Showing posts with label Joy of a Completed Set. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joy of a Completed Set. Show all posts

Thursday, May 21, 2026

We Didn't Start The Fire (but we finished the binder!)

Way back in 2017, I got the idea to put together a binder corresponding to subjects referenced in the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". 

Fun way to combine the hobby and history, right? Took damn near a decade, but I've now finally filled every open slot. 

Is every selection a perfect match? Nah, there are definitely some cheeky placeholders that might be a stretch, and occasionally small/flat non-card items take the place of cards, plus a few homemade customs for subjects where no viable card/item could be found. So while it's still very possible that I upgrade/change a spot here and there in the future, I'm good with the group as-is and appreciate the closure of the now-filled binder.

I'm not sure the best way to share the experience without flipping though the binder yourself while the song plays. I'd be tempted to make a video, but I still haven't really cracked the nut of making YouTube videos, plus there's the whole "legal rights to use the song" headache.

So I'll link to the song above via YouTube then show full-page scans, hopefully legible enough for you. You might want to first scroll down without the music, so you can go at your own pace on each card, and maybe then go back and give it a quicker go while the song plays. Or do it the other way: trying to keep up with the song first, then go back afterwards to take a closer look. Or don't even play the song at all, if that's asking too much. Regardless, enjoy!















And now here's the recap in text form. First card is an introductory custom I made in 2017 using the cover of the song's single.

Harry Truman2012 Panini Americana #33
Doris Day1991 Starline Hollywood #46
Red China1961 Domino Les Produits du Monde #21 La Chine (China)
Johnnie RayJohnny Ray 2013 Hometown Heroes auto
South Pacific2017 The Lights of Broadway
Walter Winchell(2018 custom I made with real cut signature)
Joe DiMaggio1984 Renata Galasso #235
Joe McCarthy1992 Conlon Collection #589 (I've also got an oversized Senator Joseph McCarthy card in the binder's front window.)
Richard Nixon2012 Panini Americana #37
Studebaker1924 Imperial Tobacco Canada Motor Cars E50 #4
Television2011 Topps American Pie #40
North Korea/South Korea1991 Pro Set Desert Storm #53 (Yeah, this could be 2 spots, but this card says both names on the map, and other North Korea [only] cards proved elusive.)
Marilyn Monroe1995 Sports Time Marilyn Monroe II #141
Rosenbergs1989 Donruss #219 Steve Rosenberg
H-Bomb1997 Metal Universe #38 Gary DiSarcina
Sugar Ray1991 All World Boxing #123
Panmunjom(2026 custom I made)
Brando2011 Topps American Pie #10
The King And I2007-08 Breygent Classic Vintage Movie Posters #55
and The Catcher In The Rye2011 Topps American Pie #31
Eisenhower2007 Topps Allen & Ginter #62
Vaccine2015 Topps history insert #2A Vaccine
England's got a new queen2013 Ginter mini #HHH-QE Elizabeth II
Marciano2011 Topps American Pie #56
Liberace1991 Starline #41
Santayana goodbye(2026 custom I made)
[Chorus]2022 Topps Fire insert #EF-17 Trea Turner
Joseph Stalin2009 iCardz/Valor Studios America at War: Series 1 - D-Day
Malenkov1954 North VN stamp w/Malenkov, Ho Chi Minh, and Mao Tse-tung
Nasser1973 Panini OK VIP #36
and Prokofiev2012 Ginter Musical Masters Minis #MM-10
Rockefeller2016 Goodwin Champions Goudey #47
Campanella2012 Panini Cooperstown #108
Communist Bloc2018 Ginter - Flags of Lost Nations: East Germany
Roy Cohn2023 Historic Autographs The Mob #216
Juan Peron(2026 custom I made) (There's a vintage Juan Peron card I've got a saved search for in case it pops up at a good price, but otherwise a custom will suffice.)
Toscanini1952 Topps Look 'n See #117
Dacron"On The Move with Dacron" vintage matchbook cover
Dien Bien Phu falls1988 Dart Vietnam Facts #7 Dien Bien Phu
Rock Around the Clock2011 Topps American Pie #42
Einstein2008 Allen & Ginter #19
James Dean2001 Topps American Pie #147
Brooklyn's got a winning team1971 Fleer Laughlin World Series 1955
Davy Crockett2008 Allen & Ginter #232
Peter Pan1991 Topps Hook - Stickers #7
Elvis Presley1992 Elvis #358
Disneyland2011 Topps American Pie #50
Bardot1950s Dutch Gum A. Set (Sweden) #A. 24
Budapest2019 Goodwin Champions Map Relics #WT-194 - Budapest, Hungary (The thickest card in the binder, with a real piece of a map embedded.)
Alabama1987 Zoot U.S. of Alf Stickers #1 Alabama
Khrushchev2008 Heritage - News Flashbacks #NF6
Princess Grace2013 Panini Golden Age #63
Peyton PlacePeyton Manning 2012 Score #297
Trouble in the Suez2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #220
[Chorus]2020 Spider-Man - Primary Elements #E-4 Fire
Little Rock2002 Topps American Pie Thurgood Marshall #96
PasternakDawson Pasternak 2023-24 Upper Deck CHL Blue #7
Mickey Mantle1952 Topps #311 reprint
Kerouac2011 Topps American Pie #62
Sputnik2012 Ginter - Historical Turning Points #HTP19
Zhou Enlai1973 Panini VIP sticker #19
Bridge On The River KwaiKawhi Leonard 2017-18 Panini Status Aspirations #51
Lebanon1991 Pro Set Desert Storm #33
Charles de Gaulle2007 Topps Distinguished Service #DS27
California baseball2013 Hometown Heroes Gary Pettis state parallel
Starkweather Homicide1992 Eclipse True Crime Series 1 #79 Starkweather & Fugate
Children of Thalidomide(2026 custom I made)
Buddy Holly1993 American Bandstand #5
Ben-Hur1984 Hoyle Photo Trivia MGM Movies Game #86
Space Monkey1963 Lyons Maid Space Exploration #30 Ham the Monkey
Mafia2016 Historic Autographs The Mob #42 Al Capone
Hula Hoops1991 Impel Minnie 'n Me Series 1 #75
Castro2008 Topps Heritage - News Flashbacks #NF3
Edsel is a no-go2011 Topps American Pie #61
U-22000 Air Force History and Museums - U2
Syngman Rhee(2026 custom I made)
payolaAlan Freed 1957 Topps Hit Stars #62
and Kennedy2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces #47
Chubby Checker1993 American Bandstand #9
Psycho2011 Topps American Pie #73 Hitchcock
Belgians in the Congo1965 Topps Silly Stickers - Visit the Congo
[Chorus]2006 Flair Showcase Manny Ramirez Hot Numbers
Hemingway2009 Topps American Heritage #10
Eichmann1990 Clemson Tigers #22 Eric Eichmann
Stranger in a Strange Land2010 Rittenhouse LOST #61
Dylan2018 Edward Vela art card #5
Berlin1910-11 ATC Flags of all Nations
Bay of Pigs invasion2001 Topps American Pie #117
Lawrence of Arabia2007 Breygent Lawrence of Arabia
British Beatlemania1964 Topps Beatles #165 George Harrison
Ole Miss2021 Panini Prizm #124 Elijah Moore Green Prizm
John Glenn1992 Starline Americana #227
Liston beats Patterson1991 All World Boxing #102
Pope Paul2012 Heritage - News Flashbacks #NF-PP
Malcolm X1993 Pinnacle #302 DeShields/Malcolm X
British Politician sex2002 Inkworks Osbournes #26 Sex, Drugs (Ok, the Osbournes aren't politicians, but they're British, and the first word on the back of the card is "Sex", so 2 out of 3 ain't bad!)
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say?2013 A&G Assassination of JFK (CC-JFK)
[Chorus]1991 Score #884 Doug Jones Dream Team
Birth control2011 Topps American Pie #76
Ho Chi Minh2002 Topps American Pie #53 Vietnam War
Richard Nixon back again2011 Topps American Pie #116
Moonshot2018 Heritage - News Flashbacks: Moon Shot
Woodstock2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia #327 Woodstock
Watergate2001 Topps American Pie #135
punk rock2011 Topps American Pie #123 Ramones
Begin2009 Topps American Heritage #125 Camp David Accords
Reagan2005 Topps Turkey Red #287
Palestine1924 Ogden's Children of all Nations Stand-Ups #33
Terror on the airline1993 SkyBox Ultraverse #61 Hijack
Ayatollah's in Iran1991 Face To Face - Ayatollah Khomeini
Russians in Afghanistan1910 Types of Nations - T113 #AFG
Wheel of Fortune2011 Topps American Pie #120
Sally Ride1992 Starline Americana #198
heavy metal suicide1985 AGI Rock Star #2 Ozzy Osbourne
Foreign debts1994 Fleer Beavis and Butt-Head #5169 Foreign Exchange
homeless Vets2022 Garbage Pail Kids #15a Homeless Hazel
AIDS1992 Wild Card Decision '92 AIDS/Magic Johnson
crack2006 Family Guy S2 #28 Crack & Pancakes
Bernie Goetz2011 Topps American Pie #194 Bernie Madoff (Wrong bad Bernie, I know, but still seems like a better fit than a John Rocker card.)
Hypodermics on the shores2006 Topps Barry Bonds Home Run History #666 (Ribbing Bonds here, though he's a guy I enjoy collecting.)
China's under martial law1991 Impel Disney #177 World Tour: China
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson #NNO
[Chorus]2012 BBM Cross Blaze - Kazuhisa Makita
[Chorus]2007 Score JaMarcus Russell Hot Rookie
[Chorus]2014 Bowman Chrome Addison Russell Fire Die-Cut

For more info on specifically what Billy Joel was talking about, Wikipedia has you covered with a handy page: List of references in We Didn't Start the Fire.

It might not be perfect, but I like this ragtag group of assembled cards. Years included range from 1910 up to modern stuff. Some cards were sourced from my collection, a lot I bought specifically for the project, and several were traded to me back in the project's early days. I didn't blog about it much over the years, though, just slowly kept it going on the backburner. I know fellow cardblogger Nick V. in particular has spoken highly of the project in the past, and so I'm relieved to get this follow-up post done that I've felt I owed him for several years.

I don't doubt if another collector put together a similar project from scratch, it would look much different, though I'm sure there'd be some only-card-of-the-subject-out-there repeats. Feel free to make suggestions for cards that could upgrade a slot for me-- especially if you're offering it for trade or kindness-- as long as you don't be snobby about it.

I probably ended up spending more on this project than I would have liked-- some of those vintage cards and oddballs are tougher than you'd expect, so it's like, "Do I pony up a few bucks for a nice match, or settle for a cheaper card that's not quite a home run?" Sometimes I cheaped out, other times I ponied up a few bucks.

A brag-worthy eBay deal I looked up in my old emails: December 2018, I scored a hand-collated 200-card set of 2011 Topps American Pie for just $16.50 (free shipping), which as you've seen helped me fill over a dozen slots in the binder. Glad I've also hung onto the rest; These days the set's "Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift" card is no stranger to selling for 3-figures.. yowza! It's almost like the non-sport equivalent of the Mike Trout rookie from the same year. Thinking I should maybe get around to acquiring "dupes" of those several cards I plunked out for the binder so I'll have a separate complete '11 Pie set in the collection. They're added to my TCDb wantlist now, at least.

That'll wrap it up. Hope you enjoyed checking out the binder!


Saturday, October 11, 2025

Set Completion Carousel

I wanted to jog through a couple sets that I've recently completed, as well as a couple other sets I've started with help from near-complete starters.

Joy of a Completed Set: 1988 Fleer


It was way back during that innocent summer of 2019 that I got a partial set of 1988 Fleer from my buddy (Padrographs) Rod. Took me a few years piecing together the couple dozen or so missing cards, but I've now finally made that partial set into a complete set. (#188 Denny Martinez was the final card thanks to an accounting mistake on my part.) That gives me a 3-year run of Fleer, 1986 through 1988. I've also got '84, '90, and '92 complete. So I'm in the market for complete or near-complete sets of Fleer from '81, '82, '83, '85, '89, '91, and '93, working towards a goal Fleer Baseball run of '81 through '93 (when I stopped collecting as a kid). And I think the only Fleer Update set I've got is 1987, but I'd like to get more of those complementary sets, too.

I should salute '88 Fleer at least a little here, but what more can you say about '88 Fleer? I do like the set, especially for the checklist more than the design. You get some key rookie cards that some other companies missed out on, such as Edgar Martinez and Ron Gant, and the rookie duos with Mark Grace, and deeper cuts like Jeff King and John Burkett. Also endearing is the Reggie Jackson final tribute, his only real base card that year. While they printed a ton of the stuff, '88 Fleer still seems relatively scarce compared to the other mainstream baseball cards of 1988. Like, I'm not sure it's the best set from that year, but it at least feels less junky than Topps and Donruss, right?

Coincidentally, here's another set from 1988 that I've been trying to finish since I was at my old place (which is how I keep track of things these days-- And this month marks 5 years in the new house, so it's been a while)...

Joy of a (2nd) Completed Set: 1988 Topps Pee-Wee's Playhouse


I overpaid a bit for this oversized card the other day, but it was the final card I needed to complete a second master set of 1988 Topps Pee-Wee's Playhouse several years in the making. The story there is I ended up buying 3 boxes of the stuff (well, one was a partial box) to build my first master set and I ended up with enough dupes that it made sense to go ahead and take that second set to the finish line. Man, such a frustrating set to build! If you're thinking of going after the set, I'd warn you the boxes have horrible collation. Particular singles can be hard to find and tricky to search for. You're better off buying a completed set on eBay. Or hey, I don't intend to hang on to my second master set, so if anybody wants to trade, let me know. Master sets (159 cards including variations) seem to be going for around $150 on eBay. Along those lines, I also have a second near-master set of 1991 MusiCards available with all the variations and most of the promos that I should try to sell or trade one of these days.


New partial set to work on: Will's Cigarettes 1926 Wonders of The Past


I saw this neat tobacco mini set in a post by Nick Vossbrink back in 2020 and then set an ebay search for a cheap set. Finally a near-complete set (46/50) popped up and I scored it for just under $8 shipped. Really beautiful images on these century-old cards. I've seen at least one of these wonders in person thanks to my trip to Greece a couple years ago. Hopefully shouldn't be too hard to track down the 4 missing cards. Looking forward to paging these up.

1926 Wills Wonders of the Past needs:
14 Easter Island
42 The Colosseum
43 Trajan's Forum, Rome
44 Tombs by the Appian Way


New partial set to work on: 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites


I haven't been documenting my progress on the blog much, but these past few years I've been building all 3 refractor parallel sets to the Topps All-Time Fan Favorites trilogy (just 14 needs remaining). A bulk lot on ebay included one refractor I needed plus a partial 2004 base set, and I ended up with it for a solid price. While I'm mainly interested in the refractors, hey, the base cards are cool too. Might as well work on completing that.

2004 ATFF needs:
31 Ralph Kiner
35 Willie McGee
47 Bret Saberhagen
61 Mike Scott
93 Darren Daulton
94 Harold Reynolds
96 Pete Incaviglia
105 Cal Ripken Jr.

Only the Ripken might be relatively-pricey out of those names, so that's not bad.



One bonus tale of closure to go out on. Maybe you remember back in February I got a bunch more cool stuff from Rod including a near-complete minor league teams set of 1986 ProCards Phoenix Firebirds. The trainer card (Cliff Shidawara) got pulled for Fuji's consideration, but no worries as I was able to land a replacement on COMC for a buck. So now I've got that full team set to enter as overkill for my Chris D. Jones supercollection that already included the single.

Thanks for swinging by, folks. Hope you're enjoying playoff baseball. I've got the deciding Cubs/Brewers game on as I type. With the Padres out, I'm rooting for whoever's gone the longest without winning (so, not the Dodgers). I'd love to see a first-time champ this year.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

2001 Topps Chrome "Before There was Topps" refractors

Y'all know I like refractors. Well, one niche that especially interests me are guys' 1st Refractor, specifically talking about old-timers who played before such parallels were a thing. And in poking around, I found this 10-card "Before There was Topps" insert set from 2001 Chrome that features the first refractor produced of several inner-circle HOFers, and so I went about completing it. Took me a couple years, but I tracked them all down, paying about $10-20 per card. The base versions typically run a buck or two, but the refractors were tougher pulls-- 1:200 odds compared to 1:20 for base (per baseballcardpedia).

They didn't go too nuts in imagining what a Topps design from way back then would look like, going with a simplified 1959 Topps design with the photo circle in the middle. If this "what if" set came out today, chances are the pictures would be artificially colorized, but back in 2001, at least, Topps went old-school and kept the photos black and white.

With all these household names, you'd never guess what ended up being the final card I needed to track down. If you can believe it, it was Grover, who one might argue is the least-remembered of these 10 men today if you were forced to rank them. Hey, that gives me an idea, let's use TCDb to see which of these legends has the most cards out there as of May 2025.

#1 with 16,275 cards - Babe Ruth

Might as well do the list in descending order, since Babe Ruth having the most cards surely isn't a surprise. He's the original GOAT and still well-known today despite his heyday being a century ago.


I'd pick full stats over a little write-up any day, so I'm happy with these backs. Neat to see the Boston bookends to the Bambino's career.

#2 with 5,518 cards - Lou Gehrig


Quite a drop in card volume, with second-place Lou Gehrig having over 10,000 fewer cards out there than Ruth.


Great career ended by a tragic disease.

#3 Joe DiMaggio, Total Cards: 4,822


Yankee supremacy continues with Joe DiMaggio in third place.

I always thought it was a bummer that Joltin' Joe narrowly missed getting a playing-days Topps card.


#4 Ty Cobb, Total Cards: 4,729


Cobb just missed third place with less than one hundred fewer cards currently on the market than DiMaggio.


Ty Cobb still gets talked about a lot today, though it's often in conversations regarding Pete Rose. While he might not have the "Hit King" crown these days, check out that insane lifetime average.

#5 Honus Wagner, Total Cards: 3,189


Honus Wagner places fifth out of these fellas in terms of cards produced of their likeness.


Honus Wagner is best known in the hobby for his T206 SSP that's considered the all-time "best baseball card" to many. But yeah, he was a pretty good player, too! Not a lot of pop, but hey, that's pre-Ripken shortstops for you, right?

#6 Rogers Hornsby, Total Cards: 2,361


From Honus to Hornsby. Took me a while to notice the subtle lines of stars in the design.


More teams on the back than we've seen in the post so far. Hornsby was player/manager for most of the latter half of his career, which helps explain sticking around with limited action as his career wound down.

#7 Christy Mathewson, Total Cards: 1,423


The remaining players in this list are all pitchers. Christy Mathewson is arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, though his 1,423 different cards on the market are dwarfed by, say, Roger Clemens (19,958), but that's modern cards for you.


Imagine guys today pitching that many innings!

#8 Walter Johnson, Total Cards: 1,190


Walter Johnson is among the 3 graded cards in my completed set. I got the trio from COMC, though not all at once. I don't particularly want them graded, but I haven't been motivated to break them out either.


His total of 110 career shutouts is the record. One of those firmly unbreakable records.. at least until robot pitchers are legalized in 2063.

#9 Cy Young, Total Cards: 1,021


Cy Young is mentioned plenty today thanks largely to MLB's pitcher-of-the-year award being named after him. Barely a thousand different cards of him out there, though.


Tons of wins and losses. Cool seeing forgotten teams Spiders and Naps on the back.

Last at #10 Grover Alexander, Total Cards: 480


As I suspected, Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander does have the fewest cards out of the 10 players in this insert set. Less than 500 cards means he's not even halfway to the #9 spot.

30+ wins.. 3 years in a row.. Can you imagine?!

And that wraps it up. Nice group of shiny cards featuring all-time greats.

After completing this set, I decided I should go after the "What Could Have Been" refractors, also from 2001 Chrome, basically a similar 10-card set but with Negro League players. I don't have any of those yet, but I'm keeping an eye out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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.