Standing on Second

I decided to save myself a little coin in reaching my milestone, $.44 to be exact. I could have sent a TTM request or had him done 50/50, but since Casey Blake has no Oriole cards I decided to make a trade and save one stamp. That may not seem like much but if I do it again, that's a whole TTM request. Then who knows?

Casey Blake 2008 Topps #231

Many people don't know much about Casey Blake's career, and I was one of them. He started with Toronto in '99, Minnesota '00-'01, Baltimore in '01, Minnesota again in '02, before working his way to prominence in Cleveland in '03. His Baltimore stint lasted a mere six games amassing only two hits at 1B and DH. He is an extremely versatile player having spent significant time at 1B, 3B and all OF positions. The only positions he has never played is P and C.

The bulk of his career numbers came as an Indian before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers as the Indians were purging salary in 2008. He was traded in 2008 along with cash for Joe Meloan and Carlos Santana, all I gave up was a Darnell McDonald 1998 Best card. I think Marty must have forgot my money, maybe next time.

Standing on second base
Having achieved my 50% goal for the collection, I decided to take a look back at how I got here. Started the autograph collection in July of 2008 when it was becoming harder and harder to find Rick Dempsey, Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts cards I needed. After only six months it was clear the autograph side was becoming a huge part of my collecting. My Dempsey collection had been pretty hard to make additions to, but Markakis quickly began to take a backseat. I never thought my Roberts collection could fall out of favor, but then again I never thought Ripken would have met that fate as well.

So, two years in and I am extremely happy with where I have been. My knowledge and respect for Orioles history has grown and I have renewed my passion for collecting. My animosity to the business side of autograph collecting remains yet it is more palatable. I hope in two more years to be cresting the 80% mark, but 90% would be even better.

Thanks to all for their encouragement, help, support and time in reading about my endeavors, it means a a lot to me.

Current Collection: 444/887=50.05%