Down to the last 75

I have been working on the '84 Topps regular set as much as my schedule allows, and I have only the Yankees, A's, Mariners, Rangers, and Blue Jays left. Throw in a few highlight, postseason highlight, and checklist cards, and that is what I call a competed set once I get them done. All in all, I count about 75 cards that need to be made off of my master checklist. Is Tuesday afternoon an unrealistic goal? We'll see. If I can knock some out tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday afternoon, I don't think so at all. I guess it will all depend on if my son naps and for how long. The good news is that many of the cards are coach and highlight cards, which don't require that pesky 2nd photo. I will be glad when this set is put to rest. The only thing that could be worse is probably the 1954 design with 2 photos that you need to cut out, plus an autograph that needs to be added. That will be the final set I ever make. I'm looking forward to getting back to my 1993 Topps project once '84 is finished. That, and making some connecting '80's checklists (connecting my completed 1982-2001 checklists to the 1978 and 1979 ones I have completed).
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

Hall of Fame customs

It has been a while since the HOF voting was announced, and although I think more players should've been added and one or two shouldn't have been added, here are some customs that I have done of each Hall of Famer.

I had a little help from Richard B. on the Baines card, but all of the rest were my customs, and missing rookie card at that. Figured I would post these to hold you over until I finish the '84 Topps set. Only about 12 teams left.
I keep checking the Topps site every day, hoping that their custom card maker will have the 2019 Topps design, but so far nothing. Perhaps they have caught on to our methods. Hopefully it will have them soon, because there are going to be many missing coach, manager, player, and team cards, and the regular design is a pain in the butt to replicate.
Sorry for the short post, but rest assured I am working on missing player checklists, organizing my card binders, and finishing the '84 Topps set. Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

First packs of 2019 Topps

Today after a very crappy day at work, I stopped at Target and got a hanger pack and hanger box of ‘19 Topps. I didn’t get anything too earth-shattering, but here is the obligatory first pack of 2019 post. 

Andrelton Simmons was my first ‘19 card, and that is great, because I collect him since he is part of the Dutch National Team. 

 I got 2 150th Pro Baseball parallels, and a World Series Highlight card to go into my highlights binder.

 2 Tigers and 2 Rays for their respective binders.

 A few guys for my Players Collection binders.

, Finally, we have the inserts. 2 Annual Over-Hyped Yankee I Don’t Care About inserts, a Homage to an old set insert, a Look at our Topps Now Cards! Insert, an Eck insert, and a nice looking Will Clark/Buster Posey insert. Basically I like everything except for the Yankee ones. 

I really was wanting to pull the Steve Pearce World Series Highlights card. He was a classmate of mine in high school. If anyone pulls it before I do, please contact me and we can work out a trade for it. My email is karensjer at gmail dot com. 

Overall, it was a decent run with my first packs. I want to get a few more packs, but not go crazy, because I am planning on buying the whole set at the end of the year. I like some of the inserts, and the design is better in-hand. I guess that sums it up. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy

Card show pickups and cards from Wes

Recently, Wes from the Area 40 blog held a huge break/giveaway, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it, selecting the Rays and Auburn Tigers. No Auburn guys, but I was lucky enough to get 2 hits from the '04 Topps Clubhouse Collection set, a Tino Martinez jersey, and a Rocco Baldelli jersey, which was numbered to 99. Wes was also nice enough to send some SI for Kids cards, which brought back memories. I had a few of these from the mid '90's, and I got a Steph Curry card, which marked my first card of him. I have thought about getting a jersey card of his since he is such a big name, and the SI card will be a nice addition to my non-baseball binder. Thanks for being so generous, Wes!

On Saturday, my friend Jim and I went to a card show in The Villages, which is about an hour or so west from where we live. He has been wanting to go to a show with me for a while, but with my work schedule, it hasn't worked out until now. He ended up driving me to the show, and gave me a bunch of autographed cards, which of course, I looked through on the drive up. Sam McDowell and George Yankowski were autograph guests at the show, so I made a Conlon custom for Yankowski since he didn't have any cards, and I brought my '01 Topps Archives McDowell along to get signed. Jim had an extra Swell McDowell, so I got that signed as well, and gave him a few extra Yankowski's. Here are the autographed cards Jim gave me, the Yankowski/McDowell autographs, Highlight cards, rookie cards, sunset cards, and shiny cards I purchased at the show. Unfortunately, the Kershaw is a reprint and not the real thing.

 The '93 Blyleven was on my Top 12 list on the right of my blog, so I crossed it out and replaced it with Greg Luzinski's sunset card.
Next up are cards for my Favorite Player Collection. I found a nice box where a guy had 200 cards for $20, and I actually went to it twice, the first time almost hitting 200, and the next time, getting about 60 with my last 5 bucks. He had them organized by team, so I added a ton of Rays and Tigers, many guys who I collect. I had originally picked out the Hicks to put in my rookie card binder, but after reading the back of the card, I discovered he is a Type 1 diabetic, so I am now officially collecting him.

 As I mentioned before, I found a good number of Rays and Tigers, and I think I did a pretty darn good job going through the box. I went through the Rays and Tigers section twice, and didn't pick out a single double. I haven't put them in binders (still have about 10 teams to finish first), but I think there's a good chance I didn't pick out any dupes when I put them all in.

It is going to be really fun to update these Player Collection, Rays, and Tigers binders. Just a few more teams to go, and then all my binders will have been went through with a fine-tooth comb so every card I have for my PC/Rays/Tigers binders will be in them. 

I am starting on the remaining cards in the '84 Topps set, and that should be done in a few months. Stay tuned. I am looking forward to seeing all of the posts about 2019 Topps, and hope to grab some for myself as well. Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest post.

-Jeremy

Completed 1984 Topps Traded set

It took me a bit longer than I had hoped, but here is your finished 1984 Topps Traded set.

Many thanks to Marc Weiss who helped me with at least 1/3 of these, and blog The Phillies Room, who got the Phillies. I still have a good number of cards in the '84 regular set, and I will start on them as soon as time allows. Got a card show tomorrow, and hopefully in a week, we will all have some 2019 Topps in our hands (don't know if that will be good or bad).
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy