Frequently Asked Questions

Team Set Questions

Q:   What is your definition of a team set and what cards does it include?   

A:     The team sets are composed of the base set cards for a particular brand/year. For example, if I am making a 2016 Topps Chicago Cubs team set, I use all the base cards designated as Cubs and package them as a team set. I do not include short printed cards, variation cards or insert cards unless otherwise noted. I also do not include cards that have multiple players from different teams as I cannot divide up one card into multiple team sets.

Q:   What is the difference between a base card and a short print card?   

A:     A base card is a the common card you can find in any pack of cards or a factory made set from the factory. The short print is a rare card that has less production than the normal base card. They are not included in factory made sets. For example, Topps Heritage baseball base sets these days are typically cards 1-400. Cards 401-500 are short prints. A card numbered 1-400 can appear in any given pack of cards. Cards numbered 401-500 might only appear once out of every 4 packs of cards, making them rarer than base cards. This makes them more expensive and harder to get. If I included the short print cards it would drive up the price of the team set.

Q:    Do you include short printed, insert or variation cards in your team sets?

A:    Unless otherwise noted, I do not include short printed cards. Nor do I include insert cards which are basically short printed special subset cards. Variation cards are cards that are of the same player, but the card itself is different. For example card #355 of Joe Player could show him standing at the plate with a bat. There might be another rare version of card #355 this one showing Joe Player getting gatorade dumped on his head. Those rare cards are not included as they would drive up the price of the team set. If I have one and include it in the team set, I will put that in the notes for that particular team set.

Typical modern sets that have short print cards are Topps Heritage, Topps Heritage High, Gypsy Queen and Allen-n-Ginter

Q:    Chuck this online team set checklist said my team set was supposed to have 5 short print cards, 3 variation cards and 9 insert cards. All you sent me where the regular base cards, please send the rest!!

A:     No I am sorry, you are not getting them. There are many online team set checklists made up by different folks. That type of list that shows ALL the cards by a manufacturer for a certain team and that is commonly known as a MASTER CHECKLIST. My team sets (like 99% of all other team set dealers) are made up from the base set cards. Now if I send you a base team set that is supposed to be 25 cards and I accidentally send you a team set that is missing one of those base cards, then absolutely I will get that missing card sent out to you.

NOTE: I am not under any obligation to provide cards just because a "team set guide" produced by somebody else says different. There is no official one size fits all guide when it comes to team sets.

Q: How many cards come in each team set? How come one set I got had 33 cards and the other one had 6?

A:    The size of a team set will depend on how many cards the card manufacturer made for the set. A 1972 Topps Baseball set was made up of 787 cards. Divided by 24 teams at the time you had an average of 32 cards per team set. A 2019 Topps Update set of 300 cards divided by 30 teams gets you an average of 10 cards per team set. However, not all teams are created equally. The more popular teams like the Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, may have more cards on average than teams like the Marlins and Rays. I've seen some team sets as small as 4 cards even though the entire set was 400 cards. The same holds true with Football, Basketball, Hockey and Soccer team sets. If you have any questions on how many cards are in a team set, please feel free to ask. Don't get mad at me if you order a team set and it comes with only 6 cards, I have no control over how the manufacturers produce their cards.

Q:  Hey, this team set you sent has only 12 cards and their were over 40 players on the team! Joe Schmo was traded to my team during the season and you did not send his card! SCAM!!!!!!!

A:   As I noted above, team sets will vary in size due to the # of cards in the base set. Some baseball sets only have 300 cards in the whole set (some other sets have even less!), yet there are over 750 major leaguers.I can't add cards the manufacturer didn't make. Also, there are many instances where Joe Schmo was on one team and traded before or during the season. I do not take that into account when making team sets. Whatever team the player is listed as playing for on the card is the team set I will place the card into. Example:If Joe's card shows him playing for the Mets, he will be in the Mets team set, regardless of his trade to the Astros.

Again I have no control over how the card manufacturers produce their cards. The best thing to do is ask me questions about the team set before you pay for it and you get upset with me because I sent you a 13 card team that didn't have Joe Player in it.

Q:   Chuck, you sent me a team set with 17 cards in it, but this team set guide book I have says I am supposed to have 19 cards.  These missing cards are not short prints or any other cards that you say you do not include. So where are the other 2?

A:   I have had this happen several times already (many of them football).These online "Team Set" guides that some people have purchased are not entirely accurate. I have found these guides do not always go by how the card was printed, but rather the team roster that may have changed before, during or after the season due to trade or free agency. Again as stated above, if the card is printed to say that he was a New York Giant, that is the team set his card gets placed. If he gets traded to the Cowboys, the player's card does not get "traded" to the Cowboys team set regardless of what some guide says. If you have such a team set guide and you feel according to it that you are missing a card, let me know and I'll research it to be sure.

Also to note, just because somebody else makes a publication that says a particular team set has cards ABC in it does not necessarily mean that my team set (or any other team set dealer) has all of the same cards. Again, I am not under any obligation to provide cards just because a "team set guide" produced by somebody else says different. Again, if you have any questions on what or who is in the team set, please ask before ordering. This will prevent any misunderstanding ahead of time. I also do not charge you for cards that are not in the team set. If my team set has 28 cards and the "team set guide" shows 31 because they also list the 3 player rookie cards that I do not include because the players are from different teams, you are not paying extra for the 3 cards that are not included. My price reflects the cards in my team set, not what some "team set checklist guide" says it should be.

Q:   I ordered a 1976 team set and the team card checklist shows 30 cards in the team set, but you only included 27 cards, please send the other 3 to complete the team set.

A:   The 3 missing cards are Rookie Player cards that have multiple players from different teams on them. From prior to 1970 thru 1978, Topps produced Rookie cards for positions (Pitcher, Outfield, etc) that had 3 or 4 different players from different teams on them. As I cannot cut up a single card to satisfy 3 or 4 different team sets, they are not included in the team sets. For every year of the 70's, I have a specific page set up that shows what is and what is not included in the team sets. Every team page has links to those pages for more information on that team set, including a photo of the cards you are getting.

My favorite example of this situation occured when years ago a fellow ordered a 1978 Topps Yankees team set. One of the players on a Rookie card was Mickey Klutts. After he received his team set, he wrote back to complain about the missing Klutts card. Even after I explained the situation, he still insisted I send him the card. I said I would but it would cost him an extra $50. He asked why I would charge him $50 more for a card that had Klutts on it since he never was a star. I said because that card also was the Rookie card of Paul Molitor and Alan Trammel and if I was going to include it in the Yankees team set, the price would have been $50 more. When I asked him if he would have purchased it at that price, he said no.

If you would like to purchase these Rookie cards to complete a team set, just ask and if I have them I will quote you a price for them.

Q:    What condition are the cards in the team sets?

A:    The majority of the cards in my team sets are in NrMt - Mt condition. Older team sets prior to 1991 may contain some ExMt+ cards due to cardboard design causing them to have a slight bend to them because of the lighter cardboard. If I feel a team set overall is less than NM condition, I will note the condition I perceive the cards to be next to the team set. Though this mostly covers team sets from prior to 1980.

I do not like sending out team sets that I myself would not like to receive if ordering them.

Q:   When making your team sets from a base set that contains 2 or more series, do you count each series as a separate team set like some people do, or do you include them all to make one team set?

A: Good question. If a set contains more than one series, in most cases I provide all the series as long as they are base cards. Since 2005 Topps has gone back to issuing its base set in 2 series. The first series is released around January and the second series usually released around June/July. Once I have both series, I combine them to make the complete base team set. There are rare instances when I don't include every series, but that is because the series might be rare and too expensive to get. Best example is 1992 Stadium Club football. They made 2 series and a high series. My team sets are made from the first 2 series only because of the scarcity and cost of the high series. However in those cases I will note them on the team set page so you are aware of what you are getting.

Q:    When making your team sets, do you include Traded and Update sets?

A: When available for 80's and early 90's team sets, I will due to the small size of the traded sets its easier for me to include them with the regular set cards. I do note if the set comes with the traded cards. If I don't have it listed as such, then it doesn't come with them. After 2000, Topps started producing Traded sets that were 300 cards+, so those cards are not included with the regular sets, they are sold separately. Same with Topps Heritage High sets, which is typically a 200 card set and I sell those separetly from the regular Heritage team set.

Q:   I ordered 15 team sets and 3 of them were free as per your special. (for every 5 team sets, each 5th priced team set is free). I've decided I don't want the 12 team sets I paid for and will just keep the 3 since they were free. So you will be sending me a full refund for the team sets I am returning?

A:  I'm afraid not. They are not a "free gift" to keep should you return the other team sets. They are free on condition of purchasing 5+ team sets returning them voids the special. If you decide to keep those 3 that were labeled free, your refund will be the original price minus the orginal price of the 3 you decided to keep.