A special set completed

 I have a ton of cards ready to go into binders at the moment. 5-6 monster boxes worth. They are organized by teams, then year, alphabetically by brand, then alphabetically by player. With that many cards, a few are bound to get out of order. Heck, while putting in all of my non-Topps cards into TCDB, I’ve found cards within the wrong year, and probably a few wrongly alphabetized cards per team binder. 

While putting in all my Topps cards to TCDB, I’ve discovered I was 2 cards away from finishing the 1990 Topps set, and 1 each from completing the 1990 Topps Traded, 1988 Topps, 1997 Topps, and 1998 Topps Inaugural Rays set. I purchased the ‘97 Topps, ‘90 Traded, and ‘98 Inaugural Rays set, so I would think they would be all there. Especially the 1990 Topps Traded missing card, as I have a 2nd set because it came in a lot of sets. My doubles are piled into cardboard boxes which are stacked up in my already jam packed garage, so there’s no way I am finding the missing Scott Radinsky Traded card. 

I was hoping that as I get to putting more cards into TCDB, and eventually into binders that I would come across some missing cards from sets I really thought were complete. 

I was off today, and was able to finish entering my non-Topps Reds, and got midway through 2004 with the Rockies. Even better, I found the 1 missing card from my 1998 Topps Inaugural Rays set. 

A nice surprise, as that card would’ve probably cost me a least 2-3 bucks with shipping, and was the most expensive of all of those cards keeping me from completing sets. 

The 1998 Topps set was a fun set to complete just because it was from the height of my days of watching baseball and being in high school. I was homeschooled, so I had a ton of free time which went to organizing baseball cards and watching games. Back then, I didn’t have much money to by packs, so it usually was Collectors Choice or a random Topps pack once or twice a month as far as card purchases. 

I remember my first 1998 Topps pack came from Toys r Us, as we had to go there for something and it must’ve been early 1998. The only way to see what the new designs would look like was from Beckett, and I hadn’t seen them yet, so the cards were new to me straight out of the pack. I loved the design with the team logos repeating themselves behind the name, and the prospect cards were really cool with the baseballs in the background. I was really looking forward to finding cards of the Rays and Diamondbacks, but they wouldn’t be in the set until Series 2. I pulled a Minted in Cooperstown Steve Karsay parallel, and loved the big Hall of Fame stamp on the card. The draft pick cards were another cool sunset with the repeating photos on the sides. 

The sad thing about that year was that they had the Inaugural Rays sets. A special set with the Rays Inaugural Season logo stamped on them. I wasn’t going to be able to afford a regular complete set in 1998, let alone the Rays one. Fast forward 25 years later or so, and the value was still holding steady and I just had a single token Rays Inaugural Season card in my collection. I now had more money to spend on cards, but less time to organize and still little hope of finding a set under a hundred bucks or so. 

Looks like individual team sets are going for 20-30 bucks on eBay right now. Well anyways, I found a set for 46.25 including shipping at the beginning of this year, and I jumped on it. After putting the cards into TCDB, I was somehow short one, but now I can say it is officially complete, with the David Ortiz, Kerry Wood, and Roy Halliday rookies and all. I never thought I would complete that set before I completed the regular 1998 Topps set, but I have. I may still try to finish the regular version, but that’s going to be way on down the line. 

While I don’t know how I missed logging this card in, I have a feeling I know how it got there. Sheffield’s uni just looks white/gray and black, and if you just glance quickly, it looks like he’s in a Rockies uniform. I probably quickly glanced at it and thought it was a Rockies card and threw it in their pile. Now if I’ll find the other missing cards while putting my non-Topps stuff in TCDB remain to be seen, but there’s a chance. Hopefully I’ll have some time tomorrow and I’ll make progress on Colorado. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my latest post. 

-Jeremy