The last card, addendum

 

A year ago, I wrote a post about the last card, that final, elusive item to complete a set. I listed the final cards for several of the sets that I've completed over the years.

I said that I would add more "last cards" to that post as I complete more sets or for sets I've already finished but didn't mention in that post. Of course I haven't done that yet.

I will do so however after I finish this post, which is an addendum to that last card post. I just finished the 2003 Topps Fan Favorites set with the Dennis Eckersley card above and I've completed a good amount of sets since I wrote that original post. I've actually been on a set-completing streak since 2019.

 

Here is the last card I needed for a few recent completions:

 

2008 Stadium Club: Justin Upton

This was completed in 2019, eleven years after it was issued. Also I had to settle for the "first day issue" parallels for several cards because they were easier to find than the base card versions, which is about all you need to know about the ridiculousness of '08 Stadium Club. Who are these sadists creating sets?

 

2015 Stadium Club: Kris Bryant

Although I didn't complete this recently, it's the other Stadium Club set I've finished and it's housed in the same binder as the '08 Stadium Club set. Kris Bryant, the biggest deal in the hobby in 2015, was the last card I needed despite buying lots of this product. Short-printing the most sought-after card in the set is rather sadistic, too.

2001 Upper Deck Decade '70s: Dave Parker, Award Winners subset

Parker was actually one of three cards I received at the same time to finish off my favorite Upper Deck set. I don't feel like looking up the other two right now. This is the set that actually kicked off my run of set completions as I finished this in late winter 2019.

 

1978 Kellogg's: Dave Parker

 

Dave Parker has the honor of finishing off two recent sets. He was the final card to finish off the trifecta of Kellogg's sets that landed in the heart of when Kellogg's cards were the most exciting part of breakfast. I'm done with 1976, 1977 and 1978 Kellogg's. I plan to finish others, too, but I've taken a bit of a break after getting this very important trifecta done.

 

1976 Kellogg's: Don Gullett

1977 Kellogg's: George Foster

Here are the last cards for finishing the '76 and '77 Kellogg's sets, both from the Big Red Machine. Gullett is a supposed short-print, I didn't even know there were short-prints in Kellogg's until collecting the '76 set. Foster is card No. 1 in the set, which always goes for a premium even though I didn't know anyone putting rubber bands around Kellogg's cards and I think it's another excuse to jack up the price.

 

 1977 Topps football: Jon Morris and Ed White

Staying in 1977 but moving over to another sport, two offensive linemen were the last cards needed to finish my all-time favorite football set in December of last year. Could it be the only football set I complete? We'll see when I get fired up over the '79 Topps set again.

 

1982 Fleer: Tim Raines

A set I completed in May. Raines was the last of four '82 Fleer needs that I pulled out of an envelope.

 

1981 Fleer: Rickey Henderson

There is more than one Rickey Henderson in this set but this is considered the base version. I got this done in the fall of 2019.

 

 

1981 Donruss: Carl Yastrzemski

Fleer's fellow 1981 upstart. I finished this way back in February 2016 during a fit of set-completing that preceded the current set completion craze. This card looks positively sensible when compared with the '82 Donruss Yaz in which a 5-year-old photo was used.

 

2019 Topps Holiday: Christian Yelich

Back to the present day with a set I finished in January 2020. I am celebrating Christmas in July because I just discovered today that I don't need the Kenta Maeda card from this set to finish the Dodgers team set because he is NOT IN THE SET. This fictitious card has been sitting on my Nebulous 9 for more than a year and not one person said, "hey dumbs--t, that isn't a real card."

 

 

1975 Topps minis: Reggie Jackson

Nothing I finished recently, this happened in late 2014. It's probably my all-time favorite set-completion achievement as it's been my favorite set for more than 45 years.

 

1956 Topps: Monte Irvin

 

But this is the set that will draw the most low whistles and fist-bumps. I finished the 1956 Topps set in April of this year and it's nice that I already know what my greatest card achievement will be when all of the end-of-the-year award shows go off. Some persnickety people will probably never be satisfied until I get the two checklist cards, but I disregard those rain-makers. 

 

Keeping track of the last card is made for sets like this.

OK, that's all I've got for now. There will probably be another one of these as I'm on the verge of completing a couple more sets and I've been ignoring "lesser" sets like 1988 and 1989 Fleer (you'll never see a "last card" mention for sets like 1987 and 1990 Topps because in each case the whole damn set came to me at once).

Here's to finding that last card. It's one of the great accomplishments in life. And the warranty never expires.