Horseshoes, Hand Grenades, and Complete Sets

 My #1 collecting goal in 2016 was to knock the complete sets off my list.  I chose this goal because a) I wanted to try the whole set collecting thing and b) it was driving me crazy to have sets sitting incomplete for years.  I did all right, but there were a few sets that didn't end up completed, and it is driving me crazy.  These "almost" sets should be complete, but for one reason or another didn't quite get there.

2014 Panini Contenders

I'm missing 10 cards from the base set.  I thought I had them.  They were in my Sportslot cart.  And then when I ordered, they weren't.  So I'm sitting here at 90% when it should be done.  This wrong will be righted, as they are sitting in my cart once again and will come with my next order.

2015 Prestige

I bought every card for the base set.  Then my COMC order came, and there was no Clive Walford.  He's not on the invoice they sent.  He wasn't in the box.  But he is there in my purchase history on my computer screen.  I don't know where the card is.  I have 299/300 cards and waiting.

2013 Panini Prizm

This is my own boneheaded mistake.  I thought I had completed the set.  I had made the final purchases and was placing my new acquisitions in the binder.  But, wait!  What is that I see?  The two side-by-side New Orleans Saints running backs are not Mark Ingram and Darren Sproles; they are two copies of Mark Ingram!  So I had no idea that I needed Darren Sproles.  299/300 cards here.

Those are my oh-so-close set completions.  I also came very close to closing out 1995 Collector's Choice.  Given the number of cards I needed, I decided against buying the cards individually.  I found a box on ebay that was cheaper than buying individual cards.  So, even though I was only about 60 cards away, I bought a box with 36 packs of 12 cards each.  I guess it's a little overkill, but why would I pass on the fun of busting a box for cheap?

Here are the results of my 1995 Collector's Choice break.

Here are some of the bigger names of players that I needed for the base set.  I really like this set.  I like the player names are in team colors, the lower case and upper case is legible and unique, and the backs have a secondary photo that is large and clear.  For a cheap set, this is pretty good quality.  My biggest beef is the number of cards that are really off-centered.  But overall, this set is one of my favorites, which is why I was still wanting to finish it 21 years later.

There are two subsets, rookies and "Did You Know" trivia cards.  Here are some of the needs this box fulfilled.

Player's Club parallels fall one per pack.  The cards shown here will all stay in my collection.

Platinum parallels fall one per box, on average.  Not a bad player for my one parallel.

1995 Upper Deck spokesman Joe Montana had his own insert set in this product.  Only the first one is unique for me.  The second two are dupes and could be trade bait if anybody wants them.

Collation is a bit of an issue with this product.  You can expect 383 base cards from a 348 card set, but chances are, you won't complete the set.  This box produced four copies each of Trev Alberts, Warren Moon, and Daryl Johnston.  So who gets the "You Again?!" award?

Warren Moon!  He also made a Player's Club appearance.

Upper Deck ran a "You Crash the Game" promotion in Collector's Choice.  It worked this way: you were given a player and a date.  If said player scored a touchdown on said date, you could redeem the card for a special set of Crash the Game cards.  At 1:4 odds for Silver crash cards and 1:35 for gold, I stayed with the odds in this box.  Let's see who won here, just for fun.

Warren Moon, Oct. 8: WIN.  The Vikings beat the Oilers 23-17 as Warren Moon tossed 2 TDs to Cris Carter.
Jerry Rice, Oct. 1: WIN.  The Niners beat the Giants 20-6 and Rice caught a 16 yard TD.
Andre Reed, Oct. 29: NO.  No Bills found the end zone as Buffalo lost to Miami 23-6.
Steve McNair, Oct. 29: NO.  The Oilers beat the Buccaneers 19-7, but rookie McNair didn't see the field.
Tim Brown, Oct. 16: NO.  The Raiders were shutout 27-0 on Monday Night Football by division rival Broncos.
Cris Carter, Oct. 30: NO.  The Vikings could only muster two field goals against the Bears, losing 14-6 in another Monday Night matchup.
Troy Aikman, Oct. 1: NO.  Aikman left the game with an injury after only 3 pass attempts, and the Cowboys went on to lose to the 27-23.  He returned the next week and led them to a Super Bowl victory, so it worked out.  Just not for my gold Crash the Game card.

 So of these 10 cards, only two were winners.  Do you think there is any chance that Upper Deck would give me my redemption set?

But wait, there's more!  According to the odds, special "Crash Packs" fell 1:144 packs.  I got lucky enough to pull one in this box.  How did these players do?

Jerome Bettis, Sep. 10: NO.  The Rams beat the Saints 17-10, but Bettis was not in on the scoring.
Brett Favre, Sept. 17: WIN.  Favre only threw 25 passes for 141 yards, but he made them count with two touchdowns in 14-6 victory over the Giants.  Here's hoping for another Packers win over the Giants this week.
Warren Moon, Nov. 23: WIN.  Moon threw three TDs on the losing end of a 44-38 shootout with Detroit.  If you're counting, Moon has now appeared on 4 base cards, 1 parallel, and 2 Crash inserts.  But he won both of the Crash challenges.

The rest of the Crash Pack was filled with parallels and a Joe Montana insert.

When the dust settled, I was 5 cards short of this set.  This time, I'm not upset.  Sure, I could have hand-picked the cards and completed it, but it's always more fun to break a box.