Monday, May 17, 2021

maybe someone at topps is looking out for me

i posted a month ago about the game i attended on april 16, 1983 which just happened to be the game in which steve garvey passed billy williams to set the all-time national league consecutive games played record. a few hours before that post was published, i saw that topps had made that feat the subject of their daily topps now turn back the clock set. to say i was pleased would be an understatement.

up to that point i had already purchased a half dozen or so 2021 topps now cards, but they had all been from a seller on ebay at half the cost of what topps charged. for this card, i decided to purchase directly from topps. the reason being that i needed two of the cards - one for the garvey collection and one for the cards featuring games i've attended mini-collection - and i figured that i could buy a group of five cards at a reduced rate and maybe sell the other three to try to break even.  of course, there was also the thought that maybe, just maybe, i would wind up with one of the two low-numbered parallels that topps randomly inserts in to orders in place of one of the cards.

my cards showed up just over a week ago, so i was able to add this card
to my two collections. it doesn't feature a photo from the actual game in which garvey set the record, but that's ok.  here's the back:
the text is silent on the fact that the record was broken in front of many of his dodger fans, but that's ok, too. what is better than ok is that this was one of the five cards i received:
that is the "white ash" parallel version, numbered to 3. this is just simply an incredible get for a player collector, and i am pretty happy about it. the other parallel version is the "cherry" version, numbered to 7. the print run of the "base" card was 405, which as expected, is on the lower end of these issues. that fact certainly helped my chances of obtaining one of the parallels, but i'd like to think that maybe someone at topps was looking out for me.  

13 comments:

  1. The white ash looks better anyway. (Than the base. I'm way too lazy to look up the cherry version. Ha.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i like the look of the parallel, too. i wish topps had changed the tbtc design for this year - getting tired of 1987 wood laminate design.

      Delete
  2. Congrats on picking up a very nice card!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice pick-ups! Always had a soft spot for the '87 Topps wood-grain design...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations on winning the luck of the draw! Having not paid a great deal of attention to these kind of offerings, is it normal for Topps to not use a photo from the game in which the feat that they're highlighting had occurred?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. from what i can tell, topps usually does match up the photo with the event, or they do a good job of using a photo that could be from the event or at least the timeline. this one is a giveaway because it was a night game at dodger stadium. the photo that topps chose is very similar to the one on his 1984 donruss action all-star card, btw.

      Delete
  5. Congratulations on being one of the luck 3 to get the ash parallel! The different types of wood parallel is pretty creative of Topps. I haven't given them a lot of props the past few years, but kudos to them for coming up with that idea and for hooking you up with this very rare parallel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks fuji. topps had to do something to incentive people to purchase directly from them, although i am surprised that they only offer such low numbered parallels.

      Delete
  6. That is a great surprise for you Jim. Congrats for sure, what a bonus for a Garvey fan to boot!

    I see you have been busy too and I won't break the surprise, as I expect you'll feature some or all of what I have seen you picking up on ebay lately.

    I am curious (only if you are willing to share), since ebay now hides the best offer prices, what you ended up scoring one piece for in particular. I had been tracking low serial numbered Garvey cards for years and this new hidden BS has me a little pissed. I didn't even bother to offer on it, based on the asking price, so I hope you got a screaming deal! You probably know which one I am talking about...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Belated congrats on the ash parallel!

    ReplyDelete