1994 Leaf 'Slideshow' insert

Take your mind back a few years to the 'Junk Wax' era. While many invested in cards, hoping that one day their 1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan or box of 1988 Donruss would fetch a pretty penny, Leaf were experimenting with this innovative 10-card set featuring a piece of acetate embedded into the card. The design is meant to resemble a photographic slide -- hence the name Slideshow or perhaps it is a play on the action of sliding.
Although for me slides bring back mixed memories of bed sheets hung on the wall and hours of endless slides of scenery, fish and trees, otherwise known as my parents holiday snaps.  My father was no Lord Lucan Litchfield. I quite like these.
The first five cards were randomly inserted into Series One packs and have a blue 'frame', while the five Series Two cards have a white frame.

Not a large checklist but these cards are fit into the 'Made from anything other than cardboard' folder.
Slideshow Checklist
1 Frank Thomas
2 Mike Piazza
3 Darren Daulton
4 Ryne Sandberg
5 Roberto Alomar
6 Barry Bonds
7 Juan Gonzalez
8 Tim Salmon
9 Ken Griffey, Jr.
10 David Justice

2003 Topps Red and Blue Backs insert

When Topps produced its first baseball cards back in 1951 they decided to go with two different sets called Red Backs and Blue Backs, although their official designation is 'A' series and 'B' series respectively.  Their objective was to use baseball cards to increase sales of their candy products. The cards were packaged as two connected cards along with a piece of caramel in a penny pack. Unfortunately the candy would 'melt ' and ruin the cards.

The cards were designed like playing cards, with rounded corners and either a blue or red back. The front showed a players picture and an 'action' (ball, strike, double). Long before Topps Attax the intention was to use the playing cards as a baseball card game. The game didn't catch on with card collectors, which led to a different (and more popular ) approach in 1952.

 

There are 52 cards in the Blue and Red sets, totalling 104 cards.

In 2003 Topps chose to produce an insert set that copied the 1951 design. Inserted in a ratio of about 1 to 12 in hobby packs and 1 to 8 in retail, the Red and Blue back insert is larger than its original counterpart and slightly more affordable.
Blue backs were inserted in Series 1 packs and Red backs in Series 2 packs. The cards are unnumbered although for checklist purposes I have used the designation used at The Cardboard Connection.

Blue Backs set Checklist

1 Albert Pujols
2 Ichiro Suzuki
3 Sammy Sosa
4 Kazuhisa Ishii
5 Alex Rodriguez
6 Derek Jeter
7 Vladimir Guerrero
8 Ken Griffey Jr.
9 Jason Giambi
10 Todd Helton
11 Mike Piazza
12 Nomar Garciaparra
13 Chipper Jones
14 Ivan Rodriguez
15 Luis Gonzalez
16 Pat Burrell
17 Mark Prior
18 Adam Dunn
19 Jeff Bagwell
20 Austin Kearns
21 Alfonso Soriano
22 Jim Thome
23 Bernie Williams
24 Pedro Martinez
25 Lance Berkman
26 Randy Johnson
27 Rafael Palmeiro
28 Richie Sexson
29 Troy Glaus
30 Shawn Green
31 Larry Walker
32 Eric Hinske
33 Andruw Jones
34 Barry Bonds
35 Curt Schilling
36 Greg Maddux
37 Jimmy Rollins
38 Eric Chavez
39 Scott Rolen
40 Mike Sweeney

Red Backs Set Checklist

1 Nomar Garciaparra
2 Ichiro Suzuki
3 Alex Rodriguez
4 Sammy Sosa
5 Barry Bonds
6 Vladimir Guerrero
7 Derek Jeter
8 Miguel Tejada
9 Alfonso Soriano
10 Manny Ramirez
11 Adam Dunn
12 Jason Giambi
13 Mike Piazza
14 Scott Rolen
15 Shawn Green
16 Randy Johnson
17 Todd Helton
18 Garret Anderson
19 Curt Schilling
20 Albert Pujols
21 Chipper Jones
22 Luis Gonzalez
23 Mark Prior
24 Jim Thome
25 Ivan Rodriguez
26 Torii Hunter
27 Lance Berkman
28 Troy Glaus
29 Andruw Jones
30 Barry Zito
31 Jeff Bagwell
32 Magglio Ordonez
33 Pat Burrell
34 Mike Sweeney
35 Rafael Palmeiro
36 Larry Walker
37 Carlos Delgado
38 Brian Giles
39 Pedro Martinez
40 Greg Maddux

2013 Topps Archives Mini Tall Boys Inserts

Here is another insert set that I completely forgot that I had started. The Mini Tall Boy insets in 2013 Topps Archives. 

When looking back at the cards that have caught my eye in recent years, Topps Archives has consistently included cards that fit my collecting habits. In 2012 Topps used the 1980 design in Archives, a set that has a special place in my heart for two reasons; it was the first set of baseball cards that I ever received and it was the first set I completed, with the added bonus that the 1980 design is one of my favourites. Topps has decided to use 1980 design again in 2014 Archives. Guess what I will be collecting in 2014.

The Mini Tall Boys 'subset' uses the oversized Topps Football set design from 1965, known as the 'Tall Boy', a name give because of their size. While regular modern cards measured 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", 'Tall Boys' were 2 1/2" X 4 11/16". 

As the name suggests the 2013 inserts are mini versions measuring a fraction of the 1965 originals.

I will be attempting to collect all 40 cards in the 'subset'.  

MT-AB Albert Pujols
MT-AK Al Kaline
MT-AR Anthony Rizzo
MT-BH Bryce Harper
MT-BP Buster Posey
MT-CK Clayton Kershaw
MT-CR Cal Ripken Jr.
MT-CS Chris Sale
MT-DBU Dylan Bundy
MT-DB Dante Bichette
MT-DC Dave Concepcion
MT-DE Dwight Evans
MT-DF David Freese
MT-DJ Derek Jeter
MT-DM Denny McLain
MT-DP Dave Parker
MT-DS Dave Stewart
MT-DW David Wright
MT-EB Ellis Burks
MT-ED Eric Davis
MT-FL Fred Lynn
MT-FM Fred McGriff
MT-FW Frank White
MT-GG Gio Gonzalez
MT-KG Kirk Gibson
MT-KM Kevin Mitchell
MT-MC Miguel Cabrera
MT-MG Mike Greenwell
MT-MS Mike Schmidt
MT-MT Mike Trout
MT-MW Matt Williams
MT-ON Otis Nixon
MT-RB Ryan Braun
MT-RC Robinson Cano
MT-RD Rob Dibble
MT-RCL Roberto Clemente
MT-SS Stephen Strasburg
MT-WC Will Clark
MT-WM Will Middlebrooks
MT-YC Yoenis Cespedes

2012 Topps Archives 3D inserts

In retrospect I think that I should have just tried to collect the whole set of 2012 Archives. The inclusion of 1980 Topps design, Deckle Edge and stickers weren't enough, there was one set of inserts that definitely captured my imagination -the 3D set. Similar in design to 2011 Topps Lineage, which were also based on the experimental 1968 3D Topps release, only slightly larger.
The set contains 15 cards featuring some stellar names from past and present.
They were inserted in 2012 Archives at a ratio of 1in 8 packs.
Since there are only 15, why not collect the whole set?

AK Al Kaline
BR Babe Ruth
CS CC Sabathia
CU Chase Utley
DP Dustin Pedroia
FH Felix Hernandez
JU Justin Upton
JV Joey Votto
MC Miguel Cabrera
MK Matt Kemp
MM Mickey Mantle
NC Nelson Cruz
RC Robinson Cano
RCL Roberto Clemente
WM Willie Mays

COMPLETED