by Matt | Apr 27, 2012 | Baseball
I wanted to put together an entire post about this, mostly because I think it’s going to be one of the very very few sets where I go after the entire thing, and not just Red Sox. Well, that was the plan until some unexpected things wiped out my card money stash. So, here’s where I am:
Red Sox Base: Complete!
Thanks to multiple breaks, a blaster of my own, a couple trades, I have all the base cards covered, and even multiples of some.
Red Sox Inserts: Complete!
Thankfully, there are only 2 Red Sox in the insert sets, and they’re both in “Sliding Stars”. Ellsbury and Pedroia and I’ve got both. There aren’t any in Moonshots, Glove Stories, Future Stars or Hallmark Heroes.
Red Sox Base Short Prints: 2/4
I’ve got the Ellsbury and Pedroia short prints/photo variations. I still need Youk and Boggs.
Red Sox Minis: 3/17
I have Boggs, Ellsbury and Melancon as regular mini (with varying ‘backs’). I don’t really care about the red back/strait cut variations, I’ll take whatever I can find. I’m not going to do a set of each, but a combined set of the 17 would be great. There are 17 instead of 14 because there’s a #331 Beckett that’s a variation above and beyond the normal base 300, plus the two inserts (as minis). This is the first and only mini set I’ve ever been interested in finishing.
Red Sox Blue Paper Frames: 2/14
I have Beckett in hand, and Pedroia is being mailed via eBay and should be here soon. I love the look of these and I’m seriously wanting to chase down the other 12.
Red Sox Relics (Large): 3/7
I’ve already picked up the Ortiz, Lester and Youk full sized relics. Still looking for Fisk, Pedroia, Ellbury and Boggs.
Red Sox Mini Relics: 2/5
According to the checklist, there are 2 fewer mini relics than the large ones. I have the Ortiz and Youk mini relics already. Looking for Fisk, Lester and Boggs.
Red Sox Autographs: 1/5
I have the Daniel Bard auto on it’s way to me, which is realistically the only one I have a shot at owning. The price jump from Bard to the others is huge. For the record, I’m missing Gonzalez, Crawford, Fisk and Pedroia.
That’s where I’m at with my Red Sox Master Set. Base complete, and most others in various stages. I did put a good dent into the relics last week, and I think I’ll wait a bit to see if the prices cool down on the rest.
Entire Base Set:
I’m still trying to decide if I should pursue this or not. NOT counting the Red Sox, I’m currently I’m 74 of the 300 base cards (88 with the Sox) plus 2 Glove Stories, 2 Sliding Stars, 7 Future Stars, 3 Hallmark Heroes and 3 Moonshots. I also have 17 regular minis (various backs), 1 green and 2 black borders.
All that is hardly a dent in a master set. I do have some random cards coming from a break or two, which should put me over 100. That’s 1/3 of the way there. So, I guess I’m testing the waters a bit on this one. Below I’ll write out the list of the cards I HAVE. If you have any base cards for the numbers I don’t have OR if you desperately need some of the base I DO have, please let me know. If I get more responses from people wanting to get rid of their duplicate base and I think I can crack 150, I’ll keep going. If not, and people are looking to finish their sets, I’ll be more than happy to send what I have your way.
Base I Currently Have:
4, 9, 16, 17, 19, 24, 28, 29, 39, 40, 47, 53, 68, 78, 79, 81, 85, 91, 93, 97, 109, 110 (x2), 113, 114, 116, 123, 124, 129, 130, 131, 133 (x2), 134, 137, 144, 148, 155, 159, 165, 168, 172, 176, 182, 185, 186, 188, 195, 197, 199, 200, 204, 221, 224, 233, 239, 241, 249, 254, 265, 267, 269, 276 (x2), 282, 286, 288, 289 (x2), 290, 295, 298, 300.
Scans:
Yup, I’ve got scans. They’re after the break. I managed to find, with the help of this handy visual guide, a number of the short prints in my stack. I scanned those, the minis, and the two hits I got. I’m NOT putting together a master mini set, so these are all tradebait. Ask away if you’re interested.
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by Matt | Apr 25, 2012 | Personal
I was going to post some random cards but I simply don’t have the energy. I got new cards. Surprise!
I’ve been so busy at work I can hardly stay awake. My company recently won multiple new, huge, government contracts and that’s awesome for us as a whole, for our bottom line, and for my year-end bonus/contribution to my 401(k), but the downside is that it all involves huge amount of time and energy to get up and running. Contracts need websites to take in resumes from incumbent employees. Benefits packages need to be produced. Posters need to be made. All these means huge amounts of work for my group in particular. 60-70hr weeks. On top of that, our already existing products and services felt it was a great time to update their web properties as well. Or, I guess I should rephrase that, they felt it was time for ME to update their web sites. So, I’ve got so many projects floating around at 95% completion I just don’t know where to start, or more accurately, finish.
There’s all sorts of other huge projects sitting just over the horizon too. Another major site redesign, a complete overhaul of a document management system, possible travel to ALASKA to work on things I’m going to need to get clearance for. Ok, that last one is kinda cool. Anyway, the point is that this summer is going to be crazy busy. To a stupid degree.
I’m also working hard on some projects of my own. A card/game site, some new work for my portfolio I’ve been meaning to put up, all sorts of things.
On a personal note, I’m not really sure what do to with my brother any more. He’s a great guy, and I don’t want to throw him out on his butt, however it might just be coming to that. He’s lived with us for nearly 7 months now, trying to get “back on his feet” by going to school. He’s borrowing money, borrowing a car, has no job and nothing lined up for the summer. Personally I think a good kick in the butt is exactly what he needs, but it’s hard to be mean to family. I’ve got to have a talk with him about “transitioning” into another place to live.
We’re also done fixing up the wife’s car. Something about a piston rod not firing in sync, clogged fuel injector and an A/C thermostat problem. Luckily most of it was under warranty so we just paid a couple hundred bucks. This just moves up the time table of getting rid of it. We had been thinking for quite a while about trading it in. It’s not a bad vehicle by any stretch, but it’s a sub-SUV, it gets about 15mpg on a good day, and now we have a kid… and it has a tan interior. You do the math. I’m thinking a small commuter car, like a Mazda 3. She doesn’t want to give up the size/class of car she has, so we’re looking at the Mazda CX5 instead. We’ve actually had an offer of $15-18k for her car, and I think we might just take it. We have $8k left to pay off, so $18k would cover that and give us plenty as a down payment on the next one. I’d love an upgrade myself, it was my turn for a new car, but having it paid off completely is worth more in the long run since my commute is so short.
Anyway, I’ve rambled too much. I have been staying up on my cards, especially Gypsy Queens. I just don’t have the energy to fire up the scanner. I’ve got stuff from breaks to scan, a couple trades coming in, a couple going out (Arizona, yours is on it’s way), and of course of cheapy pick ups from over the weekend. Maybe tomorrow, cause tonight, it’s all about the hockey. Game 7, go Bruins!
by Matt | Apr 17, 2012 | Baseball
Another week, another small handful of purchases I probably shouldn’t be making. I look at it like this: If I’ve given myself a monthly budget of “less than a video game” and in 3 months time I’ve only spent $50 (according to my “recent purchases” on ebay), then by all accounts I’m within budget and I’m not breaking the bank. I do have to curtail it a bit, the wife’s car decided it would be a good week to die and it’s in the shop to the tune of $800 for a new transmission coil and some A/C work. So, that kind of puts a stop to the metric ton of Gypsy Queens I had planned to buy. Oh well.
Anyway, since this is probably the last week I can splurge a little on in the foreseeable future, I’m glad I went kinda big. A few eBay items, a trip to a LCS, some cards from COMC, all sorts of goodies. Then again, my definition of “big” is a $7 card, so, you know, temper your expectations…
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