Frankenset Page 17

Well, I finally made it. After nearly a year of anticipation, planning, and pure excitement, I finally arrived in Cleveland for the 39th National Sports Collectors Convention yesterday evening. Though the journey from New York state to the hotel (located 10 minutes from the IX Center) was quite long, I really have enjoyed having time to unwind for most of the day today.

Within the next hour, I'll be heading to the IX Center for the Topps VIP party (where I'll receive my tickets and a prize card pack from Panini which I might post about later today). Then, I'm going to take some time during the "sneak peek" to scout out the show and take some notes on booths I may want to seek out later this week for cards on my want list or just anything that catches my eye and is priced fairly. 

But for now, I have the cards from my 17th frankenset page to show you before I head to The National for the very first time. Page #17 includes cards 145-153 in the set. Here they are, beginning with card #145 from the 2005 Topps Heritage set. 

#145 2005 Topps Heritage Khalil Greene

I happen to have included cards needed to complete the 2005 Topps Heritage set on my want list though I haven't had much luck finding any in the year that they've been included on the list. For whatever reason, I can never seem to find any 2000's Topps Heritage cards at the shows I attend. Hopefully, The National will change that.

#146 2002 Bowman Draft Franklyn German

Though I've never seen the jerseys make it to a Topps set, Bowman has included the World Baseball Classic jerseys on their prospect cards on numerous occasions. Aroldis Chapman also has a very iconic WBC card that shows him in the all-red Cuban team uniform.

#147 2007 Bowman Heritage Juan Pierre

Though they don't include any information other than a slightly messy fake signature on the front of the card, I will say that the 2007 Bowman Heritage set is probably my favorite set in the brand's abbreviated history. The colors chosen for the cards really pop out at you, and it's quite difficult to find a bad card in the entire set.

#148 2006 Topps Heritage Victor Martinez

Out of the 4 2000's Topps Heritage sets on my want list (2005-2008), I'm extremely close to completing the 2006 set which is modeled after the 1957 Topps product. This was back when Topps mixed the SP's into the set with all the other cards, so there's a good chance that most of the 125 cards needed to finish off the set are short-printed cards.

#149 2001 Fleer Platinum Mike Cameron

Although Mike Cameron appears slightly menacing on this card, I have to say that's part of what makes it one of my favorite cards on the page. Fleer did an alright job modeling the 2001 Platinum set after their inaugural Fleer set from 1981, but with cards like this, they were able to redeem themselves a bit.

#150 1982 Topps Ted Simmons

In my opinion, the 1982 Topps "hockey stick" set is one of the most underrated Topps sets of all-time. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it in 2013 and 2017 Topps Archives even though it got a bit boring after a while. Even though 1981 is very well-liked by collectors, I've always found 1982 Topps a bit more interesting. 

#151 1994 Topps Archives The Ultimate 1954 Set Alex Grammas

If you're looking for examples of card companies recreating past sets incredibly well, look no further than the original Topps Archives sets from the 1990's modeled after some of the first Topps sets ever. Not only were the cards, at least in the '94 set, perfectly well-created, but they even included the same numbers as the cards in the original sets. 

#152 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Dan Uggla

Back when I made this frankenset in Spring of last year, Gypsy Queen was still my favorite Topps product. Unfortunately, the changes made in the last 2 years combined with the boring base set designs have caused me to lose interest in the product. If relics returned and the base design was a bit more interesting, Gypsy Queen could have one of its biggest supporters back, though I doubt it'll happen.

#153 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen Jacob DeGrom

The final card of the 17th frankenset page is a Gypsy Queen card as well, this one from the 2016 set which is the final year of Gypsy Queen that I truly liked. A lot of the pitchers' base cards in the set included images similar to the DeGrom card above, but very few had the crazy flowing hair that DeGrom showcasing during his windup.