The last card, update 4

 

I'm trying to catch up on a handful of blog series that I've let stagnate for a year or more. You'll probably see a run of these, though I'm not going to publish them all consecutively. I'll space it out pretty good, especially since a couple take awhile to do (a big reason why they've stagnated).

 

Five years ago I wrote a post about the last card, which was me determining the last card I needed to finish all of my sets. Fueled by recommitting to completing sets in 2019, I listed (and pictured) all of the cards that were the final piece of the puzzle for a bunch of sets.

 

I said I'd update that post as other completed sets came to mind or were completed. And I did update it with a post one year later and then another post two years later. Then I stopped.

 

But my set completing definitely didn't stop. In fact it's picked up steam. It has been my No. 1 goal, surpassing my quest for every Dodgers card or landing packs of whatever new set has arrived. I have a lot to get to -- and, yes, I'm going to post them here, and then I have to repeat that on the original post. Oh yes, now I definitely see why I haven't visited this project in three years.

 

So this is all I've finished since late 2022. I'll try to list them chronologically in terms of when I completed them. And this doesn't include team sets. These are set sets. Big boy sets.

 

 

1988 Donruss

 

Almost four decades after a lot of people finished off this set, I wrapped up 1988 Donruss with Bob Ojeda being the last card. I never had the desire to get this done -- it was always such a silly set to me, issued during a time I didn't collect. It seemed so slight. But I've always liked the look.

 

 

1985 Fleer

 

Another Met finale. Seems right that Darryl Strawberry was the final card to finish 1985 Fleer.

 

 

1986 Fleer

 

Can't do a "final card" for 1986 Fleer, all four of these arrived at once to finish the set. There are other cases of sets being completed "en masse" instead of just one card. I'll show those at the end.

 

 

1990 Swell

 

One of those sets I thought was finished and then realized wasn't. I think that might've happened a couple of times with 1990 Swell. But Dizzy Dean is here and all the pockets are filled.

 

 

2023 Topps Heritage

 

This set was proof that I could complete a Heritage set with 100 short-prints, which was important to determine since Heritage was using designs from the '70s sets that kicked off my collecting journey. Not a very exciting card for the last one.

 

 

1977 Hostess

 

Another short-print finale. John Hiller showed up finally to finish 1977 Hostess. Currently 1975 Hostess is giving me fits with its short-prints. It seems like collectors are swooping in on Hostess cards like they did with Kellogg's a couple years ago. I think of the card shows I went to only a handful of years ago when dealers were thanking me for taking Kellogg's and Hostess cards off their hands. Sigh.

 

 

1970 Topps

 

Not all completed sets are created equal. This was a big one, it includes high numbers and all that and was also 54 years old when I finished it. Duffy Dyer was the last arrival.

 

 

2024 Heritage

 

I ran through this set in six months, with all those short-prints, too. I don't know how I did that. These two cards were the last. I might have a lot of duplicates of this set still. 

 

 

2024 Topps

 

Design is everything. I have hand-collated exactly two Topps flagship sets in the last 10 years. Both were because I loved the design -- 2024 is my favorite from the 21st century. Surprise, hot rookie Shota Imanaga was the last card.

 

 

1989 Pacific

 

Another multi-card finale with 1989 Pacific.

 

 

1988 Pacific

 

Another gremlin in that I thought I already had the Marv Thronberry card. Once I had physical proof that it was in the house, I marked it complete.

 

 

1970 Fleer Laughlin World Series

 

Weirdly I never showed the last card I obtained to finish this set and now I don't remember exactly even though I completed this set only 11 months ago. It was either the 1939 or 1948 card.

 

 

1971 Fleer Laughlin World Series

 

I remember this one as I completed it very recently with 1935 the final card.

 

 

1979 Topps Football

 

I'm going a little out of order here but we're still in 2025. This "exciting" Lions Leaders checklist card finished off the 1979 football set. I love 1977 and 1979 Topps football. Everything else football trails far behind (well '76 is up there too but Sweetness stops me from trying that).

 

 

1985 Rock Star Concert

 

I finally finished this after being down to the final two cards for a good long time. I love music card sets.

 

 

1969 Topps

 

Here is the most recent completion. The quest for Mickey Mantle made me swear off trying to complete another vintage set because prices are no longer reasonable. My hope is one day I can try again when prices settle down but I just don't expect that to happen -- it's not like I have 50 years to wait.

 

Some other sets that I finished in bulk:

 

 

1981 Kellogg's

 

 

 1982 Donruss

 

 

1990 Pacific

 

 

1992 Topps

 

All right, that's a lot of photos to add to the original post. I'll have to remind myself to do that in stages. I plan to only add the ones with four cards or less as the final cards.

 

I think I've reached my peak as far completing sets, I believe I'm on the downward slope. But I'm currently trying to finish around 4 or 5 and I see myself still chasing stuff for as long as I'm collecting.

 

As I've said many times, there's nothing like turning up that last card and completing a set.