Welcome to my blog!!!

I have collected baseball cards and autographs over the years. I still have boxes full of cards (as well as newer cards) that are just sitting there. So, I have decided to see how many of them I can get autographed. I use through the mail as my preferred route for this adventure. I also have an account on Zistle and The Trading Card Database for trading purposes (stevienicks77).



Sunday, December 31, 2017

Top 5 TTM returns for 2017

Here it is...my Top 5 TTM returns for 2017.  When going through the year and seeing what I decided to pick for the top 5, I was surprised it was not Cubs and Royals heavy, like my other lists have been.

Number 5:  Brendan Rodgers.  A highly touted rookie in the Rockies minor league system.  I would expect him to be in Spring Training with the Rockies in 2018, but probably a long shot to make the team.  Still needs seasoning.  I picked these cards because I liked the way they look.


Number 4:  Amed Rosario.  A Mets rookie, there was a lot of talk about him getting called up to the Mets all year, especially with how awful the Mets were this year.  It finally happened on August 1, and he never left.  


Number 3:  Christian Arroyo.I was excited to get this back right around the time he was called up to the Giants.  Since the end of the MLB season, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Evan Longoria trade.


Number 2:  Greg Holland.  He had a great year for Colorado, but I wish it would have been for Kansas City.  The Royals had looked to resign him for 2017, and didn't.  I hope they regret that mistake.  I'm glad to see that he rebounded from his injury and had a great year!


Number 1:  Marlins Man.  I know many people either love him or hate him, but Kansas City is a frequent stop for him.  He does quite a bit of community work and visiting schools in the city, and when he comes to town, it's very positive for the community. 


Saturday, December 30, 2017

Top 5 items I traded for in 2017

I was able to have a pretty great trading year this year.  However, I can't physically meet all the TCDB trade requests I get.  If you follow this blog and I haven't traded with you yet on TCDB, I have been keeping a list, and I will get back to everyone sooner or later!  These are the Top 5 things that I got in trades this year!

Number 5:  Terry Clark.  I needed this one for my Royals Mega Collection.  I have done a lot of research, and to my knowledge, this is the only card of Terry Clark in a Royals uniform.  I got this card from sorphan10.


Number 4:  1993 Upper Deck Then and Now.  I know this is more than one card, but for such a small set, I have not been aggressive on completing it, so getting three at once for me was huge!  This was a TCDB trade with herkojerko.


Number 3:  Gary Carter.  This is one of the oldest Gary Carter cards I have in my collection.  I used to collect just his Mets stuff, but now, I'm opening my collection to all Gary Carter cards.  This was a trade on TCDB with Hebron Reds Fan.


Number 2:  Eric Hosmer.  I wasn't crazy at first with the streaks in the background on the 2017 Topps flagship set, however, this blue goes great with the Royals' blue.  This was another TCDB trade with trader jack.


Number 1:  Johnny Cueto.  This was my first non-Royals player collection relic.  I prefer relics over autographs, myself.  A great card to remember a great time in Kansas City...2015 World Series champions!!  This was from metscardboard over on Zistle from the first of the year.


Friday, December 29, 2017

Top 5 singles cards I bought in 2017

This is another new "Top 5" category I'm trying this year.  Granted, the cards I picked for this are very specific to my collecting goals.

Number 5:  Jackie Kennedy.  I have a small presidential collection that I'm working on when I want to.  I'm not calling it an "official" collection or collecting goal yet; too many other logs in the fire.  I bought this off of COMC.


Number 4:  Eric Hosmer.  This Green Triple Threads card was also bought off of COMC.  COMC is great for me because it allows me to buy the cards I may not otherwise be able to frequently afford a box of (i.e. Triple Threads).  


Number 3:  Jordan Canzeri.  I don't have many camo cards in my collection, but I had to snag this one because he was the only Hawkeye in the 2016 Panini Draft Pick set.  I don't mind Panini cards when the team actually has the logo on the card (this is why Panini/Donruss baseball sucks).  This was also a COMC buy.


Number 2:  Tim Costo.  Again, another Hawkeye.  This is my very first Desert Storm card. Again, COMC hooking me up!


Number 1:  Jose Canseco.  This was a white whale card for me back in the day.  No way I could afford this card.  But, I got it in the singles card section at my LCS for cheap...my kind of pricing!


Thursday, December 28, 2017

Top 5 'Hits" of 2017

I decided to do a little something different this year with my 'Top" lists.  I decided to do a top "hits" list.  Granted, I don't feel like I have bought as much off the shelf product as in years past.  It's becoming clear that space is becoming an issue, uncompleted sets, and desire to build mega collections.  This list is "hits" from boxes and packs I bought, not anything off of COMC, Just Commons, etc.  You could say these were my top 5 little "surprises" of the year!

Number 5:  Steven Matz.  I got this card in a discounted blaster of 2016 Gypsy Queen.  Not only was there nothing new on the shelf to buy at that time, I could always use more Gypsy Queen for trade bait.


Number 4:  Salvador Perez.  This is a SP from 2017 Topps Update.  I also got an Aaron Judge SP in this blaster box, but the Salvy means more to me in my personal collection than Judge.


Number 3:  Ricky Henderson.  I got this as one of the hits out of a box of 2017 Topps Gold Label.  I was trying to decide if I wanted Gold Label or High Tek; I'm glad I chose the Gold Label.  Maybe High Tek next year.


Number 2:  Luke Weaver.  This also came out of the box of 2017 Gold Label that I bought at my LCS.  This is my third framed card in my collection.


Number 1:  Joey Votto.  What can I say...this black card is sharp!  Even though I have a love/hate with these cards that come out of Topps blaster boxes, I still like the way it looks.  I pulled this out of a very pleasing blaster box of 2017 Topps Update.


Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Top NFL TTMs of the year

I didn't send out many NFL TTMs this year, but the ones I did, were ones I really wanted to add to my collection.

Number 3:  Matt Bahr.  I love the old helmets with the GIANTS on it.  This also reminds me of when the Giants were good...Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, etc.


Number 2:  Greg Olsen.  I have always been partial to the Panthers logo; I once used it for an art class  project in college.  Plus, I love the Topps Valor cards.  


Number 1:  Aaron Murray.  What's more to say here at number 1 than CHIEFS and Topps Valor!


Wednesday, December 20, 2017

COMC Black Friday sale

COMC is addicting!  Not only am I able to fill some set collection needs I can't fill through trades, I am grabbing player collection cards that I wouldn't normally buy or trade for.  This is just some of the great stuff I got!!


2010 Topps Pro Debut

2010 Topps Pro Debut Tools of the Trade

2010 Topps Pro Debut Future Foundations

2014 Topps Archives

2015 Topps Archives

2016 Topps Wrigley Field

2015 Topps Pro Debut

2016 Panini Prizm CollegeDraft Picks

2016 Topps Opening Day

2016 Topps Opening Day

2017 Topps Inserts

2017 Topps Inserts

2016  Topps Chrome Inserts

2017 Topps Chrome Inserts
Eric Hosmer



Player Collections

This Bowman card is sweet!




Royals

Got a great deal on this Inception auto!



Cubbies

The Ultra Rawhide card has a nice feel to it.