1986 Topps Master Set Highlights

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I collect mega master sets. Today I want to highlight a few oddities from the 1986 Topps mega master set. Nineteen-eighty-six Topps may be my absolute favorite set from my childhood. It's the first set I collected, and while it doesn't boast the greatest checklist or really any standout rookies, it holds a special place in my heart. (I ranked it as the 11th-best set of the 1980s.)

What I've enjoyed as a collector over the last few years is that Topps has recognized 1986's base-card design as one of its most adaptable—it's been used in a number of recent sets, and not all of them baseball, or even sports, related (like 2009's American Heritage Heroes set).

The Ripken, Murray, and Mookie cards are from last year's Topps Archives set. I've included these cards in my mega master set because these three are all included in the original 1986 set. The Fernando Valenzuela card is from the box-bottom subset found on the bottom of wax boxes in 1986. If you're unfamiliar with this subset, it featured 16 of the game's biggest stars (including Dwight Gooden, Reggie Jackson, and Wade Boggs), using alternate photography and a red upper border. Attractive cards, in my opinion.

The Joe Carter is from one of the All-Time Fan Favorites set from the early 2000s. The Larry Bird is from the "Larry Bird Missing Years" insert set from 2006-07 Topps Basketball. The Paul Revere is from the 2009 American Heritage Heroes set, and the Al Nipper/Mike TV card is a Pat Riot original from his "Discarded" series. If you don't know anything about Pat Riot and his artistry, start here.

Card Critic: 2014 Topps Archives

Before I get into what I think about the 2014 edition of Topps Archives, a little background on the three shifts in the hobby landscape that were needed to support a weird mishmash of a set like this. 

In the summer of 1989, political scientist Francis Fukuyama published an essay in The National Interest titled "The End of History?" Fukuyama argued that Western liberal democracy marked the end of humanity's social evolution and that, contrary to Marx, democracy would be the prevailing style of government going forward.

If we replace "Western liberal democracy" with "nostalgia," this thesis could also accurately describe the approach and mind-set of Topps in 1989. Nineteen eighty-nine saw Topps's re-introduction of the Bowman brand, complete with oversized cards, a la 1953. While oversized cards were used for only the inaugural set, the design choices put forth in 1989 Bowman catered to those nostalgic adult collectors, and set the company on the path to today's hobby landscape: obsessed with retro designs, with fewer and fewer original designs and new ideas.

I could write an entire essay on the design decisions (or lack thereof) of Bowman, but let's talk about Topps Archives instead. When the brand started in 1991, it was strictly as a reprint of the 1953 set, with a few cards tacked on at the end of the checklist of players not originally included in the set (Ted Williams, Henry Aaron, Lou Boudreau, etc.). The "Ultimate 1953" set was a big hit with collectors. (So much so that Archives would pop up again in 1994 with the "Ultimate 1954" set, with a Brooklyn Dodgers set in 1995, and with mixed-years sets in 2001, and 2002, before disappearing for another 10 years.)

But while Topps was using Archives as a reprint brand for baseball (and football), the company took the innovative route and lent the Archives name to a basketball card set that predicted the direction of the brand today: a smaller set using legacy designs and heavy with contemporary stars.

The set was called "Topps Archives: The Rookies," featuring NBA players shown in their rookie years, using the baseball card designs from those years. This was significant because Topps did not create basketball cards for 10 seasons (1982-83 to 1991-92), thus missing out on a decade's worth of star rookies. I really liked this set; its concept, designs, checklist, and price per pack appealed to me as a collector (and the fact that you can still find boxes of unopened wax for under $15 is pretty cool as well).

The current iteration of Archives could not exist without a third nostalgia-tinted brand: Topps All-Time Fan Favorites. Released from 2003–2005, these sets featured popular regional favorites from the last 50 years—not necessarily each team's biggest stars. Designs included every year of the Topps canon, from 1952 on. And while the checklist got more and more tired with each passing year, the brand concept was fresh (though it did start to border on my parody idea of an Archives set comprised entirely of commons).

This combination—a yen for nostalgia, legacy designs, and a mix of contemporary and retired players on a shorter checklist—is what makes a set like Topps Archives tick.

But yes, it's a hodgepodge. The checklist is a mix of today's stars and rookies and retired Hall of Famers. The set's got a bit of history for younger collectors who don't know the legacy designs, it's got parallels (like every other Topps product), and it's got short-printed hot-stuff rookies (Masahiro Tanaka and Jose Abreu).

It's also devoid of original thought, or new ideas, or really any ideas that go outside the box. And if you don't like the designs included in the set, you're probably not going to want to collect it. The brand has also, in its three years of existence in this form (2012–2014, so far), been plagued with lousy paper stock, odd inserts (Karate Kid villain autographs, anyone?), photography shared with other sets, and eerily similar checklists from year to year.

But did I mention it has on-card autographs? Of current stars and retired fan favorites? I never wanted a Shawon Dunston reprint 1990 Topps card, but I do cherish the auto'd Dunston reprint I got in a pack of 2012 Archives. But with 2014 Topps Archives pushing $100 a box, I hope I would find an autograph of someone better than Shawon.

This year's crop of inserts presents a nice mix of designs; my favorites are the 1969 Topps Deckle (what, no short-printed Jim Wynn or Joe Foy or their more recent equivalents Ron Gant and Alex Gordon?), and 1987 Topps Future Stars. Both of these inserts will fit nicely as I build mega master sets for both of these years (1969 Topps and 1987 Topps, respectively).

And it's here that Topps's dumpster dive into the past connects with me. I'm actively collecting cards that use a particular design to create a "mega master set." I'm doing this for a handful of years: 1965, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1986, and 1987 Topps. It adds a new wrinkle to collecting these sets and makes newer brands like All-Time Fan Favorites, Heritage, and even Archives worth paying attention to.

Have we reached the end of original thought in the hobby? Well, nostalgia is the prevailing selling point for many, if not virtually all, of the new baseball card sets in 2014. Gypsy Queen, Allen and Ginter, Heritage, Archives, Turkey Red—all of these sets are based on old designs. Topps flagship base-card designs have been interchangeable since 2010. Bowman? Ditto. And inserts in these flagship sets hark back to the legacy of each brand.

Don't let your set be a victim of repetitive photography!

So while 2014 Archives lacks the new idea to make it a memorable set, that's not a surprising development. It would be truly surprising if it did present something new.

What Ben's Thinking About

It's no secret: my interest in collecting sports cards waxes and wanes like the cycles of the moon. But there are certain things about the hobby that pique my interest. Here they are for the week of July 28, 2013.

1. I've had another epiphany about my card collection this week: I need to cut back. I've collected sets in the past, have an extensive Red Sox and Celtics collection — I'm trying to get one card of every player on each team since their inceptions — and have a shoebox of vintage stars. But I also have pre-war nonsports cards. And lots of Topps basketball from the 1970s. And other cards I'm quite sure what to do with. The epiphany came about because we have been doing a little spring cleaning (in the middle of the summer) and have sold a few things on eBay. Some cards have left the house this way, but it isn't satisfying. Not really.

I feel like if I'm going to make big strides in completing the Soxlopedia, as I'm calling it, then I'm going to have to make some trades. So here we are. Is there anyone out there interested in trading these days? I'd be looking for Red Sox and Celtics players, and maybe a few upgrade cards for my 1965 and 1956 Topps sets. I have some vintage stars and Hall of Famers and T218s and T118s and a huge lot of 1984 Topps baseball, which I know isn't that exciting, but let me explain.

2. I've made large strides in my "Mega Master Set" idea for 1986 and 1987 Topps baseball (and even 1977 and 1978 Topps baseball, to a lesser extent). But where I've found satisfaction in those years, I've be met with a deep sense of ennui with 1984 Topps baseball. Not that I haven't had success with 1984 Topps baseball—I have. I've just found that I don't really care very much if I finish it or not. (I'm a great salesman, I know.) I'm two cards from completing the base set, and have added the 50 cards in the 1984 style from the 2012 Topps Archives set. I've also added a few original 1984 Nestle cards, plus the Larry Bird "Missing Years" card from 2006-07 Topps Basketball, plus even some Topps Tiffany cards. And a handful of the Traded cards. All in all it's about 900 cards, give or take a few. It makes for a nice starter set on the Mega Master Set, I'd say. So, if you're interested in trading for these cards, or would like to know if I can help you with other stuff, and you have Red Sox to trade, I'm all ears. By the way, if you want to see a list of Red Sox players I still need, check out this list.

3. I've been thinking long and hard about this, but 1986 Topps is my favorite set. Ever. It was my first set, and I have cards with their fronts ripped off to varying degrees from this set than any other in my possession. So if there's some sort of Tiger Beat that cares about what I like, 1986 Topps baseball is what I like...

4. Also, here's something to consider: Did you just get $75 worth of baseball cards from that box you just paid $75 for? If not, how much value do you think you got? I bet it wasn't anywhere close to what you paid, unless you count a box's anticipation markup — my name for the traditional profit-ensuring markup that plays to the expectations and excitement of the consumer towards the product. That's probably harder to determine, right? If there are 192 cards in that box (let's say you bought Heritage), then you just paid $0.39 for each card (sure, that's a steal if you get a Sandy Koufax autograph exchange card, but you're more likely to "hit" on a relic card of Raul Ibanez). So if you can get base cards on eBay for closer to $0.07 or $0.10 apiece, then you're paying an anticipation markup of anywhere from a quarter to thirty cents per card. You might scoff at this logic, but for your $75, your box probably contains $18–$25 of value in it. It's a sobering thought, especially as I look towards 2014 Topps Heritage...

5. I just finished David Maraniss' Clemente and recommend it. Actually, if you're interested in reading it, I will make it available for trade. See the linked list above of Red Sox players I'm missing and let me know if you're interested.

Cecilio Guante Facts

Cecilio Guante, 1986 Topps

Cecilio Guante discovered genuine happiness in the spring of '84.

This Cecilio Guante baseball card is the most popular Cecilio Guante baseball card, according to me, who has 1,200 copies of this Cecilio Guante baseball card.

The ratio of Cecilio Guante-to-any-other-player in this 1986 Topps set is 17-to-1.

According to Wikipedia, Guante wore a giant G for Guante on his glove.

Here is proof of that statement.

The "G" actually stood for glove, which helped Guante distinguish his baseball glove from his hat and other things like food.

One time Cecilio Guante tried to catch a bat with a shin guard because none of the equipment was properly identified.

"Guante" is Spanish for glove.

Cecilio Guante and Rick Rhoden were traded to the Yankees for Doug Drabek in 1987.

That trade worked out great for the Yankees, as Rhoden would go on to have an illustrious rap career and Cecilio Guante would win the 1990 NL Cy Young Award.

Cecilio Guante is on facebook, but it might not be this Cecilio Guante.

Nope, it is this Cecilio Guante.

Cecilio Guante could not find a profile picture for his facebook page.

You can like Cecilio Guante's facebook page free of charge.

Here is a trivia question about Cecilio Guante:

What is Cecilio Guante's favorite musical band?

I don't know; you'd have to ask him.

Nirvana, maybe.

Or Simon and Garfunkel. Because of that song.

Here is another Cecilio Guante trivia question:

The answer is Cecilio Guante.

Thanks for playing!

Bless You, Bergie

Dave Bergman, 1986 Topps

When I was a kid and daydreamed about the time when I would be a big leaguer, this is pretty much exactly how I pictured myself—waiting patiently for BP, wearing a sweet wristband and rocking the Blue Blockers, a sliver of my well-groomed yet unkempt mustache glistening in the sunshine, staring off into the distance, hero-like, with a “What? You want to mess with this?” attitude. When I was a kid, I was Dave Bergman. When I was a kid, I was a man.

There are a few cool anecdotes re: Bergman. Born in Illinois, he was drafted by his hometown Cubs out of high school but instead chose to get an education. As someone who maintains a great respect for education and learning about stuff, allow me to say, NEEEEEEERD! If I had been drafted by the Yankees out of high school, I would not have been able to sign fast enough. As it is I cannot remember anything I supposedly learned during high school or college. Besides, doesn't society just open its doors for former athletes anyway? But seriously kids, stay in school.

Bergman later would fulfill my own pipe dream by getting drafted by the Yankees, at which point he killed it in the minors, so obviously the Yankees traded him. He got traded again--twice in one day, in fact--landing with the eventual WS champion '84 Tigers. During that season Bergman had, according to manager Sparky Anderson, the greatest at-bat ever. Wiki:

On June 4, 1984, Bergman came to bat in the 11th inning with two men on base and two outs in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Bergman fouled off seven pitches, and on a full count hit the 13th pitch of the at bat into the upper deck at Tiger Stadium for a walk-off, three-run home run. In his book, Bless You Boys, Detroit manager, Sparky Anderson, wrote, "Tonight I saw the greatest at bat in my life...Bergie fouled off seven pitches and then picked one practically off the ground and drilled it into the upper deck in right. What a battle! Bergie was up there a full seven minutes.

I love baseball anecdotes like that. I haven't read Bless You Boys, but does the whole thing read like a diary?

Chapter 6
Tonight I saw the greatest at-bat of my life ...

Chapter 8
Today I ate three bananas and then became constipated ...

Chapter 17
Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I was busy. Anyway, yesterday Bergie said something funny that I can't write down or else I'll get in trouble. It was about Polish people. Gibby and Louie were cracking up.

More:

He hit a career high .294 for the Tigers in 1988, and in August 1989, he broke up a Nolan Ryan no-hitter with a one-out single in the 9th inning.

A memorable walk-off home run, a World Series title, and breaking up a Nolan Ryan no-no would be more than enough for me live off of. Actually, a walk-off home run would be enough. I would never want to be responsible for breaking up a Nolan Ryan no-hitter because I would fear for my life the rest of my life. That is the kind of man I actually grew up to be.

In 2001 Bergman took part in an online interview with Ray Kerby in which either Kerby, while editing, or Bergman, while communicating, used a ton of exclamation points. Sampler:

I just enjoyed playing all sports!
I liked them because they were playing for the Cubs!
College allowed me to grow up in a controlled environment!
It took hard work and perserverance!
Joe Niekro is today my best friend!
I had no idea, but I was glad to be traded to Detroit!
I looked for a breaking ball and I got it!
I love working with kids!

Bergie seems like a happy dude. And who can blame him? He lived the dream.

Staying Power

Last night I reached a pinnacle in my collecting: I completed the 2003 Topps Heritage baseball master set. It only took me eight years, which means, when I start thinking about it, that my passion for this set outlasted many of its subjects' desire or ability to compete at the major-league level. 

(In fact, just a quick scan of the set yields roughly 130 players who aren't in the big leagues anymore, including two (Roberto Alomar and Rickey Henderson) who are in the Hall of Fame.)

My love of this set began back when it came out. I was living in Coolidge Corner, Brookline (just outside of Boston) and remember buying the equivalent of three full boxes from the New England Comics shop on Harvard Ave. Right there we're talking about easily $200, which is saying something, since I was making roughly $10 an hour at a bookstore job. I had pulled a Topps Teams Don Larsen autograph and traded it for about 100 cards I was still missing, including a few short prints and the Alex Rodriguez #250 (for those of you unfamiliar with the set, Topps included Rodriguez on two cards, #1 and #250, as an homage to the original 1954 set on which the Heritage design was based). Yes, I probably got the short end of the trade, but at the time, commons were going for 40 cents. I stockpiled the chrome and refractors inserts and sold them on eBay to pay for other short prints. I was on my way to finishing the set.

Then the 2004 Heritage set came out and my window of opportunity shrank considerably. It became harder and harder to find these cards. And for whatever reason (me being out of touch with other online resources, no physical card shop to visit, etc.), I put the set on the back-burner and turned my focus to other things, like starting this baseball card blog. 

That's why completing this set is extra sweet. It was the reason that I got back into collecting, and the fact that my hunt for short-printed commons like Corey Koskie (retired 2006) and Fernando Tatis (retired 2010) took a quarter of my life (I'm 32) means that it took me just as long — eight years — to complete the set as I had stayed away from collecting back when I thought some distance between me and my nerdier side might make me appear cool (sadly, I was wrong). 

So what does all this mean? That I have the collecting mind of a 24-year-old? That I should take the set out of pages and turn my focus to starting another set? In the last year, I've also completed the 1976 Topps master set (basic plus traded), and the 1978 and 1979 Topps sets. I'm also halfway done on the 1977 set, 50 cards from completing the 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats set, and five cards away from finishing 1956 Topps. I really want to start collecting a different set, and am leaning towards either 1965 or 1967 Topps baseball. But the problem is that I can't build any of these sets by opening packs. Collecting them means assembling them through eBay wins and Sportlots purchases (which is a heckuva lot cheaper than Beckett Marketplace, by the way). And right now that doesn't appeal to me. 

But then again, neither does spending a fortune on a new box of cards of a set that doesn't have staying power. The fun thing about sets like 1965, 1967, or even 1986 Topps is that they have staying power. 

By staying power I mean an iconic longevity that will guarantee it followers and a certain ubiquitousness throughout the hobby. It's a quality usually absent from many of today's gimmicky retro sets that try to replicate a classic; they may be popular one year, but they're relegated to the bargain bin the next—despite their perceived scarcity. And laugh all you want: 1986 Topps has been a bargain-bin resident since around 1993, but you can still find those cards everywhere (probably because Topps printed a billion of them), rendering it a cheap set chock full of Hall of Famers. 

Admittedly, 2003 Topps Heritage doesn't have staying power. The fact that it took me this long to put together a small 488-card set speaks volumes about its decided lack of popularity, despite its hobby cornerstone original, 1954 Topps.