Frankenset Page #33

I, for one, am getting sick and tired of waiting for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to cash in on their major contracts. As of now, it looks like they aren't going to sign until at least the middle or end of January. If last years' free agent market taught us anything, it's that both the teams and the players are willing to wait.

I'd rather distract myself with Baseball cards instead of staying up to date on Machado and Harper rumors. With the holidays just around the corner, I'll have far more time than usual to get some much-needed organizational work done, mainly putting cards away into player collections and organizing the base cards from Topps Gallery. 

I'm also still on the fence as to what I should do regarding Baseball cards this holiday season. The New Year's Day Mansfield sports card show is an option as well as knocking some cards off the want list on COMC. Additionally, I haven't taken a trip to the Baseball card shop in a couple months, so there's clearly no shortage of options.

The 33rd frankenset page happens to be one of my favorites due to the variety of set designs and colors throughout the entire page. The sheet includes cards #289-297 and features cards over a 60-year span, 1958-2018. Now, let's begin with card #289.

#289 2004 Bowman Heritage Marland Williams

1955 Bowman is my dream set to complete someday, but I highly doubt that dream is capable of becoming a reality. The prices of a set as old as '55 Bowman remain high and will only climb as the year's progress, meaning it would be imperative to begin fairly soon. Even though the set is pretty small, only 320 cards and the sole major rookie is Elston Howard, the plethora of superstar and future Hall of Famers makes 1955 Bowman an expensive set to collect.

#290 2017 Topps Heritage Brandon Belt

Besides 1955 Bowman, my next choice for a set to complete would be the memorable burlap-bordered 1968 Topps set, the subject of 2017 Topps Heritage. However, along with '55 Bowman, 1968 Topps has plenty of obstacles keeping me from completing it, primarily the Nolan Ryan and Johnny Bench rookie cards. If not for those expensive cards, '68 Topps could be a realistic set to chase.

#291 2002 Topps 206 Frank Robinson

Out of all the teams that 14-time All-Star Frank Robinson played for, I always enjoy seeing him in a Baseball card set as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Not only have I always loved their uniforms, but Robinson is one of my favorite players to collect given that he's one of my 100-card player collections as well.

#292 2018 Topps Stadium Club Red Foil Parallel Jen-Ho Tseng

I must've not been able to find a good card #292 when I first made this set over a year and a half ago since I picked this page out of the binder today without a card in that slot. After a quick search through my selection of 2018 cards, I selected a red foil parallel of Cubs rookie pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng to fill the spot. If nothing else, the abundance of blue makes for a great card, even if Tseng isn't super well-known.

#293 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Carlos Santana

1 week later and the 3-team trade between the Indians, Mariners, and Rays still makes absolutely zero sense to me. The Indians have been one of Baseball's best teams for years now, so it makes zero sense for them to take apart their team by trading Edwin Encarnacion. Either they really wanted him gone, or Cleveland really wanted Carlos Santana back. 

No matter what, they're dumb if they trade another member of the team that has won 3 straight division titles.

#294 2016 Topps Heritage Justin Morneau

There certainly have not been many pages so far in my frankenset that haven't included a card from Topps Heritage no matter what year is represented in the set. Typically, the Heritage cards are from 2016 and 2017 as those 2 sets make up most of what I've purchased of the brand. In fact, this page features a card from both years with Brandon Belt and Justin Morneau representing the '67 and '68 designs.

#295 2011 Topps Heritage Paul Maholm

Make that 3 different Topps Heritage set as the 2011 Topps Heritage product is the next to be represented on page #33 of the frankenset, this time by Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm. Paying tribute to the classic 1962 Topps design, the 2011 Heritage set featured many of the expected pictures that you often see in Heritage; Spring Training shots.

#296 1958 Topps Ryne Duren

Don't worry, I didn't include 4 different cards from Topps Heritage on this page, for that would be far too many. Instead, I went with a 1958 Topps Ryne Duren original card with an awesome pink background to compliment the retro-style Yankees logo that surprisingly hasn't changed much over the years. I've always been incredibly fond of pink on baseball cards, and the 1958 Topps set is no exception.

#297 1991 Topps Manny Lee

The day after I included 1991 Topps as one of the most underrated Flagship sets of all-time, my next frankenset page features a card from the set that further helps to prove my point. The image that's chosen, although not a true action-image, is far more interesting than almost any photo you'll see in a Topps Flagship set. Not to mention the set features an above average base set design as well.