1965 Topps Combo Card: Dynamic Duo

One more custom combo card to round out the week. Perhaps a few more next week...

1965 Topps Combo Card: Athletic Aarons

"Big League Buddies" strikes again, this time with Hank and Tommie Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves.

1965 Topps Custom Combo Cards

I love combo cards, those goofy-titled cards of more than one player. As I've moved toward downsizing my collection, combo cards have become a major focus.

I also love 1965 Topps. It's one of my favorite sets, yet it's the only Topps set from the 1960s without combo cards. Go figure.

Therefore, I've decided to remedy the situation with a few custom combo cards for 1965 Topps. Here's the first.

Updated Food for Thought: Hot Stove Edition

A few baseball-card-related thoughts as we approach winter...

If Jon Lester signs with a team other than the Athletics—which is how it seems things will shake out—does that mean we'll never see a card of Lester in an A's uniform? This probably happens a lot, but the two players who come to mind are Reggie Jackson (Orioles) and Don Baylor (Athletics), both in 1976. Another guy who could fit this bill is Yoenis Cespedes, the slugging outfielder the Red Sox obtained in exchange for Lester. The Sox have a logjam in the outfield and the feeling is that Cespedes walks after next year.

This also brings up an interesting take on the purpose of end-of-year series like Topps Update and Topps Heritage High Numbers. Topps Update is a showcase for All-Star cards, rookies, and guys who fell through the cracks in the regular set. Heritage High Numbers is chock full of rookies and other end-of-the-bench guys who didn't get cards in the regular series. Gone are the days when traded players get cards of them in their new uniforms. Were it up to me, High Numbers and Update would be a more traditional mix of rookies and traded players. This would solve the problem of guys like Lester, Cespedes, and Nelson Cruz (whose year on the Orioles probably won't be recognized in 2015 Topps Heritage)...

...An insert set that didn't seem to hold its value is the mini set in 2014 Topps Heritage. Despite being the case hit and each card being numbered to just 100, eBay prices have fallen in the last few weeks. All of this is good news for me, as I now have 47 of the 100 subjects...

...Is Topps's design for 2015 a subtle homage to 1990's design? It'll be the 25th anniversary of that set, which could mean a possible "no-name" error, right?...

...I promise this is the last Heritage item I'll bring up for now: I've decided that the ultimate card from the Heritage set is the Maury Wills Real One autograph card. For one thing, Wills is shown as a member of the Dodgers. Secondly, he wasn't included in the 1965 Topps set, so—barring custom cards—this is as close as you're going to get to a 1965 Topps Maury Wills card. 

...Are there great card blogs still out there? From what I've read recently, collectors are more interested in posting images of their "hitz" on Twitter than talking about the bigger picture in the hobby. Is that how others see it?

Finally, I almost forgot. Remember my post in November 2013 about the future of price guides? (Read Average Real Pricing: The Future of The Price Guide.) Well, if you subscribe to Beckett's online price guide, it looks like they incorporated something like average real pricing into their tiered offerings. They're calling it the Beckett Online Price Guide Plus (very original). If it's anything like my idea for average real pricing, this is a step in the right direction. Hey Beckett, you're welcome.

Notes on 2014 Topps Heritage

I opened three boxes of Heritage yesterday, and here are my thoughts:

• The card stock is so much better this year than last year. A major improvement. They feel like real baseball cards, not like promotional post cards you get in the mail (see Heritage, 2013).

• A (probably) uncorrected error: There are two cards numbered 137, World Series Game 6 and Anthony Gose. From what I've found, there is no card numbered 138, though it should be Gose.

• Many packs I opened didn't have an insert or a high number or variation, but nine base cards. I like that. It puts emphasis on building the base set, rather than ripping for hits.

• There are supposed to be one relic or autographed card per box. In my three boxes I found three Clubhouse Collection jersey relics (Jose Altuve, Howie Kendrick, Fred McGriff) and one autograph (Chipper Jones). Not sure why that is.

• Box toppers: two advertising panels (which I will soon chop up and put in my set) and one original 1965 buyback (Jack Lamabe)

• I am really confused by the Photoshopped backgrounds for some of the recently traded players. What, the lasers backdrop wasn't available?

• The "1st Draft" insert set is lousy. Of the four cards in the set, two of them are of Johnny Bench. So far I've found only one of the two Benches, and Graig Nettles. Nothing against these players, but I've found three of each. No Ryans, and no other Benches.

• Going in, my thinking had been that all the variations (logo, action, uniform) would be dumb, and get in the way of collecting the base set. Not true. They're nice additions.

• I've completed about 90% of the base set, with 26 high-number SPs.

• It's interesting that Curtis Granderson is a Yankee in the Chrome insert set and a Met in the regular set. Maybe the Chrome cards went to print earlier?

• Last thing: This year's Heritage has got me thinking back to 2003's Upper Deck Vintage set, also in the 1965 Topps design. Which set is better? It's a toss-up.

Possible "Errors" in 2014 Topps Heritage

So it's been reported that 2014 Topps Heritage will pay tribute to the various errors and uncorrected errors found in the 1965 Topps set. Perhaps the most well known uncorrected error is the misspelling of Jim Kaat's name on the front of his card (Jim Katt). 

Here are a few players I'd like to see as candidates:

Jake Peevy

Matt Holiday

Anthony Goose

Justin Smoke

Jarrod Saltalamacchiado

Ryan Dumpster

Zach Mozart

Adam Laloosh

Yu Dervish

Jacoby Smellsbury

Eva Longoria 

Robinson Camo 

and, of course, 

Shin-Soo Choo Choo Coleman

Some lesser-known uncorrected errors that probably won't be in the new set: 

• Cleveland Indians' manager Birdie Tebbetts' last name misspelled on the back of his card (Tebbets). Terry Francoa, anyone?

• Kansas City A's rookie Jim Hunter's first name misspelled on the back of his card (Tim). Maybe Baddy Boshers (LA Angels rookie, card #194)?

• Cincinnati Reds listed on back of Reds team card as foe during 1964 season (instead of Chicago Cubs). This one definitely won't be reprised in this year's Heritage set since team cards weren't included.

Ben's First 5 Thoughts on the 2014 Topps Heritage Checklist

In anticipation of the release of 2014 Topps Heritage (now since delayed to March 14th), Topps made the set's checklist available on their website. Because I enjoy deconstructing checklists in my free time, here are my first five thoughts:

1. It's weird to me that Topps didn't follow their own checklist from the original 1965 set. In the original, the reigning NL MVP (Ken Boyer of the Cardinals) was put on card #100, and the reigning AL MVP (Brooks Robinson of the Orioles) was put on #150. Instead, the Heritage checklister went the straight team-to-team route, assigning #100 to Cardinal pitcher Adam Wainwright and #150 to the Orioles' current third baseman, Manny Machado. If they had followed the script of the original, reigning NL MVP Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates would be #100 and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers would be on #150.

By deviating from the original, the meaning of the set changes. It's no longer a retelling of the original 1965 set, but rather an ode to the idea of the 1965 set. This is especially weird considering...

2. Topps has hinted that there will be base-set errors and variations in the spirit of the original set. What's especially odd about that is that two of the most well known variations in the original are on checklist cards themselves. Checklist cards aren't even assigned checklist numbers in the Heritage base set, so I'm guessing that these variations won't be included in the new set.

3. There are no team cards, and only 17 managers are represented. Also, teams are not represented equally. The Cardinals clock in with 19 individual cards (18 players plus manager Mike Matheny). On the other side of the spectrum, the Astros have 10 players and no manager. The highest-numbered Astro is Dexter Fowler at #394, which means there are no Astros in nearly a quarter of the set, including the desirable on-checklist chase SPs.

4. The high-numbered on-checklist SPs (#426–#500) are all big-name players, including Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, and Yasiel Puig. As far as Topps went to deviate from the original 1965 set, they went even further away from the spirit of previous Heritage sets with this move. Honestly, I'd be surprised if future Heritage sets don't go the full Allen & Ginter rip-card route for the final 75 cards.

5. Finally, when did the idea of the "Real One" autograph subjects list change to include retired players not represented in the original set? Around 10 years ago, when the Heritage brand was a fresh idea, the autograph checklist was made up of players from the original set from that year, with only two or three current players. But guys like Bo Jackson? Bret Saberhagen? Rafael Palmeiro? Dave Concepcion? Isn't this why Topps rebooted Topps Archives? These players should not be all together in a Heritage set until the year 2036, for Topps Heritage '87. (I almost forgot: not one but two different Keith Olbermanns.... Sheesh.)

2014 Topps Heritage Checklist Hypotheses

Updated at 12:30pm Thursday: I spaced out and forgot that there are 32 MLB teams, not 30. Figures have been updated below.

One of my favorite things to do is put together checklists for custom sets. A checklist I've been

trying to figure out—before Topps announces it in the next few weeks—is that of 2014 Topps Heritage.

From on-checklist in-jokes to creative checklisting decisions, Heritage proves interesting on an annual basis. And as I've gotten back into collecting new cards, it's usually my favorite set of the year. 2014's offering is especially fun, as it will undoubtedly celebrate the 2013 Boston Red Sox. Plus, its basis (1965 Topps) is one of the few vintage sets I've completed. Needless to say, I'm ready to complete the master set and pair it with my '65 set.

So as I put together my Heritage checklist, a few questions arise. First and foremost, how many cards will Topps allot to each team? I see this resolving in one of two ways:

• Each team gets 15 cards (including a manager card, a team card, and one doubleheader rookie card)

This option allows for 384 individual player cards, 32 managers, 32 team cards, 32 doubleheader rookie cards, leaving 20 "free" cards, 12 of which are league leaders, at least 6 are World Series, and probably the final 2 are "MLB Rookies" or AL or NL–specific doubleheader rookies.

• The teams original to 1965 Topps (Yankees, Orioles, A's, Angels, Twins, Rangers (Senators), Twins, Red Sox, White Sox, Tigers, Indians, Reds, Cubs, Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Pirates, Phillies, Braves, Astros, and Cardinals) will get more cards than those teams that post-date the original set (Royals, Padres, Nationals, Brewers, Rockies, Marlins, Rays, Mariners, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays)

In this second option, only those teams original to 1965 Topps would get team and manager cards, and only a manager card if that team had a manager in the original set.

Either way, I don't see Topps including actual checklist cards on its Heritage checklist, and instead including four different checklists randomly as pack loaders. The checklist space is too limited, and the pack value is too high to waste a card slot on a checklist.

Second: League leaders will be on #1–12. World Series cards will be on #132–138. But which players will be assigned the iconic numbers from the original set? There are only a few guarantees, I think. Here they are:

#100 - Andrew McCutchen (2013 NL MVP)
#140 - Max Scherzer (2013 AL CY)
#150 - Miguel Cabrera (2013 AL MVP)
#300 - Clayton Kershaw (2013 NL CY)
#340 - Wil Myers (2013 AL ROY)
#460 - Jose Fernandez (2013 NL ROY)

It gets murky once you're beyond the award winners. Here are a few more guesses:

#350 - Derek Jeter
#200 - Bryce Harper
#400 - Mike Trout
#500 - David Ortiz

Here are my guesses for the titles of each World Series subset card:

132	Sox Crush Cards to Take Series Opener	WS Game 1
133	Wacha Carries Cards to Victory	WS Game 2
134	Cards Win in Wild Finish	WS Game 3
135	Sox Tie Series on Gomes' HR	WS Game 4
136	Lester Wins Pitchers' Duel	WS Game 5
137	Victorino Powers Sox to Title	WS Game 6
138	The Champs Celebrate at Fenway	WS Summary

Another big question will be if Topps will put Yasiel Puig on a base-checklist SP number (somewhere between #426–500) or will have him floating on the regular checklist. He's the hottest name in the hobby going into 2014, and making him a base-checklist SP adds to the chase, though also makes it at least four times less likely that you'll get him in a pack.

Finally, it's a pity that the Japan/MLB posting system had to go through an overhaul prior to Tanaka immigrating to the MLB, because this set probably won't include his Yankee rookie. It would've been something special, as one of the cards the 1965 set is known for is the Masanori Murakami rookie, and I'm sure Topps would've found a way to honor that card. So, without a significant rookie like Tanaka, will Heritage include the new White Sox first baseman, Jose Abreu? I hope so.

The Mega Master Set

I've documented my collecting habits over the last seven years on this blog, following an arc from the scattered, massive accumulation of decades-worth of baseball cards to new-card musings to a realization that in terms of collecting, less is more: that it's better to collect with a purpose and a goal rather than to simply collect because it fills the time.

As it turns out, like many collectors, I have a lot of different focuses. One goal is to get a card of every player that has ever played on the Boston Red Sox (my Soxlopedia). Another is a small player collection of Fred McGriff. And collecting printing screw-ups, like miscuts, blank fronts, blank backs, doubleprints, and those cards missing gold foil or some other mistake. And cards from the 1967 Topps Who Am I? with their disguises still on (unscratched). Another is completing sets.

And it's here — completing sets — that I want to highlight today. The other day I was at my local shop (Kenmore Collectibles in Kenmore Square, Boston) and mentioned to its owner (Peter) that I was thinking of going for the mega master set of 1965 Topps. He didn't know what I meant, which I thought was weird, since I assumed that this was something that other collectors did. The mega master set would be collecting every card made in a particular design. So for 1965 Topps — the one with the pennants — that would mean not just finishing the regular set, but then pairing it with 2003 Upper Deck Vintage, which co-opted the design. And then adding 2014 Topps Heritage. And 2014 Topps Heritage Chrome, Refractors, High Numbers, and whatever else Topps creates next year for this design.

But wait, there's more! There's the 2001 Gallery Heritage insert set. And whatever cards were included in the multiple Topps Archives and All-Time Fan Favorites sets. And various cards in the Shoebox, the 50 years, 60 years, and Cards Your Mother Threw Out insert sets, the Vintage Legends Collection, the Bill Russell Missing Years card from Topps basketball... And I'm sure there are others that I haven't listed here.

I've put together traditional sets before, but the idea of the "mega master set" appeals to me. I've decided to do this for Topps sets from 1965 (with Embossed, but maybe not Transfers), 1976, 1984, 1986, and 1987 for starters (but not including the Tiffany sets from 1984, 1986, or 1987).

So...is this a thing that other collectors do, or have I stumbled onto something new?

1965 Topps All-Star Cards

They just don't exist. You know, 1965 is probably my favorite design of the Topps 1960s, and yet for whatever the reason, it was the one year that didn't include combo cards. It also didn't include all-star cards, which made sense at the time, I guess.

But all-star cards and Topps go together like ham and cheese, like Marshmallow Fluff and Wonder Bread. It's odd to me that the company didn't include separate all-star cards—or even an all-star emblem on regular cards from 1963 to 1967. It makes no sense, especially when you consider that Topps' set checklists got larger as the decade wore on. It could've been easy to add a subset, and even easier to do an emblem on the players' respective regular cards. Regular-card designs from these years allowed a little wiggle room, as seen with the Topps All-Star Rookie trophy, begun in 1961 and used throughout the decade.

It's with this background that I present my take on the 1965 all-star card. I chose to do an emblem rather than a subset. There were some great players in the 1964 All-Star Game starting lineups, and at least one guy—Ron Hunt—who would be appreciated more today if his all-star status had been recognized in some lasting way.

I will post the other 17 cards to our Facebook page in the next few days...

Elvis Presley Heroes: 1965

I had trouble deciding what to call Elvis' teams throughout his career. The Tupelo Hound Dogs? The Memphis Kings? The Hollywood Headliners? Or something like "The Jumpsuits"? I decided to combine the first two for this card. Here's a closeup of the team logo...

Six 1971 Topps Roy Fosters Agree

It's time for me to start blogging again. In a random sequence of events over the past few days, I got added to the media credential list for this summer's National Sports Collectors Convention in Baltimore. Guess I should stop lurking in the background like Andre 3000 on all those Janelle Monae records.

Let me start at the beginning. Since last I've blogged, I've finished a couple vintage sets (1956 Topps and 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats), I joined a trader group, I've been helping out at my local sports card shop by organizing their commons from the 1970s, and I've started a couple of Tumblr blogs (Old Basketball Cards is the relevant one here). I've also started collecting the 1965 and 1971 Topps baseball sets.

But my real new bright idea – and not entirely sure if "bright" is the correct word here – is to create a Toppslopedia: a comprehensive collection containing one card of each player ever featured on their own Topps card. When I started a few days ago, I thought it would be relatively easy. Ten hours of copying over checklists into Excel and two migraines later, I realize it's an insane, Ahab-esque undertaking, one that could completely consume the rest of my collecting days. I'm trying to convince myself that it's more akin to a traditional type collection and less like tracking down everyone in the phone book and taking their photo and getting their autograph.

Okay, the population for an undertaking like this would not be as big as the phone book; probably about 5,000 cards, maybe a little more. If there's interest out there, I'll post my checklist as a Google spreadsheet. So far I've only consolidated 1970 and 1971 Topps. I realize that I should have started with the 1951 sets, but well, here we are.

And now for the Fantastic Card of the Day...

1981 Donruss Sammy Stewart or An Open Letter to Nicolas Cage

Dear Mr. Cage,

I've been watching a lot of your movies lately. More than I care to admit. There was Bangkok Dangerous, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Next, Ghost Rider, Straight to Video. I'm not even sure I made any of those titles up. Honestly, they all started to run together. That's not to say they weren't entertaining — uh, I mean, I'm talking about Nic Cage here, right? I'm pretty sure you could change your last name to "Entertaining" and everyone would still know who you are.

But back to your movies. For my money it doesn't get any better than Raising Arizona. I know you're probably disappointed I didn't say "Trespass" or one of your newer movies, but let's be serious for a moment. I know that you must get this a lot. Heck, you probably think this very thought every time you look in the mirror, but I gotta say it: When I see this card of Sammy Stewart, I immediately think of H.I. McDunnough's mugshot. I can't help myself. It's like a Pavlovian response or something.

Maybe it's the cocksure-ed-ness. Maybe it's the hair and mustache. I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Sammy had decided long ago to change his last name from Cage to make his reputation on his own. In fact, if you're looking for your next starring role, baseball movies are big now. Here it is: Nic Entertaining—see what I did there?—stars as strikeout dynamo Sammy Stewart in Mediocreball. It will be just like Moneyball, only about  the Baltimore Orioles' slide into a mediocrity they have yet to emerge from, nearly 30 years later, not about some scrappy team that makes the playoffs because of the derring-do of statistical eggheads.

We can embellish Stewart's role on the championship team from 1983, and I bet we could get Will Patton to play Rich Dauer. Maybe we could make you two roommates? For the film, but yeah, I'm sure you could do it in real life too if you need a place to stay. Holy crap, I just thought of something. What if you and Patton and the real Stewart and Dauer move into a place together? That's some Charlie Kaufman territory right there. And you've got experience in that department, so it would probably be totally easy for you. If you're not cool with that, that's okay. But as long as we get a big name for the Rich Dauer role, someone you are comfortable with ... it can even be Eva Mendes if you want. I mean, those were obviously the two most important players on the team and we'll need big names.

For the rest of the team I'm thinking Jack Black for Rick Dempsey, Cuba Gooding for Ken Singleton, Ryan Gosling as Cal Ripken, LeVar Burton as Al Bumbry, Billy Dee Williams as Eddie Murray, and Jamie Foxx as Dan Ford. Oh, and Jim Palmer as wait for it — Jim Palmer. I mean, have you seen that guy act?