Biggest achievements of 2011

Typically people post their "pickups" but I am doing the opposite, posting what I got rid of. It is very easy to have cards pile up year after year but takes a lot of work to weed out cards, and trim the excess fat from ones collection. Much like losing weight I suppose.

One of my goals this year, like most years, was to get rid of extra cards. This year, I am glad to say, I have finally been able to achieve that goal. I started out with a monster box, shoe box, plus five 900 card set boxes full of miscellaneous cards . With the help of trades, sales, and eBay, I have been able to move much of what I had intended and completely empty out my trade box. It was pointless having a trade box since I end up buying nearly all the cards I add to my collection anyways. Looking to continue this into the new year. Still have a few more things I am looking to move: 1986-87 Fleer Basketball near set, 1990-1991 Topps Factory Sets, miscellaneous team sets, and extra supplies.

Going forward, I will continue to build Yankee team sets from all years of Topps & Topps Heritage but be more selective with other pickups, sticking to just nicer O'Neill cards and Yankee autographs I really want.

January 2011


December 2011




Favorite Additions on the Year (top 5)

Completed the Baltimore News Ruth rookie card (reprint) rainbow.





Bit the bullet and bought the Patel Superfractor and the Red to give me a near rainbow. Still missing the Gold Refractor and 2 plates. If anyone know the whereabouts, please let me know.





Bought my first ever Jeter auto. I am a huge fan of autographed 1996 Fleer cards.




Completed the Fan Favorites Paul O'Neill set from 2003-2005 including the tough Rainbow Parallel /10. The Reds card is SPed to 50.




Bought an autographed 1992 Bowman Rivera rookie. Highest graded PSA copy boasting a circa 1996-style Rivera autograph.

The Patel rainbow is pretty awesome.

Not the biggest achievements in the world but here are mine for 2011...

I started to super collect Ken Caminiti, my favorite player growing up. I was able to obtain approximately 800 different cards of his this year.

I put together this rainbow of 2011 Topps Tribute Tony Gwynn dual relics numbered to /99, /75, /20, /5 and /1



I also added these which are the best cards in my collection

Great thread!

i think 2011 was, strike that, i know 2011 was a year of collecting that i will never top personally.
both collecting wise and personally enjoyed.

i discovered full-blown PSA Registry addiction, and it has become more addictive then anything else i can remember.

i attended the 2011 National in Chicago and got to hang out with many friends i've made from this website, including Pine Tar, whom i consider to be a good friend.

ive been able to (somewhat) reel in my focus' and have made great strides in my registries of choice

hmmm, Top 5? that may be tough, but i will give it a try:

in no particular order, these slabs:

Nice! Always wanted a George Brett rookie. That will be on my list for 2012.

ThoseBackPages said:

Great thread!

i think 2011 was, strike that, i know 2011 was a year of collecting that i will never top personally.
both collecting wise and personally enjoyed.

i discovered full-blown PSA Registry addiction, and it has become more addictive then anything else i can remember.

i attended the 2011 National in Chicago and got to hang out with many friends i've made from this website, including Pine Tar, whom i consider to be a good friend.

ive been able to (somewhat) reel in my focus' and have made great strides in my registries of choice

hmmm, Top 5? that may be tough, but i will give it a try:

in no particular order, these slabs:

Click to expand...

I absolutely love the Jackie Eric. Just a beautiful card.

PadresFan86, nice Gwynns. That letterman is especially sick.

Eric, awesome stuff! I agree, those pickups will be hard to top unless you start going after pre-war RCs. BTW, didn't know you started collecting Munson!

Anthony K. said:

I absolutely love the Jackie Eric. Just a beautiful card.

Click to expand...

Thanks Brother! it's a card ive loved for a long time

nevermore said:

Eric, awesome stuff! I agree, those pickups will be hard to top unless you start going after pre-war RCs. BTW, didn't know you started collecting Munson!

Click to expand...

i still have 10 more post-war rc's to go, so i hope to put a dent in that list next year.
As for Munson, yea, i think his stuff is underloved in high grade (other then that damned '71 lol)

I know this is a minor card but it is a lot more to me. Over this past summer I got back into this hobby I left so many years ago. When I first got back into collecting cards I always wanted an Evan Longoria auto. When I got this, it made me realize why I love collecting so much.

I believe I have finally gotten every Bagwell minor league card (at least listed on Beckett). Not sure why it took so long. Maybe it was after buying three of them off sportlots and each sending the incorrect card, i finally gave up for a while. But this was the last one i needed and finally got last week:

1990 New Britain Red Sox ProCards #1324 Jeff Bagwell


Now onto my goal for 2012 - Complete renaming of my collection and proper order placement on my site.

Nevermore - If you ever wanna trim your Bagwells, you could always send them to me

nevermore said:

Typically people post their "pickups" but I am doing the opposite, posting what I got rid of. It is very easy to have cards pile up year after year but takes a lot of work to weed out cards, and trim the excess fat from ones collection. Much like losing weight I suppose.

One of my goals this year, like most years, was to get rid of extra cards. This year, I am glad to say, I have finally been able to achieve that goal...

Click to expand...

Yes, I had the same cathartic experience this year, albeit I hadn't been that way before. I have to say the benefit of the collecting focus I gained far outweighed any feeling of loss from the cards I purged... I just really hated the idea of becoming an accumulator who'd buy anything instead of being a collector.

Of course this 'great purge' of 1000s of decent cards resulted in the addition of about 100 really good new cards I truly enjoy. IMO more isn't always better, and I plan to continue to purge in 2012 although to a lesser extent... But I'll continue to buy mostly with what fits into my focus to avoid future 'purges' lol.

My other 'big' accomplishment was to provide a solid foundation to my website.

2011 was a great year for my collection! I finally got rid of the excess in my collection.

Finshed the 2003 Topps 205 Relic and Auto set!
Finshed my 1954 Bowman set!
Finished my 1972 Topps set!
Also finished 3 sets from when I first started collecting!

It was a great year!

I forgot to take a pic, but I moved somewhere around 10,000 cards out of my possession by trades/sales, and at the moment, I am working on a large donation to local thrift stores as well.

I also am working on consolidating my trade box to nothing. Bunch of low end garbage in it now that nobody wants.