Shoebox Legends' Top 20 of 2020!

As I've done each of the previous few years here on the blog, I'd like to use my final post of this particularly horrid year to highlight the top cards to debut on this blog over the past twelve months.  The rules for this countdown are just that simple, the card has to have debuted here on Shoebox Legends between January 1, 2020, and today.

Each card caption in the post is actually a hyper-link to the original post where that card debuted on the blog, in case you missed it the first time around and are incredibly bored or looking for some extra card-related reading material.

With that out of the way, here is my Top 20 of 2020 countdown...

#20 - 1971 Topps Roberto Clemente

You know it's the sign of a good year for my collection when the last-place card in the countdown is a playing-era Clemente!

One of my big trends this past year was selling off cards and downsizing my collection, and using the proceeds to pick up fewer, more significant cards instead.  This Roberto is the first of many examples of the fruit of all of that labor in today's countdown.  I picked up half a dozen graded HOFers from this iconic set with some sales funds, but Roberto here was the best of the bunch by far, and thus just squeaks onto this list.

#19 - 1995-96 Select Gold Team Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky seems to have at least one card in the countdown at the end of each year, and 2020 was no exception.  This year he gets the #19 slot, with this obnoxiously shiny '90s insert.  I pretty much went out and picked this up as soon as I heard about these golden beauties.  I may have added some older Gretzky cards, and some more valuable Gretzky cards, to my collection this year, but this shiny gem is my favorite of the bunch.

#18 - 1964 Philadelphia Johnny Unitas

Using my Cardboard Keepers project as an excuse to pick-up some all-time greats outside my normal collecting wheelhouse has been quite successful so far.  Case in point, this really great Johnny Unitas, which just so happens to be the very first football card to make one of these year-end countdowns.  I'm hoping to (very selectively) continue to pick-up some NFL greats in the coming year, so maybe this will be the beginning of football having a place here on the countdown in future years.

This one's also great in that I picked it up at an antiques store just down the street from me that has plenty more great vintage to be picked through.  I've been avoiding going back due to COVID, but will hopefully peruse again someday soon when conditions are better...

#17 - 2016-17 Fleer Showcase '92-93 Ultra Buyback Auto Ray Bourque (#'d /25)

I have seriously cooled off on collecting autographs over the years, and have been trending more in the vintage and shiny card directions of late.  Nonetheless, there was no way I could leave this amazing on-card autograph of one of the NHL's all-time best defensemen off this list.  I'd love to pick up a few more of these Ultra buyback autos, but at just 25 copies each they are tough little buggers to track down in the wild.

#16 - 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractor Freddie Freeman RC

This gorgeous Freddie Freeman rookie card kicks off a streak of shiny cardboard here on the countdown.  This was a satisfying pick-up because I'd been after an affordable copy for oh so long, yet finally hauled one in just months before Freeman won the NL MVP, decreasing the odds of finding a cheap copy even more.  I'm determined to complete the 2011 Topps Chrome set in Atomic Refractor format someday, and this card was a huge win on that particular front.

#15 - 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Traxx David Pastrnak RC

Feels like it's been forever since we saw any NHL hockey, doesn't it?  Well, things are going to start back up in a couple of weeks here, and one of the players that I'll be most excited to watch is David Pastrnak, who shared the Rocket Richard Trophy for most goals in last year's abbreviated season with the great Alex Ovechkin.  Still just 24 years old, David has already established himself as one of the elite scorers in the league.  I flat out stole this card at under $40 last winter.

#14 - 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup Mosaic Lionel Messi

Arguably the world's greatest soccer player over the last 15-20 years, in the top 2-3 players by anyone's account.  This is also one of my favorite soccer sets ever, and just a gloriously shiny, retail-exclusive parallel.  These Mosiacs are really tough to find, much more so than many of the other great colored parallels from this release.  I stumbled upon it as a Buy-It-Now just minutes after it was listed, and I'm glad I did because at the bargain price that it was listed at, it would not have lasted very long.

#13 - 2015 Topps Buybacks 1968 Topps Manager's Dream Oliva/Cardenas/Clemente

Roberto Clemente makes his second and final appearance in today's countdown.  2020 was another steady year for my long-running Buyback Franken-set project, and the best buyback that was added to the set by a country mile over these past twelve months was this 1968 Manager's Dream card.  '50s and '60s combo cards are just amazing, and to get one with Clemente into my project was more than I could have hoped for when I started it.  There's no way that this card ever gets bumped from the franken-set binder as far as I'm concerned.

#12 - 2005 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Emerald Auto Carl Yastrzemski (#'d /99)

I know I said that I've cooled off quite a bit on autograph pick-ups, and I truly have, but it's more that I seek out quality over quantity I guess.  My first ever Yastrzemski autograph certainly fits the definition of quality!  What a bold, amazing signature it is, too!  Pretty amazing that it took me this many years of collecting to finally add Yaz's name to my autograph collection, but I'm happy that when it finally came it was from one of my favorite baseball autograph sets ever.

#11 - 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle

The first nine cards were great, but I have to say that the top eleven cards this year really took my collection to a whole new level.  I used a lot of my downtime during the pandemic to sell unwanted or under-appreciated cards from my collection on eBay, using the proceeds to land some big fish instead.  It worked out amazingly, as this card and basically everything that come after it could have easily fit into the top three in any of the previous years' countdowns.

One of my biggest long-term collecting objectives is to complete a run of Mantle's playing era Bowman and Topps cards.  While I cannot afford the 1951 or 1952 Bowman cards, or the insanely expensive 1952 Topps release, I'd like to get all of his other flagship Bowman and Topps cards from '53 through '69.  This is a lifelong project to be sure, but I'm pleased to say I came one card closer in 2020 with this nicely centered '68.

This was the first of five cards that I acquired in my greatest card flip ever, funded by a $5 soccer pick-up, if you can believe that!

#10 - 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee Mario Lemieux RC

It just so happens that the next two cards came in the same flip as the Mantle.  In retrospect I should have ranked this particular card higher, as Lemieux is a top-10 hockey player all-time in my opinion, and his rookie is also one of the most iconic hockey cards of the 1980s.  When I acquired this, I commented that I thought Super Mario's rookies were criminally under-priced.  I guess I was correct, as they've skyrocketed in the months since, as have many sports cards to be fair.  A definite case of "I'm sure glad that I picked this up when I did".

#9 - 1956 Topps Willie Mays

Yet another card that came in the epic $5 soccer card flip.  I'd love to complete both the 1955 and 1956 Topps sets someday, but I've been pursuing '55 with more vigor to date.  The price was right on this '56 though when I had the flip funds to spend, and I knew I wanted to add a significant Willie Mays card to my collection, so here we are.  I still get a smile on my face that's similar to the one Willie is flashing here whenever I look at this card.

#8 - 1971-72 Topps NHL Goalies Win Leaders Auto Esposito/Johnston/Cheevers/Giacomin

This year's highest-ranking autograph card is easily one of the most unique autographs in my entire collection.  I just think it's beyond cool that somebody put in the effort to have this one signed by all four subjects, and it helps that it's from one of the most iconic hockey sets ever produced and features multiple HOFers.  I may not be as into autographed cards as I used to be, but I'll always appreciate a unique collectible like this one!

#7 - 1955 Topps Hank Aaron

The sports card market was an insane place, full of ups and downs this past year.  Sure, there were negative aspects to this, like the fact that I didn't see any retail packs available even once after early March.  On a positive note though, there were ways to capitalize on the insanity.

Case in point, I sold a 1993 Finest Michael Jordan when his cards went bananas.  Not the refractor or anything, just a plain ol' base card.  Got enough money for it that it funded this second year Hammerin' Hank, one-for-one.  Yep, that's just plain crazy.  Since even a relatively beat Aaron RC is a four figure card now, this is likely the oldest Aaron I'll ever own, and I effectively traded a '90s basketball base single for it.  2020 was a crazy year, indeed.

#6 - 1955 Topps Ted Williams

This was the fourth of five cards acquired from my epic $5 soccer flip, and to date is my oldest card of The Splendid Splinter.  I probably should have had this ranked behind the Hank Aaron that we just looked at a moment ago, but I guess my Red Sox bias bumped this one up a spot.  As with the Hank Aaron, once I had this card in hand I felt like my 1955 Topps set pursuit was truly starting to get serious.

#5 - 1950 Bowman Yogi Berra

Here's the final card from my $5 soccer card flip, and honestly the one that I was most excited about out of that grouping.  I've adored this card since I was a kid, as I just love the image of the game's greatest catcher.  I'm a total sucker for 1950 Bowman as well, since the set provided the first truly vintage card I ever owned as a kid (a Maurice McDermott, given to me by my dad).  This card would have placed #1 in either of the last two years of these countdowns, but in 2020 it only ranked #5.  Yep, some truly special cards are coming up here.

Completing a '50 Bowman set feels like a pipe dream still, especially given what guys like Jackie Robinson go for, but even if I never get there I'll always treasure this beauty.  Speaking of Jackie Robinson...

#4 - 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson

The top four cards in this year's countdown are a cut above the rest in my mind.  Each of them is very special to me for a particular reason, and in this case it's because this is my first playing-era Jackie Robinson card!  A vintage Robinson is a great cornerstone to any baseball card collection, and I was pumped to clear out some cards I no longer appreciated to make space, and to finally acquire my first one with the resulting funds.  My 1955 Topps set is in hyper-drive mode after landing Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Jackie here all in the past year!

#3 - 1968 Topps Jerry Koosman/Nolan Ryan RC

2020 saw me pick up another card that I've coveted since childhood, the Nolan Ryan rookie.  This purchase is special to me for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it was funded by gift cards provided by my parents and my mother-in-law, which I'll always remember.  I'm 100% certain that I will keep, and treasure, this card for the rest of my life.

When I posted it all the way back in January, I predicted that it might finish in the top spot on this here countdown, and it certainly would have been a fitting choice.  Amazingly though, I ended up with two others before the year was out that I'd put above even this wonderful RC!

#2 - 1940 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio

The first of those would be this 1940 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio.  I never in my life thought I'd own a playing-era card of Joltin' Joe.  Once again though, the craziness that was the sports card world in 2020 allowed it to actually happen.  I sold a soccer card that I pulled myself from a pack in 2018, that had no patch or autograph on it, and wasn't even serial-numbered, and made enough off of it to buy this Joe D straight-up.  I really question whether we'll ever see some of the insanity in sports cards that we saw this past year ever again.

What on earth could top an authentic vintage card of The Yankee Clipper?

#1 - 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan RC

Arguably the most iconic basketball card ever produced, that's what.  This was the pinnacle of my mantra of selling quantity to fund quality this past year, as I spent many hours over many weeks, and many trips to the post office listing, selling and shipping over three dozen separate graded singles to fund the purchase of this one card!  My timing was perfect too, as I picked this up just weeks before Jordan cards went bat-shit crazy as far as prices on the market.  The greatest basketball card I have ever owned, or will ever own, and a very fitting choice for the top spot in this year's countdown.

So, that's a wrap for the Top 20 of 2020.  Looking back at the past twelve months like this makes it pretty clear that this was the single best year for my collection to date.  2020 was a trying year in both my professional and personal life, but it sure was a good one for sports cards.

As nice as all these acquisitions are, what I appreciate more is the great camaraderie that exists between collectors, and in our sports card blogging community in particular.  In addition, I'm more grateful that ever to have my family happy and generally healthy, even if I don't get to see them much of late.  Let's hope 2021 is a brighter year ahead on many counts.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and I hope you'll join me for yet another great upcoming year here on Shoebox Legends!

Grabbing Gretzkys - A Look Back at Upper Deck's Legacy

In this installment of "Grabbing Gretzkys", we look at a grouping of ten new Wayne Gretzky cards that were included as inserts in last season's Upper Deck hockey release.  These were part of a "30 Years of Upper Deck" insert set, containing one re-imagined card from each of the brand's first 30 flagship hockey sets.

I like this idea for an insert set in theory.  Had I been in charge of assembling the checklist for this one, I'd have enjoyed doing some research to find one cool player who was significant in the year of each set's release, with a goal of diversity and getting some unique or lesser-known guys included.  In classic Upper Deck fashion though, they instead gave us ten Wayne Gretzky cards, ten Patrick Roys, and ten Connor McDavids (facepalm).  In all three cases, this approach (aside from being repetitive) results in at least one insert (many in the cases of Roy and McDavid) from a year in which the subject wasn't even active in the NHL.  Oh well.

For this reason, I wasn't too keen on collecting the entire 30-card insert set, but decided instead to just snag the ten Gretzky cards for my player collection.  Thanks to Upper Deck's e-Pack promotion, they were had for mere pocket change on COMC.  They're slightly more expensive these days, but you should still be able to find all ten for no more than 50 cents to a dollar each if you're interested.

The cards proceed in chronological order, beginning with the company's inaugural hockey release in '90-91.  Wayne's 1990-91 Upper Deck card is somewhat iconic in the hockey card hobby, and it's interesting to me to see him with the Oilers on this design instead.  This is a somewhat faithful representation of the original, only the colors look darker/more saturated.  Also, the Upper Deck logo in the lower left is not accurate whatsoever.  Still, a recognizable tribute to the original.

What I will give Upper Deck credit for is taking the time to replicate the card backs as well.  You know for a fact Panini would not have done this.  Not a chance.  Smart move by Upper Deck too, as especially in these first couple of releases, they were as infamous for their amazing card backs as for the fronts.

Next up, the '91-92 set, which I collected the holy hell out of along with my two brothers in the winter of 1991.  Easily recognizable thanks to the 75th Anniversary logo the NHL used that year (in the lower right).  I'm heavily biased here due to childhood nostalgia, but this is a fantastic "junk wax" era hockey set in my humble opinion.

Again, it's interesting to see Gretzky with the Oilers on this design rather than the Kings.  That pattern will continue for the next few cards, so I won't bother to mention it again.

A nice celebration shot on the '92-93 design, though it seems to me that the photo is a little blurry or slightly out of focus.  The first four Upper Deck hockey sets all featured similar white borders, sort of akin to how they got off the ground in the world of baseball actually (the '93 baseball set had white borders too I suppose, but just felt different).  Because of that, I feel like the '92-93 release kind of gets lost or overlooked a bit.

Front and back, this one has the most creative photographs out of the first three cards in this insert set anyway.

'93-94, the final set in the white border run.  This was always my least favorite of those first four sets.  In fact, I recently made the decision to part with 95% of my cards from this release and they're in my next box destined for Billy of Cardboard History.

Upper Deck broke from the elongated vertical (most of the time) photograph trend on the reverse in '93-94, and dedicated an even larger portion of the card back to a unique photo that spanned the entire width of the card.

I really dig this tribute to '94-95 Upper Deck hockey.  I'm a sucker for cards that show the greatest trophy in sports, so I obviously love this image even though I've certainly seen it before.  This was a huge departure design-wise from Upper Deck's previous hockey efforts, with only a minimal (and transparent) border on one side.

It was this set that introduced the shortly-lived but highly sought after (at least among me and my collecting buddies) Electric Ice parallels.  It would have been cool and sort of creative if Upper Deck had made a super-rare Electric Ice parallel of this particular insert, but nope.

Lord Stanley's Cup again (barely) makes an appearance on the card back here.

The 1995-96 Upper Deck set is an all-time favorite of mine.  The company went with this simplistic, full bleed design, or a slight alteration of it, across it's entire product portfolio in 1995.  I'm working on both the baseball and hockey sets, and in fact have wax boxes of each in my unopened pack stash.  Upper Deck Electric Ice parallels were back for the second and final year, and this set also had a one-per-box Electric Ice Gold parallel available as well.

Great photograph choice for the design too, almost looks like Wayne is hoisting up his own name, on a metallic silver platter.

On the reverse, a close-up look at Wayne's legendary flowing locks. 

By 1996 I was moving into high school and card collecting started to take a back seat to school work, girls, learning to drive, parties and music.  Because of that I don't have any particular attachment to the remaining four designs here personally.

This 1996-97 set is best remembered as the one that contained a caption for the specific photograph used on the front.  This concept was used in other sports as well by Upper Deck that year, though the specific card designs varied.

They sure managed to fit a lot of data on the back of a card in 1996-97.  It's actually a decently laid out card back, provided you have 20/20 or better vision!

The 1997-98 release was largely forgettable in my opinion, though I'm sure the set has its supporters.  Just really dark, and not very easy on the eyes due to all the foil.  In just a few short years, Upper Deck sure had moved a long way away from those mostly-white sets they began with.

Actually, I just checked, and I do not own a single card from the 1997-98 Upper Deck hockey release.  Not that surprising given my opinion of it, I suppose.

This next card is actually a very close representation of Wayne's 1998-99 Upper Deck card, right down to the photograph in fact.  Here's the original, since I do have a copy:

For the sake of completeness, here's the back as well.

Finally, the tenth card in the insert set, which pays homage to 1999-2000 Upper Deck.  To me, the coolest thing about this one is actually not found on the front, but on the back:

Wayne Gretzky never suited up for another NHL game after the 1998-99 season, which means these are full-career statistics.  A "sunset card" of sorts for The Great One.

These ten new additions to my Gretzky collection were a fun way to look back at the beginnings of Upper Deck's hockey legacy.  While I wish Upper Deck would have varied the subjects for the insert set, I'm nonetheless grateful to have grown my collection of Gretzky through these cards, and at a very cheap price point.

If you're a hockey card collector, what do you think of this insert effort by Upper Deck?  If you're not, do you have a favorite set or insert set that recycles a prior year's design?  Topps Heritage maybe?  Archives?

Thanks as always for stopping by, and stay safe out there!

Grabbing Gretzkys - The '90-91 Point King!

Wayne Gretzky is, in my personal opinion, the greatest player ever to take the ice in National Hockey League history.  Although I have too many other collecting interests, and too limited a collecting budget, to become an insane Gretzky super-collector, I'm nonetheless making an attempt to pickup much of his 1980s Topps and O-Pee-Chee run in PSA-graded form.

The two cards I have to show today fall just outside of that scope by definition, but are still from the era when Topps was producing a flagship hockey set, and also were cheap enough that I simply could not resist picking them up for my collection of The Great One!

First up, a concept that is very familiar to Gretzky fans and collectors, the League Leaders subset card.  Wayne absolutely dominated the sport of hockey for a period of close to two decades, and as a result appeared on so many of these leader cards throughout that time.

#99 earned this particular card in the 1991-92 Topps set by scoring a league-best 163 points in the 1990-91 campaign.  That was more than 30 points higher than the next best scorer (Brett Hull), and nearly 50 points higher than third place Adam Oates.

The back gives you a look at the top ten scorers in 1990-91, and to me the most surprising name on the list is John Cullen of the Penguins/Whalers.

How impressive a feat was this 163-point total?  Well, not a single player has bested it in the nearly 30 years since.  Mario Lemieux came close once or twice, but nobody has eclipsed 163 points since Wayne's '90-91 season.  Amazing.

Leading the league in points in '90-91 actually got Wayne a second card in the '91-92 Topps release, as scoring the most points in the league wins you the Art Ross Trophy, of course.  Even though Gretzky is pictured in a practice sweater here, I actually like the layout of the card, with the Art Ross hardware super-imposed.

Perhaps the best thing about this pair of cards is that they're actually from a COMC order that I requested shipment for back in the first week of June that finally reached my doorstop this past Saturday!  It was a couple hundred cards in size too, so I've got plenty of great content now for posting through the dark and dreary winter months.

Really happy to have this pair of slabbed cards in my Great One collection, commemorating the amazing age-30 season Wayne enjoyed in 1990-91.  There are plenty more Gretzky cards out there that I'm still hunting for this project, in fact he was featured on eight cards in the 1991-92 Topps set alone.  Yep, I'm going to be at this a while, but I don't mind because I love the thrill of the hunt.  Two cards closer after today's post, anyway.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and I'll be back with more great cardboard later this week.  Stay safe out there, and mask up!

Grabbing Gretzkys - Another Box Bottom!

Here's another really cool box bottom card that I picked up a while back in my bid to acquire a bunch of Gretzky cards for a future "Top 99 of #99" card countdown here on the blog...

This particular card was cut from the bottom of an '86-87 O-Pee-Chee wax box.  In addition to featuring a different photo than Wayne's standard '86-87 Topps/O-Pee-Chee release, there's also a difference to the outer border of the card.  In the base set the borders are white, on these box bottoms they have a grey and white effect that looks almost like a sheet of ice.

Here's Wayne's base card from the '86-87 Topps set for comparison's sake.  I don't yet have an O-Pee-Chee version of this card, but it's got the same design and photograph, just different branding in the upper left corner there.

I'm not sure if I prefer the box bottom or the standard card, both are really nice.  We'll call it a draw I suppose.

Here's the box bottom back, in typical fashion these are assigned card letters rather than numbers.  Complete career stats up to this point in time, including WHA totals!  No matter how many times I see a 200-point season, I'm still in awe.

Well, that's my latest Gretzky addition for you.  It always feels good to pick up any new cardboard of The Great One, but it feels especially good when I can land a new '80s card of Gretzky like this.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Grabbing Gretzkys - I Like Goooold

This week's Grabbing Gretzkys post is the perfect opportunity to show off my newest acquisition featuring The Great One.  I'd been after one of these for a while, and finally brought one home only recently...

Here's how the card arrived in my mailbox, and was listed for auction.  Pretty banged up and scuffed up screw-down holder, that was also used backwards for some reason.  It was easy to see beyond that though to appreciate the shining beauty that was protected within.

Easily the "most gold Gretzky" in my collection, this is a Gold Team insert from the 1995-96 Select Certified release.  Let's free it from its plastic prison and take a closer look...

Bam!  Simply stunning.  Gaudy?  Sure, but this thing is awesome.  The entire front got the heavy gold foil treatment.  On top of that, there's sort of a radiating pattern like sunlight that streaks across the entire card from the Gold Team logo at lower right.  Sort of reminds me of the Pinnacle Museum Collection/Rink Collection parallels in that sense.

What's really amazing about it is that Pinnacle gave the same level of attention to the back of the card!  Check it out:

Again, completely covered in gold foil, and I think I like this image even more than the one used on the front.  The background has been replaced by the words Gold Team repeated over and over.  A stunning-looking card back for sure.  I feel like this putting this much effort into a card back is something that you don't really see much these days.  A really cool touch that makes this card feel special.

Here's Wayne in his new plastic prison, much more presentable in this brand new Ultra Pro OneTouch magnetic, in a slim fit sleeve.  There's something very satisfying to my OCD about rescuing a card from a beat-up/scratched holder or case and giving it a new presentation like this.

So happy to have this unique card for my Gretzky collection.  Best part is, it set me back just $10 plus shipping.  I was more than happy to shell that out for such a scarce and intriguing card.  One of my favorite recent Gretzky additions.

I hope you found this as interesting a card as I did, and either way thanks as always for stopping by!