My Top 5 Largest Player Collections

On Wednesday, Dime Box Nick pointed out the triumphs and challenges associated with being a player collector, particularly nowadays where we appear to be living in yet another overproduction era. Some of the best points made by Nick were yes, we are living in a time where it's incredibly easy to find cards of players we collect, even if they are retired. There are now hundreds of cards made of certain players each year which usually end up in the dime bins relatively quickly.

However, he also added that considering how many cards are made, once again going back to the possibility of a neo overproduction era, the total number of cards one accumulates may not seem as impressive. Nick used Kris Bryant as an example, and I'm going to bring up my #1 priority player collection, Craig Kimbrel.

As of the last time I updated the list, I have close to 110 cards of Craig Kimbrel. However, there are nearly 700 Craig Kimbrel cards listed on COMC. Furthermore, Beckett has a complete inventory of over 2,300 cards of the Red Sox star closer. So, as great as it is to reach these impressive player collection totals, Topps has made it so no matter how many cards you get, there's still so much to chase.

In the spirit of player collectors everywhere pursuing their favorite players' cards even when it seems impossible, I've decided to make a list of my 5 largest player collections in terms of numbers of cards. Doubles are included.

#5 David Ortiz -163 Cards

Beating out his teammate Pedro Martinez by a grand total of 1, yes one card is undoubtedly one of my favorite players of all-time, Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz. For as long as I've been collecting baseball cards, I remember collecting cards of the 10-time All-Star and the 3-time World Series Champion. It's going to take him another 2-3 years to see him put into sets like Allen & Ginter and Stadium Club when you consider that Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter are popping up more and more in checklists as of late. I'm expecting 2018 and 2019 to be fairly quiet years for me in terms of adding to my Ortiz collection but pretty soon, I'll be acquiring cards of his just like I did when he was playing. 

#4 Rickey Henderson -173 Cards

When I thought of doing this post, I have to say that I didn't expect Rickey Henderson to make the list, much less end up 4th, ahead of Big Papi. Sure, I've been collecting Henderson for a fair amount of time and he was well-represented in the 80's, but I thought I'd see Reggie Jackson and Vladimir Guerrero above the all-time stolen base leader. Nevertheless, all the teams Henderson played combined with all his stolen bases allowed him to be very well-recognized and later, well-represented in multiple modern sets. In fact, just as 1 card separated Ortiz and Pedro, there is just 1 card keeping Rickey Henderson from the guy at #3 on the list.

#3 Greg Maddux -174 Cards

As I've said before, it's the Cubs and the Red Sox that have some of the biggest player collections in my entire baseball card collection. Granted, Greg Maddux didn't spend every year of his 23-year career in Chicago. In fact, he won all 4 of his NL Cy Young awards with the Atlanta Braves from 1992-1995. Still, it's the Cubs cards that I constantly see at the card show that has inspired me to build my Greg Maddux collection up to the 174-card marvel that it is today. In fact, the collection is actually 20 cards larger than that of Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson, making it my largest Cubs player collection.

#2 Manny Ramirez -213 Cards

It was a card show that I attended in July or August of last year that beefed up my Manny Ramirez collection to become only the 2nd 200-card player collection out of the 200+ players that I collect, trailing just the man at #1. Manny's popularity seemed to stem from his last few seasons with Cleveland and his first few with Boston. There were very few hitters in baseball doing what Manny was doing and although he was busted for steroids on numerous occasions, I don't really have a reason not to like him. After all, he played one of the biggest roles in helping the Sox end the curse in '04 and helped them win once again in '07 despite multiple sources claiming he wasn't the greatest teammate in the world although David Ortiz has strongly disagreed with these reports.

#1 Nolan Ryan -420 Cards

Nolan Ryan's player collection being almost twice the size of Manny Ramirez's player collection speaks volume about the popularity of Ryan that he has maintained since his first full season with the Mets back in 1968. Maybe it's the strikeouts, no-hitters, or his incredibly raw talent, but Ryan has been represented in dozens of sets for decades now. Hence, why there are over 13,000 cards of his listed on Beckett. Personally, I think he is overly-represented on the Rangers and there should be more cards of his on the Angels which is where his career truly took off. However, just to have over 400 cards of a single player is a pretty impressive milestone. One that I truly hope to continue reaching with many of my player collections as I continue to build them up.

Future Star or Not?

Since 2015, Topps has been producing the Future Stars insert set in the Topps Chrome set to include about 20 players on the brink of becoming the next big thing in baseball. However, as Wrigley Wax pointed out earlier today, the players chosen for the insert set don't always reflect the "future" in Future Stars.

Apparently, there's now a base form of the Future Stars inserts in this year's Series 2 which will likely draw my attention. Therefore, inspired by Wrigley Wax's post and the new Series 2 Future Stars insert, I thought I'd go over what Future Stars cards I have from the last 3 years, beginning with 2015.  The criteria will be based on the accuracy in both the term future and the word star according to the time the set came out as well as present day if that makes sense.

Starting with the first card shown, Javier Baez is an interesting player. Topps certainly overhyped Baez in 2015 and has continued to list him as a future star for years. With that being said, Baez played well, albeit briefly, in the 2015 season. He's improved year by year ever since 2015 which is a very promising sign, including hitting .273 in both 2016 and 2017. He's on pace to pass his career-highs in both home runs and RBI this season, so I guess Topps was right when they first declared Baez a future star 3 years ago. After that, they just didn't stop.

I can see how it made sense at the time, but I don't think anyone is rushing to call Jorge Soler a star in today's MLB. Even dating back to 2015, Soler was very injury prone and is currently on the DL with a foot injury despite playing solid baseball thus far for the Royals. Soler, like Baez, was up and coming in 2016. However, while Baez seems to keep on improving, Soler regressed big time in 2016 and 2017, and only 324 at-bats to prove himself in those 2 seasons. Like I said, he's been solid this season for the Royals and I truly hope that continues. After all, Topps wouldn't just call him a future star for no reason.

The only 2016 Future Star I have is of Red Sox catcher and utility player Blake Swihart who, unfortunately, appears to be in the same boat as Jorge Soler. However, Swihart's injuries have been even more limiting than Soler's. Swihart had just 5 at-bats last season and just 62 the year before. He was pretty good in his limiting playing time in 2015, hence why Topps declared him a future star the year after. The good news is Swihart already has the exact same number of at-bats this year as he did in 2016 and 2017 combined and as a Red Sox fan, I really hope he'll be able to live up to Topps' expectations in 2016.

As we move on to 2017 Topps Chrome Future Stars, we see a guy who was already a future star in his first full MLB season back in 2016. Unfortunately for Seager and Dodgers fans everywhere, he's out for the entire 2018 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May. However, his performance in 2016 and again in 2017 merits the term star despite him only playing 2 full seasons. He combined to hit 48 dingers and 149 RBI in those 2 seasons combined and is expected to come back strong next season. Even though going into 2017, Seager was already a star, Topps was still right about him, and I can't wait to see what he does next year.

Michael Fulmer and Corey Seager are the only award-winners on this list as they took him their respective league Rookie of the Year awards in 2016. As of right now, Fulmer, along with Nick Castellanos, are the only bright spots for the Detroit Tigers' future. He may be struggling so far in 2018, but his respectable 3.83 ERA last season and stellar 3.06 earned run average in 2016 speak volumes about Fulmer's ability. He also has a steady strikeout rate and has fanned an average of 7 batters per 9 innings in his relatively short career thus far. He may not be a star now, but a few less runs given up and a few more strikeouts per game and he definitely could be.

If Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, Steven Matz, and Noah Syndergaard were all healthy and playing the best they could at the same time, the Mets would have a very good chance at being World Series Champions. However, there always seems to be at least 1 pitcher that's struggling on this team at any given time, hence why Harvey was traded to the Reds. Syndergaard is only 25 years old and has yet to truly struggle throughout a single season which can't be said for any other Mets pitcher. He should definitely be an All-Star in 2018 after missing out last season due to injury. This is, out of all the ones I've shown so far, the most perfect one. Sure, he had 2 full seasons behind him when this card came out, but there were people skeptical of his injury as well as if he would stay consistent and stellar and so far, he's done just that.

Top 5 Cards: Buster Posey

When I was filling out my All-Star ballots a couple weeks ago, specifically the NL, I found the catcher position extremely hard to decide upon. The AL wasn't that hard. I sure as hell wasn't voting for Mr. .192 batting average Gary Sanchez, so I went with Wilson Ramos who is leading in the polls that were released earlier today. However, I took more time with the NL.

That's when it really hit me. The catcher position is certainly not what it used to be. Take the late 70's and early 80's for example. We had possibly the greatest catcher ever in Johnny Bench. We also had Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, and a few excellent seasons from guys like Thurmon Munson and Ted Sizemore. Then, the 90's came and brought Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza with them. What shortly followed was the Joe Mauer era which has since ended and brought us to an era with 2 incredible catchers; Yadier Molina and Buster Posey.

Posey is a perfect example of everything a catcher should be including consistency year after year. He's a 5-time All-Star, the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year, and the 2012 NL MVP. In fact, he's a career .307 hitter whose worse batting average from a full single season was when he hit .288 back in 2016. He's had a consistent and stellar start to the 2018 season, enough so to make him worthy of the NL All-Star starting catcher job, even if the race lacks much competition.

Posey is similar to guys like Joey Votto, Anthony Rizzo, and Eric Hosmer, players who have played around the same time and thus, I have accumulated quite a few cards of each of them. Out of the 62 Buster Posey cards I had to choose from, here are my top 5.

#5 2016 Panini Diamond Kings

If there's one thing Panini can certainly do very well, it's catcher cards which is why they make the catcher cards look like this in every chance they get. Instead of making us look at another logoless image, Panini chooses an action shot of the catcher typically right before throwing the ball to try and get a potential out from a guy trying to steal a base. They did just that for Posey's 2016 Panini Diamond Kings card and while the brand may not be my favorite, I do love the cardstock and the way Panini chose to design this card.

#4 2013 Topps Finest

If I had to choose one box of Topps Finest to open, I would go for either 2013 or 2016. While I find the set overly-expensive, I appreciate the details of the 2013 base set, specifically the grey circles that get bigger as they get closer to the center of the card. Additionally, Topps did an excellent job of making the player not look out of place when put in front of an abstract background. Basically, even though the card is super futuristic and the set itself is very modern, they do a good job at allowing the player, in this case, Posey, not appear out of place which says a lot about the quality of this set.

#3 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Collisions at the Plate

What I appreciate about the Collisions at the Plate insert set is that it's actually not an excuse for Topps to market off of specific collisions. Instead of focusing on a specific one like Posey's season-ending collision in 2011, the card back simply elaborates on how much Posey comprehends about the severity of these collisions. Furthermore, it says on the back that Posey's collision was against the Marlins, but this card clearly shows a Dodger. Therefore, I've grown to like this card more and more over time and understand what Topps was going for with this insert set.

#2 2011 Topps Heritage World Series Winners

An iconic moment that takes place when a team wins the World Series is usually when the catcher and pitcher in the game at the time run towards and embrace one another while the rest of the team joins them from the field, dugout, and bullpen. I wish they had chosen that moment to capture in the 2011 Heritage set since I believe Brian Wilson was far more excited to win the Fall Classic than he appears to be in this card. Still, I'm a huge fan of the 2011 Heritage set, based off of 1962 Topps. Therefore, I'm able to look past the small issue I have with the card and put it at #2 on my list.

#1 2017 Topps Archives Variation

I'm personally a huge fan of the 1960 Topps set, and I was ecstatic to see it included in 2017 Topps Archives. Therefore, it's not too hard to make a card from that set impress me. However, Posey's 2017 Topps Archives. For starters, this card is actually a white jersey variation, which may or may not influence my decision of putting this card at #1. What I truly like about this card is the light blue background made greater by the attention to detail of the shadow behind Posey. The other parts of the 1960 set are replicated very well, such as the black and white photo to the left and the different colors in the name. However, it's the color photo that really gets me and influenced my overall decision for putting this card #1 on the countdown. 

Frankenset Page 11

In my next bit of news before frankenset post, it appears that Red Sox 3rd baseman Rafael Devers is involved in some trade rumors and whispers, including a trade to the Orioles for Manny Machado. The 21-year old has not had the season fans expected him to had, but as of late, he has picked up his game, hitting .290 in his last 7 games.

Taking everything into account, I believe it's far too early for the Sox to give up on Devers. Yes, they did the same with Moncada and he's on pace to strike out 200 times this year, but Devers is something special. He proved himself when he was called up and has made strides to improve defensively. They owe it to him and the fans to give him some more time.

In other news, MLB released the leaders in All-Star votes last week and unbelievably, Gary Sanchez had the most votes for the AL catcher position which is borderline absurd. He's hitting .192 right now, yes .192! In fact, he's hitting .103 in his last 15 games and somehow, that's worthy of being an All-Star. This is a perfect example of why as much as I like the idea of fan voting, it may not be the correct way of determining our All-Stars.

With that little bit of baseball news completed, it's time to move on to the 11th page of my frankenset, featuring cards 91-99.

#91 2003 Topps Orlando Cabrera

This is probably one of the best cards from 2003 Topps that you'll be able to find. It's a set that's fairly one-dimensional and doesn't have a whole lot to it other than blue borders. I always appreciate a good Expos card and this Orlando Cabrera card is certainly one that fits the mold.

#92 2014 Bowman Jed Lowrie

Lowrie's 2014 Gypsy Queen card features this exact same image and is quite possibly one of my favorite A's cards of all-time. The 2014 Bowman is nothing to sneeze at either, with tons of parallels available for purchase on COMC, including an incredibly looking black parallel numbered to 25.

#93 2006 Fleer Tradition Miguel Cabrera

Seeing this card of Miguel Cabrera reminds me that the 2012 and 2013 AL MVP is expected to miss the rest of 2018 due to a ruptured tendon. It's pretty sad considering he was on pace not only for a bounce-back season but maybe even 500 home runs this year or next. Now, he'll be 36 in April of next year and might not have too much left in him. However, I truly hope he's able to reach the 500 home run milestone that he deserves.

#94 1988 Pacific Baseball Legends Orlando Cepeda

Over the course of his career, Cepeda was a star for multiple teams such as the Braves, Cardinals, and Giants. I like the choice of the Braves and their pinstriped jerseys for this card considering he's fairly underrepresented with that team. However, I typically associate him more with the Giants.

#95 2010 Topps National Chicle Ryan Braun

I may not be Ryan Braun's biggest fan in the world, but I absolutely love his 2010 Topps National Chicle card. In a set where the cards can get a bit too abstract for my taste, it's refreshing to have a fairly simple card with a nice white and light purple background with a clear abundance of attention to detail.

#96 2005 Upper Deck All-Star Classics Robin Yount

Robin Yount is in the top 3 players of all-time who I should collect but don't, along with Tony Gwynn and probably Kirby Puckett. All 3 played around the same time, so I think it has more to do with the era than it does with anything else. Granted, I do collect cards of many guys who played in that time, so it probably is just the timeline of each of their careers that makes me not have too many cards of any of them.

#97 1973 Topps Willie Montanez

I don't think one could find many cards that encapsulate what 1973 Topps was all about. Landscape style cards, crazy hair, colorful jerseys, and of course, pictures of the players sliding into bases. All of these details come through on Montanez's card which is why I chose it for spot #97.

#98 2005 Bowman Heritage Mini Kyle Davies

Typically in frankensets, there's 1 card per page of a player I haven't heard of before and whose card I chose simply because I like the photo, design, uniform, details, or a combination of what I just listed. In the case of page 11, that card if Kyle Davies and the set is 2005 Bowman Heritage.

#99 1993 Action Packed All-Star Gallery Lefty Grove

1993 Action Packet is a perfect example of some of the creative and interesting sets from the junk wax era. The set is a concept I like very much; it features legends along with some lesser players of baseball history up until the 90's when the set was produced. I don't, however, know if there was any other year of this set other than 1993.