I'm a pretty advanced collector, I would say, but I just can't get out from underneath the junk wax era.
It's been 30 years since then and I'm still coming across junk wax cards that I need.
This is from the 18-card Upper Deck Silver Sluggers set issued in 1991. TCDB says this set was issued one card per jumbo pack. I assume that means you could find them only in hobby shops? As a mere retail collector in '91, I had no idea what a jumbo pack was.
But now, thanks to reader Mike, who sent along a nice selection of needs, I have completed the Dodgers portion of the Silver Sluggers set, a two whole cards, 30 years after it was issued during a period known for how abundant cards were ... and still are.
But some were sneakily elusive.
I looked quickly through my wants from this time period to see what else I need from years of easily attainable cards. This is a brief rundown of brands that are not complete in my collection as far as Dodgers:
Classic, Dodgers Police Set ('88 mostly), Nestle's, O-Pee-Chee, Sportflics, Donruss Baseball's Best, Sports Illustrated For Kids, Starting Lineup, all those 1990 Target cards, Swell, Fleer Ultra Update, Bicycle Playing Cards, Leaf (parallels), Topps (parallels), Fleer (inserts), Score (inserts), Topps Magazine, Finest, Ted Williams Company (inserts).
You can see when the inserts and parallels started to ramp up around 1992, 1993, that's when it got bleak for this set collector and my enthusiasm started to run out. 1994 was around the corner and I moved on for something less frustrating.
When I look at all I need from that period now, I think "how?" I've been accumulating at a rate that few collectors match in the last dozen years and still I've got a lot of work to do. Perhaps I need to spend a few months focusing on just those junk wax needs (well, some of them will take more than a few months). But that probaby won't happen because I love '70s Kellogg's and Hostess and vintage so much more than junk wax.
So, I'll depend mostly on good folks like Mike for those welcome junk wax finds.
You'll never hear me saying 1984 or 1986 is junk wax but close enough. All of these are OPC needs from Mike. My '84 OPC Dodgers want list is down to one (Valenzuela) and my '86 list is down to two.
Here are a couple of more modern needs. I don't get all cranky when these sets are all unfinished because 1) these sets don't mean much to me and 2) there are eleventy billion of them.
Wooo! Mike found some mini needs! This is the good omen that's going to get Gil Hodges in the Hall in a few weeks, I'm calling it now.
Mike also set a couple of 1978 Topps upgrades! (Maybe focus on junk wax instead of all the upgrades, night owl?)
Two things about the Yankees team card: One, why did Catfish Hunter bring his glove with him when everyone else knew to leave theirs in the dugout?
Secondly, this shot always looked antiseptic to me, like it was taken in a vacuum.
But that's because Topps cropped out the good bits.
Come to think of it, I think Topps airbrushed the wall higher to erase the onlookers! No wonder the card shot looked weird to me.
Anyway, many thanks to Mike for getting me one card closer to wrapping up all those pesky junk wax Dodgers.
Maybe I'll have them all finished in another 30 years.
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