Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Buyback Franken-set: Johnny Goes 3-for-3!

Time for the next installment of my long-running Buyback Franken-set project!  Today's post features a trio of buybacks that arrived a while back from John Miller, who runs the blog Johnny's Trading Spot!

Let's see how the three hopeful contestants fared...

1986 Topps #655 - Manny Trillo

A nice dugout shot of (the under-rated?) Manny Trillo leads us off, courtesy of 1986 Topps.  Since Manny retired just as I was becoming a baseball fan as a kid, I guess I can forgive myself for not knowing that he was a multiple-time Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner, as well as a four-time All-Star.

I really appreciate that not only has John provided me with so much awesome cardboard in general in recent years, but he actually took the time here to check my franken-set spreadsheet and send me numbers that I'm still missing with these buybacks.  Trillo is my first #655 buyback, so into the binder he goes!

2006 Topps #615 - Arizona Diamondbacks

I love this buyback for a few reasons:
  1. There's just amazing symmetry to this card, from the players lined up in the photograph and extending off into the stands beyond.  Don't stare at it too long, or you might wake up in a fog, hours later, to the realization that you hypnotically went on a Diamondbacks-card purchasing frenzy on eBay and COMC while entranced by the majesty that is this buyback.
  2. I miss team cards like this in Topps' flagship set.
  3. I don't have all that many Diamondbacks buybacks.  Diamondbacks buybacks has a nice ring to it.
  4. It's another new number for my franken-set!

1993 Topps #733 - Tom Browning

Closing things out is Tom Browning, showing a lucky Topps photographer the secret behind his two-finger fastball on his 1993 issue.  I've always enjoyed the '93 set in general, and this is just a really fun photograph.  Tom led the league in starts four out of five years in a stretch spanning from 1986 to 1990, but his MLB career was winding down by the time this set hit shelves.

As you might have surmised if you made it this far, this buyback was also a new number for my franken-set binder!  This trio takes me to 667 cards in the binder, and ticks me up another percentage point to 84% complete.  Thanks so much for these fantastic cards John!

In the next installment of this series, we'll take a look at ten 1990 Topps buybacks.  Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Franken-set Progress: 667/792 (84%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 122/792 (15%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 682
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,471

3 comments:

  1. The "Rediscover Topps" stamp on the Diamondbacks team card almost looks like it's actually stamped on the outfield wall there. Pretty cool!

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  2. That team card reminds me of those "hidden pictures" posters from the 90's that always gave me a headache... but I still continued to find the hidden image.

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