Hitting All the Sets

A trade stack for every occasion.

The Topps Baseball Fanatic is arguably the biggest Topps Heritage fan around. His collection is certainly putting mine to shame, but when you are doing as well on your set quests as he is, you're bound to have some doubles. Fortunately, I was once again the beneficiary of some cards he didn't need and was able to punch a few more holes in quite a few different sets that I'm working on. The Fanatic is also a big Dustin Pedroia collector, and I'm working on something to that end that he'll hopefully enjoy.

The 2012 Heritage set is probably the one I'm most sick of, but it's probably because I've opened more of it than any other year other than possibly 2008's offerings. I still have a bunch of doubles from this year, but I was able to snag a couple of short prints including CarGo here.

I actually forgot I was trying to collect these inserts. This is from the 2012 Topps Archives 3-D collection. I like these weird lenticular Sportflics-ish cards that occasionally pop up in recent products.

Josh Hamilton is surprised! And he has no signature. This is one of the variations from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set. I should really put this one to bed soon.

There are so many Dodgers collectors that I've traded with, so I don't get many chances to scan and post Dodgers cards on this blog. They're usually gone almost as quickly as they arrive. This one is staying home.

Here's another Bowman Heritage card of the foil variety. It's also a "no sig" version.

I still need base cards from 2009 Topps Heritage. That's sad. I'm missing 5 non-SP cards from the main set and 2 from the high series.

Finally, my favorite Topps insert set of all-time still has quite a few names on the list to cross off. Someday!

Trading with a Fanatic

Carlos Beltran is ready for the playoffs. Are you ready?

For at least the third time, I received a large package of set building cards from fellow set builder The Topps Baseball Fanatic. His blog primarily consists of wantlists of cards from Topps sets, but if you find something he needs and work out a deal with him I'm sure you're mailbox will be stuffed with cards that you need.

In addition to a few cards from the 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team insert set, I also got a healthy amount of needs from the 2007 Bowman Heritage. This short printed Ichiro "no signature" variation is a nice get. I don't exactly like that so many cards in this set have variations, but it's better that than no Bowman Heritage at all, which is the case these days.

Here's a shiny Miguel Cabrera. I don't really know what to say about Miggy, a guy who has put up video game-like numbers for the second straight year. I don't know, it could be that he's really good at the baseball game. I have a ton of these rainbow foil cards, but I need a ton more.

This package also continued where the previous package I received from The Fanatic left off, with a bunch more 2013 Heritage cards to add to my collection. Lance Lynn has been tabbed to start game 2 of the upcoming NLDS series with the Pirates right behind Adam Wainwright. Lynn was roughed up in a few relief appearances in last year's divisional series with the Nats and didn't fare much better in two brief starts versus the Giants in the NLCS. Hopefully he has learned something from his past playoff experiences and can turn that around.

I'm still chipping away at the 2006 Bazooka set, which was once upon a time a repack staple. I like all of the inserts and parallels, and I picked up a few of those in this package.

Well, it's the, uh... rarely seen Larry Bigbie. The right side of this card could tear apart the bozos on the left. That's all I'm saying.

Finally, this is a tough to find (for me) short printed team card from the 2007 Topps Heritage set. On a night where we saw the Reds season end, I had to wonder how long they'll keep Dusty Baker around, especially after he sent an ill-prepared Johnny Cueto to the mound with the season on the line. I guess it was technically the postseason, but it doesn't really feel like it. Much of the country was rooting for the "underdog" story Pirates to come out on top, and I was as well, though for a much different reason. I think the Cardinals, despite the regular season head-to-head records, will have better success against Pittsburgh than I did against Cincinnati. A couple of the Reds not-so-secret weapons (Chapman and Billy Hamilton) had me a bit concerned with the way they can affect a close game.

Trading with Card Buzz

It's late on the eve of this year's rendition of the All-Star Game, and the Cardinals will have as many as 5 participants in addition to Adam Wainwright, who opted not to pitch as he just pitched yesterday. I'm hoping for an interesting game, although considering what's at stake for the winning league, I wouldn't mind another blowout like last year if it helps the Cardinals in the playoffs.

I recently traded with Laurens from Card Buzz, acquiring two more much needed SPs from the 2007 Topps Heritage set and a few Redbirds.

It seems weird that this will be the third consecutive All-Star Game without Albert Pujols. He likely would have made the 2011 team were it not for injuries, but his numbers have not been there at the break to justify his selection in either of his seasons with the Angels. I could see him having a stronger second half this season, but he's clearly very limited in his mobility which seems to affect all sorts of things.

Here's to hoping Adam Wainwright has a strong second half. I'd love to see him finally win the Cy Young Award this year after he came so close to doing it in 2009 and 2010.

Trading with Reader Jeff

Reader Jeff from Iowa completed a Heritage-for-Heritage (and Cubs) swap with me recently. Included in the trade was this Anibal Sanchez New Age Performers card from the 2007 Topps Heritage set. Sanchez was one of a number of notable players dealt today with the trade deadline approaching. Sanchez came tantalizingly close a couple of times last year to throwing his second career no-hitter, but he hasn't always been the most consistent pitcher in the league.

Hooray! Floating rookie heads from 2011! This one is a short print. In this year's Heritage set, the floating heads don't mean a thing as far as rarity goes.

These guys look ghostly for some reason.

Ah, Ichiro. My guess is that he's with the Yankees now because the Mariners learned that there was no chance of Ichiro signing a new contract with him. Otherwise, I don't think they would have let their biggest ballpark (and tourist) attraction get away even with his rapidly declining skills.

Here's one for the Cardinals binders.

Like Ichiro, Randy Johnson and Richie Sexson (to name a few), Olerud was another former Mariner that made a late career stop in the Bronx.

Finally, here's Roy Oswalt from that 2008 Topps rookie cup anniversary insert set. I like these, but it feels like I still need so many of them.

Survey Says

To illustrate just how far behind I've sunk in trading, I'm showing off a package I received a couple of weeks ago from TexasSurveyor, which included some much needed 2007 Heritage cards along with the usual Redbird suspects. I know that a couple of weeks really isn't a lot of time, but realize that I usually like to actually complete my end of the trade before I post about what I got in return. It looks like I have some work to do. In the mean time, here are some cards!

Lance looks about like he probably felt after last night's marathon of a baseball game. Batters were beaned, homers were slugged, and (inadvertent!) saliva was slung. In the end, the Cardinals picked up a game on the persistent Brew Crew and the All-Star catcher will probably miss a couple of games. Fortunately, the Cardinals have three catchers on their active roster for some reason.

Extra bonus points are awarded here for finally completing the 2009 Topps base team set needs. I'm still missing all of the SP variations, of course, but we won't talk about that right now.

I don't know you, Joe. I'm happy to have your baseball card, however. It looks like Hague spent two seasons as a full-time player with the Cards back in the early '70s, along with a few other seasons where he was more of a bit player.

Speaking of bit players, John Gall never quite fit into the Cardinals mix. He had decent minor league numbers, if not spectacular. His role was eventually filled by John Rodriguez, and countless numbers of other players who are good enough to appear on baseball cards and the occasional Major League scorecard, but don't make much more of an impact. I'm quite happy to receive a certified autographed card of him, however.

Trading with The Angels, In Order

As much as I love the Cardinals and love receiving cards of said team, it's almost a relief to open up a package that someone has sent me in the mail and see a bunch of cards from a set or several sets that I'm collecting inside. I feel like I have so many sets on my want lists right now that I'm not getting anything done. Of course, maybe that's me letting my work life bleed into my hobby life a little too much. I received such a package from The Angels, In Order: full of want list needs even if it was Cardinals-free.

Ah, Kurt Miller. Life was so young and fun back then. Just posing for pictures, tossing up baseball in the air... not a care in the world. Kurt Miller ended up with a career ERA of 7.48 with a WHIP heading dangerously close to 2. This packaged knocked out a significant chunk of my 1993 Upper Deck needs, including quite a few of the Star Rookie cards. They can be hard to find in decent shape and I also just, for whatever reason, was missing a lot of them. I'm now down to missing less than 40 total cards for the set, which is nice.

At this point, short printed 2008 Heritage cards are like shiny undiscovered treasures to me. I need a ton of them and have no aspirations of getting all of them any time soon. I was so happy to receive this that I actually posted a Josh Beckett card on my blog.

Included were a handful of 2007 Heritage SPs as well. Rafael Soriano is one of the best closers in the entire league, if not the best. So what did the Yankees go and do? They threw huge money piles at him to not close. He's setting up for Mariano Rivera at the moment. Still, I don't really hate the strategy as Rivera won't last forever and they probably established some pretty good relations with his future replacement by throwing said money piles his way in the meantime.

And speaking of the Yankees, there's this guy. Hopes are dwindling that someone less deplorable will replace Barry Bonds as the all-time career home run hitter, not that Rodriguez himself comes without his own tainted past. Many were looking towards Griffey to somehow be that guy, but he rather rapidly turned into someone who would more likely need assistance crossing a busy street than need a hanging breaking ball to mash over the wall.

Heritage Blaster from the Past(er)

The 2007 version of Topps Heritage may not be the best looker at the Heritage ball, but Heritage is Heritage in my book. You can't blame it for being patterned after a dull set. It was just 1958's turn. This was actually my first introduction to the Heritage line, and despite the dull pictures, frustrating variations and usual crop of SPs, I am still trying to put together the set all the same. I haven't bought a ton of unopened product from this year, so unfortunately my want list is still rather long and heavily slanted towards the harder to find cards. You can still find blasters of this stuff online for less than original retail price, however, and I picked up one box of said blaster stuff.

Pack 1:

400 - Tadahito Iguchi (Last seen in MLB: 2008)

364 - Eliezer Alfonzo

39 - Mitch Maier

492 - Brad Penny All-Star (First card I needed, which non-coincidentally happens to be a short print.)

MHRC12 - Mickey Mantle Home Run Champion 12 (I'm collecting all of the inserts, but I make an exception for Mantle cards. They just don't fit. I blame the cumulative annoyance of having so many inserts in so many products all at once. If anyone needs any of these, I've got a few.)

44 - Washington Nationals

271 - Chris Coste (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

190 - Marcus Giles (Last seen in MLB: 2007)

Pack 2:

332 - Bernie Williams (Last seen in MLB: 2006 - although he did play in the WBC a couple of years ago.)

223 - Reed Johnson

350 - Gary Sheffield (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

160 - Richie Sexson (Last seen in MLB: 2008)

NP1 - Ryan Howard New Age Performers (This is kind of a goofy design, but I think I prefer it to some of the later inserts. Needed this one.)

457 - John Maine

188 - Dan Johnson

287 - Chris Carpenter (I have several of these already, but I had to show it because it's a Cardinal. I like the touch of vintage with the triangle background hooking up with the modern logo.)

Pack 3:

344 - Brad Lidge

128 - Willy Aybar (I don't remember him playing for Atlanta.)

65 - Chris Narveson (I also own lots of this card.)

173 - Austin Kearns

49 - Willy Taveras (Here's another needed SP. These fall at 1:2 packs, unlike the more recent sets where they're a more difficult 1:3 ratio.)

180 - Jeff Weaver

379 - Barry Zito

99 - Wes Helms

Pack 4:

462 - Joaquin Arias

37 - Billy Sadler (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

434 - Curtis Granderson

155 - Endy Chavez

FB7 - Eddie Yost Flashback

279 - Kevin Millar (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

126 - Michael Cuddyer

423 - Roy Oswalt

Pack 5:

301 - Placido Polanco (There he is again...)

265 - Jon Lester

66 - Matt Murton (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

357 - Eric Stults (Cross another SP off the list. Last seen in MLB: 2009)

ARHR73 - Alex Rodriguez Road to 500 #73 (Speaking of pointless inserts infiltrating everything...)

358 - John Lackey

115 - Jeremy Bonderman

314 - Braves Boss and Power: Bobby Cox/Chipper Jones

Pack 6:

368 - Travis Hafner

79 - Corey Patterson (I keep waiting for him to disappear and... nothing.)

421 - Chris Capuano

42 - Russell Martin

81 - Stephen Drew Yellow Team variation (The variation cards, which usually tend to either be a yellow team name or player name, are a bit tougher to pull at 1:6 packs.)

441 - James Loney

280 - Mark Grudzielanek

98 - Ryan Zimmerman

Pack 7:

209 - Angel Guzman (Last seen in MLB: 2009)

92 - David Wright

417 - Chris Young (the outfielder)

136 - Ray Durham (Last seen in MLB: 2008)

455 - Chien-Ming Wang (Last seen in MLB: 2009 - although he's been under contract with the Nationals for more than a year. This is another tick off of the SP list.)

352 - Jake Peavy

71 - Los Angeles Dodgers

495 - Kenny Rogers All-Star

Pack 8:

273 - J.D. Drew

245 - Ted Lilly

29 - Jose Lopez

85 - Omar Vizquel (This makes it 5 regular SPs for the box!)

MHRC4 - Mickey Mantle Home Run Champion 4

403 - Bryce Brandon Harper (This is the lone non-SP card that I needed from the box. Last seen in MLB: 2006)

278 - Nick Johnson

286 - Cory Sullivan

Time to update the want list. If there's anyone else still collecting this set, I have a few extra non-SP cards and one insert card to trade, plus a whole mess of stuff that I need.