The Great Griffey Frankenset: Page 15

Welcome to Page 15 of the Great Griffey Frankenset!

If you're not familiar with the idea of a frankenset, it is a customized set of cards properly sequenced by card number that all tie into a connecting theme. Some frankenset themes include whole teams, mini-collections, and even just generally great cards or photos. This is the first frankenset I'm aware of that is made up of just one player: Ken Griffey, Jr., the man of a million cards. I took the liberty of including things like inserts, parallels, cameos, and oddballs for the sake of variety and because it's just more fun that way. Enjoy!

Here is page 15 of the Great Griffey Frankenset:

Completeness of page: 9/9

Completeness of the Frankenset so far: 100% (135/135)

Team distribution so far: Mariners: 95/135 (70%), Reds: 37/135 (27%), White Sox: 1/135 (1%), No team indicated: 2/135 (2%)

Approximate retail value of this page: $49.50 ($2917.75 running total)

Page 15 Notes: There are several gems on this page, including a pair of above-average parallels, an oddball rookie, and a visit from a legendary retired slugger. The continued coolness of some of the cards you are seeing here this late in the set is a testament to just how many great Griffey cards there are out there. Hallelujah!

Page 15:

127. 2003 Upper Deck Finite #127 Major Factors #/1599

Finite is not the most well-remembered set, but the cards were not without their charm. The subsets from the main base set came in a few variations, the least rare of which is this Major Factors card numbered to the very bizarre figure of 1599. I's actually a very pretty card, too.

128. 1995 Pinnacle #128 Museum Collection

Then there's this amazing Dufex version of my very own Blogger avatar. I don;t know if that bubble is real or not and I don't. This is one of the great Griffey cards.

129. 2002 Fleer Showcase #129 Avant Card

A rare subset with a fun visual effect. This one's al; about looks and is actually a pretty tough find.

130. 2006 Upper Deck #130 Special F/X Purple #/150

Giants legend Willie McCovey on a shiny purple base card with the Kid. Sweet track suit, too.

131. 1989 Classic #131

A lesser-known close-up portrait of our guy from 1989, the Upper Deck rookie being the more famous one. Where that card is shiny and polished, this Classic version is gritty and gray-screened.

132. 2000 Pacific Private Stock #132

I miss Pacific - no other company ever made anything like this, especially as a base card.

133. 2003 SP Back to '93 #133 #/1993

Upper Deck paid themselves homage on more than one occasion, and why not? '93 was an excellent set that deserved a tribute, and it looks just as good in Cincy colors.

134. 1996 Pinnacle #134 The Naturals

I'd like to have used the Dufex version here, but that one has a different number being from the 200-card Museum Collection set. No worries, though. Great mid-90's card.

135. 2000 Topps Opening Day #135

Similar to the regular base card but silver and just a bit rarer.

Here's the back of Page 15:

Thanks for reading, and look out for Page 16 next Friday.

The Top 30 Griffey Acquisitions of 2015: The Runners-Up

In terms of Griffey collecting, 2015 was, in a word, stupid. I acquired more grails and whales of every color than I ever thought possible. Somehow I just got really focused when it came to the big boys of Griffey cardboard. That, combined with a little extra expendable income from a promotion I got early in the year, resulted in what will probably be the most face-melting Top Acquisitions of the Year list I'll ever get to make.

But I can’t count everything, so I’ve decided to give those Griffeys that didn’t quite crack the Top 30 their own post. Most of these cards easily would have made the list in previous years, but not in 2015. This is the closest thing to Griffey card porn I can give you. Oh, and there's a neat honorable mention from 2014 at the end. Enjoy!

Topps released some limited 5x7" sets of all of Griffey's base cards in a new factory direct series called Cardboard Icons. I bought the black (#/199) and gold (#/99) complete sets, but the red (#/10) was just too expensive. I settled for just his rookie card in the red version. Thanks, eBay.

An uncut sheet 1 from 1989 Upper Deck I stuck in a poster frame. I may have to get this one properly framed some day soon.

Another uncut sheet, this one from an early-90's branded oddball set for Jumbo Sunflower Seeds. What a checklist, though.

The foil version - a tough find.

Goooooooooold!!!!!

More goooooold!

A very pretty Flair insert.

That same Flair insert in its uncut sheet.

These fell one per box - that's one Griffey every 250 boxes. Junior also appears on two checklists in this set, and I've found one of them. Only one left to get.

Select Certified Mirror Golds are legendary. This isn't the famous one. In fact, this one's not that rare at all. But still, I can understand the appeal.

The Members Only version of this insert (right) is significantly easier to find than the regular (left). I needed both.

Kind of Leaf's version of Donruss' Elite Series.

Just a great-looking insert.

Topps Laser is never coming back, but a man can dream.

Leaf made an awful lot of wood cards in their time.

That banner is made of die-cut felt. This card you have to hold in your hands to really appreciate.

This card has a spinning wheel of stats and has Andruw Jones on the back. This is not the last Griffey card with Andruw Jones you will see...

This is the Away version - the Home version is far rarer.

Far and away the heaviest baseball "card" I've ever seen.

This card is not from the set it looks like it's from.

Not the last Hitting Machines card you'll be seeing, but certainly one of the cooler ones.

Translucent in a way this scan will never do justice.

This may be my favorite Gallery of Heroes design.

FIVE 1/1's, and they still didn't make the Top 30. That should hint at some of the craziness to come.

Just a really badass card. Well done, Panini. This one could have come out in 1998.

I'm only missing the pink version, but I may never find one as I feel weird typing "pink knob" into search fields.

Artist's Proofs, all. Not the prettiest parallels, but damn hard to track down.

This may be my favorite Dufex card every made. Bold and colorful.

Book cards FTW!

Another die-cut beauty from the 90's.

A custom job from lonestarr on the back of Senior's Tiffany '89 card.

Just a beautiful photo on a surprisingly scarce Gallery insert.

Solid gold.

The most imperatively-named insert I've ever seen.

500 was a very limited run for 1998.

Another Leaf woody.

Gold parallels of any You Crash the Game cards are super tough.

Honorable Mention:

I acquired this card in 2014 and completely forgot to include it in the Top 30 countdown. It certainly would have been in the Top 10 had I remembered, so I’m making amends with the Gods of cardboard by including it here today. It’s one of those dual autograph jobs featuring both Junior and Senior, but this one is different from the one I already have in that it features both Griffeys on their respective heritage teams. The last variation of this I need is one showing both Griffeys as Mariners, and one does exist. I'm planning on tracking one down in 2016.

You may have noticed the radical mis-cut this card got. Believe it or not this scan has been cropped straight on its y-axis which means the vertical cuts are wildly off-register. I don't know if this is the only specimen to get the crooked-cut treatment, but I'm all ears if any other owners out there want to share images of their own copies.

Anyway, this was just a sneak peek. The official Top 30 Griffey Acquisitions list begins next week. Prepare ye for a peek at the monster year this collection has had. Thanks for reading!