My all-time favorite sets

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I have promised/threatened to do this several times over the years and now I'm going through with it.

I want to write a post ranking my all-time favorite sets. I generally know what they are, but it's nice to have the list all in one place for reference in case I suddenly suffer from amnesia and think my favorite set is 1991 Fleer. Someone can kindly point me to this post.

I have written about my favorite sets in some form or another a lot over the last dozen-plus years, on the blog, in other blogs, in magazine articles. I have no secrets when it comes to this.

So I'll go through it quickly. And no reverse order. There is no element of surprise here. Or at least there shouldn't be. I think you all know me.

These are my absolute favorites (sorry 1980 Topps, you just missed out):

1. 1975 Topps minis

This is an easy, easy choice as my all-time favorite set.

I know if something like this were to be released today, I'd probably be super-cynical about Topps asking me to collect a 660-card parallel set. There probably were cynical collectors in 1975 wondering what Topps was trying to pull.

But all I saw as a kid were wonderful miniature versions of the regular-sized Topps cards. It was my first year collecting -- I didn't know it was a novelty -- I just knew they were so cool. I haven't stopped thinking that.

2. 1975 Topps

How about that 1975??? Producing my two all-time favorite sets in a single year!

It totally has to do with me first getting to know the hobby and also being blessed with one of the most colorful sets Topps ever made. I have said many times that the '75 binders are the first thing I'm saving if the house goes up in flames.

3. 1956 Topps

Before I even owned a single 1956 Topps card, before my dad brought home a grocery bag full of them from someone else's collection, I admired these cards. I thought they were easily the best cards issued during the '50s. A lot of the other '50s sets seemed to be missing something but the '56 set had it all.

Getting those first '56s from my dad's co-worker cemented my love for it and that only grew and grew as I collected it more seriously, finally finishing it last year. I am very grateful that I was able to complete it just before prices for vintage cards soared uncontrollably. I think I'd be out of luck if I needed to buy a Mantle and Mays right now.

4. 1971 Topps

This is another set I saw as a youngster, although I didn't start collecting until four years after it came out. I thought it was fantastic instantly. It stood out more than any other set I had seen. After 1975, Topps slipped into a series of white-bordered sets and the '71 set grew in stature more and more with each ensuing white border.

People dismiss this set instantly because of chipping. I don't even see the chips. Or if I do, I look at them like an older person with age spots and scars. Just a sign of living well. The '71 Topps set has seen some great times. No doubt those black borders took it to places no other set could go.

5. 1983 Topps

If you remember the all-time Topps sets ranking I did a few years ago, the sets I've been showing here were among the top picks in that ranking. I tried to be objective there but I don't know if I really was seeing as they're all my favorites!

I don't know if, when I first saw the 1983 Topps set, I even thought of the 1963 Topps set that '83 emulates. I probably didn't know the '63 set very much. I just knew I loved the '83 set. Everything about it is well-presented. It's also the first Topps set where the majority of the cards show players in action. That was a big deal at the time and I was still a teen then, so naturally I thought it was great.

It's difficult for me to consider this an "old" set, as it seemed very vibrant at the time and still does in my mind.

6. 1993 Upper Deck

It is TOUGH for a set from the '90s to stack up with the sets I saw as a kid. In fact, no '90s set has a chance against those '70s sets ... except for 1993 Upper Deck.

I like this set so much that I am going back on my vow to never do another set blog and starting a set blog on '93 Upper Deck next year. That's how much I enjoy it and how interesting I think it is.

 

7. 1972 Topps

I probably should put '72 Topps above '93 Upper Deck, but I'm still a little bit mad at '72 for the trouble it gave me at the end there in completing it. So much money on so many common players.

But that's the set-completers game. Suck it up, bud. Not just anyone can complete a 700-plus set.

 

To '72's credit, it made the cards attractive enough to make the chase interesting even when I was throwing $20s at it. I wrote an entire article on this set for Beckett and I think it's the most fun I had writing a story for them.

 

 

 8. 1974 Topps

This set gets overlooked by a lot of people, but I never will.

It's the first set I ever saw, the first cards I ever owned. I see some of the cards in this set -- like the Rollie Fingers here -- and I'm transported to my bedroom on Chadwick Road. I can see the 1890s-style metal cars hanging on the wall in my bedroom, the red-and-blue printed bed covers. The blue closet door. I can look out the window of my bedroom and see the white house across the street, shrouded by a large tree, with that black dog in the front yard. I can look down the hill where we used to ride our big wheels all the way to the busy street.

There is no other set, aside from '75 Topps, that can unearth those memories. Heck there is nothing non-card that can do that!

 

9. 1977 Topps football

Baseball has my heart -- my blog is evidence of that, very seldom do I travel away from baseball -- but one football set can compare with my baseball favorites.

This is the first football set that I collected seriously. I was 12. I liked it because of the colorful ribbons. I liked the 1,000-yarder footballs and the All-Star bars. I never noticed there were no logos, that's how in love I was.

10. 1976 Topps

This set carries memories with it too, collecting with friends on the playground.

The '76 set seemed so serious to me as a youngster, in comparison to the '75 set I had just collected the previous year. There was less color and more devotion to the photo. The backs are still not my favorite, pretty damn boring actually. But you can't argue those little position guys.

11. 2008 Allen & Ginter

The smallest set on this list in terms of the number of cards, there are just 350. But don't tell me it was any easier to complete than those 700-card sets in the '80s. It was tough.

To me, this is easily the best modern-day A&G set there ever was. It's a clean, classic design. The subject matter is on-point. It's been a slow and steady decline for A&G ever since. Thank goodness I have this one complete.

12. 2015 Topps

It may be strange to see a set this recent with the other sets I listed -- I know collectors who hate this set.

But 2015, even though it's only seven years old, has the power to do what only those sets from my childhood can do. I open the binder that houses this set, see all of the color everywhere, and I smile. Every time. Only sets like '74 and '75 can do that.

So, that's my top 12 ranking. I could easily reach 40 sets before I started shrugging my shoulders. I know I skipped some very important sets in my collecting life, stuff like 1977 Topps, 1978 Topps, a bunch of Kellogg's sets, good ol' 1980 and even 2009 Topps -- the first flagship set I completed upon returning to the hobby.

But I don't expect this list to change much -- maybe the final two will switch out eventually -- because all of these sets are solidly in my memory bank forever ... as some of greatest sets ever made.