Mid Year Collecting Goal Report Card

I didn't have this blog at the beginning of the year and therefore don't have a post to refer back to showing my 2012 collecting goals.  However, in late December, for the third year in a row I did some some collecting goals.  I thought I would both introduce you to my goals and give a status on my progress.

1. Start a Blog - I had been on the fence for a few months trying to decide if I was willing to take the plunge.  By the end of last year I had made quite a few trades with bloggers and thought that starting one would increase trade activity.  I think it has worked.  I would still like to have more posts that go a little deeper and do more than show my cards, maybe that is an idea for the 2013 goals.
COMPLETED

2. Complete my Giants Want List and post it to the blog - Over the past couple of years I had put together a list of all the Giants cards listed on the Beckett web site and created a spreadsheet by year.  I needed to find a way to convert it from the spreadsheet into a more usable form.  I started by making lists by brand and that got challenging for me so I shifted to my current list of Base, Parallel, Inserts and Small Sets and Oddballs.  I also decided not to list any Autos or Relics.  I still want to collect the Autos and Relics but those rarely come as trade throw ins so I thought the benefit of making the list much shorter outweighed having it totally complete.
COMPLETED

3. Complete Giants Topps, Fleer, Donruss and Upper Deck team sets from 1981-2011 - I am doing fairly well here.  I just completed a count and here is what I need to complete each brand:
Topps - 73 cards
Fleer - 113 cards
Donruss - 5 cards
Upper Deck - 1 card
This includes any traded/update sets.  Also any short prints (which Fleer seemed to have quite a few) and the retired parallels from the last few years of Topps.  The 1 Upper Deck card has proven to be quite elusive. It is a Bill Mueller card from the 1st series update set. The set is quite rare and costly and I haven't seen any singles of this card for sale.  I have been working to trade for some of these and will probably pick up a chunk off Beckett.com's Marketplace soon.  If you spend over $50 you can get free shipping and most base cards of non-stars are a quarter per cars.
IN PROGRESS AND LIKELY TO COMPLETE

4. Complete Giants Fleer team sets from 1960-1963 - I recently completed the 1960 team set (post upcoming) and am 3 cards away from the 1961 set and 2 away from the 1963 set.  There was no set in 1962. Unfortunately one of the 1963 cards is a Mays which will be tough to acquire.
IN PROGRESS AND 50/50 CHANCE TO COMPLETE

5. Complete Giants Topps team sets from 1963-1980.  Here is the count by set:
1963 - 17 including 1 Mays
1964 - 4 including 1 Mays
1965 - 4 including 1 Mays
1966 - 6 including 1 Mays
1967 - 9 including 2 Mays
1968 - 3 including 1 Mays
1969 - 8
1977 - 1
I separated out the Mays cards because those are typically the high dollar cards.  I also need a Gaylord Perry 1966 SP which sells for way more than his rookie. I didn't include variations though they are listed on my want list.  I would have had a much better chance of hitting this goal if I would have made the cut off around 1967.
IN PROGRESS AND HIGHLY UNLIKELY TO COMPLETE

6. Add 5 Hall of Famer Autos to my Collection - Half way through the year and I have blown this goal out of the water. I have added autos of Tom Seaver, Carlton Fisk, Joe Morgan, Hoyt Wilhelm, Reggie Jackson, Ryne Sandberg and Willie Mays to my collection.  To make it even better, the Morgan, Wilhelm and Mays autos are of them as Giants and the Sandberg was pack pulled.  I have a chance to double this goal.
COMPLETED

7. Complete the 1975 Topps Set - I had hit a wall on this and have needed 31 cards for the last month or two.  My LCS were pricing them higher than I wanted to pay.  Sportlots auctions stopped including 75 cards and even a trip to a couple of card shops outside of my area weren't successful.  I just took the plunge recently and bought a group from an online seller which will bring me down to 8 cards.  I am going to put some major focus on this over the next 60 days and knock this one out.
IN PROGRESS AND LIKELY TO COMPLETE

8. Add 1 pre-1910 Giants card to my collection - I have a couple cards from 1933 and think it would be great to have an original tobacco card of an old NY Giant in my collection.  I did a little eBay trolling once or twice and even bid on a couple but haven't made it happen yet.  If I focus on it, I should be able to get one at a reasonable price.  I have to make the time.
50/50 CHANCE TO COMPLETE

9. Be more generous with trades and bloggers - I can't be the judge of this one.  I had been trading a ton on Sports Card Forum prior to entering the world of blogs.  I was shocked by the generosity of bloggers, there always seems to be a few extras tossed into trades.  I really like that and want to be a part of it so I set this as a goal.
NOT FOR ME TO JUDGE

10. Read 10 Baseball Books - Not necessary a card related goal but since I have started posting mini-reviews on the blog I decided to include the goal and my progress. Year to date I have read 5 baseball books:
1. Hammerin Hank, George Almighty and the Say Hey Kid
2. The First Fall Classic
3. Out of My League
4. The Quality of Courage
5. Calico Joe
IN PROGRESS AND LIKELY TO COMPLETE

I have a couple more fiction books I may tackle soon and 3 shelves of my bookcase devoted to baseball books.  Lots of material, just need to make it happen.  I enjoy reading and set a few other reading goals for the year that I thought I would share.  Most are not on pace to complete like the baseball books:

• Read Under the Dome and 11/22/63 by Stephen King - I have read most of King's books and these 2 800+ pagers are intimidating.  I am half way there having read 11/22/63 (highly recommend it - it is one of his best over the past few years)
• Read the 2 newest Tom Clancy books - Up until these two I have read and enjoyed everything. For some reason, may be the length, I haven't jumped into these yet
• Read 3 Presidential biographies - I really enjoy history, particularly presidential history.  At one point in my life I set a goal to read at least 1 biography of every president.  I feel off of that and this was my (so far unsuccessful) attempt to get back into them.  I did ready Dick Cheney's memoirs and Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly late last year but haven't gotten into one yet
• Read 5 books off the Top 100 Thrillers list - a couple years back I ran across a list where readers voted on the top thrillers of all time.  I read a few that first year and really enjoyed some variety and thought this year I would do the same. Only 1 so far, The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver
• Read 5 Leadership/Work related books - I used to devour these, I would have one going at all times.  I have been strongly encouraged to read 2 for meetings I attended at work - Take the Lead by Betsy Myers and Maestro by Roger Neirenberg.  Neither was a great read in my opinion.  I have a few in the queue ready to go and should knock this on out

Over the past 2 years I set a goal of a book per week and was able to easily meet that.  This year at the half way point I am only at 23 and guess I most likely won't make up ground and get to 52.  I think the blogging has taken away some reading time but I am very okay with that.