Thanks - 2011 Topps Update edition

When I was young, specifically in the early 80's, my best friend was a huge Phillies fan.  His favorite pitcher was Steve Carlton, and he frequently argued that he was the best.  As a Mets fan, I didn't really remember Ryan, he was long gone by the time I got to fan-dom.  But he was a former Met, and a name who actually had the stats to due battle with Carlton.  As they battled for strikeout supremacy, Ryan became my ace in the hole for any argument.

When I opened up my packs of Topps Update 2011, I found the face of a very young Nolan Ryan, pitching for my favorite team.  I'm not sure this counts as an insert - probably it is a Short Print - and one I am happy to now own.  I don't really get why Topps does this, but from what I read on some of the other blogs out there, Topps has enough other problems.

This is a cool card, and if I'm going to pull a short print, it may as well be a Met... AND a heck of a name!

Working Backwards - Favorite Insert Set

My apologies for the slightly sloppy scan, but here is my favorite insert set from the 2011 Update Set.  On these mini's, I definitely favor the old names - I sorta hate that they put the old-time guys together with the current players.  I wish the mini-set just focused on one group, either old-timers or some other niche set.  It just seems like such a haphazard collection of different players with little rhyme or reason.  That said, I do simply love almost everything about these cards:  the close up sketch-picture up top, the slightly hazy action shot below, and even the font of the player's name and italicized team name - it just all WORKS.  My only criticism is that the back is nothing more than a checklist - but I can overlook that.  I pulled a total of 18 in my two hobby boxes, and here are the rest:

I am probably not going to try to complete this set, but if you have any others that you have nothing to do with, I'd take them!

Working Backwards

I pretty much finished up my 2012 collection - which includes (for the first time in my collecting history) the completed topps update series.  That's 990 base cards, my largest single year collection - and several completed insert sets along the way.  While I still have some 87 mini's in the update series to track down, I am pretty happy with what I have.

My new plan, since I enjoyed collecting the Update Series, is to now work backwards.  I had completed Topps 2011, but ignored update, so a couple of weeks ago I picked up two hobby boxes of 2011 update (rather cheaply, too!).  I just finished opening and ordering, so I thought I'd share some of the pulls.

I know this is probably old news to most of you - but hopefully some will enjoy the look back at the recent past.

My hobby box hits were two all-star patches, and they are pretty well-designed.  Not players that I truly love - if you have a Mets patch who you'd like to offer, I'll take it!  (I need to step up my game with trades - I've been pretty weak, so far!)