Serial Saturday #16: Hitting the 400 mark

OK, here we go, 2 more pages to show off for the SNI set.  These 2 take the total over 400 shown so far in page format.  Card #400 was the actual start/inspiration for the set oh so many years ago. 

Card 388:  Carlos Beltran, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #388/525.  New York Mets card #8
Card 389:  Hideo Nomo, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #389/525.  Kansas City card #15
Card 390:  Troy Tulowitzki, 2011 Topps Triple Threads #390/1500.  Colorado card #14

Card 391:  Ozzie Martinez, 2011 Bowman green #391/450.  Miami card #15
Card 392:  Russell Martin, 2011 Topps gold #392/2011.  New York Yankees card #13
Card 393:  Pablo Sandoval, 2011 Topps Chrome heritage refractor #393/562.  San Francisco card #9

Card 394:  Miguel Cabrera, 2005 Bowmans Best #394/899.  Miami card #16
Card 395:  Casey Kotchman, 2012 Bowman blue #395/500.  Cleveland card #18
Card 396:  Adam Lind, 2011 Bowman blue #396/500.  Toronto card #20

Weird:  I started typing Los Angeles Dodgers when I was listing Hideo Nomo's card.  It is hard for me to think of him anywhere else but Dodger blue. 
Toronto becomes the first team to reach the 20 card mark.  Bowman parallels are going to start drying up as they generally don't go past 500 copies (blue). 

Card 397:  John Lannan, 2010 Topps Finest #397/599.  Washington card #18
Card 398:  Micah Owings, 2011 Topps gold #398/2011.  Arizona card #12
Card 399:  Alfonso Soriano, 2008 Topps Heritage #399/1959.  Chicago Cubs card #12

Card 400:  Kevin Millar, 2009 Topps gold #400/2009.  Toronto card #21
Card 401:  Carlos Beltran, 2011 Topps Chrome purple refractor #401/499.  New York Mets card #9
Card 402:  Eric Young JR., 2011 Topps gold #402/2011.  Colorado card #15

Card 403:  Ben Davis, 2002 Topps gold #403/2002.  Seattle card #7
Card 404:  Jacoby Ellsbury, 2011 Topps Finest #404/549.  Boston card #12
Card 405:  Joe Mauer, 2011 Topps Opening Day blue #405/2011.  Minnesota card #13

Heartbreaking:  Ben Davis' card on the lower left corner has a ding.  Never noticed till now.
Kevin Pillar's card #400 was the inspiration for this set.  I looked at the card when it first came to me and I thought of how I could create something a little different. 
Carlos Beltran appears on two straight Mets cards.  His purple refractor from Topps Chrome scanned quite well in the center of this page. 

There's 11 pages left until the first of 3 binders is finished.  I have a few weeks left until the end of my blogging year (I started blogging in mid July) so I'll have to shoot for finishing them off before then.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #15: Slacker

I haven't posted since Monday, largely because I've been so tired every evening that I didn't have the energy to sit and think about a worthy post.  Even having a 1/2 day vacation on Thursday and a full day on Friday didn't help, as I found enough things around the house to take care of that by the time the evenings rolled around I just didn't feel like getting behind the computer to write a post.

Also, it's been almost a month since I've posted any pages from the SNI baseball set.  So I guess you could say that I've been slacking in more than one area.  These SNI posts don't take a lot of thought, so it's probably time that I spent an hour or two and put a few of these in the drafts folder. 

OK, enough of that, let's get pages 42 & 43 out there for everyone to see...

Card 370:  Ronald Guzman, 2013 Bowman blue parallel #370/500.  Texas card #14
Card 371:  Trevor Hoffman, 2010 Topps copper parallel #371/399.  Milwaukee card #8
Card 372:  Victor Martinez, 2009 Topps Unique #372/1199.  Boston card #11

Card 373:  Derrick Penilla, 2013 Bowman blue parallel #373/500.  Minnesota card #12
Card 374:  John Buck, 2012 Topps gold parallel #374/2012.  Miami card #14
Card 375:  Troy Glaus, 2006 Topps update gold parallel #375/2006.  Toronto card #19

Card 376:  B.J. Upton, 2008 Topps Heritage chrome #376/1960.  Tampa Bay card #15
Card 377:  Andrew McCutchen, 2009 Bowman blue parallel #377/500.  Pittsburgh card #5
Card 378:  Julian Javier, 2002 Topps super teams #378/1967.  St. Louis card #18

Victor Martinez has been with the Tigers for so long that I've forgotten him as a member of the Red Sox.  I'd also forgotten that the Pirates wore a sleeveless jersey for a time about a decade ago.  Would love to see more catchers use and paint the hockey style masks as John Buck did a few years back.

Card 379:  Magglio Ordonez, 2010 Topps gold parallel #379/2010.  Detroit card #6
Card 380:  Adam Laroche, 2007 Topps gold parallel #380/2007.  Pittsburgh card #6
Card 381:  Tony Sanchez, 2010 Bowman chrome #381/999.  Pittsburgh card #7

Card 382:  Yovani Gallardo, 2012 Topps Heritage #382/1963.  Milwaukee card #9
Card 383:  Matt Cain, 2012 Topps gold parallel #383/2012.  San Francisco card #8
Card 384:  Johnny Giavotella, 2013 Topps gold parallel #384/2013.  Kansas City card #14

Card 385:  Johnny Stolz, 2013 Bowman blue #385/500.  Colorado card #13
Card 386:  Mike Wright, 2012 Bowman blue #386/500.  Washington card #17
Card 387:  Cody Eppley, 2011 Bowman blue #387/500.  Texas card #15

3 straight cards were all Bowman blue parallels, each going back one year (13, 12, 11).  After having just 4 cards in the first 41 pages, Pittsburgh has 3 cards in the past 2.  I remember when Tony Sanchez was the next big thing at the catching position for the Pirates.  He got stuck behind ex-Yankee catchers (Martin, Cervelli) and is now in the Anaheim system. 

7 out of the 18 cards on these 2 pages were bought by myself, many of the others were from bloggers who are no longer blogging.  Yep, it's been a while since this started.

Thanks for reading, Robert

A couple of days of torture

Well, I decided to hold off for a couple of days to show the '64 Topps set I finally finished yesterday.   There's a reason behind it, trust me.  What I decided to do instead for today and tomorrow is show off a couple of pages of SNI, just to get everyone warmed up for a bunch of full page scans that will be coming starting on Thursday.

Today, page 41 is upon us.  Tomorrow, page 42 will be the focus.   Like I said, a little warm up.

Enjoy...

Card 361:  Josh Outman, 2009 Bowman Blue #361/500.  Oakland card #19
Card 362:  Kevin Ziomek, 2014 Bowman Blue #362/500.  Detroit card #5
Card 363:  Gerald Laird, 2008 Topps Gold #363/2008.  Texas card #13

Card 364:  Pee Wee Reese, 2011 Topps Triple Threads #364/625.  LA Dodgers card #13
Card 365:  Brandon Beach, 2011 Topps Chrome Heritage #365/1962.  Atlanta card #17
Card 366:  Logan Morrison, 2010 Bowman Platinum #366/999.  Miami card #13

Card 367:  Starlin Castro, 2011 Topps Triple Threads #367/625.  Chicago Cubs card #11
Card 368:  John Danks, 2010 Topps National Chicle #368/999.  Chicago White Sox card #11
Card 369:  Collin Balester, 2008 Bowman Blue #369/500.  Washington card #16

Maybe aside from having a legend such as Pee Wee Reese adorn the page, not a whole lot to speak about here.  Looking again, the Logan Morrison Bowman Platinum card really scanned well with the foil coming out a bluish color which really looks good.

One of the biggest contributors to my serial #'d habit, Doug from Sportscards from the Dollar Store is responsible for a couple of cards on this page (Morrison and Balester).  I picked up 3 of the 9 cards on my own. 

Like I said...torture.

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #14: Cataract? More like a Yugo to me...

I'm back after taking a couple of days totally away from cards and the blogosphere.  I mentioned this on twitter earlier today, I had cataract surgery yesterday on my right eye, which had degenerated into a blurry mess.

It's amazing what a laser and less than 30 minutes of surgery can do for your vision in the modern world.  My right eye has already improved to 20/50 vision after just one day, and hopefully within a week I'll be close to the 20/25 vision I have in my left eye.

Maybe now that I can see the cards better I'll be able to catch things in the background or on the design that I missed in the past.

Ha ha, we'll see!  Anyhow, page 40 from the SNI is here for your viewing pleasure.

Card 352:  Carlos Santana, 2011 Topps Opening Day blue parallel #352/2011.  Cleveland card #15
Card 353:  Jay Bruce, 201 Topps gold #353/2014.  Cincinnati card #12
Card 354:  James Loney, 2010 Topps National Chicle #354/999.  LA Dodgers card #12

Card 355:  Carlos Santana, 2011 Bowman Green #355/450.  Cleveland card #16
Card 356:  Adrian Beltre, 2011 Topps Finest #356/549.  Texas card #12
Card 357:  Montreal Expos team card, 2002 Topps gold #357/2002.  Washington card #15

Card 358:  David Huff, 2009 Topps Heritage chrome #358/1960.  Cleveland card #17
Card 359:  Jake Pintar, 2013 Bowman blue parallel #359/500.  Baltimore card #12
Card 360:  Austin Jackson, 2011 Topps Chrome heritage #360/562.  Detroit card #4

Hard to believe that Detroit still has only 4 cards so far.   I would imagine that there will be more pages in the future with multiple Tigers cards on them

Carlos Santana appears twice on the same page, don't think you'll see that very often going forward.  3 Cleveland cards all down the same side is also another anomaly that probably will not happen a lot as well. 

Favorite card?  Why the Expos team card of course.  I wonder if there will really be support for a MLB team in Montreal if one ever decides to relocate.  The James Loney National Chicle card is a close second on the page...

With a couple of days off to recuperate coming up I'm hoping to get a few more pages written up. Hopefully that is something that will actually happen....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #13: Two and Two

The title for today's post came real easy today.  As I mentioned a week or two ago, I'm hoping to hit 200 followers by the end of the month.  As of this morning, I only need two more to hit that magic number. 

I'm also going to show 2 pages of the SNI set today.  Trying to keep on posting these to make sure that I have all the teams represented with 50 cards each.   So here's pages 38 & 39

Card 334:  Melvin Mora, 2006 Opening Day red parallel #334/2006.  Baltimore card #11
Card 335:  Yusmeiro Petit, 2006 Topps Chrome refractor #335/599.  Miami card #12
Card 336:  Matt Moore, 2013 Topps update gold #336/2013.  Tampa Bay card #14

Card 337:  Mike Trout, 2011 Topps update gold #337/2011.  LA Angels card #19
Card 338:  Zack Greinke, 2011 Gypsy Queen brown frame #338/999.  Milwaukee card #7
Card 339:  Konard Schmidt, 2011 Bowman green #339/450.  Arizona card #11

Card 340:  Frank Robinson, 2004 Topps gold #340/2004.  Washington/Montreal card #14
Card 341:  Derell McCall, 2003 Topps gold #341/2003.  Oakland card #17
Card 342:  Cliff Lee, 2012 Gypsy Queen blue frame #342/999.  Philadelphia card #12

Was very surprised to see the Mike Trout card, a gold parallel of his RC.  Had to look it up in Beckett, and it's easy to see that this card will be the most expensive one in the set.  I actually bought that card off eBay quite a while ago.   Lucky me.
The red parallels from 2006 Opening Day are also a favorite of mine, sadly I only have 2 of them in the entire set according to my spreadsheet.  

Card 343:  Brent Morel, 2011 Topps Chrome purple refractor #343/499.  Chicago White Sox card #10
Card 344:  Justin Morneau, 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome refractor #344/599.  Minnesota card #11
Card 345:  Landon Powell, 2011 Topps gold parallel #345/2011.  Oakland card #18

Card 346:  Brayan Pena, 2012 Topps gold parallel #346/2012.  Kansas City card #12
Card 347:  Gregor Blanco, 2010 Topps gold parallel #347/2010.  Kansas City card #13
Card 348:  Lonnie Chisenhall, 2012 Topps gold parallel #348/2012.  Cleveland card #14

Card 349:  Yadier Molina, 2008 Bowman blue parallel #349/500.  St. Louis card #17
Card 350:  Bruce Chen, 2011 Topps gold parallel #350/2011.  Kansas City card #14
Card 351:  Aramis Ramirez, 2011 Bowman green parallel #351/450.  Chicago Cubs card #10

Kansas City takes a strong leap with 3 cards on this page, 2 of them back to back.  The Brayan Pena card is a classic play at the plate card, ironically it didn't come from Brian who runs the Play at the Plate blog (although he was responsible for 2 cards on this post). I also love the Yadier Molina card as well, the simple photo of him in the catchers squat is a great shot. 

Next time up, we hit the 40 page mark. 

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 #12: Overdue

Haven't written a post about the SNI baseball set in a few weeks, so it's time to get going and write up some pages (yes, you've heard this before...).

This is also a reminder to the 20 people that I sent PWE's to that tomorrow is the last day for your 100 words post submission.  At my last count, there were 7 that hadn't written posts yet.

On to page 35 and 36 of the SNI set:

Card 307:  Didi Gregorius, 2013 Topps Update Gold #307/2013.  Arizona card #9
Card 308:  Todd Helton, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #308/1350.  Colorado card #10
Card 309:  Alfredo Aceves, 2011 Topps Gold #309/2011.  Boston card #10

Card 310:  James Russell, 2011 Topps Gold #310/2011.  Chicago Cubs card #9
Card 311:  Matt Garza, 2009 Topps Gold #311/2009.  Tampa Bay card #13
Card 312:  Dontrelle Willis, 2005 Bowmans Best #312/899.  Miami card #11

Card 313:  Casey Lawrence, 2012 Bowman Blue #313/500.  Toronto card #18
Card 314:  Dale Murphy, 2011 Gypsy Queen brown frame #314/999.  Atlanta card #13
Card 315:  Sam LeCure, 2011 Topps Gold #315/2011. Cincinnati card #10

Favorite card on this page would have to be the Dale Murphy GQ card.  Love that Topps started including some stars from the 70's and 80's in sets, and Murph in the powder blue Braves uniform is a great looking card for me.  I was responsible for 6 of the 9 cards on this page, the first two coming from two separate National Conventions.

Card 316:  Dexter Fowler, 2009 Topps Unique #316/1199.  Colorado card #11
Card 317:  Jason Marquis, 2003 Topps Chrome gold #317/449.  Atlanta card #14
Card 318:  Edgar Renteria, 2011 Topps Update Gold #318/2011.  Cincinnati card #11

Card 319:  Brian Fuentes, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #319/1350.  Colorado card #12
Card 320:  Joe Mauer, 2011 Topps Chrome Heritage #320/1962.  Minnesota card #8
Card 321:  Adrian Gonzalez, 2008 Topps Co-Signers #321/400.  San Diego card #13

Card 322:  Tim Hudson, 2013 Topps gold #322/2013.  Atlanta card #15
Card 323:  Will Venable, 2012 Topps gold #323/2012.  San Diego card #14
Card 324:  Jordan Walden, 2012 Bowman blue #324/500.  LA Angels card #17

Not a great group of cards to choose a favorite from, but if I had to, it would be the Renteria card.  I like how the throwing from the knees looks, even though it's hard to see because of the border.

This page only has 2 cards (Fowler and Walden) that came from purchases I made.  The other 7 cards came from 6 different bloggers, with the only person accounting for 2 is Dennis from Too Many Verlanders.

Detroit and Pittsburgh still lagging far behind the pack so far with only 3 & 4 cards shown respectively.  Hopefully soon we'll start seeing cards from those 2 teams.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Just a lazy Sunday

This is one of those Sundays between when the Super Bowl is played and the MLB regular season begins.   You just don't feel like doing shit, right?  So I figured that I'd make it easy on myself today and just post a quick SNI page to have something online....

Page 34 it is...

Card 298:  Zack Greinke, 2011 Topps Heritage Chrome refractor #298/562.  Milwaukee card #6
Card 299:  Kurt Suzuki, 2012 Topps gold #299/2012.  Oakland card #16
Card 300:  Ray Knight, 2002 Topps Super teams #300/1986.  New York Mets card #7

Card 301:  Kosuke Fukudome, 2011 Bowman Green #301/450.  Chicago Cubs card #8
Card 302:  Kevin Barry, 2006 Topps '52 #302/1952.  Atlanta card #12
Card 303:  Alex Rodriguez, 2006 Topps gold #303/2006.  New York Yankees card #10

Card 304:  Carl Crawford, 2010 Topps Opening Day blue #304/2010.  Tampa Bay card #12
Card 305:  Chris Dennis, 2011 Bowman Chrome #305/799.  Milwaukee card #7
Card 306:  CC Sabathia, 2010 Bowman blue #306/500.  New York Yankees card #11

Lots of cards to like on this page.  The Sabathia card with the Sony advertising, the Carl Crawford card featuring Aaron Hill of the Blue Jays doing his best fish out of water impression, or the Kurt Suzuki card showing him getting rid of his mask to make a play. 

The biggest contributor to this page?  A couple of Bench trades got me 2 of these cards, while I got the other 7 from various sources.  The Ray Knight card source is a mystery to me, as I failed to record where or who the card came from.   If you remember sending it my way, let me know!

Thanks for reading, Robert

It's been so long I didn't even bother to title the post.

I could being this post with a long preamble about how I haven't posted for the last week and I've been too busy, but we've been there done that.

I could admonish myself for being too busy, too tired or just plain apathetic, but we've been there, done that as well.

So, in order to get a post online, I found one page from the baseball serial numbered set that I scanned weeks ago, and had yet to post.  Page 30 it is!

Card 262:  Andy Laroche,  2007 Topps '52,  #'d 262/552.  Los Angeles Dodgers card #10
Card 263:  Alexei Ramirez, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #'d 263/1350.  Chicago White Sox card #6
Card 264:  Vladimir Guerrero, 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome #264/1959. Los Angeles Angels card #14

Card 265:  Bobby Cramer, 2011 Topps Heritage Chrome #265/1962.  Oakland card #14
Card 266:  Tony Wolters, 2011 Bowman Green #266/450.  Cleveland card #12
Card 267:  Lenny DiNardo, 2007 Topps gold #267/2007.  Oakland card #15

Card 268:  Edinson Volquez, 2007 Topps gold #268/2007.  Texas card #9
Card 269:  Asdrubal Cabrera, 2011 Topps Heritage Chrome #269/1962.  Cleveland card #13
Card 270:  Cole Hamels, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #270/999.  Philadelphia card #11 

Favorite card on the page:  Vlad Guerrero.  Love the orange background, that's something you really don't see often on cards.
I also like the Edinson Volquez card.  He's turned himself into a pretty decent journeyman pitcher; it'll be interesting to see how he fares with the Marlins this year.

Thanks to Max from Starting Nine, Johnny from Cards from the Quarry, and Dennis from Too Many Verlanders for helping contribute to this page.  A couple of cards also came from Roger from the long dormant Cool Breeze Baseball Buzz blog. 

That's how long this has been going on....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #8: one and one

Pushing this post right close to the end of Saturday this week.  I have so many cards on my desk right now from so many of you that it's becoming sensory overload!!  HAVE!! TO!!  POST!!

So, to make a long post (story) short, I decided to go with one page of baseball, and one card of hockey SNI to at least get something out there.

Page 29 is up next for baseball:

Card 253:  Jesse Litsch, 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome #253/1959.  Toronto card #14
Card 254:  Toronto Blue Jays, 2010 Topps Gold  #254/2010.  Toronto card #15
Card 255:  Frank Herrmann, 2008 Bowman Chrome refractor #255/500.  Cleveland card #11

Card 256:  Luke Hochevar, 2011 Topps Gold #256/2011.  Kansas City card #10
Card 257:  Sean Townsley, 2014 Bowman blue #257/500.  Miami card #10
Card 258:  Jose Barajas, 2009 Bowman blue #258/500.  Baltimore card #7

Card 259:  Willie McCovey, 2010 Topps Triple Threads #259/525.  San Francisco card #6
Card 260:  Chris Johnson, 2010 Topps Gold #260/2010.  Houston card #10
Card 261:  Mychal Givens, 2011 Bowman Green #261/450.  Baltimore card #8

This page gets 3 teams to the double digit mark, Houston, KC and Miami.  Toronto becomes the 2nd team to hit the 15 card plateau (St. Louis was the first).   There were only 2 bloggers that contributed cards to this page; both Dennis of Too Many Verlanders and Jeroen of the Dutch Card Guy hit for a total of 5 cards on the page.  The other 4 were my responsibility, 2 from local card shows, 1 from eBay and one from the 2014 NSCC. 

Tonight's hockey side of Serial Numbered Insanity is this Blake Wheeler card, another part of the Hockey Expo mailer from Doug of Sportscards from the Dollar Store fame. 

I always thought that Wheeler was a Boston draft pick, but a quick bit of research showed me that he was actually the 5th overall pick in the 2004 entry draft by the Phoenix Coyotes.  He played 4 years for the Golden Gophers of Minnesota before signing with the B's in 2008.  2 years later they traded him to Atlanta, which is now the Winnipeg Jets.  That A you see on Blake's jersey is now a C, as he replaced the departed Andrew Ladd as the captain of the team. 

This card is serial # 746, and is the first Jets card for the SNIH.  The only team left without a card featured on the blog?   Carolina.  What's even worse is I don't have any Hurricane serial #'d cards yet.
Oops...

Just 8 days until Christmas, do you have your shopping done yet??

Me neither...

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 #6: A quickie

My dog disappearing today for a few hours was not the way I had planned to spend the Saturday without my better half.  Once the little booger was found (6 doors down the block no less), I was wiped out because I had spent the better part of the afternoon driving and walking the neighborhood.  Not the way I want to get my 10,000 steps in for the day!

So, now it's late and I'm a bit tired, and writing up 3 pages worth of SNI is just not in the cards.  So instead of scrubbing today altogether, I felt that keeping up the run of posts was worth it and I decided to post just one page today.

Something is better than nothing, right?  Let's have a look at page 26, shall we?

Card 226:  Damian Miller, 2003 Topps Chrome refractor #226/699.  Chicago Cubs card #5
Card 227:  Dmitri Young, 2008 Topps Co-Signers blue #227/250.  Washington card #8
Card 228:  Chris George, 1999 Bowmans Best refractor #228/400.  Kansas City card #9

Card 229:  Carl Crawford, 2008 Topps Stadium Club 1st day production #229/599.  Tampa Bay card #8
Card 230:  Kurt Suzuki, 2011 Bowman green parallel #230/500.  Oakland card #11
Card 231:  Andrew Carpenter, 2009 Topps gold #231/2009.  Philadelphia card #9

Card 232:  Vicente Padilla, 2010 Topps gold parallel #232/2009.  Los Angeles Dodgers card #8
Card 233:  Carlos Zambrano, 2010 Topps Heritage chrome #233/1961.  Chicago Cubs card #6
Card 234:  Carlos Lee, 2006 Topps gold parallel #234/2006.  Texas card #7

The best part about this page?  The blogosphere was entirely responsible for the contribution of these cards.    Dennis from the Too Many AL Cy Young runner-up's blog sent me 3 of these, the Night Owl was good for 2, and 4 others contributed one apiece (Royals and Randoms, Starting Nine, Crinkly Wrappers and GCRL).

I'm hoping to get a few more pages posted on Thanksgiving Day, stay tuned to see how that turns out...

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

Serial Saturday #3: Two more SNI pages

I'm back after taking a couple of weeks off, well for a lot of different reasons.  Work's been crazy, still trying to get shit straight with the new house (isn't that always the way?) and the general lack of time needed to think about and write posts.  I've got a few posts lined up for this week, and I'm making a few minor changes to the look of the blog.  Nothing serious, just tidying things up a bit and adding some want lists.

Meanwhile, it's back to getting some more pages for the Serial Numbered Insanity set out there on a Serial Saturday.   Take a look at pages 18 & 19.

Card #154:  Alex Wimmers, 2011 Bowman Platinum blue #154/199.  Picked up at a card show.  Minnesota card #6
Card #155:  Chase Utley, 2011 Bowman green #155/450.  Acquired via a trade on the Bench website.  Philadelphia card #6
Card #156:  Nick Franklin, 2011 Bowman Platinum green #156/500.  Courtesy of Jeroen from the Dutch Card Guy blog.  Seattle card #4

Card #157:  Mike Stanton, 2011 Topps gold #157/2011.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Miami card #6
Card #158:  J.P. Arencibia, 2011 Topps Heritage chrome #158/1962.  Courtesy of Adam from the My Cardboard Mistress blog.  Toronto card #5
Card #159:  Troy Glaus, 1999 Bowman's Best #159/3000.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Los Angeles Angels card #7

Card #160:  Mike Sweeney, 2003 Topps Heritage chrome #160/1954.  Acquired via a trade on the Bench website.  Kansas City card #6
Card #161:  St. Louis Cardinals team card, 2011 Topps gold #161/2011.  Courtesy of Charlie from the Lifetime Topps blog.  St. Louis card # 11
Card #162:  Colby Rasmus, 2011 Topps Chrome atomic refractor #162/225.  Pulled from a pack.  St. Louis card #12

The theme of that page?  4 teams hitting their 6th card, unintentionally of course.   A little old school as well, Giancarlo Stanton featured in a card back when he was known as Mike. 

Let's move on to page #19 and see what that holds. 

Card #163:  Mark Teixeira, 2011 Topps Chrome purple refractor #163/499.  Acquired via a trade on the Bench website.  New York Yankees card #4
Card #164:  Danny Duffy, 2011 Topps Finest refractor #164/299.  Courtesy of Ted from the Crinkly Wrappers blog.  Kansas City card #7
Card #165:  Maicer Izturis, 2008 Topps Heritage refractor #165/559.  Courtesy of Jason Williams.  Los Angeles Angels card #8

Card #166:  Josh Johnson, 2010 Topps Finest refractor #166/299.  Picked up at the 2012 National.  Miami card #7
Card #167:  Carlos Beltran, 2008 Topps Heritage chrome #167/1959.  Courtesy of Ted from the Crinkly Wrappers blog.  New York Mets card #4
Card #168:  Hanley Ramirez, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #168/525.  Picked up at the 2012 National.
Miami card #8 

Card #169:  Joe Panik, 2011 Bowman Draft picks and prospects #169/499. Courtesy of Kyle from the Just a bit Outside blog.  San Francisco card #4
Card #170:  Rickie Weeks, 2011 Bowman blue #170/500.  Courtesy of Doug from the Sportscards from the Dollar Store blog.  Milwaukee card #3
Card #171:  Jody Gerut, 2010 Topps gold #171/2010.  Courtesy of Ted from the Crinkly Wrappers blog.  Milwaukee card #4.

Kind of a similar pattern with this page, as 4 teams hit the 4 card mark.  Lots of cards from Ted at the Crinkly Wrappers blog; he wound up contributing 90 of these to the project (thank you Ted!).  The Beltran Mets card?  That was 4 teams ago...

Page 20 up next, still a long way to go until we get to the finish line.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #2: Hitting the 10% mark

For some crazy reason, I was up at 615 on a Saturday morning.  Not sure why, it's not like I had anything important or pressing to do today.  I figured while waiting for Hurricane Matthew to hit south Florida, I'd get a post or two done to pass the time.

Still a ton of cards to show off for the SNI set, so let's get another couple of pages shown and see what's happening.

Page 16:

Card 136:  Neftali Feliz, 2011 Topps gold #136/2011.  Courtesy of Jeff from 2x3 heroes.  Texas card #3
Card 137:  Howie Kendrick, 2010 Topps Chrome purple refractor #137/699.  Courtesy of Henchmeisters Junk Blog.  Los Angeles Angels card #6
Card 138:  Bill Hall, 2007 Topps Co-Signers #138/275,  Bought at the 2012 NSCC.  Milwaukee card #2

Card 139:  Victor Martinez, 2010 Topps Triple Threads #139/240.  Courtesy of Adam at the Thoughts and Sox blog.  Boston card #4
Card 140:  Ryan Spilborghs, 2011 Topps gold #140/2011.  Courtesy of Johnny from Cards from the Quarry.  Colorado card #8
Card 141:  Gary Sheffield, 2000 Topps Stadium Club #141/150.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Los Angeles Dodgers card #5

Card 142:  Eric Hosmer, 2012 Bowman blue #142/500.  Bought at the 2014 NSCC.  Kansas City card #5
Card 143:  Roosevelt Brown, 1999 Bowmans Best #143/400.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Chicago Cubs card #4
Card 144:  Carl Pavano, 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome #144/1960.  Courtesy of Mark from the This way to the Clubhouse blog.  Minnesota card #4

A couple of more cards from Max @ the Starting Nine blog bring his personal total to 14 cards submitted, almost 10% of what I've displayed.  The 1999 Bowmans Best is the first pre-2000 card to be shown, I'll be curious to see how many cards are in the set that were made before the turn of the century.

Page 17:

Card 145:  Albert Pujols, 2007 Topps Moments and Milestones #145/150.  Picked up at a card draft from Cardboard Heaven.  St. Louis card #10
Card 146:  Matt Tolbert, 2006 Bowman blue #146/500.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Minnesota card #5
Card 147:  David Genao, 2009 Bowman Chrome refractor #147/299.  Courtesy of Henchmeisters Junk blog.  Tampa Bay card #5

Card 148:  Ray Lankford, 2002 Topps Gold Label #148/500.  Courtesy of Marcus from the All the Way to the Backstop blog.  San Diego card #7
Card 149:  Curt Schilling, 2006 Topps Finest #149/250.  Purchased at the 2012 NSCC.  Boston card #5
Card 150:  Manny Ramirez, 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones #150/150.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Boston card #6

Card 151:  Lars Anderson, 2011 Bowman blue #151/500.  Courtesy of Jeroen from the Dutch Card Guy blog.  Boston card #7
Card 152:  Manny Ramirez, 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome #152/400.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Cleveland card #6
Card 153:  Nick Swisher, 2007 Topps Finest #153/399.  Bought at the 2012 NSCC.  Oakland card #7

I don't think you'll see this again in the set; Boston actually has 3 consecutive cards on a page (#149-151).  Once in a while you will see the same player on a page twice, which happens here with Manny Ramirez.  At least the Ramirez cards are from different sets and teams. 

St. Louis also becomes the first team to hit double digits, with the Pujols '07 Moments and Milestones card becoming the 10th card for them.  There's still a long way to go to hit 1500, but at least there will be a lot of cards to see...

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Saturday #1: Pages 14 & 15 of SNI

I've kind of avoided showing the SNI pages for the past couple of weeks, but I'm not sure why.  I'm hoping that devoting Saturday's to anything serial #'d will help get me in the mood to put more of these pages up. 

Because my record keeping skills aren't always 100% accurate, going through these pages will certainly help me find out exactly where I am, and what I need to finish the baseball SNI behemoth off. 

Without further adieu, let's get a couple of more pages out there for everyone to see.

Page 14:

Card 118:  Johnny Cueto, 2011 Bowman green #118/450.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Cincinnati card #5
Card 119:  Mark Teahen, 2007 Topps Co-Signers #119/299.  Unknown as to how I acquired this card.  Kansas City card #3
Card 120:  Tony Armas Jr.  2005 Topps Chrome black refractor #120/225.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Washington card #5

Card 121: Max Sapp, 2008 Bowman Orange #121/250.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.
Houston card #7 
Card 122:  Angelys Nina, 2012 Bowman blue #122/500.  Purchased at a card show in western PA.  Colorado card #6
Card 123:  Jayson Werth, 2011 Topps gold #123/2011.  Purchased on ebay.  Washington card #6

Card 124:  Troy Tulowitzki, 2011 Bowman  blue #124/500.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Colorado card #7
Card 125:  Hanley Ramirez, 2007 Topps Co-Signers #125/150.  Purchased at a card show in western PA.  Miami card #5
Card 126:  Brian Schmitt, 2001 Topps Reserve #126/1500.  Courtesy of fellow collector Brandon L.  Houston card #8

Topps Reserve (!) makes its one and only appearance on the SNI set with card #126.  Only a couple of players on this page who really didn't make a dent in the majors.  Also interesting is the team distribution on this page.  There are 30 major league teams (as you know), but somehow I managed to get 3 teams to have 2 cards apiece on this page.  I don't think that will happen very often.

Let's look at page 15, shall we?

Card 127:  Dave Winfield, 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen #127/999.  Purchased at a card show in western PA.  San Diego card #6
Card 128:  Mike Fontenot, 2011 Topps gold #128/2011.  Courtesy of fellow collector Jason Williams.  San Francisco card #3
Card 129:  Travis Hafner, 2003 Topps gold #129/2003.  Courtesy of Sandlot cards.  Cleveland card #5

Card 130:  Alfonso Soriano, 2011 Topps Chrome atomic #130/225.  Pulled from a pack of 2011 Chrome.  Chicago Cubs card #3
Card 131:  Aroldis Chapman, 2011 Topps Chrome purple #131/499.  Pulled from a pack of 2011 Chrome.  Cincinnati card #6
Card 132:  Jordan Walden, 2011 Topps Chrome #132/1962.  Courtesy of Kyle from the Just a Bit Outside blog (retired).  Los Angeles Angels card #5

Card 133:  Lance Berkman, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #133/525.  Purchased at the 2012 NSCC.  Houston card #9
Card 134:  Dee Brown, 2000 Topps Gallery #134/250.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Kansas City card #4
Card 135:  Vincente Padilla, 2005 Topps Chrome black refractor #135/225.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Philadelphia card #5

2000 Topps Gallery also makes its one and only appearance on page 15 with the Dee Brown card.  I love the Winfield card in his San Diego uniform.  I actually remember buying it from the show at the mall that I frequented monthly back in PA.

The team distribution on page 15 is more what I expected, one card each for 9 different teams.

Dennis and Max both come up huge again on these two pages; they were fantastic contributors to the cause. 

I can only hope now that I stick with the serial #'d Saturday idea that I came up with.  I certainly have enough pages to go for the baseball set, and when I run out of those, there's always Blue Jays and the hockey SNI as well.  

Fingers crossed...

thanks for reading, Robert

Variety is good

Going through the early part of the SNI set I've noticed that there are many different sets that appear.  This makes sense because there are a lot of releases from both the Topps and Bowman sets over the years that have print runs of 500 or less.  This leads to a lot of different colors other than the standard gold you'll see as the numbers climb above 1000 later on.

There's also X-fractors, low numbered rookies that nobody has ever heard of, and so on.  If that kind of variety doesn't help, the fact that I've obtained these cards from several different sources such as purchases or trades with fellow collectors should be spicy enough for you.

Enjoy the wondrous variety of colors and sets as page 13 of the SNI set is here for your viewing pleasure.

Card #109:  Hector Noesi, 2011 Topps Finest #109/199.  Picked up at a card show in western PA.  New York Yankees  card #3
Card #110:  Michael Cuddyer 2012 Bowman Orange #110/250.  Picked up at the 2014 NSCC in Cleveland.  Colorado card #4
Card #111:  Fred Lewis, 2010 Topps Gold #111/2010.  Courtesy of Max from the Starting Nine blog.  Toronto card #4

Card #112:  Jim Edmonds, 2006 Topps Co-Signers #112/150.   Courtesy of Tim Byrd (sorry Tim, not sure if you have a blog or not).  St. Louis card #9
Card #113:  Shairon Martis, 2009 Topps Chrome blue refractor #113/199.  Courtesy of Mark from the Stats on the Back blog.  Washington card #4
Card #114:  Myron Leslie, 2007 Bowman blue #114/500.  Courtesy of Eric from the Manupatches & Chrome Scratches blog (retired).  Oakland Card #6

Card #115:  Carlos Beltran, 2010 Topps copper #115/399.  Courtesy of Ted from the Crinkly Wrappers blog (retired).  New York Mets card #3
Card #116:  Burke Badenhop, 2008 Bowman Chrome refractor #116/199.  Picked up at the 2012 NSCC in Baltimore.  Miami card #4.
Card #117:  Preston Wilson, 2005 Topps Finest blue refractor #117/299.  Picked up at the 2012 NSCC in Baltimore.  Colorado card #5

Not enough variety?  How about some of the names, Burke Badenhop being the best of the bunch.  Preston Wilson doing a good job on some of the Miami Marlins telecasts here in South Florida. A copper parallel from 2010 Topps?  You don't see them using copper on their parallels anymore.

Not enough still?  OK, I'll throw in card #4 for the hockey version just to add a little more to this post.

Did you know that there have been 56 players with a last name that starts with the letter Z to play in the NHL?  More than I would have imagined.  Zednik had a 13 year NHL career, scoring a total of 200 goals with 4 different clubs.  I pulled this card out of a pack back when the 00-01 BAP Memorabilia set came out.

Enjoy the rest of your labor (or labour for my fellow bloggers north of the 49th parallel) day!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Hiding in plain sight

Numbers don't lie.  A very old saying, one that I constantly add the caveat "but they can and are manipulated to tell the truth that a person wants to tell."

This post is not a rant, a whine, or even a cry for help.  It's merely an observation based on numbers.

I posted my first card for the SNIH set yesterday, and readership dropped, by half.  Again, not a whine or a bitch, just the truth.  What does that tell me?  That folks don't care for hockey as much as they care for baseball. 

I noticed it in the past as well when I wrote posts about Joe Sakic, any Maple Leafs cards that I may have picked up, or any other hockey subject that may have piqued my interest. 

What to do, what to do.  I want people to see the hockey cards that I pick up for this latest project, as well as anything else that may come across my desk.  So, I've decided to hide the SNI hockey cards in plain sight.  Build them into posts.  Likely towards the end, so people can skip over them (because who reads right to the end anyways?) when they read a post.

Man, that still sounds bitter, doesn't it??  Believe me, it's not meant to be.  I know that the bloggers out there who enjoy hockey will still be interested and keep an eye out for these cards.  I've also got one supporter out there sending me a few to help with the cause (thank you Doug!). 

Meanwhile, here's the 12th page of the original SNI set, cards 100 through 108.

Card #100:  Todd Helton, 2010 Topps Finest #100/599.  Picked up at the 2012 NSCC.  Colorado card #3.
Card #101:  Sean Burnett, 2011 Topps Gold #101/2011.  Courtesy of the Stats on the Back blog.  Washington card #3.
Card #102.  Domonic Brown, 2012 Topps Opening Day #102/2012.  Courtesy of Brian from the Play at the Plate blog.  Philadelphia card #4.

Card #103:  Eric Chavez, 2006 Topps Chrome refractor #103/549.  Purchased at a PA card show.  Oakland card #5.
Card #104:  Carlos Tosca, 2004 Topps gold #104/2004.  Courtesy of Jim at the GCRL blog.  Toronto card #3
Card #105:  Johnny Mize, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #105/525.  Picked up at the 2014 NSCC in Cleveland.  St. Louis card #8

Card #106:  Josh Gibson, 2006 Topps Co-Signers #106/150.  Courtesy of Kevin from the Diamond King blog.  Pittsburgh card #1.
Card #107:  Nathan Adcock, 2010 Bowman Chrome #107/500.  Courtesy of Eric from the Manupatches and Chrome Scratches blog (retired).  Pittsburgh card #2.
Card #108:  Alex Rios, 2011 Bowman chrome blue #108/500.  I have no idea where this card came from.  Chicago White Sox card #3

I got a little creative adding Josh Gibson as a Pittsburgh player, seeing as he played for the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the pre-integrated baseball era.  Carlos Tosca's card is the first manager to be in the set, I think that there may be a couple of more manager cards in the set. 

Fitting in with the serial numbered theme of this post, here is the 2nd card for the SNIH set, going all the way back to the 1999-00 Be A Player release.  I was fortunate enough to pull this card from a pack back in the day, and my luck pulling cards that were serial #'d this low was minimal at best.

Maybe Oleg should have kept the helmet on.  Kvasha had an OK NHL career, playing in 493 games scoring 81 goals.  He would head back home after the 2005/06 season and play 7 more seasons in Russia before exiting at age 34.  Oleg was part of the big trade with the Islanders that brought Roberto Luongo to south Florida back in June of 2000.

We'll see how this goes...

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

I don't think a week will be enough

Looking at the task I have ahead of me, getting my collection "somewhat" straightened out is going to require a lot of hours.  This next week I am on vacation, and part of that time is going to be spent trying to get cards in order. 

7 days to get this mess in order?  Fat chance.  But hey, if I can get some of it out of the way (the spare bed right now is covered in binders for starters) then I'll consider the week a success.

I found one binder so old it had Pittsburgh Steeler cards in it.   I haven't actively pursued football cards in years....

Anyhow, I'll keep posting the SNI cards on here for the foreseeable future until I get some semblance of order in my chaotic card world.  At least I can find the SNI binders!

Page 10, coming at ya...

Card #82:  Matt Garza, 2009 Topps Finest #82/399.  Courtesy of Simon from the 7 Hours from Tampa Bay blog.  Tampa Bay card #3
Card #83:  Carl Crawford, 2010 Topps T206 chrome #83/999.  Purchased at a card show in western PA.  Tampa Bay card #4
Card #84:  Chance Cisco, 2013 Bowman blue #84/500.  Courtesy of Alex from the Chavez Ravining blog.  Baltimore card #5

Card #85:  Austin Kearns, 2004 Topps gold #85/2004.  Courtesy of Jim from the GCRL blog (retired).  Cincinnati card #3
Card #86:  Brett Kay, 2002 Topps Chrome #86/100.  Purchased at a card show in western PA.  New York Mets card #1
Card #87:  Stephen Strasburg, 2011 Bowman blue #87/500.  Courtesy of Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog.  Washington card #2

Card #88:  Adam Stern, 2003 Topps gold #88/2003.  Courtesy of the Sandlot cards blog.  Atlanta card #7
Card #89:  Rashun Dixon, 2010 Bowman orange #89/250.  Courtesy of the I collect ball cards blog.
Oakland card #3
Card #90:  Russell Martin, 2011 Topps Chrome atomic refractor #90/225.  I actually do remember pulling this card out of a 25 cent box at a card show!  New York Yankees card #2

The Mets are finally on the board, leaving just the Pirates as the only team without a card shown in the first 10 pages.  The Pirates actually end up being the only team without a card in the first 100 cards of the set.

Still a long way to go and a lot of posts to ensure that the SNI set is up to date and accurate, because my record keeping got a little shoddy (insert your own SH word here if you like..) and also because I need some posting material until I get back into the game.

thanks for reading, Robert