The Quest

The Baltimore Orioles have been in town since '54 and have had over 900 men don their uniform. My goal is to obtain a signed card of each player. If you have something I need, or see something you want, don't be shy, we can make a deal.

Collection Statistics

Total Players 877/977 = 89.25%
1991 Orioles Crown Set
Total Players 309/465 = 66.45%
Alive Players 274/369 = 74.25

Saturday, February 4, 2012

What Has Two Thumbs and Just Bought a 2012 Topps Hobby Box?

That's right, this guy?

Who will reluctantly put together a base set to trade away or sell for cheap? This guy.

Who loves the photography featured in the set? Same guy.

Who hates practically every insert set included in the product? Me again.
(The 87 Minis are pretty sweet.)

Who is having buyers remorse? You guessed it, this guy.

This would have been a great box for me when I was collecting Cal Ripken, 6 years ago. I am tired of all the retired players that appear in every insert set, year after year. At first it was cool, not it's obnoxious. Speaking of obnoxious, Yankee inserts. At least people want them.

1987 Mini's
Howie Kendrick TM-5
Dustin Ackley TM-6
Ubaldo Jimenez TM-11
Jayson Werth TM-13
Ichiro Suzuki TM-14
Brett Gardner TM-22
Buster Posey TM-28
Zack Greinke TM-35
Chase Utley TM-38


Starting with the best. Like most people in the world these are my favorite. Just enough nostalgia to make me smile, then cringe thinking of the 200 million originals made. I won't put the set together, I think. Not sure yet. Who knows.

Classic Walk-Offs
David Ortiz CW-4
Jayson Bruce CW-5
Mark Teixeira CW-6
Mickey Mantle CW-7
Alex Rodriguez CW-8


With all the amazing photography in the base set, Topps truly missed the mark in this set. Way too much empty space and just fading out the same image again is stupid. Putting a celebration picture as the faded image would have worked much better. It also would have tied in with the SP's this year.

Gold Parallel
Desmond Jennings 16
Dee Gordon 69
Craig Kimbrel 87
Scott Downs 123
Stephen Lombardozzi 134
Wilin Rosario 184
Matt Dominguez 198
Joe Benson 235


Strong, but I still have a Cognac hangover from 2011.

Golden Greats
Lou Gehrig GG-4
Nolan Ryan GG-9
Ty Cobb GG-18
Mickey Mantle GG-35
Cal Ripken GG-42
Sandy Koufax GG-47
Hank Aaron GG-54
Tom Seaver GG-57
Babe Ruth GG-72


Awful.

Golden Moments
Jose Bautista GM-2
Andrew McCutcheon GM-12
Andy Pettitte GM-19
Albert Belle GM-21
Dennis Eckersley GM-23
Troy Tulowitzki GM-35
John Smoltz GM-36
Jim Thome GM-44
Carlton Fisk GM-47


Awful and faded.

Gold Futures
Eric Hosmer GF-5
Dustin Ackley GF-6
Anthony Rizzo GF-13
Mike Stanton GF-14
Arodys Vizcaino GF-21
Ryan Lavarnway GF-22
Ivan Nova GF-23


I just don't like 'em.

Gold Standard
Cal Ripken GS-4
Bob Gibson GS-5
Willie McCovey GS-9
Alex Rodriguez GS-13
Chipper Jones GS-21
Joe DiMaggio GS-18


The gold doubloon draws all the attention, not the actual player on the card. I get the "Gold" gimmick, just don't like it.

Timeless Talents
Chase Utley Dustin Ackley TT-2
Andre Dawson Justin Upton TT-16
Stan Musial Lance Berkman TT-19
Roger Maris Curtis Granderson TT-24
Cal Ripken Derek Jeter TT-25


My least favorite insert of them all. I despise the multiple player inserts, especially when there seems to be no connection, again. Yuck.

The Hit
Carlos Gonzalez Topps Golden Memories Relic #GMR-CGO


Golden Giveaway and Home Run Legends


Everything is available for trade. I am looking for minor league Oriole prospects, current roster Orioles and Autographs I need. Please check out my master list to see what I have and what I need for autographs.

5 comments:

  1. I wish we could dump all of the useless inserts. The main set, plus the obligatory parallels and *one* legitimate insert set should be enough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree completely Paul. Kind of like it used to be, but with better technology. Maybe a jersey or autograph, just not all the inserts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would like to trade for the Car Go jersey (definitely) and possibly the Rosario gold and Tulo Golden Moments insert. I don't currently have any Orioles relics, but I'll track one or two down. Any player preferences?

    ReplyDelete