Tag Archives: Topps Marquee

2011 Mets Game-Used Set of the Year

Posted by on 31 December 2011 Comments Off on 2011 Mets Game-Used Set of the Year

2011 Topps Marquee

Look at all the pretty Mets cards...

It was another rough year for the Mets, with Ike Davis being the only addition the core group of Wright, Reyes, Beltran, and sometimes Santana in the lineup for game-used insert sets in the first half of the year (Bay was in there too, but I’m trying to forget that he exists).  2011 Topps Marquee added Angel Pagan and Fernando Martinez to the mix with the former’s first-ever game-used cards and the latter’s first MLB game-used material, both with cards featuring sticker autographs (as well as on-card autographs in a separate insert set).  There were several other notable cards, including the first pieces from the 2010 pinstripe uniforms (Beltran), large multi-color jerseys from Nolan Ryan (sadly, not Mets jerseys, though he is shown as a Met on the card) and Eddie Murray (Orioles), Mets logo patches from Johan Santana (though he is shown in a Twins uniform for some reason), and more mundane material from Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Tom Seaver (Roberto Alomar and Rickey Henderson were in there too, but I have nothing interesting to say about them).  Finish it off with a variety of autograph, jersey, and Padres patch cards featuring ex-Met Heath Bell, and you have a set with plenty to offer any Mets collector.

Read more »

2011 Mets Game-Used Year in Review

Posted by on 31 December 2011 Comments Off on 2011 Mets Game-Used Year in Review

2011 was another dismal season for the Mets on the field, but who needs actual games when you have baseball cards?  It was a fairly uneventful season there too until the last few weeks, but there were several bright spots.

Going into the first year of the reborn Topps monopoly (Upper Deck still managed to put out a 2010 product with just a MLB Players Association license before getting sued by MLB Properties), I didn’t exactly have high hopes.  Take out all that Upper Deck and Donruss have given the hobby on the game-used front over the preceding decade and you would be left with mostly mediocre offerings.  Even after just the loss of Donruss and Fleer in 2005, variety in game-used offerings has taken a nosedive; taking Upper Deck out of the picture certainly isn’t going to help.  Gone are the days of finding pieces of hats, gloves, shoes, and other random items embedded in cardboard (I can live without game-used dirt cards).  Gone too are the days of even having any details of the item mentioned on the card – “Congratulations! You have received pieces of stuff used in a game of some sort!”  Based on how Topps seemed to be dumping its excess game-used inventory into cards in 2010 (some cards featured pieces of jerseys from events dating back to 2002), the days of timely and relevant game-used pieces (aside from the annual All-Star game insert sets) seemed long past.  2011 had a few surprises though, giving hope for some interesting products in the years to come (especially now that Panini, aka Donruss Mk. III, is in the market with a license from the MLB Players Association).

Read more »