Sunday, April 2, 2017

Sunday Edition


Set Building Updates


With the edition of those two cards above, I now sit one card away from completing the 1970 Topps set.  I picked up those two at an actual card shop of all places while I was in Arizona to see some Spring Training games a couple of weeks ago.  If your in Phoenix, The Batter's Box on Cactus is the best vintage shop I've ever been to.  It's not big, it's not fancy, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles.  But it has a huge stock of vintage cards.  The type of place you can go in with your 1962 Topps need list and find what your looking for without asking for help or getting the "I think we have a few cards from the 60's over there" response from some nitwit.  #710 Felix Milan is the last remaining card, and I've already paid for one on eBay.  So assuming it shows up (no gimmie given the trouble last cards always seem to give me) 1970 will be complete.  It'll be the oldest Topps set I've ever completed (taking the title from 1975) and the first vintage set with series.  I'm not going to be modest here, putting that Felix Milan into the last remaining 9 pocket slot in my binder is going to feel like a really big deal.  A sort of collector's merit badge that I'll wear with pride around a world full of people who don't really care.

The question now is, what next?  I'm still pursing 1952, but that'll be ongoing for the next decade at least.  The answer is I'm not sure.  1971, 72, or 73 seem to be the obvious choices, but part of me wants to go a little deeper and make an effort to complete something older.  A recent event led me to decide on 1972.  Here's a look at it:


Those are the "jewels" of my father in-laws collection.  A few years ago, he moved to Australia (won't go into details) and left a ton of stuff behind in storage.  My three brother in-laws didn't want his cards, so they ended up with me about a month ago.  That table top is just a small sample of was dumped on me.  It was a weird collection.  I'm guessing the vintage above was his childhood efforts (he's about ten years younger than my own father, and the cards reflect that).  It had clearly been cherry picked at some point, but by someone that didn't really know what they were looking for beyond key rookie cards, as a good number of Hall of Famers remained.  The best things to be included were about 700 1972 Topps and 700 1975 Topps mini's (he grew up in Michigan).  The mini's still had Rose (x4), Bench, Ryan, and others, but not a single one of the marquee rookies was to be found.  The lot of 1972 Topps gave me new found appreciation for modern collation in packs.  I whine about doubles, but I think I'm going to stop.  Needless to say, of the 700 or so 1972 Topps that were there, I probably only needed a 100 of them (thankfully 27 of them where hi numbers).  There were 5 and 6 copies apiece of a good number of the low series cards in there.  In any event, it's put me in a position where I've decided to go after 1972 next.

The rest of his collection, was, "interesting."  He had a decent run from 1971 to 1977.  Clearly his collecting wheelhouse.  Then he had massive amounts of somewhat random sets in 700 count boxes, mostly unsorted sans a couple of hand collated sets.  Here's a run down:

1980 Topps: ~700 unsorted (no Henderson's)
1983 Topps: ~1,500 sorted by team (no Gwynn or Sandberg)
1984 Topps: ~2,500 unsorted (one hand collated complete set, the rest unsorted)
1984 Donruss: ~500 unsorted
1984 Fleer: 1 complete set
1985-88 Topps: ~1,000 total, all unsorted
1991 Topps: ~700 unsorted
1992 Topps: ~1,800 unsorted (+one factory set, the rest unsorted)
2000 Topps: one factory set
2001 Topps: ~1,000 unsorted and 1 factory set
2001 Topps Archives: ~1,000 unsorted
and a bunch of other crap that I didn't really recognize like some monstrosity calling itself Topps HD.

Some of that, I can use.  I've already broke and sleeved in binders the 1992 and 2000 sets.  The 2000 was a pain in the ass as all the cards stick together.  A problem I'm finding with the 2001 cards as well.  Most if it, I have no need for.  I'm in the process of sorting them all, so if your short cards from those years, let me know.  I've already complete the 80's Topps sets and these are all duplicates.

I've also got a good number of cards I can trade from 1970-1979 if your building any of those.

If your so inclined help me out in return, here's what I'm currently working on:

Need Lists

1972 Topps: 85, 86, 130, 137, 141, 142, 163, 164, 165, 1171, 181, 183, 184, 187, 192, 195, 215, 216, 220, 221, 226, 228, 230, 233, 253, 255, 266, 267, 270, 276, 279, 281, 297, 299, 301, 306, 313, 325, 328, 333, 337, 338, 345, 346, 347, 352, 256, 258, 260, 369, 372, 374, 380, 386, 387, 392, 295, 401, 405, 408, 409, 410, 411, 413, 423, 424, 426, 428, 429, 433, 434, 435, 537, 439, 440, 443, 446, 448, 454, 455, 456, 460, 465, 468, 473, 476, 480, 484, 486, 489, 490, 491, 494, 502, 503, 505, 506, 509, 511, 512, 513, 516, 520, 522, 523 (526-787 are mostly needs, if you want to trade let me know what you have, and I'll see what I can do for your semi hi and hi number needs)

1977 Topps: 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 20, 32, 34, 40, 42, 48, 51, 66, 74, 79, 100, 110, 111, 113, 120, 130, 134, 135, 136, 140, 150, 152, 162, 167, 183, 186, 208, 210, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 265, 270, 276, 277, 285, 286, 287, 299, 305, 313, 320, 327, 355, 356, 369, 374, 387, 411, 412, 413, 414, 418, 419, 425, 427, 428, 439, 433, 434, 435, 537, 439, 445, 450, 467, 470, 473, 476, 484, 494, 495, 498, 504, 516, 518, 522, 541, 546, 547, 560, 564, 571, 580, 597, 599, 600, 615, 621, 630, 631, 632, 634, 638, 647, 650, 652, 655, 656

2017 Topps: 2.4.8.9.10.11.12.13.26.30.31.37.39.43.44.45.46.48.52.53.57.58.63.64.66.68.69.70.71. 72.74.77.78.80.83.84.85.87.88.93.94.100.101.104.106.108.109.110.118.123.128.130.133.136.141.
146.153.154.159.161.162.163.166.168.171.172.173.175.177.182.184.189.192.198.200.201.204.
206.210.213.214.218.220.221.222.224.226.230.231.238.242.246.248.251.253.254.258.261.262.264.
265.266.267.268.272.278.285.289.290.297.298.304.306.314.317.318.319.320.322.323.326.327.328.
330.332.337.339.345.349


The cards above were sent by Jim of Elgin, Il.  I mentioned I was trying to build the first three Fleer Basketball sets and he came through in a big way.  Thank you very much Jim.  Here's what I'm still looking for from those sets if any one wants to work out a trade.

1986-87 Fleer: 4, 9, 26, 53, 57

1987-88 Fleer: 1, 3, 9, 11, 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 49, 52, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61, 63, 68, 69, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 88, 89, 92, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 105, 106, 109, 111, 112, 113, 118, 123, 124, 130, 132 

1988-89 Fleer: 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 25, 30, 31, 33, 34, 39, 40, 43, 45, 49, 53, 64, 68, 70, 82, 85, 89, 92, 93, 95, 96, 108, 109, 114, 116, 121, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 132 Stickers: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

3 comments:

  1. I wouldn't mind a big starter set of 1980 Topps if you're looking to dump it. Already got the Rickey, so it shouldn't be too tough for me to complete. I've got plenty of available 71 and 73 for trade.

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  2. I'd be interested in any extra baseball checklists you might have for trade, any years.

    ReplyDelete