This trade made me a little Chipper

Now before you get in a panic and ask me why I'm starting a Chipper Jones collection, I'm not.  I happened to complete a small trade recently on the Trading Card Database that netted me 3 cards that feature Chipper Jones, but fit into 3 different collections.

First, a card from 1997 Pinnacle:

I'm guessing that this is the contestants from that years Home Run Derby, and it's quite the star studded group here.   The main reason this came my way?  Top row, 3rd from left is Jim Thome.

I finally got around to adding my entire Jim Thome collection to the TCDB, and put up a want list as well.  Heckuva cool card to be the first one to come my way since adding the Jim Thome list.

2008 Upper Deck X die cut is up next.  I'm slowly making my way through this set after restarting the chase a few months ago.  Chipper is the 75th card in hand, just 25 to go. 

I started picking up the Captured on Canvas jersey cards several years ago, and then backed off of them for a few years.  I never traded them or sold them, just suspended the chase.  Now I've got the want list on the TCDB, and now I have 28 out of the 90 card set.  I believe I added 1 or 2 of these to my last COMB purchase; I'm sure I'll show it/them off when they arrive in a week or 2. 

I'm now up to 146 completed trades for the year on the TCDB, which includes one that I had written off until yesterday.  I'll write more about that in a few days as it's another interesting story from the USPS.

Thanks for reading!

Robert

When last we met...

It's been a while, almost two months since I've posted anything on the blog.   Haven't had the urge to write to be honest.  Extra time to sit down and come up with something has also been at a premium.

But since it's thanksgiving morning (Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US!) and I've nothing to do until football starts in about 4 hours, I figured I'd sit down and update a post from the beginning of July.

I'd posted 8 sets on the blog that I thought I had a chance of finishing (at various levels of confidence).  Here's how I'm doing in that regard...

1.  95-96 Collector's Choice Players Club hockey.  This was finished about 2 weeks after the original post.   The final cards can be seen in this post.

2.  1976-77 OPC hockey.  Original post stated I had 9 cards remaining.

I found the Bobby Orr you see above for cheap, and a few weeks later I snagged the Ken Dryden on ebay during a 10% ebay bucks promotion.  The final 4 cards, including the Tiger Williams RC, are in my COMC cart, so this one is done.

3.  1989 Upper Deck baseball.  Original post stated I had 25 cards left to obtain.

I traded for this Randy Johnson RC recently on the TCDB website, and that left me with just 2 cards on the want list.   Ken Griffey Jr. and Omar Vizquel.  I'll see if I can find something cheap this weekend and put this one to bed as well.



4.  2012-13 OPC hockey.  Original post stated I had 18 cards left to go.

This Pelle Lindbergh SP was part of a recent Sportlots order that brought my want list down to 8, with 2 of those in my current COMC cart.   Black Friday weekend is here, hopefully I can get the last 6 bought and have this one done also.

5. 1976 Topps Baseball.  Original post boasted a want list of 47 cards.

Found this Willie Randolph RC in a box of cards I was about to add onto the TCDB trade list, and I've been whittling away at this want list here and there on COMC.

The want list is down to 21 cards, but with Hank Aaron and Nolan Ryan on the list, I don't think this will get done in 2019.  2020 for sure...

6.  2013-14 OPC hockey.   The original post had this at 36 cards left...

This Calvin Pickard RC was one of 2 cards I bought on the same Sportlots order as the Pelle Lindbergh above.  My absolute stubbornness (read cheapness) sees the ridiculous prices on some of the SPs, and the want list is still at 28 cards to go.   This isn't happening in 2019 unless a minor miracle happens.

7.  1981 Topps baseball.   185 cards left on this want list back in July

I'm as happy as Hector Cruz to say that the 185 card want list has all but vanished.   2 of the 3 cards I need are in my COMC cart, the only one on the want list left is #358 Mark Wagner.  

Done.

8.  1973 Topps baseball.   2 cards on the want list back in July.   Mike Schmidt RC and the high series checklist.

Status quo.


With those out of the way, I've made some strides on some other sets over the past few months, such as '79 Topps  (29 left to go and 3 in the COMC cart);

1983 Topps has just 93 cards to go (I believe the list was over 300 to go in July)

And I've added another want list page for a couple of parallel sets I've been chipping away at, one of them being 2008 Upper Deck X die cut

And the 2019 Gypsy Queen green parallel set is also there; I've passed the 50% mark on that quest.

So, even though I haven't been writing, there's still lots going on with my collection. 

If you're on TCDB, my trade list and want list are under my ID rmitchell6700.  I hit the 140 trade mark for 2019 this week, got a shot at 150 by year's end...

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Dos Equis y Tres Ichiros

Showing off a little bit of what I've learned in Spanish so far.   Dos Equis was actually easy, as I'm not unlike any other sports enthusiast, you see enough beer commercials featuring the world's most interesting man you know the 2 X's...

My latest trade with Jimmy (TCDB ID: torcato) brought 5 cards from the west coast to the east coast, including these 2 2008 Upper Deck X die cuts.  Still need 48 out of the 100 cards to complete this set, but it has been nice to see some movement since I added this to my want list a couple of months ago.

The 3 Ichiro's you see here are from the 2016 Topps Update Chasing 3000 insert.  I knew about the 30 that were in the base set, and snapped those up pretty quickly.  Had no idea until recently that there were 30 more in the update set.  When I did find out, I added them to the want list, and will look to get the remainder of these sometime down the road.  I'm closing in on the 200 card mark for my Ichiro collection as I've been lucky to find a lot of base cards in quarter boxes at card shows over the past few months.

Jimmy's trade will already be #77 that I've completed on the TCDB site this year.  100 is well within reach, as I have 3 others already en route to the swamp.

Thanks for reading!

Robert

The crazy things I'm still chasing

I took this want list off of the blog a long time ago, but that didn't mean I still wasn't chasing these:

I recently picked this up for $1.25 off of COMC, and it becomes the 25th card in the set that I own.  There's still 65 more to go, and while this isn't any kind of priority right now, I did put up a want list on the TCDB on the off chance that someone might have one or two that they're looking to move.

Here's another card that I picked up in a trade recently, it adds to another long lost set that I started putting together many years ago:

I love the look of the 2000-01 Topps Heritage hockey set, and I look forward to someday having the complete set as part of my collection.  A big thanks to Edward (TCDB ID:  Detfan6897) for the set help , and the player collection help as well as he hit several of my player wants.

As far as the next set goes, I wouldn't classify it as "still chasing", more likely the words "getting off to a good start" applies:

Mr. Mike Minor that you see here is already card #79 out of the 300 card set that I own.  I've had quite a bit of good luck with trading for these already, and while I know that the set isn't going to be finished quickly, I'm still looking forward to having this in hand when it's completed. 

Another parallel set that I've added another card to recently is the 2008 Upper Deck X die cut set:

Roy Oswalt is the halfway point for the set, as I now have 50 of the 100 cards.  No rush here as well, but I do have the want list up on the TCDB as well.  

I don't expect to finish this set off anytime soon as well, but the 2018-19 OPC retro parallel set is another one that I'd love to finish someday.  With just 26 out of 600 cards in hand, don't expect to see any cheering on here that the set is complete any time soon. 

Notice that only one of the 5 sets I have listed in this post is a base set.  Everything else is a parallel.

It's a sickness I say....

Thanks for reading.

Robert

4 in the door and 2 feet on the go

Well, there have been a couple of benefits of all these trades I've been completing over the past couple of months.  A big part of 2019 for me on a personal note is trying to lose all this excess weight I've been carrying for years.  My house is roughly a 10-15 minute walk to the Post Office, so weekend mornings have been spent gaining steps and some exercise while sending packages in the mail to trade partners all over N. America.

Here's the latest 4 trade packages to come in the door for your consideration.

I put this set up on the TCDB website a few weeks back on a lark, wondering if I would get any hits on it.  Boy, have I been surprised so far.   These 7 2008 UD X die-cuts came to me via TCDB user ID jrayes7of9.   I sent a few Heritage SPs his way and these 7 cards get me to just shy of the 1/2way mark for this 100 card set.

This trade was a hot one, as Steven (TCDB ID: parsley24) offered up these 4 cards for 4 '18 A&G Minis featuring the hottest peppers in the world.  The 2 A&G cards leave me with just 11 to go to finish the set, and the Cutch and Ichiro cards help those PCs out.   I've added quite a few base cards to the want lists for most of my player collections, and I've received quite a few hits in the past couple of months.

I was also very happy with this trade with TCBD user ID suedehead6 (I gotta start remembering to write people's names down, once they close the trade I can't see their names anymore!!).  I found it interesting that he collects both the New York Rangers and Kansas City Royals, but there's never any telling what people collect anymore just by geography.  I sent him some cards from those teams, and got back some much needed hockey from a couple of OPC sets (12-13 & 13-14) along with another Joe Sakic base card that I didn't have. 

Last but not least, this trade with Kevin, who has one of the best ID's on the site (kdinthejaw), sent me a nice chunk of 91-92 OPC Premier cards.  I'm sure that he's probably had them sitting in a box for quite a long time and was happy to get them off of his hands.   91-92 OPC Premier was another want list that I put on the TCDB site on a lark, and sure enough I have received quite a few cards for the set, with 5 more on the way from Hawaii!   Kevin also sent a Keith Tkachuk card and a couple of Joe Sakic cards for those player collections. 

I started the effort to drop some weight at the end of January, about a month before I saw my doctor for my annual physical.  A lot of this stemmed from being tired all the time (especially on weekends), and not wanting to be round anymore (lol).  Well, at the end of February I was weighed at the docs office at 284, and that same day I received a FitBit and vowed to start improving my health.

I'm down to 267 right now, and the best part for me is that it is noticeable.  My goal by the end of 2019 is to weigh 210 lbs.   I've also cut down on big meals, I don't eat as many sugary snacks (especially in the evenings), and my goal is 35 active minutes a day.   I'm not starving myself or going on one of those fad diets, just eating less and walking more is helping me tremendously. 

So keep those trades coming, the walks to the post office do nothing but help me out!!

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Pay attention, things happen quickly

Fellow blogger and TCDB trade partner Paul (TCDB ID: pjdionne12) offered up a trade just under two weeks ago.

A good chunk of the trade was for cards from '78 Topps

Here's more from '78, along with a couple of 81's, one 2008 UD X and one of the few remaining 2018 A&G cards that I need (I think the total is down to 13 to go).

There were a few 83's, and a trio of 09-10 Artifacts cards.  I have 2 or 3 different Artifacts sets that I added to the want list to try and hopefully finish them up. 

The funny part of this whole deal was the offer and acceptance.   Paul sent the list of cards on the offer, and I breezed through them and accepted the deal.

Neither of us noticed until after the trade was accepted that Paul had accidentally included some duplicate cards.  Paul was very classy about it, threw in a few more '78s (including the Yount, very cool!) and even put on the note he included a reminder for me to add the 4 cards to my collection, as the ones he added wouldn't automatically come off my want list.

So that's the pay attention part.

The topper of the trade was this Old Judge Jim Thome jersey card.  I haven't added anything for Jim Thome in quite a long time, so this was a welcome sight.

We've all bashed the USPS from time to time about delays, damages, etc., so this is a chance to actually give them some due when it is earned.

Paul shipped this bubble mailer on Saturday, and it arrived at my house on Monday!  Michigan to Florida.   That's PDQ.

Thanks for the trade Paul, the cards are really appreciated!  Looking forward to our next one...

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Big or small I'll try to post them all

Decided to try and get a couple of trade posts melded into one today for the primary purpose of getting cards off of my desk in a hurry.  Sheepishly I credited Mark (TCDB ID: Mark1010) with sending me all those '78s last week, when in actual fact he sent me all of these 81's.

These 50 cards bring the total in hand close to the 60% mark.  Making some big dents in my want lists lately, which of course I'm not complaining about...

I'll certainly hand it to Paul (TCDB ID: Paulie3jobs), he certainly did some digging on all my want lists to find 3 cards on 3 different want lists to send me.   I actually just completed another trade to get 7 more of the 2008 UD X die cut cards sent my way; I'm loving the fact that I've been putting up want lists for stuff that I'd given up long ago on completing and now I'm finding trade partners that have them, such as the UD X set.  I believe I'll have close to half of the set complete when those 7 arrive.

Thanks to both Paul and Mark for the cards, they are appreciated.   Both of them are great trade partners and I look forward to more trades with them.

Thanks for reading!

Robert

The bounty of Wes continues

A good many of you know, and were part of, the bounty of Wes.  Area 40 (a name which I'm a little afraid to ask about) was the name of the blog where Wes bid adieu to the blogging game and gave away a whole lot of cards to the good folks of the blogosphere. 

I received a ton of A&G cards, which did the following:

• Nearly completed my 2018 set
• Added to several other A&G sets, including '16 and '17
• Gave me a boat load of minis, which aren't my cup of tea.

But lucky me, I have used a fair bit of those minis to enhance my vintage set builds by trading them to frequent TCDB trade partner Bill (TCDB ID: minibbcards).  Another great trade arrived at my doorstep on Monday and included these:

I know this isn't vintage, but I wanted to show this first because I was kind of shocked when Bill had this on the trade offer.  Had no idea that Bill had anything like this in his stash....

Love me some 69s!!  I had no idea that Amos Otis started out with the Mets.  I only ever knew him as a KC Royal.  Not all commons here, as names like Alomar, Aparicio and Koosman (2nd year) found their way here.  All 4 of these sets are a long way from completion, but each little chip in the armor is always great to see.   '69 completion total:  178 cards, just over 26% done.

This could possibly be the worst scan ever.  No matter, as I'm 3 cards closer to a set that I never really intended to start putting together several years ago, but now I'm closing in on the 50% mark. 

This is more of a general statement than a slight at Bill or anyone else out there, but when you trade for '71 Topps cards, you just never know what you'll get.  I've made some trades where cards were fine enough, but they definitely showed their age.  Know what I mean?

These '71s are wonderful.  Clean, sharp corners, almost look as if they just came out of a pack!  It's also cool that I got Robert Barone's favorite player in this group of 9 (kudos to you if you know who it is).

Another set that has a long way to go, '72 Topps cards are also a welcome sight.  Nice to get one of the '00' cards out of the way in Joe Torre.  I knew that Joe had some really good seasons at the plate, but his 71 stats are damn good.  .363 average, 230 hits, 24 HR and 137 RBI, 97 runs scored.  That's one of those seasons in a 5x5 fantasy league that you dream about.  These 4 cards bring me up to an even 150 so far, not bad but I don't expect to finish this set any time soon....

Bill, thank you for the trade, the cards are greatly appreciated!!

eXXXXXciting

Before you read any further, there are no naked women or anything that could be labelled pornographic at all in this post.  If you were hoping for that, you can leave now.

(Hears all the mouse clicks and browsers moving on....)

OK, now that all the riff raff have left, this post documents my 20th trade on the TCDB site in 2019.  I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had put up want lists for a couple of early 90's hockey sets that I'd put on the back burner.   Today's cards come from another set that I had long abandoned.

2008 Upper Deck X was a set that I had a fascination with quite a few years ago, but quickly abandoned it as I wasn't able to get any trades/cards come my way.   I found the cards I had a few days ago, and decided to put them up on TCDB.

Quickly, I found a trade partner, a new one to be exact in Pat (TCDB ID: itsjustoldcardboard) and struck up a deal trading off some of the Magnificent Moons cards from '18 A&G for these 5 cards.

Hey, it's 5 more X's than I pulled a few years ago the first time around.  Still need 65 more to go, but finding these quickly gives me a bit of hope that I can find some more over time.  

It is exciting for me to find new trade partners, and I'm sure Pat probably was happy getting these cards out of his house for some cards that he could use.

I know I feel that way...

Thanks for the trade Pat, look forward to many more!

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Almost a perfect game

Great stuff.  I come home today to a bubble mailer on the dining room table, and as I always do, I look to the name in the upper left corner.  Looking to see which of the many great people in the blog world has sent me some goodies.

Today's name I didn't recognize right away.  It had been a while since Tom from The Angels, In Order and I had traded, or even conversed.  No worries there though, because Tom was right on the money with these cards.

There was 20 cards in the envelope, divided up evenly for me to create two posts.  The first 10 cards are from a parallel set that I started working on a while ago, but kind of put on the back burner for the past few months.

Say hello to 10 Upper Deck X die cuts...

I put the cards in numerical order before I scanned them just to make them easier to put away later.  The first five represent a full house, Indians full of Rockies.  That's just how it worked out.

A lot of stars and big names (at least in 2008) were in this lot.  I wondered where Milledge was once I saw his card, I found out that he's in Japan playing for the Yokult Swallows.  

If Tom had sent me two more of the X die cuts, I would have had a perfect game.  Yes, I bowled a lot growing up and seeing the X's always reminds me of that.  No, I never threw a perfect game myself (though I did throw 15 consecutive strikes over two games once...).

Tomorrow, I add to one of my PCs, plus one more card for another set that's been neglected.

Thanks for reading, Robert

I think I know what my problem is now

Lately, I've been in a real funk.  I can feel it in my bones, the lack of desire to get anything meaningful accomplished on the blog.  March has long been a month I look forward to.  Not because of March Madness, but for the simple fact that the 3 previous months are in the rear view mirror. 

You will not find many people much happier than I am when the month of March arrives, because the cold weather starts to dissipate, the snow starts to leave the ground, and the green of the grass and trees begins to take center stage.

Except for 2013 it seems.  I actually awoke to snow again on my truck this morning.  Not a major amount, but enough for me to look skyward and say "really??"  It is April 2nd after all, and the high still didn't get out of the 30's today. 

I really have become a warm weather person.  My annual trips to Florida during the winter months stopped this year, because my wife has decided to take a stand and make our friends come and visit us before we head back there again.  My wife insists that I am more than welcome to go down by myself, but I am convinced that if I were to do that, I probably wouldn't hear the end of it for not supporting her. 

You see my quandary.

There is hope on the horizon here, with the forecast for later in the week calling for temperatures to climb into the upper 50's.  Between that and the monthly card show this weekend, I'm hoping that things will start to clear up for me, and I'll get back to a little more normalcy here in the blog. 

I began this evening with a quick addition to the baseball want list, the 2008 Upper Deck X Die Cut set.

I was sorry to hear that Santana was lost for the season, it seems as if he just can't get on a good run of health over the past few years.

I really like this set, despite the small card count (100).  I've been fortunate to pull together 19 of them so far, and I'm hoping to find a couple of auctions on eBay to knock off some of the want list.

First things first though, the monthly card show this weekend, which I'll be attending on Saturday (as is my custom).  I hope to be finishing this set when I go....

1977 Topps #650

Just 9 to go.  Some big names still to pick up though.  Carew.  Schmidt.  Guidry.  Fidrych RC.  Brooks Robinson.  Nolan Ryan Record Breaker card.  I hope to finish off that set, and find a few more cards toward the serial insanity set.  Not sure if I'll try and attack the '70 or '73 sets, we'll have to see how I feel when I get there. 

Maybe now that baseball is back for real, my mind will get straight and I can get my focus where it should be.

Enjoying this great hobby of ours...

Thanks for reading, Robert