2013 Topps Wantlist

After adding 12 cards from the jumbo pack I purchased last week (that was supposed to tide me over), below are the numbers I need to complete my Series 1 set.

2, 7, 10, 15, 16, 17, 20, 29, 34, 40, 42, 44, 47,
52, 72, 73, 79, 83, 88, 94, 96,
104, 105, 117, 135, 137, 139, 148, 149,
163, 165, 168, 169, 183, 184, 195, 197, 199,
211, 215, 225, 230, 233, 235, 239, 244,
251, 255, 261, 270, 272, 273, 275, 279, 282, 288, 291, 293, 298, 299
304, 306, 309, 314, 319, 323, 325, 329, 330,

As for the inserts, I am looking for the following base card parallels for Cubs players (arrangements made for those in bold, removed if received):

44 Anthony Rizzo - SP, blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo, gold & silk
113 Starlin Castro - blue, red, purple, emerald, black pink, camo, gold & silk
209 David DeJesus - blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo & gold
229 Jeff Samardzija - blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo, gold & silk
272 Alfonso Soriano (league leader) - blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo & gold
280 Rafael Dolis - blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo & gold
299 Darwin Barney - blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo & gold

And one non-Cub. See why here.
170 Eury Perez - base, blue, red, purple, emerald, black, pink, camo & gold

Inserts:
Starlin Castro - 1972 mini, Autograph card, Jersey card
Anthony Rizzo - Chasing the Dream regular insert, Commemorative Patch
Ryne Sandberg - Die Cut, Rookie Silk Patch
Fergie Jenkins - Cy Young Relic
Andre Dawson - Silver Slugger Relic
Ernie Banks - Rookie Silk Patch, The Greats, The Greats Relic
Bruce Sutter - Chasing History Relic

I believe I have picked up or otherwise made arrangements for anything else Cubs related.

Check out my post yesterday and from my jumbo pack for inserts I have for trade. I have made a note of everyone who has made a request already and will send out emails to work out trades shortly.

Also, if anybody needs base, these are the extras from my Jumbo pack that I also pulled in the box:

39, 89, 93, 136, 140, 145, 177, 186, 193, 232, 300, 311, 322

Not much to choose from there, but that's probably the most efficient I've ever been trying to complete a set!

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!

Long Overdue Trade Post...

With all the excitement of the Archives case and Topps Series 2 box breaks, I've been neglectful in thanking some fellow bloggers for their end of a couple trades. As some of you may know, I collected only Topps cards for a while. That left some pretty significant holes in my Cubs collection so now that they're pretty much the only game in town, I've decided to try to complete all of the Cubs team sets from the other brands as well. That seemed like a pretty large undertaking so I put out that I was looking for some lots to help get me started.

Several bloggers came through as we worked out deals for specific cards and then they generously included a couple to a couple of team bags worth of Cubs cards. Unfortunately, I went into autopilot mode while watching TV the other night and accidentally sorted a couple of piles before I realized they were trade piles. So I'm not exactly sure who sent what! I went back through some of the emails and can figure out the main cards from each package but the stacks of older Cubs cards weren't as identifiable. I'll do my best to recreate some of the packages.

First up is Bob, AKA ducky1978 over on sportscollectors.net. I don't think he has a blog but Bob is the only one to have participated in all 3 of my group breaks. Thanks, Bob! This last time he mentioned that he had a Derek Lee A&G bat card he'd be willing to trade. A trade was born and he also included a couple of Gypsy Queens from my Want List and some Cubs cards. I'll be sending him out a bunch of Tigers inserts with his latest batch of team cards from the break. Thanks again Bob!

Dustin from over at Coot Veal and the Vealtones contacted me about a couple of cards I had listed on my Trade List page and we hammered out a deal. I picked up a Sosa relic numbered 1/250. Not sure why that's so cool but I love #1 cards! Also got a Dempster jersey card along with a handful of other Cubs cards.

Last but not least, we have Marcus from over at All the Way to the Backstop. I've actually received two packages from him and we're currently working out a third deal involving my Padres extras from Topps Series 2. He has helped fill a couple set needs with Bowman and Archives and topped the packages off with some older Cubs cards. Unfortunately, I didn't scan any of my Bowman or Archives cards and his Cubs extras we part of the mix up so I don't have any photos to share from this trade unless they were some of the miscellaneous Cubs featured below. Either way, this trade is very much appreciated! I highly recommend trading with Marcus. (And pssst: it's a good way to get rid of all those pesky Padres cards!) Just kidding!

I feel terrible about sorting all the Cubs cards before I had a chance to give credit so I wanted to post a bunch of hopefully a little something from everybody ends up featured. These weren't necessarily part of the main trades but great addtions to the collection nonetheless. Thanks everybody!

A little blog cleaning starts with a good...

SWEEP!

Most of the time, sweeping the worst team in baseball (Sorry Marcus!) isn't something to get all excited about. But when your team gets swept in 4 consecutive series to make for a 12 game losing streak, there probably isn't a whole lot to get excited about anyway. I wasn't able to watch yesterday's Cubs game (stupid CSN, more games on WGN please!) but I followed the game log online while doing a few other things. These days, I'll take any victory and the come from behind walk-off variety makes it that much sweeter. 

I've been fiddling with some other custom card designs and a great photo from yesterday's game inspired this newspaper-ish one:

   

I originally had it all black and white but it looked a little too blah so I kept Darwin Barney in color. The design was loosely based on this old Ernie Banks card although I'm not a big fan of the red lettering: 

(Ernie Banks 1961 Nu Card, photo courtesy of Wrigley Wax)

I would love to hear any feedback, suggestions and even critiques. 

On to the housecleaning...

I went through my list of those following my blog and if I wasn't following their blog(s) yet, I am now. If I missed you or know of one I should be following, let me know because I'm always looking for more. 

So after I mentioned the other day that I regretted selling someone a couple of teams from the Case Break at a cheaper price just to be rid of them and that it may have unintentionally given them an edge on winning anything randomized, that said someone felt besmirched. That was not my intent! I explained that I didn't realize the possible implications and was merely disappointed in myself for not seeing it. He explained his team had already been selected, he was merely looking for trade bait and that anything extra would have been just that, extra.

Well, we hugged it out (email wise) and decided to dissolve our transaction. I refunded the money, no hard feelings, no backroom deal shenanigans or collusion (as alluded to in a separate email by a third party). Maybe this only worked out because I didn't pull anything worth randomizing but I wanted to air everything out and put it to bed now. Learn something new every time I do a break.

That said, I now have a couple of teams available for trade bait of my own from the break. Willing to move these as team lots or pick and choose to help fill your sets:

Angels - Jered Weaver x7, Dan Haren x8, Albert Pujols x9, Ervin Santana x6, Jordan Walden x9, Torii Hunter x6, Mark Trumbo x8, Howie Kendrick x6

Indians - Grady Sizemore x7, Shin-Soo Choo x8, Justin Masterson x7, Ubaldo Jimenez x9, Carlos Santana x8, Asdrubal Cabrera x6, Lonnie Chisenhall x8, Casey Kotchman x8

Mets - Tom Seaver x6, Johan Santana x7, Darryl Strawberry x7, Ike Davis x7, RA Dickey x6, Lucas Duda x9, David Wright x9, Gary Carter x7

Rays - Matt Moore x6, Jeremy Hellickson x8, BJ Upton x6, Desmond Jennings x6, Evan Longoria x8, Ben Zobrist x8, David Price x8, James Shields x9

Rockies - Drew Pomeranz x6, Troy Tulowitski x6, Todd Helton x8, Marco Scutaro x7, Carlos Gonzalez x9

Twins - Joe Mauer x7, Justin Morneau x6

I could probably be persuaded to part with some of the Cubs and Nationals team sets as well.

Also, my Want List has been updated for Archives. I'm in the middle of some trades for GQ and Bowman so those lists are completely up to date just yet. Thanks for any help!

Wantlist Wednesday - Now with more Wants!

With all the readers Dimwit sent my way this past weekend, a few new trading partners emerged as well. The initial burst was a little overwhelming with making sure I still had what I said I did and needing what I still said I needed but I think I have responded to everyone. I have piles of cards that I'll package up tonight and mail out Thursday morning. Thanks for your patience.

As promised yesterday, I have added my Bowman needs to my Want List. Also looking for any extra Cubs from the set, parallels and all. I made a strikethrough notation for any cards I have made arrangements for and deleted any cards that have arrived from trades. After posting my Kerry Wood McFarlane figure last Saturday, I decided I'd like to add the rest of the Cubs McFarlanes (unsigned) to the collection. If you have any, loose or packaged, let me know. I would prefer loose but in good condition to reduce shipping costs since I'm going to open them anyway. I do have all three variations of the Ryne Sandberg as well as the regular Kerry Wood.

I also scanned in a couple of the Tony Campana cards and posted them in the TCPC tab. Nothing you haven't seen before, just the base, diamond anniversary and cognac from the 2011 Topps Update set. More scans to follow as I continue my quest to be organized. Since I don't have any other photos today, and to save you a click, here they are:

Today's ATCRCS card of the day over on Facebook:

Doug Dascenzo

Want List Wednesday

Just a few updates to the Want List today. Found a couple more numbered Tony Campana parallels that I'd like to add to the PC. Also, between the couple of teams I didn't sell from my Gypsy Queen box break and the 2 blaster boxes I opened, I figured I might as well try for the set. I have about 30-35 duplicates including a Jeter variation that I'll add to my Trade List tomorrow so if you're in the same position as me, maybe we can help each other out.

When I decided to come back to the hobby, I was going to limit my Cubs card collection to just my ATCRCS and Topps. Now I've decided that while I might not necessarily pursue them agressively, I'd like to collect any and all Cubs cards. So if you have a bunch of non-Topps Cubs cards you're looking to get rid of, let me know. Even the junk wax era stuff is fine as I don't have much anymore.

Today's ATCRCS card of the day: Current Baserunning Coordinator for the Rockies and short-time Cub Trenidad Hubbard

Tab Tuesday

Since I scheduled Tuesdays to be Tab Tuesdays, I figured I should make some tabs! Now located under my header, these tabs will take you to different parts of my collection. I've rolled out a few now and will update the content in addition to more tabs as time goes by. Here's a breakdown of what is there now.

1991 Topps Cubs Team Set (Desert Shield) - Seems pretty self explanatory. Looking to complete this team set. Any help appreciated.

Tony Campana PC - Campana is in a close race for my favorite current Cubs player. Details of my PC. Since he has the smaller checklist, he gets the nod for this week's tab while the other player will be featured as soon as I get a decent checklist made up.

Trade List - Nothing there yet but hope to have something up in time for Trade List Thursday!

Want List - Just a few things listed to get started. As I organize my collection more, this list will unfortunately grow.

And if you don't want to browse those tabs, here's a new ATCRCS for your viewing pleasure:

Stay tuned for much more on Walton tomorrow!