Just, fiddy?

Yup. Only fifty little shiny round Abraham Lincolns. Or, as it worked out at the cash register, just 44 hammerin' Hanks, or somethin'. Let's take a swing and see where it lands:

Why I selected it: I like 1993 Topps. Clean, functional, just colorful-enough. Topps was on a roll there in the early 90s, which makes the late 90s all the more surprising.

I have succumbed to reality on the concept of collecting a Complete Set of 1993 Topps (though I do quite anticipate completing the 2019 Archives take on these). The simple truth is that the set probably holds hundreds of just ordinary Baseball Cards of players I couldn't always remember that well. But it also most certainly has dozens of cards I would still enjoy very much. And, one-by-one, I probably will. Starting with this one.

When I went to scan this card tonight, I had a small surprise -

Woot woot!

A super rare escape from the secret world of Baseball Card promotion, must have fell on the floor during someone's 3 Martini Lunch Baseball Card sales meeting, only to be swooped up by the waitress devoted to her Baseball Card loving son. Yeah, that's the ticket.

If only this had card #000, I could get a couple rectangular George Washington's for this one. For this card, that would only be a couple-three little round ones. Off to a binder page it goes, regardless.

Why I selected it: Maybe, I thought this was Kylo Ren unconvincingly about to try to do something Evil. "Sith Lord," uhh-huhh, sure.

This also wasn't very convincing as a Hot Rookie card worthy of investment either. But, you don't ever see too many In Action Baseball Cards of player without a cap or a batting helmet, so that's unique-y. And, really, I want a page of horizontal Rookie Card cards from 2022 Gallery, and that's likely a tall ask, but you can't hit the Gretzky if you don't take a shot with Rookies. 22 Gallery is a pleasing one to shoot around some.

Why I selected it: I have an absurd fascination with 2020 Update, one of the more absurd sets of the 2020s, though for once, phoned-it-in efforts were understandable right then.

This is one of the better cards in the set, in several senses, even though Proven Closers never usually stay Proven for very long. But that in turn is part of the appeal. Did anyone think that guy wearing street clothes in 1992 Bowman or whatever would go on to the Hall of Fame? Someone has to pitch the 9th Inning, after all.

Devin could have been just a bit more centered in the image I suppose. But overall the best cure for the 2020 overcast design blues was a photo shot in brilliant sunshine. I almost suredly had a copy of this card already, but I couldn't just leave it in the fiddy/44 box to gather dust forever, could I?

Why I selected these: Every Tigers fan needs a set of 1968 Topps Tigers, and it is time to get rolling farther along with mine. Most of their names are still famous throughout Michigan, well sorta. Willie's name is on the back wall at Comerica Park these days - you can occasionally almost even make it out on brand new Baseball Cards sometimes as Topps buys a fair amount of photos from that stadium.

And a Powder Blue batting helmet? Are you kidding me? You don't ever see too many oddball things with DETROIT's timeless uniforms, so now I need another copy of the Horton. 

I woulda snatched these up just as fast in the regulation Dollar Box.

Why I selected it: Huhh. The reason didn't really scan. But that's, a good thing. This one sports one of those completely fake backdrops Topps used for quite a number of years actually, until by peak-fake in 2022 they were running up to a couple dozen a checklist. I in no way expect that in any way hurt their sales of Baseball Cards, as such trivialities are only of interest to enthusiasts. Like, readers of Baseball Card blogs.

Nonetheless I do hope their employees felt gross making cards like this one. In 2024, they seemed to have stopped completely, though I can come nowhere close to seeing every Topps Baseball Card. 2024 Archives will arrive after the New Year and hopefully they stay gone on those new cards, too.

Why I selected it: I much prefer vertical Leader cards. There is zero doubt who Lead the League. That's just so much better than horizontal Leader cards.

However vertical Leader cards are the exception, not the rule. So when I see one, I snag it. I haven't brought 2014 Heritage to a conclusion yet, though that is getting closer to the top of the list. Thanks to this card, which might already be in a ten-years-unopened card box tomb, I will definitely be looking for the rest of its nearby checklist mates. Thus another "motivational" purchase.

Why I selcted it: This isn't even a Rookie Card card and even Torkelson's Rookie Card cards are plunging towards Doom like an Imperial Star Destroyer confronted by a couple little Rebel fighters .01% of its size.

So why would I buy a sad card like this one? This is a great Tigers card. Team color framed, clearly shot in Florida where every Tigers fan wants to be, part of the year (only), and lately I have a thing for seeing (real) clouds on a Chromed card. What's not to like?

Why I selected it: This was (is) a popular design to collect in the 1990s, and in Baseball Cards, whatever went around, comes back around. I'm sure I would enjoy owning dozens of these, from the 90s, and the 20s. But I am just never going to acquire many cards like this by constantly "buying singles," (I have too many checklist-completion desires already) and these aren't easily obtained otherwise. But one falls in your lap for just 44¢, sign me up.

Here I need to detour to a card I do not own, but could conceivably be found in a several-quarters box:

hmmmm

Why I selected it: Ooooohhhh, Sapphire. They let losing-record Tigers appear on these penultimate Topps Chrome cards? I did not know that. 

I do know the Tigers never wear white caps, so this is is either from an every-team-gets-a-Trophy All-Star Game appearance (several of which had honorary Tigers then skipped by Topps on the All-Star cards), or maybe a Spring Training game. So I hads to have it. 

Plus I wanted to see how Sapphire scans; which comes out kinda like an Atomic, which I somehow know despite never owning an Atomic. My Sapphires will be limited to 1/year; this is now the front-runner for the 2020 slot, just in case it is still empty. Forgot.

Why I selected it: Hey, look, it's the 15 Minutes guy from that one World Series. Did he win that one? I forgot. 

But this is his famous Rookie Card card, and it's even with the Brewers, which I also forgot. Thus, Baseball Cards.

But a Rookie giving a Press Conference? Was he -that- good, already? Is this a super-secret super-super-Short Print Photo Variation? Only the Internet will know for sure ... let's go to the tape ...

turns out, this is not an SSP, just a regular SP. If this were an actual everyday RC card, it would be an amazing forecast of his future in the 2020 Post-Season. 

As it is, this one is just worth about what you might expect for a Brett Phillips card, even after a beautiful 2023 Topps card capped his card oeuvre, which is to say, this card is worth just about 44¢.

What can't be seen quickly when not in-hand is that this is a great example of a player wearing The Cross. It is probably up for a long ride in my "Themes" box as I am sure it is my first horizontal Cross card, and I recently pulled 9 cards out of that theme and into a pleasing binder page.

Why I selected it: The reason for this one is held within this old post. Which contains images of some formerly famous Baseball players on some still pretty famous, and very, very old cards.

I am always in a bit of awe that I own these cards, by totally random chance created at a 1970s estate sale where they weren't even purchased, deliberately.

It is clear what I need to do here — track down a Johnny Evers t206 card. 

Keeping this basically boring, overly snazzed up modern Donruss card with the abysmal front s/n stamp, of Tinker, floating around my card desk with nothing useful to do, will actually help me get in gear on this. Next up is sending those two cards into SGC grading for appropriate long-term protection.

Why I selected it: Sorry to whip-saw you back to the 2020s like that. These things can happen in a 50¢ box. I love Chrome prisms. I love Red, White, & Blue Baseball Cards. Will this be my best 2020 prism? Could be.

Why I selected it: I know I will never own an original version of this card. That's, not OK, but there is no way around that. I don't even much care for this way over-glossed reprint version; it somewhat surprises me that Topps doesn't print these on regular cardboard/Heritage/vintage stock like they do for other cards in the very same sets the glossy reprints appear in. Why not drop the print run if necessary for this idea, put them on appropriate, much-better-looking card stock, and make these far more enjoyable (bonus: far better re-sale value, something the customers want). Cheaping out on the thin stock with too much gloss detracts from the Baseball Card history on display here.

Bottom line: this is the best I can get for this excellent Baseball Card. It scans nice at least. Would you just leave a 53 Mantle reprint in a 2 quarters box? Really?