A very special Derek Jeter card to me

I’ve had a few moments throughout my life where I’ve had
to stop, take in everything around me and say, ‘Wow.’
Lately, that’s happened a bit often (getting married had
something to do with it), but when it comes to cards, this may be a first. Of
course, there are cards that I love and enjoy, and have thought ‘Wow’ when I
saw them, but this was something entirely different.
In June, I started working for Topps creating baseball
cards. Not going to lie, the moment I walked through the building for the first
time, I had to take a pause, and then the next pause-inducing moment came this
week.
One of the first products that I worked on at Topps was
2014 Update Series. I had a hand in picking the All-Star images for the base
subset and the retail insert of All-Star Access. I tried to pick good images,
fun ones because the ASG is an exhibition. I also didn’t want to screw up in
any way.
On Thursday, I opened packs of 2014 Update, and while
there were a number of cards in there that I helped create, one of them made me
halt …
I have more than 2,000 Derek Jeter cards in my
collection, but this is the first one that I had a hand in creating. I selected
that image and cropped the photo. I had nothing to do with the design of the card,
but the image was all mine. I immediately put it in a penny sleeve and top
loader, and currently it’s sitting in my wallet. I know, it’s a bit dorky, but
this is now my favorite Derek Jeter card.
Of course, I start working at Topps at a time when Derek
Jeter had already announced his retired. But I can at least say I made his last
flagship base card.

Wow, indeed. 

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11 thoughts on “A very special Derek Jeter card to me

  1. You're working at Topps now!!??!! Congrats. I always thought that'd be a great job. And that's a great story, especially knowing how big of Jeter fan you are.

    If you get to work on Ginter let me know I've got all sorts of great insert ideas!

  2. You are living our collective dream Sooz. Allow us to live vicariously (professionally) through you.

    Card looks great. And now I can happily say that one of us in the Hobby Blogging Community has now infiltrated Topps.

    Sincerely,

    JayBee Anama
    bdj610

  3. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS, a collector/blogger working for Topps.

    May our voices be heard.

    Second, that is a beautiful looking card.

    Did you have a hand in any others?

    Can you describe the "process" as it were?

  4. Wow is right! Can't imagine being able to say I had a hand in creating a baseball card. That's flippin' awesome! Have fun on your journey with Topps and of course with married life. Sounds like some pretty amazing changes.

    But if I could change one thing… I'd go old school, pull that Jeter from a penny sleeve and top loader… then cram it back into your wallet. Then again… I'm a sucker for cards with character.

    Congratulations!

  5. Congratulations on the wedding and your new job at Topps. That has to be the ultimate career for a blogger/collector, especially when you actually get to see your own handiwork put in to packs.

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