Wednesday, March 13, 2024

My all-time Top 100 cheap azz keepers collection - 63-55

The idea for a Top 100 project collection was probably four years in the making, but it never got anywhere - only within the early months of this past year where I was really motivated to put something together

Past the pandemic, I had noticed the build up of the different bulk cards I'd rummaged at card shows - while that was great for my assorted mini-collections, I kind of lost my way listing out cards in a spreadsheet and putting cards away for some closure.

I got tired of the idea aimlessly collecting mini-collection cards where I needed to see if I can dig from the piles - so maybe I needed to scrutinize what I found, to see if there was Top 100 fuel outright.

I wanted to curate a Top 100 set where I had something to build on - but I also didn't want to think too much about it, where I needed that first all-time collection to get off the ground.

63. 1996 Best Tucson Toros Dave Hajek #10 - thinking about the random cards that end up in my Top 100, this one is definitely on fire.

62. 1992 Upper Deck Tom Selleck #SP4 - I liked Mr. Baseball, but had to look the part up on YouTube, where Frank Thomas makes an appearance.

In the movie's universe, Thomas is Ricky Davis, the young hot shot pushing the longtime veteran star [played by Selleck] off the New York Yankees - which explains why The Big Hurt was in Yankees colors as shown on the card.

61. 2001 Multi-Ad West Michigan Whitecaps Brian Saltzgaber #28 - the subject blowing a bubble makes a random, no-context minor league card of a coach infinitely more fun to look at.

60. 1998 Skybox Premium Dwayne Rudd #29 - I love the viking horned helmet worn by a player who plays for the [Minnesota] Vikings.

59. 1990 Hoops Sam Vincent #223 - one of my early inspirations for a Top 100 set was this NBA card, though I did not realize there were two versions and I'd gotten the corrected version showing only Vincent and without the Chicago Bulls player wearing #12 on this card.

58. 1998 Upper Deck Choice Dino Ciccarelli #93 - one of my early inspirations for my Top 100 set was this hockey card, featuring a photo op where the player is feeding a rhino at the zoo.

57. 2013 Topps Jurickson Profar #286 - I figured this pie in the face card wasn't a bad find for a little over a dollar, where it's a fun variation of a one time uber prospect, turned into a disappointing, but perfectly average rank-and-file player.

56. 2021 Topps Stadium Club Ronald Acuña Jr. #56 - it was part of a recent purchase, so I figured it would be 'easy' to sneak in a card of a 'here and now' baseball star, teasing his wild hair [as of 2020 or whenever the image was taken].

55. 1994 Topps Stadium Club Orel Hershiser #400 - I don't know what is going on in this card, I thought he was cleaning up after a cow milking competition at the ballpark, but this story from MLB.com gives more context about sod.

3 comments:

Bo said...

some epic cards here!

Fuji said...

I really love those Upper Deck SP cards from the early 90's.

Jon said...

Derpy faced Jordan is definitely a classic.