The Best Discontinued Set of the Last 10 Years

It's here (sorry for the delay)

I had a lot of good responses in the comments That read something like Masterpieces, Masterpieces, GOTG, Masterpieces, Goudey, something Topps did 8 years ago, and you know what? Those were right on.

UD Masterpieces was a phenomenal set--in fact, 2007 and 2008 masterpieces remain the ONLY sets that I have completed in their entirety since I returned to collecting, so, yeah. It was pretty great.

I've collected cards from Greats of the Game and I love me some Goudey (especially 2007), but they're not it either.

Then three people said "Topps All-Time Fan Favorites." Let's see: Retired players, new photographs on old card designs and on-card autographs. Yeah, I'd say that that is a recipe for fantasticness. One problem: with all the different designs, it didn't really feel like a set per se. Oh, it was cool, but it falls just short of greatness for me.

This doesn't:



That was Lance Parrish that you were looking at in my original post Lance. Parrish. Quiz time, how many mainstream, non-buyback cards does this 8x All Star, 6x Silver Slugger, 3x Gold Glove winning Catcher who sports 324 career home runs and 1000+ RBI have since he retired in 1995? 15. Four of those came out in 1996. Nine (!) came out in 2003. Was 2003 the year of Lance Parrish? Is there some reason that this borderline hall-of-famer has been effectively ignored by the hobby (who's top comparables include 3 Hall of Famers, Jorge Posada, Ron Cey, Benny Santiago and Bill Freehan), but Ty Cobb has ELEVEN cards in 2011 Topps Series 1?!?!

Oh, and that's another thing...


BILL FREEHAN MIGHT HAVE BEEN EVEN BETTER THAN PARRISH!

At least he got some love from Upper Deck, in Greats of the Game and Legendary Cuts etc.

At this point in the show, I realize that I may have digressed from my main point: Topps Retired is the best discontinued set of the last 10 years.

My reasons are twofold, and simple:

1. The cards use a modified design of each year's Topps base set, giving the set a cohesive feel that ties in nicely with the flagship Topps release

2. The checklist highlights the many, many players who were STARS, including some should-be Hall of Famers that have barely graced ANY sports cards since 2006. Right Alan?



Right.

I've got LOTSLOTSLOTS more to say about this fantastic set and how it compares to things nowadays after the jump.

Eye Exam

I got a pair of shiny new autographs in the mail over the course of the last few weeks. They are both pretty great, although one is obviously better than the other. My question for you isn't which card you think is better, but how you, the reader, prefers to consume images of fine cards like these.

So,

Better 1:

Or Better 2:

Do you like your blow-ups normal sized or super-enormous? Please let me know in the comments.

Thanks!

(I'm pretty sure you need to go to the actual page for this to work--the RSS feed itself won't cut it, sorry)

Loooong Gone

Even though everybody knew it was coming, Ernie Harwell's death seems to have struck a chord both locally and nationally. I want to thank Bless You Boys and the Detroit Tigers Weblog, primarily for their extensive links and quotes to all things Ernie. It was a huge help when trying to catch up on public sentiment after traveling all day yesterday.

Bless You Boys' round up of the local perspective and national perspective.

Detroit Tigers Weblog's offering including some very good audio links.

Everyone seems to have their stories--a brief meeting, important moment in life, pervasive feeling of comfort and calm whenever you turned on the radio. They are all wonderful. For me, there are three quick ones.

The first involves meeting Ernie in a dark Tiger Stadium concourse after he was leaving after a game. I got his attention and asked him if he would sign my cap--the blue faded "E Harwell" is still on the underside of that Tigers hat, and although it doesn't fit me any more, I've kept it around. For a kid, getting an autograph is really exciting, and I've been proud of that one for years.

The second memory is of Opening Day the year that Ernie was fired. I remember before the game, out in the street, someone was handing out thousands of cardboard cutouts of Ernie's face on a stick that we could all hold up as cheap Harwell masks. This was, of course, a form of mass protest designed to showcase the disgust we all had for the firing. I held mine up throughout the game and it is still one of the more vivid memories I have from any particular baseball game.

While I was writing that, I decided to do a quick eBay search and...there it is. The internet is so awesome. Here's a screen shot:

Finally, the third "memory" seems to be what people are talking about most. Tigers baseball, broadcast by Ernie Harwell, defined summer. We went to sleep to it. Listened to it in our cars. In my case, listened to it across 4 or 5 different radio stations on our way up North, not sure if there was static on the station because we were losing it or if it was just the gentle hum of the crowd at Tiger Stadium. Then, during the days, sitting outside in the sun and looking over the lake with the game on in the background and Ernie just smoothly telling the story of baseball. There is nothing else like it.

Ernie's passing is truly is the end of an era for me, that combines with the demolition of Tiger Stadium and the death of my Grandfather last year. Those three have always been inextricably intertwined for me, and it is very sad that they are no longer around. At the same time, they are now all firmly cemented in a very-well defined era of my life. The memories are clear and easy to access and don't get muddled up by incongruous timelines or things like that. Ernie Harwell--the most beloved man in the history of Michigan, according to the Free Press subheader the other day--will certainly be missed. I can only hope that, somehow, future generations are able to experience something anywhere close to what he gave us.

Aaaand Breathe

Sometimes you hold your breath and you don't even know it until you let out a long, satisfying exhale. You know, like yesterday when the Tigers finally escaped the Metrodome with a win for the final time. Like when you realize that 1. You never have to watch your team play in the Metrodome again, 2. That they are up 3 games in the division instead of up 1, and 3. That there is an off-day on Monday which means that not only can they not lose today, but you finally have a chance to catch your breath.

Sometimes though, the deep exhale isn't as satisfying. Instead, it is painfully slow and drawn out as if to hold back some deeper feelings. It shudders a bit as you let go, as you stretch that breath long enough to keep your composure. I've had a few too many of those this year, and today's unceremonious note of finality called them all back to mind.

Tiger Stadium is officially gone, now just another empty lot on an increasingly barren Detroit landscape. That is sad. Certainly, I'm glad to see nothing there instead of the partially demolished wreck that it has been for a few months, but it just strikes me as sad that it ended up like this. The fact that it stood there for almost a year in a miniature state, with stands running from dugout to dugout was awesome. Something could have been done with that. And while I have a million questions about what went wrong, I suppose it is time that I just let it pass on.

In fact, in a bit of perfect timing, I'll be able to preserve the stadium in my own way. Yep, this came in the mail the other day, and can be my little piece of history while others scramble for bricks and rubble:



That's a real life piece of a Tiger Stadium seat, as found in 2004 Topps. This is what baseball cards are for. Yes, I understand that relics etc. are overdone, but I mean that in a more general sense. Baseball cards are for preserving history and memories--moments in time. When I look at this card, I will recall far more than what is depicted. In fact, I never saw Al Kaline play, and have no concept of what he was like in the 1968 World Series. I do know that the blue seats shown on the card are in no way related to the seat relic in my possession. Those blue and orange plastic seats were installed in 1977, no wood seat relics there. The wood seats were actually there during the '68 series. I can picture myself walking up those tunnels only to be wrapped up in that blue stadium, and I can easily envision its majesty as an all-green canvas. It is nice to see a card that commemorates a stadium--there's really not enough recognition given to their place in history.

And while we're at it:



I also got this card on Saturday. It was a loose card that my dad found while they were clearing out my Grandpa's house. It is the single greatest hologram card that I have ever seen. A picture doesn't do it justice. I may try to take video of it, but I don't have time to figure that out tonight. So I leave you with just the picture, of a dynamic, multi-dimensional stadium that had so much life in it, even after it had been left empty for 10 years. With the last pieces now gone, cards like this are all that we have left.