2007 Goudey: A Set of Strangely Magnetic Appeal

Who remembers 2007 Goudey? Back in the days of multi-company licensing, this was the Upper Deck response to the Topps retro set proliferation. This was the first iteration of the set, and the design wasn't based off a Goudey design per se.

 It seemed to be more of an amalgam of Goudey designs and the Diamond Stars set from the '30s. Where it really shined was in the duplication of the card size (they weren't minis, like in later sets) and in the art deco stylings of each of the player backgrounds. In the aggregate,  it was a memorable set that had a buzz about it.

I recently opened a box of the product and was struck by how easy it was to interpret which cards came out of each pack.  There were no unnumbered variations, unannounced insert sets, or parallels upon parallels.  The only misstep (a major one) was the forced inclusion of two essentially equal and parallel sets of different colored backs, usually evenly distributed within each pack.

This causes the completist in me want to complete each 200 card set, though they're exactly the same except the ink color on the back (green and red).  And I set out to do just that.  Additionally, the insert sets were numbered as part of the base set, also making me want to complete them.  And I set out to do that as well....Fortunately, the insert sets are of retired and modern players (like Kei Igawa and Ken Griffey Jr).  The Heads-up set even parallels itself....with different numbers.....to make a long story short, there are 488 cards to collect.  I now need 19, of which only 2 are considered SPs/inserts.

Shown below are some of the other results of the box.

Sport Royalty is a boxtopper.  You get a wrapped card in every box!  I bought a box because there was an off-chance (one in 12 boxes) or receiving an original Goudey card.  Instead, I received Greg Maddux in the well-remembered threads of his halcyon Padre days.

Goudey relics are inserted one per box and have the relics in the shape of a "G".  This stands for gazillion.

Autographs are also inserted one per box and are all on-card.  They are called Goudey Graphs (without the apostrophe in front of Graphs).  I at least received a one-time AL ERA leader.

Are there any simple sets out there anymore? And do we want them to be?  What does retro mean to you?  Why is being a completist such a curse?  (Curse you, card 277, you have evaded me for too long).