What's next? Quarterfinals: (1) 1965 Topps vs (8) 1959 Topps

A match up featuring two sets that easily could have made it to the final if I were doing all the voting.  A great pair of cards on the scan, featuring a pair of NL Central clubs battling it out for the title again this year.

This round instead of the "tale of the tape", I'm going to answer a trio of questions:

How they got here:

1965 defeated 1978  17-2
1959 defeated 1966  11-9

How big a head start do I have on these sets?

1965 Topps:  Minimal  17 out of 598
1959 Topps:  Minimal  10 out of 572

Favorite card that I own from each set so far:

1965:  # 303 Rico Carty (Rico played for the Blue Jays)
1959:  # 134 Jim McDaniel (I like the Sporting News rookie card design)

I really like how the backs look on both of these sets, so that's a wash for me.

So, which set do you want me to build?  Let me know in the comments.

thanks for reading, and voting, Robert

Death by trouncing

You kind of had to expect that this 1st round match between the 1965 and 1978 Topps sets might become a little lopsided.  '65 is probably one of the best (if not the best) set of the past 45 years, while '78 doesn't have a great deal of star power to boast.

So, without further adieu, here is the winner of the 8 vs 9 seed match.

The unibrow of Mr. Moon moves on, with a 17-2 trouncing going into the books.

That margin may have already earned the '65 set the top seed going into the next round.  There are still 7 matches remaining in the round of 16, but that may be a tough score to beat.   Unless the contest attracts a lot more voters in the upcoming weeks, in my estimation there may be only 1 or 2 more matches that have the possibility of a lopsided score such as this.

The next match starts tomorrow with an interesting contest, as '59T faces '66T.

Thanks for reading, and voting, Robert

What's next? Round of 16: (8) 1965 Topps vs (9) 1978 Topps

The randomizer created a few round of 16 match ups in which the 2 sets featured are a decade or more apart.  It'll be interesting for me to see if any of the "younger" sets get any kind of love against their older counterparts.

Tale of the tape:

1.  Set Size:  1965 has 598 cards.  1978 has 726 cards
2.  Key RCs:  1965  Steve Carlton, Tony Perez    1978  Eddie Murray, Molitor/Trammell
3.  Cost of complete set in NM condition:  1965  $5000      1978  $200
4.  Number of cards with high book at $100 or more:   1965: 7       1978:0

Blogs:

1965 Topps  vs  1978 Topps  [edit:  thanks to Jim From Downingtown who pointed me to the updated '78T blog]  


Please comment with your vote on this post.  I'm not going to try the poll widget again this week.
Remember, comments earn entries into the end of the tournament prize giveaway.   You don't have to write a novel for your comment if you don't want to, a vote for either set works as well.  

Thanks for reading, and voting!   Robert

Who needs this year's Heritage?

I heard through the Twitter verse that the '14 Heritage release was put off for a week, much to the dismay of a lot of people.

I have no need to worry about that.   I've already got my set started.  This checklist will tell you so...

What would have been really nice is for this checklist to have been accurate when I purchased it.   Ernie Banks would be in hand, which would mean one less pricey card to pick up. 

Packs are 8 cards total usually for Heritage, correct?  OK, here's the other 7 cards for you.

Not a bad pack if I do say so myself.  The Rico Carty is my favorite, largely because he played for the Jays during the '78 and '79 seasons to finish off his career.  Carty also finished 2nd in ROY voting in 1964, losing out to Dick Allen. 

OK, so my Heritage set has 590 cards left to go.  And yes, it will probably cost a little more to build than the '14 set. 

At least I didn't have to wait an extra week to get it started.

Thanks for reading, Robert