90 days to a slimmer, trimmer want list

2016 Ginter is done!! 

You see all the ads on TV for weight loss.  Almost everyday there's something stating "lose weight with such and such product".

It gets monotonous.  "30 days to a slimmer, trimmer waist line."  Leave me alone and let me get back to my program!!

Recently, I saw a couple of fellow bloggers/twitterers (is that the term for someone who uses twitter?) display their disdain for newer products.  It got me to thinking...

"Do I really need to be starting any new sets when I have a boatload of sets from the past that I want to finish?"

Of course, the answer is no.   But to emphasize my point, I went through all my want lists and decided to add up the number of cards that I have on said want lists just to see how big the number is.

The number??

12,172

Wow, that's an eye opener to say the least.  Twelve thousand, one hundred and seventy two.  Try writing that on a check once or twice (for those of you younger readers, checks are what we used to pay for cards on ebay before PayPal came along).

It's tough to fathom really needing that many cards, isn't it?  Yet, with all the sets I have on my want lists, that's what the total is.  So, like any person that needs to trim a few pounds off their frame, I have decided to try and trim a few cards off of the want list. 

How do I do this you ask?  Go on a diet.   A pack diet.

2 copies, one for set and one for PC.  36 cents.  Thank you Sportlots!

That's one of my overdue resolutions this year, which I'm about to present now:

1.  90 days without buying one new product, or one pack of cards.  What I like about the first 3 months of the year (in non-leap years) is that there is a total of 90 days.  Very easy to remember.  Therefore, until March 31st, I will try to buy no new packs of cards.  Anything I buy has to knock cards off of my want list, or someone else's want list. I started this on January 1st, so by the end of March the goal is to have knocked the want list down by going cold turkey.  I'm sure I'll have the shakes by Valentine's Day.

2.  Clean up the Blue Jays/Maple Leafs collection for good.  I've got the Jays started, which will be the bigger project of the two.  Need to get the bulk of the collection sorted by year for easier entry into the Trading Card Database.  Once I get that done, it's only a matter of time.  The only date I'll set for myself is having it done by the 31st of December at 1159 PM. 

3.  Keep the PC blog rolling.  For those of you who do read my Player PC's blog, don't laugh, but I love doing it.  Yes, it's pretty easy when you think about it, writing 3 or 4 bullet points about a card and the player associated with it.  But, it's done a couple of things for me over the past 2 years.
A)  I've really enjoyed adding cards to my original PCs (Sakic and Thome) and B) I'm actually looking at the cards I've bought in the past, not leaving them sitting collecting dust in binders.

My goal is 400 posts on the PC blog this year.  I've come close each of the first two years.

4.  Five and dime contest.  I plan on running a contest during the 1st quarter of 2018, and I promise I will not punish you by making you write posts consisting of less than 100 words (although some of you did quite well with that!!).  I'll probably shoot for February once I get some credit card debt paid off and have a little bit more $$ to spend on your want lists, so be ready to do some hunting...

5.  The National.  It's in Cleveland this year, and I'm itching to go.  So much so that I thought about booking my vacation today at work.  Sadly, August is in our next fiscal year, so I can't do it yet.  But I plan to be there.  I would really enjoy meeting a blogger or two there as well.  I've not met any of you yet, but would love to do so.  More to come on this as it gets closer.

That's it, only 5 resolutions this year instead of my normal 7.  Less pressure....

Thanks for reading, and have a fabulous 2018!  Robert

Close, but no cigar

One of the goals at the beginning of the year was to finish the 2016 A&G set that I'd only had a handful of cards from at the time.

Well, I came close.  I still only need card # 168 (Don Mattingly) & # 296 (Rickey Henderson) to finish the set.  I didn't feel like overpaying for them (my cheapness won out over my desire to complete a goal, go figure) and once the next Sportlots order is made, these two cards will be on it.

Looking at the names of the first 3, I was fortunate to pick them off of COMC for less than 75 cents apiece. 

Three of the 4 in this scan didn't have the star power that the other scan possess, however the Ryan Weber card was the most expensive of the bunch, right at 75 cents.  Those rookie cards will get you every time...

Well, I'll grade generously at the end of the year as far as set completion goes, and give myself an A-.

Maybe I'll put together a quick Sportlots order before the New Year to try and get that A. 

The next few posts will be devoted to my recent COMC order, as I hit a whole bunch of different want lists.   Some sets, and some PCs will be featured over the next few posts.  It'll be nice to show off some cards for a change.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Knocking down some want lists, COMC style

The latest push of card purchases came around my birthday late last week.  I decided to splurge on myself  a little (you only turn 50 once), and I also wanted to hit the $5 bonus so I decided to hit a bunch of different want lists.  Variety is the spice of life and all that....

So series 1 is finally complete, only 3 days after the World Series has concluded.  It's been a long time since I've been able to do a complete set post, so I'm looking forward to going through series 1 and picking out my favorite cards to show off.

I also put my Series 2 want list up today, 108 cards in total to put 2017 Topps to bed for good.

Here's the list, just in case you don't feel like hunting for it on my many want list pages...

355,356,357,359,360,364,368,374,380,381,389,391,395,396,403,407,408,
414,415,416,417,421,423,428,433,439,443,444,446,450,451,452,459,461,
463,465,469,470,473,475,476,480,482,487,488,489,490,491,498,502,503,
504,507,509,511,513,515,517,522,524,526,529,536,537,538,539,542,543,
544,550,551,555,561,565,568,571,573,579,580,581,589,592,597,599,601,
604,611,612,624,628,635,638,639,643,648,650,654,655,656,662,673,674,
679,681,686,688,694,695

15 cards from the almost completed 2016 Allen & Ginter set made their way to my door today.  I'm down to just 9 cards to finish the set, and knock off one of my 2017 'resolutions'.  Will be glad to get this one off the want lists as well.

In hindsight, buying a couple of '82 Topps cards as part of this last order might not have been the best idea, as I'm sure I can hunt around and find them a bit cheaper.  Plucking a few '68 and '69 Topps cards for less than 50 cents apiece was something that I didn't mind doing though.  I'm closing in on 100 cards in hand for the '69 set, and every time I see one of the pink or salmon colored backs I fall in love with the set just a bit more.

I've never really written much about the '74 Topps set on the blog, largely because I bought one large lot of it a couple years ago, and never chased it much since.  I'm 15 cards shy of having 2/3 of the set in hand, and could honestly say I could count on one hand the number of times I've mentioned it.

To show you how little I know about the set, I wondered during my shopping spree last week why I didn't have the first 6 cards of the '74 set.  Dopey me had no idea that the first 6 were a tribute to the great Hank Aaron.  So, I found a couple of the tribute cards for less than a buck apiece and added them to my order.  Surprising that I could only find one blog dedicated to the '74 set, and unfortunately that effort appears abandoned after approximately 90 posts. 

Well, that's the baseball half of the purchase.  Tomorrow, we'll go over the hockey portion, a little bit less but still it fills some holes in the collection.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Inbound and Down #21: Nolan's Dugout

I had posted my want list for the 2016 A&G set on a blog post a couple of weeks back, hoping that I'd get lucky.   Thankfully, Kyle from the Nolan's Dugout blog saw the post and offered up a few cards off the list.  The trade grew and eventually I got a nice stack of cards to knock a bunch of numbers off of 2 want lists.

Baseball players dominated the 19 A&G cards sent my way; the only two non-sports personalities were Colin Cowherd and Michele Steele (not pictured).  3 Hall of Famers came my way, along with 5 of the short prints. 

To go along with the A&G, Kyle sent 41 cards from the '90 Leaf set my way.  I decided to scan just a portion of them, it was accidental that the Jay Bell and Brett Butler bunting cards wound up side by side on one of the scans.  Seeing the Leaf cards brings back a lot of baseball memories, and the remainder of the cards had a bunch of great players such as Mark Langston, Doug Jones, Vince Coleman and Dave Parker to name a few.

I'm almost up to 150 cards from the '90 Leaf set, close to 30% complete.  I've enjoyed putting this set together so far; my memories of this set are from when it was released and how pricey it was.  Now the entire set lists for just $50, and the only RC from the set that lists for double digits is the Frank Thomas. 

Thanks for the trade Kyle, the cards are fantastic!  Looking forward to our next deal.

Thanks for reading, Robert

1426: Sportlots

It had been quite a while since I placed an order from Sportlots.  September of 2016 was the last time I bought anything off the site, and it makes me wonder why since I have so many modern sets on my want list that I haven't chipped more of those off with orders from the site.

I decided a week and a half ago to try and knock down a couple of baseball sets.  First up was this years flagship:

Only 5 of the 29 cards were horizontal.  I especially like the Blue Jays team card (of course), even more so because Topps managed to include a picture of last years "Big 4", Donaldson, Bautista, Tulo and Encarnacion.  Anyone else out there noticing the big numbers that Mark Reynolds is putting up so far in Colorado this year?  Might get his first all star nod if he keeps it going. 

Still need a little over 100 cards to finish off series 1.  With series 2 on shelves, I don't know if I can hold off buying packs before completing the first 350....

Another set that I'm trying to complete is the 2016 A&G release.  Still have 81 cards to go; I'd like to finish this set off before the end of summer so I can work on some other want lists that have been on my list for quite a while.

Finally, I added 4 more cards to my Andrew McCutchen collection.  At 18 cents each, it was easy to add them to the cart.  I'll have to start doing this more with Sportlots, as it's a lot cheaper to add to my PCs this way than always using COMC or ebay. 

The best part about this order was I received a 5 dollar credit from Paypal, so the whole thing only cost me 12 dollars! 

$1438-$12=$1426 left to spend in 2017.  June is the halfway point of the year, and I'd have to spend 426 dollars on cards in the next two weeks in order to be exactly half way to my 2017 budget. 

It looks as if I'll be ahead of the game for the next little while....

thanks for reading, Robert

Inbound and Down #7: Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits

Sometimes you bite off more than you can chew.  I pronounced at the beginning of the year that I was going to finish the 2016 A&G set without buying another pack.  If you remember from the video, I had about, what, 30 cards in hand?  Maybe a few more?

First, the Night Owl divests himself of his spare A&G parts, and knocks off about 30 cards off my want list.   Glimmer of hope starts to develop.

Then Dime Box Nick hits me for another 40+.  I have over 100 cards now, and I'm thinking

But it's been about 2 or 3 weeks since that post, and nary a thought was brought to the A&G want list, which I certainly would be more than I can handle.

Then Matt comes along and asks if my A&G want list is up to date.  I tell him it is.

He must secretly say to himself then "wait til you see what's next".

A little tough to read, but look at the top.   Guaranteed Blue Jays HOT BOX! 

What Matt did, to me anyways, was most incredible.  He put together a box of 20 packs that a pack searcher would be proud to call his own.  In addition, I didn't get the standard A&G minis and inserts that come with any normal pack.  My inserts were all Blue Jays.

Into the darkness came 9 rays of light....

Who needs more A&G when you can send all kind of Topps Blue Jays?  Green Batista, Bowman RC flashback of John Olerud.  Love it!

Bautista X-fractor!  More darkness.  Rasmus Gold.

Sean Nolin autograph!  Another addition to the Just the Hits page.

I always loved the A&G framed relics.  Even though this isn't a relic card, this instantly became my favorite "insert" from the box.  It is an A&G back to boot. 

Now, the base cards in the packs numbered 7 in each, so there were 140 base cards.

Matt painstakingly took the time to find 140 base cards that I needed, inserted them into packs in numerical order no less, and knocked off 40% of my want list with one priority box.

Yes, that feat definitely deserves a HOLY SHIT!

I've been the recipient of blogger generosity many times, but this takes the cake.  Way above and beyond generous. 

Matt, thank you very much for the package.  Very much appreciated!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Inbound and Down #4: Dime boxes pt. 1

You gotta love the emails that come your way saying "I haven't sent you anything in a while, so there's an envelope on your way."  When that email comes from Nick at the Dime Boxes blog, you know that some of the mega piles that he brings home from shows (how does he find all that swag anyhow??) is coming at you. 

Nick was the 2nd person (the Night Owl before him) who watched the video from a few weeks ago and decided the 2016 A&G wasn't going to be as big a task as I made it out to be.  Nick sent me 34 cards from the base set (almost 10%...damn) and a couple of the Numbers Game inserts as well.

Lot of guys holding bats on this scan, including former Blue Jay Edwin Encarnacion.  Hated to see him go to the Indians...

I like the pics in the upper right corner of cards that don't depict baseball players.  Sometimes it really does help me with who the person is.  I did know who Steve Kerr was without the help.

When I first looked at the Jen Welter card (upper left), I thought the picture in the corner was a gun.  Made me think she was an Olympian that participates in one of those rifle events.  Wrong

McBeth=Shakespeare, right?  Will always remember the Dee Gordon at bat in the first game after Jose Fernandez's passing last summer.   The two numbers game inserts are great, a couple of Hall of Fame pitchers to knock off the want list.

I'll likely move this want list over to the "well under way" page in the next couple of days, as these 34 cards from the base set will have me well past the 25% mark.  The Starting Points list will stay where it is, since I only have 8 of those. 

The other half of this post will feature a boat load of Blue Jays and a few cards from my early 70's want lists.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Inbound and Down #2: Night Owl

There's nothing better than receiving an envelope full of cards out of the blue.  It's great to come in the house look on the dining table and see a big brown mailer that you didn't expect, especially when it comes from the Night Owl, because you know you're getting something good.

Greg hit quite a few want lists, and also added some cards that weren't on a list but were needed none the less.

Can't say that I've ever seen one of the Sportflics style discs, so the recently resigned Jose Bautista was a welcome sight.  I wondered when Greg showed off the snowflake style cards from '16 Topps on his blog a few weeks back if he had pulled any Jays.  Sure enough Russell Martin ends up on my doorstep.  The Jimy (one M) Williams card in the center of the first scan is an OPC from '89, still need lots of those from the 80's!  The Blue Jays Boppers card is another that I hadn't seen previously, from this year's Heritage set.   Nice...

I do remember Greg mentioning on his blog about receiving Shawn Green cards and considering them Jays because when the card on the left came out, Green was a Jays draft pick.  Lucky me, I scored a trio of Green cards, including the jersey on the right, which is the first update to the Jays hits page on my blog since the end of October.  Great stuff....

From the endless Dodgers dupe box, maybe?  No matter, the Charlie Neal card you see here becomes the 333rd card I have for the '59 set.  Still a long way to go for sure, and a lot of big names (and $$) still to purchase, but it's been a labor of love so far.

One of the things I mentioned on my first video blog is that I wanted to complete the 2016 A&G set without buying any more packs.  Well, I'm 44 cards closer now thanks to the great lot of cards you see above.  I wonder if Maria Sharapova or Hannah Storm will end up being the babe of the year for 2016. 
I was kind of disappointed to see Roberto Alomar in a Cleveland Indians uniform, would have been great to have him appear in his Jays #12...

Where Greg finds some of this stuff just amazes me.  This Jays schedule from 1991 was an instant hit for me.  I know I have the '92 schedule he sent me quite a while back somewhere in my collection, so this will complement that nicely.  Do they even make pocket schedules like this anymore?

Greg, what a great envelope, thank you very much!  Everything inside is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Card of the year? It's not baseball, and it's not hockey either

Call me what you will.   Geek.  Nerd.  Dork.  I've heard it before, and I'm sure I'll hear it again.

P-Town Tom has a contest going on right now for card of the year. I'm sure many of you thought I would select this card as my choice.

Sure, it's got the bat flip we all remember from the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers.  But that's old news now.

I've seen this card on my desk daily for the past few weeks, and the geek/dork/nerd in me can't help but be enchanted by it.

Sure, it might be just a shot of a mountain, but it is after all the tallest point on our planet.  The write up on the card back is what gets me stirred up.

1. Rising more than 29,000 feet above the Nepal-Tibet border (and growing a 1/4" each year), Mt. Everest is over 60 Million Years old.  OK, how in the hell does someone figure out a 29000 foot mountain grows a quarter inch each year??
2. Winds can bluster beyond 200 MPH and temperatures can range from 100 degrees above to 80 degrees below zero.  200 MPH winds, and I'm here worrying about hurricanes? 
3. In 2015, for the first time in 41 years, not 1 climber reached its summit -- but a record 22 died trying.  Fascinating point, yes, but quite morbid, don't you think?

As I've pointed out countless times on this blog, I've never been a big insert fan.  But this card for me takes the cake.  I have a computer/card room where the only thing on the wall is my Maple Leafs clock.  Maybe a giant version of this card in a frame might adorn the wall someday.

Yes, I do like the card that much.  It is my card of the year.  

Thanks for reading, Robert

7 days in a row, pfft what was I thinking?

There may be one or two of you out there who have read my blog more than once over the years, and if you have you know that I'm not ashamed to poke fun at myself.

If you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at, right?

So taking the night off last night to watch the Leafs put it to the Panthers, I figured I better get back to the posting game this evening.   After posting for 7 straight evenings, I'm starting to get the idea that I'm seriously blogging again...

Another set that I'm going to get a want list up for before too long (hopefully) is 2016 A&G.  Colbey from the Cardboard Collections blog had sent me a few A&G cards from his group break a few weeks back, and the Numbers Game insert hooked me in.  I've been a sucker for numbers all my life (my love of math I guess), and these just piqued my interest.

I bought 4 packs of A&G at the local Target a couple weeks ago, so let's look at the packs quickly and see what we get...

Minis first, just because:

 
I know that there are collectors out there that love these, but they will always be a drawback for me.  I have a helluva time handling them, and they're a pain in the ass to store.

At first, I thought Caleb Cotham's (Black border at the bottom) last name was "Gotham", so I wondered what the Batman reference was going to be.  The Trea Turner is an A&G back if there is someone out there in need of it.

I'm sure that A&G has done Natural Wonders before, right?  I'm not ashamed to say that I think this is a beautiful looking card.

I owe the honorable Night Owl an envelope, so if you need this one Greg, let me know and I'll add it to the small pile of 56's I have for you.  If not, I'm sure that there's another Dodger collector out there who may need it.

I'm sorry if I offend any D'backs fans out there, but I have to say that these unis are a no.

Showing off the back of this card I guess means I've flipped everyone the Bird (yes, that is bad...).  One thing I really never noticed over the years.  What position the players play isn't on the card. 

I never really looked at the back of the Numbers Game inserts until this evening.  The Kershaw that I pulled from a pack is very interesting. 

The "retired by team:  not retired" line is kind of redundant isn't it?  I haven't looked at a checklist for this insert set yet, so I'm wondering if there are retired greats in there.

Live-ball career ERA record of 2.43.  That's what we're calling the modern game now, live-ball?  Maybe I'm just too out of touch with baseball terminology.  In case you were wondering, Kid K has reduced that record career ERA to 2.37. 

The chase is on for 2016 A&G.  Am I late to the part, indeed.  But hey, I was 47 years late starting the 1964 Topps set in 2011, and over 5 years later I'm almost done...

thanks for reading, Robert