The Masterpiece is COMPLETE!!!

We all know that Michelangelo had the Sistine Chapel as his masterpiece.

Everyone has seen the most famous woman ever in Da Vinci's crowning achievement in the Mona Lisa.

I went to my mailbox yesterday, and found the finishing touches on my coup de grace! Tom had come through again. The last two cards I needed for the Mariners Super Set came a week before the All Star Game. There was a 1994 Fleer Update RC of Alex Rodriguez and a 2001 Fleer Tradition RC of Ichiro. Two cards that are neither cheap or easy to come by. From the note inside I gather that there was some finagling to be able to secure these cards.

I feel so honored that these two beauties are now in their proper spot with the other nearly 3500 Mariners cards I own. Since my wife and son and I took a trip last weekend to Safeco Field and watched them lose to the Cubs in extra innings of a beautiful turn back the clock game, I picked up a Topps Mariners team set in the team store.

That is 17 more cards to add to the collection. As we all know, Topps has made the collecting world go crazy for Series 2 in the last few weeks. My team being the less than stellar team with very few stars only gets 8 cards in Series 2. Those 8 cards are now in their rightful place in the binder with the other 1250+ Topps cards made and I'm at 100% COMPLETE!!

I do believe that my next goal will be to work on the collections of some of my favorite players. I have the checklists made out, I just need to sit down and organize and double check them. I want to say thank you to all the people out there that I have traded with so far that have helped me get to the place of completeness. Without the help of everyone, I wouldn't have gotten this done!! If you could help with the new ones great.

Thank you again to all the collectors that have helped me so far to get all these great cards!!

Time to Double Down!!

I love to come home and check the mail and find random envelopes with cards in them. Today bought another surprise from Tom with a few more Mariners to push the Super Set to near completion!! He was able to find the last two cards I needed from Donruss in a Rafael Soriano and an Ichiro! He also sent me six more from Fleer to bring their total down to 2 cards left!! The last two might prove to be difficult unless someone just has these cards laying around. I would give just about anything to get these last two cards into mt possession and be able to complete this lifelong dream. Here are a Mariners fan's most wanted card for his collection:

courtesy of eBay

 Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first of my needs in the form of a 1994 Fleer Update rookie card of an over payed, soon to be confirmed cheater that is in New York now but started his time here in Seattle.

courtesy of eBay

Lastly, the second card to complete the dream is 2001 Fleer Tradition rookie card of Ichiro. I have watched him the last two nights as the Yankees have been in town to play the Mariners, and he is definitely starting to show his age and decline. It doesn't surprise me that the last two would be the higher priced RC's. If you have either one and would be willing to part with it, let me know and we will see what kind of deal can be made. I can't believe that I might get this done before the All Star break this year!!

Lucky 7!!

Since it has been a week since I sent them out, I hope everyone that wanted the 2013 Topps from the box break got their cards. I set aside the Pirates for Big Daddy Filth of Gravediggers, Mooses, and such fame. He was nice enough to send me back a few Mariners in return. In fact all 7 cards were of two guys that I needed for the Super Set. Victor sent these 3 beauties from Score to knock it down needing 11 cards from them. Look at Junior and Randy in all their Mariner glory:

Randy is looking at The Kid thinking why do we have to be on the same team, if he wasn't here I'd be the star of this city. We had so many good guys in the 90's that it's sad they couldn't bring it all together just once to make the Series.

Not to be out done, there was another 4 cards from Upper Deck that will be going into the binders to knock down the needed number even lower. It amazes how many cards Ken had during his heyday as the face of MLB that I have to collect as a Mariner. As you can see, Griffey won out on the numbers game against Randy again:

Thanks to Victor, that now brings me down to only needing 93 cards to bring this lifelong project to completion. I'm hoping that as the season comes, and progresses I can either trade or buy my way to making this dream a reality.

If you have anything laying around that is Pittsburgh related in any sport, go and see him and see if you can work a deal with him. I know that he will take care of you the way he helped me. Big thanks again to Big Daddy Filth, and for him I say raise the Jolly Roger for the Buccos!!



Brighter than the sun!!

First off I will admit I am more of a rock kind of guy. It doesn't make if it's rock from the 60's all the way to a lot of modern rock. I do like that song by Colbie Caillat, and she's easy on the eyes too. I know how does her and the song relate to cards?? Follow my lead and you will see...

Not too long ago, I hooked up with Ryan of Building a Better Collection about working a deal. I sent him some Braves and some other random football stuff for some Mariners he had laying around. The first thing of beauty was my first 2013 Topps card of flamethrower Carter Capps.

There were some colorful shiny cards of parallels from the last few years, but the blinding need that was in there starts with these cards that are now 25 years old!! That's right folks, 1988 Score Rookie&Traded is 25!!

Also not to be out done on the brightness scale was the last needs to a very cheery set in the 1991 Fleer updates. These four guys found their place to the Super Set, and I continue to chip away at whats left  of the less than 200 cards I need to finish it. Maybe you have some I need, or I might hit Sportlots one day.

A big thanks again goes out to Ryan, and hit him up if you have Braves, or Redskins laying around and want to hook up a trade!!

Desperately Seeking Kevin...

If you are like me and are a child that grew up in the 80's you would definitely remember this movie:

you must admit, Madonna was hot back in the day...

I am kind of feeling the same way, but I'm seeking a MAN! Thanks to the wonder of social media, I received a package yesterday that contained 6 of the 7 cards I needed from 2012 Update. This is not the first time that I have received cards from friends on Facebook. The same guy had previously sent me all the remaining cards I needed to finish both 1969 and 1970 Pilots cards, and some Mariners that were needed too. I know that some one must have an extra one of these lying around that maybe they can spare?:

Willie caught a Brooklyn subway in New Mexico

Not long ago I set up a deal with Corey of Classon Ave. I sent some Tim Wallach's for his other blog. I also included some other Topps sets needs. I was supposed to send him a '83 Fleer Ryne Sandberg RC that started the deal. He didn't get it, and I can't find it. Did I missend it to somebody else??

Corey did send me some Mariners I needed during that deal that helped knock down the Mariners collection. I got home yesterday and there was a PWE in the mail. Corey decided to send a couple of Willie's for the Pops PC. It had a great hand written note saying one was well loved, and the note even used my Six Degrees idea from the 1979 Topps Blog.

Big thanks from my son Andrew who is the new Pops fan, and also from me for cards for a PC we both are proud to be building. I think the end of this post needs an old school Expos logo for Corey and his Tim Wallach love.

Hubie at home

Do you ever get that random e-mail? Another blogger or reader says "hey, I have a card for you!" You go back and forth asking what can I send in return, and they say nothing. They ask if your address is still the same and the next thing you know, BAM! cards in your mailbox.

I recently got that e-mail from Steve. We made a trade in 2010, but I can't remember what was sent(bad blogger on my part). Steve had the 1992 Upper Deck of Hubie Brooks for the Angels in the Desert PC.

He insisted more than once that I didn't need to send any return, just keep up the great?! blogging I do. I'm self critical so I don't think I do all that great on these. Yesterday I come home from work and in the mailbox is Hubie. He will now find his place in the binder of other Angels from Palm Springs. Big thanks to you Steve for sending Hubie to his new home showing him batting at home plate.

Purple Rocks in the Emerald City

Have you ever noticed when you made deals, you are surprised that people are nowhere near their teams? I've seen it quite often with many of the bloggers that I've made deals with. While some of us are near where our teams call home, some are halfway across the country, some are on opposite coasts, and some are on totally different continents. Is it because they grew up with a team and moved, or is it just a love affair with a team that started at a young age?  I recently found another who is removed from his team. Johnny(aka hiflew) of the great Cards from the Quarry is a big Rockies fan. He is based nowhere near Denver, which is cool to find a Purple fan. I sent some assorted Rockies, and I got a package all over the map to help many needs.

How about some cards from a side project that has been taking a nap? Johnny sent me about 10 cards to add to my Angels in the Desert project. Do you have some 70's and 80's Angels laying around that might fit the criteria for the collection?

What is a trade with a Mariner fan without some Mariners? A '92 Score for the Super Set, and some Canadian Mariners. Also some nice Laser cut Topps. While I'm not a big fan of this overkill kind of cards from the 90's, I will definitely add them to the great pile of Mariners.

As you may have seen recently, I have been working on trying to bump up the few player collections I really want to make look like collections. One of those players is the should be HOF'er Dale Murphy. Johnny was nice enough to send some Atlanta Murph love to add to the binder. Why can't he get more of the vote to get in?

The last few cards I'm sure made him happy to get rid of. As a Rockies fan, I'm sure he's not too high on players from other NL West teams. As you may have seen, my son has become a big fan of Tim Lincecum. Johnny was also nice enough to send along a few cards of the Freak for him. Big thanks again to hiflew for helping me along with many collections. It is too bad that his team wasn't around for the 1979 Topps set. It would have been fun to see the colors and how they would have fit in back then.

New Faces from Old Places

Have you ever received random mail from another blogger? You haven't been working on any trades or anything. Suddenly a package or envelope shows up at your house. I had that happen to me just yesterday. A plain white envelope was in my mailbox. I thought I recognized the return address, and was kind of scratching my head not knowwing what it was. I seems that AJ of The Lost Collector decided I needed to have a card of each of the newest Mariners.

I was surprised to see these. While I will agree with AJ's hand written note that I hope the trade works out for both teams, I'm still bummed about it. I hope that all the "experts" are right that Jesus is going to be a stud. I'm starting to have my worries about him. I hope that Noesi can step in to big Mike's shoes in the rotation for the Mariners. I think I wouls still like one more pitcher like an Edwin Jackson or Roy Oswalt signing for us. I think one more good to above average bat would help too. I see the vision and the direction we are heading, it just seems like it's taking forever.

Big thanks again to AJ for some new Mariners in those god awful pinstriped Yankee uniforms. These guys will look better in Mariners colors, while poor Michael Pineda will now have to wear that dreaded NY.

Want to see my Willie??

As you might know, I recently put up a wantlist for some vintage. It was a player of my youth and my son's new favorite player. Who in their right mind doesn't love "Pops?" In my mailbox yesterday was two cards from a Cubs fan of all people. I honestly think sometimes that Paul of Wrigley Wax owns just about every card ever made. You ask for it, he probably has it. Look at these two beauties:

A nice 1969 Topps featuring a a young Willie. If you look at the back, you can see it been loved but I don't care. Also in the envelope was a nice '76 of a now 1B Willie. Funny though that he grew an inch and gained almost 40 pounds. That extra weight was one of the things that made him lovable at the end of his career.

Big thanks again to Paul. I can't say I'm a Cubs fan, but I do want to make it to Wrigley someday.

Owl Droppings

I came home yesterday to a small but much appreciated package in my mailbox. Thankfully it wasn't on my doorstep for me to step in. We all know about Greg from Night Owl Cards. He is one of the best bloggers about cards, is a die hard Dodgers fan, and is a very generous giver of cards. When I opened it up I felt like Brendan Ryan, and wanted to congratulate somebody like Adam Kennedy here.

The nice thing about those two cards is that finishes 2011 for me. Also in the little bubble, I was PINEDA'd!! As a Mariners fan I think that is a good thing. Even though his second half kind of fell off, you can see the potential in this kid for years to come. I think he and Felix are good building blocks to start around.

Also in there was a sad reminder of the tragedy that struck the Mariners family not too long ago. Two new cards of former Greg Halman. It is sad that he was taken over something so petty.

Big thanks again to one of the kings of the card world in the Night Owl. If you want cards or have cards to give you need to get in contact with him. I know everybody reads his works, how could you not? Thanks Owl!

Division Enemies=Trading Friends

Have you ever noticed that fans of teams in your division make great traders? I have had great experiences in the past with Rangers fans. The Angels are a team I have a soft spot in my heart for. Their #1 blogger is Tom from The Angels, In Order. He does pretty historical and in depth work on the Angels. He sent me a few cards to help out on the Mariners Super Set.

The Peguero gets me one closer to finishing 2011. The two Donruss cards finish the 1982 and 1992 sets. I'm finding that the more I chip away at this thing, it seems like myself and no one else was collecting in the mid to late 1990's. Most of my wants seems to be in that era.

Tom also sent these that will be going into the boxes of different Mariners cards. I like the two players with coneections to the ownership in Japan. The gutierrez is my first Lineage card since I don't really buy much other than flagship stuff. I can't figure out why the A-Rod has a hole in it, is that where the steroid syringe goes into his butt cheek? I think it's cool to see a pitcher like Salkeld with a bat in his hands. I don't like to see pitchers hit though, both leagues need to use the DH. Jay Buhner is wearing the face mask and glasses so nobody will reconize him in New York.


Big thanks again to you Tom. Keep up the great work on the Angels. I wonder if Athletics fans make good trade partners? Does anybody know of some active A's traders? Hello Oakland fans are you out there?

There's treasure in the Ivy

As we all know, I recently updated all my wantlists. I even tried to separate them out by maker to simplify. One of the bloggers who was willing to help was Paul from Wrigley Wax.

Paul is one of the many bloggers that I strive to be like someday. There are some guys that are legendary, and they know who they are. They post all the time, have great content, and are helpful with trades. While what Paul sent isn't much, it's of great importance to me. These four 1969 Pilots cards mean I need six more cards from '69, and six more from '70 complete the Pilots cards.

Anybody out there that does vintage, you know who you are, can you help? I really want to knock down all these Pilots and Mariners wants by the start of next season. With the continued help of the blog community, I know I can achieve it.

To the two bloggers out there that I know for sure will appreciate this, today is a big day. The mighty Maize and Blue take on Nebraska. We need to win this game to ride the momentum in to Columbus and kick Ohio State's butt. I know that Dennis of Too Many Grandersons, and Jeff of My Sports Obsession will agrre with me on two words today:

GO BLUE!!!

Pip Pip Cheerio!

Not too long ago a package was in my mailbox from a guy that is a long ways away from me. How far you ask? I don't know if this is anywhere close to him:

All joking aside, John of Pursuit of 80's(ness), Pursuit of Red Sox, and Pursuit of Jacoby fame sent me some cards to start my journey into collecting my first set I pursued. Here is a showing of the 65 cards of 1980 goodness I received thanks to the Royal Mail of the UK.

Alot of the cards are common players that no one would recognize, unless you are older like me, or if they were on your favorite team. Some of the most recognizable names in the bunch were Alan Trammell, Don Baylor, Ray Fosse, Bert Blyleven, Mickey Lolich, Charlie Hough, and Carl Yastrzemski. If you include the two 1980's I already owned, I now own 67 of 726 of these beauties.

It always seems that every trade I make the other person always have a bunch of Mariners cards laying around. I know that I'm one of the few people crazy enough to give this team my heart and soul. The nice part about being a fan of a less than popular team is most everyone has extra cards of my team. John was nice enough to include some Mariners of old and new. I'm excited to own a 2011 Bowman Chavez card. This kid is a couple years away, but is supposed to be a big deal when he makes it up the big leagues.

Thanks again to my favorite new trader across the pond, and also the new favorite of my son. Andrew is into all things that have to do with the UK. He was excited to see a package from overseas. Your cards are on their way to you John.

This junk will rule!!

OK, maybe not completely. Recently I sent some 1989 Bowman needs to the great Thorzul Will Rule. He in return, sent me a few needs cards for two collections.

The '88 Fleer gets me closer to finishing that year, the four cards from '92 Fleer finish off the regular set, and an elusive '94 Donruss card.

Also, he chipped away a little on the old Angels in the Desert list.Two '90 Fleers get me down to one needed from that year. The '92 Upper Deck's are firsts in the Angels needs.

Big thanks to one of the big dogs of the blogging world for helping out a little guy work on his dreams of collecting cards.

Some kept and some snatched

Not too long ago, Kevin aka The Diamond King asked me if I could use some cards for my player collections. Me being someone to never say not to cards of players I like, I said I would like to get more player cards. A small bubble mailer shows up from the southern part of my state in the mailbox and it didn't disappoint. My son and I opened it up together, and he started making two piles. One for him and one for me. I'm sure you know who ended up with bigger stack in this deal. His first player to go into his stack was all these awesome cards of this stud my son wants to pitch like.

My son was blown away that Nolan pitched for all those teams and lasted as many years as he did.

Just as good if not better in the end as in the beginning.

He then puts this guy to my side, because he hasn't heard of him and dad needs some cards. I really think that Dale is not appreciated enough for what he did during his career.

My son than puts the card from this guy to his side. During regular season baseball this year he wore #8. He watched videos of Willie from the 1979 World Series. His team mates were calling him "Pops" all season. He wanted to be the leader of the team, and the happy teammate like Willie.

As soon as we got to this guy in the stack of cards, Andrew says, "I know dad, don't say it. This guy is all yours, I know that anything Tony is all you." Smart kid, I've taught him well. I still love Mr. Padre.

Lastly in the pile of players was some love from the legendary Big Papi. David was one of the two players my son wanted represent in All-Stars this year by wearing #34. To Andrew, 34 means Papi, Felix Hernandez, and Nolan Ryan for part of his career. He didn't know he was with the Twins. I said yes, and was he was in the Mariners organization as David Arias before we traded him away.

Big thanks again to Kevin, and go read The Diamond King. He does an awesome job, and holds some cool contests too. Thanks from two Washingtonians to another for some great cards.

Bloggers make the best Traders

Not long ago, the Topps Series 2 cards started coming out. As I have done in the past, I begged all of you to send me any extra Mariners to me so I don't have to buy them. (...Joe) from The Sandlot was the first to help out with a card of Erik Bedard. Next came an e-mail from Anthony of Cheap Card Collecting. Anthony had been a case break, and had 5 team sets of Series 2 for the Mariners. Here's what it looks like:

 I Like the fact that most of the new guys all are in M's unis or Spring Training unis, but they decided to keep Jack Cust airbrushed. Bad idea Topps, get it right, please!

Anthony was also kind enough to send a few extra goodies that he got from the Series 2 stuff. My son has already claimed the 3 cards of Felix.

Big thanks again to Anthony and Joe for killing Series 2 so quickly. Now it's time to wait for the cards from the Update Series.

Beg and you shall receive

Not long ago, I asked for the usual help to start making my way through the Mariners in Series 2. As of right now there is one less card needed. Thanks to ...Joe at The Sandlot, I now have my first card from Series 2. Welcome home Mr. Bedard:

I didn't have time to scan the card

Also, I have an offer that has come to me to complete this thing already. I'm going to get in contact with that awesome blogger, and I will let everyone know how that works out. If it is that simple again to knock these sets out, the blog land is an awesome place.

The train has come off the track in Seattle. We can't hit the ball or score runs to save our lives. If it wasn't for one bad 1st inning, we might have had a chance. Here is the tough luck Chuck from last night:

Doug Fister has the lowest run support in the AL this year. This poor guy pitches well, but has to be perfect or will lose because his offense doesn't help him. Let's salvage one tonight with Erik Bedard on the bump.