Joy of a Completed Set: 1978 Topps

This year I've been trying to stick a fork in some long-term collecting projects that had been languishing in "almost there" status over the past few years. The big boy was 1957 Topps, completed back in October. And thanks to my latest COMC order, I've knocked out a couple more sets, including previously covered 1992 Leaf Gold and this one from about 47 years ago..

Yep, today's post is to bask in the joy of a completed 1978 Topps set. While my "birth year set" is technically 1977 Topps, I was born during the offseason near the end of the year, so if I really wanted to push the parallel of entering this world around the same time as a baseball card set, it makes more sense to align with '78 Topps. Plus the '77 set features photos from the 1976 season anyways. So while it's not exactly a "baby book" for me, I can at least work up a little extra personal connection with the '78 set today.

The set/design has grown on me over the years after not doing much for me as a kid. One compliment I can give it is it's among my favorite designs to see in refractor form. I'm still working on a run of Topps All-Time Favorites refractors and I'd rank the '78s at the top (best looking) there, maybe just slightly below the 1970 Topps refractors when they make the borders shiny silver (sometimes they didn't and just left them matte grey, which doesn't look nearly as cool). I think maybe the fact Topps hasn't run 1978 into the ground in their modern era has helped the design remain sorta fresh.

Funny enough, the final pair of needs arriving in the COMC order were both team cards: #451 Minnesota Twins and #577 Oakland A's. The third-to-last need was also a team card (Pirates, from Sportlots). I don't even remember who the last player card I needed was. Thanks again to Dennis for sending me the Trammell/Molitor rookie a while back, which helped the setbuild be relatively painless to wrap up.

I've got 23 cards in the status of "upgrade would be nice" on my spreadsheet, but these days upgrading is very low priority and I don't really care about the condition of the set, I just find peace in the knowing that I've got a complete set of 1978 Topps there to take a look at whenever I want to.

My 1978 Topps set is a basic one-of-every-number set, currently, but I wouldn't mind expanding it slightly to include the 2 recognized variations. The #23 Bump Wills error has a black circle drawn in area between the crotch and rookie trophy. Seems to cost upwards of $20, which is more than I care about it, but I'll put it on my TCDB wantlist just in case a future trade partner has one to spare. I also need a #374 Jose Morales error where the stitching on position baseball is black, not red. Turns out the copy I have (red laces, like the rest of the set) is actually the more scarce variation, with the black laces version being the common. Guess I'll have to grab one in a future Sportlots order or something.

I'm also interested in possibly adding an appendix of the effectively "1978 Topps Traded"-type cards from that year in the same design via OPC and Burger King or Zest or whatever. But yeah, I'm only interested in the cards where the photo is significantly different than the flagship Topps card. Can anybody point me to a list of such cards to target? (Feels like this is something up GCRL's alley.)

I've now got a new oldest 3-year run of completed sets thanks to already finishing '79 and '80 in recent years. I'm focused on wrapping up '72 and '75 now, and after that I'll hope to bust out the relatively lightweight sets from '76 and '77, leaving 1970 Topps as the toughest obstacle on the horizon as I try to complete the run of 70s Topps flagship.

BIRTHDAY BONUS

I received a pair of mailings from blogger buds just in time for Christmas Eve, so let's check them out!

First up is a PWE from beloved chronicler Fuji. The envelope looked like it had been rained on a bit while out for delivery, but the main card was safe inside.

Nice! Going old school with a Helmar Turkish Cigarettes card with the Oregon state seal.

Great addition to my collection. Love super old cards plus cards with a personal connection, so happy to get this vintage representation of the state I've called home for the past 15 years.

Thank you, Fuji!

-   - -o

Next up is a little bubble mailer from another of the cardsphere's top solid dudes, Dennis from TMV.

Bringer of Gavins! Shiny Sheets and a nice pair of Escobars.

But the real highlight was this Gavin Floyd plate from 2011 Topps! 

Not just a cool 1/1 Gavin-- 2011 Topps is a modern favorite of mine. You might recall I've still got a massive parallel frankenset crawling along where I'm trying to build that year's flagship sets (S1, S2, Update, Chrome) as a mix of the various parallels. Surprisingly I didn't have any printing plates among those cards despite having nearly every other parallel from that year. But yeah, this one's going to further pump up my Gavin Floyd PC.

[A little coincidence to mention, Fuji included a pair of 2011 Topps cards as bonus protection for the Oregon Helmar, though his note specified they were just along for the ride as support.]

Big thanks, Dennis! That brightened my day.

And thanks to all you readers for finding a moment to swing by the blog. Happy Xmas Eve and I hope you have an awesome Christmastime season.

yuletide trades

Here's a post with some cards I've received from fellow collectors recently.

Bru from Remember the Astrodome remembered his ol' pal Gav, and sent me over some cards for the first time in a couple years. 

The holiday PWE was chockful of Padre cards from the last couple years, and I haven't been buying new product or trading much during that time, so they were all extra fresh feeling.

Thank you, Bru! Working on some Astros return-fire for you.

-o-

Next up is a TCDB trade with Art (username "AAARRT"). I think this was the first trade ever done on the site that I initiated. The scattered trades I've done there prior were all proposed by the other guy, as far as I can remember. I was looking for someone to help me with the cards Topps gave Dick Allen this year, and Art had most of them available. I looked at his wants and was able to come up with a brick of 2017 Heritage needs for him. He could not have been more pleasant to deal with.

The Flashback insert is cool. There are no parallels or anything, though if there were I'd likely chase them. The "Then & Now" Heritage cards don't do a ton for me, nor does the Ginter, but glad to see Topps including him after basically no new Dick Allen cards from them since the days of All-Time Fan Favorites. You can see the same photo for Ginter was used with the Carlos Santana card. I wish they would have used the shot from the Luke Voit-shared card featuring a big smile whilst having a catch. (They did also use that photo in this year's A&G, but for a rip card [#/99], which I'm keeping an eye out for.) I will probably eventually go after the various Ginter parallels/minis, but between the design and the photo, I'm not inspired to hit the rainbowing very hard on this one. But cool that Dick ALLEN finally has his first Allen & Ginter card. (Matt Ginter, another PC guy of mine [who I happen to know turns the big 44 tomorrow] never got an A&G card, sadly.) Still also need Dick's Ginter X card for this year, but as a 301+ high number "SP", he's not included in the Chrome version of Ginter (that only covers 1-300 of the this year's standard A&G checklist). Oh, he also supposedly has coin "relics" in Heritage, though I don't think any have surfaced yet. My rainbow of his '21 Archives card has been coming along, but I'll wait for a future post for an update there.

I also got a few recent Juan Soto cards for the PC, including an example of Topps' foolish choice of reprinting their autograph cards, causing a lot of confusion for uninformed collectors.

The top card of the trade with Art was this numbered Jake Cronenworth RC. I don't have much of him in my collection yet.

And a few more cards included in the deal or thrown in as a surprise bonus. Thanks for the trade, Art, if you're reading.

-o-

And here's another TCDB trade I initiated.

I'm working on those Cards That Never Were from 2021 Topps Update. I was looking who had my needs available, which led me to another friendly guy (username "Johnsogr") whom I was able to dig up some vintage needs for. I asked for the Leaf Black Gold to round out the PWE (He had some other good ones I needed for my parallel setbuild, like Bagwell and Nolan Ryan, but I didn't want to over-ask, so stuck with "commons" I like/collect.) The guy kindly threw in the '72 Topps card that was on my limited TCDB wantlist as a surprise bonus.

I really should do more trading on TCDB now that it's slowed down so much on the blogs. A lot of my old trade partners just aren't trading much anymore, and those that are still going strong with trading have already traded with me so often in recent years that I don't have much left they want since I haven't been ripping packs or going to the monthly card show since the Beforetimes.

-o-

Finally for today is a package from Dennis from Too Many Verlanders that just showed up (like literally hasn't been delivered yet as I draft this paragraph, but Informed Delivery has informed me a tracking number from Ann Arbor to me is Out For Delivery and so I want to get it into this post as a last-minute edition before publishing). He's good about sending out a holiday blast of card mailings most years, a great tradition to be a part of. I had thoughts of doing similar this year, clearing out some of my cards "set aside for trader buddies" (some of which have been set aside for several years at this point), but the time and energy wasn't there for me this year. I'm hopeful of some January activity on that front, though.

Feast your eyes on all that Gavin-used cloth!

Plus some Cecchini Brothers and black gold. Thank you, Dennis! I've got something set aside for you I'll get headed your way soon.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays, everybody!

Johnny's Trade Post

John Miller surprised me with some cool cards recently.

Card Twitter was buzzing today at the revelation that 2021 Topps Update is slated to feature inserts in the classic '93 Black Gold design. Let's just hope Topps goes all-in with actual gold foil like the originals, not the shine-less TBT versions from 2019. But yeah, if those Update cards are done right, I might have to chase the set, or at least go after my PC guys. I'm still working on the originals, but this lot from John helps.

Here are highlights from the many San Diego cards in the package. The 2017 Gypsy Queen Wil Myers throwback variation seems to be a pretty tough pull. Looks like John broke a few small sets like Donruss Opening Day and Fleer Update, passing the Padres onto me. I never had much from those near-oddballs so I get a thrill out of them with their less-familiar alternate designs. And always love adding cards to PCs of guys like Bip and Templeton.

John seems to dig up a few Gavin Floyds to include every time he sends me cards. While I already have most of Floyd's mainstream cards, there were a couple needs and an upgrade here.

Saving the best for last with this pair. Might seem unassuming at first, but...

A glossy parallel of Gavin Sheets and a 12/25 press proof of Matt Clement. Sheets is the frontrunner to be the next guy named Gavin to crack the big leagues, off to a good start in AAA this season. Clement is a guy I remember rooting for during his days in San Diego.

Great stuff.. thanks, John! I sent you a little return the other day, hope you like.

Mailday Before Christmas

Good stuff under the tree to recap from Collecting Cutch, Fuji, and Too Many Verlanders.

I was thrilled to win this awesome Harold Baines card from Brian the other day. He had a contest post of predicting where Andrew McCutchen would end up. I pulled Philadelphia out of my ass, and wow, a few hours later, it was announced that he did in fact sign with the Phillies!

I've always liked Harold Baines and was pleasantly shocked at the news of his HOF election. This is a great card to ring in the occasion in my card collection. Panini Flawless cards are always classy. No logos, but there's enough going on to where you don't really notice, between the two impressive patch bits and his crazy autograph. Harold doesn't have the most visually appealing signature, but still much better than a lazy squiggle. The low serial number is a nice feature, too.

And I won this pink parallel in Brian's wonderful Save The Boobies event back in October. Victory was mine in this instance thanks to my lucky pick back in September that J.D. Martinez would hit the first double of the 2018 World Series. Sure enough that prophecy was fulfilled a month later in Game 1! For my nostradamus-like abilities, I scored this Giancarlo Stanton / Aaron Judge "award show" checklist from Series Two #'d 42/50. I collect both these guys, though I'll likely throw this in the Judge PC since I already have well over 100 Giancarlo cards and I'm still getting there with Judge.

Always down for bonus Cutch cards thrown in for the ride.

But the real surprise punch of the package was this Adrian Beltre bat relic #'d 60/99. Heck of an addition to the ol' Beltre PC.

Thanks for the contests and the bonuses, Brian! Very generous of you.

-  -  - ---o

Next up is Fuji. I figured we were square, but somehow I was still on his "hit list", and hey, I'm not going to object to receiving cards in the mail.

The 2015 Chrome George Springer is a refractor.. nice! And Fuji was just a little late on getting me that '82 Jack Morris I needed for my set, beaten to the punch by Turrdog, but still appreciated.

The meat of the package was this pair of Mad Dog Madlock relic cards.

Awesome stuff! Thank you, Fuji!

-  -  - - - --o

Lastly, Dennis from Too Many Verlanders graciously included me in his blast of holiday mailings.

Kicking off with a neat pair of blue Gavins.

Some Pads from the Past I collect, Gwynn Jr, Nevin, and a golden Giles.

Wow, now this is a Christmas package. These ornament cards from Pacific are a blast.

But the "Christmas Cards" that really get my attention are 12/25 cards. I'm always happy to land a card of any player with that yuletide numbering.. but a guy I collect? That's a bullseye for my collection! HOFer Greg Maddux and Guy From Granite Marcus Giles, both top tier dudes I collect.

Big thanks, Dennis! I'll hit you back with a return soon.


Merry Christmas, Brian, Fuji, and Dennis! Your generosity brightened my holidays.

And Happy Holidays, all. Thanks for swinging by.

Everything's Coming Up Gavin!

Today is Gavin Floyd's 35th birthday. Happy Birthday, Gavin! I've got a pretty legit PC of the guy. Pretty sure 7 printing plates is the most I have for any one player (probably only rivaled by Gavin LaValley's 4 or 5). Got a bunch of autos, too.

I thought I'd use the special day of arguably the sports world's most successful Gavin as reason to post some other new Gavin cards I picked up recently, mostly from my recent Burbank Sportscards order.

Here are a couple new names to the Greatest Gavins minicollection.
Gavin Jackson was a light-hitting middle infielder who made it all the way up to AAA-Pawtucket in the late 90s, but never made the Show.
Gavin Wright was a speedy outfielder who topped out at AA in the Astros chain in the early 00s.

Here are a couple familiar names from the overproduction era.
Gavin Baugh was on a 2-player rookie card in 1993 Topps, though he never made it out of A-ball. This is my first card of him besides '93 Topps and its variations.
Scott Erickson is an honorary Gavin (his middle name), and I don't really collect the guy, but this neat minor league card popped up in a search and it was cheap, so I went ahead and added it to my order.

Can't believe I paid a little over a buck for it, but a 1992 Quebec Pee-Wee Tournament hockey card was quirky enough for me to pull the trigger on this Gavin Kevin card. I don't think he ever went pro or anything, so this could very well be a 1-card completed master player collection.
Jerrell Gavins might be pushing the boundaries of my collection (last-name-Gavin guys are skirting the line as it is, but a plural last name Gavin?!), but I went ahead and got this in my latest COMC order. He's currently a defensive back for the Ottawa Redblacks in the CFL.

More last name Gavins, with Dave and Tom.
I already had a different Dave Gavin card, so this brings the PC to 3; pretty good for a guy with just a brief minor league career in the late 80s.
Tom Gavin had an even shorter career. After a nice debut in 1990 with rookie league Elizabethton, he was done after a weak 1991 with A-Visalia.

I also picked up a 1983 Galasso T-206 Reprint of Gavvy Cravath. Funny the reprint has a typo (Crayath). I think this is the first reprint of a supervintage card I've added to my collection of which I already owned the original...

...which is a good excuse to show off this rounded-corners beauty again.

Oh, and 2018 is looking like a big year for my Gavin LaValley supercollection...

Yep, according to Gavin LaValley's Instagram, he's gonna have autos in 2018 Bowman (Thanks for the heads-up, Zippy). I'm still undecided if I'll take the expensive plunge of trying in earnest to rainbow these, or play it fiscally responsible and just try to land a few deals here and there. Probably the latter. Though I'll keep an eye on the low-numbered parallels, and if they're not too pricey, who knows. Really depends on what the market is on these. His only prior Bowman card was back in 2014 Bowman Draft, and he didn't have an auto in that product, so these will be his first licensed autos.

But yeah, nice to see him getting some love in Bowman this year. Also very happy that the autos are on-card, not stickers. It'll be fun adding a few of these to the PC soon. I'm curious if he'll have a base card in the set too. And what about Pro Debut and Heritage Minors? Hmm.

Greatest Gavins 2017 Recap

Now that the season is over, let's take a look at how pro ballplayers named Gavin did in 2017. Let's start with the few Greatest Gavins who make up the majority of this minicollection of mine.

Gavin Cecchini - Mets
Gavin Glenn Christopher Joseph Cecchini played 32 games with the Mets in 2017, but barely hit over the Mendoza Line with just one dinger. And after batting comfortably over .300 in the minors the prior couple seasons, he only mustered .267 in AAA. In the field, he switched from short to 2nd base to make room for top prospect Amed Rosario. So, not a great year for the 2012 1st rounder, but hopefully he rebounds and sticks with the big league club at least in a backup role in 2018.

Gavin Floyd - free agent
Floyd was with Toronto in spring training, but didn't actually pitch in any games and was released at the end of camp. He didn't catch on with any other club, and while I don't think he's officially retired yet, his career seems to be over. Bummer. Oh well, he had a slightly above-average Major League career (101 ERA+). Hats off to ya, Mr. Floyd.

Gavin LaValley - Reds (minors)
LaValley split 2017 between Daytona (where he was named MVP of the Florida State League All-Star Game) and AA Pensacola. His output dipped after the promotion, but still a solid year overall. Looks like they're playing him only at 1st base now (rather than splitting time at the corners in his earlier seasoning). Joey Votto is signed through 2023, but hey, if the Reds need a first baseman in a couple years, LaValley should hopefully be ready to go by then.

Gavin Lux - Dodgers (minors)
Lux spent the whole season with the Great Lakes Loons. His batting average was down from his previous year in Rookie ball, but he hit 7 homers and stole 27 bases, both way up from 2016. His natural position is shortstop, but they also gave him a lot of starts at second base. With Corey Seager not going anywhere anytime soon, moving to the other side of the bag is probably good for his Major League aspirations. But Lux only just turned 20 last month, so no rush.

Gavin Escobar - football
Switching sports for a moment, Gavin Escobar hasn't been doing too well this year in the NFL. The Cowboys cut him loose after the 2016 season. Then he was with Kansas City Chiefs' practice squad for a few months earlier this year. More recently, he spent a few weeks with the Baltimore Ravens, getting into a couple games but not doing much, and is currently a free agent, I believe. I'm hoping he gets things going with another team, but as it stands, doesn't look like the many autos of his I own are going to appreciate in value much for me going forward. Seriously, I can't think of any other player I have more autos of.



Now let's hit some of the less-heralded Gavins in minor league baseball. Just researching for this post-- Wow! I think it's safe to say 2017 set the record for most Gavins ever in pro ball at one time. I might have to cool it on collecting cards of guys named Gavin just because it's becoming too popular of a name nowadays. Once Bowman starts having multiple Gavins in the same product (which I'm sure is any year now), I'll probably have to throw my hands up in defeat. (Update: since I started drafting up this post a while ago, it has happened: 2017 Bowman Draft includes both Gavin Lux and Gavin Sheets.) I'll try to get an autograph for each of them, probably, and maybe small PCs, but no rainbowing or heavy collecting unless a guy really calls to me (like, imagine if a guy from my high school named Gavin got drafted? I'd have to collect the shit out of his cards! ha.) But anyways, here are some more Gavins who were active in 2017:

Gavin Collins (2016-2017) - Indians (minors)
A third baseman (and occasionally catcher) in the Indians chain, Collins hit .272 with 12 taters in A-ball this past season. Not too shabby.

Gavin Fritz (2017) - Marlins (minors)
Fritz is a righty who signed with Miami in the 2017 draft (16th round) out of Dallas Baptist University. He got his feet wet with an ERA of 5.00 in rookie ball.

Gavin Garay (2017) - Mets (minors)
The Mets took Garay in the 26th round of the 2017 draft. The 20 year-old plays 1B and hit .246 with 3 homers in 36 rookie league games under his belt.

Gavin Pittore (2015-2017) - Dodgers (minors)
Pittore only pitched 8.2 innings in 2017, I gotta assume due to injury, as his numbers were good in that limited action. Hopefully he bounces back strong in 2018.

Gavin Sheets (2017) - White Sox (minors)
Sheets was taken by the White Sox in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft out of Wake Forest University. He hit .279 with 12 doubles in 56 games in his first season as a pro. From a card collecting perspective, he's got a bunch of 2017 cards thanks to Leaf and Bowman Draft. I'm not going to go too buckwild on him, but I've picked up some of his Leaf autos and will track down some Bowman cards soon enough.

Gavin Stupienski (2016-2017) - Diamondbacks (minors)
Stupienski hit an impressive .354 in limited action in the low minors in 2017. Hopefully he gets more playing time in 2018.

Gavin Wallace (2017) - Pirates (minors)
Attn: Zippy and Matt Scott: Staten Island native Wallace was drafted by the Pirates in the 15th round of the 2017 draft. He's a righty who made 13 starts with the West Virginia Black Bears last season, putting up a solid 2.65 ERA.

Grant Gavin (2016-2017) - Royals (minors)
Grant followed up his promising 2016 pro debut with a stellar 2017. He had an ERA of 1.65 in 36 games, all out of the pen. Seems like he's being groomed as the Royals' future closer.

John Gavin (2017) - Giants (minors)
I've had a John Gavin "Perfect Game" auto from his amateur days for a couple years or so. Nice to see him get drafted in 2017. He's from the Bay Area, so he was likely pleased to be taken by his hometown Giants (8th round). His pro debut consisted of no earned runs in 16 innings over 12 rookie league games. Impressive start to his career!

-    -   -  -  - - -- ------o

12 Days of Christmas Cards and Beermas - Day 9

Beermas mixes things up with a cider tonight. Should be good. It's paired with a nice auto/relic of Gavin Lux featuring a chunk of the "g" in Dodgers, by the looks of it.

Good stuff. Thanks for reading!