Collecting Resolutions for the New Year

1. I resolve to blog more. Which should be challenging since.....

2. I resolve to collect a lot less 2013 product. I'm tired of paying hundreds of dollars to put together a set, only to see it listed on ebay for a fraction of the price that I spent. I'll let the rippers & flippers build my sets for me from now on. (My only exception would be holding out on Heritage and waiting to see if they hit $35 a box again by summer. My guess is yes.) I'll gladly let others pay the exorbitant prices to chase hits that I'm not the least bit interested in. I'll miss my favorite part of card collecting, set building, but that's how it goes now I guess.

3. I resolve to spend more of my collecting time/resources/$$$ on the vintage sets I've been working on: 1974-1978 Topps Baseball and 1978-1986 Topps Football. To poorly paraphrase Gordy LaChance, nothing will ever beat collecting the cards you collected when you were a kid.

4. I resolve to collect more 90's sets. My collection as it stands is pretty much just Topps Flagship. I'm think I'm going to add some combination of Collector's Choice, Donruss, Fleer, Leaf, OPC, Score, Studio, & Ultra to the mix. I couldn't afford ALL this stuff in the 90's. Today it's cheaper than it was then. If John Lennon were still around, I'm sure he'd agree: Happiness is a warm, $8 90's box.

5. I resolve to finally get a complete wantlist compiled, printed, and published on the internet. Really.

6. I resolve to finally finish all my 80's Flagship sets. I'm only about fifty total cards away from finishing at least a dozen sets. It'll be nice to pull that page OUT of my wantlist.

7. I resolve to take up online trading. I'm about to get a couple underway & I'm really looking forward to it.

8. I resolve to collect a lot more Tigers autographed cards. I was never a big auto collector, but I was bitten by the bug in 2012. I'd like to really beef up my collection by adding Kaline, Morris, Trammell, Polanco, Guillen, Magglio, Austin Jackson, Cabrera, Fielder, and Verlander in 2013, this year in which the Detroit Tigers will be World Series Champions.

9. I resolve to go to my third NSCC this year in Rosemont. I've met a lot of great folks on twitter over the last year (you can find me @RobbyT86) and I'm looking forward to putting some faces with some names. I'm also looking forward to picking up a lot of 50's & 60's Tigers cards, 80's oddball stuff, and visiting with old friends from my old stomping grounds in the Northwest Suburbs.

10. I resolve to have a lot of fun collecting in 2013 by sticking to my other nine resolutions!

2013 Topps Classic sell sheet (sounds amazing!)

Topps Classic Set!

Classic stock like Heritage, but with an original design like Lineage.

6 Series, 180 cards per series.

Each Series will be released approximately every 8 weeks during a year.

Most Series will feature 4-6 cards per team plus misc subsets (listed below).

Series 1 February

Subset: Previous year award winners (MVP, CY Young, ROY, & All-Rookie team)

Series 2 April

Subset: Players on new teams (with actual NEW photos, no photoshopped photos)

Series 3 June

Subset: HOF Class of ‘13 (2013 HOF inductees on base cards using photos from all the teams he played for)

Series 4 August

Subset: All-Stars (starters, combos, highlights, and MVP)

Series 5 October

Subset: September call ups/prospects (old-fashioned 2-3 players from one team on one card)

Series 6 November

Subset: Postseason Highlights

Subset: League Leaders

All Series will include a few Classic Combos, HOF veterans, and managers as well as any highlights, MLB debuts, and trades that occur since the previous series.

No SP or variations. NONE!

One insert set per series of 9 cards (approx 1:4). One parallel set numbered to that year (approx 1:1). One “hit” (approx 1:72)

Insert sets:

Series 1: Award Winner Reprints (cards of HOF players from award winning seasons)

Series 2: Then & Now (star players rookie photo and current photo)

Series 3: Hello & Goodbye (HOF players rookie and last card reprints)

Series 4: All-Time Leaders (multi-photo cards of all-time leaders)

Series 5: Artists Renditions (classic cards painted by various artists)

Series 6: Fall Classics Reprints (reprint cards of HOF players from classic postseason years)

12 cards to a $2 pack (11 base cards and one parallel, insert, or hit)

WOW! This set sounds amazing. Pays homage to so many sets yet offers so much to so many different collectors.

Too bad I just made the entire thing up. But I would TOTALLY collect this. Discuss. Maybe if this gets passed around the internet enough it will inspire Topps to finally come out with a great set!

Buyer Beware: 2012 Topps '87 Minis

I was able to to put together the 50 card set of '87 minis Sunday at a show for a grand total of $11.50.

I got home from work tonight and the cards are already starting to curl like '10 Chrome.

No Tigers in Series 1, but no Prince Fielder either, which means Series 2 ought to be loaded with Tigers. I'm guessing Fielder, Verlander, Cabrera, and Avila.

Topps fucking sucks.

2012 Topps Series 1 Detroit Tigers

I've posted the scans on facebook for anybody who might be interested. Search for the group "Detroit Tigers Cards and Stuff." Prepare to be underwhelmed. Or just go here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Detroit-Tigers-Cards-and-Stuff/303970832952316

Moving to Facebook

After much deliberation, I'm taking this over to Facebook. You can search for it under Detroit Tigers Cards and Stuff. I started a page over there tonight and got more "likes" in 3 hours than I've had responses here in the last year.

I've run out of ways to bag on the sorry state of the hobby. At least over there I've got 40-50 friends who are Tigers fans who I know will contribute to the discussion about Tigers stuff. Hopefully there will be more interaction, which is what I always wanted for with this blog. I get tired of reading my own stuff. Besides, I never learned anything about the new releases until others chimed in.

Fear not, I'll continue to flex my acerbic wit on Facebook. C'mon over and join in.....

2011 Topps Lineage Part 2

I'm a goddamned idiot.

I've bought 6 blasters, 14 rack packs, and 8 regular packs of Topps Lineage. I've amassed over 600 cards, counting inserts. I've spent almost $250 so far.

I'm still missing cards of Francisco Liriano and Victor Martinez from the base set. FROM THE FUCKING BASE SET!!!

This is EXACTLY why I quit trying to put fucking Topps set together.

The love I first had for this set is long gone.

I'm NEVER buying a fucking pack of Topps cards again.

At least not until 2012 Heritage.....

PS: All is not lost though. I pulled this sexy little mofo from a blaster box today.....

2011 Topps Lineage, Topps Stickers, & The National

After successfully staying away from buying any packs of Topps cards since I finished the 2011 Heritage base set, I succumbed to my weakness once again. Fucking Topps. In my defense though they've actually released something interesting enough to warrant it.

Topps Lineage is one of the cooler sets I've seen in some time. It's a tad bit pricy ($3 for a pack of 8 cards, $5 for a rack pack of 14 cards, and $20 for a blaster box of 56 cards and a relic card), but luckily it's a small set with no short prints, so it's reasonably affordable.

The base design isn't anything special, but it's not bad either. It looks like something that would normally be used for a regular Topps set.


I really like the mix of Hall Of Famers, current stars, and prospects. It seems like a quarter of the set consists of about five teams, but overall it's a decent mix. The Tiger checklist is modest for a 200 card set.

43 Victor Martinez
105 Ty Cobb
143 Miguel Cabrera
156 Austin Jackson
187 Justin Verlander


The big draw here of course are the '75 Mini inserts. This is a fantastic tribute to an iconic set. It's a little bloated for an insert set (200 cards, same checklist as the base set) but otherwise it's a great throwback. Hell, most of the ones I've picked up are even off-center, just like the originals.....

The cloth stickers and Venezuelan cards are disappointing. I assumed the cloth stickers would have the 1977 design and the Venezuelan cards would have one of the 60's designs. Instead both have the same design as the base cards. It's not terrible with the cloth stickers, but the Venezuelan cards are completely indistinguishable from the base cards on the front. The only difference is on the back, where the copy is in Spanish and the numbering is slightly different. Yawn.


I'm ambivalent towards the 3D and Pop Up cards. It's odd that the 3D cards have all the elements of '69 Topps, yet are rearranged around the card. I'd like them a lot better if they'd used one of the Kellogg's designs or even the design of the 3D cards from the mid-90's.


Continuing with the throwback theme, Topps has thrown their hat back in the sticker ring again, more or less rebooting the line from where they started in 1981. It's a very nice, simple, clean design (with the names on the front now! No more having to turn the stickers over to tell the difference between Kiko Garcia and Lenn Sakata!!) The set is very basic: 9 players from each team, a 9 player HOF Foil subset, and foil logo stickers. If you were a fan of stickers in the 80's (as I was) then you'll be a fan of these. A pack of 8 is $1, so this should be a fairly inexpensive set to assemble.

64 Alex Avila
65 Austin Jackson
66 Magglio Ordonez
67 Brandon Inge
68 Jhonny Peralta
69 Brennan Boesch
70 Miguel Cabrera
71 Victor Martinez
72 Justin Verlander
298 Tigers Foil Logo


Of course there's a sticker book that can be purchased too. As an avid collector of stickers though, it would be nice if Ultra-Pro or somebody would come out with sheets for the stickers. They are just a bit too wide to put in the tobacco sheets. (Hey Ultra-Pro! If you're reading this, how 'bout making some pages for the 75 Topps Minis and 80's League Leader Minis while you're at it???)

Finally, the National was here in Chicago a few weeks ago. No, not the awesome band, but the National Sports Collectors Convention. It was quite possibly the most disappointing card show I've ever been to. I'd guess that close to half the dealers there were peddling graded cards from the 50's, 60's, & 70's. Probably another quarter were selling high-end memorbilia such as jerseys, helmets, bats, framed/autographed posters, etc. Most of the rest were either grading services, auction services, or tables piled sky high with overpriced recent unopened boxes. I found a whopping three tables that were selling 2011 baseball singles (and a couple of those folks thought they were selling 1952 baseball singles, but I digress.....)

As someone who almost exclusively collects Tigers cards, there was very little there to justify the $20 entrance fee 9without a single promo/giveaway this year) or the four hours spent walking around only to leave with a handful of Tigers cards and a bunch of $3 boxes of 80's Topps Stickers. The weekly Sunday card show in my neighborhood has more to offer me and the admission is usually free. If you're into big ticket collectibles, then the National is the place for you. Unfortunately, it's no longer the place for me. Which means, of course, that the next time it's in town I'll be back.....

All was not a wash at the National though. I added these two gems to my collection:


One last note. I've got relic cards of the Lineage '75 Minis of Andrew McCutchen (bat), Aramis Ramirez (gray jersey), and B. J.Upton (gray jersey), as well as an on card auto of Fausto Carmona (2008 Topps replica) if anybody might be interested in trading me a similar Tiger counterpart.