2007 eTopps Moments And Milestones

Something smells fishy about this release. At least to me anyway. I never really bought into the whole eTopps thing. Pristine cards are offered for sale that lessen in value if you actually want to see them. Isn't the whole point of collecting to actually see and enjoy your collection?

I was caught up in the hype in October, but I also had some common sense left. I wasn't about to pay $7 a card for something that I may never potentially see. I paid $5.75 for the Jim Thome and $6.75 for the Mark Buehrle. Yes, I got caught in a mini bidding war for the Buehrle, but I still didn't pay $7. It's the principle of the thing.

Since I purchased them on eBay, they have gone down in value. Thome is down to $4.75, not too far from what I actually paid. Buehrle is down to $4.23. I like both of these players so I can live with it. For the record I liked Thome when he was on the Indians and the Phillies and I would still like Buehrle if he ever packs up for St. Louis, like he's joked about in the past.

• Alex Rodriguez - 500 Home Runs
• Mark Buehrle - No Hitter
• Tom Glavine - 300 Wins
• Craig Biggio - 3,000 Hits
• Sammy Sosa - 600 Home Runs
• Frank Thomas - 500 Home Runs
• Jim Thome - 500 Home Runs
• Justin Verlander - No Hitter
• Pedro Martinez - 3,000 Strikeouts
• Curtis Granderson - 20/20/20
• Prince Fielder - 50 Home Runs

Two White Sox cards, two ex-White Sox cards and one of someone who grew up in Blue Island, which is only a few miles away from my hometown. Not too bad Chicago-wise. The milestones are amazing as well as the player selection. It's hard to remember every major event that happens in a year of baseball. Some get lost in the shuffle and some you don't even realize happened.

There is also a moments card of Barry Bonds that was offered for $11, in addition to the 11 card set. It commemorates his "achievement" of 756 home runs.

This is a great set. It combines the look of Allen & Ginter with the feel of Moments & Milestones. The only thing I don't like about this set is that it's an online entity. It almost feels like you're being ripped off. Collecting is for seeing and touching, not seeing an image that looks like your card and not being able to hold it in your hands right away.

2007 Moments And Milestones

After being out of baseball cards, except for the few White Sox team sets the past few years, I dove head first into collecting again. I thought I could save a little money on White Sox cards, by opening them myself and selling off the rest for fun, profit and more White Sox cards. For the most part, that plan has come to fruition.

One of the first "over $100" hobby boxes I purchased was the 2007 Moments and Milestones. I was blown away by the sales pitch that Tony, one of my local cars shop guys, gave me. At that point, I had no clue if there were any White Sox cards in the set. The premise was intriguing though, so I plunked down my hard earned cash for that and a few random packs.

I was very happy to get a Paul Konerko in one of the packs. I was happy to see that he wasn't in a Reds or Dodgers uniform. As I found out quickly, this set relives past accomplishments. Any player could theoretically pop up on any team for any reason. I decided my way of collecting should be one card of each hit for Paul Konerko (in regular and black), one card of each Frank Thomas (regular and black) and one each of Josh Fields (regular and black). I wasn't about to collect one of each hit for Frank Thomas, but Paul Konerko's six hits seemed manageable.

Before we get any further lets have a White Sox checklist for this set. There are regular cards numbered to 150, black parallels numbered to 29 and red parallels numbered to 1.

• 106 - Frank Thomas (38)


• 107 - Frank Thomas (101)


• 123 - Paul Konerko (6)


• 182 - Josh Fields


• 183 - Josh Fields


• 184 - Josh Fields

I knew there was no way I'd be able to collect the red parallels, which are numbered to one. Especially with Paul Konerko's number being six. So, I stuck to collecting the regulars and the blacks. I've got most of Konerko's cards and I've got all the Frank Thomas cards I wanted. Josh Fields has been an enigma. I've only got one of his cards.

I like the basic design and the premise of the set. It's very interesting to come up with the different combinations in which this set can be collected. I'm satisfied with my method. I think it's a great idea, but it runs to much like the mirror cards that I'm not fond of. This set is almost like a mirror card on steroids. I suppose the mirror cards would hold a greater interest if they ever featured a player that I collected, but those cards never feature any White Sox players that I've noticed.

I've heard that Topps is bringing back this set for next year. I guess I'll have to see how it fares next year. Maybe lightning will strike twice, but for now I'm a bit skeptical. Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised. I like this set, but I don't know if I'll like it two years in a row.