From start to finish

 

 

The June-July issue of Beckett Vintage Collector arrived at my doorstep Saturday and inside is my 16th article for Beckett, mostly with the Vintage magazine.

That's still pretty cool, and there's newness for me with this issue as well. I'm actually interviewed for another article in the edition.

The article in which I'm interviewed, by Kevin Glew, is on 1983 Topps, a set I absolutely love. It's the first long article in the magazine (if you know the Vintage mag set-up, there are a bunch of short news items or photographs to kick off things before the long-form stories). The article that I wrote is on the history of All-Star cards in Topps. It's the last article in the magazine.

I never know how to react to my story's placement in the magazine. Should being last be considered the "last to make the cut" or should it be considered the "grand finale," like Sports Illustrated did back in the day?

Whatever. I'm published in a slick, glossy, colorful form again, just like I always wanted. And I'm in there from start ...

... to finish ...

 

My current article gets extra coolness points as that '75 layout is my construction with my cards and it was photographed on my dining room table, you can see it in the background. Dining Room Table Gets Star Billing.

 

This article is a pretty straightforward analysis of All-Star cards in Topps baseball sets over the years, sticking with pre-1982 sets. Topps presented All-Stars in a variety of ways and chose the players to select in a variety of ways. And then there were years when it didn't recognize All-Stars at all.

 

All-Star cards still exist today, but we're getting to a point where I can see them disappearing forever. Will the Midsummer Classic always be a thing? I wonder. And I wonder in the article, too. With balanced schedules, realignment is on its way and there will be next-to-no separation of the leagues in the next round.

 

Anyway, that's for a depressing point in the future. What I want to do now is something fun with the All-Star cards. Per usual, when I have a Beckett article published, I like to provide something extra here, yet related to what I've written.

 

So it's pretty simple this time. Who has had the most All-Star cards in Topps history?

 

I've confined this to the 20th century, so I'm only considering All-Star cards from the first Topps set to have them (1958) to when it stopped creating them (1996). (They reappeared in 2003, I think). I'm also not considering all the glossy All-Star sets from the '80s, I'm just focusing on flagship.

 

All right, in 9th place are a bunch of players who showed up as All-Stars seven times. Those players are Wade Boggs, Gary Carter, Steve Garvey, Joe Morgan, Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Ozzie Smith and Dave Winfield.

 

Then there are two players tied for 7th place with eight All-Star cards each.

 

 

Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson. Two heavy-hitters. These show the contrast in how Topps has selected All-Stars for their sets. Aaron was based on The Sporting News' end-of-season team. Jackson was based on being selected a starter in 1975. (Jackson should have had nine total, he was robbed of one in the '75 set).

The fourth-place spot is a three-way tie, two Big Red Machine greats and a more recent perennial All-Star.

Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Cal Ripken Jr. each appeared as All-Stars nine times.

Two players share the second-place spot.

George Brett and Carlton Fisk have All-Star cards in the double digits with 10 apiece.

But the one player with the most All-Star cards is alone at the top by a decent margin.

Rod Carew has appeared as an All-Star in Topps flagship 13 times.

I enjoyed tracking this down, and now I have a neat little list of all the folks with All-Star cards prior to 2000. Maybe I'll add the more recent All-Star cards to the totals, but I doubt it.

I have written about the All-Star Game and All-Star cards many, many, many times on this blog, so it's about time I put it in magazine form. I think maybe I've said all I have to say about these cards now.

 

 

The latest edition, with Tony Gwynn on the cover (he has five All-Star cards), should show up in book stores and magazine racks near the end of the month.

I hope to keep going on more magazine stories, although I often feel like I'm running out of ideas. ... well, ideas that people will want to read anyway.