Set Appreciation Post #11 - 1998 Topps Tek

The Topps Tek set with a grand total of 8,100 cards.  There are 90 cards, each with 90 different background patterns.  The idea is slightly absurd.  I know a lot of player collectors who love this set, not many set collectors though.  I collect Ray Lankford cards, he's in this set, but I do not own all 90 different variations of his cards.  It's not even really something I am working on anymore.  I tried, but it is not a very easy task.  

They don't really scan very well, but here are six of my seventy something Ray Lankford cards.  

This one is going to be quick.  

Base Card 

A little closer look at the patterns.  The cards are transparent and made out of an acetate material.  The action photo on the front of the cards is the same regardless of the pattern.  The pattern number is on the back of the card.  

The pattern number is on the bottom corner underneath the card number.  The card backs all have a portrait style color photo.  There are no stats on the back of the card, rather Topps put down the date they thought that the players should reach certain milestones.  Topps used a similar stats set up on an insert set in their Topps Laser product, but we will make fun of that set on a different day.  

The design on the front of the card is decent enough.  The design on the back is not great.  I feel like the second player photo on the back looks busy.  I also wish there the stats were a little different.  Again, Speculative stats are never great.  

No Inserts

Yep.  There are no insert sets in the 1998 Topps Tek set.  Makes collecting the set a little easier.  However, there Diffractor parallels, same idea as the refractor cards in every other Topps product.  Nobody knows how many Diffractor cards of each patterned card there are, but it is a small quantity.  

I have a few Lankfords.  If you have a favorite 1990s player in this set, they do pop up from time to time.  I didn't own any Lankford diffractors, but then managed to find three of them in roughly a year.  

I kind of like the idea of not having any inserts.  The Topps TEK set is geared towards player collectors, it's actually nice to just have the base cards with nothing else to find.  

Best Former Durham Bulls Player In The Set 

I like that there are some different players in this set.  Always nice to see new faces, especially in a set that was only 90 cards.  I decided to go with a player who did not get into many of the small sets from the late 1990s/early 2000s, but also a former player with a current connection to the Durham Bulls.  He's actually connected to the area in general.  

I decided to go with Quinton McCracken who was the Durham Bulls first base coach in 2019.  He also played for the Durham Bulls as a player in 2000.  Beyond his two appearances with the Bulls, McCracken is actually from Wilmington, North Carolina and played football and baseball at Duke.  Did Chipper Jones ever return a punt for a touchdown against Clemson?  How about Andruw Jones or David Justice?  No?  Quinton McCracken did.  

Best Cardinals Card 

Again, whoever made the checklist for Topps TEK did a great job.  There are three Cardinals players in this set.  The standard Cardinals who appeared in these late 1990s small sets were Mark McGwire, Ray Lankford, and then some combination of Ron Gant, Dennis Eckerlsey, or Andy Benes.  Every once in awhile, you got a Brian Jordan, like you get in this set.  

Obviously not on the same level as McGwire, not quite as good as Lankford, but he was a pretty big contributor for the 1990s Cardinals.  In his last three full seasons as a Cardinal (95, 96, and 98), he led the team twice in WAR and finished second the other time.  His career numbers are also better than both Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.  

Best Non-Cardinals/Durham Bulls Card 

Topps TEK is a pretty unique set, so I am trying to pick a card here for a different reason.  

There were no update sets in the late 1990s, but you could usually find players in new uniforms as the season went along.  Topps TEK was a late fall release, so there were several players who were traded within the season.  

Gary Sheffield is a Dodger, but started the year as a Marlin.  

Mike Piazza is a Met, but started the year as a Dodger.  Also a stop off with the Marlins.  

Randy Johnson is an Astro, but started the year as a Mariner.  

There is one long-time Major Leaguer in this set who is in a rather odd looking uniform.  I love cards like the 1984 Fleer Update Pete Rose Expos card, or Rickey Henderson Mariner cards, etc, etc.    According to COMC, this is the only card this player had with this team during the 1998 calendar year, and only one of two dozen cards this player had with this team in all.  They have over 1,500 cards in stock of this player.  

Here is the card. 

Konerko played 2,200 games as a member of the White Sox and 28 games as a Red.  His lone 1998 card as a member of the Reds with this Topps TEK.  He had several Reds cards at the beginning of the 1999 card calendar, but was traded to the White Sox weeks after the end of the 1998 season. Most of his 1999 cards are with the White Sox.  I know he was also on the Dodgers for part of a season and had tons of cards made while he was in their Minor League system. 

How Does It Compare?  

On paper, this is a really great concept for a set.  My main criticism is the fact that it is actually pretty difficult to assemble the full run of 90 cards for a player.  Should it really take more than 20 years to assemble a set?  No.

The design is decent, but nothing spectacular.  The back is weird with the speculative stats too.  Give me some good old home runs or strikeouts.  If we are just strictly comparing it to other acetate card sets from this era, it's definitely behind the Skybox EX products.  

The two biggest positives are the checklist and the fact that the set is focused on collecting base cards and not not bogged down with inserts.  I love that Topps squeezed in some different players, star players in new uniforms during an era with no update sets, etc.  

It feels like it fits best in the middle of my list.  It obviously needs to be below the 2001 Fleer EX set.  I will also put it below the Mini League Leaders set, but above the burlap sack cards in the 2017 Heritage Minors.  

11. 2000 Pacific Paramount Update 

10. 2010 Topps USA Baseball  

9. 2000 UD Ionix  

8. 1995 Emotion XL 

7. 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

6. 1998 Topps TEK 

5. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

4. 2001 Fleer EX 

3. 1979 Kellogg's 

2. 2002 Topps Super Teams

1. 1983 Topps 

A Break For Cards

I am taking a break for cards.

It is going to take a few minutes to scan the cards that were in my mailbox this afternoon.

I am taking a break, because it has been a busy day.  

I spent my morning teaching my own third grader reading and math.  

This afternoon, I spent time making rules for a Google Meet that I am having with the group of third graders that I teach for my day job.  Here are the rules.  

No, you cannot show up for the meeting, but please continue reading.

My third graders were actually supposed to be reading with a kindergarten class today.  Reading buddies.  Everyone loves reading buddies.  Since we are not in school, I found my own reading buddy.

I could not find a kindergartener, so I settled for a student from the 3 year old Preschool room that is currently meeting everyday in my living room.  

We made a grainy video reading the book "Dragons Love Tacos 2".  Earlier in the week, I read "Dragons Love Tacos".  Great books, if you are currently teaching kids I highly recommend both.  My reading buddy enjoyed these books.  

The three year old room is generally a pretty good class, unless it's nap time.  

I am going to call that kid's parents later tonight.  

The scanner has stopped.  I hope these cards were worth the wait.  

First up is a Brandon Lowe card.  This is from last year's Topps Tek set.  Nice card.  His cards have become a little more affordable over the last few months, so I am starting to loop back and pick up a few of the ones I missed out on.  

Similar story with this Ryan Helsley autograph.  I like the design too.  That's a huge draw to this card.  I wish the airbrushing on the front of his jersey was a little better, but overall still a really good card.  

Last two are 2020 Topps cards.  I am not putting together the complete set of these, but I am trying to pick up a bunch of the Cardinals and former Durham Bulls players.  I have picked up a few from the few packs that I have opened.  I also picked up a Snell from COMC before it all but closed down.  

Love the detail with the team's keep the same color schemes as they had in the 1985 set.  Wish they would have used the 1985 logos though.  That would have been a nice touch.  

Picked up a Pujols too, so I guess I am also collecting former Cardinals players.

I'm Just Happy To Be Here

Six years ago Merrill Kelly was a fringe prospect pitching for the Durham Bulls.  He played in college, so he was little older by the time he reached Triple A.  Merrill Kelly played for the Bulls during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, and was good enough to make the International League All-Star team his final year in Durham.  I liked watching Merrill Kelly for the two years he was in Durham, even if he never got a chance to play with the Rays.

I posted his team set card from 2014 a few years back.

Merrill Kelly would eventually end up in Korea, where he would pitch for the SK Wyverns.  They have baseball cards. I think this might one of the only Korean cards in my collection.

Merrill Kelly ended up back in the US this past season with the Diamondbacks.  He was mostly an average pitcher this year in Arizona, but still had some good moments during the season.   

I'm just happy that there are Merrill Kelly cards.  

Topps had the great idea to make a bunch of Merrill Kelly baseball cards.  He also signed a ton of autographs for them.  I waited awhile, but recently had the chance to buy a bunch of Merrill Kelly autographs.  All totaled, it cost right around $10 for three cards.  I also pulled one out of a pack of cards a student got my as a holiday gift.  

Here are my four Merrill Kelly autographs in countdown form:

4. Topps Chrome Update

Aren't all the Chrome autographs normally on card?  The sticker looks a little bit out of place on this card.  Get rid of the sticker, make it an on-card autograph and it might be at the top of the list.  It also looks like it was not Merrill's best day signing autographs.  Again, I really wish that this autograph was on-card, I would rate it much higher.  

3. Topps Tek 

I like Topps Tek.  It's affordable and the autographs are all on-card.  Topps has simplified the pattern aspects on these cards, so they all look the same.  I also like that Topps has a faded area around the bottom for the signer.  Always makes for a nice card.  Still, there are better cards of Merrill Kelly out there.  

2. Topps Gallery 

Topps Gallery is a sticker autograph, and I do not even care.  It's well blended, and the art on this card more than makes up for the sticker autograph.  Plus, it was a good signing day for Merrill Kelly when he was autographing these cards.  This is the lone autograph on this list that I did not buy off of Ebay.  My students at school all know that I enjoy a few baseball cards, sometimes they give me packs.  This came out of a Gallery blaster.  

1. 2019 Topps Update 1984 Topps Merrill Kelly 

I did not really do much with the 2019 Topps sets.  Any of them.  I did really enjoy these 1984 style inserts and autographs though.  It has long been   Last year, I spent time working on assembling a set of the 1983 cards, plus I found several of the autographs.  This year, I have completely skipped over most of the base set in favor of spending my time and money on the autographs.  It's the end of the year, this is likely the end of my 2019 Topps cards, so it's a nice way to end the year.  

High Tek, Low Tech

Topps put out their annual High Tek product a few weeks ago.  There is not a ton there in the way of Cardinals and Durham Bulls cards.  I picked up one former Durham Bulls cards last week, with a second one on the way.  This is the Brandon Lowe autograph......

I won this Brandon Lowe autograph in an Ebay auction.  More on the Cardinals cards in a minute, but I also ended up with a Carlos Carrasco autograph since nobody else was bidding on the card. 

Notice that the Carrasco and Lowe have the same pattern on the background.  Feels a little lazy considering that Topps usually has all sorts of different patterns on these cards.  Sort of the whole theme of the set. 

I saw Carrasco as a Phillies and Indians prospect when he was coming up through the Minors.  Not sure that most people remember him being in the Cliff Lee trade. 

The Cardinals checklist is not promising in this set.  There is Rick Ankiel, but after that there are people like Paul DeJong.  Likely going to take a hard pass on getting any Cardinals here. 

Picked up one other Durham Bulls card last week in a trade.  I actually sent another collector a bunch of cards to help with completing a set, this was the card I got in return. 

A little more low tech than the Lowe and Carrasco cards above.  Back of the card. 

I love that the Durham Bulls appear both in the stat line, and in the highlight above the stat line with the blurb about Lolich throwing a no-hitter in the Carolina League.  I have never been able to find out much about the no-no other than it happened.  Regardless, happy to have a new Lolich card in the collection. 

High Tek Iron Man

I really like the Topps Tek cards, but I do not really like the fact that boxes/packs of the cards cost $100.  You do get 40 cards, which is better than some of the box/pack products.  Still not something I would normally touch.  On the other hand, I do like buying the single cards from these products after someone else has gone ahead and spent the $100 to open up the cards.  

The week of Thanksgiving I had a little extra time and managed to sell a few extra cards that were occupying space in my card closet.  Rather than dedicating the earnings to something that was on a checklist waiting to get crossed off, I decided to go out and find the best card I could using the money I had just earned.  

Right around $40.  I think I did alright.  

For less than half the cost for a box of Topps Tek, I landed one of the better autographs that I could have pulled out of a box.  I know, Cal Ripken does not pop up on this blog very often, but I still like him as a baseball player.  One of the likable stars of the game from my younger years.  I would actually like to think that his pursuit of Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak helped baseball recover after the player's strike in 1994.   

It's an on card autograph and has a very nice signature from the Hall of Fame infielder.  Love the looks of this card.  

I did end up with a second card.  It came from the same seller.  I had a little extra money after bidding on the Ripken card, so why not.  

Do I have a Brian Dozier autograph?  No.  He had a down year in 2018 and ended up getting traded to the Dodgers late in the season.  He's currently a free agent, so no team at the moment.  For a dollar or two, this is a nice card of a second baseman who has had a few 30 and 40 home run seasons.

Really, the important thing is that I got a Cal Ripken autograph.

You Dashed My Hopes

Back in February I was really excited about the Cardinals trading for Marcell Ozuna.  He was coming off a career year with the Marlins and he seemed like a good consolation prize for the Birds losing out on Giancarlo Stanton.  I immediately went out and found a few cool Marcell Ozuna cards.  This Heritage autograph was probably my favorite....

I also assembled a list of other Marcell Ozuna cards that might be fun to track down during the season.  Life seemed good until the season actually started.  There were moments early in the year where Ozuna looked really good....

but the majority of the season was completely disappointing. 

My list of Ozuna cards went by the wayside and none of them appeared in my collection.  I am still not sure if I will ever really take the time to go track them down, unless things drastically change in terms of his on the field production.  Ozuna is also a free agent after this season, which could be a good thing if he does not hit. 

Topps has gotten around to making Ozuna cards in a Cardinals uniform.  They even got around to making an autographed card of him for the Topps Tek set.  Kind of a spontaneous get, but it is a nice looking card....

I always enjoy this set, although I have given up on even figuring out all of the different patterns on the modern edition of these cards.  The metal looking thing behind the players on this year's issue look like something out of the Metal Universe cards, a little out of place.  It does not ruin the card or anything though.  

I picked up one other Topps Tek card of a Cardinals player.....  

of catching prospect Carson Kelly.  I have actually been avoiding his cards a bit the past two years.  I know many see him as the catcher of the future with the Cardinals, but it also appears that Yadier Molina is not slowing down at all.  Wouldn't be shocked if the Cardinals do not use him in a trade.  In the meantime, he ended up with a card in the Topps Tek set.  It was not quite free, but y'all know you have to take advantage of combined shipping.  

Just 87 Patterns Short

The original 1998 Topps Tek was 90 cards, 90 patterns of each card, with just a mere 8100 cards.  Has anyone actually put together a full set?  There are more than a few people who have just a basic set of 90 cards and plenty of people who have found the 90 patterns of their favorite player in the set.  These are the numbers, figures, and facts that most collectors use to summarize the set.

It's actually a much tougher climb.

Topps also included a diffractor parallel.  The diffractor parallels were roughly three per box.  That means you can take all the numbers that are thrown around all the time with the Topps Tek set and double them.

So, for my favorite player in the set, former Cardinals outfielder Ray Lankford, there are 90 cards with a diffractor pattern of each.  That's 180 Ray Lankford cards.

I recently actually found a copy of a Ray Lankford diffractor card.  They sell for more than a few dollars, so it was somewhat of a decision.........

after all, as nice as these cards look, as much as it would be a cool story to say that I have put together all of these cards, it's somewhat an exercise in futility.  

It's a pipe dream, but I am now just 87 patterns short of having all the Ray Lankford diffractor cards.  

Back To The High Tek.....

I remember when Topps Tek first came out in 1998.  The set idea was somewhat simple.  If you collect baseball cards sets there are only 90 cards in this product.  The set idea was also somewhat complex.  If you collect cards of an individual player there are 90 variations of each of the 90 cards.  I like sets and have a copy of each of the 90 cards in the 1998 Topps Tek set.  I player collection Ray Lankford, but I do not own all 90 variations of his card in the set.  Maybe one day.

I like that Topps has brought this product back the last few years.  It's been fun to see newer collectors trying to track down all of the different variations.  Topps has made the product a little bit better the second time around by adding in autographs.  I have picked up quite a few the past few years and posted them here in this space.

This year there is a Bowman Tek, prospects, and Topps Tek, which is veterans and retired players.  I have picked up a few the past few weeks the cards have been out, but the first card I want to share from this year's set has been one of my favorite cards that I have had sitting on my office desk in awhile.

It's player who appeared in the original Topps Tek set.

I wish I could tell you it was Ray Lankford, but I can't do that.  It is a Cardinals player though.  Well, he was a Marlin in the original.  

The checklist was chopped down after 1998, so while Tek ran for a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Renteria did not make the cut when the set shrunk to 45 cards.  So, 19 years later after appearing the original I finally have another Renteria Topps Tek card.  

It's autographed too.  

I am not sure that I like all of the new background patterns on the cards.  A nice picture of the former Cardinals shortstop with an autograph can make me overlook the fact that the design of this card looks like a kid took either a basketball or Death Star stamp to it.  

The patterns run consistent onto the back of the baseball card.  Although for an acetate style card, I think that Topps does a lot better job on the backs of the base set than these Tek cards.  

This is my second Renteria card of the year behind his Topps Archives autograph which I picked up earlier this summer.  Topps has included him in several other products this year too.  Edgar has signed a lot of cards this year.  I will have to spend a little time trying to pick some of them up.

I am happy to see Topps pick up a player like Edgar and put him back into some card sets.  He's not a Hall of Famer, but he had some important moments over the years as a player.  Most baseball fans remember his walk off hit in the 1997 World Series while he was playing for the Marlins, or his decisive home run in the 2010 World Series which gave the Giants the title that season, but he was always a clutch player for the Cardinals too....

but the Cardinals only made one World Series appearance while Edgar was their shortstop.  Unfortunately, the Series did not end well since the team did not hit outside of Renteria who hit .333 with a .945 OPS.  He ended up making the final out, which makes him the only player in Major League history to end a World Series 

Tek Savvy Rays

I hope that everyone is having a good 2017.  We are a few hours in, doesn't feel that much different from 2016.  It's cold rainy day here in central North Carolina, so I figured I could catch up a little bit on blogging.  It's been a few days since I posted, a pair of new cards for your Sunday.

First up, is a new Blake Snell.....

I have picked up a bunch of the Topps Tek autographs over the last two years since Topps relaunched this product.  I always enjoyed collecting these back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the original few sets were put out.  The new version does have a base set, but I have not really gotten into those as much as I have enjoyed the autographs.  There have been some good current and former players on the checklists for autographs, plus they've been on card card signatures.

Snell was kind of my Durham Bulls player of choice during this past year, I have picked up a bunch of his autographs, so hopefully this year will have plenty of more new Snell autographs for me to track down.

and more Topps Tek....

It's a little weird to see Wil Myers back in a Rays uniform, but this is one of those "older" Topps Tek autographs that I spoke of in the paragraphs above.  Beyond being really cool cards, a lot of the autographs from the 2014 and 2015 Topps Tek sets have become really inexpensive.  This Myers card cost me more in shipping off of Ebay than the cost of winning the auction.  

Two cool new cards to start off 2017.  Hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years Eve!  Happy 2017!  

High Tek Gar

I always like the Topps Tek cards.  The older sets in the late 1990s and early 2000s were fun products.  It relaunched last year, but the format changed a little bit.  There are still acetate cards and all kinds of patterns, but there are also autographs in the product now.  My main problem with the new version of Topps Tek is the fact that the cards are a per pack autograph product now.  

I am not usually into the autograph per pack products.  Especially when there are loads of $5 autographs in the product.  Not that there is anything wrong with some of the $5 autographs.  Last year I just picked up a lot of singles.  This year, same thing.  There is a nice little stack of autographs from this set that has popped up on my office desk.  Here's my first.....

This was a pretty inexpensive autograph considering the guy should probably be in the Hall of Fame.  I have an Edgar Martinez autograph or two, but I liked the looks of this card.  Good 1990s design with a great player on the front.  More Topps Tek cards to come....

Topps Pitches A One-Hitter

One of my favorite products last year was the Topps High Tek product.  I loved the Tek sets in the late 1990s and was ecstatic to see Topps relaunch the product last year.  I picked up a whole bunch of the Cardinals last year from both the base set and a few of the autographs too.  When I saw it on the card release calendar again this year I was ready to buy or trade in order to pick up some cards from the set.  Then I read the checklist and Topps nearly shut me out again.  Nearly.  

It appears that checklist contains only one Cardinals card and zero Rays cards.  How does this happen that Topps decides to completely exclude a team from a product?  I somewhat get the Rays being shut out occasionally, but the Cardinals?  Well, they are not quite shut out in this year's set.  I did manage to pick up the single Cardinals card in the base set.....

Ozzie also has an autograph in the set.  I am sure it will make it's way into my collection at some point.  I guess I was not completely shut out this time, just more of a one hitter.  I am not sure what other autographs I will add from the Tek set, but there are some decent other options outside of my favorite two teams.  

Podcast Episode 4- Topps Tek

Friday Five: Best Five Sets From 1998

I have a lot of different sets from 1998 in my collection.  There are a bunch of duds, some that are perfectly mediocre, but a few have some real standout qualities.  I almost thought about doing a honorable mention section on this post, but I did not have enough time to work on this week.  Next week I am thinking that I will have a best of the rest from 1998.  In the meantime,  I have narrowed down to my favorite five sets.

5. Metal Universe- This was a fun set in 1998.  The first issues of Metal Universe featured players being grabbed by tentacles, players in outer space, and all kinds of other interesting backgrounds.  The 1998 set also featured interesting backgrounds, but they were a little bit more focused on the card's subject.  Ryne Sandberg in front of a rhinoceros, Cardinals players in front of the Gateway Arch, and Yankees players with the Statue of Liberty.  This was the best Metal Universe set in my opinion and a fun set to assemble.  The boxes are still available on Ebay, not too expensive, and are a fun open.  I remember buying a box of these from 1,000,000 Baseball Cards outside of St Louis and buying a second box a few weeks later to finish off the set.

4. Upper Deck Retro- Really cool packaging, old players, cool autographs.  Upper Deck made a lot of sets using that formula over the years and this one was a really good set.  Let me be more specific, the base set is rather meh, but the autographs are really what you want here.  I have the base set in my collection, but I also have a bunch of the autographs.   I always thought about this set as a precursor to the Upper Deck Legends set which will be on my list in a Friday or two....

The autographs in this product are on-card with tons of Hall of Famers.  I am a huge fan of the Upper Deck Legends sets as a great source for on-card Hall of Fame autographs, but this set is not bad either.  In fact, I think some of these are a tougher find than the Upper Deck Legends cards.  The best card in the set, in my opinion, is Kirby Puckett.  

3. 1998 Donruss Signature- This was one of my favorite per pack autographed products from the late 1990s.  Unfortunately this was the end of the line for the original Donruss Signature line.  Playoff bought the Donruss name and relaunched the product, with sticker autographs, in in the early 2000s.  This release of this product was highly anticipated in the fall of 1998, but due to financial problems with Pinnacle, the company that originally produced the Donruss products, the release was a bit of a debacle.  The product was delayed and there were problems with players getting paid for signing in the product.  In the end, this product was the swan song for Pinnacle.  Still the set featured more than 100 autographs including the diverse base set and inserts like Significant Signatures.

The cards in the set all feature on card autographs.  Over the years I have picked up dozens of these cards.  There are some great names that fly under the radar.  My personal favorites include any of the Significant Signatures cards and the Mariano Rivera.  Plenty of other good veteran autographs in there too.  

2. Topps Tek- This is one of the more unique sets that was ever put out.  90 cards with 90 variations of each cards means that this set is a grand total of 8100 cards.  A lot of collectors love these cards and have tried to collect either a player, or a pattern, or something in between.  I picked up the cards I needed to complete this set a year or two ago.  The cards are acetate with the patterns printed over color pictures of the players.  Topps simplified this product in subsequent years after this version of the set, but the ceased making the Tek product after 2000 until a relaunch last year.  The original product had no inserts and no autographs.  Just 90 cards with 90 variations.  Not sure something that sounds that simple could be so complex.  Still, a great product.  

1.  Skybox EX-2001- One of my favorite all-time 90s sets.  This product actually started in 1997, but I never touched it that year.  I have gone back and put together the set, but this was the first EX set that I put together.  Half acetate and half textured pictured with some sort of reflective surface thing going on over on the side of the card.  These were awesome.  I started out with a pack or two, picked up a box somewhere along the way, then some lots.  I have a ton of these and have not missed on issue of these cards since.