2013 SportLots pickups #3: all Leach, all the time

So yesterday I said I was planning on keeping the posts to around 10-12 cards per.  But as I identified, labeled, tagged, and uploaded the cards for today's player, I just didn't see the point in only taking care of some of them.  However, I'd purchased 32 from SportLots and had another 15 from my existing collection scanned and ready to show off as well, and that would have been too overwhelming to post.  So instead, I'll show off the highlights of the SportLots pickups and others I added to the album yesterday and give you an update on that player's PC.

That player is the subject of one of my newest collections:  Rick Leach.  The Michigan QB-turned Tigers/Blue Jays/Rangers/Giants 1B/OF/DH has a 60-card portfolio along with one 1/1, and I aim to get all of them if possible.  To that end, I grabbed the previously-mentioned 32 card group among several SportLots purchases (and again, scanned what I already had in sets I own), so here's some highlights:

1982 Donruss RC

1982 Fleer RC

1982 Topps RC

Yep, the three big players in '82 all made sure to include Leach, so these make for a nice trio.  The Topps and Donruss sets from that year look pretty nice (especially for an early Donruss effort), but as is typical for nascent Fleer sets, the design is downright boring, not to mention ugly!

1984 Topps

1984 Topps Tiffany

I included this pair for two reasons.  One was to illustrate how Leach signed with Toronto before the '84 championship season, meaning he was included in the Traded set.  Also, the Traded is one of 16 or so Tiffany or Glossy inserts Rick appeared on up to his final year on cardboard, 1990, proving how big of a fad that was during the junk wax era.

1989 Topps Traded

This card is one of two (the other being '89 Bowman, which must have been released later in the year as well) depicting Leach with the Rangers, whom he joined early that year as a free agent.  I didn't just choose this one for the team switch--look at that awesomely gigantic and gigantically awesome 1B mitt!

1989 Upper Deck

Yep, Rick was included in this landmark set, still as a member of the Blue Jays.  I thought this one was worth noting because one of the two cards I know I'll have the most difficulty finding (the other being the 1/1, natch), is a 20th Anniversary Buyback version of this issue from 2009 Upper Deck.  If anybody knows of one, please let me know!

1990 Leaf

Along with Topps Traded, this set featured a shot of Rick with his final team, the Giants, for whom he appeared in 78 games in 1990.  Speaking of buybacks, I own two of the three versions from 2012 Leaf--the Silver /20 and Gold /5.  This was certainly an...interesting design that year, one that discontinued simply paralleling Donruss' version.

1990 Score

Why did I include this 1990 Score base card?  Not much reason other than the fact that I love the way Score had a few different color-coded groups of cards, which makes looking at an opened set even more fun.  I always thought the design was pretty nice too, as far as junk wax goes, so there's that.

With everything said and done, my Leach collection vaults to an exciting 53/60 IHAS cards!  Considering some of the challenges of the other players I collect, it's kind of refreshing pursuing a guy with just one 1/1 and really only one other truly difficult card to find.  I hope to have more of those to show off for you soon, but for now stay tuned for other PC players from SportLots.