2017 Year in Review

2017 Year in Review

The biggest Wallach related news this year involved a Wallach other than Tim, as a number of teams foolishly overlooked him for their managerial openings (Aaron #&!$* Boone?!? are you kidding me!) yet again.  This year the big Wallach news involved one of the younger Wallach's.  After being taken in the 5th round of the 2013 MLB draft, the youngest of the Wallach children, Chad, got the call this year and made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on August 22, 2017.  Chad picked up his first MLB hit on September 20, 2017.  Here's the video:

Chad likely won't find his way into the 2018 Topps set unless he makes the roster out of Spring Training, in which case he may find his way into Series 2 or Update.  After years of following the three Wallach kids in the minors, it was very cool to finally see one make it to the majors.  Congratulations Chad, this blog is rooting for you.

I didn't make it out to any Marlins games this year, but I did drag the family way out to Goodyear for a Reds Spring Training game last spring.  Typically we don't stray too far from the Salt River complex as our place in Scottsdale is walking distance away.  So Goodyear was a bit of a hike.  Chad Wallach got into the game late, so it was worth the trip.

2017 in Wallach Cards

I also picked up a few more Tim Wallach cards this year, and while the sheer numbers were down a little for me, this was the biggest year in Wallach cardboard since 2005, as Topps put out a new Wallach card for the first time in 12 years (2005 Topps Rookie Cup was the last set Wallach was included in).  Topps included Wallach in this years Topps Archives product.  Wallach was omitted from the base set, but was included in the All-Time Fan Favorites Autograph set.  In addition to the "regular" card, there were four color variations.  I tracked down copies of the "Peach" (I own 5 of the 150 printed), "Blue" (I own 3 of the 75 printed) and "Red" (I own 1 of the 25 printed).  There's also a "Gold," variation which I don't have.  I say "a" Gold variation because there's only one of them.  As of yet, it hasn't shown up on eBay, but I'm always on the look out.

In addition to the new card, there were far more Wallach cards to be found in the form of stamped buy backs in both the "Rediscover Topps" gimmick, and Bowman's "70th Anniversary" buyback promotion (I didn't even know Bowman still made cards).

As exciting as the new stuff was, at the end of the day, this blog is about numbers.  So with that in mind,  here's a look at where things stand:

Current cards in the Collection: 19,520

Cards acquired in 2016: 1,198

Collection grew by: 6.5%

Top Ten Most Abundant Cards in the Collection

1. 1982 Topps .................................. 1,187

2. 1987 Topps ..................................... 818

3. 1988 Donruss ................................. 729

4. 1989 Topps ..................................... 645

5. 1988 Topps ..................................... 625

6. 1988 Topps All-Star ....................... 606

7. 1986 Topps All-Star ....................... 597

8. 1990 Topps ..................................... 447

9. 1987 Donruss ................................. 400

10. 1990 Donruss ............................... 398

2017 saw very little change to the Top Ten.  In fact the only change was the 1988 Topps All-Star moving up one spot and subsequently dropping the 1986 Topps All-Star down a spot.  If there are going to be any new comers in 2018, I'd look for it be something between the years of 1989-1991 from one of the major manufacturer's. 

Top 10 most added cards in 2017

1. 1982 Fleer .................................. 163

2. 1990 Score .................................. 54

3. 1990 Donruss .............................. 48

4. 1982 Topps .................................. 42

5. 1990 Topps .................................. 40

6. 1989 Fleer .................................... 39

7. 1991 Donruss .............................. 36

8. (tie) 1990 Upper Deck ................. 33

8. (tie) 1989 Topps ........................... 33

10. (tie) 1990 Fleer ........................... 32 

10. (tie) 1987 Topps ......................... 32

It was a huge year for picking up 1982 Fleer, something I did not expect.  It had previously been my most scarce Wallach rookie of the three major brands, but has now saddled Donruss with that title.  I still believe '82 Fleer to be less abundant, but the numbers no-longer support my position.

Top 10 No-Shows, zero acquired (pre-existing amount)

1. 2014 Canadian Hall of Fame .............. (107)

2. 1984 Nestle ........................................... (80)

3. 1991 Stadium Club ............................... (70)

4. 1991 Studio ........................................... (64)

5. 1986 Topps Stickers ............................. (51)

6. 1992 Bowman ........................................ (48)

7. (tie) 1992 Bowman USA ........................ (42)

7. (tie) 1988 Donruss All-Star ................... (42)

9. 1995 Score ............................................. (40)

10. 1995 Fleer Ultra ................................... (37)

I expect the 2014 Canadian Hall of Fame card to hold this title on a near annual basis going forward.  I'm not even sure it should count, but so long as I do count it, I don't see too many more coming my way.  The '84 Nestle topped this list last year and I haven't picked up a new one since 2015, and I only added one that year.  1991 Stadium Club was a big surprise to me when I started crunching the numbers.  It's really the only "premium" card that I hold in high esteem.  As much as I hate sets that don't have raw cardboard backs, I make an exception for 1991 Stadium Club and at some point will  make an effort to complete it.  Which makes not picking up a single copy of that card all the more surprising to me.

Top 10 Most Sent Cards of 2017

 

1. 1987 Topps .................................... 20

2. 1990 Donruss ................................ 18

3. 1989 Fleer ....................................... 15

4. (tie) 1989 Topps .............................. 14

4. (tie) 1993 Upper Deck ..................... 14

6. (tie) 1991 Topps .............................. 11

6. (tie) 1993 Donruss .......................... 11

8. (tie) 1988 Topps .............................. 10

8. (tie) 1988 Donruss .......................... 10

8. (tie) 1990 Topps ............................... 10

8. (tie) 1991 Upper Deck Checklist ..... 10

This category is always the most random.  I received 466 cards in the mail this year from generous readers (thank you!), and yet, 10 copies was enough to crack this list.  Don't misconstrue this as a complaint, as it's anything but.  The randomness of the cards sent, is one of the things I enjoy most about doing this.

Top 10 All-Time Most Sent Cards

1. 1989 Topps .................................. 217

2. 1987 Topps .................................. 211

3. 1988 Topps All-Star .................... 192

4. 1988 Topps .................................. 167

5. 1990 Topps .................................. 164

6. 1988 Donruss............................... 159

7. 1990 Donruss .............................. 140

8. 1989 Donruss .............................. 120

9. 1991 Donruss .............................. 111

10. 1986 Topps All-Star .................. 110

Over a long enough period of time, I expect this list to begin to more closely mirror the list of Top Ten Most Abundant Cards posted above.  As it is, it looks about like one might think it would going in blind.  Among the demographic of people that send cards, I would guess that the sets above were the among the most abundantly purchased back during Wallach's career.  "We all bought a lot of 1989 Topps and 1988 Dornuss" isn't a controversial assumption.  Which makes one card in particular noticeable in it's absence from both the "Sent List."  That's the 1989 Upper Deck.  In my neighborhood, we all bought a lot of 1989 Upper Deck.  While I don't share the love and nostalgia for that set that many other's do, there's no denying it was all the rage in 1989.  From my gum-loving perspective, I think it ruined the baseball card hobby, and it's negative effects are still felt today.  I also bought a ton of it when it was new, so it was never "fancy" or "out of reach" to me the way sets like 1991 Stadium Club later would be.  I suspect there's still a subconscious tendency by people to hoard cards from that set though.  After all, it's "valuable" and "classic" and not at all as over produced as the other 1989 sets, despite what the inventories on Sportlots may suggest (yes, that's sarcasm).  I'm not pleading for more copies here, I have plenty, I just find it to be an interesting oddity.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards this year, or just stops by once in awhile to check out the occasional post.  It's still a thrill every time an envelope shows up in my mail box.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Wallach won his first game as a manager this year when Mattingly was tossed from a game.