Frankenset Page #37

With a long weekend coming up, I fully intend to devote some of the time towards creating a well-organized Red Sox team collection. The problem is, I don't really know where to start.

Yesterday's Red Sox-only package from the Team Collector's drew attention to the fact that while I have organized my Red Sox player collections almost meticulously, I haven't been able to do the same for the rest of my Sox cards. 

These are the cards of the players I don't collect, and my inexperience with team collecting has left hundreds of pages of cards in a binder without the proper means of organization. The problem is, I don't exactly know how to organize them.

Currently, I have the idea to keep the cards organized by decade and later by year as I continue to acquire more cards, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to do things. With all sorts of Red Sox player collections, it would be impossible to build team sets of my choice given I collect a couple dozen different Sox players.

Because of that, I think organizing these cards by decade and eventually, by year, would be my best bet. However, any tips from other team collectors would be greatly appreciated.

Now that I've talked about my Red Sox team collection, let's move on to the 37th page of my frankenset. Page #37 starts in 1967 Topps with card #325 and continuing through 1991 Fleer and card #333. All in all, 5 different decades are represented across this page.

#325 1967 Topps Chico Cardenas

Chico Cardenas' card is one of the first that comes to mind when I think about the 1967 Topps set. It's not a product I'm super familiar with, so cards like Cardenas, Yastrzemski, and Banks have become easily recognizable for me. Everything about this card, from the colors to the holding of the Baseball, serves to represent 60s cards very well.

#326 1998 Bowman Alex Ramirez

It's cards like this one, featuring what appears to be a Spring Training shot, that gets me excited for what's to happen in Baseball over the next few months. With less than a month until pitchers and catchers report, we're slowly but surely starting to see Baseball start up again. Plus, there are only just over 2 months until Opening Day.

#327 1958 Topps Gary Bell

The 2nd vintage set to appear on page #37, 1959 Topps is a classic set that we've had the pleasure to see reproduced twice, once in 2008 Topps Heritage and just last year in Archives. 

The set seemed to fix any major problems from the 1958 set while creating a unique design with lots of well-executed features, specifically, the amount of color Topps included while still having enough space for the picture.

#328 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen

Seeing this card today reminded me of the fact that Denard Span played for the Washington Nationals. A journeyman throughout his career, Span has played for the Twins, Giants, Rays, Mariners, and I'm sure there are other teams I'm forgetting in addition to the Nationals. While I wish the photo was a bit clearer, I like the inclusion of the rarely-shown dark blue Washington jerseys.

#329 1984 Topps Pat Tabler

Speaking of rarely-utilized uniforms, I don't see these navy blue Cleveland Indians uniforms from the 80s on cards all too often. Typically, the 70s promote the all-red jerseys while the 80s focus on the all-white uniforms, leaving very few cards with what I believe to be some excellent jerseys, the dark blue home uniforms. 

#330 2014 Topps Daniel Webb

I might as well continue to talk about uniforms since this Daniel Webb card from 2014 Topps is giving me a good reason to. That's because the iconic White Sox uniforms from the 80s are shown on this card as a throwback, and they're easily some of the best jerseys I've ever seen in my life. Seriously, who could look at these awesome, colorful uniforms and not get excited?

From what I see, the White Sox use them as throwbacks somewhat often, an excellent decision, in my opinion.

#331 1985 Donruss Jeff Reardon

The black-bordered 1985 Donruss set could possibly be the greatest Donruss product ever released, and it would be even better if the company could up their game when it comes to card backs. Even with that being said, black borders, no matter how thick or slim, look superb on cards, and it's time for Topps to realize that again and use black more in Baseball card base sets.

#332 1998 Bowman John Halama

Is it me or is the Astros logo on this card unusually small? I don't think I've ever seen such a small logo ever on a Baseball card before. And the thing is, the other 1998 Bowman card on this page features a normal-sized Cleveland Indians logo, leading me to wonder what happened to John Halama's card here.

#333 1991 Fleer Darnell Coles

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that this picture was taken at Fenway Park, the Green Monster really serving to enhance the rest of the card. Seeing the Citgo sign in the background brings back a lot of memories of going to Red Sox games. I'm definitely longing for Baseball to come once again even more after looking at this card.