As time passes, I realize that my card collecting is not so much as a steady trickle of cards as a series of floods punctuated by obsessions. 2012 Leaf Memories was one such of these obsessions. For some reason, the design sparked an innate urge to get them all.....spoiler, I failed at that.
The reason is because Puig Fever swept the nation, and the price skyrocketed to the point where this became infeasible. The "additional" base cards, numbered 529 and above were split between rookies and retired players, with all of them numbered to 99. Prospect names that still resonate three years later include Addison Russell, Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, Joey Gallo, and, of course, Yasiel Puig.
The retired players portion of the checklist was much easier to track down. Notice that there are blank uniforms and varying pictures of era and tone.
Reggie Jackson during his postseason mashing prime.
There were also two principal auto types in the set; one was essentially reprints of these high numbered cards, usually with a sticker auto and numbered to 25, and the other was buybacks from the 1990 Leaf set, which were then signed on-card and numbered to the player's uniform number in most cases. I tried to snag a few and successfully pulled out a couple of Hall of Famers.
2012 Leaf Memories is a set that surprisingly maintains a hold on me still even though I have very few actual 1990 Leaf cards....the collecting mind is funny sometimes.
1 comment:
Very thought-provoking musings. As we all know, so much of it seems rooted in nostalgia; of course, the card companies themselves often play into that. In fact, this set tries to tap into nostalgia for more than one era. After all, as your post shows, these 2012 Leaf Memories card fronts precisely copy the 1990 set in that clean, simple design and palate w/ the silver, white, & black. (I don't mean the buyback ones, since I realize those actually are the very same cards--w/ a foil stamp.) And the b&w photos of older players of course work well w/ both the nostalgia and simply the layout. Also, I know you say you had very few of the '90 Leafs, but that lack can sometimes leave an even stronger "hold." (I know it did for me and some sets.) Then again, maybe it's also that card design/layout; it's a pretty attractive one on these, and it eschews the gaudy pitfalls of many more contemporary sets.... In any case, I can definitely see the appeal of these. Love the Gibson card!
P.S. I'm still trying to absorb all of the wonderful cards you sent--too much fun!
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