Still kicking

Just a quick update to show that I'm still keeping the blog active.
I haven't been able to blog due to some family problems this past few months.
I have a few packages that I also need to send out. They have been waiting on my table since the middle of February but I just haven't had the time to get to the post office. Luckily they aren't trades otherwise I'm sure I would have pissed a few people off by now!
I hope that I'm able to be much more active in the next month or so. At least I hope to be able to respond to some emails that I have gotten and even log into some of the forums.

2011 Topps retail box break part 2

Heres the second part of my break, for the first part follow this link.


I'll do a full recap at the end of this post of everything that I pulled.

This is the Topps 60 insert set. I pulled a Strasburg and a Heyward. Really nice looking cards. At the top of each card its says a little bit about what the player has achieved. For example the Heyward says 'Walks by a 2010 rookie', then on the back of the card it gives the top ten players who would qualify for most walks.

Two more insert sets that I pulled were the Diamond Duos featuring two players on each card and also I pulled a history of Topps card. This card makes note that Topps set the standard size of a card in 1957. Pretty boring actually.

The final inserts that I pulled are probably my favourites out of everything else that I pulled. The top row of cards are vintage reproductions using famous cards from many different brands.

From left to right we have - George Sisler on a 1921 Caramel card, Jackie Robinson on a 1949 Bowman, Jimmie Foxx on a 1935 Diamond Stars and at the end the Babe Ruth RC featuring him as a pitcher in a Sox uni. The card is a 1916 Sporting News.

I love these cards because they showcase some of the designs that were used over the years plus the back gives information on the set.

The bottom set of inserts are the Kimball Champion cards... and their minis! I pulled some nice cards from this set including Ichiro and Jeter. They were very close to being my favourites of the entire box BUT each back is exactly the same! The backs are just a checklist of the set. Theres no stats, no pointless bit of trivia, just a list of players. Boring.

Oh and I pulled this too. A Derek Lee GU jersey. I was not expecting any hits in this box and only bought it for the Giants cards and inserts but this sucker showed up in one of the last packs that I opened so it rounded off the break nicely. Its not a great pull but when you consider it was a retail box and the odds for a GU is 1:96 packs its pretty cool.

All in all at was alot of fun. Everything you've seen is for trade (apart from a few bits and pieces). Here is a full list of everything that I pulled:

Base - 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36, 39, 40, 43, 44, 49, 54, 55, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 74, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 85, 86, 88, 90, 9192, 93, 95, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 140, 142, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 162, 163, 166, 169, 170, 171, 172, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 182, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 208, 209, 213, 217, 219, 220, 223, 224, 227, 229, 230, 232, 234, 236, 237, 240, 242, 243, 245, 247, 249, 252, 254, 255, 257, 258, 260, 262, 263, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276, 277, 279, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289, 290, 292, 293, 295, 296, 297, 301, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 316, 318, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330.

The Lost Cards - 1954 Mickey Mantle, 1957 Stan Musial.

Gold Cards /2011 - 77, 181.

Diamond Giveaway x2

60 Years of Topps - Phil Rizzuto, Bo Jackson, Rod Carew, Stan Musial, Ernie Banks, Bernie Williams, Bob Gibson.

60 Years of Topps Original back - Tony Gwynn.

Platinum Diamond Anniversary - 22, 48, 86, 266, 271.

ToppsTown - 24 of them. If you need a list let me know.

Topps 60 - Jason Heyward, Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, Ike Davis, Mat Latos, Josh Hamilton, Neftali Feliz.

Diamond Duos - BW, BY, GT, HHO, TR, VG.

History of Topps - Topps sets the card size standered.

Vintage Reproductions - Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jimmie Foxx, George Sisler.

Kimball Champion minis - 1 Ubaldo Jimenez, 2 Derek Jeter, 10 Ichiro, 33 Martin Prado, 38 Roy Oswalt, 48 Justin Upton.

Topps 60 GU - Derek Lee.

2011 Topps retail break

Just realised its been over a month since I last posted! I didnt think it was that long, at least it didnt feel like that long.

Anyway, at the beginning of the month I bought on eBay a 24 pack retail box of Topps 2011 Series 1. I would have preferred hobby but this box was pretty good to me and I doubt I would have done any better with a hobby box.

I will split this into two posts.

I wont show what base I got, I'll just focus on the inserts. I'm not going after this set so everything is for trade, if your looking for base send me your wants and I'll take a look for you.

From the left:

The Lost Cards - 1954 Mickey Mantle and a 1957 Stan Musial. There are the normal version and not the original backed.

Gold cards - Numbered out of 2011, Magglio Ordonez Tigers and Tim Hudson Braves.

Diamond Giveaway - Got two of them.

60 Years of Topps - These cards come in original backs and normal versions. These cards explain a little about each set that the card represents. All are normal backs except for the Gwynn.

Platinum Diamond Anniversary - Apologies for the poor picture, its really hard to get a good shot of them because of all the sparkles. Its hard to make the players names so going clockwise from the top right: Barry Zito Giants, Carlos Silva Cubs, Rickie Weeks Brewers, Adam Dunn Nationals, Andrew Cashner Cubs.

So far I really like Topps this year. The base is really well done, especially the team badge in the bottom corner. The badge looks like its a separate part that was added later in production.

Look out for my next post with the rest of the break.

Another Christmas post

Another gift from Christmas time that arrived recently. Above is an 2007 Exquisite Rookie Signature Signatures numbered out of 99. I had been after one of these for a while and was either outbid everytime or I didn't agree with the BIN price. This one came up for auction with reasonable shipping so I made sure I won it! It looks great with my other Exquisite Linds.

This next card was not a Christmas gift, well I guess it was a Christmas gift to myself!

2010 Topps Finest Red Refractor numbered out of 25! Another card I had been after for a long, long time. This one does not hit eBay very often and when they do I miss them for one reason or another. I almost missed this one had Hairylemon not pointed it out to me. For a very reasonable price I was able to add this to my other Finest Linds.

I'm now only missing the 1/1. I doubt I will ever see that one because its probably trapped in someones collection.

In my next post I'm going to chart my progress of obtaining the Giants team sets from 1958 up to now.

Merry Christmas to me!!

I know its a few weeks after Christmas but today some of my Christmas buys arrived, not all of them, but some.

I'm only going to feature one card, one card that is probably now the jewel in my collection.

Here is my one and only 1/1!!

2007 Exquisite Collections Rookie Signature
Imagery Autographs Silver Spectrum

I picked this up from the bench for what I think was an absolute steal, since I have bought other Lind cards with a much higher print run for more than I paid for this.

Now I hope my other cards show up this week, because I'm tired of waiting.

2011 Collecting goals

I've seen a few of these posts popping up on the blogroll and also a couple of threads on some of the card forums. So I thought I would list my goals for the coming year.
I'm going to keep them realistic and somewhat doable, otherwise what would be the point?

I'll split them into two different sections, each with three goals.

****MAIN GOALS****

1. Get to 300 unique Adam Lind cards. Currently sitting on 154 in just over 6 months of collecting him, so another 150 in 12 months should be within reason.

2. Complete the Allen and Ginter 2010 mini master set. I have neglected this quite a bit since being bit by the player collector bug, but I may have just negotiated a trade to complete at least one of the insert sets and I have another trade which should allow me to complete another two insert sets. I want to get the inserts out of the way before going for the base.

3. Trade more rather than buy. Its getting expensive, really expensive and I dont think I can support it much longer at this pace. So I'm going to become much more active with trading.

****SECONDARY GOALS****

1. Bust some boxes. This sort of contradicts the keeping to the budget goal but this will allow me to build up a semi decent trade list as well as giving me the thrill of ripping some packs. I will aim for 3 - 6 (cheap) hobby boxes over the next 12 months.
2. Gather more Bobby Thompson cards. I dont have a great deal at the moment and its not something I have been pursuing as much as I would like. My number one want would be his rookie, so I could complete the trifecta.
3. Collect the Giants team sets from Topps from 1958 to now. I do not expect to complete this any time soon due to some of the high dollar cards from the 50's and 60's.

I'm very easily attracted to new sets or projects so other goals will probably be added throughout the year. Although the goals I set above are my main targets.

What are your goals for the upcoming year?

Happy New Year to you all!

I'll keep this short since I dont have much time before I go out and celebrate the New Year.
Its been a great 2010 collecting wise. I have made contact with a bunch of UK collectors.
John, who has been very generous with his trades and hobby knowledge.
Simon, who makes me jealous every time I see the cards he picks up!
Martyn, new to the collecting game but a great and well informed baseball fan.
I have also made some friends on the other side of the Atlantic through some of the great trading sites out there and through the blogosphere.
Mark, or Fuji if you prefer, writes one of the best blogs out there. And his customary question at the end of each post is a lot of fun!
Matt, I met this guy on Sports Card Radio and have traded with him a couple of times. I actually have a package to send you way.
Finally I want to mention the good guys at Sports Card Radio, Colin and Ryan.
Colin puts out a great show about coming releases and general hobby advice.
Ryan is the guy that usually busts the boxes (did I mention they do free breaks on the fan forum?!). So thanks to you guys too.

And of course Happy New Year to everyone that reads this drivel!

Here's to another great collecting year in 2011 and of course another Giants world series!!