The Joy Of The Completed Page - Ginter Style

As part of the lot I received recently from 'Check Out My Cards' there was one card whose purpose served that which all collectors strive towards and also allowed me to move on to other pursuits. Nothing feeds the completest in me more than having a binder page without a blank space between the cards. Also, there is no better feeling than putting a set to bed and marking it complete on your checklist.

This card......


completed both tasks.

The 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter 'World's Wordsmiths' insert set is a 15-card set highlighting the most influential and famous writers throughout history. From Homer to Victor Hugo collectors are exposed to some definite literary heavyweights. My favorite card from this set features one of my favorite authors whose museum will be a definite agenda item during my visit to the 2012 National in Baltimore this summer.

Any time you can combine culture and cards I am in favor of it. Hopefully, in some subsequent release of A&G Topps will see fit to honor some of the greatest Science Fiction writers in a similar set.

Until then, enjoy the 'World's Wordsmiths' set in all its completed page glory.


Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Check Out MY Cards - Framed Autograph Edition)

I recently took advantage of a great deal on shipping from the fine folks over at CheckOutMyCards.com and emptied out most of the cards I had sitting in my account. Over the next little while I thought I would take the opportunity to share what exactly came my way.

When Topps released the Anniversary T-206 collection in 2009 it was right around the time I was first immersing my self back into the hobby and the though of collecting a tobacco card sized set really grabbed my attention. I also liked the look of the framed autograph cards, so, I dedicated myself to completing the 30-card set.

At first I tried to gather the cards from anywhere and everywhere which made it feel much more like a task than a pastime. I decided to try and take a step back and make it more about the pursuit and less about the completion. Hence why it is 2012 and I am still working on the set.

Well, thanks to COMC I am 5 cards closer to completion and I have yet to pay a price for any of these cards that I feel is unacceptable. THAT is the true goal here. I think this set is going to look really nice in pages once complete. The latest additions to be removed from the wantlist are;

#FMA-6 Glen Perkins & #FMA-21 Jason Motte

#FMA-13 Shairon Martis & #FMA-26 Rich Hill

#FMA-15 Mat Gamel

Unfortunately these additions still leave me short of that wonderful milestone that a collector can celebrate, the joy of a completed page. The closest I am on that is a centre-square vacancy awaiting one Mr. Justin Masterson.


If you happen to have any of these laying around gathering dust I would happily give them a home in a protective page alongside their brethren. I am over 60% complete now and I can see the finish line off in the distance. Here is a list of missing persons belonging to my T-206 Framed Autograph binder.....


FMA - 1 Gordon Beckham
FMA - 2 Koji Uehara
FMA - 7 Jordan Zimmermann
FMA - 8 Daniel Schlereth
FMA - 9 Chris Volstad
FMA - 11 Nick Evans
FMA - 12 Fernando Martinez
FMA - 16 Michael Bowden
FMA - 18 Chris Young
FMA - 23 Justin Masterson
FMA - 28 Curtis Granderson


Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog and checking out my cards.

Cheers,

How I Spent My Spring Card Expo - Mini Edition

It has been a little while since I last posted about my haul from the Toronto Spring Card Expo. Had a few things come up that were a bit more important than blogging. However, things are now better and I have a little more time available now for hobby talk. So, here we go.

I recently posted how a few eBay lots have brought me close to completion of the 2009 Topps T-206 Piedmont minis parallel set. Since returning to the hobby I have come to really appreciate and enjoy collecting the mini tobacco sized cards that have become quite prevalent in the hobby. What I managed to bring home with me helped complete some team sets and added to another set I am slowly picking away at.

Chicago Cubs from the 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions release lead the way with a total of five cards. Four were actually needed to complete the mini team set.

#224 - Ryan Dempster, #27 - Derrek Lee, #33 - Jeff Samardzija

#95 - Alfonso Soriano, #117 Carlos Zambrano

It turns out I already had the Zambrano, but, doubles are never bad, are they? I found three of the four Toronto Blue Jays minis that I needed to complete the mini team set. All I have left to chase down now is card #48 Joe Carter.

#243 - Vernon Wells, #219 B.J. Ryan, #242 - Alex Rios

While sifting through the pile of minis I set aside two cards that featured Horses. One figurative and the other literal.

Card #18 - Bo Jackson

Card #115 - Smarty Jones

Aside from the T-206 Piedmont mini cards one of the other mini card sets I am working on is the 2009-10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey mini extension set. Finding lots of these cards at a show is pretty hard and completing a set paying the individual prices being asked is just too much pain on the wallet. One dealer had a stack of 25 cards and wanted $5.00 for them so without my needs list handy I grabbed it and hoped for the best. Turns out I only needed 4 of the 25, but, it gives me a number of traders.

Card #270 - Mike Richards, #314 - Don Cherry

The great appeal of Champs is that, much like Allen & Ginter, card subjects are not just limited to athletes. 'Wonders of the World' and 'Natural History Collection' cards found a place in the binder too.

Card #407 - Aurora

Card #512 - Common Raven

The last mini card that joined the bunch was a lone 2007 Allen & Ginter Chicago Cub. Every team set starts somewhere and this 2007 set begins with Michael Barrett.

Card #159 - Michael Barrett

We are almost at the end of the series of posts dealing with my purchases from the Spring Expo. Doing these posts has helped me realize that my search was much more successful than it felt at the time. I managed to pick away at quite a few needs successfully.

The next post will deal with the handful of vintage cards that I purchased going towards one of the latest projects I have decided to tackle as well as a few cards for some projects that I am still tossing around in my head. I also found one of the cards I had been hoping to find for a PC, which also happens to be the first and perhaps cheapest vintage card for said PC.

Stay tuned for that post and thanks for reading this one. I appreciate you spending your time here.

Cheers,

The Joy Of The Completed Page(s) - T206 Style

When Topps first announced the 100th Anniversary release of T-206 in 2009 I decided that I was going to take a crack at collecting the mini parallel set. Seeing as this was the first parallel set that I was going to chase, I figured I would make it as relatively easy as possible and go for the set that was most plentiful.


I know this is hardly a new concept from Topps but I was not in to collecting in 2002 so I was kind of happy Topps rehashed this design for 2009. The watercolour paint looking background coupled with the majority of unique-to-this-release photos make this set attractive.


Well, here it is 2011 and I can finally post the first complete pages of the set. As it stands I am only 21 cards away from completion but the singles have been falling in a way that page completion has been non-existent to this point.


The 300-card mini set is a complete parallel to the full-size base cards along with the 50-card short printed photo variation set. Of course, I am working on those as well. Ever since returning to the hobby in 2008 the retro-style tobacco cards have really caught my attention. While Allen & Ginter may be the standard bearer of the mini parallel I have not been drawn to them as much as I have the 2009 T-206's.


Most of the cards from this set have come from purchasing lots. Needless to say I have gathered up quite a few duplicates, but, I have come to find this is something that is to be expected when trying to complete a set like this. One of the things I have enjoyed the most is tracking where these cards have come from. eBay Sellers and fellow bloggers from all over have helped me build this set to near completion.


I also wanted to take the time to specifically thank Greg from NearlyMint for helping me acquire a few US-Only auctions off of eBay that went a long way to helping complete this set. If you have any of these cards kicking around gathering dust please have a look at my T-206 Wantlist and see if you can help me out. I would greatly appreciate it.


Cheers,

Mail Day (aka I'm NOT At 'The National' Either)

So, today the doors opened on what is one of the most highly anticipated annual events in the card collector universe. Scores of VIPs made their way into crowded rooms gathering swag as well as their bearings and planning their assault for the next 5 days.

Not me.

I however DID come home to a wonderful greeting of two bubble mailers, and did not have to stand in line to get them. Both were from fellow bloggers and both were parts of negotiated trades. The first package is , I believe, my second trade with Derek over at 'Hey, That's Mine!'. The other mailer is from a new blogger on the block and someone who will definitely be benefiting from the fact that we all have somewhere to send our Colorado Rockies cards now. Send them all to Shellie at 'The Middle Child'.

The trade with Derek involved some Series 2 Topps inserts that I have been chasing and a bonus Cubbie, just cuz. 1992 will always be my favorite year as a Jays fan but as far as my favorite "Rent-A-Player" that The Jays were able to win one for goes, it is nice to know that Toronto helped out Paul Molitor get what he so rightly deserved in Milwaukee.

The other three cards are from the 'Vintage Legends' set, which I feel is still a great set regardless of a few reaches in design by Topps. IMHO, these three cards featuring Johnny Mize, George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby are awesome.

Derek also sent along another UD Spectrum card that I am sure has a spot in my Cubs team binder.

Shellie has started up a wonderful blog and has gone full bore into the whole trading aspect of what we all do here. After seeing what she pulled from some Allen & Ginter I caught sight of an A&G back David Wright mini that needed to come my way. Shellie mentioned she had found some other cards on my wantlists and told me she would be sending them my way. 20 cards later I was a happy, happy collector.


Along with the A&G mini there were three other David Wright cards for the PC. An '07 Fleer, a '10 Bowman reprint and a '10 Heritage Chrome. LOVE the Chrome-jo!

Off of my wantlists Shellie banged out some '09 Topps Series Series 3, '10 Topps Series 2 and some '10 Heritage inserts. The more I see the National Chicle cards the more I think about buying a box or two. I have to keep reminding myself that T-206 is just around the corner so I need to save the cash. Shellie helped by filling in two needs. Adam Lind and a bunting Phil Rizzuto.

I love when I complete a set, and this card......

...helps me finish of the Series 1 'History of the Game' set. Thanks Shellie.

Whenever I get sent some 'Turkey Reds' it is an exceptionally great mail day. I have two boxes of the '07 and '06 sets that I purchased just before my LCS closed. Hopefully there are enough singles to make a go at the sets worth my while. Shellie got me closer to the '09 and '10 versions with Ordonez, Beckham, Halladay, Volquez and Foxx.

If you have any that need a good home, I can provide.

I will be going through a couple more boxes in the next day or so and your end of the deal will be out before the weekend, hopefully. Shellie is also going to be housing what was my Mark McGwire collection, seeing as I no longer have the drive to chase him.

Great trading partners are always a welcome find amongst fellow bloggers and I have managed to work with two that I hope will be continual trading partners throughout. Head on over to their blogs and check out their wantlists and help them out. You will not regret it.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka eBay Scribblers)

As you may or may not be aware, one of the tasks I have assigned to myself is to gather all 30 mini-framed autographs from the 2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary set. I am trying to limit myself to strictly doing this via trade as buying what I need seems to kind of defeat the purpose of the quest.

However.

When an opportunity to gather a mitt full of what I need for a relatively decent price presents itself, I would be a fool not to jump on it. Hence the reason for this post. I managed to add 7 more of the desired cards to the collection, which is now sitting at a satisfactory count of 10 right now.

Today the mailman delivered Josh Outman (OAK), Ryan Perry (DET), Luke Montz (WAS), Kila Ka'aihue (KC), James Parr (ATL), Scott Elbert (LAD) and Clayton Kershaw (LAD)


Now, Parr and Elbert are doubles which helps with potential trades, but it still made for a great deal even with the two doubles. Also included in the envelope, which was never mentioned as part of the auction as far as I know, was a serial numbered 'Cycle' back mini of C.C. Sabathia numbered 44/99.


C.C. is available for trade as well if anyone is interested. Just drop me a line.

When I first thought about trying for this set I balked at it a few times. Now having more of these cards in my possession and seeing them in hand I am glad I chose to attempt it. It is definitely enjoyable chasing down singles and negotiating trades. If you can help me out I would be glad to hear from you.


P.S. - Kudos to the eBay seller for Fort Knox-ing these puppies for shipping!!!


Cheers,

Saturday at the LCS

This Saturday provided me with one of the rare opportunities to devote a substantial amount of time to soring out my collection and cataloguing a few more things that have come out of storage. Of course, it also afforded me an opportunity to visit my local card store as well. Usually I limit visits to during the week and they only last long enough to grab a few random packs and place orders for future product. Today I actually had a chance to thumb through several shoeboxes of singles and the ever-present $1 box, chat with the owner and customers about collecting and basically just hang out.

Armed with a couple wantlists for some of the sets I am working on I wound up with a large number of singles to sort out later. Some of the other, more interesting bounty worth sharing that I came home with helped get me closer to completing some insert sets and started me working on a few more collections.

Having decided not to bother with 2010 Topps Heritage this year has made building the insert sets a bit more difficult to say the least, but I still managed to pick up a few. Three 'Baseball Flashback' inserts featuring Luis Aparicio, Warren Spahn and Roger Maris. Two 'Then & Now' inserts featuring Roger Maris/Albert Pujols and Luis Aparicio/Jacoby Ellsbury and 1 'News Flashback' insert featuring Mohammed Hassan II.


I also picked up 4 of 10 base set cards that will make a nice stand alone sub-set. Cards #'d 401-410 parallel the 'Baseball Thrills' cards from the original '61 set. However, three of the cards' subjects differ from the original set, the others are the same except the Mantle (card #406) is featured with a different photo. Here are the four I picked up today paired with their 1961 counterparts.

2010 Topps Heritage #403 (left)
1961 Topps #403 (right)

2010 Topps Heritage #406 (left)
1961 Topps #406 (right)

2010 Topps Heritage #408 (left)
1961 Topps #408 (right)

2010 Topps Heritage #410 (left)
1961 Topps #410 (right)

Either way it matters to me very little, the only card that might have been better to have in the set was Larsen's Perfect Game but in the end it is still a cool looking page of cards when finished. Hopefully someday I will put together the 1961 set of these 10 cards as well. The last Heritage purchase was a chrome Adam Lind card to go towards this years crop of Blue Jays I will be collecting.


Amongst a handful of base cards for Topps Series 1 I snagged a few inserts too, including a gracious and welcoming Derrek Lee, a card I was never lucky enough to own in the first place let alone risk my mother throwing it out, and a card commemorating THE event in Baseball Card History.


While searching through several unmarked shoeboxes of cards I came across some 2009-10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey minis. When this set first came out it was still fairly early on in my return to collecting and so my sights were set more on reacquainting myself with the hobby and trying not to get overwhelmed by too much product. I ignored this release at the time but some of the sub-set cards were interesting. I found these five cards and decided to try and eventually find the rest.


I wanted to make sure that before I left I would take a trip through the dollar box. Seeing the success that some of the other bloggers have had with "bargain bin" cards I had the itch now. Nothing really amazing to find but a few cards that peaked my interest came home with me. I have gathered a few of the 'Topps 50th Anniversary' Reprints from several sources and added a couple more here.


The Ryne Sandberg 'Spirit of the Game' was just to fill a hole in that player collection. The Heritage mini red-back and the T-205 mini were the first pick-up in what will, more than likely, become a bigger collection someday.


All things considered it felt really good to be able to hang out in the card store and get back to one of the aspects of collecting that makes it fun for me. When you get to gather with other collectors, talk about your collection and listen to others talk about theirs, it reinforces why you do this in the first place. Hopefully I can start to make these Saturday visits a regular occurrence, it sure does the soul some good.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka The Lone Star State serves some T-206 on a Plate)

A long while back I had posted a three box break of 2009 Topps T-206 100th Anniversary baseball and Brian from 'Play at the Plate' expressed interest in one of the Cycle minis I pulled even though it was badly mis-cut. Having vowed not to make that card a part of any trade, we worked out a deal to help each other with some of the base set singles as well as a mish-mash of whatever else we collected. Today I beheld a beautiful sight when I walked through the door after another long day at work.

MANILLA!!!!

I have said it before and will say it again, nothing chases the blues away like a stuffed envelope sitting at the door when you come home.

The very first thing that greeted me when I opened it was this handful of minis that will quickly be added to the set I am working to complete. Over 50% of the way there.


Next out of the package were some some of the T-206 base cards as well. 'I Am Joe Collector' has posted a very interesting poll on his blog asking which set collectors prefer from last year, T-206 or Allen & Ginter. The big plus for me is that the photos on T-206 were completely different from other Topps releases that year. Very little photo-recycling as far as I could tell. Also, I collected T-206 so it was an easy choice for me, however, I may just have to do a little more "research" into this and get up-close-and-personal with A&G's 2009 offering!



The "sweet spot" of the trade, for me, was that Brian included one of the framed autos he pulled. I have decided to make the completion of this set my quest. I like everything about these;

#1 - They are on card
#2 - The Piedmont frame
#3 - The sheer challenge of trying to put together the set. I need a challenge.

Last but not least, Brian fed my love of retro based designed cards by sending some 2008 Goudy as well as an '09 High # Heritage card I need. The bundle included some Cubbie goodness....

...my first Sport Royalty insert from Goudy....

....and I just had to post this card of "Scooter".....


simply because I was watching one of my favorite 'Seinfeld' episodes the other day.




Thanks to 'Play at the Plate' for the trade and rest assured Brian, I am sending out my end of the deal tomorrow as I finally bought more bubble mailers. If you want a great trade partner then check out Brian's want lists and drop him a line. What the heck, check mine out to the right of this article. Let's work something out.

Cheers,