Super Teams, Super Set

I am working on my 2002 sets this weekend and have found some great cards in the process.  One of my favorite sets from that year was the Topps Super Teams set.  The concept behind the set was simple: Ten World Series winners with their starting line-up, manager, and a team card.  Throw in a few autographs and stadium relics and you have got one cool set.  I was never sure why Topps did not put this set out beyond the initial offering.  Perhaps having a set limited to just ten teams limited the sales?  Just throwing that out, not really sure, but I probably would have bought this product with or without the 1967 Cardinals.

It's a cool set to assemble for set builders, whether you are a whole set person or team set.  Both cool.  Here's a quick look at the ten teams featured in the Super Teams set:

1954 New York Giants

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers

1957 Milwaukee Braves

1960 Pittsburgh Pirates

1961 Yankees

1967 St. Louis Cardinals

1969 New York Mets

1970 Baltimore Orioles

1974 Oakland Athletics 

1986 New York Mets

The set also had a great set of autographs and relics.  The relic cards in the set were all stadium seats from different places including Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and County Stadium in Milwaukee.  For me, I really like the autographs in the set.  The autographs are all on-card signatures, but come as either just a plain signature card or an autographed relic card.  Here's a look at the Gibson autographed relic card:

I am sure that Topps has there reasons for making sets and not making sets, but again, this was always one of my favorite sets from the early 2000s and I am not sure why they did not continue this set past 2002.  It would have been cool to go through and pick out a few World Series winners each year and put them on cardboard.  For what it's worth, the single cards in this set are pretty popular with collectors as well as the autographs and relics.