Overrated / Underrated / Favorite / Least Favorite (OUFLF)

[jgannon]

I don't have one favorite set, but I do have favorites. And I could choose other sets for some of these.

That being said:

Overrated: I'm going to say, Topps cards after 1974. When the '74's came out, I thought to myself, "Yeah well, they're nice enough, but they're too similar to the '73's with the white border". I stopped collecting after '74. While 1975 was a little different, Topps got into this white border thing. There wasn't enough of a difference really, in my opinion, between the sets. One could kind of make that argument about 1954 - 1956, and to some degree 1968-69. But the white border thing just went on and on. They got too generic.


Underrrated: The 1968 Topps set. I have a sentimental feeling about the set, because it was the first I really collected. I had collected a little bit in previous years, but '68 I really amassed a lot of cards. I wish I could describe the feeling that I got from looking at all the different cards. MLB was all new to me and each card had a feeling about it. From looking at the blue of the Dodgers team and the colors of the Pirates team card, to the cards of Herman Franks and Alvin Dark. I loved the backs of those cards as well. Oh, Ed Mathews has 509 home runs...he must be good! Each card was a world unto itself. The burlap borders were just fine with me, thank you very much.


Favorite: There are so many great sets. As I said, I could never just pick one. At this moment I'm feeling the 1969 Topps. I could also have put this under "Underrated". What an amazing design, and the pictures - they got them so right. The set is sort of an offshoot of the 1968 set, but it sort of clarifies that set. Again, some of the photos are great. The World Series run from that year was also one of their best, if not their best.


Least favorite: 1962 Topps. I was just never into the wood grain border thing. The cards are somber and not uplifting at all. If I had been collecting then, I would have been hoping and waiting for a better design the next year!