Ivy Collection/Frankenset Preview (Redux)

Nearly a year and a half ago, I debuted the first binder page of my Ivy Frankenset.

That's what the old first page looked like if you didn't want to click the link. Four non-Cubs and five Cubs fillers.

I thought I had the first couple of pages "done" but things have dramatically changed in that time. Not only are all of the Cubs gone from this page, I won't have a single Cubs card on the first 11 pages. That covers card numbers 1-99. On top of that, I have "backups" at a lot of the numbers.

I think I did this is reverse. Most Frankensets I've seen were whittled down from larger collections whereas I started a Frankenset and have turned it into a collection! A big shout out to Zistle and their search engine for the assist. I haven't been able to search other databases the way I can that one.

I'm a numbers guy so how about some stats on the collection for my math fans out there? I'll save Frankenset stats for those posts, therefore these numbers refer to the Ivy collection as a whole. This niche contains zero Cubs cards, although a number of Cubs make cameos. Also, my horizontal Ivy cards are under a different niche (Por Que No Los Dos) and thus not counted here.

This is by no means a comprehensive count of Ivy cards, though I guess that's the ultimate goal.

My collection has grown to 486 cards as of this writing. Of those, 201 are cards #1-99. So that's quite a few duplicate numbers. The most I have of any one number is 7 and that's a tie between cards numbered 88 & 89. Those'll be a real battle to make the Frankenset binder! The highest number I have is 699, but I really haven't focused on cards above number 99 just yet.

The Astros, Expos and Cardinals far outpace the rest of the league, making up almost 35% of the collection among them. I'm hoping for a little more parity in the Frankenset so lower number teams (especially American League) will probably take precedence.

The Marlins are listed twice (Miami and Florida), but the Angels just once. Maybe if I ever find some, I'll differentiate between Anaheim and Los Angeles. I believe California Angels are impossible?

Aside from the Cubs, the Washington Nationals are the only National League team not represented, despite the Expos being a team leader. Twelve years worth of cards now and not even one on my radar.

Pitchers dominate the position category with nearly half of the cards. I used whatever the card said, though for the sake of simplicity, I combined multiple positions cards (if one said 2B/SS and another said SS/2B, they are counted the same). NPL stands for no position listed, which I found interesting. Nothing was noted on the front or back of these cards. I was pleasantly surprised to have 2 DH's, though both are actually fielding on the card, as opposed to say, running the bases.

The only year from 1981 to 2017 not represented is 1986, but honestly, I haven't been looking hard at all by year. There are some cards that predate 1981 I know of but nothing I've picked up yet. Based on this small sample size, ask me when the junk wax era was and when competition started to die down, haha.

Unfortunately, I can't post a screenshot of the next statistic because it would be too big. I have formulas in my spreadsheet to account for different brands and sets. For example, 2016 Opening Day and 2017 Opening Day are the same brand, but different sets. Colored border parallels would be different sets and brands. Furthermore, a flagship base series is considered a different brand and set from its Update/Traded Series, but Series 1 and Series 2 would be the same since they are sequentially numbered.

In the collection, I have 93 different brands represented and 208 sets. The top 3 brands are Upper Deck (58), Fleer (56) & Score (45), all their flagship base cards. I thought about doing manufacturer as well but I didn't want to go too far down the rabbit hole. Some companies are confusing as to who owned them.

There is a three way tie for 1st among most from a single set, although I'm not entirely sure I have captured every one from these sets.

One of these sets is not like the others...

Certain players have a knack for being photographed at Wrigley in front of the Ivy as well. I have 10 (!) different Dwight Goodens and 9 different Orel Hershisers leading the way.

So with all of these duplicates, I have some tough decisions to make for the Frankenset. On my new and improved Page 1, I have 14 eligible cards for just the 9 slots. Stay tuned to see who made the cut!

And if you have any other suggestions on what to track, let me know!