My first COMC order of the year arrived Monday -- two days after I attended card show, I really need to learn how to space these things out. It would help with the lean months.
Part of the order (I'll get to the majority of it next week) was me finding the final cards to complete the Allen & Ginter frankenset that I have been working on for years.
The final cards filled the last empty spots as well as replaced some players who were repeated in my frankenset binder. Here are the final dozen:
My inspiration for choosing each of these last 12 was the same for finding a card to fill each of the 350 slots -- it just has to be interesting to me. But sometimes there aren't any very interesting cards at a particular number, so then I pick someone who isn't offensive/annoying.
My frankenset is a mix of regular backs, A&G backs and black borders/gold borders. I have no desire to create separate frankensets (and binders) for each individual parallel. It was difficult enough to do this.
It was also difficult scanning all of the pages in the binder and making sure they were in order for this post. Yes, I'm going to show each page. I'm sure there are some crooked images here, but I'm not going back and doing them again. There were tree-trimmers in front of my house at 8 this morning equipped with chainsaws and a wood-chipper. I'm too damn tired.
OK, obsessive analysis and completism ahead:
Cards 1-15
Star of the page: I really like the 2008 Manny Ramirez, but I'll go with the Roy Halladay from the same year.
Weak link: Brian Bass or Mike Lamb. The weakest link on a page will almost always be a rookie wedged into the set who barely made an MLB dent.
Non-baseball players: 1.
Page grade: B
Cards 16-30
Star of the page: '08 Vladimir Guerrero Sr., followed closely by Kristi Yamaguchi in the red chair.
Weak link: Elvis Andrus.
Non-baseball players: 2.
Page grade: B minus.
Cards 31-45
Star of the page: John McEnroe.
Weak link: Brad Peacock.
Non-baseball players: 3.
Page grade: A. Lots of black-border action and interesting topics, if it wasn't for Andruw Jones and Peacock, it'd be an A+.
Cards 46-60
Star of the page: Coco Crisp.
Weak link: Justin Bour or Brandon Crawford.
Non-baseball players: 1.
Page grade: A minus. Three straight Giants in the middle row is not sitting well with me, especially since Longoria is a repeat. So I'll probably try to replace him.
Cards 61-75
Star of the page: Hank Aaron.
Weak link: Austin Jackson.
Non-baseball players: 4.
Page grade: A. Lots to like on this page. I always side with the women's cards and longtime readers will know of my Erin Andrews fan crush. The Nationals black-border pitching duo is neat, too. I'm not crazy about the Stevie Williams card, it just isn't a great shot but haven't found anything to knock it out.
Cards 76-90
Star of the page: Jim Thome edges out black-border Ted Williams and that classic Dave Winfield card. Normally I want all of the horizontal cards removed, but not that one.
Weak link: Giancarlo Stanton or Jose Reyes. Both players show up at least twice, which means I need to swap these two out or the other two.
Non-baseball players: 3.
Page grade: A.
Cards 91-105
Star of the page: Dan Jansen.
Weak link: Jeff Francis.
Non-baseball players: 1.
Page grade: B. Scott Rolen's recent Hall of Fame selection bumps up this page.
Cards 106-120
Star of the page: Black-border Lindsey Vonn.
Weak link: Matt Stonie.
Non-baseball players: 5.
Page grade: C. I'm a fan of A&G because of the non-sports figures but get the hot-dog eaters and extreme sports people out of my frankenset. This page needs work.
Cards 121-135
Star of the page: Tough pick. Rookie Joey Votto, the Gateway Arch, Wild Bill Hicok and Jason Varitek in a four-way tie.
Weak link: Micah Johnson. Sure did enjoy pulling 78 different versions of his card in 2016 when he managed 61 career MLB games.
Non-baseball players: 2.
Page grade: A. Page has repeat players in McCutchen, Kershaw and Brooks Robinson. They're easy to give a pass to though.
Cards 136-150
Star of the page: Annie Oakley.
Weak link: Jacoby Ellsbury because of the horizontal orientation.
Non-baseball players: 6.
Page grade: A. The variety of subjects is off the chart and that sheep-shearing card (black border!) is wild.
Cards 151-165
Star of the page: Jackie/Yogi/Sheik.
Weak link: Michael Barrett. Some of those 2007 cards aren't too appealing.
Non-baseball players: 4.
Page grade: B.
Cards 166-180
Star of page: Dusty Baker.
Weak link: Pedro Feliz.
Non-baseball players: 4. ... Monty Hall!
Page grade: B-plus.
Cards 181-195
Star of the page: Groundhog Day beats out spooky black border bone hand.
Weak link: Tom Milone.
Non-baseball players: 5 (Almost got a whole row of them at the top).
Page grade: B-minus. A groundhog, Mike Trout and a gold-bordered rookie card of Vlad Jr. is pretty good, but that middle page is mid.
Cards 196-210
Star of the page: Toss up between Verlander and Gwynn.
Weak link: Andrew Miller.
Non-baseball players: 1.
Page grade: B-plus. Quite impressive for being almost all baseball players.
Cards 211-225
Star of the page: I should respect my profession and pick Charles Dickens.
Weak link: Dustin McGowan.
Non-baseball players: 6.
Page grade: A minus.
Cards 226-240
Star of the page: Kate Upton.
Weak link: Brandon Snyder.
Non-baseball players: 7.
Page grade: A-plus. Upton, Frederick Douglass, Bob Gibson, Death Valley, Ichiro, Al Unser, Rudy and a Hanson Brother.
Cards 241-255
Star of the page: Jim Zapp.
Weak link: Jorge De La Rosa
Non-baseball players: 0.
Page grade: C minus. All baseball and not many standouts either.
Cards 256-270
Star of the page: Lou Gehrig black border.
Weak link: Brad Kilby. This is the third A's rookie pitcher to muck up a page.
Non-baseball players: 2.
Page grade: B. For Bomb Cyclone.
Cards 271-285
Star of the page: Some early Betts and deGrom cards are cool, but that Jeanette Lee card is fantastic.
Weak link: Alcides Escobar.
Non-baseball players: 3.
Page grade: A-minus.
Cards 286-300
Star of the page: Rickey Henderson.
Weak link: Nick Neidert. Come on, #300? Look at that lineup at the bottom, that's a big drop-off.
Non-baseball players: 3.
Page grade: A-minus.
Cards 301-315
Star of the page: Sean Casey.
Weak link: Chris Carter.
Non-baseball players: 0.
Page grade: D-plus (We've reached the short-prints, which are usually harder to get and often don't feature nonbaseball subjects).
Cards 316-330
Star of the page: Roberto Clemente.
Weak link: Will Middlebrooks.
Non-baseball players: 0.
Page grade: B-minus.
Cards 331-345
Star of the page: Sitting Bull.
Weak link: Matt Dominguez.
Non-baseball players: 1.
Page grade: C-minus.
Cards 346-350
Star of the page (just among the top row): Bill Walton.
Weak link: Justin Masterson
Non-baseball players: 1
Page grade (just top row again): C. (Jeremy Pena rookie moves it up a half grade).
The other minis on the page are a few 2008 SPs and the bottom row is cards I would've liked to move into a slot but they weren't good enough. There is tough competition for some of the numbers while there is almost nothing for some of the others. I think A&G has a system with who gets what number, maybe I'll figure it out someday.
As you probably saw there were several players featured more than once -- Clayton Kershaw is in there three times! I would like to swap those out but I'll be taking a break from this particular collection chase as I'm considering it complete for now. There are just too many variables.
For example, I acquired the Sandy Koufax card at the top of the post to swap out Carlos Gomez at No. 200, because there's another Gomez card in the high-numbers. But then I realized the Koufax card is an A&G back that needs to go in my Dodgers mini binder! So two Gomez's again!
Yeah, I need to give it a rest.
Feels great to fill in all the blanks though. It's a pretty nifty collection. Thanks to Cardboard Junkie and anyone else who inspired me to do this.
Comments
I find it interesting that there are two married couples in the Frankenset--one sharing a card, the other two pages apart.
I must locate a copy of that groundhog day card.
I can never understand what all of the fuss is about over minis.
Rant over.
Lots of great photos in your set.
I am glad somebody enjoys them.
Yount, Yaz, Pedroia, and Vonn on one page is my favorite even though it's not the eclectic mix found on some of the other pages.
Your process of deciding which cards to keep in the binder, and why, sounds similar to my All-Time Teams frankenset. At some point I have to convince myself to stop tinkering with it.