Sunday, November 10, 2013

2009 Topps Update #UH71 Ryne Sandberg

When I put together my recent post on the 2009 Topps Phillies cards, I failed to mention that three of the 61 variation/gimmick/short printed cards available in packs of series 1, series 2 and update were Phillies cards.  For the uninitiated, each year since 2009 Topps has included short-printed cards bearing the same number as a card in the regular sets.  The short-printed cards have most typically featured retired Hall of Famers or fan favorites, or photo variations all containing a similar theme.

For example, card #UH71 in the 2009 Topps Update set is Chase Utley's All-Star card.  However, Topps included a second #UH71 as a short-print in packs of 2009 Topps Update featuring current manager Ryne Sandberg in a photo taken before one of his 13 games with the Phillies in 1981.

I don't consider these short-printed variation cards to be part of the proper Topps base set, and I'm not going to include them in the Phillies team set tallies.  However, as a handy guide to those of us trying to track down these cards, here's a full list of Topps Phillies short-printed cards since 2009:

2009 Topps - #475 Mike Schmidt, #650 Steve Carlton and #UH71 Ryne Sandberg
2010 Topps - #409 Richie Ashburn, #US45 Steve Carlton and #US100 Robin Roberts
2011 Topps - #50 Mike Schmidt and #460 Robin Roberts
2012 Topps - #280 Ryan Howard (standing on deck)
2013 Topps - #6 Ryan Howard (signing autographs), #26 Chase Utley (signing autographs) and #US188 John Kruk

I'm still searching for the cards in red.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any card that features Ryno from 1981 is cool, but I generally consider these SP's to be a nuisance.

...but that's just me...

Jim said...

As a team collector, I've waited a year or two after the cards have been released and then track them down on eBay. After the hysteria dies down, most of the short prints can be found for less than $10.

But yeah, they're kind of annoying.

Jim from Downingtown said...

I read the first paragraph, and the only words that sunk in were 'Topps' and 'gimmick'.

Steve F. said...

I have no interest in adding these SPs to my Topps sets for the year--but I definitely hunt down the Phillies and add them to my Phillies binders. Thanks for providing the list. I think I have all of them from 2009-2012 but I will use this to confirm. I haven't heard of the 2013 Kruk though, so that will be on my radar now. See you guys on eBay--let's not bid each other up too high!

Jim said...

I'm going to wait a while longer on the Kruk card. I've tried bidding on a few, only to have the auctions end north of $25. I can't justify paying that much for a card, even if it is supposedly a "SSP".