C.A.: 1986 Topps Bob Rodgers

(Greetings. I have no special opening this time, I just got up from a nap. A thing old people do. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 329th in a series):

My latest sportlots order is working its way to my house. It's down to the final few cards.

I don't plan to show much of it on the blog, it's mostly upgrades, a few Dodgers needs and a set filler here and there. If I get desperate maybe I'll show something, but that's what this post is for!

One of the cards I got was this 1986 Topps Bob Rodgers. I completed the 1986 set long ago, one of the first that I finished with help from bloggers. But it turns out I never actually finished it. It's been laughing at me -- in a binder -- for 14 years.

The 1986 set is the first set in my collecting time that I didn't have memorized ... well, same goes for 1984 and 1985 Topps, but I bought those in their entirety, there was no room for slip-ups.

But in '86, I ignored everything cards. And so, I picked up the knowledge much later that the set featured some skipped numbers -- something reserved for '50s cards mostly, but apparently somebody wanted to see if collectors were paying attention in 1986. I know I wasn't. And now I'm paying for it.

I was aware that there are two card No. 57s in the set -- Bill Doran and Bobby Wine -- to make up for no card No. 51. But the two No. 141s (making up for no No. 171) must've got past me.

So, for 14-plus years, I have owned a set with a Chuck Cottier card at 141 but not Bob Rodgers. You can imagine how loudly my brain screamed when I realized there was a Bob Rodgers card out there that I didn't have.

I had to watch myself when I ordered it, too, because at least one sportlots seller is selling a Rodgers that is actually the Cottier card.

Buck Rodgers is now mine (I think it would've been less confusing if Topps simply added a No. 793 and 794). But I have to go through the semi-mindless exercise of shifting every post-No. 141 card in the binder to get Rodgers in there. Oh well, it'll give me a chance to relive the glory of '86.

Now for one more observation from the order.

A number of cards from the order were Dodgers team-set completion cards. I needed one or two cards to finish the set so I grabbed them. Thanks to that, team sets from 2022 Bowman Chrome, 2022 Donruss, 2002 Fleer Tradition, 1998 Pacific Aurora, 2016 Topps Holiday and 2021 Big League are now complete.

In several of those instances, those cards were hanging over my head, as if they were tricky SPs or something.

But the sellers apparently didn't think so. I got three Bowman Chrome Trea Turners in an envelope. I ordered just one. I guess that's generous, or someone's telling me "you should have this card by now."

This must be a new phenomenon because it happened with three different sellers. This is what came out of the envelope containing the Donruss Cody Bellinger I needed to finish the team set.

OK now. They couldn't have possibly known this, but I just finished my months-long sort of my Dodgers dupes boxes. Now all these have to wait a year for the next sort.

And this wasn't limited to Dodgers. I picked up a bunch of 1981 Fleer Stickers from a few different sellers. Here is what arrived with a few stickers, including the Mike Schmidt.

I went from "I really need that" to "I really do NOT need that."

I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's definitely a thing that was not a thing before.

Anyway, I now have some cards available, along with ones that are finally in my collection.