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Friday, June 12, 2015

Just One Pack: 1998 Topps Series 1

Ok, I will admit upfront that I was a little lazy with photos on this post. I will make it up with future posts on this box:

 Hey everybody, it's Topps flagship! 1998 Series 1. Other than buying singles to complete my Topps All-Star Rookie Cup set, I think this are my first cards from this set. Definitely the first time ripping a pack of 1998 Topps. These came out my Sophomore year of high school, baseball was still a passion (I played on the JV team, still went to as many games at the Metrodome as I could), but baseball cards were not cool for a teen. Also, two years earlier there were two different baseball card shops walking distance from my house, and also a chain of card shops / newsstands in the Twin Cities called Shinders.

By the time 1998 Topps came out, the two stores by me were out of business (or maybe they switched to online only... probably not in 1998), and Shinders was looking pretty shaky. My interest in cards was also hindered by access problems.


Well, here they are. One insert for the 1997 World Series (Go Marlins!), and a bunch of base cards. Seeing these completely out of context, I think they are pretty cool. The little logos floating around the name plate are a nice touch, the frame is classic and doesn't distract. The gold... well I could take or leave the gold, but compared to the white border craze of the last several years, I'm fine with it. It's like a pack full of gold parallels!

Also, Steve Avery with the Red Sox? Whuh? I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to baseball as I thought in 1998. I'm keeping the Sheffield and the Boggs for sure, I haven't decided but I think I will keep the cool horizontal Rey Ordonez card too. Everything else is up for trade, and there will be more to come from this box. If you know you have some needs from the 1998 Topps set, drop me a line and I will hopefully have some cards you can use!

3 comments:

  1. This used to be among my least favorite Topps sets (THE least favorite, in fact), but I've come around on it a bit recently. I'm still not a huge fan of the design, but there are some nice photos if you look hard enough.

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    Replies
    1. I do like the Sheffield and Avery photos - I haven't dug in to the other packs yet, it might happen sometime this weekend though.

      I expect to get sick of the gold border soon, and the backs were fairly forgettable. We'll see how it goes!

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  2. I like the 98s, I couldnt stand the run starting in 99 running through 01. 02 & 03 weren't much better but better they were. 04 & 05 (the whites) I didnt mind the 04, disliked the follow up in 05 with basically the foil changing colors. from 06 on they mixed it up pretty good. I recently decided to go back and build all of those sets. ugh. LOL. Love this hobby!

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