Thank You, Twitter

I realize it's not a terrific mindset to have, but I started collecting 1979 Topps, with the idea in the back of my head that I wouldn't finish the 726-card set. 

Never before had I ever started collecting a set with this idea in mind, but the notion still genuinely made sense. Even to this day, I rarely see 1979 Topps at the Baseball card show and on the occasions which I do see singles from the set, they're grouped in with a bunch of other cards. 

I've never seen a vendor with a marked section devoted to this product, likely due to how it doesn't quite fit in with either the 70s or the 80s of Baseball card collecting. Card shows don't typically have cards from '79 Topps, and it can get too complicated to find them all for the right price on either Sportlots or COMC.

Therefore, I spent a couple of years collecting singles from this set as best I could, and I ended up making it to around the 40% mark before receiving a ton of help from other bloggers and collectors. 

I certainly have Mark Hoyle, Night Owl, and many Twitter users to thank for my recent surge in collecting the 1979 Topps set. Recently, I was able to complete yet another Twitter trade to add 50 new cards en route towards completing the 1979 Topps set.

As expected, there was plenty of color with this new stack of 1979 Topps singles, from the memorable rainbow Astros jerseys to the red banner featured on every Oakland A's card. The combination of red banners with almost-always green uniforms is an unorthodox one, but the color combo does work well with the theme of the set.

I'm not familiar with a ton of the names from a set like '79 Topps, but I easily recognize all the different jerseys present. Even when considering the era in which this set was produced, I don't know of a Topps set that features this many colorful uniforms.

Like I said, the sheer number of cards in this set with "non-traditional" jerseys must be pretty insane which makes for an incredibly interesting product.  There's no shortage of different bright and bold uniforms, but my favorite is most definitely the all-gold Pittsburgh Pirates.

One of the many criteria that I think about when choosing to collect a set is roughly what the finished product will look like. This is a significant factor in determining whether I'll collect a set or not. The idea of having the 1979 Topps set completed and in 9-pocket sheets inspired me to take initiative and begin collecting this product, in the first place. 

Even though the cards aren't super easy to come by, I'm always keeping the finished product in mind when going about my means of filling in gaps in the set.

As is the case for most sets from the 70s or before, a few of the cards I acquired for my 1979 Topps set have some slight creases or marks on them. The condition of a Baseball card has never been a huge deal for me, so I'm going to let these cards slide until the set is 100% completed.

However, if the condition becomes more significant to me later on once the set is finished, I can always go back and upgrade a few of the cards with versions that are in better shape and have fewer flaws.

This trade was completed with a fellow collector on Twitter who noted to me that the PC's White Sox and Mets cards. Thus, in return for the generous haul of '79 singles, I sent a few autographs and relic cards his way, featuring players on those 2 teams. 

The standout card of the entire trade was, without a doubt, the Twins team card. If you look closely enough at the bottom row, you can see 3 Twins players forming Xs with Baseball bats. Pretty cool though if you ask me.

It's almost become expected for me to receive a couple of these team prospect cards every time I complete a trade for some 1979 Topps set needs. At this rate, I'll have this small portion of the 726-card set completed rather soon.

Even though I have roughly half the team prospect cards that make up this subset, I don't believe that I've recognized a single one of these players so far. In fact, they remind me quite a lot of the 70s rookie stars cards as well.

Thanks to another generous card collector, this time via Twitter, I officially have 430 cards, or roughly 60%, of the 1979 Topps set. At this point, since I'm approaching the 2/3 mark, finishing up the last Topps set from the 70s definitely seems achievable, the exact opposite of what I expected when I started this set a while back.

I was pleasantly surprised that I've made such significant progress with this set over the last few months and am very appreciative to those who have helped me. Maybe, just maybe, I can get '61, '76, and '79 Topps to near-completion by the time 2019 draws to a close.