Wrapped in Plastic, It's Fantastic! 3

I hadn't planned on picking up anything from the 2015 Topps Archives Signature Series product, but as the cards started popping up on eBay I found that there were some items on the checklist that appealed to me. For this product Topps added foil stamps to buyback cards, had the baseball players autograph them, and then encased them in plastic slabs to sell in one-card boxes. I've already shown off a 1990 Topps Jim Abbott and a 1989 Topps Traded John Kruk card from the set, but there was one other name on the checklist that I wanted to chase down: Rollie Fingers.

My main problem was deciding which Rollie Fingers card to chase. I wanted one that showed his iconic mustache and I eventually settled on this 1981 Topps example. There is something odd going on with the 1981 Topps Rollie Fingers buybacks in this set. There are two different print runs, and I can't tell what differentiates them from each other. There are examples numbered # / 44 and examples # / 11. As far as I can tell they are the same cards, not reprints or O-Pee-Chee variations or anything like that. They are just the same card with different print runs. I put a lot of bids in on both types and eventually came away with one from the # / 11 print run, with this copy being # 06 / 11.

With the addition of this card I have acquired all the cards I set out to get from the 2015 Topps Archives Signature Series product. They make great additions to various parts of my collection. I think this was pretty neat as a one-shot product, but it has the potential to get stale unless each year has an entirely different checklist of players. I think that would be difficult to manage and it probably wouldn't be more than a couple of years before the pool of Hall of Famers and fan favorites got depleted to the point that Topps would be sorely tempted to reuse players. So I hope that Topps doesn't run this thing into the ground.

Wrapped in Plastic, It's Fantastic! 2

While searching for my Jim Abbott card from 2015 Topps Archives Signature Series I came across a couple of other cards from the product that interested me for various reasons. I am still chasing one of them, but I was able to get the other a little while ago after some stress caused by a postal delay. The package got stuck in Pennsylvania around the time of the big winter storm and even after other mail stuck in PA got moving again this package stayed still. After it had sat for six days I opened a help ticket on the USPS website and within a few hours of that the package was scanned in to my local processing center for delivery the next day. Here is the card I waited so long for:

It's a copy of John Kruk's 1989 Topps Traded card. I wanted the card mostly because this card is not flattering at all. Topps did a bad enough job selecting this photo and messing up the airbrushing, but then they came back 26 years later and asked him to autograph 54 copies of the thing. I guess maybe this picture of Kruk engaging in a little mouth-breathing against a stark white wall was the Topps airbrusher's easiest one to work with? That's the only reason I can think of to choose this photo outside of having some sort of personal agenda against the player. It's almost enough to make me start a John Kruk super-collection. Beckett has graded one copy of Kruk's 1989 Topps Traded card, a card that came away with a relatively average 8.5 final score.

Actually, in looking at his stats and reading about his career, I just might start myself a little John Kruk PC. *goes and adds all 100+ John Kruk cards in JustCommons.com's inventory to cart* Well, that was fun. I like picking up instant player collections on that website. Most of the cards were between 10 and 15 cent apiece, so it was like a virtual John Kruk dime box. There were a few higher-priced items, though, so the final average per card was around 20 cents. Still not too bad. I'm looking forward to a nice cardboard retrospective spanning his career, assuming I actually go back and close out the order. It looks like he's got some good stuff on Sportlots and eBay too, but I should probably start with just the one lot and build from there. He's got some nice relics, oddballs, promos, and autographs out there so it should be a pretty fun PC to work on.

Here's the back of the card. It hasn't been altered at all from the original appearance. I guess I could mention that this copy is # 45 / 54, which is a nice palindromic serial number. I didn't buy this card for that reason, though, I just bought it because it was the first one to fall to me at my bid price. Everything about this card makes me happy and I am glad that it has spurred me into starting a new player collection.

Just last night I won an auction for the third and final card I was seeking from the 2015 Topps Archives Signature Edition set, so look forward to reading about that in the next couple of weeks. I have my post queue built almost all the way through February, so it may take some time before I can fit that next one into the rotation.

Wrapped in Plastic, It's Fantastic!

When 2015 Topps Archives Signature Series was announced I didn't give it much thought. It's not really the type of product I chase. But then I saw them popping up on eBay and some of the cards in the checklist caught my eye. In particular I wanted to grab a Jim Abbott card with a buyback from the 1990 Topps Baseball set. I have a small Jim Abbott player collection, but I have somehow failed to blog about it. The 1990 Topps Baseball set was my initiation to baseball cards so I've got a soft spot for the design. I bid on several copies of this card and eventually got one in my price range. It's way off-center, but I am not too bothered by that. This one is serially-numbered # 45 / 46 and features an autograph just above the nameplate. I do wish the autograph was a little more visible, but I still really like this card, big clunky sealed case and all.

Since I got this card I've noticed a couple of other cards from the Archives Signature Series set that I might pick up if I get a chance. I'm not chasing the low print run, high dollar cards. It's mostly fan favorite-type guys who have cards in the set that I find interesting for one reason or another. Luckily the ones I'm chasing all have relatively high print runs, like this Jim Abbott one. The product also has a Rookie Debut card in the 1990 design for Abbott with a nice action photo, but I think it was limited to 12 copies and I just wasn't going to get one of those in my self-imposed price range.