You Complete Me is back again...again, Part 5

Well here we are again, the last day of YCM pickups from my most recent purchases.  Since this is the final post, you can expect a nice payoff, and I hope this post delivers!

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

This is the package I saved for last because it was pretty much the least interesting, featuring 11 cards from 2002 Topps Total plus a single 2009 Topps entry.  Still, it got the job done as it put me a single card away from each set!  This seems like a good time to highlight Pat Neshek, despite his recent demotion to AAA, because he's a friend to the hobby and all-around good guy.  I'm sure collectors the world over are rooting for him to come back with a vengeance; count me in!
# of cards:  12

# of sets added to:  2

# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (COMC):

Like I said in a previous post, my COMC package showed up to save the day!  It made more financial and/or logistical sense to pick these up there instead of SportLots.  No problem for me since I was already putting together another shipment with them anyway.  To start with, Jeter finally completes my 2002 Topps Total set, which I consider a huge accomplishment since it encompasses all of 990 cards.  It'll pair up nicely with the same set from 2003 in my collection.  Next up, the Pujols was the very last card I needed from 2009 Topps, a set I pieced together entirely from retail rack packs, trades, and the one-two combo of SportLots and COMC!

Next up is a trio from 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects.  These last three guys--Aroldis Chapman, Dustin Ackley and Anthony Rizzo--were understandably a bit higher in demand than some of their set-mates, especially the Rizzo!  It's possible that taking this long to knock those out cost me a bit more than it would have closer to the set's release, but whatever, it's done and I'm thrilled.

Lastly we have a single card from 2006 Bowman football, a second-year issue of Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers.  As a reminder, 2006 Bowman was the first box I broke for this blog, which in three days will have happened three years ago!  So the math is relatively easy to do if I want to figure out just how long I dragged my feet completing the set!

Like I said, today was definitely the payoff day with the COMC package completing all four sets it touched on thanks to the grunt work of the previous packages.

# of cards:  6

# of sets added to:  4

# of sets completed:  4

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  2
• Total cards:  18
• Sets added to:  4
• Sets completed:  4

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  11
• Total cards:  78
• Sets added to:  6
• Sets completed:  6

Once again this was a very productive endeavor.  When I started this time, I was working on 16 sets missing a combined 419 cards from my baseball and football lists.  Today those numbers dwindle to just 10 and 341, making me shake my head as I remember when those lists were almost as long as my reasons for wanting to fire Jim Leyland.  Hooray for set-building!

I'll be back tomorrow with another celebratory post for an entirely different reason.

You Complete Me is back again...again, Part 4

Just one YCM envelope today, but as you'll see shortly, it was a doozy!

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

Just a pair of '02 Totals, which is considered a break from those around here.  A sextet of '09 Topps makes for a decent change-of-pace, including a still-weird Maddux Dodgers card and Birther/idiot Luke Scott, and those leave me needing just a pair!  Today's trio of '10 BowChro prospects is Ranger Tommy Mendonca, Yankee Slade Heathcott, and Braves future star Julio Teheran; a trio of cards, though not from SportLots, will sew up that set.  Today's final baseball offering is a 2012 Topps Archives of Mike Schmidt, and on that HOF note I can complete my first set in this series of posts!  Thanks again to all of you who helped me complete the vast majority of that set through trades, I appreciate it as always.

Moving on to football, this package added four more cards to my 2006 Bowman tally, shorting me just a base of Aaron Rodgers that I didn't pick up on SportLots due to undesirable pricing.  Those four are joined by six more from 2008 Topps (home of my constantly-mentioned favorite draft class of all time), including the oft-overrated Tony Romo and another pair of RCs from a New York Team.  Hmmm, wait a minute, according to my wantlist, I needed six cards from 2008 Topps...hey, cool!  That set's complete now!

This definitely had to have been my most productive package, which included cards from all six sets I decided to attack, and completed two of them thanks to my completely arbitrary order of posting.  One SportLots package remains, along with COMC set to swoop in and save the day soon after!
# of cards:  22

# of sets added to:  6

# of sets completed:  2

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  1
• Total cards:  22
• Sets added to:  6
• Sets completed:  2

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  9
• Total cards:  60
• Sets added to:  6
• Sets completed:  2

You Complete Me is back again...again, Part 3

It's been a few days since I last posted, but I'm back with two more SportLots packages for you this evening, putting a dent in a few more of my sets:

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

First of all, sorry that there's even more 2002 Topps Total today, which is hard to avoid since they were part of just about every one of my packages, but we're getting there!  I didn't plan on the pair in this package being Rockies, that's just how it worked out.  The '09 Topps pair of Lincecum and Fowler (another Rockie!) almost put that list on life support.  The pair of unscannable 2010 BowChros today is Met Eric Niesen and Tigers pitching prospect Adam Wilk.  From '08 Topps football the VY is a timely card as he just won the Green Bay backup QB job with a very nice pre-season so far.  Finally, 2012 Topps Archives makes its debut in these posts with this quartet.  I wonder if Vance Worley signed off on that inset photo?  Anyway, I'm now down to just ONE card needed from that set!

# of cards:  12

# of sets added to:  5
# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (SportLots):

Blah, it's four more cards from 2002 Topps Total.  With their addition (and the ones above) I'm down to 14 cards needed, so like I said, we're getting there!
# of cards:  4
# of sets added to:  1
# of sets completed:  0

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  2
• Total cards:  16
• Sets added to:  5
• Sets completed:  0

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  8
• Total cards:  38
• Sets added to:  6
• Sets completed:  0

You Complete Me is back again...again, Part 2

Just one package today, but I figured I'd at least give everyone a break from the 2002 Topps Total stuff for at least a day!

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

We'll start things off with a pair from 2009 Topps baseball.  As I said yesterday, I started off needing 13 cards from that set, and I showed off just one yesterday.  Today you get a Classic Combos subset cards featuring Fat Elvis/Big Puma Lance Berkman along with Carlos Lee, plus a manager card--former Oakland skipper Bob Geren.

Next up is another card from 2010 Bowman Chrome baseball, this one of David Lough, a 2007 Royals 11th-rounder who's actually having a pretty solid season in Kansas City.  Combined with yesterday's trio I'm down to just eight needed.

I only showed off one football pickup yesterday, a Haloti Ngata RC from 2006 Bowman.  Four more players from that set, all RCs as well, join him today:  Bears return ace Devin Hester, Detroit native and former Badger Jonathan Orr, 2006 NFL Defensive ROY DeMeco Ryans, and current CFLer Dee Webb.  I can now cut that list down to just five needs.

Finally, I can apply some cards to a set I hadn't covered yet, 2008 Topps football.  I began the day needing 10 from this set, which I began building with a hobby box a few years ago (I believe I was shorted a hit!).  This pair of QBs puts a nice 20% dent into that project, including a RC of Louisville star and NFL washout Brian Brohm.

That's a solid day's work as things are starting to come together.  Stay tuned for more tomorrow, or whenever I get around to it!

# of cards:  9
# of sets added to:  4
# of sets completed:  0

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  1
• Total cards:  9
• Sets added to:  4
• Sets completed:  0

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  6
• Total cards:  22
• Sets added to:  5
• Sets completed:  0

You Complete Me is back again...again, Part 1

That's right, after another marathon run of searching SportLots and optimizing packages based on shipping costs, I have 11 more You Complete Me packages to show you (plus a future one from COMC very soon to close things out).  Some were large, some were small, and most included one or more Michigan PC cards as well, which will be on display over on the other blog soon.

As I did last time, before I get started I just want to detail my starting point:

Baseball:  7 sets left, 122 cards needed
Football:  9 sets left, 297 cards needed

And a quick note for each sport that I don't think I previously mentioned:  two sets I thought were incomplete--2004 Leaf Second Edition baseball and 2011 Topps Super Bowl Legends--were actually complete.  For the former, I hadn't realized that a couple cards weren't made, which explains why I couldn't find them.  As for the latter, due to their Roman numeral numbering, I didn't realize they hadn't produced one card for every Big Game (and didn't think to consult a checklist).  No harm done as I'm very to knock two more sets off the list with no effort or cost to me!

Ok, without further ado, on to today's packages:

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

Since it's the oldest set on my baseball wantlist (excluding the complete sets I'm looking for, which don't count here), I decided to attack Topps' huge low-end offering from 2002 this time.  When I started my search I needed 28 from this set, which actually isn't bad considering there's 990 cards overall; still, I wanted to get this one done ASAP.  Right down the middle is the key card of the package, a Chase Utley RC.  I nabbed that and the two others from this particular seller due to his excellent price for the Utley.  You'll probably notice quickly how much I broke up my sources for this and the other sets when you see the rest of the packages.
# of cards:  3
# of sets added to:  1
# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (SportLots):

Here's another 2002 Topps Total card, depicting DeShields in his swan song 2002 season.  The Pettitte hails from 2009 Topps, from which I needed 13 cards on day one.  Andy went 2-0 in the Yanks' World Series win over Philly, and 4-0 overall that postseason, proving he still had plenty left in the tank.  Since 2010 Bowman Chrome cards are awful to scan, I'll help you out--that's Oakland prospect Rashun Dixon, a former 10th-rounder who hasn't cracked the big team's roster just yet.  From that set I started off needing 12 cards.
# of cards:  3
# of sets added to:  3
# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #3 (SportLots):

Well, that first set sure looks familiar.  The Bay, like the Utley above, is a RC, but considering how far his star has fallen, this one didn't set me back much.  Along with him is Pettitte's PED partner-in-crime, career asshole Roger Clemens.  Joining that duo is Haloti Ngata, who was Ngata bad first-round pick for the Ravens in 2006.  That card hails from 2006 Bowman, and I had 10 cards to go at the start of this latest run.
# of cards:  3
# of sets added to:  2
# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #4 (SportLots):

Yeah, these two aren't much easier to read as another pair from 2010 Bowman Chrome.  On the left is Rockies 2009 first-round pitcher Rex Brothers, who's had some success as a reliever the last couple years.  Joining him is Jaff "don't call me Jeff" Decker, a San Diego 2008 first-round pick who's gotten some ABs with the Padres this year.  Yes, these are both extremely curved, but I don't especially care, thought maybe I'll flatten them out someday.
# of cards:  2
# of sets added to:  1
# of sets completed:  0

Envelope #5 (SportLots):

Closing things out today, we have--oh look, it's more 2002 Topps Total.  Anybody remember when Kotchman was a big-time prospect for the Halos?  The son of a California/Anaheim/Los Angeles of Anaheim of California of Earth scout, he appeared to have a bright future, but like many before him (and many to come), he never lived up to that potential.  Meanwhile, I had to look up Shanks because I'd never heard of him, which is saying something considering how much I collect and follow the sport.  He was a 1998 21st-rounder, meaning Topps might have been taking "Total" literally!  He's been playing independent ball since 2007.
# of cards:  2
# of sets added to:  1
# of sets completed:  0

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  5
• Total cards:  13
• Sets added to:  4
• Sets completed:  0

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  5
• Total cards:  13
• Sets added to:  4
• Sets completed:  0

As usual I didn't complete anything on the first day, but no worries because I have plenty more to come, so stay tuned!

Hooray for more contests

(I'm sure I'll find more to post about in the next couple days, but this one can have its own)

Uncle Moe's My 2008 Topps Set Blog is giving away a box of 2010 Bowman Chrome (as donated by Atlanta Sports Cards apparently).

Requirements?  Follow his blog (which is great, by the way), and for an easy bonus entry, make a post about it like this and let him know about it.  In summary, reasons to enter:

• Free Strasmas cards
• Easy to enter
• My favorite Google avatar ever:

So make sure to enter (and read this great blog too).