And Then There Was One

I set up couple lofty goals for myself this year and with the year being so busy and my blogging and collecting getting a little less of my attention, I suspect my YE grading of my goals will not be up to par with past years.  However I have recently inched forward to two monumental goals and I thought I would share my progress.

One of my collecting focuses has been on acquiring as many Giants base cards as possible.  I like all Giants including parallels, relics, autos, inserts and oddballs but the regular old base cards are close to my heart.  One of my goals this year was to finish off the Giants run of base cards put out by Topps throughout the 1960s.  With the purchase of this Chuck Hiller rookie from 1961 Topps I am now one card away from completing this goal.  The card I have left is the 1961 Topps All-Star of Willie Mays.  This card won't come cheap but I am patient and will try to strike with a reasonably conditioned card at the right price.

Another lofty goal was to complete the 1973 Topps set.

I have been on the lookout for this card for months.  A nicely conditioned card with the checklist unmarked seems hard to come by for under $20 with some going up into triple figures.  It is a high number and I suspect unchecked ones are somewhat scarce.  I found this lightly checked checklist (4 squares lightly filled in with pencil) for a fraction of the price.  And while I like the condition to be the best possible, this set is far from a mint representation so this card should fit in just fine.  Next up is the Michael Jack Schmidt rookie card.  I have been watching them for several months and it won't come cheap but again I will demonstrate patience.

Is anyone out there inching towards a goal or just have one complete?  For me there is little more satisfying than marking a goal off the list and I hope I can put both of these to rest in the not too distant future.