6477 to go!

Chasing the impossible?

Last year I got a few cards in a lot I bought and decided to start collecting the set. After a bit of research I realised there was 6,742 of them! Had I made a bad decision? Am I chasing the impossible?

If you don't know already it's the 2008 Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy set with a card for every home game ever played at the old Yankee Stadium. The cards were inserted into other Upper Deck baseball card sets during 2008 and 2009.

Following a conversation with a friend I decided to apply some targets to it otherwise I might die before completing the set. So I've set a target of completing it by the time I'm 65 and on that basis need to get a minimum of 30 cards per month between now and then.

This months delivery has arrived and contains 33 cards so at this rate I'll complete it when I'm 64.

European Trade Triangle

It's tough being a card collector in Europe so I'm lucky to have a good trade network from the UK Cards Facebook group and also from the The Dutch Card Guy and The Italian Completist.

Based in the UK, Holland an Italy we have a nice little trade triangle going on.

This week I received a box of cards from Italy to add to my Yankees collection. Lots of cards from sts I'd not seen before which is always nice. I need to get some more folders so I can start to file these cards away.

Anyway I'm grateful as always for the cards but thought I'd pick some out that caught my eye. I hope you like them.

A 2010 Topps Heritage. I just thought it was a nice looking card.

I couldn't work out why Topps thought this was a good photo to use. There is a noticeable blur in the front of the picture. 

I remember when this guy signed for the Yankees and couldn't help thinking of this chap.

I love Darryl Strawberry if only for the introduction of the player taunting Daaaaa-ryll

And finally can't post without a Derek card.

Thanks Riccardo. A return package will be on it's way soon.

2016 Topps Series 1 Baseball Review

Talking to a fellow collector Andy this morning reminded me I need to post my review of the 2016 Topps Series 1 Baseball release.

I saw some of the previews from Topps a while ago and then watched a few breaks on YouTube in advance of the box break with the UK Cards Facebook group (see my previous post on that one).

I ended up with the Washington Nationals (along with my 'bonus' teams of the Brewers and the Rockies) in the break so my interest was slightly diminished but was hopeful of some nice cards I could use for trade.

Anyway onto the set.

Base Cards

I liked the look of the 2015 cards but the 2016 cards I'm just not a fan of. A pretty standard back but the front has had someone from marketing do a makeover on it and I'm not impressed. I'm not sure if it's the fogging in the corners or the half hidden logo. I think it's the logo that I dislike the most. Why cover it up like that? I just don't get it.

Inserts

The First Pitch inserts return for 2016. They're ok but living in England a lot of the time I don't know who the celebrities are. I got ex-commissioner Bud Selig so I knew who that was. Topps have continued with the fogging on these cards are well.

I got a couple of Gold parallel cards this year. The gold replacing the fog in the corners but the hidden logo is still present.

A rainbow foil of Jonathan Papelbon. The fog and hidden logo still present.

Another marketing influenced card. It seems these have been well received on the breaks I've seen but the blurring of the two players together with the bits breaking away is unnecessary. Why not just have them overlayed? Again the designers clearly thought it looked good.

The Perspectives cads next and thankfully no hidden logos or fog but it's the text this time. I don't like the 'perspective' view. In my example the text is partially hidden on the P. On a break I watched the guy couldn't read the players name so didn't even know who the card was of until he looked at the back.

Finally a card in the set I like. I guess the fact it has a more classic look probably shows the style of cards I like. Sy Berger is considered the 'father of modern day baseball cards'. A nice card with a white border around the edge and guess what? Oh and the logo isn't hidden.

From the breaks in UK Cards and other breaks I've seen inserts include the '100 Years At Wrigley' set (nice if you're a Cubs fan), the 'Pressed Into Service' inserts look ok and I quite like the 'Team Logo Pin' inserts.

So I think I'll be giving the 2016 set a miss. There's too much I don't like so will save my money for another 2016 set. At the moment it looks like the Stadium Club may be my set for the year. In the meantime I'll focus on completing my other collections.

Oh and don't get me started on the Wacky Packages inserts!!!!

UK Cards Topps 2016 Baseball Break

I joined a Facebook group called 'UK Cards' and every now and then we decide to all pay in to a box break.

The first of 2016 was for the Topps Baseball set. There's a lot of Yankees fans in the group and so between us all we decide who is getting the Yankees. I've not had them yet but guess I will do one day.

Every interested member pays £20 and the number of members entering decides the number of Hobby boxes we buy. This time there were 18 members so the organiser Glenn purchased a full case of which 6 boxes would be for the group and the rest for himself.

I didn't get the Yankees but still entered and decided to go for the Nationals. Any unallocated team goes into a draw. I ended up with:

Every Box - Washington Nationals
Box 2 - Colorado Rockies
Box 3 - Milwaukee Brewers
Box 4 - Milwaukee Brewers
Box 6 - Colorado Rockies

I'll post my cards and thoughts on the set when I receive them.

If you want to watch the breaks they're all filmed

Box #1 - https://youtu.be/UQ5gs2hEFgQ
Box #2 - https://youtu.be/jalp7kbWaFg
Box #3 (part 1) - https://youtu.be/X52XP5QMpdc
Box #3 (part 2) - https://youtu.be/C9jkrPI8AaU
Box #4 - https://youtu.be/lP4mkhxX_-4
Box #5 - https://youtu.be/kxjTGzEgSZ4
Box #6 - https://youtu.be/vW-DNher_S4

Pay Day Blues

It's Here!

As mentioned in my previous post January pay day is always a welcome arrival. The long time between December pay day and the one in January along with the excesses of Christmas mean funds are tight during the month of January so when pay day arrives at the end of January it usually involves an increased spending compared to normal months.

So the postie has been busy this week with a number of deliveries.

First up was a lot of 2015 Gypsy Queen Framed Paper White. 18 cards for $0.99.

I like the 2015 GQ collection and the white cards really took my eye so trying to complete the set.

When looking at an item on eBay I always look to see what other lots they have so I can combine shipping costs otherwise it's too expensive. Luckily this seller had some other lots so I got:

Another 2015 GQ Mini Red for my collection 

and a lot of 2015 Allen & Ginter minis including 

a CC card for my Yankees collection

The following day I received 10 items comprising of 65 cards. Mostly for my Yankees collection.

Some nice additions. I really like the 2014 Gypsy Queen insert lot of the Babe, Yogi and Mo and the 2001 Upper Deck Joe DiMaggio cards. Might go for the set of those.

There's just to many cards to collect and my eyes are too big!

Zistle Time

Collecting on a budget means one thing.

Trading!

As well as the members of the 'UK Card' group on Facebook, The Dutch Card Guy from Holland and The Italian Completist I trade with members of the database and trading site Zistle.

Today my 10th successful trade arrived the America and I'm very pleased with it.

Last year (2015) I decided I'd start collecting baseball cards from the year of my birth so the 1968 Topps set was added to my wantlist.

My wife started my collection off (with help from a UK Cards member) as a Christmas present so 47 cards marked the start of my collection.

As the end of January, and payday, approached I decided I'd add some cards to my collection. The usual frustration with ebay and the high postage costs to England switched my attention to Zistle.

The easy to use 'Find Trades' guided me to 'Bumfan'. A quick check of this users profile showed as well as being from Washington State had successfully completed 20+ trades. As I always do I contact the user first to see if they are willing to trade with a collector from England. The higher shipping costs and associated risk is something that puts some users off and I have been turned down before for those reasons. Fortunately they said yes and using the 'Trade Manager' you can easily select the 'cards you get' and then 'cards they get' and then review the 'trade summary'.

In this instance I was after the 1968 set and the cards they were getting were mainly 2015 base set so I offered nearly 3 cards for my 1. Seemed a fair deal and always keen to set a sweetener on the first trade to encourage repeat trades.

Anyway the cards were posted in both directions, theirs arrived yesterday and mine arrived today.

So after all that build up here they are. 24 more cards for my 1968 collection and a 2015 insert I was missing too.

Nice cards in good condition and mostly nicely centred

 The other cards including the 2015 'Til It's Over

#1

12 months ago (late 2014) I got chatting to a parent at my daughter's football training and discovered he collected baseball cards. I'd not touched my cards since 2002/03 so had no idea about the current scene but we soon exchanged details and he invited me to join a Facebook group 'UK Cards'

My interest in collecting reignited and with some great collectors on the group 2015 has been a busy year.

I originally got in to collecting when a friend married a guy from New York and from 1999 to 2007 I used to visit regularly. In 2002 I began collecting the 2002 Upper Deck Series 1 set and this Christmas finally completed the base set after getting back into the hobby and getting the final card from COMC.

The reason for the blog was for 2 acts of kindness and the realisation that not everyone uses social media. I received two excellent parcels. The first from The Dutch Card Guy in Holland. This led to contact with The Italian Completist from unsurprisingly Italy. Both have huge collections and a sizeable tradelist so it's been great to strike up a relationship with these guys.

I'll post when I can or get anything of interest.