i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.
favorite non-dodger card: topps derek jeter
is this card a gimmick and an early example of the silliness that topps would go on to produce, driving collectors (including yours truly) mad? yes. was i all in for this card in 2007? yes. i stood in a line at shinders, one of the local card shops that year, as they opened up a delivery box containing a case of 2007 topps and bought two boxes of the stuff. now, i typically bought two boxes of each series of flagship and traded issues, plus a box of chrome each year. however, i had already bought a bunch of packs of 2007 topps at target, so i didn't really need to buy two more boxes of the stuff. i did it to essentially ensure that i would find this card, which features a photoshopped mickey mantle in the yankee dugout and then-president george w. bush in the stands. 
the purchase also allowed me to come close to completing the set, which was nice. i had bought factory sets since the early 1990's, and 2007 was the first flagship set i hand collated since 1987. anyway, i wound up with two of these cards - one went in the set build and the other is now in this mini-collection.
favorite dodger card: upper deck masterpieces sandy koufax
upper deck set a high bar for itself by calling this set "masterpieces", but they delivered with cards like this koufax. the realism of koufax himself, combined with the impressionism approach to the fans in the background is something that i really like. just a gorgeous card - one that i've referred to as "perfect" in the past.
up next, 2003. stay tuned!
I remember the hype around that Jeter card when I returned to collecting. That card is the centerpiece to quite possibly the most creative post I've ever written.
ReplyDeleteand now i'm off to find that post!
Deletehttps://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2014/02/ive-got-bush.html
Deleteso racy, fuji! great post!
DeleteAs a teenager, I blew two whole weeks' allowance on a blaster of 2007 Topps, which I bought with the sole intention of pulling the Jeter. That was probably a dumb move, but by some miracle the very first pack I opened had the Jeter in it. Definitely a precursor to the reams of weird hype/gimmick variations Topps makes now.
ReplyDeletei think it was (is?) a rite of passage of a young collector to blow their allowance on packs of cards - i sure did.
DeleteI hadn't come back to cards yet in 2007, so I missed out on all of the hype surrounding the Jeter, which in retrospect, was probably a good thing.
ReplyDeleteeven though you missed that, you've experienced similar hype with all of the photo variations and ssp cards issued in the last few years.
Delete