what if i were making progress on an insert set build?

in april i mentioned that the personal significance of the 1978 season was compelling me to add the what if '78 insert set from 2002 donruss originals to my collection. i decided to do this despite only having cards from the 1980 insert set (the box i bought back in 2002 contained eddie murray's what if '80 card and i later picked up duke snider's card as well). willie stargell's '78 card was the first one i picked up as part of this effort, and i've since added over two-thirds of the set to my collection.

the first three cards in the set are "rated rookies" which first showed up in real time in 1983. however, that year the "rated rookie" designation was printed on the back. in 1984, it moved to the front and was a huge deal! anyway, thanks to brian and his set up at the recent card show, my collection currently starts with one of the three rated rookie cards!

2. alan trammell

trammell tied for fourth in the 1978 rookie of the year voting. he was behind teammate lou whitaker, paul molitor, and carney lansford and tied with rich gale. lansford and gale were ignored by topps in their 1978 set, but the other three were all featured on four-in-one rookie cards.

4. george brett

the first thing i noticed with these cards is that there are no "all-star" designations like topps had on their cards, including the 1978 topps george brett card.

5. johnny bench

bench also got the all-star shield in 1978

6. rod carew

another 1977 all-star, and he was also the 1977 american league mvp

7. carlton fisk

and another 1977 all-star

8. reggie jackson

and another guy who had the awesome all-star shield on his 1978 topps card. the card backs are pretty standard donruss

with only one year of stats. donruss did pay attention to the theme of the cards and made sure that the career stats were presented through the 1977 season. let's keep going

10. joe morgan

one more 1977 all-star

11. eddie murray

with murray's card we see that donruss did not identify top rookies from the 1977 season, either.

12. jim palmer

palmer was the american league's all-star starter in 1977.

13. tom seaver

seaver had a fantastic year in 1977, but by modern metrics such as war, rick reuschel was slightly better!

14. willie stargell

stargell missed a majority of the 1977 season due to injury. he bounced back and was the co-mvp in the national league in the magical 1979 season.

16. dave parker

parker was the 1978 national league mvp, winning his second straight batting title that season

17. mike schmidt

in 1977 schmidt hit 38 homers for the third consecutive season, but for the first time in those three years he did not lead the league. that was thanks to george foster's monster year.

18. eddie mathews

the mathews card is included due to his election to the hall of fame in 1978. this was a nice touch by donruss, i think.

19. lou brock

brock stole 30 bases for the last time in his career in 1977. one of his 35 steals that year put him ahead of ty cobb atop the all-time leader list.

20. willie mccovey

mccovey had his last big-ish year in 1977 in his return to the giants. he hit 28 homers and hit .280 in 141 games.

22. dennis eckersley

eckersley's inclusion is the only one that i might question on the checklist. he was an all-star in 1977 but was just three years into his career after the 1977 season. he was also with the indians through the 1977 season, joining the red sox via a trade in march of 1978. that was too late to update the topps set, but maybe donruss would have been on a later printing schedule and eckersley would have been included with his new team. sparky lyle was the american league cy young award winner in 1977 if you are wondering.

24. nolan ryan

always fun to see ryan with the eye black. he led the american league in strikeouts in 1977.

25. steve carlton

there's your 1977 national league cy young award winner

27. ozzie smith

this is smith's second card in the set - he's one of the rated rookies up at the top of the checklist. this card gives a glimpse of the "the rookies" release that donruss began doing in the latter part of the 1980's as a response to the topps and fleer traded and update sets.  here's the back of ozzie's card

it focuses on the 1978 season, which was his first year in the big leagues. the rated rookie cards show 1977 stats on the back, so in smith's case that would be minor league stats from his time in walla walla.

i also grabbed smith's what if? '80 card

which fits nicely into my name/number on the back collection.

so, as you can see, i am two-thirds of the way there with the 1978 set, but the remaining cards are either very scarce or command higher prices than i want to pay, or both. so for now, i am left wondering what if this is as far as it goes?