OH NO. THE END OF TOPPS BASEBALL CARDS (THE END IN 2026)

 Looks like we are not going to see that 1977 Topps Heritage set design 

IS TOM BRADY THE GREATEST SPORTSMAN EVER.

 

With the above title in mind here are my list of the top 3 greatest from every sport.

Football

Tom Brady

Jim Brown 

Jerry Rice

Baseball

Babe Ruth

Willie Mays

Hank Aaron

Basketball

Michael Jordan

Bill Russell

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Hockey

Wayne Gretzky

Gordie Howe

Bobby Orr

Tennis

Roger Federer

Pete Samparas

Jimmy Conners

Golf

Tiger Woods

Jack Nicklaus

Arnold Palmer

Boxing

Muhammed Ali

Jack Johnson

Rocky Marciano

From That list I would present the final 8.

Tom Brady, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Muhammed Ali, Jim Brown. Willie Mays:

The Playoff

Tom Brady defeats Willie Mays.  Brady is the statistical leader in his sport and winning leader.

Babe Ruth defeats Jim Brown. Both are the greatest/dominant but Brown only won one championship.

Michael Jordan defeats Wayne Gretzky. The Edmonton Oilers won the Stanley Cup after they traded Gretzky

Muhammed Ali defeats Tiger Woods. Ali is just a bigger iconic figure.

Semifinals

Tom Brady defeats Michael Jordan. Brady's been to the conference championship 14 times, Jordan had to wait for Bird, Magic and Isiah to fall before he soared.

Muhammed Ali defeats Babe Ruth. Ruth has the stats but Ali has even bigger Aura. 

The Finals

Ali is iconic but Brady's dominance started with 9/11 and now 20 years later in the Covid Pandemic. If Brady loses the Super Bowl, I think an ever slight edge goes to Ali but if he wins, I think He is The Greatest. 

 

Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 2. The rankings:

 

Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 2.  The rankings:

1.  1972

2.  1959

3.  1983

4.  1971

5.  1953

6.  1965

7.  1967

8.  1975

9.  1952

10. 1991

Maybe the most surprising pick is 1983, but it was an improvement over the 1963 set that is was based on. The 1983 set is sort like ‘The Empire Strikes Back” in the first Star Wars Trilogy.  The 1971s were not called Black Beauties for nothing.  The 1991 was most colorful and had the best anniversary logo ever. The 1972 set is Topps at its pinnacle. Its Large in size and Beautiful Looking.  The 1959 set has the kaleidoscope look of paintings.

11.  1956

12.  1963

13.  1987

14.  1969

15.  1962

16.  1968

17.  1957

18.  1976

19. 1954

20. 1955

The golden age really dominates the next ten. The 1987 set was an improvement over the brownish borders of 1962 and 1968.  The 1956 set is great looking but it reminds me just a tad of the late 1980s Topps Big set. The 1969 set was the 1967 just reworked a little.

21. 2008

22. 1966

23. 1958

24. 2003

25. 1964

26. 1977

27. 2005

28. 1961

29. 1988

30. 1985

The 21^st century breaks through, 2008 was one of the most unique designs ever though the photos may have been too small.  If you look closely 1964, 1977, 1986, 2004 sets are an evolving evolution of the same design.  2003 was a good rendition of 1963 and 1983 and the same goes with 1985 copying 1965.  This is truly the top half of the sets, we now move to the lower rung.  

31. 1970

32. 1978

33. 2010

34. 1981

35. 1984

36. 2006

37. 1986

38.  1973

39. 1974

40. 2007

The 2006 had a well thought out design. The 2010 set was based on a 2001 Topps cereal issue. The 2007 was no 1971 set but black borders returned. Surprisingly the 1973 and 1974 are kind of dull and boring though nostalgic.

41. 1990

42. 1979

43. 1980

44. 2013

45. 2012

46. 2014

47. 1992

48. 1960

49. 2011

50. 2018

2018 was the best of the borderless era, its design looked like the Rolling Stones logo.  2012-2014, were decent sets which varied little in design. The 1990 is the craziest looking set and could be called the Purple Passion set

51. 1989

52. 1982

53. 1993

54. 2009

55. 2004

56. 1995

57. 2020

58. 2017

59. 2001

60. 2019

61. 2015

62. 2016

63. 1994

64. 2002

65. 1998

66. 1996

67. 1997

68. 1999

69. 2000

The last 30 years have not been the golden age but it is better than the late 20^th century.  1982 set is the worst set  in brown card board back era.  Sorry Night Owl but 2015 is nutty and drab looking. The sets from 1997-2000 had so much gloss on them they stick together.

Tonight on the Masked President it is revealed that Claudia Conway is Donald Trump.

 I believe that the biggest surprise of the season of the Masked President will be that Claudia Conway will be revealed as Donald Trump.

This makes those most sense as who else but a 15 year old teen age girl who is on social media all day long, contacted Covid at exactly the same time as President Trump and rides around in cars just to be seen is President Trump. 

Just like Bruce Wayne is Batman, Claudia Conway is Donald Trump.  

Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 1

 

Ranking the Topps baseball sets from 1952 to 2020. Part 1. 

The basis for this ranking will be primarily the front design with some consideration to the card backs, texture and feel of the cards, the player selection, size and subsets.

O.K., first off I am classify the Topps sets into era’s:

1952-1956 – The Non 2 ½ by 3 ½ era

1957-1972 – The Golden Age of Topps Cards era.

1973-1980 – The Seventies era

1981-1991 - The new Competition era.

1992-1996 – The Card stock / Glossy stock upgrade era.

1997-2002 – The Death March Metallic era.   

2003-2008 – The 21^st Century era.

2009-2014 – The Topps getting cutesy and manipulative era.

2015-2020 – The no border era. 

1952-1956 – The non 2 ½ by 3 ½ era

I know some people consider this the golden age era but these are not the cards that you know of today because of their size. Since that is so it is unlikely the top card set will come from these tears. Also, with Bowman around Topps did not have all MLB players under contract for the sets.

1957-1972 – The Golden Age of Topps Cards era.

Cards that we know of, the right size, all the players and a lot of classic designs.

1973-1980 – The Seventies era.

The end of issuing cards by series, more of a plainness looking to the sets (with some exceptions),

1981-1991 - The new Competition era.

Some consider this the junk wax ear also but surprisingly Topps started to give some thought into the sets and the designs sometimes changed drastically from year to year.

1992-1996 – The card stock / glossy stock upgrade era.

With the 1992 set, the end of the thin gray stock card board was put to rest (a sad time to me) and the glossy supposedly better (and now more expensive cards) began.

1997-2002 – The Death March Metallic era.   

Come on can you visualize any set in your mind from these years. Foil. Foil. Foil These were some of the ugliest cards Topps produced and years later with all the gloss these cards will actually stick together.

2003-2008 – The 21^st Century era.

Topps started to put some thought  into the cards instead of foil and the return of white boarders.

2009-2014 – The Topps getting cutesy and manipulative and exclusive era.

Topps began to emphasize bigger photos and photos with more personality.  The designs only varied slightly from year to year, were simple and somewhat fun and colorful. The manipulative - the variation photos began to appear more and more.  This means master set collectors had to pay more money if they wanted ALL the cards in their set.

2015-2020 – The no border era.

O.k, so 2015 had borders but it was really the beginning to the transition to the lack of borders era. These sets continued a process where Topps varied there designs ever so slightly from year to year.  It seems with 2021 Topps designs, Topps is transitioning back to white borders with some colored striped thrown in.   

 Next post some real rankings 

The 20 Greatest Sport Card Blogs of all time.

 I attempted to do this in a series of post a couple years ago but it did not happen. So lets try again and do it in one post. As I explained back in 2012, I have read the Sports Card Blogroll just about every day (and that is still the case), so I deem myself an expert on the subject.  Let me just say that sports card blogs in 2020 are just not the same as they were in 2012. They are just how could I say, not as fresh as they were back in 2012. There are a number of reasons for that and I will get into few.  The newness of the blogs have just wore off. When I was reading the blogs 8-12 years ago, it was all new. The basic premise was the blogs told me about the cards I owned and presented them in a different light and made them new and fresh again.  The blog 88 Topps Cards, made a junk wax set into one of the most interesting things I ever read and owned.

Also,  I think of the Sports Cards Blogs like Monday Night Football. In the early 1970s, its live nighttime broadcasts with Howard Cosell and the gang  was just must see TV.  However, by the late 1970s and early 1980s the newness and freshness wore off.

In addition, the first time you read about the great action photo on the 1971 Topps Lindy McDaniel it is new but through the years other bloggers will write about it the card and it is just a little less fresh.

There are other reasons, (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook,  Case Breaks, Exclusivity Rights, Trading, Commercialization of) the Sports Card Blogs are not as formidable as years ago.  So that said here we go. Below are the top 20 through 2020 and far below the top 20 through 2012.

 

Top 20 Sports card Blogs of all-time

 

2008 through 2020 (Posted on August 15, 2020)

1. Night Owl Cards 

2. The Topps Archives 

3. Wrigley Wax 

4. The Phillies Room 

5.  Cardboard History

6. Cards on Cards 

7. 30 year old cardboard

8. garvey cey russell lopes 

9. 88 Topps Cards 

10. Puck Junk 

11. The Shlanbotnik Report

12. The Chronicles of Fugi

13. SABR Baseball Card Research Committee

14. Waxacholic

15. Voice of the Collector – the Anti Beckett 

16. A Card Board Problem

17. A Pack to be Named Later 

18. Phungo

19.  Mint Condition

20. Card Board Junkie

The Criteria is Dominance x(times) Durability, with Durability a huge factor, if you been blogging for 12 years straight that helps getting on the list.

Notes:  Night Owl Cards like Howard Cosell is still the GREATEST…..The Topps Archives gives you the undiscovered history of Topps Cards…Wrigley Wax, The Phillies Rooms and Cards on Cards gives you baseball cards from a team perspective…Cardboard History the fastest riser….Some of the Blogs have ended and some have slowed down their pace through the years.    

 

Top 20 Sports card Blogs

 

2008 through 2012 (Posted on November 23, 2012)

1. Night Owl Cards 

2. Wrigley Wax 

3. 30 year old cardboard 

4. The Topps Archives 

5. Card Board Junkie 

6. The Chronicles of Fuji 

7. The Phillies Room 

8. garvey cey russell lopes 

9. Cards on Cards 

10. Waxacholic

11. 88 Topps Cards 

12. Sports Cards Uncensored 

13. My 2008 Topps Blog 

14. Condition Poor 

15. Voice of the Collector – the Anti Beckett 

16. Mint Condition 

17. A Card Board Problem 

18. Bdj610’s Topps Baseball Card Blog 

19.  Puck Junk 

20. Wax Heaven 

Why the Democrats will win the 2020 presidential election and why the stock market will fall in the next 3 months

I'm back and ready for a little bit of a predictions.   After studying the US GDP numbers since 1927 and Presidential election results, the following rules tend (83 percent of the time - 19 out of the last 23 elections) to apply:

1. If the (calendar year) GDP rises from the third to fourth year in a Presidential Administration, the political party in power stays in power in the White House. The exception was 1968, where the GDP rose from 2.7 in 1967 to 4.9 in 1968. The Democrats lost the White  House.


2. If the (calendar year) GDP drops from the third to fourth year in a Presidential Administration or if the Calendar year GDP is negative in the third or fourth year of  Administration in power (the political party in power) loses the White House. The exceptions were 1944, 1948 and 1956. 

Below are the results:

1928: The GDP rises from 0.6 (1927) to 1.2 in 1928. The Republicans stay in power

1932:  The GDP in 1932 was -12.9 (it was also negative in 1931). The Republicans lose White House to Democrats

1936: The GDP rises from 8.9  (1935)  to 12.9 in 1936. The Democrats stay in power

1940: The GDP rises from 8.0  (1939)  to 8.8 in 1940. The Democrats stay in power

1944:  The GDP drops from 17.0  (1943)  to 8.0 in 1944. The Democrats should have lost but did not

1948:  The GDP in 1947 was -1.1 (it was positive in 1948 at 4.1) The Democrats should have lost but did not

1952:  The GDP drops from 8.0 (1951) to 4.1 in 1952. The Democrats lose the White House to the Republicans

1956:  The GDP drops from 7.1  (1955)  to 2.1 in 1956. The Republicans should have lost the White House  but did not

1960:  The GDP drops from 6.9 (1959)  to 2.9 in 1960. The Republicans lose the White House to the Democrats

1964:  The GDP rises from  4.4  (1963)  to 5.8 in 1964. The Democrats stay in power

1968:  The GDP rises from 2.7  (1967)  to 4.9 in 1968. The Democrats should not have lost but did. Republicans take the White House

1972:  The GDP rises from 3.3  (1971)  to 5.3 in 1972. The Republicans stay in power

1976:  The GDP in 1975 was -0.2 (it was positive in 1976 at 5.4). The Republicans lose the White House to the Democrats

1980:  The GDP drops from 3.2  (1979)  to -0.3 in 1980. The Democrats lose the White House to the Republicans

1984:  The GDP rises from 4.6 (1983)  to 7.2 in 1980. The Republicans stay in power

1988:  The GDP rises from 3.5 (1987)  to 4.2 in 1988. The Republicans stay in power

1992: The GDP in 1991 was -0.1 (it was positive in 1992 at 3.5). The Republicans lose the White House to the Democrats

1996:  The GDP rises from  2.7  (1995)  to 3.8 in 1996. The Democrats stay in Power

2000:  The GDP drops from 4.8  (1999)  to 4.1 in 2000. The Democrats lose the White House to the Republicans

2004:  The GDP rises from 2.9 (2003)  to 3.8 in  2004. The Republicans stay in power

2008: The GDP drops from 1.9 (2007) to  -0.1 in 2008. The Republicans lose the White House to the Democrats

2012:  The GDP rises from 1.6 (2011)  to 2.2 in 2012. The Democrats stay in power

2016:  The GDP drops from 2.9 (2015)  to 1.6 in 2016. The Democrats lose the White House to the Republicans


This brings us to 2020. In 2019 the GDP was 2.3. So far the GDP is about -18.0 with a projected -5.0 rate for all of 2020. This tells us there will be a political party change (well at least an 83 percent chance) in the White House. While I don't have the numbers, I remember reading that in a Presidential Year if the Stock Market drops from August 1st to October 31st, the Political Party in the White House will lose the White House.  The last time this did not work was 1980.

With that reasoning that the Political Party in Power now will lose, then this means the stock market from August 1st to October 31st will fall. The Dow Jones is at 26,428. It will be less than that number on October 31st.