of course he was last

there's a fairly well known quote from bob uecker that concerns baseball cards:

"i knew when my career was over. in 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture". 

well, we know that wasn't true on a couple of fronts - uecker continued to play in the big leagues through the 1967 season, and his 1965 topps card does, in fact, have his picture on it.

checking in at card number 519, his was the last card i needed to complete my 1965 topps set, and thus the last card i obtained in my effort to complete said set. in fact, many of the last dozen or so cards that were needed to complete the set were cardinals - bob gibson, lou brock, curt flood, and one or two others. uecker however was the last card standing, and now my set is complete. feels good!

i believe that the very first card i owned from this set was that of bert campaneris. 

i recall digging through the box of '65s at my local card shop as a youth looking for a's cards - particularly a jim hunter rookie, and the campy jumped out at me because of the huge rookie cup. i had caught "billy ball" fever, and that, combined with my jim hunter fandom, had me collecting a's team sets back to 1965.

i eventually completed that a's team set, including the hunter rookie, and picked up a few dodgers here and there along the way. i didn't get serious about completing the full set until 2014 when topps heritage reminded me how much i liked the design. a good day at the monthly card show that summer cemented my goal of completing the set, as i picked up a mickey mantle on the cheap.

a few years before that, i started working on my topps "sampler" sets. i had completed my 1970 topps set build (i'd still like to upgrade a few cards, though), and turned my attention to other vintage sets. while not sure if i wanted to try to complete any, i figured i'd like to have representative cards from each set in my collection.

once i decided to pursue the '65 set, i broke up my sampler set and picked up cards and lots here and there, but didn't make it a priority. then, in 2015, i negotiated a deal with gavin to help him with his 1965 set build in exchange for his help in printing many of the custom "cards that should have been" that i had created over the years. picking up cards for him reminded me of how much i liked the set, and i ramped up my purchasing.  last summer i was surprised that i still needed the ernie banks card as it was so familiar to me. 

it was one of the cards that i bought for gavin, but i hadn't secured a copy for me - until later last year.  anyway, i figured i would show that card since it reminded me of another card i really liked as a youngster - the 1978 topps george brett card. profile shots of these kind are fairly rare, and there were a few in that '78 set (bobby bonds and steve braun come to mind), as well as the extreme profile shot of buddy bell in 1982. the 1965 set, of course, included the embossed insert cards which were exclusively profile portraits as far as i am aware. i have no desire to collect those inserts, however. i'm satisfied with the flagship set.

now with a complete run of sets from the 1970's, 1980s, and beyond, along with this '65 set, my set building attention turns fully to the 1957 set which i've been addressing in piecemeal fashion.  that will probably take a while.