Best Pages - Topps Vintage Basketball

My vintage basketball collection is not fantastic, but I do have a tad over half of the Topps flagship from 1969-1979 (1,113 out of 2,169 cards). Precious few miscellany though. Bball cards weren't terribly popular, it seems. But I like em. Never had any as a kid, but I had tons of junk era bball. And now that love has manifested itself today into spending the mortgage payment on cardboard pictures of very tiny shorts. Same song, next verse, right?

Here's my best single page scan from each year. Some more impressive than others.

1969-1970 Topps

This set is like 90% RCs since neither Topps nor anyone else of note produced a set since the 1950's. Plus they're cool as hell. Which means they're pricey. The Lucas RC wasn't though, clearly. PSA 10 incoming, baby. Set Completion: 28/99

 

1970-71 Topps 

 

More tall boys! Storage nightmares, but tons of swagger. Set Completion:82/175

 

1971-72 Topps 

Just look at this set. It's fantastic. Such a 70's font. And I have a few names, which is nice. I wish I had more, but this set is too well-loved for reasonable prices. Set Completion: 91/233

 

1972-73 Topps 

 

 

The color returns, but with much less cool factor. Set Completion:87/269

 

1973-74 Topps 

 

Huge step backwards in design. But I suppose it's ok to not take away from the live action shots, which I will always prefer to portraits, in any sports card. Particularly the poorly lit locker room hallway mugshots common in old basketball and hockey cards. 

  

1974-75 Topps 

 

Hey, the color is back! And has bled into the photo backgrounds? I think the designers found their uncle's old LSD stash in a garage somewhere. Set Completion: 132/264 

 

1975-76 Topps 

 

We're back on Earth now. Whew. Love that Connie Hawkins photo. Get wrecked. As wrecked as my completion percentage for this set. Ouch. Set Completion: 88/330 

 

1976-77 Topps 

 

Topps went yuge this year. Bold move. Makes these tough to find cheaply. I have managed a few Hall of Famers though. Now I need to manage my 4-pocket page acquisitions. Set Completion: 38/144 

 

1977-78 Topps 

 

Back to normal. A very normal set. And my first Kareem. Set Completion: 129/132 

 

1978-79 Topps 

 

 

Kareem #2! And a nice Bernard King RC. I'm missing Pistol and Dr. J only. Set Completion: 130/132 

 

1979-1980 Topps 

I posted about this complete set already. But here's these nine again. Set Completion: 132/132

I need to get to working on the 1980-81 and 1981-82 sets, as they were the end of Topps basketball until the 90's. I don't ever anticipate that sneaky Magic/Bird RC combo though. Feel free to send me one.

Go Redlegs
 

MISCELLANEOUS

Some recent random acquisitions for my many random collections. Should I pare back the breadth of the hunt? Heck no. What else should I do with my money, save and invest it? Phooey and pshaw.

Hey, guess my last name. Jeff is the only McCurry to make the majors, yet technically less successful than the four Minor League McCurrys since he had negative WAR over his 111 MLB games. Cole made it to AAA ball, but never got The Call.

 

1991-92 Skybox Canadian Minis. My favorite basketball set, shrunk down, shrink wrapped, and thrown into Frito-Lay chip bags in Canada. Snagged 37 of the 50 cards, sans Jordan of course.

 

 

 

I loved the various Olympic sets that the '92 Barcelona Games inspired. Plus we all love "white business guys in business suits" cards in any set, right?

 

Greg Maddux 1987 Topps Traded RC. The only card I was missing from this set. Snagged in a TCDB trade. Sneaky value here, as the Traded series wasn't produced nearly at the volume of the base set. And by value, I mean, like, three dollars.

 

 

 

 

Na na na na na na na na. Make all the MCU movies you want, Hollywood, you will NEVER re-create the hype of 1989's Batman.

 

 

1993 NFL Gameday McDonald's uncut sheets. Loved getting some nuggies and a few cards as a kid. This is the entire Bengals set. Should I go after all the teams? Uhhhh, no. But yes.

Boom. Bo knows how to close a post. 1986 Topps Traded RC. I'm missing the three other big RCs though (Canseco, Clark, Bonds), but Bo's the best.

Reds Opening Day Starting Nines 2012-2015

Fourth installment of the Opening Day Starting Nines binder, in which the starters are placed in their appropriate defensive spot in the page. Hey, the Reds were actually decent for a couple of these years! It's nice to see the same SP, 1B, 2B, and RF for all four of these. Consistency is hard.

2012: April 5th vs. Marlins, Reds win 4-0

1. Phillips, 2B

2. Cozart, SS

3. Votto, 1B

4. Rolen, 3B

5. Bruce, RF

6. Ludwick, LF

7. Stubbs, CF

8. Hanigan, C

9. Cueto, SP

 

 

 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

2013: April 1st vs. Angels, Reds lose 3-1

 

1. Choo, CF

2. Phillips, 2B

3. Votto, 1B

4. Ludwick, LF

5. Bruce, RF

6. Frazier, 3B

7. Cozart, SS

8. Hanigan, C

9. Cueto, SP 

 

---------------------------------------------------

2014: March 31st vs. Cardinals, Reds lose 1-0

 

1. Hamilton, CF

2. Phillips, 2B

3. Votto, 1B

4. Bruce, RF

5. Ludwick, LF

6. Frazier, 3B

7. Cozart, SS

8. Pena, C

9. Cueto, SP

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------

2015: April 6th vs Pirates, Reds win 5-2

 

1. Hamilton, CF

2. Votto, 1B

3. Frazier, 3B

4. Mesoraco, C

5. Byrd, LF

6. Bruce, RF

7. Phillips, 2B

8. Cozart, SS

9. Cueto, SP 

 

 

Go Redlegs.

 

A Few More Complete Junk Wax Insert Sets

What's one word that sums up the Junk Wax Era? MORE.

So here's more.

1991 Score Cooperstown. Inserted into factory sets of the greatest Junk Wax set of all time, 1991 Score. How well did they guess future Hall of Famers? 6 correct out of 7, with only Will Clark not making it. I say put him in.

 

1994 Ultra League Leaders. An ultra frustrating 10 card set. All sets should be multiples of 9. Get it together. Also, it's impossible to read half the words on these. 

1989 Fleer All-Star Team. This lineup slaps. Too bad they're playing inside an ion cloud in space with no audience.

1991 Gold Leaf Rookies. Good names in this one. Mike Mussina, Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez, Mo Vaughn, Reggie Sanders, and the inimitable Todd Van Poppel. Plus, what the hell, Nolan Ryan and Rickey Henderson did some cool stuff this year, so let em in.

Go Redlegs. 

A Few Complete Junk Wax Insert Sets

Rolling right along with my Junk Wax love affair. 1995 is my personal cutoff year, which is fortunate, as that's right around the time of blossoming rarities. Why spend a dollar on a single insert when you can get 10 junk inserts instead? The world remains confounding and mysterious to me.

Here's some recent completions: 

 

1991 Fleer Pro-Visions Black and 1991 Fleer Pro-Visions White. The Blacks were regular pack inserts and the Whites were tucked into factory sets. They are also incredible. I still remember seeing these for the first time at the card shop. I just realized that first page only has one Hall of Famer, which is astounding.

1995 Gold Leaf Rookies. Regular pack insert. Design is way too busy. Mid-90's photoshop technology run amok. Alex Rodriguez is the standout here. Garrett Anderson, Chan Ho Park, Shawn Green I'll tuck away in my investment portfolio.

1990 Donruss Bonus MVPs. Regular pack insert. A cavalcade of 80's badassery here. Everyone my age had stacks and stacks of Red Donruss, so I'm baffled if this is your fist time seeing these. I've also included the John Smoltz error at the end where they used a photo of Tom Glavine before fixing it somewhere along the way.

1995 Leaf Checklists. Another regular pack insert. I appreciate a well-crafted checklist. Give me a reason to display it. Perhaps I should flip these, so as the honorifics aren't upside down. Though most of us agree that the "top" of horizontal cards belongs on the left, yes? Yes.

Go Redlegs.
 

Reds IP Auto Collection - F

"F" as in "last names starting with the letter F". Not "spending my money on little cardboard men is a failure of some sort". Hoo boy. Close the filter, old boy.

For the effs, we're looking at 53 autos of 25 Reds. Standouts are George Foster, Todd Frazier, John Franco, and, hello, Terry Francona from his playing days. Got a custom Frank Fanovich who pitched 43 innings for the Reds in 1949 thus never earned a Reds baseball card (though he has a stamp issued that year). Two of Neil Fiala's 5 career MLB plate appearances were with the Reds, so it's quite a coup to have his only solo Reds org card signed. Ryan Freel's Ginter is lookin' good, RIP. And I've said this before, for you eagle eyed folks out there, my name is not Butch. 

Auto count: 53

Unique Reds: 25

Biggest name: George Foster

Current roster: None. Only option is Jose Franco who pitched 20 innings this year

Oldest Card: Gene Freese - 1963 Topps

Oldest Player: Frank Fanovich (Rookie Year 1949) 

Quantity champ: TJ Friedl, Steve Foster - 6

Missing autos I want the most: Curt Flood, Tony Fernandez

Crispest sig: Hank Foiles

 

Go Redlegs