collection and also get this cool pin as a bonus.

The Joy of a Completed Insert Set - 2014 Allen & Ginter Fields of Yore

My collection of the Allen & Ginter set has been off and on.  I typically like the product but different issues (timing of release, skyrocketing box prices, high priced SPs) have resulted in me not pursuing the set about half the time since it was started in 2006.

One year I did not collect the base set was 2014.  However through some blog posts and a couple pack purchases I spotted an insert set that I had to have.  This Fields of Yore insert set features some great artwork on the front of the cards highlighting (mostly) baseball fields from the past.  I believe only Wrigley Field is still in use today.

The backs have a nice little write up sharing a bit of history from each field.  This is a great looking set and I have scanned front and back of all 10 cards for your viewing pleasure.

If I have one complaint, I would have liked to seen the historic Polo Grounds as part of the set.  I would have probably replaced either Wrigley (since it is still in use) or Shea (since it is the most modern park in the group).  Great job by Topps and the Allen and Ginter team, this is one of my favorite all time insert set.

PWE Palooza

I have a confession, I am way behind on posting cards I have gotten from other bloggers.  Like really far behind.  Like I have some scans that go back to late 2015 behind.  No promises but I am going to try to remedy that over the next few weeks.  I thought I would start with sharing a bunch of great PWEs I have received.  I love getting mail and love a surprise PWE.  Each of these put a smile on my face and deserve a little blog time.

Are you ready for my PWE Palooza?

The first two scans feature cards sent my way by blog reader John Hazen:

I hadn't seen the Lincecum card before it arrived in my mailbox.  Seems like a perfect card of the freak, looking quite mellow isn't he?

Also scored a couple Bowman Giants.  While the Bowman sets are on my want list, it is still a set that causes me way too much confusion.  With Chrome cards mixed with base cards mixed with Prospect cards and two or three releases per year, it makes my head spin.  Glad however to knock these two off my want list.

Next up are 3 scans from either 2 or 3 PWEs from Stealing Home, the author of All Trade Bait, All The Time.  As a Dodger fan, I am sure he was ready to rid his collection of all these Giants.  I am a happy recipient.

A nice assortment here, with a little old and a little new.  The Cain helps on the Topps Gold quest and the Gypsy Queen mini is a nice addition.

Demonstrating how far behind I am, I believe these Heritage and Flagship cards were newly released when I got this package.

A nice assortment here with a couple rookies, some All-Stars some Conlon needs and a parallel Ginter card of Buster.

Next up is a couple PWEs from JediJeff at 2 by 3 Heroes.  I always seem to score some nice stuff when Jeff shoots cards my way.

See, great cards!  Did you hear that the Panda is back in SF?  Can he return to his glory days of 2012-2013.  I love the Opening Day celebrations card.

PWE #2 delivers as well with a couple nice Lincecums, a respectful MadBum, a Darryl sighting and a cool minor league card.

These next 2 PWEs came from Brian of Play at the Plate fame.  Brian has been inactive for over a year now and I hope that lame people like me that took so long to give their thanks had no part in his disappearance.

This was a nice group, adding some new Bowman base cards and some decade plus old cards of stars from Giants past.

This was a great PWE with the highlight being the awesome Onyx Stadium Club insert of Barry Bonds.

The next three scans come from Sportscards From the Dollar Store.  If memory serves me these were all contained within one PWE but I could be mistaken.  Love the variety!

First up we hit on three different parts of my collection.  I do have a nice little collection of basketball players who played at USC. It goes beyond my Harold Miner collection and these two DeMar DeRozan cards fit nicely.  Also scored a Matt Cain for the Giants collection and a couple Niners QBs - love the Steve Young card!

Some more 49ers.  I don't know if I "officially" collect non-vintage 49er cards - since I don't have a checklist I think the answer is no.  However, they are my favorite team and I do have a nice box of them stashed away that these were added to.

The final cards from Dollar Store were these Trojan football players - definitely a PC with over 12,000 USC cards and counting.

My final PWE to put a dent in the scan folder comes from GCRL.  Has it really been 2 years since he posted???  He also has a side project Cards As I See Them which has some pretty recent posts.

I scored this nice group of Giants tucked nicely in a PWE. Glad to take those Giants off the hands of all the Dodger collectors.

A big thanks to all of you for sending these cards my way.  They are greatly appreciated - much more than the months delay in posting might indicate.

Bringing Home the Bronze

A little while back, John of Johnny's Trading Spot had a contest similar to Wes' Big Fun Game and I was lucky enough to earn a spot.  I jumped in on the contest and even had a little dialog in the comments section about what I was hoping to win.

When my turn came up, I made a steal and low and behold my desired item entered my collection.  I was surprised at the size and weight of the item I won and took a few pictures to try and share via the blog.

First up is the "binder" the card was contained in.  It is plastic with a nice Highland Mint logo on the cover.

Here is the spine, showing the player, the year and the material of the card.  There is even a serial number.  Could you imagine a shelf with a bunch of these stacked like books?

Sorry for the sideways picture but here is what it looks like opened up.  There is a nice place on the left to hold the folded COA and the right has an area to contain the encase bronze card.

Here is a nice close up of my Will "The Thrill" Clark bronze card.  It is modeled after his 1986 Topps Traded rookie card - Nice!

The back is spot on accurate as well.   I hadn't seen one of the bronze cards from this release, I am very impressed by the quality.

I took a picture of the card and the case next to a regular sized card.  Note the thickness of the bronze card but also the case the card is in.

Here is the unfolded COA with the 0917 serial number matching the side of the plastic binder it is contained in.  Looks like there were 3000 Clark cards made.

In his typical generous fashion, John also included a few extra Giants for my collection.  This Barry Zito is my favorite, when I see base cards this nice I always reflect on how nice it was when Upper Deck was still in the Baseball card business.

Here are some other great cards from 2017 that John tossed in as well.

John thanks for the contest and for allowing me to add the great Will Clark to my collection.  With the success of your contest, Wes' contest and a couple others I am strongly considering to have my own give away as well.  I have a few things set aside as prizes and hope that once this Hurricane Harvey tragedy allows work to even out a bit (I am in the insurance business), I am planning on taking a day off and get all the contest stuff ready to go.

Just for the "F" of It #10

Wow, just realized that this is my first Just for the "F" of it post of 2017.  I am a bad blogger.

As a reminder, these are cards I don't really fit into one of my core collections, be it sets, player collections, team collections or HOFer Autos but I picked them up to add to my collection for the "F"un of it.  This is a PG rated blog, what did you think the "F" stands for???

Today I am sharing an autographed card of Bobby Grich, retired second baseman of the California Angels.  Grich started his career on the Orioles and played there until 1976 but my memories of him we from his tenure with the Angels from 1977-1986.

From a looks perspective, this card looks quite a bit better in hand, the scan mutes out some of the shine.  This card comes from 2005 Topps Pristine.  Despite the sticker auto the design seems fine to me.  The card wasn't expensive and isn't worth much, you can find one on eBay or COMC for under 10 bucks, but it is a perfect Just for the "F" of it card for my collection.

My memories of Grich center around his comparative offensive prowess as a second baseman.  I started following baseball seriously and collecting cards in 1979 which coincided with Grich's best offensive season where he hit 30 HRs and knocked in 101 RBI.  In a day of fairly light hitting second basemen, this season impressed the heck out of a young kid.

Outside of the Dodgers, I also had a fondness for all the CA teams.  The Giants were always number one but I liked following the A's and Angels quite a bit and the Padres to a lessor extent.  Grich was one of the top players on the Angels and even managed to get some MVP votes a couple of years, including 1979, and made 3 All-Star teams.  Going back and reviewing his career in whole, he had as good of a stint with the Orioles making 4 All-Star teams, 4 Gold Gloves and got MVP votes in 3 different seasons.

His stats don't elevate him to Cooperstown levels but he is definitely a member of the Hall of Very Good in my book.  Another "F"un card for the collection.