Other than saving the repack-within-a-repack for last, I am not going to take this in any particular order. I am just going to grab something off the shelf and go. So, we are going to start off with a pack of 1989 Topps.
Since all of the cards shown in the BOBOC series will be available to claim, I'll follow the convention of showing card number, player name, and team.
178 - Mark Grant, San Diego Padres
246 - Rey Quinones, Seattle Mariners
261 - Team Leaders, St. Louis Cardinals
320 - Lou Whitaker, Detroit Tigers
368 - Brian Holton, LA Dodgers
479 - Mike MacFarlane, KC Royals
548 - Bobby Witt, Texas Ranger
550 - Orel Hershiser, LA Dodgers
594 - Jimy Williams, Toronto Blue Jays
632 - Bryan Harvey, California Angels
683 - Jose Cecena, Texas Rangers
695 - Carlton Fisk, Chicago White Sox
711 - Candy Sierra, Cincinnati Reds
778 - Bruce Benedict, Atlanta Braves
783 - Trevor Wilson, San Francisco Giants
NNO - Gum
Not a bad pack. One Hall of Famer, and two potential future Hall members (Whitaker and Hershiser.) On the flip side, though, we have Candy Sierra who pitched a total of 27.2 innings in 16 appearances in 1988. Same can be said for Jose Cecena who pitched an almost identical 26.1 innings for Texas in 1988. In other words, when these card came out, their major league careers were over.
The 1989 Topps set isn't bad. It's design is boring, to be sure, but placed next to the unspeakable horror of the 1990 design, it is an acceptable set. And it does seem to feel similar enough to the late 1970s sets I collected as a kid. I will not, however, be building this set. Part of the fun of set building is the chase, sorting through dealer boxes for the cards remaining on your want list. With complete sets of 1989 available for less than the cost of a fast food lunch, there is no chase involved. Clickety-click and a few days later it lands in your mailbox. What is the fun of that?
I chased the '89 set more vigorously than I've chased any other set in my life. I've seen every card in the set at least 3,000 times apiece. I'd have to just gotten out of 35 years of solitary confinement for them to have any meaning again.
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters that much, but the Jimy Williams is the "white spot" variation. The white area above the J in Jays is filled in in later printings.
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