2001 Topps Team Legend Auto set

[Lancemountain]

Has anyone built this set? I've been waking away at it for years and there are cards, common players mind you, that I have simply never seen. I have an excel sheet that I've been using to track cards that surface. I know this set was spread over several sets but at this point I have to accept that many of these simply do not exist.

To make matters more weird, the players that I have never seen surface all have cards in 2001 Topps archives. Perhaps I have been working off a wrong checklist all these years?

Has anyone built this set and/or has a known checklist?

 

[WCTYSON]

Has anyone built this set? I've been waking away at it for years and there are cards, common players mind you, that I have simply never seen. I have an excel sheet that I've been using to track cards that surface. I know this set was spread over several sets but at this point I have to accept that many of these simply do not exist.

To make matters more weird, the players that I have never seen surface all have cards in 2001 Topps archives. Perhaps I have been working off a wrong checklist all these years?

Has anyone built this set and/or has a known checklist?

http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php/2001_Team_Topps_Legends_Autographs

 

[Lancemountain]

Thanks for the link, that's the checklist I've been working off of and the one i think isn't accurate

 

[gamecockfanatic]

just curious - which cards do you think don't exist ?

 

[Lancemountain]

just curious - which cards do you think don't exist ?

Well each player has two cards- a reprint of their rookie card and a reprint of their last card. Topps numbered these (example: TT1F) meaning Topps Team 1 final and (example: TT1R) Topps Team 1 Rookie. TT1R is Willie Mays FYI and has been seen.

The 2001 Archives have a similar setup and similar checklist.

The following are the players I have never seen in the Topps Team Legends 2001 auto set surface for sale.....there are cards I have also never seen but the second card of the player has either surfaced or I have acquired so I will assume they exist.

[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT2F [/TD]
[TD]Hank Aaron[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT2R [/TD]
[TD]Hank Aaron
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT5F [/TD]
[TD]Yogi Berra[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT5R [/TD]
[TD]Yogi Berra[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT7F [/TD]
[TD]Nolan Ryan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT7R [/TD]
[TD]Nolan Ryan [/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT15F [/TD]
[TD]Reggie Jackson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT15R [/TD]
[TD]Reggie Jackson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT16F [/TD]
[TD]Al Kaline [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT16R [/TD]
[TD]Al Kaline [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT17F [/TD]
[TD]Willie McCovey[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT17R [/TD]
[TD]Willie McCovey[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT24F [/TD]
[TD]Jimmy Piersall[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT24R [/TD]
[TD]Jimmy Piersall[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT26F [/TD]
[TD]Minnie Minoso[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT26R [/TD]
[TD]Minnie Minoso[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT30F [/TD]
[TD]Maury Wills[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT30R [/TD]
[TD]Maury Wills[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT32F [/TD]
[TD]Hank Bauer[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT32R [/TD]
[TD]Hank Bauer[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT38F [/TD]
[TD]Fergie Jenkins [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT38R [/TD]
[TD]Fergie Jenkins [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT39F [/TD]
[TD]Willie Hernandez[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT39R [/TD]
[TD]Willie Hernandez[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT40F [/TD]
[TD]Gaylord Perry [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT40R [/TD]
[TD]Gaylord Perry [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT41F [/TD]
[TD]Carlton Fisk[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT41R [/TD]
[TD]Carlton Fisk[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT42F [/TD]
[TD]Kirk Gibson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT42R [/TD]
[TD]Kirk Gibson[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT44F [/TD]
[TD]Juan Marichal[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT44R [/TD]
[TD]Juan Marichal[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT45F [/TD]
[TD]Dom DiMaggio[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT45R [/TD]
[TD]Dom DiMaggio
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Again, there are specific cards, even Mike Schmidt cards that I've searched far and wide for, that have never been seen....but the other card of the player has surfaced. The above players I have never seen either Rookie or Final card of

 

[gamecockfanatic]

yes i know that each player is supposed to have the two cards.....

i only have a few of them myself and have never really CHASED the set enough to notice that some simply don't turn up....



the thing that catches my eye is that the sportscardpedia site says the set consists of 113 cards while beckett only lists 81 in all...

if you check out the beckett data more closely , they claim there were originally tt1-tt50 with 2 versions per card and then late additions were labeled with the players' initials....theoretically that would make 100 numbered plus the extra initialed...their checklist features 12 initialed cards plus a single tt51f ralph branca (another oddity since they say in the set info there were only 50 players with numbers)....adding all this up would give the 113 total listed on the checklist you already have (50 players x2 + the branca and 12 more initialed cards).....

using that as a guide , unless there are still cards out there that just haven't turned up yet , it seems likely that 32 cards on the big list may not exist....(by comparison , you have 34 on your list of cards you haven't seen , but a quick comaprison to the beckett list shows one version or the other for most players where you have listed both versions - didn't take the time to look closely enough to see the exact discrepancies between the two lists but i'll try to do that later this week)

 

[Lancemountain]

if you check out the beckett data more closely , they claim there were originally tt1-tt50 with 2 versions per card and then late additions were labeled with the players' initials....

Yes, these cards are all dated 2002. And interestingly enough, some of them dupicate players from the ones dated 2001. Examples are Kaline, Musial, Snider among others. Here is the list of the 2002 Topps Team autos of players in the set.

[TABLE="width: 214"]
[TR]
[TD]TT-AK[/TD]
[TD]Al Kaline[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-GC [/TD]
[TD]Gary Carter [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-RG [/TD]
[TD]Rich Gossage [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-GN [/TD]
[TD]Graig Nettles[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-HK[/TD]
[TD]Harmon Killebrew[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-JB [/TD]
[TD]Jim Bunning[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-JM [/TD]
[TD]Joe Morgan[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-JP [/TD]
[TD]Jim Palmer [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-JS [/TD]
[TD]Johnny Sain[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-LA [/TD]
[TD]Luis Aparicio [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-LB [/TD]
[TD]Lou Brock [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-PB [/TD]
[TD]Paul Blair [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-RY [/TD]
[TD]Robin Yount [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-VL [/TD]
[TD]Vern Law [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-FJ[/TD]
[TD]Fergie Jenkins [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-SM[/TD]
[TD]Stan Musial[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-DS[/TD]
[TD]Duke Snider[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]TT-DL[/TD]
[TD]Don Larsen[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[Lancemountain]

Note*** those 2002 I listed above are the ones that I have acquired, I have no idea if that 2002 list is complete

 

[Lancemountain]

Anyone else have any info?

 

[Mighty Bombjack]

I can add a little info, but not at all helpful in your quest. Sorry.

I was baseball editor at Topps at this time. As you may know, these cards were made as a way to stabilize card production numbers well before the orders came in. See, topps is made to order, but if the sell sheet promises a certain insertion rate of autos, as well as a set number of autograph subjects and print run, how can Topps meet the demand if more product is purchased than anticipated? Throw these Team Topps autos in there!

What that meant for me as an editor is that we would set an autograph subject list as well as add a few Team Topps subjects to be used if needed. Now, for some products, they were needed and included (sometimes only one or two of the four or five subjects on the original list). Sometimes, orders were super low and not only were the Team Topps subjects not included, but a subject or two from the original auto list got cut out. The problem: somebody in media relations was forwarding checklists to Beckett, unbeknownst to us in the Sports department and at random times during the production process (usually before and in some cases well before the list was finalized). I think that practice ended in like 2003, but the result is that many of the Topps checklists on Beckett for the years 2001-2 are incorrect. I can think of one concrete example: 2002 Topps Finest. We originally had a checklist with a set number of subjects and some Team Topps cards for possible over-order scenarios. One of these got forwarded to Beckett. The orders came in and they were low, so I believe that no Team Topps were inserted (I could be wrong on that) and one subject was cut from the auto checklist: Joe Morgan. Now, I haven't checked in many years, but for years after release of that product, Joe Morgan was on Beckett's checklist. I know this because I had to tell a couple of set collectors who were pulling their hair out to stop looking for that card. It doesn't exist. It is quite possible (highly likely) that subject lists that included Team Topps cards that were never included made it to Beckett and survive to this day.

Again, not helpful in your quest, but a piece of the explanation for why the checklists for this "set" are confounding.

Happy hunting! It is a sweet set of cards.

 

[Hawk8]

I can add a little info, but not at all helpful in your quest. Sorry.

I was baseball editor at Topps at this time. As you may know, these cards were made as a way to stabilize card production numbers well before the orders came in. See, topps is made to order, but if the sell sheet promises a certain insertion rate of autos, as well as a set number of autograph subjects and print run, how can Topps meet the demand if more product is purchased than anticipated? Throw these Team Topps autos in there!

What that meant for me as an editor is that we would set an autograph subject list as well as add a few Team Topps subjects to be used if needed. Now, for some products, they were needed and included (sometimes only one or two of the four or five subjects on the original list). Sometimes, orders were super low and not only were the Team Topps subjects not included, but a subject or two from the original auto list got cut out. The problem: somebody in media relations was forwarding checklists to Beckett, unbeknownst to us in the Sports department and at random times during the production process (usually before and in some cases well before the list was finalized). I think that practice ended in like 2003, but the result is that many of the Topps checklists on Beckett for the years 2001-2 are incorrect. I can think of one concrete example: 2002 Topps Finest. We originally had a checklist with a set number of subjects and some Team Topps cards for possible over-order scenarios. One of these got forwarded to Beckett. The orders came in and they were low, so I believe that no Team Topps were inserted (I could be wrong on that) and one subject was cut from the auto checklist: Joe Morgan. Now, I haven't checked in many years, but for years after release of that product, Joe Morgan was on Beckett's checklist. I know this because I had to tell a couple of set collectors who were pulling their hair out to stop looking for that card. It doesn't exist. It is quite possible (highly likely) that subject lists that included Team Topps cards that were never included made it to Beckett and survive to this day.

Again, not helpful in your quest, but a piece of the explanation for why the checklists for this "set" are confounding.

Happy hunting! It is a sweet set of cards.

Thanks for the info, that is very enlightening

 

[Lancemountain]

Yes that was very helpful. I'll do a little research on what products the cards I've never seen surface and maybe you help me cross check to see if those were poorly ordered

 

[Mighty Bombjack]

Yes that was very helpful. I'll do a little research on what products the cards I've never seen surface and maybe you help me cross check to see if those were poorly ordered

Research is always a good thing, but I'm sorry to say that I doubt I will be able to help you any further. I really wasn't privvy to the order numbers as that was the brand manager's job. I can also tell you that I think several subjects on the checklist were inserted over a number of different releases, but my memory of those years is fading (and wasn't great to start with due to the sheer amounts of mind-altering substances that I consumed while living in NYC - good times those).