Buyback Franken-set - From Guidry to Griffey

Let's evaluate ten more buybacks for induction into my franken-set on this sunny summer Saturday, shall we?

#202 - 1979 Ron Guidry Record Breaker

Neat one here to kick things off, a record breaker card commemorating the 18 strikeout performance that Ron Guidry had against the Angels in '78.  Ron's 1978 Cy Young campaign was one of the most dominant of the modern era, I'm thrilled to have it represented in some form in my franken-set.  I don't foresee this one ever being bumped from slot 202.

#225 - 1974 Paul Splittorff

Pulled this one from my lone box of Topps Update last fall.  It's an interesting enough card as Splittorff, who played his entire career with the Royals, had just come off his lone 20-win season in 1973.  Paul was a steady and under-rated starter who's actually a member of the Royals' HOF.

#256 - 1966 Lew Krausse

Random bit of trivia, Krausse pitched the first shutout in the history of the Milwaukee Brewers franchise.  The bulk of my franken-set has been '70s cards so far (though that will soon change thanks to an amazing PWE from Mark Hoyle), so it's nice to get some '60s representation here.

#161 - 1969 John Purdin

I don't know much about John Purdin, but back-to-back '60s cards for my set is never a bad thing.  These were two of the older buyback cards from the large lot that I bought to really jump-start this set.

#178 - 1978 Dave Chalk

You'd be hard pressed to find someone putting in less effort on their baseball card than Dave Chalk is on his 1978 release.  Dave's career was already winding down at this point, in fact 1978 would be the final season in which he'd appear in more than 75 MLB games.

#224 - 1972 World Series Game No. 2

I've got a pretty great card occupying slot 224 at this point.  This is probably the closest I'll come to getting a Brooks Robinson into this franken-set, as I've never even seen one of his official releases stamped as a buyback.  I'll certainly take this one though, which I really stole at less than a dollar on Sportlots a year or two back.  Like the Guidry that I led off the post with, I don't think this one is going to get bumped from the set any time soon.

#304 - 1971 Ron Brand

Here's another one that I actually pulled on my own in my hobby box of 2015 Topps Update.  Despite being a tad bit off-center, it's actually in pretty amazing shape for a black-bordered '71.

#311 - 1978 Jose Baez

This one also came from my hobby box, and it might be the least exciting of the handful of buybacks I ended up with from that break.  I considered trading this away when I first pulled it (as if anyone would want it!), but I'm glad I didn't as so far it's the only #311 buyback I've got.  Jose's place in the set is tenuous to say the least however.

#441 - 1971 Milt Pappas

Second '71 Topps card of this post, and this one is more the condition I'd expect after a few decades of existence.  Milt was a 3x All-Star, and actually pitched a no-hitter on my birthday in 1972 (though I hadn't been born yet).

#420 - 1979 Ken Griffey

This one feels appropriate to close out today's post with, since Ken will get to watch his son be enshrined at Cooperstown tomorrow.  This was definitely one of the bigger names to come out of the large lot I picked up.  One day I hope to acquire a buyback of Griffey Jr. so that both father and son are represented in my franken-set, though I haven't managed that just yet.

There's another ten buybacks, all ten of which make my set without any conflict at this point.  I'll be back with some more next week as I close in on the 10% mark!

Franken-set Progress:  62/792 (8%)