Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Troubled Times for a Player Collector. The Many Variations of a Topps Card.

Being a self acclaimed hardcore Mark Teixeira Collector, I decide to shoot for something this year (2011) that I've never done before. I decided to try and complete a "Rainbow". I'm sure there's not a clear definition of what a Rainbow actually is, but here's my take: All of the colored parallels of a certain player from Topps Chrome (red, purple,gold etc..) and I completed it, in timely fashion. So I decided to go broader. This led to what I'm officially dubbing the "Pose Collection". How many different variations could I find of Mark Teixeira's 2011 Topps card in the Pose you see below (get used to those puffy cheeks). As of today I uncovered 27 different 2011 Tex Base Cards. Now, before sharing my spoils with you, let me gripe. Topps sure knows how to milk a pose.  This collection was bittersweet, because although I'm proud of its completeness, it was expensive, time consuming, and just plain got annoying as other weird variations kept popping up. I'm usually not one to complain about collecting (if you hate it, why do it?) but this is just nuts. I guess any player collectors ultimate goal is to own as many different cards of their guy as possible. So does this mean I'll have to collect 30 more Mark cards in the same pose next year? I don't know, I'm too exhausted from this year. I'll decide after a long winters nap.

Below is my "Pose Collection" in ascending order by rarity. Enjoy!


Topps Opening Day

Topps Opening Day Blue Border parallel /2011

Topps Flagship base (#450)

Topps New York Yankee Team set Base (Back # is NYY6)

Topps Diamond Anniversary Factory Set Limited Edition Stamped 

Topps All Star Base Card (All Star Stamped)

Topps Walmart Exclusive Black Variation

Topps Limited Edition factory set Red Border Parallel /245

Topps Flagship Gold Border /2011

Topps Diamond Anniversary Insert

Topps "Sparkle" Short Print (Check out his helmet)

Topps Flagship Black Bordered Parallel /60

Topps Chrome (#170)
Topps Chrome Refractor

Topps Chrome Orange Bordered Parallel

Topps Chrome X-Fractor

Topps Chrome Atomic Refractor /225

Topps Chrome Purple Bordered Parallel /499

Topps Chrome Blue Bordered Parallel /199

Topps Chrome Sepia Parallel /99

Topps Chrome Gold Bordered Parallel /50


Topps Chrome Red Bordered Parallel /25

Topps Update "Cognac" Diamond Parallel

Topps "Hope Diamond" /60

Topps Chrome Cyan Printing Plate 1/1

Topps Chrome Yellow Printing Plate1/1

Topps Chrome Superfractor 1/1 !


Whew, See how exhausting that was.....and I'll be forever looking for the rest of those plates.