Another State of the Blog Post-My Collecting Goals for 2010!

I have good luck finishing sets with the help of the blog-o-sphere. The 1978 set that had been in progress for 30 years was completed in just a few months with your help. 2009 Allen and Ginter-done. 2007 Topps Heritage is done (story coming soon!). 1991 Topps is done, as is 1996 Topps and I am sure that 1996 Score will go quick as soon as I get a want list together. I finished the 1976 set, but then parted it out again. I am currently trying to weigh my priorities in collecting for 2010. Collecting Rays autographs is going to be a big thing. Rays Fan Fest is on February 20th. It has always been free, but this year they are charging 20 buck for an all day armband, but ALL of the proceeds from that go to Haiti relief, so I applaud that. I do want to build on my Carl Crawford collection-I want to get it organized, but would like it to grow as well. My Brian Roberts collection is at over 50 cards thanks to all of you. Thanks to an idea from Drew’s Cards I am going to start chasing Trifectas of my favorite players that I don’t (read can’t afford) want to add to my personal collection. The short list for 2010 is: Billy Pierce, Danny Tartabull, Ben Grieve, Junior Gilliam, Quinton McCracken, Bill Mazeroski, Joe Carter (which I now have a relic thanks to Hackenbush of Can’t Have Too Many Cards!!!), Steve Garvey, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Dave Winfield (now have a bat relic thanks to Largo Frank!), Minnie Minoso, Willie Stargell, Bert Blyleven, Mike Cuellar, Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly, Robin Ventura, Tom Seaver, Albert Belle, JR Richard, Andrew McCutchen, Rickey Henderson, Moe Drabowsky, Maury Wills, Rod Carew, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria, Prince Fielder, Steve Carlton, Warren Spahn, Frank Robinson, Curt Blefary, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris, Nick Markakis, Tony Oliva, Frank Howard and the list goes on and on… I will post a want list page for my Trifecta Collection very soon-Aside from 3 cards I posted here; I am missing relic cards for all of these former players. Other things that I plan on working on are: Finishing up the 2009 Topps Heritage set, high and low numbers, finishing the 2008 Heritage set (I only need ONE freaking card), gathering up all 35 of the 2009 Topps Gold cards of the Tampa Bay Rays, collecting an autograph of every member of the 2008 AL Champs team (I need Upton, Navarro, Garza, Howell, Gross) and finishing up the 2008 Allen and Ginter set and starting on the 2007 and probably chasing the 2010 as well. Some older sets I am chasing and will probably never finish are the 1969 Topps set, which thanks to Wrigley Wax I have quite a few of now, the 1965 Topps set, the 1951 Bowman set (I have 7 cards, but just got another in the mail today!), the 1887 Allen and Ginter set (I have 2 of 50) and the 1964 Topps Giants set. The giant card is my new obsession. I don’t know how many cards are in this set-I know it includes Mantle, Clemente, Kaline, Killebrew and Robinson and I don’t have any of those, but it is an awesome set, chock full of information on the back of the card. I just got this Milt Pappas this week (from Clyde in Illinois, THANKS!) and that puts me up to 10 cards. When I finish this box break I am going to start posting all of the giant cards I have, one by one, front and back. I am posting this basically because a lot of wonderful folks have emailed me asking me my collecting priorities for 2010, so I thought I would lay it out here formerly. Like I said I will start a page for the Trifecta collection and I will get together a list for ’64 Topps Giants, ’65 Topps and ’69 Topps soon. I have been gathering 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968 Topps and 1954 Bowman as well, but I am nowhere near close enough to form a list. So to put the priorities in order for 2010, here we go!
1. Finish 2008 Heritage-I need just one card, #469 of Frank Thomas
2. Chase as many Rays autographs as possible!
3. Get aggressive on the 1965 Topps set!
4. 1964 Topps Giants!
5. 2009 Topps Heritage High and Low
6. 2009 Rays Topps Gold set
7. Finish all Topps Rays team sets…
8. Build the Carl Crawford collection!
9. Get relic cards and on-card autos for the Trifecta collection
10. Finish the 2008 Allen and Ginter set, start on the 2007 one.
11. Build the Jonny Gomes, Brian Roberts, Jason Bartlett, Danny Tartabull, Roberto Clemente and Pat Neshek collection
12. Build the Negro League Vets collection
13. See the Pittsburgh Pirates NOT finish in last place and NOT trade McCutchen!
14. Get the last autographs I need from the 2008 American League Champions
15. Acquire 5 more cards from the 1951 Bowman set
16. Work on the 1969 Topps set, I am at 20%, double that!
17. Gather as many cards from the ‘60s as I can.
18. Make want lists for EVERY set that I covet.
19. Acquire at least 1 more card from 1887 Allen and Ginter
20. Continue to donate cards and binders and supplies to Children’s Hospitals
21. POST DAILY!!!
Okay, those are my top 21 collection goals for 2010. Barely missing the cut was to build my PC of players wearing sombreros and players holding microphones. I do also want to build my collection of specific moment in time cards, too. I also plan to attend as many games as possible, both Major and minor league and take pictures and write recaps. I also plan on doing at least 5 more interviews specific for this blog-specifically interviewing players who played with Roberto Clemente, plus post pack rips on a Pack to be Named Later and trade as often as possible. Of course I would REALLY like to see Jonny Gomes as an every day starter and I would LOVE to see the Rays run the table through the playoffs... 2010 is gonna be a great year for baseball and for blogging, thanks for reading! Oh, my most pressing goals are to finish this damn group box rip and to fill up the remaining spots for the next one! Get in touch with me at bacontowne at yahoo dot com. I want to end this post by thanking EVERYONE reading this and everyone who has read and/or enjoyed this blog this past year. I would continue writing regardless, but it means the world to me knowing that people are reading and reacting and interacting. THANK YOU! I love this game, I love this hobby, I love this blog-o-spher! Go Rays! Troll out.