Fan Pack 2011: Cincinnati Reds

I recieved a Fan Pack from the Cincinatti Reds this past week. Lots of Mr. Redlegs, stickers, and the color red. See for yourself.

http://vimatech.com/

Unexpected Cards

Ryan, of the blog The Great Orioles Autograph Project, sent me a box of cards this past week. We have traded a few times in the past but these cards were totally unexpected. He slipped in a little note saying "Hope you enjoy these cards. Happy belated holidays!" I am definitly enjoying the cards Ryan! He sent over a great stack of D-Backs and a few cards for my Multiple Bat collection. Thanks Ryan! Here are a few of the highlights.

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee Diamondbacks Checklist

2010 Topps D-Backs Franchise History

Next up, a few other players from that 2001 World Series Championship team.

Jay Bell

Luis Gonzalez

Erubiel Durazo

Tony Womack

A few inserts and parallels.

2009 Topps Ring of Honor Randy Johnson

2000 Crown Royale Feature Attractions Erubiel Durazo

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee Stephen Drew Black Parallel

Next, some 2007 Bowman Heritage cards.

Drew and Quentin

Owings and Montero

Hudson and Jackson

A slew of J-Up cards to add to my collection.

And finally, Ryan sent over 9 Brandon Webb cards, one of which I did not already have. That makes 189 different Brandon Webbs.

2009 Topps Desert Heat Brandon Webb and Dan Haren



1987 Topps Jim Morrison 1/1

Scott of the blog Scott Crawford on Cards held a contest a few weeks back in which the idea was to provide the best caption to a 1959 Topps Larsen - Stengel card. I didn't win, dayf did. He was very deserving. I was the first runner up though. Scott was nice enough to offer a "uniquley defaced 1987 Topps card" to everyone that entered. So here it is. Thanks Scott!

1987 Topps Jim Morrison 1/1



And then there were five.

This 2001 SP Legendary Cuts Bat Card of Willie McCovey is my latest bat card of a 500 Home Run Club member. This card came today via eBay. I got it for $7 shipped. I need just five cards (soon to be four) to complete my goal; Ruth, Rodriguez, Killebrew, Palmeiro, and Foxx.

Barry Bonds 762
Hank Aaron 755
Babe Ruth 714
Willie Mays 660
Ken Griffey Jr. 630
Sammy Sosa 609
Frank Robinson 586
Mark McGwire 583
Alex Rodriguez 583
Harmon Killebrew 573
Rafael Palmeiro 569
Jim Thome 564
Reggie Jackson 563
Mike Schmidt 548
Manny Ramirez 546
Mickey Mantle 536
Jimmie Foxx 534
Willie McCovey 521
Frank Thomas 521
Ted Williams 521
Ernie Banks 512
Mel Ott 511
Gary Sheffield 509
Eddie Murray 504

Fan Pack 2011: Cleveland Indians

I got a Fan Pack from the Cleveland Indians this week. It contained a form letter, coloring page, word search, 2 pocket schedules and a Slider mascot card. Not too bad. Definitly geared towards kids. We'll see how it compares to Fan Pack of other teams.

TTM Success: Luis Gonzalez (again)

The day after Thanksgiving I sent Luis Gonzalez a TTM request and I recieved it back just 5 days later. I had sent out another TTM request to Gonzo months earlier (not sure on the exact date) but hadn't heard anything back. In todays mail I recieved the following three cards. Thanks Gonzo!

So how did I do on my 2010 card collecting goals?

2010 is over. It's time to look back at my Card Collecting Goals and see how I did. I will post my 2011 Card Collecting Goals within a day or two.

1. A card of every player who has ever played for the Arizona Diamondbacks - The Diamondbacks have only been around since 1998, so this shouldn't be too tough. I'm guessing maybe around 300 players. I just need to get a complete list. I have a list right now, but I'm sure it's not complete. If anyone can help out with a complete Diamondbacks team list or knows where I can get one it would be much appreciated.

I didn't really pursue this one. I think if I was better organized it would be easier. I might work on this in 2011.

2. A bat card of every member of the 500 Home Run Club - Currently the 500 Home Run Club only has 24 members (Carlos Delgado will probably join in 2010) and I already have 7 bat cards of 500 Home Run Club members (Griffey Jr., Thome, Ramirez, Thomas, Sosa, Sheffield, and Jackson) so I only need 17 more, 18 if Delgado makes it. This is an impressive list of players, but their bat cards are plentiful. Ruth and Mantle will be the hardest for me to get just because of the cost. 2001 Sweet Spot has quite a few of these players in their bat insert set and so I am trying to get as many as possible from that set.

I added 11 bat cards of 500 Home Run Club members to my collection in 2010. I only need 6 more (Ruth, Rodriguez, Killebrew, Palmeiro, Foxx, and McCovey).

3. The Rookie Card of every player that has won the Rookie of the Year Award - This will be a daunting task because one player in 1947 and 1948 won and at least 2 players (1976 and 1979 3 players won) from 1949 on have won the award. It's surprizing but the majority of Rookie of the Year winners have not gone on to have stellar careers. Sure their have been a few Hall of Famers who have won the award (Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Tom Seaver, Rod Carew, and Johnny Bench to name a few) but honestly do you even know who Walt Dropo, Jack Sanford, Gary Peters, Stan Bahnsen, and John Castino are? I am working on a list and will get it on my blog soon so that I can enlist the help of the blogging world on this task. I currently only have a handful of these cards. My goal for 2010 will be to collect half of these cards. (I have to leave something for 2011)

Didn't really work on this much during 2010. I don't think that I'll pursue it any further.

4. Cards of players holding more than one bat. - I only have 4 of these cards right now and my goal for 2010 is to have 50 of them. I have seen some older cards featuring players holding more than one bat, so I know that they are out there. I just have to track them down.

Thanks to lots of my fellow bloggers out there I did complete this goal.

5. Complete the 2008 Topps Trading Card History set. - This set consists of 75 cards. I have about 30 of them currently. I need to get a list together and complete the set.

Thanks to checkoutmycards.com and eBay, I was able to complete this set.

6. Complete the 2004 Topps Derby Digs Jersey Relics set - This set features pieces of jerseys worn during the 2003 Home Run Derby. I currently only have one card from this set, Garret Anderson but would like to get the entire set.

Only added 1 card to this set, but will continue to work on this set.

7. Add 100 cards to my Personal Collection - My personal collection will consist of game used, autographs, numbered, rookies, etc. that I want to keep for my personal collection. My focus will be on game used and autographed cards of Diamondback players.

Added 66 cards to my personal collection.

8. Grow my Brandon Webb collection to 200 cards - Webb is by far my favorite Diamondbacks. I'm not sure how many Webb cards I currently have, but it's got to be over 50 different cards. My 2010 goal will be to increase that to 200 different Brandon Webb cards. I need to get some sort of checklist going.

I have 188 different Brandon Webb cards now. Close, but no cigar.

9. Organize my Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Piazza collections - I collected Griffey and Piazza heavily from 1989 to 2004, but really haven't done anything since. I probably have about 500 different Griffey cards and about 300 different Piazza cards that I need to decide what to do with. Will I keep them and add to them or will I trade/sell them to focus on my other collecting goals.

Didn't work on this at all. I need to decide what I want to do with them.

10. 50 TTM autographs in 2010 - Growing up I had sent out a few autograph request here and there, but in 2009 I discovered TTM. It has been a lot of fun. I sent out a few dozen cards and have only recieved a handful back, but I am determined to get 50 TTM autographs in 2010.

I recieved 36 TTM autographs back in 2010 from 19 players and 1 actor.