1986 Topps Traded
Fast Five: Topps Project 2020 Part II players I'd want to see
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This one is a quick idea for a new department here on The Buzz ... Fast Five -- a quick list under a simple topic that might offer a basic starting point for a themed collection. It's a basic list of five items that could be fun for a starting collector or a new way to add to a stash that might already seemingly include everything when it comes to cardboard. For some of you, it's probably common sense. For others of you out there, it's something to think about.
This time? Five players (and cards) I'd want to see in the next rendition of Topps Project 2020. (Would it be Project 2021?)
BAT DOWN, HANDS DOWN
Ronald Acuña Jr.'s bat-down SP variation in 2018 Topps Series 2 is perhaps the most-iconic of all of the Rookie Cards in basic Topps sets in recent years, and I think it would be a no-brainer as a card to bat lead-off on a second project like Topps Project 2020 -- an effort where artists re-create memorable cards from the past for 20 players. The list is one that skews old -- just five players are from 1990 and beyond and only two who debuted in the 2000s -- while the top sellers (so far) have skewed young and that makes me wonder what/who might be popular the next time around. They have to do this again, right? (For the purposes of this list, I'm ignoring the realities of licensing -- some players are potentially not available to Topps or licensing could impose other limitations. (That's what I don't know.) What I do know is a collection of 20 takes on this Acuña would probably get me every time as it's such a good starting point.Keep reading for four more making up the list this time.
Potential Baseball Hall of Famers' Rookie Cards are easy finds
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There are eight guys with realistic chances at being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame tonight (announcement is set for 6 p.m. EST on MLB Network) and there's one good thing to be had here for potential new baseball card collectors or veterans still needing them.
Most of them have Rookie Cards can be easily landed thanks to the timeframe when they were made -- and they have plenty of cards to chase in boxes made since.
The first lock of the bunch is former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, MLB's career saves leader (652), who is a contender for the highest Hall of Fame voting percentage ever. That mark is 99.6 percent of ballots and is held by Ken Griffey Jr. back in 2016. Unlike Griffey -- and others you'll see here -- Rivera has just one Rookie Card. It can be found in 1992 Bowman, a set that added gloss and white stock into the brand's repertoire along with a deeper checklist (and guys in street clothes). Rivera has more than 5,500 different cards but only one gets the RC label -- that's a rarity in this day and age that helps bolster its value. (If you want one, buy it graded. They have been counterfeited.) >> Check out his autographed cards (and more) on eBay
Who else is out there and potentially headed to Cooperstown?
Star power is really nothing new with Topps Update & Topps Traded RCs
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First Bowman Chrome autos, Topps Heritage autos and Rookie Cards in general for key players seem to be powering sales of wax boxes most generally these days for Major League Baseball.
Those shouldn't be too surprising, but in a world of seemingly countless options with autographs, serial-numbering or memorabilia pieces one could argue that less is more --- that oldschool simplicity is back.
And one could argue that the basic Rookie Cards from a hobby staple such as Topps Update (or Topps Traded if you're oldschool) continue to be an emerging go-to -- and not just for players such as Mike Trout, whose 2011 Topps Update card is a ridiculous seller if in top condition and still pretty impressive if just in a lesser slab.
Perhaps it's just a gut feeling with the arrival of 2017 Topps Update previewing last week and its date now known on the release calendar -- but the old Topps Traded sets of the 1980s and even recent years of Topps Update also seem like fertile collecting ground, too, especially if you're into graded specimens.
Here's a year-by-year rundown of notable Rookie Cards from past Traded and Update sets ...
Buzz Poll: Looking back in time, which Bo did you prefer to know?
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Bo was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s as a college football star, a professional baseball and football star and a marketing star. Everybody knew his name and they still know why.
And then suddenly one day it was gone.
Sure, Vincent Edward Jackson played some baseball after his final NFL game -- that hip injury was 26 years ago tomorrow -- but he was never the same. And in an interview today he had a different take on his career.
"If I knew back then what I know now," he told USA TODAY Sports, "I would have never played football. Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody."
His career as a pro -- in both sports -- lasted less than a decade but he's easily one of the biggest icons of his time. It's a story worth checking out if you missed it and it's worth revisiting if you didn't.
Here, though, we simply have one bit of curiosity presented below.
[polldaddy poll=9634961]
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