Serial Insanity cards 881-885

On the road again...I'm actually writing this post a little over 300 miles from home.  I'm spending a couple of nights in eastern PA on business, but thanks to a busy Monday evening on the scanner, I was able to draft a few posts to write up while I was away.

These 5 cards bring the set to 59 per cent complete.  Enjoy..


Card 881:  Justin Verlander

Serial Number:  188
Team:  Detroit Tigers, card # 22 out of 50

I was fortunate enough to watch JV a couple of times last year.  I marveled at his ability to start the game with a fast ball in the low 90's, and 7 or 8 innings later he was throwing high 90's and a couple of times 100mph.  134 wins at age 30, any chance of 300?


Card 882:  Jim Palmer

Serial Number:  489
Team:  Baltimore Orioles, card # 19 out of 50

Garnered a HOF vote of 92.5 percent in 1990.   8 years out of 9 with 20 wins or more will do that for you.  Almost won a 4th Cy Young at the age of 36 in 1982, unfortunately he finished 2nd in the voting to Pete Vuckovich.

Card 883:  Zack Greinke

Serial Number:  916
Team:  Milwaukee Brewers, card # 25 out of 50

The next win for Greinke will be #100 for his career.  I'm wondering if the Dodgers set the bar a little too high when they signed him to that mega contract.  Wait until Kershaw needs to be signed....

Card 884: Starlin Castro 

Serial Number:  367
Team:  Chicago Cubs, card # 31 out of 50.

Finished 5th in ROY voting behind a couple of guys named Posey and Heyward.  The Cubs need to stick with this guy, because if he stays healthy, he could be the next guy to get 3000 hits.  He's already at 630 hits at just age 23...

Card 885:  Ryan Braun

Serial Number:  948
Team:  Milwaukee Brewers, card # 26 out of 50.

See you next year

Thanks for reading, Robert

Down into the teens

Getting closer now to completing the '75 Topps set.  I still need a couple of Hank Aaron cards, along with a pair of solid RCs in Jim Rice and Gary Carter.

I picked up 8 more cards that I needed at the card show, including 6 horizontal cards!

The Yankees team card is a bit beat up, but the MVP cards are all in decent condition.  I was happy to finally be able to grab the Mantle/Aaron '57 MVP card, thankfully it only set me back $4.

The two vertical cards were also pretty decent pickups as well...

The Winfield is in excellent shape, and also a bargain at $4 as well.

With only 17 cards left to go, I think it's high time to start digging and find the two big RC's, and then chop away at the rest.

My cheapness has come through in a big way before when putting together this set, I can only hope that it succeeds again.

Thanks for reading, Robert

It was worth the drive to Canton

I've been itching to hit a card show since the last mall show back in May.  Outside of the base Topps set from this year, there's been nothing released that really interests me.

So, I decided to do a little hunting.  I pulled the latest copy of the magazine that I own, and found that there was a card show in Canton today.  I took the time the other day to plot out the route, and found it was about a 90 minute drive from my house to the show.  When I saw that, I knew I was going to go.

I bought a lot of great cards for my collections (and a few for a couple of others) but the one card that caught my eye as I was leaving the show was the card that absolutely made my day.

My '64 set has one less white whale to catch:

I just caught the card out of the corner of my eye as I was ready to leave, thinking that what I had already acquired earlier was going to be sufficient enough.

Then I spotted the Mays, and the price tag, and instantly the money came out of my wallet.

It's not a perfect card by any means, take a look at the back to see what I mean:

I'm not sure why someone wrote the number 3, but for me, it was no matter.  The card is great, and it is in my possession.

It also inspired an idea.   A contest idea!!   It's been a while since I ran a contest on the blog, and I figured this was as good a time as any.

What do you have to do?  It's simple.

Guess how much this card cost me.   

Leave a comment with your guess, and I'll keep the contest open until Friday at midnight.  I spent $75 at the show today, so that is a hint for you. 

To help you a little more, here's another Mays card that I snagged at the show today, for a paltry $3

A little beat up, but it gets me a little closer to the '73 set at a fraction of the alleged "book value". 

Just so you know, those weren't the only two cards I bought today (duh).  I nabbed quite a few cards from such Topps sets as 75,70,64,62 and 57. 

Let the guesses begin!

You'll see more of the cards I picked up during the week, so stay tuned.  It was definitely worth the drive to Canton.

thanks for reading, Robert

That damn number 7 gets me every time

Maybe one day, I will learn.  Today is the first day of year 3 here at $30 a week habit, and I can honestly say that I've learned a lot so far.  But there are things that I've learned that I just do not retain.

Case in point...

I was fortunate to receive a great envelope from the Night Owl yesterday, and as usual he did not disappoint.

There wasn't a giant stack of cards in there, but what he sent helped out on a few fronts.

First, the Jays were well represented:

I've always had mixed feelings about players appearing on checklists.  I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I guess my preference is the old checklists such as this.  The Davis Heritage card leaves me with 3 cards remaining to complete the Jays Heritage team set.  If you have card #'s 34, 222 or 446 please let me know and hopefully we can work something out.

George Bell was fun to watch as a Blue Jay.  George loved the game, and I believe you could probably say he was passionate about it.  It was tough for me to watch him as both a Cub and a White Sock (is that what you call just one player from the south side?), because after 9 great years in Toronto he decided he wasn't as big a star as he should have been, so he moved on.  Looking up his career stats gave me a bit of a shock when I found out that he left the game at the rather young age of 33. 

A pair of 2013 Archives cards also found their way here, which is good because I'd sworn off buying any packs of that product.  Buying Archives last year made me realize that the set just does nothing for me.

Heritage was also represented in the envelope, 7 more cards towards the set.  I'm down to needing 13 more to finish the base set of 425.

Yes, there's 7 

I'm sorry Bud Norris, but your card just creeps me out.  Dan Haren isn't doing much for me either...

Greg also sent me 7 cards from this years flagship series 1...

Notice how the number 7 is a theme here?  Wait, there's more.  This is where my denseness comes in.

As I'm happily whittling down my want lists, I notice that I'm left with one card remaining for Series 1.

Card # 7.

Gee, I wonder who that could be?  Then I think really quickly (something new for me...) and realize that I'm a jack ass.

There is no #7 in series 1 this year.  Topps decided not to release it. 

I'm sure Greg was laughing at me while looking at my want lists.  The same way he probably did while advising me that I don't know how to spell "masterpieces". 

Greg, thank you for the cards, as always much appreciated!!

Welcome to year 3 my friends, the insanity continues....

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial insanity cards 876-880

The last post of my 2nd year on this blog is another serial insanity post.   I figured why not go out with a bang, since this is kind of my signature now (I guess)

880 cards total equals 58.67 % completion.  You'll see 60% by the end of July.


Card # 876:  Chris Young

Serial Number:  975
Team:  Oakland A's, card # 40 out of 50

No, this is the other Chris Young.  The one that spent 7 years in AZ.  Part of a 3 team trade last October, his offense has tailed off dramatically since his shift to the AL.  Hitting .190 isn't going to cut it, no matter where you are...


Card # 877:  Jay Bruce

Serial Number:  932
Team: Cincinnati Reds, card # 28 out of 50

He's only 26???   Seems to have been around forever....looks to be headed for a career season in most offensive categories.  Currently leads the NL in doubles with 28.

Card # 878:  Johan Santana

Serial Number:  842
Team:  New York Mets, card # 30 out of 50

Loved the fact that it was Johan who pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history last season.  A numbers freak like me enjoys seeing the amazing 3 year run he had between 2004-2006, where his WHIP was less than 1.000 each season, his lowest strikeout total was 238, and his highest ERA was 2.87

Get healthy soon Johan...


Card # 879:  Ruben Tejada

Serial Number:  1254
Team:  New York Mets, card # 31 out of 50

I like him already.  Ruben shares my birthday (October 27), but he's a few years (22) younger than I am.  The Mets 360 website graded Tejada's first half of 2013 with a big fat F.   I remember F's.....

Card # 880:  Fausto Carmona

Serial Number:  1306
Team:  Cleveland Indians, card # 29 out of 50

A big thanks to Max at the Starting Nine blog for sending me another great addition to the SNI project. 
It's too bad he doesn't exist anymore.

Thanks for reading, Robert