Random Card of the Day

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Year: 2014

Set: Topps - Future Stars That Never Were Relics (Rate)

“ Very nice card...not familiar enough with the uniform to know if this is a patch or a pinstripe, but it's great either way, and being SN 1 of something makes it even better. ” -Billy Kingsley

“ As a collector of serial number 1 cards, I’m a fan of this one. ” -Dave Sosidka

“ Odd name for a set. ” -muskie027

“ There is way too much going on with this card. ” -Corky

“ I'm sorry, but I guess I don't understand the premise here. I think Longoria was a star, so why "never were". The card says he played in 2008, so maybe he just didn't have a Topps card that year? I don't know. Anyways.... I like the card design. I think the stripe through the star, placed precisely with the edge at the star's centerline, is strikingly beautiful. Perhaps a future Astros design should consider that concept. ” -kents_stuff

“ I love numbered stuff and to get the #1 is always cool! I like it! ” -bkklaos

“ The name of this set is very misleading. Makes it seem like Longo was never a star. This is an interesting looking design though. Pretty cool. ” -IfbBirdsCards

“ OK. I'm not sure I get the concept of this. Are they meaning that these stars never had a "future stars" card their rookie card year? Very odd title for an insert set, or more accurately a series of sub sets: base, gold variant (the good style were the border is gold not the kind where the gold variant is foil lettering) autograph, relic, relic w/autograph ” -captkirk42

“ This is an odd card, kinda looks like an ID badge. Looks "dated" for it's time. Not really sure how I feel about it's collector status for my collection. ” -Camstone

“ So he never became a star? I'm real confused by this card. ” -switzr1

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jasongerman9

Posts: 1902
Joined: Jan 2015

Thursday, January 7, 2021 6:09 AM

captkirk is right. For those confused:

"Future Stars That Never Were" refers to the Topps subset "Future Stars" that appears in flagship. Here's Jeff McNeil from 2020 Topps.

2008 Topps didn't include the "Future Stars" subset. It first appeared in 1980, then continually through 1991. It re-appeared in 1994, then went away in 1996 until making it's return with the 2014 set (which this insert was from).

So, the insert set title is referring to those players that may have received that "Future Star" designation had that subset existed for their flagship set. In my opinion, most of them are unlikely. Topps seemed to struggle with genuinely picking "Future Stars" outside of a few notable exceptions (Bo Jackson, Derek Jeter, and Gary Sheffield come to mind as "Future Stars" that panned out. Mike Harkey does not).

Thanks to the blog Night Owl Cards for providing a lot of the research for me for this comment. He wrote a nice blog post about the history of this subset back in 2014 when it returned to the Flagship set, and actually a lot of his examples were what stuck in my mind when linking cards above. I cannot access Blogger on my work computer, but a quick Google search for "Topps Future Stars" will show you his post as the third result.

-------------------------------

I'll never quit collecting entirely, but I am downsizing. Check out my COMC store and help me thin out what I don't want so I can buy cards that I do want. See something you like? Send me a message on here, and we can knock the price down quite a bit. I'll even take a bit of a loss if it means getting you a card you really want.

jlvette50

Posts: 92
Joined: Jan 2014

Thursday, January 7, 2021 6:40 AM
Hey! That's my card!! Love the Longo and my third Longo RCOD since joining the site since 2014. Thanks for the explanation jasongerman9.

mkb

Posts: 380
Joined: Sep 2018

Thursday, January 7, 2021 8:55 AM
Longoria used to be so good. I guess age caught up to him. Also nice number 1 card ------------------------------- Been hooked on collecting since 2011. Sports & Video Game Nerd Pretty good Ori, Kragg and Mollo player in Rivals of Aether. Average Mario and Puff player in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Slippi Code: MK#636 Play OneShot

BaseballNerd10

Posts: 26
Joined: Dec 2019

Thursday, January 7, 2021 9:54 AM
While I'm not a fan of game used jersey cards, this is a nice one. A cut from either the navy blue piping of the shirt or pants.

crushnmove

Posts: 196
Joined: Feb 2020

Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:05 PM
Kind of an odd card, but 2008 Topps is one of my favorite sets so I'm all for doubling down on the look. ------------------------------- Check out my collecting journey: https://youtube.com/@crushnmove04 Dougie's going deep tonight!

Onemorepoint

Posts: 1446
Joined: Apr 2014

Thursday, January 7, 2021 2:03 PM
Odd set all round really.

ketchupman36

Posts: 787
Joined: Feb 2016

Thursday, January 7, 2021 2:42 PM
IF the insert is to highlight players that should have gotten a Future Stars card, shouldn't they have used the 2009 design for Longoria? 2008 was his rookie card

Random Card of the Day

Thursday, January 7, 2021

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