STRUGGLES AS A SET-BUILDER

                   On Friday a rare day off for me from both my jobs cause of the holiday weekend I found myself going to one my usual shops to see what I might be able to locate from my never-ending lists of needs. I manage to only find 6 cards that were listed on my want lists & an additional 2 RCs that I already had but put within my Personal Collection. The 6 cards I located I was glad to locate cause it brought me a little closer in completing those sets I found for those few sets. However the 2 Rookie Cards I found the total amount was $4.00 which in some peoples view would say that's not too bad of a price of 2 cards costing $2.00 a piece sure I wish that I could only paid just about $2 only I didn't mind cause at one time those 2 cards were very sought after during those players hey-day.

                   

 

                  The 1st card was the 1985 Fleer Eric Davis #533 again why did I buy a copy of this card was it cause I wanted 3 of them not really even though I do own 3 now.  2 of them are within their spot featured after Reds legend Shortstop of the Big Red Machine Dave Conception & before Nick Esasky a scrappy 3rd-sacker that 4 years later was traded to Boston for Todd Benzinger cause I made 2 complete sets of the 1985 Fleer Set 1 to look through in a binder while the other is in its white box cause I had that many duplicates to make 2 sets worth at the time. As for this latest copy of the card going to my PC is simple I had already the Donruss RC & the Topps RC so I wanted to complete the trifecta cause Eric reminded me of my childhood growing up in the `80`s how he was considered to be the next Willie Mays. Plus back in 1990 he helped the Reds go Wire to Wire to win the World Series against the Athletics with his 1st ever at bat in Game 1 against Dave Stewart he went deep only to exit Game 4 early due to a lacerated kidney after trying to make a diving catch. Eric is 1 of the time of this blog is posted 176 players who played with the Detroit Tigers & Cincinnati Reds. Plus Eric is a cancer survivor which to me shows that anyone who has or had this terrible disease & is willing to fight to find a cure deserves props (Stay Tuned to the blog for a special post in October on what Stand Up to Cancer means to me).

                The 2nd card is of the 1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa #220. Why Sammy I own 2 the 1st is in the binder with his other 527 friends in the set & so the price was worth getting a 2nd copy of to remind me about hidden gems that were overlooked when 1st released. Think about it back in 1998 if you collected then the hottest 2 cards were the 1985 Topps #401 of Mark McGwire and this card even though the 1989 Donruss Baseball best and the 1990 Topps Major League Debut cards featured Slammin' Sammy with the team he broke into the Majors with the Texas Rangers before being traded to the White Sox as a throw in for Hall of Famer Harold Baines. Sure we later found out even if Sammy doesn't want to admit it but the PEDs he took to help him out that great season that he & McGwire battled to break Roger Maris record of 61 Home Runs in a season & yes I am also aware that McGwire also took PEDs as well.  

                  So after buying the few cards I came home put the 2 cards in their new spots of my PC box put the few for my set needs in their respective binders. That's when after viewing all 4 of the sports lists wondered will I ever find anyone that might be able to tackle on some of the needs.  I often look at all the sets I have made through the years as well those that I am currently trying to finish up before I get at an age where I can't remember what is in what album or box. I have a system that I currently use when I put my cards in the binder as you can see this is part of my baseball sets you can see in the picture there seems to be cards that are featured on the spines of the binders. That's so I can tell what set is what, I try to find either a team card that won the championship the year prior example if you look on top shelf 6 binders from the left is the mini 1975 Topps set followed by the regular sized 1975 set then the 1975 O Pee Chee then the 1975/1976 SSPC set depending how you view that year for that set then 1976 Topps I would go on & on but then the blog would take forever so I won't. 

              Now if I don't have a team card so if we look at the second shelf 5th binder from the left is my 1982 Fleer set so I used the MVP of the World Series of the 1981 World Series & since there was 3 of them I went with Mr. Night Owl's very favorite player Ron 'The Penguin' Cey's card if you ask me that's  why I like those binders with the little card pocket on the side so I can put a dupe from the set like that to assist me. I just hope that when people look at my needs that they can see why I struggle in finding my missing pieces. So I wonder if there are any of my readers that I haven't like Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life!  or Tom from  The Angels, In Order as well Mr. Night Owl from Night Owl Cards or Jeremy from Topps Cards That Never Were that have traded with me in the past & have viewed my lists at one time or another. I never shy away from trading with unless they have some outrageous wants that I am not able to help out with so please if you have time look at my lists & lmk if you can help with any of my needs I like getting packages in the mail as well.  So with that said I am reminded of Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for kids. "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign for little kids ain't An American. He's a Communist."