Buyback Franken-set: Will Clark & Friends

Back at it with the buyback franken-set here today, and leading off with a card that represents both one of my favorite sets and one of my favorite players from childhood:

1990 Topps #100 - Will Clark

I was excited to land this particular buyback, in fact it was the main attraction that drew me to the small lot of 2017 buybacks that has made up the last few posts here (and one more to come!).  I'm not even really sure why Will Clark was a favorite of mine as a kid, but he was for whatever reason.  I was pumped to turn to page 12 of the binder and find slot 100 empty.  Welcome to the franken-set project Will the Thrill!

1986 Topps #110 - Scott McGregor

Scott McGregor was a key element of the Orioles' pitching staff for many years.  He was great in the post-season too, and pitched a complete game shutout in the World Series-clinching Game 5 in 1983.  This one's a bit bland, certainly not the best that 1986 Topps has to offer, but he makes the cut by default in the absence of any competition.

1986 Topps #547 - Roger McDowell

Speaking of World Series clinchers, here's the guy who got the victory in Game 7 the year this card was printed up.  That makes this a pretty cool buyback, even if that win did come at the expense of the Red Sox.

I had this '87 Rob Deer buyback in slot 547 previously, but...

...it's hard to compete against a World Series Game 7 winner.

1987 Topps #43 - Gene Michael

Gene Michael, known as "Stick" due to his skinny frame, played for four different MLB franchises in the '60s and '70s, and followed that up with managerial stints with both the Yankees and Cubs in the 1980s.  Amazingly, despite being a low number, I was missing a #43 buyback previously so Gene is in.

1987 Topps #179 - Bill Wegman

Bill Wegman was a Brewer for his entire 11-year MLB career.  From what I can tell he had some decent seasons but what I'm most interested in with this one is how the "Rediscover Topps" buyback stamp ended up so far from the right edge of the card.  Someone misfired with the foil stamping device on this one to say the least.  Wegman is the only #179 buyback I've collected to date, so he makes the cut.

1987 Topps #182 - Lee Lacy

Next we've got a late-career Lee Lacy card, in fact 1987 would be the final season in Major League Baseball for Lee.  He's better remembered as a Pittsburgh Pirate, as he won a World Series with that franchise in '79 and was later involved in the drug scandal that rocked the team in the '80s.

In this case there was some pre-existing competition as far as the franken-set goes.  This Tim Johnson is one of the more boring buybacks I've acquired to date however.

Good excuse to oust this one from the binder.  This card number actually resides on just one of two pages that have been fully completed to date, here's how it looks now with Lee Lacy replacing Tim Johnson:

Not a bad looking page all in all!  Weird that three of the nine cards are Phillies, but it won't stay that way forever.

1988 Topps #191 - John Cerutti

John Cerutti enjoyed a brief career as a pitcher with the Blue Jays and Tigers between 1985 and 1991.  He later became an analyst for the Jays' TV coverage.  Sadly, he passed away in his hotel room before the final game of the 2004 season, apparently due to a heart condition.  He was just 44 years old.

This Al Fitzmorris card from the '74 Topps release stood in Cerutti's way as far as the franken-set binder goes.

While I'm not particularly fond of either card, I basically just chose the '74 over the '88 in this case.

1988 Topps #197 - Lance McCullers

Here's another starting pitcher on the 1988 Topps design.  I don't know a whole lot about Lance, however his son, Lance McCullers Jr., is currently pitching with the Houston Astros.

This Ron Perranoski Heritage buyback was already in slot 197...

...and there it will remain.  Sorry Lance!

1988 Topps #738 - Scott Bankhead

Here's the last in a trio of '88 Topps pitchers, righty Scott Bankhead.  Scott won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles with Team USA.  He would later catch on with the Red Sox for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.  This one makes the cut for the set as a nice 700+ high number.

1988 Topps #274 - Junior Ortiz

Last card for today, catcher Junior Ortiz of the Bucs.  Somewhat of an odd facial expression from Ortiz here, I can't tell if he's smiling or grimacing.  Already have a #274 buyback in the binder that will be pitted up against Junior here:

The 5'5", 3x All-Star shortstop Freddie Patek!

Freddie wins in a close one.

An even split today, with five new numbers for the project and five conflicts.  Will Clark was without question the star of the show as far as I'm concerned.  I'll be back with the next buyback installment sometime over the weekend, thanks for reading as always!

Franken-set Progress:  414/792 (52%)
"Rejected" Buybacks:  204
Total Buybacks in Collection: 618