Set completion seems to have gotten more and more challenging over the years, so I like to celebrate every instance I can, big or small.
I finished off a long-neglected project this past weekend when I received an envelope from Max of Starting Nine. Inside was a card from the 2002 Upper Deck Vintage Night-Gamers insert set, which was the Pudge Rodriguez you see here. It's the last card I needed to finish it.
It's a 12-card set, which does not fit at all in a nine-pocket page, unless you double-book like I often do and then it fits, but it's awkward. Here they all are neatly.
It amazes me that the Jeter card wasn't the final one I needed. It was second-to-last.
I didn't know this set existed before I discovered card blogs. In fact, I didn't know that Upper Deck Vintage existed or even that UD made cards at that time, outside of the 2001 UD Decade '70s set that I discovered at a Fay's Drugs in town, probably in 2002.
This was the dark period for my collecting journey but I was inching back into the hobby around 2002-03. For example, I knew the Topps set issued in '02 had strange, butterscotch borders, as a I bought a pack in a chain bookstore in a mall. But aside from the flagship set and the Decade '70s set, that's all I knew or even wanted to know.
But when I started blogging, I started writing about "night cards" and my collection of them. Some alert readers sent me some of the Night-Gamers cards and I knew right away that these were meant for me. I really liked the black borders and most, if not all, presented pictures of the players playing at night.
Each of the cards mention a particular night-game feat for each player. By 2002, two-thirds of teams' games were at night, so it was not difficult to find night achievements for each of the star players.
I picked up five of these cards within the first year of blogging and then things stagnated for a long time until now.
So that's the first completed set of 2024 for me (I know I got the last card to complete 2023 Heritage a few days into the new year, but I'm considering that a 2023 completion). Yeah, this is just twelve cards, but you know the deal with inserts, some of them are like collecting a 726-card flagship set.
Max added a handful of other cards, too, including finishing a team set for me:
I need just two of these 2023 A&G Spotless Spans cards, Drysdale and Gagne. The top two have shown up repeatedly, especially the Seager. It feels awesome to have the rest of them.
I also received the second Mookie Betts card in last year's A&G set, one of those repeat subjects in the pointless expanded set that makes me never want to try to complete Allen & Ginter again. But, yeah, I got the Mookie!
Lastly, two shiny needs. You can always count on finding Dodgers I need if you focus on sets like this. I'm terrible these days at completing any team set that doesn't involve a major set. Spin-off sets like these need to get in line.
I'm always in a better mood when I finish a set and especially when I get to write about finishing a set. So, it's a celebration! I need to make that 12-card Night-Gamers picture my screen shot at work.
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