@EricCharette Blogger: Topps Living Set Chicago Cubs Team

UPDATED June 1, 2023

I will be the first to admit that when they initially rolled out in 2018, I was not a fan of the Topps Living Set. I think that stems from my overall dislike of baseball card companies these days that print cards of former (non active) players mixed into the regular issue sets. I guess I am more of a traditionalist where the checklist was comprised of active players and maybe a manager card from the 80's.

While my opinion has not changed on current cards, I do also understand that the purpose of the Living Set IS to have a mix of players from all generations. So I decided to start a PSA 10 set of my favorite team, the Chicago Cubs especially since the rookie card of Nico Hoerner was in the set and he is one of my two favorite current Cubs.

Building this set is not to get rich or to turn a profit. It’s purely for the love of the sport and my team. And to remind myself that collecting cards should be fun and bring joy to my life which I’ve noticed that waiting for the next Cubs player to be released has done.

I don't have numbers for percentages of how frequently modern cards get graded as Gem Mint 10. But for the Topps Baseball Living Set from 2018 to 2020, of the 84,716 (61,948 + 19,826 + 2,942) cards received by PSA for grading, 57,042 (40,755 + 14,064 + 2,223) have come back as PSA 10. That is 67.33% or 2 out of every 3 cards subbed on average have graded Gem Mint 10. So building a PSA 10 run should not be that difficult but it will still be a fun project with no end.

My only suggestion would be that I would like to see a voting process where fans could determine that players from each team who would get a card. That would help to avoid the Brandon Morrow's of the world being included before Mark Grace and Ron Santos.

Chicago Cubs Checklist (with print runs) last updated January 26, 2023

2018