Things I Am Sorting Part 9

A whole bunch of things to run through and catch up tonight, so let's start out with a card connected to yesterday's post.  I was hoping this card would arrive in time to put together with the Carlos Martinez and Blake Snell card, but it was a few steps too slow.  So, here is one more Holiday Relic from the Big Blue Box Store......

Archer is one of my favorite Durham Bulls, out of the Rays relics on the checklist, this one was a must have if I am going to put these into the collection.  The snowflakes in the corners of the card are a little bit more visible on this card than the two yesterday.  Cool picture of Archer too.

Next up is a card from my latest set project.  I am working on the 2002 Bowman Futures Games Autographed Relics.  Nice looking set that I am piecing together.  First addition to the set since I announced the project is kind of the oddball of the set....

The set is a relic set, like the vast majority of Topps cards produced from All-Star Game related events, the cards contain pieces of jersey.  For whatever reason Toby Hall is a game used base card.  I have no idea why and I am sure that I will never know.  It's still a really cool card and added bonus, Hall was on the Durham Bulls at the time of the Futures Games and the production of these cards.  He was a serviceable Major League catcher, but has a career OPS of .899 and a batting average of .326 as a member of the Bulls.  

I will cross this card off of the checklist.  One third of the set is done.  

Next is another set, but this one is a new release and it's already completely put together.  We are going to do a little compare and contrast with the cards.  

I picked up a copy of the much ballyhooed Gold Label set.  If you really like this set, hear me through until the end.  It starts out rough.  First, this set is not nearly the quality of the original Gold Label sets.  I love the design, on first glance I loved these, but then I held one in my hand.  The card stock the cards is printed on is cheap and the edges of the cards are chippy.

The original Gold Label cards, or any of the original run through the early 2000s, blow these cards away in terms of quality.  The card stock is thick, the edges are not chipped, and the gloss finish is much nicer.  This is a card from the original.....

If there was a way for me to allow each of the readers of this blog to reach out and touch these two baseball cards you would feel the difference immediately. Unfortunately that sort of technology does not exist, so you are going to have to take my word for it, or go get your own Gold Label cards.

The backs of the cards are quite different too.  I do not talk a lot about card backs, but I always enjoyed the backs of some of the late 1990s and early 2000s set.  Many of them had nice finishes, color photos, and interesting designs.  The original Gold Label back.....

Very well done 1998 Topps card designers.  A little busy, but overall I like that the stats are a little different and you have the nice color picture of the player.  Not sure what I would get rid of, maybe the factoid or the name at the top (I didn't know BJ worked out with JJK, but I did know his name was Brian Jordan), but the card seems a little busy. Again, I really like these backs though....

and the Gold Label.  It's not bad, but this is supposed to be a nice product.  Where is the effort?  This is a passable card back, but I want another picture of Manny Machado.  I want some cool stats, like his average exit velocity on extra base hits.  Give me something.  Anything.

Sigh.  Let's talk about one more thing.  This can be applied across the board to all Topps products, I just had never expressed this opinion before.  It's been lingering in my head....

This is a 1990s remake set.  There are current players in the set and then there are older players in the set who have retired.  I get the modern players, while the original Gold Label did not have retired players in the set, I am accepting of the concept of having older players.  However.....

lets look at two Braves cards.  I like Hank Aaron.  I like Greg Maddux.  Not really.  One of the players would seem to fit a little bit better into a 1990s remake set than the other.  Again, I like Hank, but you are not a 1990s player.   The set has Randy Johnson in a Mariners uniform and Mike Piazza in a Mets uni which I really like a lot.  It has Cal Ripken in an Orioles uni, but it's an 80s Orioles uni.  cartoon bird, not the black hats with the serious orange bird.  

Just my two cents, but I would love to see remake sets with past players match up a little bit better.  As a 1990s collector I think I would have enjoyed the checklist a little better if I had been able to see some good players from that decade.  Give me Albert Belle, Sammy Sosa, Brady Anderson with sideburns.  

Really, the design of the cards in Gold Label is nice and I think this is a set that is worth owning if you can find a copy of the set on the cheap.  The boxes are not too bad as far as cost goes, but a few autographs and a copy of the set can be had for roughly the same amount of money.  

Really, the back of the card design is probably me just being nit picky and the card stock thing is just kind of how cards are nowadays.  Some of the recent Five Star sets had some nice thick card stock, but even that has thinned out over the last year or two.  

30 Year Top 50: 1998 Donruss Signature Series

#24-Picking out which Donruss Signature Series set to post on my countdown was a difficult task.  I actually considered a few different sets that were similar, but luckily I always find space for those sets below.  The concept for this set was actually started in 1996 with the Leaf Signature Set.  The Donruss Signature cards were a per pack autograph set with the packs running around $15.  The cards are really easy to find on the secondary market and are generally really inexpensive, so lets look at the reasons this set is a good addition to the collection.

1998 Donruss Signature Series Andy Benes Autograph

First, despite there literally being thousands of copies of some of these cards there are some very tough autographs in the set which make it a tough to collect.  Some of the cards were purposely short-printed, but others were short-printed because of the financial difficulties of Pinnalce, the card company that printed the Donruss sets, and the fact that they did not pay the players who signed the cards until after the sets release.  Some players did not sign their cards, some players signed their cards erratically, and some distribution was botched after the bankruptcy.

1998 Donruss Signature Joe Carter Autograph

The other reason I love this set is the number of different players that signed for the set.  There are some great names in the set with on-card autographs that are difficult to find in other sets.  For example, the Joe Carter card above is one of two on-card autographs that can be found of the long time Major League player.  While Carter is not a Hall of Fame player, he is definitely a very good player who hit a World Series winning home run.  It's a nice autograph to own.  There are several other players similar to Joe Carter, who were solid to above average Major League players, with few on-card autographs available.  Mariano Rivera might be the best one out there.  

1998 Donruss Signature Significant Signatures George Brett Autograph

The last reason is the inclusion of the Significant Signature autographs in the set.  This insert is chalked full of Hall of Famers with on-card autographs.  Most of the Hall of Fame autographs are also signed in large quantities and can be easily found at a reasonable price.  While they are not the best looking autograph set, they are great to look out for if you are looking to add a few Hall of Fame autographs to your collection.  

Like the 1998 Donruss Signature Set?  There are several great other alternatives to find some great autographs in from the mid to late 90s.  

1996 Leaf Signature Andy Benes Autograph

Like I mentioned above, the 1996 Leaf Signature Set started the run of autograph sets for Pinnacle.  Just like the 1998 Donruss Signature set, the autographs in this set were one per pack and featured a high number of both common and star players.  A lot of collectors love the white design of this set with the black ink autographs.  Some players signed over dark patches in their background pictures, but most are clean autographs.  There are several short-printed autographs in the set which are highly desired cards.  

1997 Donruss Signature Jim Edmonds Autographs

The 1997 Donruss Signature autographs followed the Leaf Signature Series.  The cards provided a nice area for the players to sign at the bottom of the card, but this set was the most over produced Pinnacle autograph set.  The cards are easy to find, low in price, and this set lacks some of the star power of the 1996 Leaf Signature and 1998 Donruss Signature sets.  

1999 Fleer Mystique Fresh Ink Kris Benson Autograph

After Pinnacle folded in 1998 Fleer took up there slack with producing a big line of autographs, but they didn't produce a per-pack autograph set.  Instead, they created a cross set autograph set with different players appearing in different sets.  The autograph lines varied between the Fresh Ink line and the Autographics line.  The Fresh Ink sets ran in 1999 and 2000, while the Autographics line ran in 1999, 2000, and 2001.  My favorites were the 2000 and 2001 Autographics sets.  Both were on-card autographs with loads of stars, short-prints, but also a good mixture of young and everyday players.  

2000 Skybox Autographics Chris Carpenter Autograph

2001 Fleer Autographics Jim Edmonds Autograph