Buyback Franken-set: A 6-Pack from John

Late last year I won a contest held by John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  The prize ended up being pretty amazing, more cards than I thought I'd be getting for sure.  There were easily a couple hundred cards in the bubble mailer, but we'll ease in today with just half a dozen buybacks!

1986 Topps #685 - Tim Wallach

This Tim Wallach is an automatic winner, as it's the first #685 buyback I've acquired and makes the franken-set by default.  I don't think anyone could have predicted what a monster season Wallach would have the year after this card was printed up.  A great start to today's proceedings...

2006 Topps #UH76 - Danys Baez

Next up, a 2006 Danys Baez.  I'm guessing John must have had two of these, because I doubt he'd send me any Braves he didn't already have in his massively impressive team collection.  This one's from the 2006 Topps Update set though, so for the time being anyway...

...it's ineligible for the franken-set.  I'm up to quite a few Traded/Update buybacks, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that I'd try an update franken-set someday.  Not even going to consider it until I finish the main set though, too many projects as it is.

1989 Topps #42T - Kevin Gross

Two out of three cards are Montreal Expos to lead off today.  Kevin Gross sure was reliable and durable, as 1989 was the fifth year in a row that he'd start at least 30 games.  Unfortunately this is a Traded buyback as well.

Ditto to everything I said above about the Baez card.

1990 Topps #294 - Craig McMurtry

Now we're talking!  There are few cheap thrills in collecting that excite me as much as a 1990 Topps buyback.  This one is particularly great, as it features pitcher Craig McMurtry taking infield practice wearing his everyday glasses.  Love it.  It's even better due to the fact that it's the first #294 buyback I've encountered, giving it a clear path to the binder, and...

...completing another new page!  I love the variety on this particular page, not a single year is repeated and not a single team is repeated either.  No HOFers or anything like that (Ted Simmons would be the closest I guess), but a great looking page nonetheless.

1989 Topps #203 - Rob Ducey

Continuing on, we've got another '89, this time from the standard flagship set.  I remember Ducey's name (as a kid it was a slightly comical one), but don't really have any recollection of him as a player.  He lasted 13 years in Major League baseball, but wasn't considered a real full-time player for more than a couple of those at most.

He's got a tough competitor as the franken-set goes too, with a nice J.R. Richard Record Breaker subset card from 1979 Topps.

Easy call there, Ducey was doomed.

1990 Topps #38 - Wes Gardner

Last card for today, and it's yet another 1990 Topps buyback!  A Red Sox player too, can't beat that.  In this case I already had a buyback in slot 38:

Another Red Sox buyback from a good 30 years prior.  No need to sweat this one, Casale stays in place...

...and Gardner enters into my dedicated 1990 Topps buyback binder.  He becomes the 107th card to enter that binder, which is good for about 13% completion at this point.  Not too bad given that I started that project much, much later than the Buyback Franken-set.

These were fantastic, but they were only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the prize package I received from John.  I'll have some more of those cards up here later this week, or early next.  Thanks for stopping by!

Franken-set Progress: 642/792 (81%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 107/792 (13%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 571
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,320