2014 Topps Allen and Ginter Yount Gallery

Talk about being a day late to the show. I found this near the bottom of my draft posts.  I'd been collecting images since Allen and Ginter came out, but must have forgot to post it. 

Topps Allen and Ginter #205

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Glossy 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini A and G back

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Black Border

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Gold Border

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini no number back (only 50 made, unnumbered)

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Red Border Hand numbered #/33

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Flag Back Hand numbered #/25

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Wood 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Cyan Printing plate 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Black Printing plate 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Magenta Printing plate 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Yellow Printing Plate 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter #205 Mini Glossy 1/1

Topps Allen and Ginter Book Card Dual autograph relic w/ Ozzie Smith AGBC-YS

Topps Allen and Ginter Double Rip Cards with Paul Molitor DRIP-76 #/5

1990 Wonder Bread Stars

Card Manufacturer: Wonder Bread

Card Set Wonder Stars

Set Type: Food Issue

Year: 1990

Card Number: 11

Card Type: Base

Merry Christmas everyone.  I wasn't planning on posting today, but I decided that I'd schedule a post since I'm not sure if I'll have much time after Christmas with family obligations and the year end festivities.  What better way to celebrate than with an oddball.  And not just any oddball, but the great 1990 Wonder Bread oddball.  

The small set has lots of great stars besides Robin. Ken Griffey Jr, Bo Jackson, Will Clark to name a few.

An overall very appealing card.  As well done as any of the major sets of the time and you get a nice big head shot with classic airbrushed hat and a big Wonder Stars logo.

You get five years of stats and some great career highlights.

2005 Donruss Zenith Museum Collection

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Zenith

Year: 2005

Card Number: 239

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Type: Museum Collection

Like a phoenix Zenith came back in 2005.  It had had a 4 year run back in the late 90's when Pinnacle Brands, makers of Score, was sold to Playoff which became Donruss Playoff, which is now all owned by Panini. Whew.  Anyways the big seller for Zenith was the Dufex shiny technology. And that was showcased in a lot of the inserts and parallel sets in the issue.

There are also gold and silver artist proof parallels and Z gold and silver parallels of this card.

Like most shiny cards like this the scan doesn't do it its shiny justice.  I wonder how long it'll be before Panini resurrects this brand?

Yount-O-Graph

I was bored today.  I don't know if you can tell, but I decided to play around with some numbers.  Below we have all the Robin Yount cards currently on the Trading Card Database in graph form.  Just to illustrate some points.

Couple things.  First, the TCB is by no means complete. Meaning that there are a lot of cards, oddballs and sets that need insert checklists. So we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt.  I didn't use Beckett.com's database, because I don't have access.  Second, most of the Police issue cards from the 80's are not represented.  I do believe that at least one card is in the numbers, but all the different city variations are not. Third most of the MSA discs from 1977 are also not represented right now and  I used my own count for 2014 cards, as I believe it to be much more accurate.

So here we have the card graphed by year issued.  And I have the data table below if you're looking for the counts.

1975	4
1976	6
1977	7
1978	4
1979	4
1980	3
1981	11
1982	12
1983	33
1984	28
1985	17
1986	26
1987	22
1988	29
1989	42
1990	73
1991	36
1992	52
1993	61
1994	24
1995	10
1996	0
1997	0
1998	0
1999	10
2000	21
2001	69
2002	122
2003	161
2004	473
2005	1000
2006	238
2007	135
2008	470
2009	134
2010	61
2011	56
2012	92
2013	125
2014	271

So what can we shine from this?  Well we can see the the bump in issue when Donruss and Fleer entered the competition in 1981.  We can also see when inserts were starting to take off in the late 80's and early 90's and we can see that Robin has been issued almost 7 times more cards since he retired than when he played. I consider his playing days cards 1975 to 1994 even though he retired in 1993 because he was issued regular base cards in almost every set that year.

We can also see that the biggest year for Yount cards was 2005.  Holy crap that's a lot of cards.  What happened in 2005?  Donruss and Upper Deck had a competition to see which company could put out the most sets with the most parallels.  And not just once, but multiple times.  I think Robin has over 100 cards issued in 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings alone.  We can see that 2005 was not only the biggest year, it was the biggest year by over double any other year.  The next biggest year being a toss up between 2004 and 2008.  We can also see a dip from Donruss' exit from the baseball card market and their brief return in 2008.  We can see the dip caused by Topps exclusivity and we can see the current uptick brought about by Panini coming back in with a lot of Hall of Fame focused sets.

I don't think we'll ever see the numbers like in the mid 2000's again, but that's ok. I'm happy that Robin has averaged over 200 new cards a year since 1999. That just means there's always going to be more to chase

2010 Topps retired photo variation

Card manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Baseball Series 1

Year: 2010

Card Number: 116

Card Type: Photo Variation

Variation Type: Retired Player Photo variation

I really miss when Topps inserted it's base variations with retired and HOF players.  It was easy to tell you got something special, now with photo variation, stat variation, and those stupid sparkle variations you pretty much have to have a cheat sheet to figure out if you pulled a variation.  And yes Topps still had more variation gimmicks in this set.  

Robin was featured two years in a row as a base card variation starting in 2009.   You can see the full checklist here.

I love this card what a great photo.  And in an old school Brewers uniform.  

OK detectives, who is #9 sliding behind Robin? I've got my guess.

2014 Donruss Team MVP

Card Manufacturer: Panini

Card Set: Donruss Baseball Series 1

Year: 2014

Card Number: 21

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Team MVP

Man it took me forever to finally get this card.  I was really excited to see Robin in Panini's relaunched Donruss baseball. But surprisingly this cards didn't pop all that often on eBay and when they did they went for way too much money.  So when one popped up on COMC for a couple bucks I snagged it and then it sat in my account waiting for Black Friday.  

It's a great throwback homage to the 1989 Donruss set. The photo is large and surprisingly crisp. You really can see all the wrinkles on Robin's sun baked face.

2014 Topps High Tek Stripes Base variation

Card Manufacturer: Topps
Card Set: High Tek
Year: 2014
Card Number: HH-RY
Card Type: Base Design Variation
Variation: Stripes
Note: Rarest of the six variations



Once upon a time I was a pretty serious poker player.  And I'll be honest I was pretty good.  Good enough to win a trip to Vegas and make money in Vegas.  I don't play much anymore due to my limited free time, but when I was big into it I picked up Doyle Brunson's Super System book.  I don't know how many of you have read it, but pretty much Doyle lays down the basics and then tells you why he does something completely different.  It's kind of funny.  To paraphrase: you gotta use your gut.

Why do I bring this up?  Well I've been feeling I could write a book on the timing of buying cards on ebay.  And my first rule would be never to buy or go after the first one of something being offered it will almost always go for the  highest price.  So why would I go after, bid on, and win this card?

Had to go with my gut.

I have no idea how many of these striped versions actually exist, as a matter of fact I don't know if Topps will ever tell us. But knowing that these are the rarest of the rare base card variations, I had to try and snag one.  Because even if the first one might go for the most money, if they are that rare my chances of seeing another one in the coming months once the High Tek mass ripping ends might be few and far between.  As a matter of fact I've only seen one other one offered on Ebay and that guys wants $80 for it (he was trying to get $150 the first time he listed it).  I've seen some speculation that this design might be as limited as just 5 copies!

So how much did I pay for this super rare variation.  $11, well $11.25 plus shipping so right about $14.  Did I over pay?  I don't think so.  As a matter of fact after I won it I was scared the seller might back out. Because I thought I got a screaming deal.  This is one of those rare occasions you have to buck the trend and jump in.  The fact that actual print runs are still unknown helped me a lot.  It also helped that there are so many versions and variations and parallels that it's a little overwhelming.  It was for me at first.  But I realized that I'll probably be able to pick up the other 4 variations anytime.  I know at least the two most common I should be able to pick up much cheaper in a couple months with the market is still flooded with them, but these rarer ones it's now or probably never.

So here it is the rarest base variation for the American League in Topps High Tek.

1999 Upper Deck Retro

Card manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Retro

Year: 1999

Card Number: 91

Card Type: Base

I'm not really sure what was so retro with Upper Deck Retro.  I do know that boxes were actually little metal lunchboxes.  I don't think that's retro, but it is a neat gimmick.

I ended up picking up this bad boy with the rest of my Black Friday haul. I don't have a lot of cards of Robin from 1999.  That's because compared to just the next year there really aren't that many.  According to the Trading Card Database he has only 10. 1999 marks the year Robin enter the Hall of Fame and it also marks the start of card companies putting out cards featuring him again.  

I'll tell you what I like about this card.  It's the photo.  Think about it. Have you ever seen this photo used?  Sure we get tons of batting, fielding, and posed shots, but I don't know if I can think of another card featuring Robin sliding, hell even base running is rare.  Who knows maybe he's sliding head first into third on a triple, or stealing second, or just trying to get back to the bag.  Great photo, great angle, marginal card design.

There are two parallels to this card.  A gold version numbered to 250, which still commands a pretty heft price, and the platinum 1 of 1, which I'm not sure has ever seen the light of day.

Robin also has some very limited autograph cards in the set.  I think if you could find a box of this it might be fun to open.  And then you'd have a little lunchbox for your sandwich.

2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame Artifacts Bat Relic

Card manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Gallery

Year: 2003

Card Number: AR-RY

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: ARTifact

Insert Type: Relic

Relic Type: Bat

Topps Gallery was a staple in the market for quite a few years starting in 1996 till it's last issue in 2005.  In 2003 Topps put out two Gallery sets.  The regular and a Hall of Fame edition, with you know Hall of Famers.

Robin has a bunch of cards in the set with parallels and variations.  Even his ARTifact bat relic has a couple parallels and he even has a couple autographs in the set, although I can't remember ever seeing them.

I was able to snag this base relic from COMC during Black Friday for cheap.  I really kind of miss Topps Gallery.  Topps actually paid artists to produce this, not just run a photo through a Photoshop filter.

The artist for this card is Stephen Gardner, which is acknowledged on the base cards.  Packs and boxes still command a premium with packs going for $8-9 buck and boxes going for about $150-200.

1990 Collect-A-Books

Card Manfacturer: Collect-A-Books

Card Set: Collect-A-Books Series A

Year: 1990

Card Number: 9

Set Type: Box

If you collected cards back in 1990 or collect a player who played chances are you have one of these in you collection.  Collect-A-Books was one of those oddballs that came from that great time.  Packaged in a box set that was pretty popular at the time, you got 12 books per box and there were three boxes to collect. For a total of 36 cards in the set that featured all the popular players of the day. The boxes are labeled as Series 1, but I'm pretty sure they never put out a Series 2.  Collect-A-Books also paired with ProSet and NBA Hoops to produce a Football and Basketball set.  These are still really cheap and easy to find. You can find full boxes for a couple bucks. 

A neat little oddball.

2014 Topps High Tek Cracked Ice Base Varaition

Card manufacturer: Topps
Card Set: High Tek
Year: 2014
Card Number: HT-RY
Card Type: Base Design Variation
Variation Type: Cracked Ice
Note: This is the second rarest of the 6 design variations.



I was really excited to see Robin in this year's Topps High Tek.  I think it's because I do love the chase and that fact that early speculation on the set layout put estimates of possible cards in the in the 150's per player.  Of course after the set was released and we figured out what was really going on that number dropped down to the high 20's with some pretty rare cards.  The other big revelation was that instead of every player having 12 variations, which was how a lot of us read the sell sheet, each player only had 6 and it was dependent on which league they played in. Also only the base design had parallels and autographed parallels.

After it was all said and done I'm pretty confident of my Yount Tek Checklist and I'm only a few cards images short for almost every example, I don't have high hopes for actually seeing the Galactic Charcoal 1 of 1 and even if it pops up chances are it'll be a crappy picture or scan.

But I was able to snag one of the rarer base variations.  According to Cardboard Connections this is the 2nd rarest variation.  What that exactly means I don't know.  I'm still waiting to see exactly how rare these base card variations are, but I figured I'd pick this one up while it was fairly cheap.

The scans really don't do these cards justice.  They are shiny and partially see through.  So I made a GIF.  While I don't have high hopes of picking up all the diffractors I am going to try and complete the base variation set and this is a great start.

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Charcoal Parallel

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Baseball Heroes

Year: 2008

Card Number: 99

Card Type: Base parallel

Parallel Type: Charcoal 

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 295/399

This year is shaping up to be a very good year for new cards for Robin, but if I had to pick the year he had the most cards issued it would  be  2005 with  2008 coming in a distant second.  And that's simply because of parallels issued mainly by Donruss and Upper Deck.  

Upper Deck issued two sets called Baseball Heroes. One in 2005 and one in 2008. Robin has 5 cards in the 2005 base set and just one in this set.  That's OK though, because chasing down and keeping track of all those cards and parallels and variations from 2005 is a lot of work.  And even with one card in the base set there are 10 color parallels to chase and those color parallels have relic, autograph, and relic autograph variations to chase as well.   Yeah that's a lot of cards.  And figuring out which card is called what is a task too. Cards with colors like emerald green, sea green, light blue, navy blue, black, charcoal, red, you get the idea.  You really need to pay attention to serial numbering.  

I had thought I already had a charcoal color parallel for Robin in this set, but when I was shopping I noticed that my "charcoal" was unnumbered which actually means it's a black parallel.  Anyway the point is I was able to snag a charcoal color parallel on Black Friday to finally be able to mark that one off the list and I was also able to correct my collection list.  

I can see an Ultimate Guide to 2005 and 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes for Robin coming up.

I'll have to go back and double check the collection, but I think this card puts me at 7 color parallels for the set.  

1978 O-Pee-Chee

Card Manufacturer: O-Pee-Chee

Card Set: O-Pee-Chee baseball

Year: 1978

Card Number: 29

Card Type; Base

A lot of my Black Friday pick ups for Robin concentrated on more modern cards, but I did manage to add a few more vintage cards to the collection.  While I've had a complete Topps run of Robin's playing days I've been slow to pick up his O-Pee-Chee counterparts.  

I was able to add a couple O-Pee-Chee cards I needed the first being this 1978 example. 

While the photo and layout are exactly the same for both Topps and O-Pee-Chee, the card numbering is different and the card clearly has both French and English on the back and the O-Pee-Chee copyright.

I also think O-Pee-Chee used slightly better card stock.  O-Pee-Chee cards bring a little bit of a premium as they had a smaller print run and were only released in Canada.

Nice to have this one marked off the checklist.

2014 Topps Five Star Yount Checklist and Gallery

I have no hopes of acquiring any of these cards so I'll be posting images when stuff starts popping up.

Autographs
FSA-RY Base #/50,
FSA-RY Rainbow #/25,
FSA-RY Five Star 1/1

Base auto #/50

Rainbow #/25

Five Star 1 of 1

Autographed Jumbo Relic Book 
FSAB-RY #/50
FSAB-RY Gold Patch #/10
FSAB-RY Five Star 1/1

Bat Plates
FSBP-RY 1/1