I wish that I had been actively collecting a few years ago. I have discovered these sets that were put out by Topps between 2003 and 2005. While most bloggers who were active in 2005 or earlier know about these releases, the bloggers who just got back into the hobby are discovering all the releases that they missed.
The idea is a simple one. Sure, the sets have a few missteps. I'm not entirely sure there's a huge Daryl Boston fan base in Chicago, but who knows, there could be some underground Daryl Boston movement that I'm not aware of in my hometown. For the most part, the selections were inspired. It gave the right mix of retired players, regional stars and superstars. The card designs usually centered around each player's best season.
The George Bell card featured his 1988 Topps card. This was the release that celebrated his best year as a player. Ironically, this card looks better than the original card.
Sets like these, give the player collector more cards to collect of retired players. They give the team collector a few more cards to collect. They give the set collector something interesting to collect.
Since the cards are designed from different years, the set looks like a kid collected his favorite cards and stored them together in random order. It's this aspect that gives this set a leg up on the other cards.
I hope Topps will revisit this concept sometime in the future. I'm sure there are many other subjects that are begging for this type of treatment on cardboard.
This would be the perfect set for many collectors to start with. It gives a great overview of Topps trading card history. The set features many players who wouldn't be worthy of a set like UD Masterpieces. Players like George Bell. Which 1988 Topps card would you rather have of George Bell? The Spring Training batting pose or the actual game batting shot?
2 comments:
I liked these cards as well. I'll have to feature the Topps Shoebox set from 2003. It was a similar concept.
I've yet to see any Topps Shoebox cards up close.
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