Ramblings of an old Collector

- With school ending, graduation, losing power for a week because of a storm, keeping grandkids and trying to recover from everything, I've gotten way behind in reading everyone's blogs. If you start seeing comments on older posts you'll know why. 

 - I was at the local Walmart looking for Topps Series 2 and there weren't any out. Instead of leaving empty handed, I picked up a '24 Heritage blaster. Good decision. Every pack had a purple refractor in it! 

 

Not only did I get 7 purple refractors, two of them were Rangers! Not a bad concession prize for not finding Topps Series 2!

- Not to brag or anything, but my son was an assistant coach on the Texas 5A State champion Grapevine High School baseball team. So awesome to see the positive impact he is having on players, not just in baseball but on becoming young men. 

- Now that its summer and school is out, I'm trying to get more organized in my collection. I know, its the neverending battle of collectors. Right now, I'm focused on my player collections and getting them organized and in TCDB. 

- I'm down to 54 cards in my 1978 set. This is going to be my priority once I finish 2024 Topps series 1 & 2.

- Speaking of 2024 Topps, my niece just had a baby boy, so I decided to put another set together for him. I already had a lot of dupes, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

- I've done 3 breaks in my lifetime now and unless I'm really bored, I think I'm done with it. The only good thing about the breaks is I got some Ranger cards I wanted, but it wasn't worth the money. I've heard there are breakers out there that only send out the hits and not the base cards. That would tick me off. Anyways, here are the hits that I did get...all in one break.

- My Texas Rangers, haven't been very good this year. They've had a ton of injuries, can't hit and the pitching has been sporadic at best. It's been interesting watching the number of bandwagon people jumping off. Not me, I'm a lifer. UPDATE: Rangers have won 4 in a row!

- I need some help identifying this reprint. What year is this reprint from? I know its a reprint of '60 Topps, but I can't figure out when it was reprinted. 

I can find the '96 Topps Commemorative reprint with embossed Mickey Mantle on it and the white and yellow back, but not this one. Help!

- I finally got my starter set for 2010 Topps. I've got to sort it and get it on TCDB so I can start trading for it. I'm not doing the update set, so the update cards that I got will be for trade.

- I picked up some cards from Ebay, Buysportscards.com and facebook claims that finally came in... 

All of these are for my player collections. 

These two short prints help me get a little closer to completing the sets. 

These 7 cards got closer to completing the '78 set.

I guess that's all for now. Hope everyone has a blessed week!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

The Seventies-The least favorite sets

 After a lot of thought I have come up with my least favorite sets of the 1970s. This was difficult, because I'm talking about baseball cards and baseball cards are greatness. Once again, I will say just because these sets are listed here, it doesn't mean that I don't like them at all...it just means I don't like them as much. I mean, the '72, '75 and '78 sets are right up there, it not, my favorite sets of all-time. That makes it a little easier to pick the favorites, the least favorites are a little harder to come up with. 

The first of the lesser sets for me is th 1970 set. I think the design is boring with the grey borders and the plain print. Not only that, but the pictures on the cards look as if they were rushed. Almost all of the shots are posed and the backgrounds aren't very good. Most have people milling around in the background. 

     

At least McNally has ballplayers in his background. Cullen as either a bunch of reporters or exec staff in his. Another card that just doesn't look right to me is the Hank Aaron card. 

This card has always made me think he was looking down and the photographer called his name and snapped the picture as soon as he looked up. Not the best Aaron card. 

There aren't any real good rookie cards in the '70 set other than Thurman Munson. 

Individual or position rookie cards are my preferred rookie card and this is probably my least favorite. I do appreciate Munson's career and it is truly sad that his career was cut short. 

There are cards that I like in the set. I really like the playoff subset cards. 

     

I really like the black and white picturesof these cards. Great picture of Seaver, who knew Powell could get airborne and Agee's catch is classic.

Here are a couple of cards that I do like from the set.

     

Ryan looks so young on this card and Carew looks so serious. Probably my favorite Carew card.

Next up for one of the least favorite sets, 1971. This one is really easy, it's the black borders. The black borders can look really sharp, but they seem to show every little issue the card may have. I don't get too hung up on condition of cards. I don't like big creases or really rounded corners, but a little ding here or there doesn't bother me. However, most of the '71 cards seems to show everything and really takes away from the cards for me. 

     

Now the good thing about the set is that Topps brought back the action shot and most of the backgrounds of the other shots have been cleaned up. That is a classic Nolan Ryan shot and I always love a good action shot of a catcher. 

     

Gibson is one of my favorites and I don't think he gets enough credit that he deserves. He and Ryan kind of pitched the same in that neither one was a pitcher that you wanted to dig in on. Had to include this card of Aaron to make up for the last one. 

This has got to be the worst Brooks Robinson card. I like action shots, but a swing and a miss? Not the best choice. 

The last of my three least favorite sets of the '70s is the 1976 set. I had a hard time with this one. I probably could have stopped with only two sets, but out of all of the years left in the '70s, the '76 is the last one I'd chase. I think it boils down to two color bars on the bottom of the front of the card. 

     

There are much better pictures on the cards as opposed to the '71 set. Better looking Robinson card than the '71 set. Even the posed shots are better. 

     

What action shots that are in the set seem to be better pictures too. Topps did seem to try and color match with the teams. It's not a terrible design, it just isn't my favorite.

Well, that's it for my least favorite sets of the 1970s. I'm not sure I'll do another one of these. Let me know your thoughts on the least favorite sets of the Seventies. Do any of yours match up with mine?

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

The Seventies-Round 3

It's been a rough week. I lost power on Tuesday after Memorial Day and it wasn't restored until Sunday. Had some storm damage, but nothing major. Lost everything in the fridge and freezer, but all in all, it could have been much worse. I am blessed. It did make this post a lot more difficult to get done, but here it is...

The final installment of my favorite sets from the Seventies.  

I'm not ranking these sets in any order, they are just my favorites of the decade. Just like when I list my least favorite sets, it doesn't mean I don't like them, it means I just don't like them as much. You can't go wrong with baseball cards, so even the least favorite sets are still favorites. 

What's interesting to me is how my top 3 sets will change over time. For instance, the 3rd favorite set from the 1970s is the 1978 set. Back in the '80s I didn't care that much for the '78 set. I'm not sure why, maybe because I thought it was too simplistic in design, but one day, the set became one of my favorites. 

The reason I like this set IS the simple design of the card. With the team name a cursive type font on the bottom of the card, a baseball in the upper corner with the position of the player and the player name just beneath the colored border allows the focus of the card to picture. 

This 726 card set is larger than the previous 5 years and has the usual subsets of Record Breakers, League Leaders, playoff and World Series highlights. 

  

Check out the names on these cards...Record breaker Pete Rose, Victory leaders Steve Carlton and Jim Palmer and Strikeout leaders Phil Niekro and Nolan Ryan. Hall of Famers and one who probably should be. 

  

Interesting choice of pictures for the ALCS card. That picture would make one think that the Royals won the game. The NLCS card makes more sense. The World Series card shows Mr. October...the old Mr. October. The new Mr. October is currently a Ranger. 

There are some good rookie cards in the set. Eddie Murray and Paul Molitor, who shares his rookie card with another Hall of Famer Alan Trammell, are the biggest rookie cards of the set. Other rookies include Jack Morris, Lou Whitaker Dale Murphy and Lance Parrish. 

     

     

The Murray rookie is an iconic card. It seems every time the '78 set is written about, the Murray card is pictured. I like the individual rookie cards better, but the position rookie cards are cool. How cool is it that Molitor and Trammell share a rookie card? Is Lou Whitaker Hall bound? I always thought so. I forget that Murphy started off as a catcher. 

Here's some of my favorite cards from the set.

     

Never knew much about Mickey Rivers until he came and played for the Rangers. He was funny and a good centerfielder. Can you go wrong with a good action shot that has dirt flying?

I really like the team cards as opposed to how they do them today. I don't know why, because you really can't see the players. Now the Cubs team card is a whole other story. I don't like it as a team card, but I do like the tradition of the Cubs card with the individual portraits. Makes it unique.

     

Pretty good battery for the Rangers back in the day. It was always fun to watch Gaylord Perry pitch. Always wondering if he was throwing the Spitter. Sunny was the measurement that all Ranger catchers had to live up to until Pudge Rodriguez came along. 

     

I like the All-Star designation on the cards. It's simple, like the rest of the design of the cards. I used to think that Dave Parker was the heir apparent for Willie Stargell, but that sure didn't pan out. 

My set is about 90 cards from completion with a few cards that need to be upgraded to match the rest of the set. This set is probably going to be my focus once I finish my '24 Topps sets. 

That's all I've got on this one. Let me know what your thoughts are on the '78 set.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31