Completed Team Sets Part 1

Each trade package I receive in the mail brings one or more Astros team sets closer to completion.   In this collectors personal opinion it is more rewarding than  pulling that elusive 1/1.  It allows me to travel back in time to days gone by.  For most collectors nostalgia is part of what makes the hobby enjoyable.  

This post brings you a few team sets completed this week thanks to the generosity of a few traders I have befriended on Twitter.  This post is dedicated @CardJunk, and @Highlightreel31.  Their help with my #ASTROPROJECT is greatly appreciated! So with their help I present to you seven  team sets completed in the last week.  Enjoy their beauty.

                           1985 Topps                                                                1986 Topps

                        1987 Topps                                                                 1988 Donruss Baseballs Best

             

                      1988 Score                                                                                   1988 Topps

1989 Bowman

#ASTROPROJECT Update #1

I have decided to use this free space to post regular updates on the progress on my project.  These updates may not happen daily, but  I will make every effort to make it happen.  The size of each edition and its subsequent photos will depend on the amount of cards received that day.  With that said, I bring you the November 30, 2012 #ASTROPROJECT update. For a look at my needs for this project click HERE.

Todays update is 38 cards from various years.  The majority are from 2006-2011.  They are the product of a #twittertrade with  @cjcub4life  who lives up the road a piece.  With this trade it brings my total of Houston Astros cards to 1,547 and my completion percentage to 2.66%.  The top card in this Astro fans humble opinion is the 1982 N.L. ERA Leaders card.  After all, Nolan is hands down my all time favorite pitcher.  He also makes up a big part of my PC.

The rest of the photos will come in nine card blocks.  Scanning individual cards can be a real pain for most of us.  I hope it wont be an inconvenience. Here are the rest of today's update.

A Set Completed....

In today's hobby, set collecting seems, to this writer, to be a genre that is slowly dying.  With the invention of the insert card and other chaseable cards, today's collector is at a crossroads.  How can a hobbyist truly collect a complete set with the ease they could in days of yore?  As a member of this demographic I find myself wincing in pain with the release of most new product.  I have chosen to take the path less traveled and  return to collecting sets of a vintage era.  My first mile marker on the road to a complete vintage set came this year.  It was a long drawn out mile, but worth the energy expended.  I present my achievement to you in all of its vintage glory.

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats

At the young age of 18 I was given the opportunity to work at my local card shop (LCS).  I had frequented it for 4 years previous, but had never considered it as a place to gain employment.  With my college career starting soon, I decided to inquire about a part time summer position at Ramsey's.  When Mr. Ramsey agreed to let me work there part time during that summer of 1988, I had no idea what it would lead to.  During my first day on the job I was told all of the storage boxes under the counter were at my disposal and to let Mr. Ramsey know if there were any that I wanted and an arrangement could be made.  After a few days I decided to take him up on his offer and was glad I did.  As  thumbed through the huge boxes, the 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats cards hit me like a brick.

#75 Babe Ruth

As the summer came to a close, and my schooling took precedence, I had pulled 45 or so cards from the box.  I was told to "take them no questions asked".  At that point I still had no plans to complete the set.  My goal was to just sit on them and take advantage of their value in a few years.  Years went by  before I even looked at them again.  In 2001, thirteen years later, I was in the process of a move and noticed them in my banana boxes full of cardboard.  By this time Ebay had been invented.  I decided I would use my tax return income to attempt to complete this lovely set.  Within a month I had a total of 85 cards out of the 152 card set.  Things were looking up.  Card shows were nonexistent for me at this time(and still are today).  Ebay seemed like the easiest way to pick up needed cards.  In subsequent years I would pick up 5 or 6 in this manner.  In February of this year I pulled all my cardboard out and noticed i needed 4 or 5 more to complete the set.  Cards on Ebay were not really moving at all.  Picking up the last card on Valentines Day was a great feeling.  Completing  any set makes a collector feel good.  A vintage set such as this, in my opinion, is even more fulfilling.  I will now present to you, in all its beauty, the 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats.  

Enjoy!