Frankenset Page 23

The MLB playoffs have been in full swing for about a week now if you count the thrilling tiebreakers and Wild Card games that occurred at the beginning of last week before the division series' were truly set in stone. Now, with the Brewers' sweep of the Rockies completed last night, we're down to 7 teams remaining.

Even with so much on the line for many fellow bloggers, viewers, and myself, I've had multiple posts planned out over the last few days that have prevented me from talking about the playoff races currently going on.

Have no fear, the trusty frankenset post is the perfect place to do this. Before getting to the cards, I always like to talk a little bit about what's going on in baseball at the present time as well as any news or updates about my collection and baseball card goals.

As I write this post, the Astros and Indians are tied at 1-1 going into the 6th. Going into this series, the Astros appeared to be the clear-cut favorite, and after stealing the first 2 games at home, not much has changed.

The Dodgers have another chance to send the Braves packing on the road when they play the Braves at 4:30 EST later today. Thanks to Ronald Acuña Jr's grand slam last night, the Braves were able to fight another day against LA.

Finally, the only division series in which the first 2 games were split, the Red Sox in New York tonight to play a game that's likely to take 25% longer than any other game so far as well as make my nerves go through the roof and stay up far later than I should.

While I wait for that game to get underway, it's time for the 23rd frankenset page, featuring cards 199-207 that I hand-selected to make the set.

#199 2017 Topps Johnny Cueto 

Every year in Topps Flagship, there's always a handful of cards that you can tell Topps put extra attention towards as shown by the images chosen for these particular cards. In the case of 2017 Topps, among others, one of these cards was clearly Johnny Cueto's base card that includes a perfectly-captured picture of the right-hander ready to throw his pitch.

#200 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes Cy Young

Given that the '94 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes set is one of my favorite 90's sets and includes multiple fan favorite type players which is something that greatly appeals to me, it's a major statement to say that Cy Young's card is one of my favorite, if not the best cards of the entire 200+ card set.

#201 1982 Donruss Steve Yeager

I'm not too familiar with the displeasure of the 1983 Donruss set looking practically just like the 1982 set, but I can imagine how bad it would be received if 2 extraordinarily similar sets were produced consecutively by a card company. As for the '82 and '83 Donruss sets, I like the glove more than I do the bat, so I would narrowly choose 1983 as my favorite of the 2.

#202 1992 Leaf Gold Carlos Baerga

I don't know why these 1992 Leaf Gold cards are called "Gold" considering they're primarily black borders with minimal gold outlines. With that being said, Carlos Baerga's 3rd or 4th appearance in the frankenset is his best thus far. Another example of a perfectly-captured photo, this one impresses me even more than Cueto's due to it being taken in the early 1990's.

#203 207 Topps Gypsy Queen Jharel Cotton

One of the many hyped-up rookies of the 2017 rookie class, Jharel Cotton, unfortunately, was unable to live up to expectations last season where he posted an ERA over 5.00. Additionally, he was unable to contribute to the Moneyball part 2 Oakland Athletics team of this season due to him undergoing Tommy John surgery back in March, only a week before the regular season started.

#204 1991 Sporting News Conlon Collection Johnny Neun

I tried to stay away from the Conlon Collection cards as best as I could for this frankenset because let's face it, there's not a bad card in the entire set, and any single one of them would be an excellent fit for my 666-card frankenset. However, I knew that overdoing it would become a big problem, so I kept it minimal with only a handful of them making the final set. Among the few was Tigers 1st baseman Johnny Neun.

#205 2008 Topps Opening Day Brandon Jones

I very much hope that the rumors of Big League replacing Opening Day are true because, at this point, Topps Opening Day has very little to nothing going for it. At least past sets like '08 Opening Day had red borders instead of white to make it somewhat exciting. In today's Opening Day set, all it takes is cheaper cardstock and an Opening Day logo right in the middle of the card to create an entirely different product.

#206 1973 Topps Gene Tenace World Series Game 4

For most of the frankenset, I try to incorporate at least one vintage cards from the mid-1970's or before just to make the overall set a bit more interesting as a whole. For the 23rd page, that vintage card happened to be a World Series highlight card from the 1973 set, commemorating the Oakland Athletics' first of 3 consecutive Fall Classic wins when they bested the Cincinnati Reds in 7. 

#207 2009 Upper Deck Juan Pierre

Though Juan Pierre isn't one of them, the set his card is a part of, 2009 Upper Deck, is one of a few sets to ever have a checklist that extends into the thousands. Off the top of my head, I'm drawing a blank and cannot think of any others, but I'm certain they exist and were likely produced by the same company, that being Upper Deck.