Ramblings: Bet You Haven’t Seen This Topps Set Before

One great aspect about three day weekends is there is extra time to fit in more errands and do some things you’ve been meaning to do but haven’t had time. This weekend was no exception as I had time to go to a Frisco RoughRiders game (AA affiliate of the Texas Rangers).  Well, most of it anyway.  A massive thunderstorm hit and I started for home, and then because the rain eased, I stopped at my storage unit to look for possible “silent auction” items for our second charity sports card show that’s coming up later this summer.

I realized that after receiving some nice items from Just Collect and Nick’s Sports Cards that I would do either just a silent auction or a mix of door prizes and silent auction items. Well even though I remember what I have in storage, sometimes actually seeing items kicks in a little reminiscing.

One of the items I had framed back in the day and stuck inside the unit a while back was a 1992 Topps National “hobby press” set.

Topps had a new PR firm led by Timm Boyle at the time and they had the great idea.  Get all of the hobby media  at the Atlanta 1992 National together to have their photo taken and then send them a 500 ct vend box of those cards for their use. And if you think about this, that truly is a great PR move because if you are sent 500 cards of yourself (as I was) you will definitely find a way to use them.

I actually collected as many of the cards as I could find (trading yourself is an odd experience) but since I never knew a full checklist my searches were truly hit or miss. Well, one day when I still at Beckett, I received a package from Mike Jaspersen, who was then handling the Topps Vault. He figured, and was probably correct, that I was about the only person who would even care about the history and the full sheet of the hobby press created with the photos taken at that show.

Some of the people on those cards are still in the hobby such as Grant Sandground, who I worked with at Beckett and is now at Upper Deck while others such as John Lepitch have passed on. Others I have never heard of and have no idea as to their current whereabouts. And yes, among the 66 people featured in this set is Dr. Jim Beckett.

Is there any value to this sheet? Well,  it truly a one of a kind item and who knows if there is any value other than some nostalgia and memories of days gone by. However, as we talk about, sometimes doing something which does not cost much money can create lots of memories and I think somewhere buried I still even have a few of my cards available.

Anyway, the hobby media baseball cards were never done again but in reality was a great idea and perhaps a card company can, at one of their parties for their leading customers, create a similar set so those collectors can have something neat to show off to their friends.

Have you ever been featured on an card? We’d love to hear those stories. Please send your stories to the email address listed at the bottom of this article.