got my ginter, mostly

we are a long way from the gintacuff days, but i still like to pick up some allen & ginter when it is released. this year, i bought a hanger pack and a blaster/value box at target. the hanger pack yielded these nine cards

plus five more that i will show in a moment. i understand that there are only 300 cards in the set this year, and no short prints. that didn't stop people from trying to read into the different ribbon designs on the cards - different ribbon layouts and/or colors, as well as some that are missing the "2026". see below for an example

the nickelsen guy is in a band called "the maine" which i had not heard of. still, i appreciate him being in the set to save us from more reality tv "personalities". the other five cards in the pack were these:

i prefer the roger clemens chrome mini parallel to a regular george springer mini for sure.

i finished the pack with a flurry, with the blue foil filagree nolan mclean card and a couple inserts. the walter johnson card comes from the "career 250" insert set, but is numbered with a "cr-" prefix. 

the samuel basallo insert is from the n43 insert set, using the design that in the past was reserved for box toppers. by the way, i will mention now that i joined a team break, and in the video, the breaker came across the walter johnson card and assigned it to the washington nationals' slot. now, the card back says nationals, which was actually the club's proper name back in the big train's days. however, they were more commonly known as the senators, and that franchise went on to become the twins. i don't participate in breaks too often, but i do often wonder if they even follow baseball.

the blaster netted me three dodger base cards

plus a shohei ohtani mini

it's just a regular mini

which is fine by me.

when i saw the checklist, i noticed that tim mcgraw had a card, and it was one that was in one of my packs

i thought that perhaps tug mcgraw would get a card in the set, too, as some sort of synchronicity, but he did not, and the back of tim's card

does not mention him which i suppose makes sense since his success is independent of any affiliation with baseball.

there weren't any other base cards i felt compelled to show, so here are the inserts

wicked power david ortiz

wicked power follows up last year's wicked curves inserts

career 250 albert pujols

career 250 mariano rivera

career 250 alex rodriguez

career 250 babe ruth

career 250 roger clemens

these cards just highlight impressive career statistics, not necessarily records. i would love to know how topps goes about figuring out insert set subjects and topics. sure, a-rod's career rbi total is impressive, but if there's a babe ruth card celebrating a larger number of rbi, why do we need the a-rod card?

here are some of the minis - kyle teel n35 design

jonah tong rookie design variation

garrett nickelsen black border

kyle stowers gold border

in addition to the konnor griffin rookie from the hanger pack, i found griffin n43 insert

he's only 20 but it feels a bit like collectors are already moving on.

here's a scan of one of the pack wrappers from the blaster

i noticed the text - "packs with a special insert may contain less cards". nice, topps. i believe that should be fewer cards. just like how miller lite is less filling because it has fewer calories. anyway, i found such a pack, and the special insert was this framed mini relic of anthony volpe

i will admit, i was thinking it was going to be an auto once i saw that it was framed as i forgot that there were both full size and mini relics in the release. that's because the first card i bought from this release was steve garvey's full size relic card

it arrived about a week after i bought this stuff at target, and my team break spoils came a day or two after that. i already showed the base cards of mookie betts, roki sasaki, and roy campanella, so i won't bother with them, but here are (most of) the other dodger base cards from the set

the one dodger i am missing from the team set is clayton kershaw. i did, however, score his career 250 insert

which celebrates his career era of, um, 2.49? not according to the back

the back is correct - kershaw's era according to baseball reference is 2.53. the only players listed on that site with a 2.49 career era are hippo vaughn and bob ewing, and i don't think topps is making cards of those guys. i know they made a similar error on cy young's career 250 card as well. sadly, it's not surprising.

here's the other inserts i acquired in the break - ohtani wicked power

and betts and ohtani n43 design

ginter is known for its mini parallels, and i received four of those

the hyeseong kim and betts minis are a&g backs

there are some full sized parallels in ginter these days, and i received a few - will smith silver portrait

chrome freddie freeman and jackie robinsonand chrome refractor freddie freeman

which i believe is a case hit.

so, enter sportlots, from whom i purchased a kershaw base card

that card had the correct value for his career era on the back

so i really don't know what was going on with that insert card.

i filled out my sportlots purchase with a couple more a&g cards featuring some of the most iconic numbers in the sport. here's hank aaron and 755

and ty cobb and.....4,189?

i was brought up to know that cobb had 4,191 hits in his career. apparently, in 2019, researchers found that he had been miscredited with a couple of hits. baseball reference has adopted the updated value, as has topps. mlb.com still lists cobb's career hit total as 4,191. i knew about this a couple of years ago, or maybe for a bit longer than that. 

i did not realize until this year, however, that a similar thing applied to walter johnson. this year, i heard talk about max scherzer passing johnson with his 3,516th strikeout. say what? 3,508 is the number of strikeouts walter johnson had. anyone who was watching baseball in 1983 knew this as nolan ryan and steve carlton passing him and see-sawing back and forth for a bit was a big deal. well, the elias sports bureau has 3,515 as his career total, while baseball reference now says 3,509. for some reason, mlb.com has the 3,508 that i am familiar with but also has articles posted saying that his total is the 3,515 from elias. ponderous.

anyway, i purchased my team slot from topp tier breaks. the guy at least knows his parallels and product, unlike some of the other breakers i've seen and/or purchased slots from over the past couple of years. i picked up a team slot in a hobby jumbo update break from topp tier and should have those cards soon. stay tuned!

the clocks turned back

yesterday was the day to "fall back" and turn your clocks back an hour, at least in most parts of the united states. you can use part of that extra hour gained to peruse this post celebrating the "turn back the clock" subsets from the 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990 topps flagship sets. there was a tbtc subset in 1977 topps, but it used photos rather than year appropriate cards, so i am not including it here.

while reviewing the 1982 topps kmart set, i got to thinking about these cards because of the card design (which is similar), and also because of the maury wills card. i quickly decided to collate another set of each of these five card subsets and store them separately in a binder. i do not consider the 1986-1990 run of topps to be binder worthy.

away we go!

1986 topps turn back the clock subset

1981 - fernando valenzuela

i was confused when i first saw this card because something wasn't quite right. the image topps used is not fernando's 1981 topps card (he was on a tri-player rookie card) nor is it his 1981 topps traded card. it's an image clearly from that same photo session, but different all the same. once i realized that, i was actually pleased.  here's the back:

fernando and fernandomania were definitely a major story in 1981, but what about the strike? not even a mention.

1976 - tom seaver

after seeing fernando's card, it was a bit of a letdown to see the other cards in the subset were the same as their actual cards issued in the respective years being reviewed. ultimately, i decided that i preferred it that way. i have seaver's 1976 card in my complete set and also in my retired numbers mini-collection. here's the back:

topps sort of veered away from the record breaker theme, but brought it back to seaver at the end.

1971 - willie mays

i didn't own mays' 1971 topps card when this card was released, but i have it now in my complete set. here's the back:

all of the players name checked on the back are hall of famers, with wilhelm and brock having just been inducted in 1985.

1966 - frank robinson

robinson was the mvp in 1966, so this same card was used in the kmart set. i just recently added the real deal to my collection. here's the back:

lots of individual achievements there, except for the astroturf thing, although i guess chemical engineers and scientists can take a bow.

1961 - roger maris

maris was the 1961 american league mvp, but kmart didn't open until 1962 so he wasn't in that set. i am happy to say i have his 1961 topps card in my collection. here's the back:

i was, and still am, pleased to see no asterisk attached to maris' accomplishment in 1961. he set the season record, period. and it stood until mark mcgwire hit 70.

1987 topps turn back the clock subset

1982 - rickey henderson

rickey's 1982 topps card is iconic. i have it in my "topps flagship through the years" mini-collection as well as my complete sets. here's the back:

seeing rickey run was a must in 1982, and i made it to anaheim for a game that year and saw one of his 130 steals. billy martin also came out at one point and argued with the umpires, so it was a perfect "billy ball" experience.

1977 - reggie jackson

reggie broke my heart as a new fan in 1977, and i told him so the one time i met him in person. i have a really beat up version of this card from my childhood in that same mini-collection as the rickey card above. here's the back:

it was great to see the dodgers' 30-home run foursome mentioned on the card, but even i wouldn't argue that reggie wasn't the story in 1977.

1972 - roberto clemente

clemente's 1973 topps card is one of my top ten favorite cards of all-time, but it makes sense to use his 1972 card as that was his final season. i am happy to have both of those clemente cards in my complete sets. here's the back:

nate colbert's feat mentioned on the back was featured on a turn back the clock card in the 1977 topps set.

1967 - carl yastrzemski

yaz was the 1967 al mvp, so this card is also in the kmart set. it's the first card we've seen so far that i do not own. here's the back:

back-to-back triple crowns in the american league, and then it didn't happen again until 2012 with miguel cabrera.

1962 - maury wills

another mvp year, so another card we saw in the kmart set. and, it's another card that didn't exist back in the year it represents. topps created this card image for the 1975 mvp subset, so this is the third time we've seen it in a set release. here's the back:

good to see all that dodger excellence celebrated!

1988 topps turn back the clock subset

1983 - nolan ryan

i was kind of sour on nolan ryan for a while after he broke sandy koufax's no-hitter record (at the expense of the dodgers), but soon came around to fully appreciate his greatness. the 1983 set was a hit with me and my friends. it was the first time we had seen two photos on the front of cards, and i appreciated the nod to the 1963 card design as well. i've had this card in my complete set since it was released, and i've also kept the one that was in my dad's collection with the rest of his ryans. here's the back:

i remember the back and forth between ryan and steve carlton. similar to what was hyped between max scherzer and justin verlander last year.

1978 - jim rice

that's another mvp year card that was also seen in the kmart set. you know i have this card in my complete sets, and i also have a signed version from one of the archives signature releases as part of my 1978 topps master set. i even have another copy of this turn back the clock card as a part of that master set. here's the back:

rice had a monster year for sure, but i might have chosen pete rose for this card if i were topps.

1973 - ron blomberg

kudos for topps choosing a card to represent an event rather than have another "star" card in the set. i have blomberg's card in my complete set. here's the back:

i still think it's weird that the two leagues had different rules for fifty years.

1968 - bob gibson

yet another mvp whose card we also saw in the kmart set, but it's a no-brainer. i do not own gibson's 1968 topps card, unfortunately. here's the back:

when i was a kid i thought don drysdale's pitching feat in 1968 was worthy of more recognition, but i eventually realized that gibson was on another level that season.

1963 - stan musial

i didn't know much about musial when this card was released other than he wore number 6 and pete rose had passed some of his records. i don't own his '63 card, but i do have rose's! here's the back:

i am still waiting for a 1964 design musial card for my final tributes mini-collection.

1989 topps turn back the clock subset

1984 - dwight gooden

this card is made possible by the 1984 topps traded set. i know i broke that set up a long time ago, and i am not sure if i still have the gooden or not. i know i have his 1984 fleer update card thought. here's the back:

when i think of 1984 in terms of baseball, i think of steve garvey's walk-off home run in the nlcs before i think of gooden, but i wouldn't have chosen garvey over gooden for this card. not every time, anyway.

1979 - lou brock

topps seems to have a thing for cardinals in their final seasons. i remember seeing this card out of a pack back in 1979 and taking note of the state of brock's helmet decal. i have this card in my complete sets, and i have a signed version from one of the archives signature releases in my hall of famer collection as well. here's the back:

no mention of garry templeton or yaz or any of the others who achieved things that were worthy of record breaker cards in the 1980 set.

1974 - hank aaron

the only landscape oriented card in all of these subsets, aaron was a no-brainer to represent 1974. i picked up one of these cards a long time ago and eventually upgraded it for my complete set. here's the back:

good to see dave lopes get a mention, but i remember being a bit surprised that there was nothing about garvey and his all-star and league mvp campaign.

1969 - gil hodges

ol' blue eyes is back. i have hodges' card, but it's in my vintage box and not in any real place in my collection. maybe i will move it into my 1969 sampler set. here's the back:

the miracle mets were definitely the story of 1969. 

1964 - tony oliva

oliva was on a multi-player rookie card in the 1964 topps set, so this is the third card image in these subsets that wasn't part of the original. topps created a slightly different version of this card for 2002 topps archives. either way, i don't own oliva's '64 rookie card. here's the back:

oliva really was elite until his knees gave out. i am glad he was finally elected to the hall of fame.

1990 topps turn back the clock subset

1985 - dick howser

the inclusion of howser to represent 1985 was a bit of a headscratcher to me. i have this card in my complete sets, but would not have picked it to represent 1985. here's the back:

i suppose that, since rose was banned from baseball in august of 1989, topps could not put him on the front of the card. it's good to see him still mentioned on the back, as his breaking of ty cobb's record was a huge deal in 1985. national news broadcasts were interrupted to go live to riverfront stadium for his at bats the night he broke the record. that's crazy. anyway, i'm just glad topps didn't mention or choose jack clark for the card.

1980 - mike schmidt

schmidt was the 1980 national league mvp, so this card was also seen in the kmart set. i was always excited to see all-star banners on cards back when i was a kid opening packs. i have schmidt's card in my complete set and also in my all-star subset collection from 1978-1981. i also have his 1980 card signed in buyback form as part of my hall of famer collection. here's the back:

with everything that george brett and schmidt did in 1980, it is nice to see jerry reuss' no-hitter mentioned.

1975 - fred lynn

lynn was the american league mvp in 1975, so he was featured in the kmart set. however, topps used a differently cropped version of his rookie card photo for that card. this card is more true to the image that was on his four-in-one 1975 topps rookie card (which i have in my complete set). so, topps had two different versions of a solo fred lynn 1975 card, and they still screwed up the card in 2024 topps heritage. here's the back:

the red sox had an embarrassment of riches in their outfield back then with lynn, rice, and dwight evans.

1970 - johnny bench

we saw this card in the kmart set as bench was the national league mvp in 1970. i have this card in my complete set. here's the back:

it's interesting that topps mentioned billy williams' consecutive game streak here but not garvey breaking it on the back of the 1983 card.

1965 - sandy koufax

the last card of these subsets features a card that i have in my dodger collection, my 1965 topps complete set, and in my dad's koufax collection. here's the back:

there was a lot to say about koufax's 1965 season, but i don't think topps really needed to abbreviate "st. louis" to "st. loo".

so there you have the 25 cards that turned back the clock from 1986 through 1990. the five year interval for these cards makes sense, but that was a choppy post. i probably should have gone through the cards the same way i have them stored in my binder:

forty years out from the start of these subsets, i would love for topps to bring them back like this, using actual card designs. it's an insert set made for archives, so here's hoping.