Anniversary Party

As most of you know I opened three boxes of Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary this summer. 

And, since today marks the tenth anniversary of this blog, I thought I'd show the cards I kept. Here's a team-by-team look at the results of the three box break. We'll start with the worst team result and work our way up to the best team of the break. Here we go...

30. Colorado Rockies

3 cards (all base)

Oof. No Todd Helton, no parallel, not even a Kris Bryant. I didn't pull any of the 14(!) Rockies base cards in the 2025 Chrome Platinum set - which is just as well since I've never heard of 10 of those guys. 

29. Milwaukee Brewers

4 cards (all base)

The best team in baseball was the second-worst in this break. Couldn't even get a Robin Yount base card for the PC.

28. Miami Marlins

7 cards (all base)

I've ranked the Marlins lower than several teams with fewer cards because, well.. look at these guys. The best I could have hoped for would be a Jazz Chisholm RC or World Series heroes Gary Sheffield and Ivan Rodriguez. Breakers should pay us to take this team. 

27. Arizona Diamondbacks

6 cards (all base)

Two Christian Walkers, no Corbin Carrolls, and no parallels. I might have ranked Arizona lower without the Big Unit. 

26. Tampa Bay Rays

6 cards (1 hit)

The American League's best team is the American League's worst team in this break. Tampa ranks one spot ahead of their expansion bretheren thanks to the Longoria refractor. 

25. Cincinnati Reds

7 cards (all base)

Honestly, I should rank the Reds below the Rays - but I didn't want to start this list with all National League teams. Did you know Reggie Sanders is one of only eight players in major league history with 300+ career home runs and 300+ career stolen bases? 

24. Philadelphia Phillies

7 cards (1 hit)

So many great players I could have pulled: Bryce Harper, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton... instead, I got these guys. The John Kruk card is kind of cool, and a rookie refractor is something I guess.

23. Detroit Tigers

7 cards (1 hit)

Until now I've noted the total number of cards per team and scanned every one. You'll have to trust me here as most of the Tigers cards went to Dennis. I will say that there were no Tigers in the 2025/1955 Chrome box; they're the only AL team that did not appear. 

22. Texas Rangers

9 cards (all base)

I'm certain I got better Tigers than this, but I didn't write down every card I sent out because I wanted to be surprised/reminded when reading your posts. This group of Rangers is bland. No Nolan Ryan? :/

21. Chicago Cubs

9 cards (all base)

The Cubs and Rangers are essentially tied, but I gave Chicago the slighest bump for the Ryne Sandberg card. 

20. Pittsburgh Pirates

4 cards (2 hits)

The NL central did not show up in this three-box break. Pittsburgh has far fewer cards than nearly every other team, but the Clemente refractor (and Cal Mitchell) carries them several spots higher. 

19. San Diego Padres

6 cards (1 hit)

Like with the Tigers, I kept two cards and sent out the rest. Like with the Tigers, I can't remember what I sent out. But I've got a hunch the Padres group had a bit more star power. 

18. Toronto Blue Jays

7 cards (1 hit)

Derek doesn't have a blog so you probably won't see the Blue Jays cards I sent him. The hit was a really nice one though. 

17. Kansas City Royals

9 cards (1 hit)

No Bobby Witt or George Brett, and the Johnny Damon x-fractor is extremely off-center on the back. 

16. Chicago White Sox

5 cards (3 hits)

Here's the only team with a hit rate of over 50%. Each box had (at least) one autograph and Franklin German was the worst of the three. A couple more base cards - Frank Thomas in particular - would have helped here. 

15. San Francisco Giants

12 cards (1 hit)

Lots of nice base cards and some big names, but no single card really stands out more than the base Willie Mays. 

14. Cleveland Guard-ind-ians

9 cards (2 hits)

Initially I had the Guards much higher based on having a serial numbered RC and another refractor RC. But these guys are not good. I didn't even get a Jose Ramirez or Bob Feller. 

13. PHI/KC/OAK/SAC/LV A's

9 cards (1 hit)

Everything you don't see here went to Fuji. I remember what the hit was, and it's better than a Brandon Crawford refractor. [edit: the A’s had two hits. I’m firing my bookkeeper]

12. Boston Red Sox

14 cards (all base)

Yep, you read that right. 14 cards (second-highest total among all teams) and not a single parallel or insert among them. I kept about half of the all-base pile for myself and sent the rest to Matt. 

11. Seattle Mariners

10 cards (1 hit)

A Ken Griffey Jr. card would have been sweet, but A-Rod and King Felix help the M's vault ahead of other one-hit teams. The serial numbered Big Dump would have been better six months ago.

10. Houston Astros

13 cards (3 hits)

Three teams yielded a Dusty Baker's dozen worth of cards and the Astros group was the least impressive. The Reddick (sn'd to 199) is a nice one though.
 

9. Los Angeles Dodgers

11 cards (3 hits)

I'm operating on the assumption that the Dodgers' star power makes up for having two fewer cards than the Astros. Night Owl would know; he's the recipient of the majority of my Dodger pulls. 

8. St. Louis Cardinals

13 cards (3 hits)

All three hits were of Hall of Famers, but nothing serial numbered or autographed. I'm not so sure they should be ahead of the Dodgers, but I really like the Mize x-fractor. 

7. Mont-wash Exp-ats 

9 cards (1 hit)

Nothing notable on the Nationals side, but the Expos were awesome. Two Vlads - including a Fuschia Shimmer numbered to 100 - along with base cards of two other Hall of Fame outfielders.

6. Minnesota Twins

10 cards (2 hits)

Can't ask for better base cards than Puckett, Killebrew, and Hunter (okay, maybe Mauer or Carew instead of Torii) The Buxton refractor is nice, but the big draw here is the Royce Lewis Green Wave #d to 99.

5. Los Anaheim Angeles

10 cards (1 hit)

The Angels rank higher than teams with more cards and more hits because one of the base cards is a Shohei Ohtani I just had to keep, and the hit is a serial numbered autograph I sent to Tom.

4. Baltimore Orioles

11 cards (4 hits)

The O's check in with the second-most non-base cards in the break and the second-most serial numbered singles, led by the Adley Rutschman #d/75. Hall of Famers (including one I mailed out) boost this group even further. 

3. New York Yankees

13 cards (3 hits)

Bo got one of the two best pulls in the entire break. He also got a refractor of an above average fan  favorite. A Derek Jeter or Aaron Judge hit would have vaulted the Yanks into first place. 

2. New York Mets

8 cards (1 hit)

If you didn't watch the videos I posted for these box breaks, you may be wondering how a team with these seven fairly standard base cards ranked higher than teams with autographs, low serial-numbered refractors, and tons more star power. It's because the second auto of the 2025/1955 break was... 

I was very excited to pull this card, thinking I had some blue-chip prospect on my hands. Ha! Can you tell I haven't followed baseball in a few years? Acuna was traded to the White Sox for Luis Robert(!!) and currently has a 52 OPS+, which means he'd have to double his production just to be a replacement-level player. Wooo. 

If Acuna was merely decent, this card would put the Mets at the top of the Chrome Platinum mountain. Instead, they once again lose to their archrivals...

1. Atlanta Braves

20 cards (6 hits)

Autographed card? Atlanta doesn't need no stinkin' autographed card. The Braves had quality and quantity across all three boxes - with four serial-numbered parallels led by a Chipper Jones #d/50. If I could draft single cards out of this break it would take me several rounds before I picked a Brave. But if I could draft team lots, the best overall value is right here. It's a bummer Johnny didn't join the fun, but I did share the wealth a little bit 😉

That's what I got for my anniversary. What did you get?

Thanks for reading!



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The Collector: Origins

I used to blog as the Pedestrian Writer - sharing personal anecdotes, short stories, and pop culture musings to a mostly female audience of about 20 regular readers. My readership, as well as my ideas for blog posts, started to fade away slowly and then all at once. 

I still wanted to write but didn't know what to write. Until I realized that I had never really written about the one thing I knew well enough to be called an 'expert'. People in my personal life knew how much I collected baseball cards but I'd never blogged about baseball cards. I didn't think anyone did. 

What would a baseball card blog even look like? I thought to myself whlie walking home from a job that made me miserable. What topics would I cover? 

The first subject I considered was a personal ranking of early 1990s card designs. I scrapped it immediately, and it's a good thing I did because Night Owl did it much better than I ever could. 

That being said, here's a look at two of my all time favorite non-baseball designs:

The first Upper Deck hockey set is still my all time favorite. The team colored borders, stylized team wordmark, and marble/ice shaving frame are right up my alley. I liked the 1991 Upper Deck football design for similar reasons, but the Ancient Greek-inspired 1992 design is even better in my book.

I've sung the praises of Pro Set before on this blog. The brand itself quickly got a bad rap for being overproduced and error-filled, but the first two football and hockey sets were instrumental in my decision to branch out beyond baseball cards. Series II of the 1990-91 Pro Set release includes my favorite subset of all-time, in any sport:

Everything about these cards appealed to me - I was a big fan of team logos at the time. I was super curious about the history of each team, and these Team Fact cards had a ton of info. And the sleek marble design with a steely logo was incredibly cool. 

Honorable mention to the 1990-91 and 1991-92 Skybox basketball sets. Both interesting for very different reasons. The initial Skybox release had a bit of a Studio feel, while the follow-up was just soooo '90s.
 

Once I began blogging about baseball cards I realized that there wasn't much value in stating that 1991 Fleer is an abomination and 1993 SP is the sharpest looking set of the decade, in any sport. That might have been a decent post or two, but... then what? 

Well... then you discuss your collecting goals. Set builds and whatnot. Also, show and tell. A lot of this is  just scanning up what you got at a show, or in a trade, or in a box break. Or in a care package...

On Friday August 21st, this blog turns 10. From The Pedestrian Writer to the Pedestrian Collector, to just The Collector, it has been about 15 years since I began blogging. I blogged through the birth of my daughter, the death of my wife, and the biggest mistakes of my card collecting life. 

I've shared a lot of stories. I've completed a lot of sets. I've had a great time. I hope you have, too.

So celebrate with me! Show off your Anniversary Break Care Package on your blog this Friday. Share one of your favorite posts or topics here at the The Collector. Did you ride with us on the Sports Card Tour? Did you enjoy All-Time Teams? Did you learn anything from the Greatest Non-Hall of Famers [which needs to be updated, note to self] Did any other posts or series stand out to you? 

As always, thank you for reading!




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A Tradition Since Childhood

Every year around my birthday I hop on eBay and search for Starting Lineup figures to recapture a piece of my youth. There are select few sports (and non-sports) cards that have the same effect, but sports trading cards are still produced. Topps is still a thing, even if they are owned and run by a garbage conglomerate enshittifying the sports memorabilia landscape. 

The Kenner Starting Lineup line just happened to perfectly dovetail with my adolescence. The first figures were released in 1988 - the first year I was well and truly obsessed with sports. Topps sports cards existed before then. Nintendo games existed before then. Garbage Pail Kids existed before then. Panini sticker albums existed before then. [editor's note: Panini did not have baseball or (American) football sticker albums before then, but Topps did.]

And unlike the sports cards and stickers I collected as a kid, SLU figures are no longer produced. In fact the line ended right around the time my childhood ended: 2000-01. Just as I was entering my twenties. 

While trading cards are much easier to protect and store, Starting Lineup figures were opened and handled even more frequently than their flat cardboard counterparts. By 1988, collectors knew that trading cards could increase in value. I doubt anyone expected these toys to do the same.

SLU figures came with a free collector's card of their own, giving collectors even more incentive to rip open the package. While most pieces (especially 1990s figures) never increased in value beyoud their initial SRP, the 1988 and 1989 lines in particular have become tougher to find in decent shape. You've got figure collectors hoarding higher-end pieces, you've got trading card enthusiasts searching out any cards they can find in grade-worthy condition as if the figures are an inconvenience, and with the resurgence of 'vintage' hobbies - particularly with collectibles approaching 40 years old - it's getting tougher to find any sealed piece in presentable condition. 

Which brings me to this year's purchase: a 1988 Marcus Allen figure for $32. Allen's best years were early in the 1980s - long before I was even aware of football - and as a result I didn't really understand why he was seen as a superstar and future Hall of Famer when I was a fan in the 1990s. Still, this is a nice looking first series figure in packaging that looked a clean as it gets. 

The seller even included a nice note in the box:

I was all set to add this to my sealed Starting LIneup collection when I noticed that the trading card was out of alignment. I tried to shake it back into its plastic pocket and.. the bubble started coming unglued. 

Since it was half opened just from me gently shaking the bubble, resealing it seemed pointless. 

So I ended up paying $32 for an open figure and card that would have cost me half as much if I'd bought it already opened. It's a bummer, but I'll add Marcus to my shelf. He's already got a teammate there:
 

That's Todd Christensen, All-Pro tight end in 1983 and '85, and host of Touchdown Trivia on Married... With Children. Now I'm wondering If I can collect the whole Raiders team set. Who else is in there?

Just Howie Long and Marc Wilson? Easy peasy. Long is a litlle more money than Marcus Allen, but manageable. Meanwhile Marc Wilson is... 

....one of the most expensive Starting Lineup figures ever. 

If I remember correctly, the 'Sears' refers to Wilson and Willie Gault figures only being available through the Sears catalog. They were not sold in stores, which partially explains why Wilson is so expensive now. (Gault's sells for a ton too, but slightly less than Marc Wilson.) 

If you're curious, there is an even more rare and expensive Starting Lineup football figure: Bill Fralic. Losing team with no national presence + regional Georgia-only release + offensive lineman = no one bought this thing and/or Kenner produced far fewer Fralic pieces. [editor's note: a comment on this video states there were only one or two Fralic figures per case.] There's one online now for $1,000.

Opened.

The last sealed Fralic figure sold (on eBay at least) for $4,250. I love rare and random Starting Lineups but ... yikes! Even if I had $4K+ lying around to spend on a hobby acquisition there's no way I'd choose an action figure over, say, a Hank Aaron rookie card or Roberto Clemente rookie card. 

While it would be a dream to have a collection like this in my 'man cave' I've barely got enough room for the figures I have. And I'm content with picking up 1 or 2 new (to me) pieces every couple years or so. 

I might be wrapping up my sports card collection but SLU figures are another story. We'll see if I get the urge to keep buying back my childhood next August.

Thanks for reading!



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