Ever closer.... 1976 edition.

It's a hobby, not a race, right? Good thing. Some of these sets have been wanting for quite sometime.  Case in point, my 1976 Topps set.
Recently, I was able to acquire two new pieces of the puzzle.

#19, George Brett. His second year card. (Remember when second year cards were a big deal?)

and #194, The American League Home Run Leaders.

The back of this card is epic, listing the season leader and his team going back to 1901. Bring your magnifying glass.
(I did scan it, but who knows where it is now, and I'm waaaay too lazy to re-scan.)

These certainly look a lot better than the 2016 incarnation. But that's not a discussion for right now.

I'm now..... 10 cards away from completion. (including the Traded set)

If you can help.... #'s 1, 98, 100, 160, 230, 300, 346, 550, 592, 599

10! !0 bottles of beer on the wall, 10 bottles of beer............

Friends dusting the cobwebs off of some old wantlists....

This is the continuing story of the infamous dayf and Troll trade/gift packages....

You ever think you'd see the day when a Juan Uribe card led off a show off post??? Me either. But here we are.

 Back in 2007 when I got back into cards, one of the first sets that caught my eye was this set that emulated the 1954 Topps set. Turns out it was called Topps Heritage and was from 2003. I decided to collect it. Not only collect it, but to do what I used to do, which was get the master set. All of the variations and short prints. Four years later I'm still trying to finish that set. Dayf managed to find five cards off of my wantlist, including two SP's. One of which is old Juan Uribe up there.

 As you can see... these aren't high profile players.... but damn hard to find regardless.

 I've never found anyone else who is collecting this set, so if you know someone, let them know about me. I've got lotsa doubles to swap.

 I also did my first trade on The Bench with this set. And my last trade. The trade I did involved $13.10 worth of cards. It took me forever to find a card he wanted to make up that last .10 cents I owed him. This was my re-introduction to beckett.

 Dayf also found a card I needed for the 1976 Topps set that I am very close to finishing. Only 24 more cards to go.

 Next up is a set that no human has managed to complete. The 2008 UD Timelines set. This is the set that never ends. Please sing the song softly to yourself.
A loooong time ago I gave up on the set and sent dayf as many cards as I could off of his wantlist, even from my set regardless if I had duplicates or not. I could be wrong, but I think dayf just sent back the same cards I sent him. Maybe he gave up too. It never ends.

 LOOK! A Yankee!! Without a moustache or tutu drawn on him.

 Here's Mr I run to first base when and if I feel like it.

 and a bum who held on waaaay too long...

 Some die-cut rookies

 Mr Cub. Not.

 Holy Crap! Another Yankee!

 I really, really like this set. But it can never be completed.

 Why yes Mr Towles, it is time to clean my scanner bed, thank you for noticing.

 And why not some 2009 OPC, another of my favourite sets.
Who could resist that face??????

 OPC is another set I'm doing the master set of. And I'm damn close to finishing.

 Awhile back I needed 2 cards to finish the base set. Griffey and Victorino. Four bloggers later, I now have two of each.

 Troll not only sent the Flyin' Hawaiian up there, but also two Braves for my binder.

 well, a Brave and a former Brave. He was a Brave when it was sent.

Thanks a lot guys.... a lot more to come. Next up will be either 2011 stuff or Vintage. Any preferences???

Something a little cheerier...

My old bud, The Collective Troll stepped up and sent me a whack o' '76 Topps. Too many to list... among the highlights
A Willie
a Reggie

and an Expo. One of two Expos in the Hall of Fame.

If you can help in my eternal quest to finish this set, please go here to see my needs. They used to be wants. They are now needs. LINK

The ones in RED are hopefully on their way from helpful people, including some more from Troll.

Thanks to Marck and everyone else who has helped me with this.

54...53...52...51...

getting closer to 1976 Topps completion. A big thanks to Collective Troll, A Giants Blog, GCRL, and Larrythesewingmachineguy for offering to help me with this.

After my good friend Marck fights his way through the post office, I'll be down to needing these...

#'s 1, 2, 10, 19, 50, 98, 100, 118, 119, 125, 130, 169, 175, 185, 192, 193, 194, 197, 202, 230, 240,

250, 262, 290, 295, 300, 302, 325, 331, 340, 346, 405, 440, 444, 453, 462, 470, 471, 490, 530,

550, 561, 574, 575, 583, 592, 599, 625, 629, 659

TRADED

27T, 28T, 85T, 127T, 146T, 158T, 211T, 250T, 259T, 292T, 296T, 309T, 380T, 401T,

411T,428T, 434T, 464T, 528T, 532T, 554T, 583T, 592T, 618T, 632T, 649T,


I hope I didn't make any mistakes copying the list over.... when in doubt, please always check my wantlist page here.

144.... 143.... 142.....

141 !!! That's all I need to finish this blessed 1976 Topps baseball set. I know a lot of you will scoff when you hear that... I started this little project almost two years ago. What's taking so long?
Well, when you live in the land of snowshoe softball.... completing a "vintage" baseball set ain't easy. Unless you want to blow $1500 on ebay shipping fees.

Here's what I'm down to...

1976 Topps Baseball#'s 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 19, 24, 48, 49, 50, 67, 70, 73, 75, 80, 81, 90, 95, 98, 100, 112, 114, 118, 119, 120, 125, 130, 137, 139, 147, 155, 156, 160, 167, 169, 174, 175, 179, 185, 189, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 216, 230, 235, 240, 250, 262, 270, 285, 290, 295, 300, 302, 316, 317, 320, 321, 325, 331, 340, 342, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, 350, 355, 359, 365, 375, 380, 385, 390, 400, 405, 412, 415, 416, 435, 440, 441, 444, 447, 450, 453, 459, 461, 462, 465, 469, 470, 471, 477, 480, 490, 500, 501, 514, 520, 525, 530, 538, 542, 545, 548, 550, 561, 564, 570, 574, 575, 580, 583, 590, 592, 599, 607, 625, 629, 635, 640, 645, 650, 653, 656, 657, 659


And of the ones I have, only 11 need upgrading.

519/660 = 78.6% complete

a Vintage thanks, times two...

a lot of you know Matt from Project Baseball 1976 fame. He also has another blog with a simple theme, A Giant Blog. No, it's not a blog about tall people. But his favourite team, the NY/SF Giants. He's trying to do what I'm trying to do with the Braves, put together team sets going waaaay back.
I was able to help him with some 1970, '71 and '72 Topps that I acquired via trade and card show, and I sent them on to him to enjoy.

Last week, I received an envelope from Matt. Not of vintage Braves. Oh no. Inside were 31 glorious 1977 Topps football cards.
Beautiful. Never heard of any of 'em. Even more awesome. Thanks for the football Matt!

Now here's where it gets hinky. I think, but am not sure, that Matt also included a few 1976 Topps baseball cards as well for my set that will never end. The problem is this. I get so excited at the prospect of maybe one day finishing this set off, I literally rush to my '76 binder and stuff them in the empty slots if I can.
So we'll give Matt credit for some of those too!

Which leads me to the "times two" portion of the post. Our good friend, the main Troll himself, sent me a plain, white envelope, with what could only be a top loader inside of it. One card? Usually trades between us are sent by the pound.... what could this be? Well after I tore it open, inside I found a 1976 Topps Tom Seaver.
Again, no scan as it went into my binder in about 4 seconds.
Thanks Marck!!

I may one day finish this set. Doubtful... but maybe.

Woot!

Today's mail brought two small yellow envelopes. In the first one, Matt from Project Baseball 1976 sent over four 1976 Topps beauties to complete our trade.

I love finding other collectors who are trying to collect the same tough set as you are. It makes trading that much more fun. I send you four, you send me four. Perfect. Although Matt is a lot closer to completion than I am.

The next little goodie I received finished off a set for me. Todd (also known as darkship) sent over the last two SP's I needed to polish off '08 A&G.

I've heard that this old bird was a tough one to find. But now my binder is full. (except for some no # Fukudome card I've heard all the cool kids talking about, but that's not worrying me)

Thanks guys!

A Lopes Sighting...

I received my half of our trade from Greg@ Night Owl today. He sent some good stuff.

My very first look at '09 Heritage. (Canada still has yet to see these at less than $140 a box, and still no packs. None)
Brandon styling and profiling in the dugout. (Hey! that's Hubbard in the background...)

Another card closer to the '09 Topps team set with Mike onboard...

Another copy of Jair, now I have one to trade!

Greg sent not one, but two '09 UD Jair Jurrjens... (another one to trade...)

a James Parr RC... (how is this an RC???)

Chipper ! representing the franchise as the face on the checklist...

Chipper again! Chipper does not look impressed at having to be on a purple shiny card.

And Greg also sent some previously loved '76 Topps towards my efforts to complete this darn set.

Davey Lopes looks kinda rough, but he's the last card in the set, and came to me from a huge Dodgers fan. And that's good enough for me.

Thanks Greg!

EDIT: a huge faux pas on my part.. this was sent from Greg, not Jim... I've got a few mail day packages in the queue and got the two Dodger bloggers mixed up. Sorry guys.... That's kinda how my week has gone...

C'mon... a little effort people...

You're a photographer working for Topps in the mid '70's... and get a primo assignment. Get your ass to San Diego and get some shots of the Padres! Alright! San Diego! Party Town!

Crap. Now it's early on the "morning after", and you need to get the job done. Okay. Let's get this over with.
All of you Padre relievers.... stand on the white line and pretend to do a windup, that way I don't have to move. Or think.

Oh c'mon!!!! At least give the last guy a ball! Sweet Jesus. Have some pride man.