Topps Cards that Never Were: Some things I am 'Wandering' about

I haven't posted in a while, but I've been doing alot. For starters, I have finished all of the customs of missing players in the 1998 Topps set. That will be posted at the bottom. I have also got the last 4 stickers for me and Kyler's 2020 Topps MLB Sticker Collection book, and we placed those in the book. Hopefully that will be the first of many sets that we complete together. My birthday didn't go exactly as planned, but Karen was able to get me tickets to the Rays/Angels game on Sunday. With the game, comes a lot of things that I am 'Wandering' about.

First off, with Wander Franco being called up, will he stay with the team long enough to play in the Angels series. I sure hope so, as it would be fun to see him play. I have amassed a good amount of Wander cards, and I would love to get one or two signed at the game.

Most of the Franco's have actually been acquired from bloggers. I believe the Bowman Platinum, Leaf, and '21 Bowman were from Dime Box Nick, and the Bowman rookie and Heritage jersey card were from Rod of Padrographs. The #1 Prospects was pack pulled from me, and the Leaf Draft was in a .50 cent box at a card shop. I believe the rest were from CJ of Brainiac Baseball Breaks.

If you don't know me very well, the main reason I go to games is actually to try and get autographs. I just find it a fun experience, and love trying to see how many I can get. With COVID, I'm not sure to expect. On Tampa's website, it says autographs aren't allowed for the 2021 season. Then, on MLB network, I saw where Joey Votto signed some (as well as others) at San Diego a few days ago. The Padres page doesn't say anything about no autographs, but who knows.

I do hope to at least get the Rays mascot Raymond to sign a few for me. I know they were trying to limit contact with the Cubs mascot when we went to Wrigley in April, but I figure enough time has passed and that with as haphazzard as Florida's governor has been that it shouldn't be an issue.

A seadog can't get writers cramp, can they? Much thanks to all of the bloggers who have helped me out with these. I believe other than a few from a team set and some stickers, that all of these are from bloggers.

Just in case the Rays or Angels can sign, I've been digging out cards of all of the guys who might play. I'm really hoping that Trout will make the trip. He's injured, and I don't think he would play, but perhaps he will fly to Tampa to be with the teams' medical staff. Trout is a guy, who although I get sick of hearing about how great he is, that I would love to see play live and in person before he retires. It will be cool to see Ohtani, Arozarena, and Franco play, though, even if Trout won't.

I am just hoping to maybe get close to a catching a Home Run ball (we have seats in left), perhaps get a Raymond autograph, pick up a 2021 Topps Rays team set, and maybe a '98-style Rays shirt and a cheap game-used item. It's going to be a full day, and we'll be pushing it to make batting practice, but it's going to be a blast, and I can't wait.

I should be getting a package from the 2021 Bowman Break today. The best card I pulled was a Talent Pipeline card, but I still pulled a few base cards, so I might be close to a Rays set, and I'm sure I'll bring some to the game to try to get signed.

I've also got a few trade packages that I'll put in my next post, and have also made a trip to a card shop near me where I picked up a few singles and a pack of 2021 Topps Series 2. Nothing major, but I did get a few things for trades and got some Tigers/Rays that I needed.

Back to the 1998 Topps set, it is completely finished, yearbook and non-yearbook style. The final total was 2232 cards. With the '98 Topps set finishing at card #503 (really 502 cards since they didn't have a card #7), I made 1730 cards that Topps missed out on making. So if they really wanted to make a set in 1998 with guys in their 1997 and 1998 uniforms, every coach/manager, and highlights from the regular season and playoffs, they would have to make a little more that 4 times the amount of cards they made in the regular set, and would still probably be short a few dozen cards. #Toppsislazy .

With the set being done, part of me wants to get working on the 1991 set, but the crazy part of me wants to work on the 1952 Topps set. I finished the Tigers, but it could be a pain sometimes, and with just so many players that I never heard of, I just think it would be too difficult, and I would really love to get a run of Topps cards done from 1990 to 2000 to give cards for every player who participated in a game in the '90's. With just the 1990 (traded), 1991, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000 (regular set) sets left, it just might be easier to finish all of those sets than it would be to do the '52 set by itself. Any thoughts?

Here is the 1998 set that I mentioned. There are some fun cards in it, but instead of listing a few, I just wanted to highlight one (near the very end). It is Kurt Abbott of the A's. The picture on it is from a game in April 1998 that my mom took me to in Tropicana Field. After the game, he came into the stands, and signed autographs, and was nice enough to sign his 1994 Topps card and take a picture with me. That's me next to him in the photo, at about 15 years old. Check out the fanny pack.

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy