A good way to start the weekend.

Outside of playing chauffeur for three women (which really isn't that bad), I'm having a pretty good start to the long weekend.  With two of my wife's friends in town, I have carte blanche to do whatever I feel like until Monday afternoon.

I decided to keep on going with the great cleanup of the cards on my computer desk, part of which is a nearly one foot high stack of Blue Jay cards that need to be cataloged.  I was able to get through about 100 of them last night, and I figured what a better way to get in a post than to count down the ones I went through, 5-4-3-2-1 style.

Let's start with 5 Roberto Alomar cards...

No, they're not crooked because I've been drinking

Later this year I'm planning to go through my Blue Jays cards and do some kind of countdown.  You can be sure that a couple of these will be in that list.  The '93 Upper Deck in the top row center might be one of the best base cards I own, what a great picture!

A set that I couldn't afford back when it came out, the '92 Topps Stadium Club, is one of the best sets in my opinion of the 90's.  Here's 4 of the Blue Jays from that set...

Pat Tabler might be the only member of the '92 World Series team that I haven't featured on the blog at all.  Tabler was a first round draft pick of the Yankees, and was once traded for a pair of decent pitchers (Bill Caudill and Jay Howell).  Tabler was known as a clutch hitter, and was a career .489 hitter with the bases loaded.

Remember the cards in a can, Pinnacle Inside?  Not the greatest idea ever to come to the hobby, but at least somebody was trying.   Here's three Blue Jays from that set for you...

Boy, I remember the Jose Cruz Jr. hype.  He was going to be the next big thing in Toronto.  Jose was a 30-30 man in 2001, and left the club that year via free agency.  Jose never approached 30 in either category again.  Shawn Green also had a 30-30 season in Toronto in 1998.  The next year, he was a 40-40 man.  the following year, he was a Dodger.  The Jays had to decide which of Green or Delgado they could sign, because both of the sluggers were going to demand big contracts.  Delgado wound up remaining a Jay until 2004, and still holds the club record for most homers in Toronto with 336.

What would a post be without a couple of parallels?  How about a couple of 1994 Score Gold Rush cards

Jack Morris just a little under 68% of the vote in last year's HOF balloting.  254 wins, 3 times a 20 game winner, and an incredible 11 seasons with 10 or more complete games are a lot of numbers that in my opinion should have helped get him in the HOF.  The 3 World Series titles shouldn't hurt either.

Last but not least, one of Bowman's Best.

I like the card, that's the only reason Green is being shown twice.

Hey, only a few more hundred Jays to go through!  Ahh, the joys of collecting. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Sticking with it

I am a person with not a lot of patience. There are times where I've started collecting a particular set, and when it wasn't completed timely, I got tired of it.  That being said, there has been a couple of times in the past few months where I wanted to "blow up" a few of the older sets I've been working on, because they've been on my want list for way too long.

I wanted to forget about them altogether.  Start anew. This is a post about one set that I'm glad I didn't blow up. 

The purchases that I've made over the past few weeks have helped me to remember my roots.  What I really loved to collect back in the 90's, and still do today.

Hockey.  (I'll wait until most of the readers have moved on before I continue...)

Still there?  Good.  I'm glad you stayed.  Let me explain something.  Hockey has always been my first love.  During October, I've watched Leafs games before I watched a MLB playoff game.  I guess you could say it's in my DNA.

I'm sure that a lot of you are going to tune me out more this winter, as I shift my focus somewhat towards hockey.  I get it.  Baseball will return in the spring, and I'll be ready to tackle the vintage baseball sets I've been working on. 

But I'm happy that I'm going to be enjoying myself just as much, if not more than I did when I started putting together sets such as the 95-96 Collectors Choice Players Club parallel.

The lone hockey card in my last Sportlots envelope

I'm sure that there's a lot of you out there who have no idea who Doug Bodger is, but when I see these cards, the memories come racing back. I am happy that I stuck with all these old parallel sets that I started two decades ago, because they remind me of the fun that I had then, and the fun I'm having now.

Fun.  It's a word you're going to be seeing more around these parts.  If it's not your cup of tea, I'm sorry.

Enjoying the hobby again, Robert

The serial number loving guy can dig this card

At least I know who this guy is!!

I moaned and bitched a little last night about the autograph card I pulled from my hobby box of 2013-14 OPC. 

The very next pack I opened was a little better.  I pulled a rainbow card that looked a little different than the others.  Geez, it has a black border!!

Not a bad pull for me at all.  While it would have been better if it had been a Leaf (I know, you can't have it all), this beauty #'d 35/100 instantly made up for the disappointing auto.

Pathetic huh?  A serial numbered card outweighing an auto...

I guess that's who I've become. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Beating the odds, if you could call it that

You may or may not have read earlier today that I decided to bust my hobby box of 2013-14 OPC hockey.  Well, I got lucky and pulled an autograph.  The autographs are seeded 1:192 packs, or 1 in every 6 boxes.

For me, that's better than I usually do.  Let's take a look, shall we?

While I'm happy that I beat the odds, the first question that I asked is "who is Yann Sauve"?  I follow hockey well enough to know most everyone, but I hadn't heard of this gent.   Off to the hockey database I go...

5 games played back in 2010-11, when 4 Canuck defenseman were down with injuries.  Yikes. 

No offense Mr. Sauve, but I don't think I was as lucky as I first made myself out to be.  I guess you have to pay top dollar to get top talent for autos? 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Upon further review--my own one card challenge

I am in the process of stealing something, so keep quiet for a minute while I slowly take the title of Dimwit away from Sam.  While Sam has never really struck me as a dimwit, I on the other hand have done some silly things while on this journey I call a blog that have made me shake my head.

Case in point.  While "finishing off" a couple of sets recently on Sportlots, the genius that I call myself decided to wait until after I ordered the cards to check both sets to see if they were complete.

Sure enough, I received the '13 Heritage base cards I needed, and found out I still require one more to finish the set.  I've done my due diligence, and posted the want on the one-card challenge post, so take a look if you must and see if you can help me out.

I've actually got a couple of hours to kill today before I go to work, so I am going to do a little pack ripping myself.  I'm finally going to open this bad boy I bought when I went to Canada a couple of weeks ago:

So for now, I'll head out, but as always, the one card rule applies:

That was found in the rubble that is my computer desk.  What a shame to have this baby buried.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 926-930

These 5 cards bring the set to 62% complete.  Still quite a few in the wings to scan and write about, so let's get these five done, shall we?


Card #926:  Mike MacDougal

Serial Number: 903
Team:  Los Angeles Dodgers, card # 29 out of 50

Somebody should have taken a chance on him over the winter.   2013 is an odd numbered year, and he's pitched well each of the past two odd numbered seasons.  The last two even numbered seasons is a different story (ERA over 7)

Card #927:  Barry Zito

Serial Number:  859
Team:  San Francisco Giants, card # 27 out of 50

What is it about the San Francisco side of the bay that has really turned this guys career upside down.  Seven years in Oakland, only one year with an ERA over 4.  Seven years in SF, every season he's had an ERA over 4.  I'll take a chance and say the Giants don't pickup his option for 2014.


Card #928:  Andruw Jones

Serial Number:  865
Team:  New York Yankees, card # 42 out of 50

Maybe he should never have turned 30.  In the 5 years after 30, he only averaged 87 games a season, and only hit 13 HRs on average as well.  Maybe it was because those 5 seasons he spent away from the friendly confines of Turner Field.   Who knows?

Card #929:  Jonathan Papelbon

Serial Number:  792
Team:  Philadelphia Phillies, card # 28 out of 50

Part of the rookie class of 2006 in the AL that saw 4 of the top 5 ROY point totals go to pitchers.  Not a bad group of starters to be associated with, Verlander, Liriano and Weaver.   Kenji Johjima, how did you get in there?

Card #930:  Mark Buehrle

Serial Number: 723
Team:  Chicago White Sox, card # 27 out of 50

Did you know that Mark is currently 2nd among active pitchers in career hits allowed?  His 2990 hits only trail the old man himself, Andy Pettite.  Now you can wow your friends with that absolutely useless piece of information.

thanks for reading, Robert

2013 Topps series 2: My top 5

I kind of enjoy running these little countdowns when I complete a set.  I'm so consumed most of the time with getting the cards in order that I don't take the time to appreciate them.  Topps did a good job with the photography again this time around, and so without further adieu, I present my top 5 cards from series 2.

#5:  Card # 517 Pedro Alvarez

I showed this card off when I first received it a few weeks back.  I love the photo, the timing of the point of contact with the baseball is perfect.    I don't think that this card would have worked as well had the photo been placed vertically instead of horizontally. 

#4:  Card # 630 Andy Dirks

Continuing along with my love of outfielder catches/leaps, this card of Andy Dirks is great.  Tell me something, padding or no padding, that impact with the wall had to hurt.  Hell, if it were me, I probably would have busted a couple of ribs.   Who am I kidding, my ass would never have gotten up that high. 

#3:  Card # 487 Hanley Ramirez

There may be a lot of you that scoff at this choice, but I really do like the bat flip on this card.  I've heard a lot of broadcasters go on about how bat flipping is disrespectful, but how is that any different than a pitcher walking off the mound after a strikeout giving the fist pump and yelling.  If the bat flip is not at an opposing team's player, or their dugout, I have no problem with it.  If you do it, be prepared to be thrown at, because not all pitchers have a flair for the dramatic.

#2:  Card # 541 Jon Lester

Have you ever had a card just jump out at you?  That's what this card did for me.  The eyes, the glove over the rest of Lester's face hiding any emotion.  The dark red of the jersey.  A lot of you may disagree with my choice here at #2, but it took a lot for me not to place this at #1.  This is a great card in my opinion.

#1:  Card # 540  Michael Bourn

 
The only thing that's missing from this card is the location of the ball.  How high up do you think Bourn is, 2.5 feet maybe?  The concentration he has on the ball with Jason Heyward right beside him is incredible as well, because I know that I sure would have been quite distracted with someone that close to me.  The battling drink logos don't hurt either. 

There were a couple of cards that came close to making the Top 5, such as #412 Everth Cabrera (in his camos flying through the air), # 546 Carlos Quentin about to do a rolling block on Josh Thole and # 568 Steve Lombardozzi getting a very sticky Gatorade shower. 

I'm sure that there may be those who have some differing opinions (maybe most of you, who knows..), and I'd sure like to hear them.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Blue and White Monday: more green and red parallels

The final envelope from my Sportlots purchase from last weekend rolled into my mailbox today.  Of course, it was the envelope that I would have like to have arrived first, because it knocked off a trifecta of this year's sets.

The base sets that the envelope completed I'll start on tomorrow.  First, I have a few Blue Jays to show off.  I'll start with the cards from the envelope...

Outside of black, pink and gold, I believe that I have every other colored parallel of Colby Rasmus this year.  Not the most flattering of pictures for sure.  Hutchison is currently pitching for the AAA Buffalo Bisons, just a little more than one year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  I wonder how long it will take us as humans to reduce that recovery time from TJ surgery to a few months. 

Ricky Romero's card on the right completes my 2013 Heritage Blue Jays team set.   Glad to have that out of the way before the end of the summer.

The next two cards are from a busted eBay auction.  I had purchased a 2013 Topps gold lot off of a seller, and he sent me an envelope filled with 30 of these....

Gold/Green, they both start with G right?

Yep, an envelope with 30 Emerald parallels.  Close!! 

Buehrle pitched a solid game against the Astros the other day, and is on track for another 200 inning season.  Mark has really pitched better lately, and I'm hoping that he doesn't force the Jays into trading him (as other pitchers have done in the past....).  Jose became the 4th player in Jays history this year to hit 25 or more HRs in 4 consecutive seasons, joining Carlos Delgado, George Bell and Joe Carter.  Jose is 6th in HRs all time for the Jays, but it likely will be next season before he catches Jesse Barfield, who is 11 ahead of him.

There's still a lot of the red/green/blue/other various color parallels to pick up.  No hurry though, it's been fun hunting for them so far...

Thanks for reading, Robert

#300 for the Sakic PC arrives today

Floating through eBay the other day afforded me the opportunity to pick up an older Joe Sakic parallel on the cheap.

Little did I know that this card would turn out to be # 300 for the PC. 

You may or may not know that I am currently putting together (for the past 18 years anyhow...) the regular Players Club parallel version of this set.  The platinum version, which isn't numbered but supposed to be a little more difficult to pull, just happened to fall in my lap while doing a Joe Sakic search. 

The 300 total doesn't include the jersey cards that I own of Sakic (3 so far).  I've only been counting the various base, parallel and insert cards that I have.  It actually feels pretty good to get this collection growing again. 

While browsing the same seller's other auctions, and still feeling in a "Nordiques" kind of mood, I picked up this card for the 94-95 UD Electric Ice set I'm building as well.

Getting this card of a very young looking Peter Forsberg for a fraction of the price was also a bonus.  Still a long way to go for the Electric Ice set, and these cards aren't the easiest to find at shows.

Hopefully, #400 for the Sakic PC comes a little bit quicker....

Thanks for reading, Robert

This is what happens when you get up early on a Saturday

I actually shook myself out of bed this morning just after 7 am.  I was on a mission. 

It's mail day....

Bubble mailers headed to the following zips:

13601
46819
55129
N2H 5M5

PWE's going out today as well:

07446
60586
76522

This is what happens when you actually start to keep your sorting area reasonably straight...people get packages.

One card rule still applies...how about a '71 Topps Rollie Fingers?

Not a bad pickup for 50 cents.  Tough to visualize him without the handlebar, isn't it?

Thanks for looking, Robert

I'm glad that I'm not like this anymore

I would have to say that trying to write posts the past couple of days has resulted in me staring into space with nothing to say.   That particular malaise has happened to me way too often over the past couple of months.

You know how it is, you start hunting and hunting, looking for something interesting to write about.  I have been using the Serial Insanity Project as a crutch a lot for posts lately, which is not good, because I feel it should be a complement to the blog, rather than the meat and potatoes.

Tonight I starting hunting through a 5000 count monster box, just hoping for any kind of idea to pop into the empty recesses of my mind.  Instead of taking the usual couple of hours for a thought to develop, I found these cards, and instantly I time warped 22 years back, to the summer of '91.

Cards were all over the place.  The boom was in full swing, and I was head over heels for the '91 Upper Deck baseball set.

I bought a shit ton of it.  It was the next big thing!!   My thought process back then was totally warped.  Money, money, money.  I was going to buy up as much as I could, get all the great rookies, and let the money flow in when I sold them off at a huge profit.

Idiot. 

Some of you older guys and gals out there might remember this guy:

There's more where this came from

Rookie of the Year in 1992, the sky was the limit for Eric Karros.  The next HOF Dodger 1st baseman.  Yes, he had a few good years in LA, but the Dodgers could never quite get over the hump, finishing 2nd or 3rd in their division for a few straight years, before Karros was traded in 2002 for a Pirate that was supposed to be the next big thing here, Chad Hermansen.  Hermansen would hit .195 for his career, and wound up out of baseball  by age 26.

Maybe another blast from the past will jog your memories?  Reggie Sanders anyone?

Karros and Sanders career stats are somewhat similar, While Sanders out homered Karros 305-284, Karros had more career base hits (1724-1666).  Sanders did play for 3 more seasons in the bigs, and in 1998 started a string of 7 straight seasons where he played for a different team each year (Cincinnati, San Diego, Atlanta, Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis).   If you take a look at the run of teams, you have to wonder how Reggie's body clock ever functioned properly, as he went from Eastern to Pacific to Eastern to Pacific to Eastern to Pacific and finally to the Central time zone. 

Now, if you're any kind of collector in southern Ontario in the early 90's, you knew all about this guy...

The next big thing until the Jays needed some help

I would have said that Steve Karsay's time in Toronto wasn't long enough for his cup of coffee to get cold, but he actually never threw a pitch for the Jays.  Drafted in 1990 out of a NYC high school in the 1st round, Karsay was going to be the next piece of the puzzle for the Jays rotation.  Something better came along in 1993, and he was traded along with Jose Herrera to the Oakland A's for leadoff hitter extraordinaire Rickey Henderson.  Rickey was the ultimate rental, playing only 44 games in a Blue Jay uniform, stealing 22 bases, and helping Toronto to a 2nd straight World Series.  3 weeks after the trade, Karsay made his major league debut for the A's, and had a decent 11 year career for 5 different clubs.

Karsay's rookie card was going nuts, selling easily for a few bucks in the Toronto area.  Prospecting was in full swing back then.  I was part of the insanity.  Can't you tell? 

What a mistake.  It took me a long time to get that warped money making mentality out of my system.

While I still have no problems selling a card today, I don't buy into the hype of rookies anymore.   I don't buy a lot of a particular product anymore trying to accumulate the next big thing.  I happily build my sets, some new, some old, and enjoy the hobby for what it should have been for me 22 years ago.

Fun.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 921-925

While cleaning and trying to get some envelopes together to ship this weekend (there should be quite a few of them), I thought I'd show off 5 more cards towards the 1500 total.  

Take a look...

Card #921:  Mark DeRosa

Serial Number:  1198
Team:  San Francisco Giants, card # 26  out of 50

The ultimate utilityman, Mark has had 6 different seasons in which he played at least one game at 6 different positions.  (not counting DH)  Mark hit career home run #100 this year with the Blue Jays.



Card #922:  Justin Morneau

Serial Number:  1095
Team:  Minnesota Twins, card # 28 out of 50

I was really surprised that the Twins put Morneau on waivers, but not unlike everything else, all good things must come to an end.  Maybe.  There were a few quick whispers that the Pirates might go after him, but they died out quickly.


Card #923:  Ian Kinsler

Serial Number:  1004
Team:  Texas Rangers, card # 37 out of 50

The Diamondbacks really liked Kinsler, so much so that they drafted him twice (2000 & 2001).  Both times, he did not sign.  The Rangers picked him in the 17th rd in 2003, and the rest as they say is history. 

Card #924:  Johnny Cueto

Serial Number:  994
Team:  Cincinnati Reds, card # 31 out of 50

I am not a Cincinnati Reds fan, but for some reason, I could see myself being a Johnny Cueto fan.  I don't know if it's the Luis Tiant spin in his windup, but I really do like watching Cueto pitch.  Maybe one day if he changes teams I'll follow him even more....

Card #925:  Johan Santana

Serial Number:  970
Team:  New York Mets, card # 34 out of 50

How many of you out there knew that Santana was a rule 5 draftee?  I'll go one better, the day he was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Jared Camp.  Jared never pitched a game in the majors, and we all know how Santana fared in the Twin Cities.  I can't see the Mets picking up his $25 million option for 2014.   Any takers?

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 916-920

I decided to give you as much a break from the serial insanity set as I could, but with so many cards on the back burner I need to start posting some more of them.

Here's the next 5 for you...

Card # 916:  Josh Johnson

Serial Number:  1485
Team:  Florida Marlins, card # 30 out of 50

With a 6.20 ERA and a WHIP over 1.6, he's probably seen his last trip to the mound in Toronto.  I don't see the Jays bringing him back off the DL this year, or re-signing him as a free agent over the winter.  So much for the "Marlins rape" by the Jays...


Card #917:  Francisco Cordero

Serial Number: 1426
Team:  Cincinnati Reds, card # 30  out of 50

The Jays gave Cordero a shot in 2012 as a bit of insurance out of the pen.  When Frank Francisco went down with an injury, Cordero got the closers job, and promptly lost it.  6 appearances later with Houston and his career was pretty much over.  It was kind of shocking to see it blow up that quick, as 2011 was a great year for Cordero with the Reds, 37 saves, 2.45 ERA and a WHIP just under 1.1.

You just never know....


Card #918:  David DeJesus

Serial Number:  1350
Team:  Kansas City Royals, card number 29 out of 50

It kind of makes me wonder what this guy has to do to get a steady gig.   All he did in KC for years is hit for a good average (.280 or better 5 times), have a career fielding percentage of .992 while playing all 3 outfield positions, and even lead the AL once in taking one for the team (23 HBP in 2007).  Yet, he's bounced around the past couple of seasons, and finds himself now on the Nationals, a team that's not going anywhere this year anyway. 



Card #919:  Mike Napoli

Serial Number:  1287
Team:  Texas Rangers, card number 36 out of 50.

I would have loved to see how many home runs he would have hit in the SkyDome.  40?  Trading him for Frank Francisco is probably a trade that AA would love to have back...

Card #920:  Fernando Martinez

Serial Number:  1238
Team:  New York Mets, card number 33 out of 50

Was traded by the Astros to the Yankees back in June for Charles Basford.  Don't look and I won't tell you...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Just one

I would say that over the past couple of weeks, I've started to focus a little bit more on completing sets again.  Some new, some not so new.  Originally, set completion was going to be the primary focus of this blog.  But that kind of got sidetracked when I started trading, and found out that there was a whole world of cards out there to be had.

I also had this crazy idea for a frankenset that steered me off of the beaten path as well.  That project is still kicking and is approaching the 2 year mark. 

This past weekend I hit Sportlots and started to go back to my roots.   Set building.  For the most part.

There is one seller that I go back to over and over, because he's somewhat local (maybe 90 minutes from my house), and every order that I've completed with him has arrived within 2 days.

You read that right, two days!!

The latest order arrived today, and hit a few different want lists.  Instead of boring you with a whole bunch of players that you may or may not know about (do a search for Mike Iggulden, and you'll see what I mean), I'll show you just one card from each of the sets that arrived at my doorstep.

If I was collecting the 2013 Heritage SPs for my set, this would have been a card that I would have needed to buy twice.  But since I decided to work the base set only, this beauty goes into the Jays collection.

Adding Mr. Reyes leaves me with just one more Jay to complete my team set for this year's Heritage.  It's already on its way to me...

I also received 6 "Marquee Rookies" from the 08-09 OPC hockey set today.  But I'll just show you one, the one that actually has become a solid NHL player.

Alex Goligoski played all of 3 games in the 07-08 season, but that was enough to earn him a rookie card in the 08-09 OPC set.  The Penguins ended up using him as a trading chip to make themselves deeper up front, acquiring James Neal from the Dallas Stars. 

Finally, I'll show off a card from the 95-96 Collectors Choice Players Club parallel set I'm still working on, a future hall of famer by the name of Chris Chelios.

This guy posted numbers during his career that would have made any fantasy hockey player drool.  For example, his 1992-93 season consisted of 73 points, 282 penalty minutes, a +14 rating and 8 power play goals.  I found one season that amazed me more numbers wise.   2001-02, 39 points, +40 and over 25 minutes a game for the Red Wings, at the age of forty!!  Incredible.

I'm sure that I wouldn't be so flustered as often as I am if I wasn't working on so many sets.  My life would probably be so much easier if I had only one set/goal to work on at a time.

Just one?  Come on, who am I kidding?  Where would the fun be in that?

Thanks for reading, Robert

A Max-imum trading partner

One of the best and steadiest trading partners that I have been fortunate enough to deal with since I started this blog is Max, who writes the blog known as Starting Nine. 

Max always sends me great packages, whether it be part of a trade, or just something out of the blue (that's something I need to do more often...).  This package was no different.

I received my first Gypsy Queen insert, a dealing aces card featuring R.A. Dickey.

Anybody know if aces is a slang term for home runs now?  Because if it is, then this card is very appropriate, because R.A. has dealt 27 of them so far this year.  I was quite apprehensive about a knuckleballer coming to Toronto because past pitchers who threw that pitch for the Jays weren't very successful.  I'm hoping that R.A. will prove me wrong.

Max also sent me my first Topps Tribute card, of the home run machine himself, Jose Bautista

Although not quite as thick as Upper Deck's the Cup, these base cards are really nice and remind of the very high priced hockey product.  I'm hoping that Jose will become a winner in a Jays uniform like these two guys were...

I could go on and on about these two, as I have in the past, so I won't.

I don't believe I've ever seen any of the 2009 Topps Attax cards on any blogs, so I thought I'd show a couple that Max sent my way.

Every other Attax card I've seen or own is blue, so the red in these 2009's is a welcome change.   I like them!

Max is a hockey fan as well, and he always manages to include at least one Leafs card in a package.  Tom Fergus from the '91-92 Upper Deck set came my way.

I had forgotten that the Leafs had actually picked Tom up several years prior to this card in a trade with the Bruins.  One of my favorite players, Bill Derlago, wound up going to the Bruins.  The year that this card was released, Fergus was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for cash, to help afford the contracts of players such as Gilmour, Fuhr and Andreychuk as the Leafs revamped their roster.

Finally, another piece of the '64 Topps set came my way.

Just 44 more cards for me to reach the goal of 60% complete by the end of the year.  It may be the only goal I reach....

Max, as always, thank you for the cards.  Much appreciated!!  I hope you enjoy the return envelope...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Living vicariously through the Gint-A-Cuffs posts

I waited until the last day to decide, but I chose to not participate in the Gint-A-Cuffs V competition this year.  To those of you out there that are in the competition, good luck!

I have taken the time in the past couple of days to start looking at some of the posts, and I will say that I do like the cards so far.  I think that the lighter "border" this year are what appeals to me, and from the blaster/rack pack that I bought, the inserts are all right as well.

I guess I'll show off what I pulled, so you can see if there's anything that may interest you for your collection/set building needs:

How about the SPs to start?  I snagged 5 of them, one of which is Josh Johnson of the Jays.

Tell me how handy it was that the week this set is released, Jason Dufner wins a major!  I decided to run a quick eBay search, and thought it interesting that an auto'd A&G card is on a BIN for $100.   Wow.

You're wondering about the minis?  Sure, have a look:

There's that Dufner guy again.  The Doerr and Murray cards are both A&G backs.  I like the black bordered Scutaro mini.  I'm sure that these will find their way to good homes...

If I were to collect any of the insert sets, it would probably be the palaces and strongholds set.  I've always been fascinated about how man built some of the world's greatest structures, and these would be no different. 

I like the across the years insert set as well.   Comparing the birthdays of these ballplayers to other famous people was interesting to me.

Kudos to Topps for making the nameplate of Paul Goldschmidt absolutely unreadable.  It would have been very interesting to see what the NL central race would have looked like if Johnny Cueto had been healthy this year. 

While what I've posted here doesn't compare to the GAC posts, hopefully somebody will see a card or 3 that they want, and post a comment on the blog. 

Good luck to every one in the GAC competition, I'll be following the posts as closely as I can!

Thanks for reading, Robert