Series Two for the Player Collection

My main stash of Series Two cards haven't arrived yet, but I did get a couple other series two cards in yesterday's mail.  They're for my Ernie and Ryno player collections.

First up is the Team Ring.  I liked these in series one and I still do with series two.  Ernie's ring has 1958 and 1959 engraved on the sides, representing the years he was the NL MVP. 


There are some slight differences between these and the series one rings.  In series one, they were called Retired Rings and featured players with retired numbers.  The series two cards are called Team Rings and you can see the Cubs logo in the center of the ring.  A second difference is that the series one cards were numbered, strangely to /736; series two are unnumbered.


Here are the two so you can compare them yourself.

Topps must like the retired number concept this year because they used it again in series two, with patches this time instead of rings.  Both Ernie and Ryno were included.

Topps did a nice job with these.  The best part for me is that Topps used the unique number font that the Cubs use.  The numbers look just like they would on the back of a jersey, except when Ernie played the numbers didn't have a red outline...a minor quibble.

Now my major quibble....Topps had the chance here to include another Cubs retired number, one that was special to the Cubs last year and will be important to the folks in Cooperstown this year.  More on that tomorrow.