Joy of a completed base product line: Topps Retired

Topps Retired Signature Edition (or shortened to Topps Retired) ran for 3 years, 2003 through 2005, before eventually morphing with Fan Favorites and Lineage into the modern version of Archives (or that's how it fits together in my mind, at least).

It's one of my favorite brands ever. The autos are the big draw, but the base cards are pretty sweet, too. As a guy who always flips over a card to check out the back, I very much appreciate the full career stats on the back. I pieced together the 2004 base set a year or two ago, then followed that up with the 2003 set complete off eBay not long after.

I recently finally finished off the trilogy by picking up the 2005 base set from an eBay seller for a terrific price. While it's probably my least favorite design of the 3, it's still got plenty of great looking cards in there.

I also picked up another 2003 set from the same guy, though I already had a complete 2003 set, but couldn't resist picking up another one at that price to break up for my PCs, seeing as I collect like two-thirds of the guys in the 110-card set.

And hey, while we're here, let's check out a sweet auto from 2003 Retired I've picked up recently...

A refractor of the great Robin Yount. That's a nice card!