Mail Day #6 - Two Completed Sets and an Awesome Pick Up

I thought I would share a variety of pick ups from the last few days off Sportlots and eBay. I am pretty excited to have finished a couple sets and to have made progress with some big names on a couple of others.

Before we get to the sets, first up are some Giants I picked up.

These 3 Bowman cards completed my team set. I had already picked up the big cards (Posey and Bumgarner RCs) so it was nice to knock this set off the want list.  I really like the action shots of Lincecum and Kung Fu Panda although they might have been a little better if the picture was zoomed out a little.

 Next is a cloth sticker from 1977 of John "The Count" Montefusco.  These cloth stickers are pretty cool and I have wanted to add one to my collection for quite some time.  Of course, 2012 Archives is doing an insert set of them this year but I am glad to have an original.  Just Bobby Murcer to go to finish off the team set.

I picked up 2 more 1973 Topps cards to my set.  These aren't just any cards, I scored 4 HOFers on two cards.  Both are in pretty nice shape and came in Sportlots auctions.  I am 58.33% of the way done with this set.  I am still trying to decide if I want to focus on finishing this one up or the 1970 set I have started next.  I will share a big pickup a little later in this post towards the next 1970s set I will be completing.

This card has eluded me for quite some time.  I now have the entire 2009 Upper Deck set including all the insert sets.  I wasn't fortunate enough to pull this card in a pack and with Strasburg-mania this card was going for crazy prices in 2009 and 2010. After he got hurt I figured prices would come down put the supply dried up.  I was lucky enough to find this one in an auction and pick it up within my price range. It was nice getting this set off my want list after 3 years.

This set didn't take quite as long to complete.  For the last several years I have been putting together a complete base set of Topps and all the insert sets.  My formula has been fairly simple.  I buy a Jumbo box from my LCS (all but once the Jumbo box produced a full base set), a few hobby and retail packs in hopes of picking up some Giants and additional inserts then go to work finishing off the insert sets.  I typically look onto eBay to see if I can score some pretty cheap full or partial insert sets from some of the case breakers then on to the trades.  When I get down to the last few, I look for a seller who has quite a few of my needs on Sportlots to keep shipping down and I was lucky enough to find one seller with these last 4 cards I needed.  Just in time for Series 2!

My final pick up is by far my favorite of this batch. I was finally able to secure a 1975 Topps George Brett RC!  This is the most costly and iconic card of the set and by getting it I am down to needing only 31 cards to complete my set.  My summer project will be to track these down and finish this off.  If you happen to have any extra's lying around, here is my want list:

1975 Topps
1975 Topps #3 Bob Gibson HL#{3000th Strikeout
1975 Topps #4 Al Kaline HL#{3000 Hit Club
1975 Topps #21 Rollie Fingers
1975 Topps #29 Dave Parker
1975 Topps #30 Bert Blyleven
1975 Topps #35 Ron Santo
1975 Topps #80 Carlton Fisk
1975 Topps #117 Baltimore Orioles CL#{Earl Weaver MG
1975 Topps #140 Steve Garvey
1975 Topps #190 Bobby Shantz#{Hank Sauer MVP
1975 Topps #195 Mickey Mantle#{Hank Aaron MVP
1975 Topps #206 Denny McLain UER#{Bob Gibson MVP#{On the back McLain is spelled McClain
1975 Topps #209 Vida Blue#{Joe Torre MVP
1975 Topps #212 Jeff Burroughs#{Steve Garvey MVP
1975 Topps #220 Don Sutton
1975 Topps #246 St. Louis Cardinals CL#{Red Schoendienst MG
1975 Topps #276 Chicago White Sox CL#{Chuck Tanner MG
1975 Topps #361 Los Angeles Dodgers CL#{Walter Alston MG
1975 Topps #386 Checklist: 265-396 UER#{Dick Sharon's name is misspelled
1975 Topps #421 New York Mets CL#{Yogi Berra MG
1975 Topps #531 Cincinnati Reds CL#{Sparky Anderson MG
1975 Topps #540 Lou Brock
1975 Topps #554 Goose Gossage
1975 Topps #561 Oakland Athletics CL#{Alvin Dark MG
1975 Topps #589 Atlanta Braves CL#{Clyde King MG
1975 Topps #611 New York Yankees CL#{Bill Virdon MG
1975 Topps #617 Rookie Infielders#{Mike Cubbage RC#{Doug DeCinces RC#{Reggie Sanders#{Manny Trillo
1975 Topps #623 Rookie Infielders#{Phil Garner RC#{Keith Hernandez RC#{(UER Sic, bats right)#{Bob Sheldon RC#{Tom Veryzer RC
1975 Topps #640 Harmon Killebrew
1975 Topps #646 Checklist: 529-660

A few stars and HOFers in there but nothing too major from a cost perspective.  Let me know if you can help me out to finish off one more set.