shut up and take my money

i know that i am not alone in marveling at the cards and content that gio, proprietor of wthballs, produces on a regular basis. i came to the hobby a bit later than he did, but came to recognize many of the shortcomings of the topps sets of the 1960s and early 1970s that gio corrects on an almost daily basis.

missing final tributes? cards that deserve a "do-over"? stars that could easily have had their own card rather than a multi-player rookie card? players missing from a set? even those not really missing? gio makes those cards and then some.  

so, when i saw his series 12 set for sale, i could not order a set quickly enough and didn't even finish reading the post before i had contacted gio and sent payment. that is mainly because he created a 1970 topps steve garvey card

this card falls under the "not really missing" category - it says so on the back:

but it looks really great. i have always enjoyed the fact that garvey's first set (1971 topps) was the first set to be released after i entered the world, but i would have been ok with him getting an undeserved card in the 1970 set, too. i have seen a couple other 1970 garvey customs, and i have created one of my own, but the professional printing of gio's makes it stand out.

here are the first nine cards in the set:

a mix of the missing and rookies there with a johnny bench "do-over".  here are the next six cards:

these six cards speak to me a bit more than the non-garvey cards in the first batch due to my familiarity with the original cards issued (or not issued in the case of a 1978 jerry hairston or 1979 mario soto card). tony armas gets his own rookie card, rollie fingers and lyman bostock get "do-overs" to show them with the teams they represented at the end of the previous season, and reggie jackson gets an action shot "do-over". these are all great, but i especially like the bostock, hairston, and soto cards. 

as a young collector who followed the national league west closely, i was mildly confused as to why there was no card for soto in the 1979 set. he had been in the 1978 set, and i know he pitched against the dodgers in 1979. when i went to look for his card, i was surprised to not see him on the team checklist.  the bostock and hairston cards give me a couple of cards to add to my "master" 1978 topps set endeavor (gio kindly added dupes of those two cards, plus a second garvey for the pc to my order). i never really considered hairston to be missing from the set, but now that i see the card with the marlboro ad in the background, i know topps missed out 45 years ago.

as always, gio includes a bonus insert in his packs, and in this one i received a 1973 kellogg's roberto clemente card

fantastic.

thanks gio! looking forward to the next creations and sets - especially if one includes the 1975 vic davalillo card that would go great in my "evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers" mini-collection!