1500 Post contest results

Thanks to all who entered and commented on the set, I wound up with 31 total entries.  I decided to give 2 prizes away, the winners of those you will see in the video.   I will be contacting them both this evening.

One card rule:

I know that there are a couple of Vlad Guerrero collectors out there.  My question to you, or anyone else out there is this "if your player appears on one of these rediscover Topps stamped cards, do you consider it a unique card in your collection?"  Why or why not?

Thanks for reading, Robert

Page by page

Trying harder lately to avoid not posting on the blog for 4 or 5 days straight.  In the past, I would chastise myself if I went a day without posting.  Now, it's become easier to go a few days without posting and not think twice.  With there being plenty of pages to post for the SNI set, this is a good enough reason to get the lead out and write a quick post about the next page.

This page has one of the best cards from the 2010's on it (in my opinion).  Hard to believe that it's been 11 years since Kirby Puckett passed away at a very young 46 years of age....


Here's page 37 for your perusal:

Card 325:  Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 2011 Topps Chrome Purple refractor #325/499.  Minnesota card #9
Card 326:  Ozzie Guillen, 2006 Topps gold #326/2006.  Chicago White Sox card #9
Card 327:  Jason Bay, 2013 Topps Gold #327/2013.  Seattle card #6

Card 328:  Freddie Freeman, 2010 Topps Minors #328/369.  Atlanta card #16
Card 329:  Torii Hunter, 2009 Topps Unique #329/1199.  LA Angels card #18
Card 330:  Minnesota Twins, 2010 Topps Gold #330/2010.  Minnesota card #10

Card 331:  Ricky Ledee, 1998 Bowmans Best #331/400.  NY Yankees card #12
Card 332:  Brandon Webb, 2007 Topps Triple Threads #332/559.  Arizona card #10
Card 333:  Koji Uehara, 2009 Topps Unique card #333/2699.  Baltimore card #10

Best card:  Yep, the Minnesota Twins team card by a long shot.
Easiest pull:  Don't recall having a card with as many copies as the 2699 that Uehara has of his card from '09 Unique
Oldie but a goodie:  Ricky Ledee from '98 Bowmans Best is one of only 15 pre 2000 cards that I own for the set. 
It also appears as if Ozzie Guillen is signing for the fans, a type of card that I always enjoy seeing.

I have well over 100 more pages to show.  I somehow have to convince myself that this post wasn't so difficult and start to get more of these done.

Shouldn't be too difficult...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #11: Two more pages

For those of you who were part of the 100 words/cards giveaway, this is a heads up to let you know that I finished the order today and have requested shipment.  Hopefully I'll have the cards in a couple of weeks and then I'll start to work on shipping them to everybody. 

It certainly was an educational project for me, as I learned a lot about what people collect.   There were some interesting sets/collections out there, and I'm looking forward to what people thought about the cards I sent their way.

Now, back to regular blog news, I decided to get a couple of SNI pages scanned and posted today.  I have approximately 1/2 of the serial numbered hockey cards into pages and hope to have them put away this week. 

Hope you enjoy pages 32 and 33 of SNI...

Card 280:  Justin Upton, 2010 Topps triple threads #280/1350.  Arizona card #8
Card 281:  Alexei Ramirez, 2011 Topps triple threads #281/525.  Chicago White Sox card #7
Card 282:  Danny Espinosa, 2012 Topps Heritage #282/563.  Washington card #12

Card 283:  Rod Barajas, 2010 Topps Gold #283/2010.  Toronto card #17
Card 284:  Evan Anundsen, 2010 Bowman Chrome #284/777.  Milwaukee card #5
Card 285:  Tyler Clippard, 2007 Bowman Chrome #285/500.  New York Yankees card #8

Card 286:  John Danks, 2013 Topps Gold #286/2013.  Chicago White Sox card #8
Card 287:  Tyler Colvin, 2011 Bowman Green #287/450.  Chicago Cubs #7
Card 288:  Collin Balester, 2009 Topps Gold #288/2009.  Washington card #13

Both the White Sox and the Nationals represented twice on this page.  The Milwaukee card leaves just the Pirates as the only team not to reach the 5 card plateau. 

The John Danks card was the only one on this page that I was responsible for, the other 8 were courtesy of the blogosphere.  The Night Owl sent me 2 of these, while 6 other bloggers sent 1 each.

Card 289:  John Lackey, 2007 Topps gold #289/2007.  Los Angeles Angels card #15
Card 290:  Brian Bannister, 2009 Topps gold #290/2009.  Kansas City card #11
Card 291:  Colby Lewis, 2011 Topps gold #291/2011.  Texas card #11

Card 292:  Joey Votto, 2011 Topps triple threads #292/525.  Cincinnati card #9
Card 293:  Javier Vazquez, 2010 Topps Chrome purple #293/299.  New York Yankees card #9
Card 294:  Lance Berkman, 2011 Bowman blue #294/500.  St. Louis card #16

Card 295:  Brian McCann, 2011 Bowman green #295/450.  Atlanta card #11
Card 296:  Tom Koehler, 2013 Topps gold #296/2013.  Miami card #11
Card 297:  Anthony Ortega, 2009 Bowman blue #297/500.  Los Angeles Angels card #16

I purchased 4 of the 9 cards on this page, 3 of the 4 coming via two different visits to the National in 2012 and 2014.  Both of the pages today had one card come from Ted who ran the Crinkly Wrappers blog (hope all is well for you Ted!). 

The most interesting card for me is the Brian Bannister card.  I thought that the placing of the glove over the mouth to prevent the other team from reading lips was a more recent phenomena, but I guess it's been going on longer than I thought. 

Next page up will bring the set to over 20% displayed in page form.  Still quite a ways to go.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #8: One of my favorite SNI pages so far, plus a trio of hockey legends

I usually don't make a habit of putting comments as a title for a post, but for me it made sense this time.  I took a look at the next SNI page to be posted, and I really liked a lot of the photos that were on it.  Also, if you read last night's post about grouping cards together with a common theme, the next 3 cards for the hockey SNI set are legends of the sport.

So without further delay, let's start with page #28 of the SNI set...

Card 244:  Kyle Gibson, 2013 Topps Updated gold parallel #244/2013.  Minnesota card #7
Card 245:  Octavio Dotel, 2011 Topps gold parallel #245/2011.  St. Louis card #15
Card 246:  Joel Piniero, 2010 Topps gold parallel #246/2010.  Los Angeles Angels card #13

Card 247:  Brant Colamarino, 2004 Topps gold parallel #247/2004.  Oakland card #13
Card 248:  Andruw Jones, 2008 Topps Co-Signers #248/300.  Los Angeles Dodgers card #9
Card 249:  Christian Guzman, 2010 Topps gold parallel #249/2010.  Washington card #10

Card 250:  Adam Dunn, 2010 Bowman Platinum gold parallel #250/539.  Washington card #11
Card 251:  Richard Hidalgo, 2004 Topps gold parallel #251/2004.  New York Mets card #6
Card 252:  Cameron Maybin, 2011 Topps gold parallel #252/2011.  San Diego card #12

Love the top row of cards right off the bat(for wont of another phrase).  All three pitchers in varying stages of their pitching motion is pure gold (again, poor pun).  Brant Colamarino may be the best baseball name in this set.  And a rare Bowman Platinum gold parallel popped up in the form of Adam Dunn.  8 of the 9 cards came from various members of the blogosphere, so thank you to all who contributed!!

What you see in these three players is 52 seasons of hockey with a combined goal total of 1538.  All 3 are in the Hall of Fame.  Of the 3, only Perreault didn't win the Stanley Cup (although he made it to the Finals against Clarke and the Flyers in 1974-75). 

Robitaille in his first 8 NHL seasons was a pure sniper, scoring 44 or more goals each season, with a high of 63 in 92-93!  Gil Perreault was more of a steady goal scorer, notching 30 in 10 seasons, including his Calder winning rookie season in which he scored 38.  Bobby Clarke was more of a set up man, notching back to back 89 assist seasons with the Flyers in 74/75 & 75/76, winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP both seasons. 

What's been great about the lot that Doug sent me is the variety of cards, many of which I've never seen before.  The Clarke and Perreault cards are both from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection (Clarke from 13-14, while Perreault is from 06-07).  The Perreault serial # is 507/699, and very difficult to see, even in hand.  Even though the numbers are in silver, the Clarke is also tough to decipher, but it's #259/499. 

Still a lot of serial #'d cards to go, lots of pages to write about, so serial Saturday should keep on going for quite a while.  

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #5: Passing the 200 card plateau

Progress is slow on writing up these pages so far, largely because I've strictly limited these posts to Saturdays.  If I ever can find an entire day to devote to just the blog and cards, maybe I could scare up a few of these posts and make some substantial progress.   Until then, these posts will have to do.

The 3 pages I'm about to show will get the set past the 200 card mark, and also feature a card from a player whose uniform is no longer used in MLB.

Onward...

Page 23

Card 199:  Scott Downs, 2011 Topps gold parallel #199/2011.  Los Angeles Angels card #9
Card 200:  Brian Stokes, 2010 Topps gold parallel #200/2010.  Los Angeles Angels card #10
Card 201:  Michael Cuddyer, 2012 Topps gold parallel #201/2012.  Colorado card #9

Card 202:  Sean McAdams, 2013 Bowman Draft Picks orange parallel #202/250. Baltimore card #6
Card 203:  Carlos Quentin, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #203/1350.  Chicago White Sox card #4
Card 204:  Jon Garland, 2010 Topps gold parallel #204/2010.  San Diego card #11

Card 205:  Mike Stanton, 2010 Topps gold parallel #205/2010.  Miami card #9
Card 206:  Phil Hughes, 2012 Topps Opening Day blue parallel #206/2012.  New York Yankees card #5
Card 207:  Bob Keppel, 2001 Topps gold parallel #207/2001.  New York Mets card #5

A rare appearance for the 2001 Topps set on this page, one of only 4 cards that I have recorded for the set.  Also a flashback to the days when Mr. Stanton was referred to as "Mike" instead of the current Giancarlo moniker.  Otherwise, this page is all about the Topps gold for the most part.

Page 24

Card 208:  Herbert Perry, 2003 Topps gold parallel #208/2003.  Texas card #4
Card 209:  Aaron Hill, 2011 Bowman green parallel #209/450.  Toronto card #10
Card 210:  Carlos Quentin, 2009 Topps Unique #210/1199.  Chicago White Sox card #5

Card 211:  Francisco Cordero, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #211/525.  Cincinnati card #7
Card 212:  Darin Mastroianni, 2011 Bowman purple parallel #212/700.  Toronto card #11
Card 213:  Carlos Santana, 2013 Topps Opening Day blue parallel #213/2013.  Cleveland card #8

Card 214:  Tony Batista, 2001 Topps Stars #214/499.  Toronto card #12
Card 215:  Matt Capps, 2004 Topps gold parallel #215/2004.  Pittsburgh card #3
Card 216:  Trever Miller, 2011 Topps gold parallel #216/2011.  St. Louis card #14

Unintentional of course, but Toronto shows off 3 players on this page, the Tony Batista featuring the only appearance in the set from the 2001 Topps Stars set.  Personally, the blue Opening Day parallels have always been a favorite of mine, so the Santana card stands out for me.

Next!

Page 25

Card 217:  Andres Galarraga, 2003 Topps gold parallel #217/2003.  Washington card #7
Card 218:  Carlos Santana, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen brown framed #218/999.  Cleveland card #9
Card 219:  A.J. Burnett, 2011 Topps gold parallel #219/2011. New York Yankees card #6

Card 220:  Corey Koskie, 2005 Topps Chrome black refractor #220/225.  Toronto card #13
Card 221:  Scott Downs, 2012 Topps gold parallel #221/2012.  Los Angeles Angels card #11
Card 222:  Jason Heyward, 2011 Topps Triple Threads green parallel #222/249.  Atlanta card #10

Card 223:  Omar Beltre, 2010 Topps gold parallel #223/2010.  Texas card #5
Card 224:  Neftali Soto, 2011 Bowman Chrome #224/500.  Cincinnati card #8
Card 225:  Josh Hamilton, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen brown framed #225/999.  Texas card #6  

If Topps Chrome were ever to bring back the black refractors, I'd probably chase them.  That Corey Koskie card looks fantastic, and I have a couple of others in my collection that I really like.  Andres Galarraga is the only player/card that is a "crossover", meaning he is featured in a past version of the Nationals.  Wonder if Montreal will ever see a baseball team again in my lifetime.

3 different players made 2 appearances in this post (Scott Downs, Carlos Quentin and Carlos Santana), and Toronto came close to catching St. Louis for the overall lead so far in cards displayed (14-13).

Just 1275 serial #'d cards to go...

Thanks for reading, Robert

I've added a couple of things

I mentioned the other day that I was going to touch every card I had in monster boxes and determine if it would stay or go.  I didn't even mention office supply boxes, in which I found a cobra!

Yep, Dave Parker was hiding among paper clips and thumb tacks, in a top loader and ready to be removed and added to the other 18 cards I have from the '82 set.  I figured if I can find a card there, the other 700+ shouldn't be that hard to find.  So I added a want list for the '82 set today.

Meanwhile, I finally got around to scanning another page from the SNI set for a post; this page actually has 2 cards each from 2 of the more generous bloggers to this grandiose cause.  Enjoy!

Card #91:  Carlos Beltran, 2009 Topps Tribute #91/99.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  New York Mets card #2
Card #92:  Joe Saunders, 2009 Topps Unique #92/1199.  Courtesy of Jason Williams (blog unknown, sorry Jason).  Los Angeles Angels card #4
Card #93:  Barry Zito, 2007 Topps Moments and Milestones #93/150.  Purchased at the 2012 National.  Oakland card #4

Card #94:  Scott Rolen, 2011 Gypsy Queen Brown framed #94/999.  Purchased at a card show in PA.  Cincinnati card #4
Card #95:  Mike Gonzalez, 2008 Topps Heritage refractor #95/599.  Courtesy of Kyle from the JABO blog (retired).  Atlanta card #8
Card #96:  Craig Biggio, 2007 Bowman Blue #96/500.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Houston card #5

Card #97:  James Baldwin, 2003 Topps Chrome refractor #97/699.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Kansas City card #2
Card #98:  Fausto Carmona, 2010 Topps gold #98/2010.  Courtesy of Michael from the Nomo's Sushi Platter blog.  Cleveland card #4
Card #99:  J.D. Martinez, 2011 Topps gold #99/2011.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Houston card #6

Still no Pirates, something that is "kind of" solved in page 12, you'll see when I post it in the next couple of days.

By the way, I decided to start the hockey version of SNI.  The tab is up at the top, try not to hurt yourself when you roll your eyes.  All the "rules" are there for your perusal, and don't be afraid to ask any questions.  My objective is to post cards as they come in, 1 at a time, just to keep the blog rolling along. 

This 5-6 post a month roll I've been on has got to stop.  One way or another.

Thanks for reading, Robert

23 down, 7 to go

The Brewers are done.  They become the 23rd team to be completed, and now the NL Central is complete as well.  The 3 cards you see here are #48, 49 and 50 for the Brew Crew, and in total the set is down to 28 cards left.  I actually have 8 of those 28 in hand, they just need to be taken off the list.  This will happen sometime this weekend, as I imagine I'll have some time to spare with my first tropical storm as a resident of S. Florida on its way. 

I'm guessing part of the weekend will also be spent verifying that I actually have all the serial #'s that I say I do.  Going through the spreadsheet and the 3 binders of cards will be a tedious process, but I believe it's better to do this now than after I "finish" off the set.  Finding out that I am missing a serial # or 3 would be very depressing once I thought the set was complete.

Updates to come....

thanks for reading, Robert

I finished another team--not 2

Was glad to see my COMC order full of serial numbered cards arrived tonight, unfortunately out of the 19 cards that I ordered, 3 of them were unusable.   2 because of mistakes that I made, but 1 was clearly a screw up from the vendor.

I ordered serial # 980 Bert Blyleven for the last card I needed to finish the Twins.   Here's what I got.

Yep, they sent me 880 instead.   Not worth anything to me unfortunately, so if there are any Twins/Blyleven fans out there who would like this card, let me know and I'll gladly send it your way.

I did however find a nice card to finish off the Atlanta Braves portion of the set.

2010 Topps Update Brian McCann, serial number 1237.  Love the bat he's holding from the 2010 All Star game; I'm guessing that's the MVP trophy.  I thought it looked really cool, and decided to grab it for the set.

I'll post a few of the cards I could use over the next couple of days.   I wound up being knocking 16 numbers off of the list, which leaves me with 84 to go.

That light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter...

thanks for reading, Robert

It's funny what a little focus can accomplish

Focus (v) - pay particular attention to

As I've aged, I've also gained the knowledge that focus is something that I've clearly lacked during my lifetime.  I'm a person that can easily shift from one task to another quickly, often leaving tasks half finished.

I can also describe my collecting habits as focus impaired.  Start one thing, work on it for a while, move on to something else that I find interesting, work on that for a while, and so on.

With the SNI set down to its final 100 cards, I've started working towards the finish line.  I'm using my weekly budget (or parts of it due to lower amounts of discretionary spending money) and chipping away at the remaining serial numbers needed.

The last 2 purchases from COMC.com knocked off 19 cards, 5 of which I showed off the other day.  The Goodbye Ohio post showed the final cards of the Cleveland and Cincinnati clubs, and today I'll show off three more teams that were finished recently.

Up until last week, the Cubs were down to just 2 cards to finish off their portion of the set.  Fukudome (#1047) and Gallagher (#1006) made the Cubs the 12th team to have all 50 cards in house.

The Dodgers became the 13th team to be completed when the sole remaining card arrived in the same order.  Delwyn Young (#1421) is the final piece of the Dodgers puzzle.  In case you were wondering, Young is still playing baseball, with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League.

Jake Peavy (#753) is the final part of the San Diego Padres portion of the set.  Peavy is probably not the same pitcher now as he was with the Padres many years ago, but I'm sure that the sting is lessened with two consecutive WS rings on his resume.   To get a third, he's probably going to have to be traded, because we all know that the Giants can only win in even #'d years...

Not only have I completed those teams with recent orders, I've added cards for other teams as well.

I only grabbed a couple of Phillies so that they would be over the 40 card mark.  Same with the Tigers below...

Little did I know that these two teams would be in the sights of another blogger, to be completely wiped out with one single order.   When they arrive, I'll be sure to show them off and give many thanks to the generous person.

Lastly, in what I can only call a moment of non-clarity, I ordered 4 Braves cards.

Nothing against the Braves of course, but for some reason I ordered just 4 when I needed 5 to finish them off.  Duh me.  I corrected this mistake in the order that I placed today.

Speaking of that order, along with the generosity of a fellow blogger I have a little more than a third of the final 100 cards headed my way.  With just under 6 weeks left until my blogoversary, there is a chance that I can finish this set before the start of my 5th year in the blog world.

Let's see if I can stay focused enough to do it...

thanks for reading, Robert

Minis: A growing problem

The stack of undocumented Blue Jays cards on my desk has stayed relatively small lately, even with large additions from around America.  I still tend to think of minis as a recent phenomenon, but the evidence on my desk is overwhelming; they've been around for a while, and don't seem to be going away any time soon.

One advantage is you can fit more of them on the width of your scanner.   Case in point..

The George Bell on the far left is actually a '90 Panini sticker.  Next to him is a '88 Topps sticker, which actually has two stickers on the back featuring Zane Smith of the Braves and Ellis Burks of the Red Sox.  The Fred McGriff in the 3rd spot is also a Topps sticker, from 1990, and features Jay Howell of the Dodgers on the back.  Finally, the Tony Fernandez on the right is a '87 Topps mini leaders card.  And I thought the sets of today were a challenge to keep up with all the crazy variations...

Even better, tobacco size minis fit five across the scanner with no problem.  I never knew that Private Stock back in 1999 had minis.  There's Jose Cruz Jr. right in the center of it all.  The difference in the 2 Brendan Morrow cards?  One is a regular back, and the other is a A&G ad back.  Aaron Hill, who I wish was still in a Jays uniform, is a black bordered mini from that same set (2011).  Even Topps' T206 release had minis, as evidenced by the Travis Snider on the left.

At least these minis I can handle.  The '72 and '87 Topps minis that have been released over the past couple of years are big enough that I don't worry about mangling them each time I pick them up.  The Cracker Jack minis from 2005 were something I'd forgotten about until I received the Aaron Hill card.  The Bowman chrome minis to me are an unnecessary edition to a set that already has a plethora of variations as it is.

Let's not forget the Kimball Champions minis that Topps put out in 2011, the annual tobacco sized Gypsy Queen releases, and the play ball replicas from back in 2010. 

And these are just some of the minis that I haven't gone through yet.  In the box there's probably 40-50 other minis that need to find their way into pages.  The scary part is I've probably only scratched the surface of what I need as far as minis go.

Until I can locate some mini/tobacco card pages, this "problem" will only continue to grow. 

What a shame huh?

thanks for reading, Robert

Getting ready for Friday

Part of the task of getting ready for Friday is this post.  One of the goals I have for the National this week is to knock down the SNI want list as much as possible.  In order to do that, I have to update my current list.  Which means you're getting a post of the remaining 14 serial numbered cards that were part of the envelope that Max sent me last week.

Mike Leake is serial #'d 1283 and is card 41 for the Reds out of 50.
Charlie Morton is serial #'d 789 and is the 36th card out of 50 for the Pirates.
Nate Eovaldi is serial #'d 929, and now the Marlins have 35 out of their 50 cards for the set.

Vicente Padilla is serial #'d 1020, and Scott Podsednik is serial #'d 1110.  These two bring the Dodgers total up to 35.
James Loney, the former Dodger, is serial #'d 1404 and gives the Rays their 45th card toward the set.

A pair of Astros brings the team total to 31, leaving the Orioles and the Rockies as the only teams below the 30 mark.  J.D. Martinez is serial #'d 1043, while Erik Bedard is stamped with the # 1227.

The Diamondbacks now have 35 out of their 50 cards thanks to Brandon McCarthy (823) and J.J. Putz (777).  Brian McCann's card gives the Braves 41 cards towards the set.  His card is #'d 1085.

Does anyone out there realize how hard it is to type Alburquerque?  Because of that I'll only do it this once.  Al's card is serial #'d 904.  The other Tiger is Torii Hunter, serial #'d 847, and the two of them bring the Tigers total up to 33.
Kevin Correia is the final card of the post, 1015 are his digits, and the Twins are now at 33 as well.

With only 342 (lol only) cards to go, the set stands at 77.2% complete.   If I can get out of the National at 80% complete (42 more cards to hit that goal), I'll be happy. 

I also believe that this run of cards I've posted recently is going to get another page or 2 completed.  Stay tuned for that as well....

thanks for reading, Robert

There has been a lot of interest in the Serial Numbered Insanity project since I started it a couple of years ago.  I've done my best to keep track of what cards have been sent to me by what person.  I counted 62 different bloggers/traders that have supported this project by sending me some great stuff.

For those of you that remember Ted from the retired Crinkly Wrappers blog, he was (and still is) the biggest contributor so far, with 90 cards towards the set. 

Out of those who are currently active in the blogosphere, there are none that have contributed more than Max over at the Starting Nine blog.  I was fortunate enough to open a package today that contained 21 more cards towards the insanity.  Once all 21 have been posted, Max will have contributed 74 cards towards the set (if my math is correct).  Incredible stuff...

These three cards tonight put the set above the 76% mark, leaving only 359 cards to obtain (less the others that Max sent, which will be shown over the next week or so).  

Let's look at the first three...

Serial Number 1284

Interesting to read that the Blue Jays are rumored to be possibly in the running to pick up Ian Kennedy, who is now pitching for the Padres.  Ian had a couple of good seasons with the Diamondbacks in 2011 and 2012, and is throwing some good numbers so far this season, even though his record is only 7-9.  Kennedy is the 33rd D'backs card out of the 50 needed for the set.

Serial Number 1354

Jackson finished 2nd in the ROY voting in 2010, losing out to 40 save man Neftali Feliz of the Rangers.  Kind of weird stat:  8 of his 28 RBI's in 2014 have come via the sacrifice fly; he currently leads the AL in SFs.  I thought that the Tigers might be one of those teams that were finished early in this project, but since this is only the 30th card for them, they might end up as one of the last.

Serial number 200

Serial Number 200 is now off the list courtesy of Brian Stokes.   There are only 5 of the 15 "round numbers" left to go.  Brian's major league career ended after the 2010 season, due to a shoulder injury that actually caused a free agent contract he signed with the Blue Jays to be voided.  Stokes did pitch for a couple of months in the Diamondbacks system in 2011, but struggled at AAA and was released in the off season.  The Angels are now the 2nd team at the 49 out of 50 mark, joining the Mets on the precipice of completion (man that sounds hoity toity, don't you think?).

Max, as always, thank you!  The whole envelope is great and truly appreciated.

thanks for reading, Robert

The damn things just seem to keep multiplying

I can honestly say that I try to move these onto other bloggers.  Trade packages are "added on" with 2, 3 or more of the damn things.   But they keep on multiplying.

It's no secret that I've always had an affection for the serial numbered parallel.  The SNI set is a testament to that love.  But over the course of the past couple of years, I've gathered a small collection of serial numbered cards that don't fit into the set.

I actually found a 100 count case full of them a couple of weeks back.  Cards I had forgotten I owned, such as this one...

Dig that funky atomic refractor of David DeJesus.  Serial #'d 212/225.  Couldn't use him because that spot was already taken by a card sent to me by Too Many Grandersons (yes, that's how long ago it was sent...).

There's also cards with priceless reactions on the player's face.   Take a gander at this Mark Grace card for example.

He's pointing downwards, maybe someone gave him the old hotfoot?  Serial #'d 88/183.  Great card, but it's from Donruss.  I limited my SNI set to cards from Topps/Bowman products, so this remains in the pile.

One of the earliest pages that I completed in the SNI set was page #1, cards serial #'d 1-9.   Sadly, that wiped out any chance of these two being inducted into the set.

I have 8 of the 2008 Topps Co-Signers so far in the SNI set.  The Vidro/Sexson card just happens to be serial #'d 8/100.  On the right, the Emmanuel Burriss is serial #'d 6/59 and is from the 2010 Topps set.  Neither of these poor cards has a home. 

You might think that Topps has a lot of colored parallels going on, but remember the Upper Deck Heroes set?

Nice low serial # (10), easy to see because it's on the front of the card which makes the card even more appealing to me, but since it's Upper Deck, it fails the test. 

My plan over the next few weeks is to create another page with all these serial #'d parallels, and hopefully people will take a look and locate certain cards that they are looking for.  Gotta stimulate some trades somehow, right?  There may be a few teams that are thin because of the larger amount of bloggers that follow those teams (Dodgers, for example.)

Speaking of blog related activities, I have a little tournament happening.  You may or may not have noticed.  This weeks vote still has a couple of days left, so if you want to get in on the fun, just follow the link and leave a comment on the match up between '67 Topps and '62 Topps. (Tip of the hat to  the Night Owl for the push earlier this week!!)

thanks for reading, Robert

Cub, Cub, Cub, Cub, but no Pie

Another great and unexpected bubble mailer arrived today, this one from multi-blogger P-Town Tom, who was gracious enough to send me a handful of serial numbered cards.

Let's start with former Cub, Blue Jay, Dodger, Athletic, Yankee, and Expo (!) Ted Lilly.  I never thought much of Ted to be honest, but I learned that he reeled of 9 straight 10+ win seasons.  Ted is serial number 1459.

The Triple Threads line has been very beneficial to the SNI project.  The Derrek Lee card you see here is the 57th card from the TTT line, and as you can plainly see, this card is serial numbered 843.

Richie was a 4th round pick of the Cubs in 2003 out of FSU.  When this card was released in 2004, he'd only appeared for part of a season in A ball for the Lansing Lugnuts (love that name).  Tony progressed as high as AAA ball in 2008 before calling it a career.  This card is serial #'d 671 in case you were wondering.

Tom was more than gracious enough to spare this horizontal beauty of Marlon Byrd sliding into home plate.  If I'm guessing correctly, he is trying to take out John Buck at home plate.  Byrd is serial numbered 587, and these 4 cards bring the Cubs total up to an even 40.

This next card cost me about 15 minutes of my evening, and it wasn't to get some Pie either.

This card is serial numbered 875.  It also made me look like an idiot (like I needed any help with that...right??).  I go through the spreadsheet, and there's already a card in that spot.   I check the binder to make sure.   Yep, 875 is there.

Ugh.

The next 15 minutes are spent comparing the spreadsheet with the want list on the blog page.  I probably deleted about a dozen numbers, and actually had to add a couple back.

Hopefully the want list is up to date now.  I do know that I now have 1130 out of the 1500 cards needed, just 370 to go.  That is until I receive the next duplicate that is my fault because I don't know how to properly maintain a want list.

Tom, thank you for the cards, they are greatly appreciated!!  I am grateful that you paid Wes' hospitality forward.

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1021-1025

I often have wondered if I would tire of this project.  I didn't realize when I first thought of this idea a couple of years ago the massive undertaking that the SNI project would be.

Now that I'm over 1000 cards, I think that this is where the project is going to start getting more interesting for me (and hopefully for you).

There are several teams in the 40+ card range, and as they hit the 50 mark and "drop off" the serial numbers will get that much harder to fill.  (Hint Hint, Astros, Tigers, Rockies and Orioles are in desperate need of your help!)

Enjoy the next 5...

Card # 1021:  Mark Teixeira

 
Serial Number:  1359
45th card out of 50 for the Bronx Bombers

You may or may not have seen this card recently on the blog.   I actually chose to use the copy I received from Jeff over at the Cards from the Attic blog (don't ask me why).  Chances are if Mark gets a hit off of Bruce Chen, it's for extra bases.  Teixeira has 11 hits against the lefty, 2 doubles and 7 homers giving him a SLG pct. of 1.545.   Not bad...

Card # 1022:  Carlos Beltran

 
Serial Number:  947
41st card out of 50 for the Cardinals

I'm sure that Carlos is going to get one more contract at good money, probably for 2 years, and my guess would be it will be in the AL so he can DH and help the wear and tear on his body.  I think 3000 hits may be out of reach, with Carlos needing 772 more to reach that milestone. 

Card # 1023:  C.C. Sabathia

Serial Number:  71
36th card out of 50 for the Indians

I don't think until I started building the insanity set that I saw a Topps Co-Signers card ever before.  This is now one of my favorite releases, largely because of the 2 player front with the "prominent" player being in color in the foreground.  C.C. won 14 games despite career worst stats in ERA, WHIP and runs allowed.  The hits allowed in 2013 was the 3rd most in his career.  205 career wins at age 33, anyone want to guess how old he'll be when he hits 300 wins?

Card # 1024:  Darin Erstad

Serial Number:  953
43rd card out of 50 for the Angels

As valuable a player as the Angels had in the 2002 World Series championship, Darin hit .352 (25/71) and scored 14 runs in wins over the Yankees, Twins and Giants.  Hands up if you remember him winning the Gold Glove at 1B in 2004....

Card # 1025:  Yonder Alonso

Serial Number:  1050
35th card out of 50 for the Reds

I'm not trying to be a smart ass, but Yonder is probably my favorite first name in all of baseball.  The jury is still out on the trade that brought him to San Diego, but it still is looking like the Reds have gotten the better of the deal so far.  One of the players (Volquez) was released by the Padres over the summer, Brad Boxberger has pitched fairly well in limited action over 2 seasons, and Yasmani Grandal took a step backwards last year, numbers wise.  The 3 players the Padres have left are all still young, so time may change how that deal looks down the road....

Shh...don't repeat this, but this is my 900th post...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1016-1020

A full house if you will of cards today.

3 Topps 2010 gold cards over 2 Bowman Chrome purple parallels.

I've decided since I've fallen behind again on the insanity posts, I'm going to use the next few days to catch up.   Less stress on me during my busy season at work, and since there's likely not going to be any new cards coming into the house over the next couple of weeks (at least via my wallet), I'm going to do my best to get it all on the blog and update the want list.

Enjoy the next 5!

Card # 1016:  Elvis Andrus

Serial Number:  553
44th card out of 50 for the Rangers

This is another one of the guys who makes you scratch your head when you see that he's only 25 years old, but he already has 5 years of service in MLB.  If you had to complain about something, what would it be?  Maybe that a lot of the shortstops in today's game are sluggers or high average guys.   Elvis is neither, but I'd still take him on my team because his fielding is improving (career low 14 errors last year), he plays for the team (average of 16 sacrifice bunts over the past 4 years) and plays an average of 150 games a season.

Card # 1017:  Jeff Francoeur

Serial Number:  928
42nd card out of 50 for the Metropolitans

Doesn't it seem like Jeff has been around more than 9 seasons?  Didn't have the kind of season a player wants to have heading into free agency, hitting a combined .204 with 3 HRs in 2013.  At 29, I'm sure that there's someone out there who will probably invite him to spring training on a minor league tryout...

Card # 1018:  Daniel Murphy

Serial Number:  1449
43rd card out of 50 for the guys from Shea

I remembered writing a post about Mr. Murphy awhile back, and my remembrance was that he played 2nd base, even though his 2010 Topps card above lists him as a first baseman.  Turns out he did play 1st base back in 2009, and after missing all of 2010 and the last 2 months of 2011 with knee injuries, he has settled into the 2nd base position for the Mets, and is doing quite well offensively.

Card # 1019:  Josh Stinson

Serial Number:  749
44th card out of 50 for the Mets

This post accidentally turned out to be very Mets-centric.  Josh had quite the week between March 29th and April 4th of 2013, getting waived and selected twice in that same week!  Stinson wound up with the Orioles, and appeared in 11 games, posting an ERA of just over 3 and a WHIP below 0.8.  With those numbers you would think he'd get a long look in spring training this year...

Card # 1020:  Jon Pettibone

Serial Number:  688
31st card out of 50 for the Phillies

I wasn't sure if I remembered Pettibone, then I took a look at his stats and now I know.  Sort of a 5th starter for the Phillies for a portion of the 2013 season, Pettibone started 18 games, going 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA.  Jon also had as many hits (3) as he did walks as a hitter.  Denard Span is 3 for 3 against Pettibone, while at the other end, Travis Snider is 0 for 5 career wise.

Thanks for reading, Robert