Mid Year Collecting Goal Report Card

Due to my absence from blogging, I missed my usual mid-year report out on my collection goals for 2015.  I doubt there is much interest from my blog readers but it gives me a good chance to reflect and see where my focus should shift moving forward through the end of the year.  So here are the goals I set with some comments on where I am at:

1. Obtain all 2015 Giants base cards from all releases.

I am keeping up pretty well on this having all the base cards from these 2015 releases: Bowman, Bowman Chrome Prospects, Bowman Prospects, Diamond Kings, Donruss, Finest, Panini Prizm, Topps Series 1, Topps Archives, Topps Gypsy Queen, Topps Heritage, Topps Stickers, and Topps Tribute.

I have some work to do on Leaf Heroes of Baseball, Panini Father’s Day, Stadium Club, Topps Series 2, Topps Chipz, Topps Museum Collection, and Topps Opening Day.

Overall I am feeling pretty good about this goal and should be able to keep up with it.

2. Acquire at least 800 Giants base cards from years past.  My want list has about 2800 going back to 1948.  I have no idea if this is a realistic target, I will try and knock as many off this list as I can but want to set some sort of goal.

I am down to under 2200 cards on my base want list after quite a number of larger purchases.  This doesn’t include quite a few 2014 pick ups and all of my 2015 pick ups.  I am guessing I am close to 700 cards putting 800 well within reach this year.

3.  Concentrate my player collections on obtaining all the base cards of these players.  Certain player like McCovey, Vida and Lott will still get the focus of all cards including base.
Willie McCovey
Rickey Henderson
Vida Blue
Reggie Jackson
Dave Winfield
Ben Petrick
Dave Parker (as a Pirate)
Chili Davis
Ronnie Lott
Roger Craig
Dwight Clark
Chris Webber
Charles Barkley
Patrick Ewing
I have started making a few base card only want lists and added them to the bottom of my posted want lists.  I am using Beckett.com so I doubt it will be 100% accurate but should help in my shopping excursions.

I have been keeping up with my McCovey collection quite well.  I have picked up nice lots of cards of Petrick, Chili, and Webber. I have picked of at least of few cards of everyone else on the list as well so I am feeling pretty good.  I do have the base cards want lists established for most.  I have also done some good work on my Harold Miner collection that wasn’t even listed above. 

 4. Finish my 1970 Topps set which will include:
Paying off lay-away balance at old LCS for all but 17 off my want list
Tracking down the final 17 cards that include: Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson RC, Hank Aaron AS, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, Johnny Bench and Nolan Ryan

I finished paying off the lay away from my old LCS and have the cards in my possession.  My want list is down to 15 cards including the big names listed above.  Having started looking at the prices of the cards I need, this is going to be an expense endeavor.  I need to decide if my limited budget will be spend here or elsewhere.

5.  Knock 150 cards off 1971 Topps want list (currently at 340/752)

I am at 441/752, I have added 101 cards - 2/3 of the way there, within reach.

6. Knock 100 cards off 1972 Topps want list (currently at 481/787)

I am at 489/787, I have only added 8 cards so far - lots of work to do.

7. Complete 1956 Topps Presidents set (currently at 29/36 with 2 on the way)

I am down to needing just 2 cards to complete this set, optimistic that I will be able to accomplish this goal.

8. Get all my base cards and inserts that aren’t part of sets or my player and team collections uploaded into Sportlots.  I just finished sorting and inputting about 5000 baseball cards that I have acquired since my move about 18 months ago and have a total of over 48,000 cards in the database.  I have tons of base cards from the early 80s to mid 2000s in a closest that I want to get input as well.  In addition to selling $20-$80/month in cards that I can turn around and use to buy new ones (almost like trading), Sportlots gives me a great database to locate the cards I have.  If you have needs by player or set, let me know and I can do a quick search.

I have added all the 2014-15 baseball cards into Sportlots and have a couple small stacks on my table.  I have changed my mind about all the cards in my closet, at least for the time being.  I do have a 5000 count box of football cards that need to be inventoried.  That is the next to do item for this goal.

9. Obtain at least 1 Giants card that will be the oldest in my collection.  I currently have 4 1933 Goudeys that are tied for my oldest card.

Thanks to Zippy Zappy, I now have a 1909 T206 card of Art Devlin.  Mission accomplished.

10. Make significant progress on my 49ers Vintage set collection and have at least 100 different cards by year end.

I have posted 3 team sets - 1968. 1971 & 1977 and have quite a few other cards that haven’t been posted.  My total collection is currently at 84 cards so this one is well within reach.

11. Update USC Football checklist with releases from the past 3-5 years (they are hit and miss) and obtain 50% of all base cards from 2014 and 2015.

Just finished updating my checklist - it was quite a chore.  I have picked up some of the base cards but haven’t really made a list or figured out how many - that will need to be my next step.

12. My first non-base focused goal will be to add 6 certified autographs of players new to my Baseball HOF collection.

This goal is complete.  I have shared 5 so far on the blog and will be sharing number 6 soon.  To keep an air of mystery I will save the name of #6 until I post the card.  The first 5 were Sparky Anderson, Rod Carew, Barry Larkin, Pat Gillick and Red Schoendienst.  I may be able to exceed this goal if I can pick up a few more at reasonable prices.

13. Maintain set building discipline, try not to collect every set that comes out

I think I am doing okay here.  I have built Topps Series 1 & 2, Topps Opening Day and Donruss.  I also bought the entire Archives set (minus SPs) but it was a pretty cheap pickup and I didn’t buy a box.  The purpose of this goal was to try and keep my box and pack purchases down.  I am pretty sure I am going to go after Allen & Ginter and of course will collect Topps Update and Donruss Series 2.  If I keep it to that, this would be a win.

14. Have fun with the blog, post 200-250 times during the year, hold a couple contests, comment more on the posts of fellow bloggers, continue to trade and send some “just because” packages.

I am having fun but am not sure I will reach the number of posts I desired.  I have a couple contest ideas coming up, made some trades and need to do a better job on the just because so I am okay but not great on this goal.

There you have it, I am feeling pretty good, time to make some shifts and see how many of these goals I can knock off.  Happy collecting!