They are not even all in the picture. Basically, I have been breaking my boxes, sorted by team, into sets of cards. Some sets I might have gone overboard. Slightly. I really liked the Hank Aaron reprints in this set, but at some point should have just bought the insert set and stopped opening packs. I broke several giant stacks of cards down into the sets.
Five sets later I decided it was time to stop. I still have a big stack of cards from this set, but it is less than 80% of the 470 cards needed to complete the set. I am taking all of the leftover singles and putting them in with the rest of my dupes which I am using as trade bait. I am also going to start selling them in player lots. Some of them are pretty pick lots of cards. Anyway, if you are not familiar with the 2000 Topps set here's my quick run down.
2000 Topps Cal Ripken
The base set is your usually Topps base set. The 2000 set is a little bit smaller than most of the Topps sets at only 479 cards plus a Mark McGwire reprint. Topps went through a phase in the late 90s were they put out a few smaller base sets. This set was the last of the little base sets. The 2001 Topps set is 792 I believe. Inside and outside of the base set there are a few things to like about this set.
2000 Topps Mark McGwire 1985 Topps Reprint
I really liked the Mark McGwire rookie reprint. Yes, I like the Cardinals. This set was issued before Topps had any of the Archives or Fan Favorites lines and this was a singular reprint. Topps had done reprints with Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron in this set. What's one more reprint? Besides, many collectors actually count this as the last card in the set and Topps did short-print this card. Although, I always seem to remember landing more than a few of these. My stack of dupes agrees.
I also really liked these 20th Century Best subset cards which showed the active Major League leader in a particular category. Check out Frank Thomas and his OBP. Pretty cool that Topps threw this card into the 2000 Topps set. I wonder if Billy Beane helped design the set? There are also sparkly versions of these cards that are serial numbered and cost $4 on Ebay instead of $0.50. Worth a look around.
Outside of the base set I had two inserts I really liked from this set (three, but you've all seen a Hank Aaron card-imagine it reprinted). The Topps Combos insert was ten cards that looked a lot like the art work Topps had been using in their Topps Gallery Heritage Sets. Only these cards had combinations of players instead of a singular player. Always really liked this Pedro and Big Unit card. Pedro might be too tall, or is Randy Johnson too short? Something is off, but I still love it.
I am not sure what happened here with the scan, but this card is really cool. If I wasn't working tomorrow I would rescan it. School on Saturdays is fun. Anyway, this set is die-cut and focuses on really good defensive players. Some different names in here and the cards are die-cut. That's always fun.
I was sorting sets last weekend... started out dreading it, then got into it, eventually got bored with it, which led to me hating it, but when I finally finished I was happy. I can't believe the amount of mood swings I had in a three hour period.
ReplyDeleteI have had moments like that and there are sets that I have dreaded putting together. My 2005 Topps cards have been sitting on my desk for a month. I probably have four or five of those sets too, but I hate that set. Thought about building one and giving the rest away to kids at school.
Delete2000 Topps was one of my absolute favorite sets. Those Hands of Gold cards were a relatively tough pull from what I remember.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Really cool cards. They remind me a little bit of the Hot Gloves inserts.
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