Countdown to 1,000 Buybacks - #996 - Kid Carter

I've selected five single buybacks to showcase one a day over the next five days in celebration of reaching 1,000 total buybacks in my franken-set project.  Today I've got my 996th buyback, featuring the Kid, Gary Carter!

1980 Topps #70 - Gary Carter

I love this buyback for so many reasons.  First and foremost, what a fantastic photograph of 11x All-Star, 5x Silver Slugger, 3x Gold Glove Winner, World Series champion and HOFer Gary Carter.  Secondly, Gary was really just entering his prime in 1980.  This was his age 26 season, and he appeared in nearly every game for Montreal, making over 600 plate appearances and driving in over 100 runs for the first time in his career.  Carter would actually finish second in NL MVP voting in 1980, as close as he'd ever come to winning the award.

I believe this buyback came out of those Topps Archives 65th Anniversary boxes that came out in 2016.  I picked it up on eBay, and there were actually a few active bidders for the card at the time.  In the end I paid around $5.50 plus shipping to bring the card home.  I'm sure that seems silly to some, but I knew it would make a perfect addition to my franken-set.

But is that actually true?  Turns out I already had a card #70 in the franken-set binder, and it's not a bad one, either:

Moose!  A fine buyback indeed, but it loses some points since it's a late-career card, plus Skowron misplaced his cap.

Moose is out, I'm going with the Carter for sure.

Well, there's the first of the five hand-selected buybacks I've queued up for the march to 1,000.  I have a feeling this one will still be in slot 70 if and when the day ever comes that I finish this project off.

Next up is one of the most feared power hitters in the game!  Stay tuned...

Franken-set Progress:  544/792 (68%)
"Rejected" Buybacks:  452
Total Buybacks in Collection: 996