Yesterday I completed the 1969 Topps set. While home for dinner, I opened a couple of card orders and the last one contained card No. 500, Mickey Mantle.
It's the yellow-name variety, it's the last Mantle card issued during his career, and all that stuff. Most importantly for me, it's the final card.
I thought it would take me longer to get this card and finish the set. Once I had acquired the Nolan Ryan in September (and the Phil Regan, don't forget him!), I started looking at Mantle prices. I didn't like what I saw. But I didn't do a thorough search, so I figured there was something a bit more reasonable out there for when the time came.
Well, the time came a couple of weeks ago. Out of the blue, I received a reimbursement check from my health insurance that I wasn't expecting, and I immediately knew where some of that was going to go. I started searching again and it became apparent that I was going to have to spend $200 to get anything that wasn't mistreated.
It's crazy that a card like this is more than $200 now. And that's one of the reasons why I'm pretty sure I am done completing Topps' vintage sets. I now have 1969 through 1992 complete. That's a key period in my time as a fan. I wasn't a fan in 1969 -- I didn't even know what a baseball was then -- but those are the cards that I saw on the porch of my friend as we acquired those older cards for some current Yankees (1978 being current). So '69 is part of my nostalgia experience though I never collected the cards.
I don't see myself extending that run on the back end because I just don't care about those '90s Topps sets. Do I want that 1993 or 1994 design -- all of it -- in my house? No. And the farther into the decade the more I don't care.
On the front end, that's not happening either. Chasing the 1969 and 1970 sets -- and a little bit the 1973 set -- during this period of more and more collectors and rapidly increasing prices over the last five years, has shown that I just don't have the cash or the will to pursue those sets. Although I like the 1965 set and it's my birth year, it otherwise has no meaning. Same with the rest of the sets of the '60s, and the '50s for that matter.
There's that little thing about the 1967 set that I still have about two-thirds complete. But I don't realistically think I'll get that finished. I think for that set and other vintage sets, I'll pick up cards here and there that interest me, without any real focus in mind.
So that's it. I'm not putting away my set-collector's badge. There are still those '80s Fleer and Donruss sets I need to finish. There is still Heritage. And it's always possible Topps issues a design like 2024 that makes me chase it like a fool. And, who knows, in 10 years maybe I'll be poking around the house, looking for something to do and the 1959 set will look like fun.
But for now I'm done with that vintage set chase race.
Mickey Mantle closes the door on an era.
Comments
Cost was something I considered when I got to over 2/3 of a set completed. If I still needed the big-ticket card(s), they became pick-up-as-I-go fodder, until I decided that I was good where I stood with them.
I picked that color specifically because of the '69 card backs.
That’s such a great feeling when you get that last card.
1969 Topps was the first pack of cards I remember opening. I was 8 that summer. I still have my Mickey Mantle, pulled from a pack. It’s pretty beat up and has my name written, in pencil, on the back. (I wanted to make sure that my younger brother didn’t try and say it belonged to him.)
I tried to put together a set during the late 70’s but about the only option was looking for cards at garage sales. I finally bought a complete set for $150. I think that was in 1980 or 81.