Frank Robinson !

As some of you know I have been chasing the 2011 Gypsy Queen Auto & Relic sets for a few years now. This is clearly a slow process as I only have a few more of these to go. A few weeks back I came across a cool Frank Robinson card. Although the auto is showing the age of the signer I guess I still think it is a great card. Here it is !!

So another nice addition but the quest is getting tougher and tougher. Let's hope I will find a few more, time will tell !!!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

Big Papi joins the GQ collection !

As some of you know I am on a quest to complete the 2011 Gypsy Queen Auto and Relic sets. This quest is a slow grind and every few months I am lucky enough to find an additional card. Coming closer to completion the quest has become harder and harder. A few weeks ago I was able to make a nice deal with someone for one of the cards that was still missing. Please meet Big Papi, David Ortiz !!

Still a few more to go so the fun continues !!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

Enter Sandman !!

At the start of my baseball card collecting career, collecting Mariano rivera cards was one of my key focus areas. In time this has moved to the background, focussing more on my own "core four", being Glavine, Blyleven, Kershaw and Rizzo.

In all these years I was never able to get my hands on a cool Rivera auto card as these were always way over-priced, especially in his going away season. With Rivera a bit out of sight, out of mind for most people, or so it seems, prices have been coming down gradually and I was finally able to pick something up.

Enter Sandman !!!!

 A cool Topps Finest, Generations, card finally hands me my first Rivera auto !!

Thanks for the visit today and enjoy the weekend !!

Kershaw Tek !

Quick post today with my latest Kershaw addition. Meet my latest Kershaw Tek card from the 2015 set. Apparently this is the "gold" variation, numbered to /50. A cool addition to my Kershaw collection ! Still need to chase all the base card variations as well so not yet done withy 2015 Topps Tek !

Any of you chasing all the Tek variations ?

Awesome Smoltz Addition !!

Quick post today ! With the Hall of Fame show a few days ago I was thinking about my most recent HoF-er addition to my collection. One of Glavine's partners in crime was of course John Smoltz and when I saw an awesome looking Museum Collection card go fairly unnoticed on eBay recently I took my shot. It arrived this morning at my doorstep and here it is !!! From the 2015 Silver-Framed Museum Collection auto set !

Love these cards so will be one the look-out for some more of these !
Thanks for visting my blog today !

My first Maddux !

Chasing every Glavine card in existince increases the likelyhood that one comes across a card that also includes Maddux (and/or Smoltz of course). The problem is that when Maddux is included on the card it tends to drive up the price. Luckily the card below has a print run to 50, making it not that scarse and with several one eBay at the same time the price was pretty attractive. So there it is, my first Maddux auto, with a Glavine and Thomas on the side from the Class of 2014 !!

Enjoy the last days of a great 2015 !!

Cubs !

When I wrote this post the Mets are still hanging in there being 2-1 behind. Hopefully when this post is published, they are still going, making this an exciting World Series!

I really enjoyed watching the Cubs this regular season as well as the post season, ignoring the Mets sweep of course. All of it was fun to watch. To celebrate a cool Cubs season, with more to come next year I hope, I was able to add a cool Rizzo card to my collection with Lester and Baez as a bonus !!

You guys enjoyed the Cubs as well this season ?

Redemption package !

I have been swamped with work, family and life so blog postings have been pretty slow in recent months. Trying to get some in here and there. Today a quick one as I received another redemption this week !! A 2015 Topps Museum Collection Smotlz & Glavine card !!

Hope to be back soon, thanks for visiting my blog today !

Topps Tek

I really liked what Topps did last year with the return of Topps Tek. Although more collecting "work" it was cool that Glavine was included in the set as well, not surprising given that it was the year of his HoF election. The "easy" collection work was done last year but of course the difficult ones, in particular the 1/1s, remained. In the last few months I was able to take two off the to-do list. Please meet the two Magenta 1/1s, one with Auto, one without !

Still some colors to go I am afraid so let me know if you have any of these for trade !!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

Vegas Time !

So apparently, there seems to be an annual card show conference in Las Vegas. It would make sense to do that in Vegas, I have attended several conference there as well (in a completely different field sadly enough) and for that it is an excellent location. During this card show they apparently also issue exclusive cards, one of which is a Glavine card. Everyone who knows me knows that this mean that the chase for this card is on !!

After a couple of months of watching out for this card I saw an opportunity to get one for a reasonable price so I of course jumped all over it. The card arrived recently and here it is !!

Any of you have any of these Vegas Summit cards ?

Thanks for visting my blog today !

Gallery of Greats !

I am late to the 2015 party, haven't opened any packs or boxes, unlike previous years. This mainly because I have been swamped and simply forgot to order some. So a redemption card was my first 2015 "fix", a fix a got through eBay. Normally delivery takes a few months but surprise, surprise, it arrived after only 2 weeks or so !! Here it is, Gallery of Greats !!

Beautiful card with a great on-card auto !! I am visiting the US in May so hopefully I can score some 2015 basecards there as this year's flagship actually looks pretty cool !

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

My first Pepitone auto !

A while ago I came across an awesome Joe Pepitone card, a card on which no one seem to be bidding. During his career with the Yankees (1962-1969) he won three golden gloves and was named an All-Star a few times. Here's wehat arrived at my doorstep a few nights oke !!!

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

My best Sabathia card so far !!

I really like the 2011 Gypsy Queen set, a set I completely missed and still need to complete the base set of (I even still have to compile my Want List on this one). I recently came across a cool Sabathia card and to my surprise I even won it. So please meet my latest and favourite Sabathia card !!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !!

Fan Favourites !!

This year I am not trying to complete the Archives set, don't like it that much this year. Therefore, I will just chase some of the Kershaw and Yankees cards from the set. I did notice, however, that the Fan Favourite Yankees autos were going for less $10, which felt like a bargain to me, especially since I didn't own an autographed card from these former Yankee players yet.

Here's Mickey Rivers and Graig Nettles !!

That's it for today, thanks for the visit !!

Adding a player to my Collection !!

Although I started out as a Yankees collector I found myself gradually moving focussing more on completing sets (Topps flagship, GQ, A&G) but most of all focussing on collecting players. Although I find a lot of joy in completing a set, the most fun I have is when I am adding to one of my player collections. My sole focus has been on pitchers but today I am officially starting a non-pitcher collection !!

Like with Tom Glavine and Bert Blyleven I like the personal connection and last summer I had the chance to see Anthony Rizzo's debut with the Cubs in Chicago in which he played a great game. Since then I have been following him fairly closely. Today I will officially start to focus on collecting him as well and opening a Rizzo tab (yes, this blog announcement makes it official!). This also gives me a good reason to watch some Cubs games !!

I was already able to pick-up a few cards in the last few weeks with more to come in the coming weeks !! Another nice challenge as Rizzo already has almost 20 cards in the latest Topps Tribute set (including all the parallels!) so plenty to start with !! Here are a few !!

First up a very nice 2012 Museum Collection, a beautifull on card auto (still at the Padres) !!

 Next up, my favourite set, Allen & Ginter with a great framed and signed mini !!

Lastly, one of the recent (gold) parallels from Topps Tribute, numbered to only 15 !

I hope this will be another fun collection !! If you have any Rizzo's for trade let me know of course !!!

My latest Verlander Auto

Verlander, a great pitcher and I do try to chase his cards. However, his autos are usually way to expensive for me which makes Verlander less of a focus these days. As a result, I "only" own two of his auto cards. However, now and then I do see a cool auto with an oke-ish price. One of these arrived earlier this week, actually a pretty cool card so very happy to own it as my third Verlander Auto !!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

Another Glavine 1/1 and some Goudey !

Well, it's probably a 1 out of 4 or 5 as usually more printing plates for the same card exist. The version I was able to pick up was a nice Yellow one of the 2007 Fleer Ultra set.

In addition I was lucky enough to get my hands on another cool Glavine Autograph card, a 2008 Upper Deck Goudey !!

Thanks for visiting my blog today !

My Luckiest Topps Finest pulls !

After showing you the Chipper Jones "button" pull I continue the "my best pulls" series with some great, lucky Topps Finest pulls. First up, 2 on-card auto pulls, no yankees or one of my favorite pitchers but still some very nice cards: Brett Wallace for the Astros and Dodger Jerry Sands ! No superstars yet but still young so who know......

Next up are 2 great cards, the first one an auto & double relic of All-star Jordan Walden ! He replaced the injured Mariano Rivera in the last all-star game but of course this won't happen that easily in my pitchers collection where Rivera remains my number 1 !

Lastly, another great looking double relic & auto card, this one of Darwin Barney of the Cubs. Great card although to be honest I don't really know this guy.....

Stay tuned for more lucky pulls in the coming days !!

Lineage: Joey Votto Box Loader Pull

I have heard a lot of critisism about Topps Lineage 2011 but I actually quite liked the set so I decided last year to start collecting the set. When the time came to order some Topps 2012 boxes I couldn't resist to add some Lineage as well. As it turns out this box actually completed my base set !!

I am still on a quest to collect all the minis as well and simple the Yankees inserts of course. The box break had some nice cards in it starting with a couple of mini relic cards

Furthermore, I pulled two 3D cards: Jeter and Ichiro

The autograph in the box was from Fernando Rodney in Angels gear (having recently moved to the Rays if I am not mistaken)

Also, I pulled a great cloth sticker of Cano, a nice addition to my collection !

Lastly, the box loader was a nice relic (#/64) of Joey Votto of the Reds

From here, I will now focus on completing my mini set (although only just started so a long way to go !).

Thanks for reading and hope to see you back soon !