Are you Man enough?

Ok, so not a baseball card post today, but I'll let this Stan "The Man" Musial help me lead into this post. I am sure many on this blogroll play fantasy baseball and I know a couple of you readers are in this same league that I am referring to.

It's a 30-team, franchise, dynasty league that is starting up. I am not the commisioner but did say I would try to help him fill in the last three spots.

The league charter is linked under my want lists for you to look at. I have played with a number of the guys in the league and it's a great group. There's a good amount of trading and people are from all over the country and a couple outside the U.S.. It is a daily league and you need to be active in that you have full active rosters.

If you want to see if you're ready for a Man's league, please email Bryan at    bluhrs   at  gmail.com

2013 Topps Retail Loose Packs

Without further ado, some of the cards from the first couple of retail packs ....

The emeralds are not numbered. Not collecting these, nor the pinks or camos. So any I get, they'll be available for trade.

And first Red Sox of 2013, is Salty. Too bad he may be traded come Spring Training.

I know I have another Red Sox on top of one of the two rack packs I got but not sure who it is. Will wait till tonight to open those.

Some more, these from my second and third packs.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS SHOT!!! And nice that's not a short print. 

Target Reds are back, not serial numbered. Also not in every pack.

All in all I limited myself to 15 loosies (from a retail box and gravity feeder) and two rack packs. The had the deck boxes (72 cards) and the blasters. All the prices are the same as previous years for the entire line of retail product.

Ok time to get back to work but just wanted to share with you that 2013 Topps retail is live!  It's a great looking product from the few packs I have opened and will definitely be putting this set together.

2013 Topps Retail and in my hands!

So just popped over to the Target around the corner from work (North Shore, Mass.) and behold ... UNTOUCHED single packs, drop box box packs, rack packs!  Normally this Target doesn't put product out early but it did today!

So with that, the first card in my first 2013 Topps pack.

#101 Bryan Shaw.

Will post a couple more cards shortly.

Housecleaning and Collecting Goals

With spring training just around the corner, I needed to get around to some posting and cleaning up of lists. Spent about and hour yesterday on ebay and Beckett's marketplace filling in some holes. Finally finished off my 1975 Topps set. Needed the Joe Morgan, Brooks Robinson card and two team cards. Nice to finally cross that off my needs.

Also finished off my 2012 Topps Debut set in the process. I really like having this set bookend the regular Topps flagship set. I hope Topps continues to do these sets in the future. Maybe they can add an end of the year draft pick set and make it an online exclusive ala the Heritage High Series Set.

Along the way, cleaned up on some missing Red Sox cards and some 1971 Topps high numbers and short prints.

Also, I know I need to reach back out to a couple of traders on some trades. I would love to get rid of the piles I have been accumulating on these fronts. So please bear with me.

So onto my 2013 Collecting Goals

1. To finally land a 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan rookie card. Doesn't have to be perfect, can even have some creasing, pinhole, or paper loss.
2. Finish off my 1971 Topps Set. Easily doable as I am not missing any overly expensive cards. I think the Ernie Banks is the highest priced of the bunch.
3. Try to reduce my needs list in half on both the 1968 and 1973 Topps set. I have a fair number of commons to obtain, just need to find outlets (online, shows, other card stores) to make happen.
4. Land another large lot/partial 1960s Topps set. I know some of the high numbers in these years can be the killers for those trying to complete these sets. I do like the designs of the 1960, 1962, and 1964 sets, but then again I already have a 1966 Rose and Koufax in my hands. I need to look at how many cards I have for each year and see what lines up best.
5. Make more trades. Granted, I really only purchase the Topps flagship as far as boxes/packs go and some other packs here and there. But I do have a number of oddball issues and variety of different cards from across the spectrum (70s-00s). I also have a number of Red Sox to trade as well and would even part with Red Sox relics in order to finish off some of my sets.

So, if anyone can lend a hand in helping me with these goals, drop me a line. I'd love to start chipping away.

New Vintage Set Chase

So the summer is finally passed and now comes the excitement of playoff baseball. It's great to see many of the super power teams of the 1970's back in the hunt for the World Series trophy this Fall. Seeing the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland A's, and (gulp) the New York Yankees will stoke many memories from years past. These teams definitely dominated the decade known for astro turf, afros, free agency, and disco.

Two of the franchises also making this years Fall Classic; the San Francisco Giants did have a great year in 1971, but lost in the NLCS. Same with the Detroit Tigers in 1972, losing in the ALCS to the A's. The Atlanta Braves struggled to reach 3rd place in the National League West throughout the decade, while the Washington Nationals left the nation's capital for Texas. The Texas Rangers although no playoff appearances, fared better finishing second place three times and third another two in the American League West. If not for the Kansas Royals, those Rangers may have had their own little dynasty. The St. Louis Cardinals had a similar decade to the Rangers, except theirs came in the first half of the decade.

All of this brings me to my next vintage set chase. I have always loved the 1971 Topps set for it's black borders, action photos, and first-time use of head shots on the back side of these cardboard beauties. It's a set I have thought about starting here and there, but knew it was probably a long shot at this point in time.

However, one late night poking around eBay, I stumbled upon this near complete set. When I look for these partial sets, condition is one of the last things I look at. I really care if it has a good chunk of the higher priced cards and a decent amount of high series cards. This set had both, PLUS the condition was more than acceptable for me! For less than two boxes of 2012 Topps Triple Threads (and that includes the shipping I paid), I was able to land one of my favorite sets of all time.

The one thing I was wary of with this set, was the possibility of black sharpie marker on the edges and corners. Thankfully, outside of four commons in the low series, this set with all it stars, rookies, and high numbers was clean of that issue.

The set already had a load Hall of Famers in Carlton, Seaver, Ryan, Rose, Bench, Clemente, Mays, Aaron in this set and quite a few high numbers. Rookies of Concepcion, Garvey, Blyleven, Baker/Baylor were also is nice, clean shape. Thankfully, I already had the Thurman Munson rookie so that was one  high-priced card I didn't have to chase down.

The set already had a load Hall of Famers in Carlton, Seaver, Ryan, Rose, Bench, Clemente, Mays, Aaron in this set and quite a few high numbers.

The Nolan Ryan has a little paper loss and faint tape mark, but luckily does not interfere with any copy, while the Mays has a couple of wrinkles on the right side. Otherwise no complaints.

The Clemente is probably in the bottom 10–15 cards for condition in this partial set, only because of the tape. I was able to carefully remove most of it without damaging the card further so it looks a little cleaner than shown above.

With the 1971 Topps I already in hand, I was able to upgrade a handful of cards and filled in a couple of high numbers as well.

I have posted my want list for this set on the right hand side of the blog. Please drop me a line if you can help. I do have a number of 1971 Topps I no longer need because of this set, so maybe we can help each other out if you too are collecting this set. I have a number of the leaders cards and post season cards. I also have an extra Concepcion rookie, Tom Seaver, Juan Marichal, and Gaylord Perry.

I also have quite a few 1972 Topps for those collecting that set and please look at my past posts on some of the vintage 60's I have. I'm willing to trade some of that in order to complete this set. And with that, I look forward to this years Fall Classic in a matter of hours. Here's hoping for a true 70's classic of A's/Orioles versus the Reds in the World Series. Thank you for reading.

Will trade for your minis

WANTED (Pretty please with sugar on top): Your Allen & Ginter minis!

I know there are some bloggers that still collect these tiny pieces of cardboard, whiles others could care less for them. As you can see from my wants pages, I love me those Ginter minis.

Please check my past trade-bait posts and hopefully I can find something to trade for your minis. I do have a bunch of extra minis from previous years to trade as well.

In any case, please drop me an email and I look forward to trading with you.

***If any of you are looking for base set SPs, I have the following for trade: 312, 323, 337, 347***

Another surprise, another set to build

So yesterday I posted about finding a 1968 Topps Bench rookie card for a smidge over the cost of a blaster box. I had thought that the Bench might be one of the last cards that would find it's way into my '68 album. In fact, I had more than once thought about putting a bid on ebay for one of those reprints but thought better of it.

That Bench (along with  '68s Clemente, Carew, Rose, and #1 Clemente leaders card which I need to get when I have some money) was in a small stack of cards that one of the employees had elsewhere. As I set the Bench aside and the other '68s, I passed a 1969 Mantle, some other '69 stars and then I saw them ... three of them to be exact in varying conditions. Surely, there must be a heavy crease, pen marks, torn back ... nope!

Again, for the cost of 2012 Topps blaster box, I picked up this cornerstone card of the 1973 Topps set. Sure, a couple of soft corners and some of that black ink seen on many a '73 card, but no way I was going to get this particular card, in this condition on ebay or COMC at this price. And with that, I begin chasing down cards from the set of my birth year. I have posted a want list to the right. In the next day or two it should be up to date as I still sifting through what I have.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

Just a heads up, I have decided to put a couple sets from the 1980's together as well. 

The 1984 Topps set (and Traded set), which I favor design-wise over the 1983 issue. 

The 1986 Topps set (already have the Traded set) for it's black borders, the Red Sox magical run and then historic defeat (still can't fathom why Topps didn't do traded cards of Dave Henderson and Spike Owen), and maybe the best Topps Traded set of the 1980's. Speaking of Traded set omissions, how did Steve Carlton with an airbrushed uni not make that set? The certainly did the artwork for the 1987 Topps box panel cards. 

And lastly, the underrated 1988 Topps set ( have the Traded set). It's set that I see getting more love for it's design and it's photography. The photography in the '88 set I feel is far superior than that of the well-loved 1987 wood grain issue. The pictures seem more crisp, colorful, and I like how the players "pop up" above the team names. The Traded set isn't too shabby either. Forget about worth, but look at the players in it. Alomar, Grace, Sabo, Weiss, and Wells rookies, Kirk Gibson donning Dodger blue, Dave Parker and Don Baylor in A's green and gold, Gossage in a Cubs pullover. The USA team with Jim Abbott and Tino Martinez.

In the coming week I plan of posting those needs lists as well. Still sorting and putting things in order so please stay tuned. Hopefully someone has a stack or two they are tired of looking at and will want to trade away. Again, thank you for reading!