2003 Topps205 backs

Ike's Cards enjoyed the 2002 Topps206 mini back post, and asked if I have a Topps205 version. Lucky for Ike, I did - it was just sitting in my draft folder. Here's how to decipher the ad backs on Topps205 minis.

Common back:

Polar Bear

Like in Topps206, the common default back is Polar Bear. In my experience, if you bought a box of Topps205 you could expect about 25 out of 40 minis to have the Polar Bear back. While mini cards were only one per pack, each box had a bonus 20 card box of minis as a box topper. Someone at Topps really liked Polar Bear. This is the end of the easy portion of this post. The rest will require  a Doctorate in Cardology to understand.  I'm collecting this mini set and I still barely grasp it.

Uncommon backs:

Sovereign

This is the default uncommon back. Unline the 2009 Topps206 set, there are no stated odds for any of these things. Out of 40 minis in a box you will probably get 4-6 Sovereigns in series one, 8-10 in series two. (I opened a few boxes of this stuff) Like the Polar Bears the ink on the back was black. However, that is not the only Sovereign you could pull.

Sovereign Green

It's a little tough to tell from the scan, but the ink on the back of this card is a dark green. 20% of the Sovereign print run was printed with green ink. That makes this an uncommon uncommon. Just wait, it gets worse.

Rare back:

Drum

Drum was the default rare card in the set. By default, I mean that it carried through to series two. Not all backs are found in both series, but Polar Bear, Sovereign and Drum are constants. These were found about 1 per box plus another one in the mini bonus box. These also have black ink.

Multi-Brand Combo

Also labeled as uncommon were a set of minis that had a combination of five different ad backs. While you could build a complete set of Polar Bears or Sovereigns, you con't build a complete set of any one of these ad backs. You could however build a complete set using all five of these backs. These were only found in series one boxes, Topps gave up on this for series two. These cards were slightly tougher to get than Sovereigns, but not quite as tough as the Drums. Here they are:

American Beauty

Cycle

Honest

Piedmont

Sweet Caporal

These five all have brown ink on the back, making it easy to tell these from the others. Like I said, you can complete a 150 card brown back set using all five backs, but not a 150 card Piedmont or Sweet Caporal set. I've never found a listing of which cards can be found with which backs but that might be an interesting research project. I'm not quite done with these though, there were also...

Multi-Brand Purple Backs

These here look slick. 10% of the total multi-brand set is printed in Purple ink. These are rare uncommons, and are actually tougher to find than the Drums. If all that is confusing, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Brooklyn backs

Brooklyn backs are common, uncommon rare and impossible. How can this be? Well, basically, Topps split up the Brooklyn set and made 25 of them common, 85 of them uncommon, 30 of them rare and 30 of them numbered to five copies. That's right, five. That's right, forget about ever collecting a set of Brooklyn backs. While the Brooklyn concept was kind of cool at first, after you pull four of the same dirt-common Brooklyn back, it grew tiresome quickly. You'll probably get about 8 in a series 1 box. I actually have a list of which cards are which rarity, so if you have a few Brooklyns around you can check the list and be disappointed that Manny Ramirez isn't a super rare one.

The last type of Topps205 back is the Bazooka back. These were 1:1573 packs and were also numbered to five each. I have never ever seen even one of these backs. Just for reference, the odds to pull an original T205 card was 1:336 packs. Isn't artificial scarcity fun?

2003 Topps205 Brooklyn Back Scarcity List

1 Barry Bonds uncommon
2 Bret Boone uncommon
3 Albert Pujols uncommon
4 Carl Crawford uncommon
5 Bartolo Colon rare
6 Cliff Floyd rare
7 John Olerud rare
8 Jason Giambi uncommon
9 Edgardo Alfonzo numbered to 5
10 Ivan Rodriguez numbered to 5
11 Jim Edmonds uncommon
12 Mike Piazza common
13 Greg Maddux uncommon
14 Jose Vidro uncommon
15 Vlad Guerrero rare
16 Bernie Williams rare
17 Roger Clemens common
18 Miguel Tejada uncommon
19 Carlos Delgado uncommon
20 Alfonso Soriano common
21 Bobby Cox MG uncommon
22 Mike Scioscia rare
23 John Smoltz uncommon
24 Luis Gonzalez common
25 Shawn Green common
26 Raul Ibanez common
27 Andruw Jones uncommon
28 Josh Beckett common
29 Derek Lowe uncommon
30 Todd Helton common
31 Barry Larkin uncommon
32 Jason Jennings uncommon
33 Darin Erstad uncommon
34 Magglio Ordonez common
35 Mike Sweeney uncommon
36 Kazuhisa Ishii uncommon
37 Ron Gardenhire MG common
38 Tim Hudson uncommon
39 Tim Salmon common
40 Pat Burrell rare
41 Manny Ramirez common
42 Nick Johnson uncommon
43 Tom Glavine uncommon
44 Mark Mulder rare
45 Brian Jordan uncommon
46 Rafael Palmeiro rare
47 Vernon Wells uncommon
48 Bob Brenly MG uncommon
49 C.C. Sabathia uncommon
50 Alex Rodriguez common
51 Sammy Sosa rare
52 Paul Konerko rare
53 Craig Biggio uncommon
54 Moises Alou rare
55 Johnny Damon uncommon
56 Torii Hunter common
57 Omar Vizquel common
58 Orlando Hernandez numbered to 5
59 Barry Zito uncommon
60 Lance Berkman common
61 Carlos Beltran uncommon
62 Edgar Renteria uncommon
63 Ben Sheets uncommon
64 Doug Mientkiewicz uncommon
65 Troy Glaus rare
66 Preston Wilson uncommon
67 Kerry Wood common
68 Frank Thomas uncommon
69 Jimmy Rollins uncommon
70 Brian Giles uncommon
71 Bobby Higginson uncommon
72 Larry Walker common
73 Randy Johnson common
74 Tony LaRussa MG rare
75 Derek Jeter uncommon
76 Bobby Abreu uncommon
77 Adam Dunn uncommon
78 Ryan Klesko rare
79 Francisco Rodriguez uncommon
80 Scott Rolen rare
81 Roberto Alomar common
82 Joe Torre MG rare
83 Jim Thome numbered to 5
84 Kevin Millwood numbered to 5
85 J.T. Snow uncommon
86 Trevor Hoffman rare
87 Jay Gibbons uncommon
88 Mark Prior common
89 Rich Aurilia rare
90 Chipper Jones uncommon
91 Richie Sexson rare
92 Gary Sheffield uncommon
93 Pedro Martinez rare
94 Rodrigo Lopez uncommon
95 Al Leiter uncommon
96 Jorge Posada common
97 Luis Castillo rare
98 Aubrey Huff common
99 A.J. Pierzynski uncommon
100 Ichiro Suzuki uncommon
101 Eric Chavez uncommon
102 Brett Myers uncommon
103 Jason Kendall uncommon
104 Jeff Kent numbered to 5
105 Eric Hinske uncommon
106 Jacque Jones uncommon
107 Phil Nevin rare
108 Roy Oswalt rare
109 Curt Schilling uncommon
110 Nomar Garciaparra rare
111 Garret Anderson uncommon
112 Eric Gagne uncommon
113 Javier Vazquez uncommon
114 Jeff Bagwell uncommon
115 Mike Lowell common
116 Carlos Pena uncommon
117 Ken Griffey Jr. rare
118 Tony Batista rare
119 Edgar Martinez uncommon
120 Austin Kearns common
121 Jason Stokes numbered to 5
122 Jose Reyes numbered to 5
123 Rocco Baldelli numbered to 5
124 Joe Borchard numbered to 5
125 Joe Mauer numbered to 5
126 Gavin Floyd numbered to 5
127 Mark Teixeira numbered to 5
128 Jeremy Guthrie numbered to 5
129 B.J. Upton uncommon
130 Khalil Greene numbered to 5
131 Hanley Ramirez RC rare
132 Andy Marte RC uncommon
133 J.D. Durbin RC numbered to 5
134 Jason Kubel RC numbered to 5
135 Craig Brazell RC numbered to 5
136 Bryan Bullington RC rare
137 Jose Contreras RC numbered to 5
138 Brian Burgamy RC rare
139 Evel Bastida-Martinez RC numbered to 5
140 Joey Gomes RC numbered to 5
141 Ismael Castro RC numbered to 5
142 Travis Wong RC numbered to 5
143 Michael Garciaparra RC numbered to 5
144 Arnaldo Munoz RC uncommon
145 Louis Sockalexis XRC numbered to 5
146 Richard Hoblitzell numbered to 5
147 George Graham numbered to 5
148 Hal Chase numbered to 5
149 John McGraw numbered to 5
150 Bobby Wallace numbered to 5

2003 Topps205 Minis

2003 Topps205 Mini Want List

I'll take any type of back on these cards. Once I finish the set then I can worry about trying to find specific backs.

19 Carlos Delgado
31 Barry Larkin
77 Adam Dunn - smiling variation *
152 Richard Hoblitzel
159 Reggie Jackson
162 Grady Sizemore
172 Eric Duncan
173 Brian Snyder
177 Chad Billingsley
191 Bo Hart
204 Jeff Bagwell - no cap variation **
232 Kenny Lofton
236 Bernie Williams
246 Miguel Cabrera
262 Ivan Rodriguez
271 Javier Lopez
284 Chipper Jones - yellow background variation ***
294 Aaron Guiel
316 Willie Mays
324 Chad Billingsley
326 Brian Snyder


And... What the hell, 2003 Topps205 Base Want List

172 Eric Duncan SP
173 Brian Snyder SP
174 Chris Lubanski SP
177 Chad Billingsley SP
191 Bo Hart SP
192 Brandon Webb SP
200 Sammy Sosa
300 Dontrelle Willis smile variation SP ****

* The small version of this:
** The small version of this:
*** The small version of this:
**** The big version of this:


Thanks to: Mr. Haverkamp

Gettin' My Act Together 2009 - Part 1: Focus

Ok, new year means resolutions. Even Spike Jones thinks so.



You guys don't want to hear about the 'start exercising' 'call my dad more' 'quit eating deep dish pizza and cheesecake for breakfast' kind of resolutions but I will share my card collecting goals for '09. I'm not even going to look at the ones I did last year, 'cause I know I didn't do very well. I'm going to keep it simple this year. First thing I want to do is get some focus.

I like building sets. That has been established. Thing is, I want to collect EVERY set. I've got 50 years worth of sets all over the place and there's at least two dozen more coming out this year that I'll be distracted by. If there's one thing for certain, it's that it's impossible to collect everything. So, I've decided to concentrate on a few sets and once I knock them out I can go on to the next. I've chosen one set for each decade except for the '80s where I'm going to work on three at a time. The goal is to knock 'em out and then move onto the next set instead of trying to complete every set all at the same time.

So here's the sets. First off is three from the '80s because really, there is no excuse for me not having every set from the 80's completed already. I could buy outright half of the sets from that decade with the money I spent on my box of 2008 Allen & Ginter. Like I said, I would get really close to one set, then the calendar flips and I get distracted by a bunch of shiny new stuff. So here's the three to focus on, one from each of the Big Three.

1983 Topps

This is the set that really started off my addiction. It's still one of my favorites of all time. It looks great, has an awesome rookie class and includes the 1982 division winning Braves. I actually completed this set in 1983, but some of it went by the wayside since then. Once this set is complete, I'm taking out '86 Topps.

1987 Donruss

This is my favorite design from Donruss, I always liked those little gray baseballs on the sides that showed you exactly how off center your card was. Like '83 Topps, it also has a pretty hefty rookie class. This was also the first full box I ever bought from a hobby shop. I always assumed I had the full set, but I'm missing a few here and there. 1983 Donruss will be next on my list when this is complete.

1984 Fleer

It's odd, but I never got into this set when I was a kid even though I loved '83 Fleer. I wasn't collecting as much in '84 though and packs became much harder to find around then too. It's a really solid set though even though the huge rookies were saved for the update set. Gotta love the crazy photos they used though. I bought the contents of most of a box of this stuff from a friend in the late '80s after he gave up collecting so I'm not that far from a set even though I never bought a single pack myself in '84. After this is done, I'm going to complete '87 Fleer.

I'm not going to specifically focus on any sets from the '50s or '60 because this project is about completing the sets and one of those sets will take years unless I just focus on it exclusively. I'm pretty sure you readers out there don't want this blog to become "The 1956 Topps Blog" so while I will always be on the lookout for Vintage stuff, I'm not putting it in my main focus for this year. The '70s is completely different. Once the difficult high series cards were done away with in 1974, Topps sets became entirely completable. The only difficulty is with the rookies and between prices falling and the fact that I love Tiptons, I'm counting any Topps set after 1974 as one I can complete if I just get my butt in gear. the one I chose to start with is....

1979 Topps

Why 1979 Topps? I'll be honest, I was not a big fan of this set when I was a kid. 1980 Topps I liked. 1978 Topps I liked. 1979 didn't do much for me for some reason even though I got lucky and found a brick of cards that was stuffed with stars one time. I've grown to appreciate the elegant design now, and the fact that I am much closer to completing this set than any other one from the '70s makes this a no brainer. Really, the only challenge I'll have is the Ozzie and I'll be able to find that easy. Once this is done I'm going to get ambitious and tackle 1974 Topps.

I'm a little less enthusiastic about working on my '90's sets, but I'm going to at least plan for it now that I'm in a set building frenzy. The '90s is when cards really first started to no longer be about the sets anymore but there's still a bunch of great sets to put together from that decade.

1991 Topps

The last real Topps set, as far as I'm concerned. Chipper's rookie is in there for Pete's sake! 792 cards, real cardboard stock, a solid Toppsy design and a boxed Traded set tacked on afterwards. I just picked up the Traded set from D&A so now I just need to pick up the few stragglers from my set. I haven't actually figured out which ones I need yet, or if I need any at all. It's entirely possible I've completed this set and forgotten about it. If so, they next set in my sights will be the utterly fantastic 1993 Upper Deck set.

There are a lot of sets from the new millennium I'm chasing. Heritage and all of the retro sets immediately come to mind. I'm going to be laser focused on two in particular though... One base set and one parallel set.

2006 Allen & Ginter

I've got the '07 and '08 sets, now I need to finish '06. This set drove me crazy. When it first came out I absolutely loved it, but hobby box prices almost immediately zoomed way out of my price range. It didn't help that I was going through financial difficulties in the fall of '06 either. I was able to pick up some loose packs and a few blasters from Target, but once the eBay sellers realized they could make a neat profit on blasters, they evaporated rapidly. Still, I got a decent amount of the set and I should be able to complete it if I buckle down. I'll definitely be chasing the '09 set so it would be cool to have all four completed by the end of the year. After I complete this one, I think I'm going to attack the 2007 Goudey short prints.

2003 Topps205 mini set

If you think I'm nuts over Allen & Ginter, you should have seen how loopy I got over Topps205. T205 is my favorite tobacco card design and I loooooooved the minis from this set. I bought multiple boxes of Topps205 and pestered the local hobby shop owner for every boxtopper bonus of 20 cards in a little box. I am really close to completing this thing but I haven't paid attention to the set for a few years once singles started drying up at shops and on eBay. Time to finish the sucka.

I'm working on the want lists for each of these sets and I'll let you know when I've posted them to the sidebar. I'm still busy with giveaway packages and a a couple of other trades so I'll do a seperate post once I'm ready to start trading. That's enough to think about today, I'll continue on with my 2009 plans tomorrow.