A 70's Set Build & an 80's Project

The Sunday Sort took place.  Set building and scanning did too, however I wasn't able to hammer out a post.  Until now.

This week's sort involved three care packages revolving around a 70's set build and an 80's project.  Let's start with my Topps Glossy All-Stars collection build.

Collectors who bought Topps rack packs from 1984 to 1991 were treated with a bonus white bordered, glossy card featuring all-star players, managers, and honorary members, captains, or team photos.  These are commonly referred to as Topps Glossy All-Stars and each year the set was exactly twenty-two cards.

A few years ago, I decided to build or buy the entire eight year run of sets and house them in one binder titled "The Topps Glossy All-Star Collection".  

Tom over at Batting Out of Order sent me half of the 1984 set:

1984 Topps Glossy All-Stars

These eleven cards have me four cards away from completing the 1984 set:

As for the entire Topps Glossy All-Star project, I'm still forty-two cards away.

John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me three of the Schmidt Glossy All-Stars:

I actually already had all three of these sitting in my binder, but this is a great way to see that Topps used the same design for the run of these sets.

John hit a home run with one of my other projects though.  He sent me ten cards for my 1977 Topps Star Wars set build:

While I hope to complete the Glossy All-Star project by the end of the summer, I'm in it for the long haul with this set build.

I'm not in a rush with this set, because I already own a complete set that I purchased years ago.  This particular set build was inspired by this flea market find and will be a source of entertainment for years to come.

Steve at 1975baseballcards.com also sent me some cards for my set build:

Like the blue and red series, the yellow is also slowly coming along:

While the green and orange series are nearly complete.

Steve included a few other cards for my collection.  One of them was this Red Schoendienst error card that actually depicts Whitey Herzog:

2024 Topps Heritage #149

Getting back to those Topps Glossy All-Stars, Herzog has the honor of having the most appearances (3) among managers.  In fact, the only other manager with multiple appearances is Tony LaRussa with two.

Thank you Tom, John, and Steve for you help and support with these set builds and projects.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

I'm assuming most of you who write on the Blogger platform are experiencing delays on getting their posts added to blogger feeds.  Has anyone found a solution to this?  Last week, one of my posts didn't pop up on my feed until over 24 hours later.  I've also noticed that there are major delays with fellow blogger's publications on my reading list.  I try and go back at least one or two days each morning to see if I missed anyone's posts, but I'm sure a few have slipped through the cracks.  Hopefully Blogger fixes this issue sooner than later.  Until then, if you have any personal tricks, please let me and others know down below in the comments.

A New Hope

Almost five decades ago in a house not that far away... sat a little Japanese boy on his family room floor.  His parents had just bought him a few packs of 1977 Topps Star Wars trading cards at the grocery store in San Jose's Japantown.

That's how my card collecting journey began.  Those original cards from my early childhood are long gone.  But when I started collecting again in the late 2000's, I decided to go after stuff I enjoyed from the 70's and 80's which included that 330 card set about a galaxy far, far away.

I ended up using the cheat code known as eBay and added that dream set to my collection with a few clicks of my mouse.  The stickers were purchased a few months later.

Fast forward a decade or so when I stumbled across a small storage bin of Star Wars cards at the De Anza Flea Market.

My first instinct was to purchase these for the sake of nostalgia and a good bargain.  But after hemming and hawing, I made the decision to relive my childhood and do an old fashioned set build.

I knew that I had pretty significant stacks of 4th and 5th Series singles... and much smaller stacks from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Series.  But after compiling my list, I was pretty satisfied with my starting point:

Series 1:  27/66 (40.9% complete)

Series 2:  13/66 (19.7% complete)

Series 3:  18/66 (27.3% complete)

Series 4:  63/66 (95.5% complete)

Series 5:  59/66 (89.4% complete)

Complete Set:  180/330 (54.5%)

Although this set carries a lot of sentimental value to me, it won't be high on my priority list.  I have come across some cheap singles at the flea market over the years.  If I come across them again, I'll grab them for this set build.  I'll also look for some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Series starter lots on eBay at some point to put a dent in my wantlists:

1977 Topps Series 1

1977 Topps Series 2

1977 Topps Series 3

1977 Topps Series 4

1977 Topps Series 5

The good news is I'm approaching this set build as if I were attempting to build the 1956 Topps baseball set.  Cards don't need to be in mint condition.  They just need to be in reasonable shape.  Honestly... this might be the first set build in my collecting history where condition doesn't matter.  It's truly like I'm five years old again... and I'm just excited to have cards of my favorite movie sitting in front of me on my family room floor.

Happy Monday and May the 4th be with you!

Post Credits Scene

Sorry that I've been away from the keyboard for such an extended time.  The end of the school year is always a little hectic (much like the start of the school year) with projects, state testing, and leadership gigs (like the final spirit rally and the 8th grade graduation dance).

That doesn't mean I have taken a break from card related activities.  I've been to a couple of flea markets in recent weeks, plus went to a private sale at this lady's house.  I'm currently sitting on bunch of material for future posts.  However I made myself a promise that I won't touch any of that stuff until I'm completely caught up with care packages from Reader X, Woody, John, and Rod.  Plus Greg over at The Collective Mind helped broker a purchase that boosted my Rickey Henderson collection.  In other words, I've got plenty of blog post fodder.  I just need some time to scan and write.

John:  As soon as I have some free time (probably the start of summer break), I will package up the Star Wars duplicates (probably around 200 to 250) and send them your way.  Like my set build, the majority will be from the 4th and 5th Series.

I'm a TRU Kid

When I was a kid back in the 70's and 80's... Toys R Us was the greatest retail store in (my) existence.  I only got the opportunity to go there a few times a year on special occasions like finding a birthday present for a friend.  But when it happened, it was like thirty minutes of pure happiness.  Action figures, video games, and model kits were my favorite sections, but I'd make sure to spend time in the Lego, board game, and bicycle areas as well.

By the late 80's and early 90's, they also became a source of sports cards.  They collaborated with Topps to produce their popular Baseball Rookies boxed set from 1987 to 1991.

1993 Topps Toys R Us Factory Set

Then in 1993, they teamed up with Topps again and produced a special Stadium Club set featuring young baseball stars from the era.  That year I had walked away from the hobby to focus on college, so I had zero interest in purchasing this set at the time.

However fast forward thirty-three years and I found myself purchasing this set at the De Anza Flea Market for five bucks.  The key to this purchase was the set of 5x7 Master Photos that was included in the box:

1993 Topps Toys R US Master Set #NNO

Scan of Card Back

1993 Topps Toys R US Master Set #NNO

I feel like these twelve oversized cards are worth the five bucks alone.  But Toys R Us also included a 100 card box set as a bonus.  Here's a peek at some of the bigger names from that set:

In an era where blaster boxes containing seventy-two cards will set you back $25 at Target, I feel like boxed sets from the 90's like this one are a better bargain.  But that's just my two cents.

Don't worry... I'm not hating on current sets.  Heck I'm building a bunch of Topps sets from the past few years.

One of them is the 2023 Topps flagship baseball set.  John over at Johnny's Trading Spot recently sent me over 200 cards for my set build:

I originally scanned a few nine-pocket pages with highlights, but I've misplaced them or accidentally deleted them.  Anyways... this huge lot left me with only needing ten cards (which I'll just grab off of Sportlots) to complete the Series 1, 2, and Update sets.

Thank you John!

Greg over at Night Owl Cards also sent me some set help:

These four cards completed my 2025 Topps Holiday base set:

Greg also passed along some A's and Padres cards that John had originally intended for me:

I'm guessing they were originally intended for the huge care package that John sent me a few months ago that included the above 2023 Topps cards.  I'm still in the process of sorting it, but as soon as I'm finished I'll be showing off some of the goodies from that box.

Thank you Greg and John for helping me out with these set builds!  And thank you to all of you who took the time to read this post.

Today's question of the day:

Were you a Toys R Us kid?

Do you have any fond memories of shopping there when you were a kid?

If so, please share them down in the comment section below.  I promise to read and respond to all of them.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!