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2008 Topps Moments and Milestones is one of those sets you either totally love or you absolutely hate; there is no in between. I’ve discussed this set with other collectors over the years and pretty much everyone thinks this set defined the term, “overkill.” For those of you who aren’t already aware of the background on this set, here’s the scoop:
If your player is featured in this set, a full run of cards will be available for each one of his specific milestones. For example, if he’s a hitter, a card will be made showcasing the milestone number of each of his home runs. That said, for Frank Thomas, he’s featured 513 different times. But here’s where it gets gnarly, each of those 513 cards comes in four different colors: White/125; Black/25; Blue/10 and Red/1.
Do the math (513×4) and that’s a total of 2052 different cards for Frank Thomas alone!
Due to the extensive and exhausting nature of this set, I only casually collect it and don’t ever expect to complete it. And you know what? I’m completely fine with that.
I used to think a full run of four printing plates were made for each of those 2052 cards. That still may be the case but I haven’t seen a duplicate of what’s shown here. While I’m not entirely sure if that’s true, it’s really nice to know I’ve pulled these four plates together. A full plate run is a feat I’ve always wanted to achieve. Even if 2051 more full plate runs exist for this issue, I’m still proud of the one you see here.
I will say this, however – if a full run of printing plates exists for each version of each card for each player in this set, I think we’d see a lot more printing plates hit the market. While I don’t track anyone else but Thomas, I can’t really say that with any degree of certainty but I can feel at least partially confident in assuming that they would be a lot more common than the rate at which they’re presently discovered.
Feedback from a fellow reader suggests that there may be four plates for each of the four colors for a total of 16 plates for any single player in the entire set. This is just speculation, however, as we don’t have conclusive evidence to support this suggestion.
If you’re interested in building one of the hobby’s most exhausting runs for any player in it, try your hand at 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones. If you collect sealed boxes, these are becoming somewhat rare.
To see what’s currently on eBay from 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones, click here.
I believe there are 8 plates, the 4 base versions and the additionals to over printed to add in the black, blue, and red (yellow & magenta). I have 2 yellow Smoltz plates and 2 cyan Chipper playes.
Yea, I absolutely agree with you there. I know of another Thomas collector with a similar plate run as the one shown here. Thanks for the comment.
I have a mickey mantle magenta 1/1. Do you know if they made a plate 1/1 for each home run? if so than I’ll assume this one is pretty much useless. thanks
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the message. As stated in the article, it’s suggested that there are four plates for each of the four colors of the card – white, black, blue, red – for a total of 16 plates for any one card in the base set. This is just speculation, however, as there’s no conclusive evidence to support the suggestion. I hope this helps.