2016 Recap. What did you accomplish? Exciting additions? I will start.

Dpeck100

2016 is coming to a close. It has been a wild year in the card collecting world that is for sure! It has been a pretty slow year for me with only 21 EBAY purchases that are card related. A few of those were great additions to my collection. Here are some of my highlights.

In March of this year I purchased my second 1982 Wrestling All Stars Series A #21 The Fabulous Moolah in a PSA 9. The first had popped up a few months earlier after six plus years of actively grading the cards. I was a little shocked to see another hit the pop report but when I saw this copy hit EBAY I liked the eye appeal more than the first copy I bought so I snagged it right away. Unfortunately a month or so later it became a Pop 3. No sign of that card yet.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/Moolah2258_zpsiuuzdmun.jpg[/IMG]

The Market Scene cards are really difficult to find in nice condition. Centering issues, gum issues, lack of unopened and kids handling the cards are the primary problems that make these tough to track down in nice condition. I had a PSA 7 but wanted to get it signed by both of them and cracked it out and sent it to my auto guy for the dual auto. Jannetty was super drunk at the show and Michaels refuses to be around him and so it will be tough to get them at the same show anytime soon. I felt confident I could find a nicer copy and located this one. It is sharp but has a print dot in the lower right hand corner so I will just have to keep looking for a better copy. So far none graded higher.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/Rockers027_zpsqrl3pvsy.jpg[/IMG]

This is a super tough card and currently a Pop 3 with none higher. The centering is tremendous on this copy and I was thrilled to add this to my collection. I self subbed a handful of PSA 8's but just couldn't find one with good enough centering with all of the other attributes needed to be a mint card. This card is plagued by a print line that runs through the bottom of the W and it will be almost impossible for a PSA 10 to happen.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/Garea9front295_zpsbgsg7mts.jpg[/IMG]

This is one of my favorite cards in my entire collection. I was really skinny as a kid and was enamored by many of the wrestlers with large muscles and wanted some for myself. Kerry Von Erich has to be considered in the top 5 best bodies ever in wrestling and some would put him at number 1. The Von Erichs were wildly popular and ended in so much tragedy. When I first saw the card when I bought a set and realized the wrestlers who were featured I knew this card could be a big one. After buying lots of copies and realizing they were extremely tough to locate in nice condition I kept buying as many as I could. When the collector who submitted this sent me a pic my heart sank because it was the best copy I had ever seen. When it got listed my heart sank again. I have never been more stressed out about a card auction ever. In the final ten minutes after deliberating all week how high to go I was pacing back and forth. At 36 seconds I fired a bomb and saw I was instantly out bid. My primary competition had fired a bomb too. I was now really freaking out. I said _ it and went higher. Tied. No turning back I want this card. Bid again with 4 seconds and it's mine.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/kerry 10293_zpscffncnds.jpg[/IMG]

In 2009 I got back into collecting by chance. I had bought a few nice cards in the prior years but wasn't really pursuing cards. I was so excited when Brock Lesnar announced he was getting a fight in the UFC. I decided to go look on EBAY and search to see if he had any football cards. I came across a few and then bought up a lot of his wrestling cards too. I spent $25 on a few of the football cards and was really thinking man that is kind of a lot. Haha. In my search I decided to look for the Hulk Hogan card from my childhood. I stumbled upon the 1982 Wrestling All Stars card and that is what got me hooked. It took me close to seven years to finally win a copy of the Gold Sweet Spot Brock Lesnar. I am not a huge fan of the man made rarities but at least from this set there are only 3 types and not a million like the Leaf Rookies and Stars. When I got this in hand I knew it wasn't mint but still a very tough card and Brock is my favorite current star by far.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/Brockgold026_zps7yqdjxa9.jpg[/IMG]

I managed to track down a sealed set of the 1979 Rax Roast Beef cards and was fortunate enough to get to purchase it and bust it open. This set certainly doesn't have an A list lineup but it is an insanely rare set and features the Dr. David Shultz card that I have actively searched for religiously for seven years. This was a huge thrill for me to land a copy of this card and I was so excited to get to have the entire set graded and achieve a very strong GPA. There are so many different ways to collect and one of them is rarity and most of my cards are simply rare for the grade. These are rare in any condition and if you are truly a collector first that gets you so pumped when you track down your so called white whale.

[IMG]http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/dpeck100/DrD046_zpsf44uvwc5.jpg[/IMG]

Looking forward to seeing some cool cards added to this thread.

ThoseBackPages

AMAZING THREAD!!!! Thank you for the well done writeup!

Arsenal83

Great thread idea. ThIs was a pretty productive year for me as well. Started and finished a NMMT raw 80-81 basketball set with an undergraded PSA 7 Magic/Bird RC.

I also finished a really nice NMMT raw 1975 topps baseball set.

Currently I'm up to about 85% complete on my 1968 topps NMMT raw set. Trying to finish it up before the end of the year. This has been a work in progress for almost 20 years, so you can imagine just how painstakingly hand picked every card is.

Let's hear from the rest of the group.

BaltimoreYankee

Here were my stated goals in a January post:
Complete my 1971 Topps baseball set.
Try to acquire the final 1971 Topps Greatest Moments card that I need: Hoyt Wilhelm.
Maybe secure a 1967 Topps Tom Seaver card.
Start another set build: maybe 1964 Topps Stand Ups.

I did complete the '71 Topps set. Got the 71 TGM Wilhelm to complete that. Did not get a '67 Seaver and did not start the '64 Stand-Ups set. While completing the Greatest Moments set was the culmination of a maybe 5 year effort, my favorite pickup was a 1954 Wilson Franks Roy Campanella card.

travis t

Accomplishment. Yes, it feels that way at times. Chase and get, like dog and stick.

January saw a nice 65T Mantle/Berra Push Pull card in virtually new condition. Didn't expect, couldn't resist. February, a drop dead perf '81T Magic Johnson PSA 10. That one was on the list. And yet another sweet raw Payton rookie. Mmmmm, appetizers. March found a gorgeous '74T Baseball set which looks like it went straight from the factory box to notebook. Wish I had the box. And a '61T PSA 9 Frank Robinson. April was slow, so I worked on a few slabbed upgrades for the 74 set and also located a centered raw 56T Aparicio rookie which needs a trip to Newport Beach someday. May was a great '84 Fleer Update set and I must have taken my Nolan Ryan vitamins at the beginning of the month, so I wound up with several of his raw & graded cards, some with autographs, and then a '68T #177 Koosman/Ryan raw beauty on the last day of the month. May rocked!! June - oh baby, a '72T Football set WITH high numbers and some of those will be in slabs someday as well. That set was fun to de-notebook. June also featured a nice raw Topps Gretzky rookie and another raw, badly centered Koosman/Ryan which looks 9(OC). July - 56T Clemente White Back raw card which is still making me shiver inside with pleasure. Then I scored a 1911 Sporting Life PSA 8 John McGraw, which wasn't really on the list. Oh well. Another raw Gretzky rookie. Getting sleepy. August - raw '68T Mantle. Just because. Another raw Payton rookie. A handful of 71 and 72 Topps FB cards yielded something I thought I'd never see - a beauty of a 71T Mean Joe Greene RC. Measures up. And a sweet 72T Staubach rookie in an alien slab no longer, thanks to my flathead screwdriver. I got bored in September and the best I could do was a '57T Early Wynn PSA 8. WTF? But October got a '56T Mantle PSA 6, which I love. Thanks Greg Morris! And then a PSA 4 Clemente RC. It was inexpensive, so why not? Last month I picked up an auto'd Clemente photo, which made me happy and made up for a bid fail in May on an autographed Pirates team item. And because all roads lead to the true Home Run King, this month I'll look forward to receiving a 54 Spic 'n' Span Hank which was somewhere in Goleta last time I checked. I don't live near there. Merry Christmas from the USPS. And Happy Holidays to all of you. It has been a fun year chasing stuff. I hope next year is fun, for everyone, too.

baseballfan

I actually got some things done this year instead of starting more projects.
I finished by 1970 Topps and 75 Topps mini sets.

completed the 64 Topps giants set (mixed graded and raw) and made progress on completing the all graded set and in the meantime started an all raw set.

made great strides on my 56 and 57 Topps sets. down to 5 cards for 55 Topps, 11 for 56 Topps and 6 for 57 Topps, I am hopeful I can finish off 1 or 2 of those this year.

I also finished my 52 Topps low number set. need a couple upgrades but not worried about those right now.

in hindsight I had a great year collecting on my Topps sets. I didn't realize that. I stayed focused and put my budget toward those sets. that's a first for me I must be maturing in my collecting habits. I hope it continues. I have a line on a Clemente rookie I hope to secure in early 2017 and that should help me stay focused ( I hope).

Tere1071

Collection-wise I accomplished two goals: first, I completed my 2011 Topps Heritage Baseball cards set with all of the SSP cards and the Target Black border set; plus I purchased the 2012 Heritage boxed high series. For 2017 I hope to get the missing subset, variation and SSP cards at reasonable prices and to get rid of my extras in order for me to purchase more cards!

prgsdw

Great thread!

I got my first registry set added, the Chuck Howley basic set. I have another in the queue presently for Cornell Green. I was able to complete the following sets:

Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor - this was a major goal, it's my favorite set.
All-Time Dallas Cowboys set
Pro Football Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys set
Mel Renfro player basic set
Harvey Martin player basic set
Cliff Harris player basic set
Rayfield Wright player basic set
Chuck Howley player basic set

Got a couple of upgrades for my Bob Lilly player basic set - a fantastic 1968 Topps PSA 10 (pop 3) and a 1974 PSA 10 (pop 9).

A couple of upgrades I never thought I'd get the chance to get for the Ring of Honor set - 1975 Cliff Harris rookie in PSA 10 (pop 3), a 1976 Randy White rookie in PSA 10 (pop 17) , a 1976 Harvey Martin rookie in PSA 10 (pop 6) and a 1994 Playoff Larry Allen rookie in PSA 10 (pop 19).

I picked up a couple of 1966 Philadelphia gum football cards (Cornell Green and Mike Connelly) that I submitted to PSA for my first ever PSA submission... still waiting to see how they grade, fingers crossed... both had great centering...

So an eventful year for my Dallas Cowboys collection! Thanks for starting this thread, I didn't realize all of this stuff until I sat down and starting thinking about this year specifically.

ThoseBackPages

As some may or may not know, i am a large fan of The Walking Dead Comic (like the show too, but they are NOT the same, not even close). So, while at NYCC this year, i was lucky enough to meet Cliff Rathburn, and have him do a sketch cover for me! i love it!

[img]https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8688/30243744975_ca0c5bcb4d_c.jpg[/img]

At the show this year, i decided to self-sub some Heritage stuff that i pulled and/or picked up this year:

[img]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8835/29102300144_d190dae281_c.jpg[/img]

Right around the middle of the year, i decided it was time to collect MJ (great timing, right?
So, i picked up a bunch of his slabs, but this is probably my favorite of the pickups:

[img]https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8806/29643007695_b6631fd3a2_c.jpg[/img]

Currently working on a list for 2017, how about you?

MULLINS5

Haven't spent much time on my '89 Topps Hockey set. Started a 1990 PRO SET Hockey PSA 10 set a few months ago and have 11 mixed cases of series one and two to go through. Just the other night pulled a really nice Paul Gillis bloody nose card which was fun.

My son and I added some 1940 Superman cards to our raw set. We only have 11, so he'll likely be in his teens when we finish it (he's three now). He also LOVES lighthouses (even had to be one for Halloween) so we started building a raw 1911 Hassan Lighthouse set. What he doesn't know, though, is I bought a set off eBay recently and that I put a couple in an envelope at a time, write his name on it, and put it in the mailbox for him to receive and open once a week. He loves it!

He now wants to build a Batman set. I think he'd really like the 1966 Topps series, but some of the cards are a tad too violent for him, I think. He also wants to build a truck/construction vehicle set. I don't know of any, so any suggestions would be helpful.

My personal favorite pick-up is the custom Superman box lilmule made. I'm sure most have seen it already, but if you missed it in his thread here are some pictures:

SidePocket

Mullins, that Superman box is absolutely gorgeous! Good luck with the set!

MyDaughtersNameIsMattingly

Great thread David! For me, 2016 was tough. My Dad passed away suddenly at the end of January and it was really a major blow to the entire family. Between February and very recently, I'd bought maybe 5 items, and spent maybe $200. There was a lot to do for my Mom as far as figuring out the finances, insurance, selling my Dad's business etc... Over the summer I began to restore his 1966 Mustang which he owned for almost 25 years, but hadn't been running in around 5 years. He was only the second owner of the car, and outside of his family, friends and favorite sports teams, he loved it more than anything! I finally got it "finished" in mid October, and the reason I use quotes because those of you who know about classic cars, know that they are never truly finished. It's been a great way to stay connected to my Dad, not to mention my wife and kids love it! I hope to maintain it long enough to one day give it to my now 6 year old son.

By now you're wondering what this has to do with baseball cards, and I don't blame you!

While 2016 was a horrible year for me personally, and something of a lost year as far as my collection goes, some of that changed about 3 weeks ago when I got a call from a friend and fellow Donnie Baseball Collector who lives in Evansville, IN. For the past few years he's been kind enough to get me a handful of autos when Mattingly appears at Evansville's annual Night of Memories show. The autograph fee at this show is less than half of what it is when he appears in the New York Metro Area, so it was always a nice hook up to have. My buddy calls me and says the he's become friendly with a guy who does work for Mattingly's charity, and if we can put together at least $1000 worth of items to be signed, he can organize a private signing with all the money going to a good cause. He told me I could get up to 20 items signed, so I did just that! I figured I may never have a chance to do something like this again, so since I 100% trust my friend, I might as well go for it, and commit to all 20! A few days later I get the call telling me to get my stuff together, and send my items to Evansville ASAP. About a week after that, my items were back in my mailbox, freshly inked by the Hit Man himself! I went with 19 cards, and a good sized slab of paint I ripped off the corridor wall of Old Yankee Stadium during it's last game in 2008!

As far as the cards, I went with mostly stuff that you seldom see signed, and I'm really happy about how everything came out!

My 3 favorites are, 1994 SP Holoview Red Die Cut, 1993 Finest Refractor, and 1989 Scoremasters Promo.

Top Row: 1983 Topps custom using the photos from Donnie's 1984 Topps RC (This card was made by our very own Alifaxwa! Thanks Jeff!), 1984 Nestle RC, 1984 Topps Blank Back RC, 1987 Topps Boardwalk & Baseball No Slash error.

Bottom Row: 1993 Select Sample (stats are all zeroes on the back), 1990 Topps TV Yankees Team Set, 1982 TCMA, 1982 Clippers Police

Top Row: 1996 Donruss Hit List. A "Ho-Hum" card, but this one is serial numbered 00001/10,000. I hunted it down a year ago with the help of our very own Maddux69, Thanks Jason! 1995 Upper Deck Special Edition Gold, 1994 Finest Refractor, 1995 Finest Refractor.

Bottom Row: 1994 Bowman's Best Red Refractor, 1995 Bowman's Best Red Refractor, 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Dufex, 1996 Topps Chrome Refractor.

Needless to say this was huge for me, and my collection, but the story gets a little better! At one point while my friend was at Don's house (Yeah, I said Don's house!) getting the items signed, he was in some sort of barn or garage on the property. In the barn was a bunch of items from Donnie's "Mattinglys' 23" restaurant, which closed in 1996. With permission, he snapped a few pics of the stuff and later that night he sent some of them to me. It was mostly boxes of menus, matches, coasters and some other things you can regularly find on eBay for a reasonable price. The one thing I noticed that was out of the ordinary was a wooden table top podium that was used at the restaurant. So the next day I text my friend, and half jokingly ask, if he could ask his friend if the podium could possibly be for sale, and if so could I get more pics and a price quote. A day or two goes by, and I get a text saying that it IS something that they would sell for charity, and that they also have a sign from the restaurant that could be part of the deal if I wanted! I was given a price and accepted with the condition that I got a short LOA stating that the items were in fact used in the restaurant, and that I purchased the items directly from Don. I also asked for a pic of Don signing both items, to which he agreed, but in the end I only got a pic of him signing the podium. I sent the PayPal, and 2 days later, the box was delivered to my front door! Everything happened very fast, and the whole experience has been somewhat surreal. I still can't believe that I pulled it off!

Thanks for reading everyone. This was my first post in like a year, so I figured I'd make it count!

Enjoy the holidays, and have a very Happy New Year!

Vin

Dboneesq

CONGRATS Vin. What awesome items for a HUGE Mattingly fan. Enjoy them. Please also accept my condolences on the loss of your dad. May he RIP.

PS I LOVE that Mustang. My first car was a blue '68.

mikelowell25

Looks like you got the rare error variation of the Mattingly's 23 "Environmental conscious" sign.

In a related story, Donnie Baseball needs to hire a proofreader/spell checker/sign editor for the restaurant.

jay0791

Honoring your dad by restoring that beautiful 66 mustang is great tribute.

As a Yankees fan and huge Mattingly fan your additions are just off the wall.

Congrats.

BLUEJAYWAY

Great post. Really great additions to your collection. Enjoyed reading the story on your new acquisitions. I like to see these non-card purchases (the podium). The Mustang is a "Boss" car as we used to say in the 60's. Always had a soft spot for the 60's Mustang.

Dpeck100

I would have never guessed I would be in a position to add to this thread but I am. As I have said many times I check the population report everyday to see what new cards have been submitted to the Wrestling All Stars and earlier this month saw that another PSA 9 of The Chrusher had hit. I was excited to see that and had hopes that I would get a shot at it. I contacted a dealer who subs the cards and it wasn't his so I figured at some point it might hit EBAY and if so I would go after it. I was dumbfounded when the first copy hit in the past year or so and I bid what I thought was an unbeatable bid of $1,001 and was sniped at the end by a fellow collector who has a very impressive collection from the series. On December 23rd I saw a fresh batch of cards hit EBAY and kept scrolling through the listings and there it was. The seller had most of the cards priced close to recent sales and the card had an opening bid of $249.99. I contacted him immediately and asked if he would consider turning it into a BIN. He had no interest. I contacted him again and said I would pay any amount he thought was fair and pay right away. No response so I hit the opening bid. All week long I thought about how much I would bid. Any card that has eluded me for seven plus years is obviously a tough card and this copy from the scan looks extremely strong. It is also the only card from the 82A that I didn't have in a PSA 9 or higher and one of only three cards that are not in the highest grade possible. I decided I was going all in. I got a call from the under bidder with a little more than an hour to go and he said he was out and good luck. The person who owns the copy that I lost has duplicates in some cases of top cards and sometimes buys copies to see if he likes them better and then puts them back on EBAY. There was a very real risk that this person would come in and drive the card the moon. With a little less than an hour to go I double stacked my bid with the nuclear one. As the minutes kept going my heart rate picked up and my wife and I were texting back and forth about where it stood. With 30 seconds to go my heart was pounding and still no movement in the price. As the final ten seconds came I just watched with hope and was beyond thrilled when the final second passed and no price change. I realize some people think the registry is stupid or a waste of money and so on but for people like me who take on a challenge and have stayed committed to trying to build the best set possible it is very personally rewarding to advance my set and have every card in Mint or higher. I proudly display my sets on the wall and love looking up at the wrestling history and the industry has changed so much and this set truly represents wrestling passed. I changed my profile pic to the Brock Beckett where I got the first glimpse at pricing from the set after I purchased my first 82A and 82B in August of 2009. This has been a long journey and it isn't over but in a day or so in the mail will come a card that in my view represents dedication and excellence. I can't wait to get it in hand. Here is a pic of my final max bid. I had not interest in paying this for it but it was too important to me to not go after it and I wasn't going down without a serious fight.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-Wrestling-All-Stars-Series-30-Crusher-PSA-9-WWE-WWF-card-HOF-POP-3-/172456743374

mintonlypls

here is my haul for 2016:
1. 1955 Sandy Koufax psa-7
2. 1963 Frank Robinson psa-9
3. 1955 Yogi Berra psa-9 (bumped from an 8.5)
4. 1959 Roger Maris psa-9 (bumped from an 8.5)
5. 1974 Mike Schmidt psa-9
6. 1973 Nolan Ryan psa-9
7. 1963 Sandy Koufax psa-8
8. 1968 Nolan Ryan psa-8.5 (bumped from an PWCC HE psa-8)
9. 1957 Don Drysdale psa-8
10. 1969 Nolan Ryan psa-9
11. 1974 Mike Schmidt psa-9 (PWCC HE)
12. 1965 Hank Aaron psa-8.5
13. 1966 Jim Palmer psa-9
14. 1974 Nolan Ryan psa-9
15. 1965 Lou Brock psa-9
16. 1965 Lou Brock psa-9
17. 1957 Roberto Clemente psa-9
18. 1976 Nolan Ryan psa-9 (PWCC HE)
19. 1971 Roberto Clemente psa-8 (PWCC HE)
20. 1963 Stan Musial psa-9
21. 1963 Mickey Mantle psa-8
22. 1967 Pete Rose psa-9
23. 1958 Roger Maris psa-8.5
24. 1971 Reggie Jackson psa-8.5
25. 1957 Ted Williams psa-8.5

mikelowell25

Wow David, if I knew you were bidding on the card and your max bid was $2001 I would've bid $2000 on it

JBrules

Great post Dpeck. Enjoyed reading it.

Dpeck100

Card is pack fresh. The lower left corner looks better in hand and it is just barely touched. Overall a real beauty!

maddux69

I am sorry to hear about the passing of your father Vin. I lost my father in 2014, he fueled my collecting desires and was a classic car collector as well. That '66 is beautiful, love the color and a great wheel/tire combination. My Dad had a '66 as well, although it is from the other side! lol It is a '66 Caprice Coupe with a 396, very fun car to drive!

I am glad that I could help in you acquiring the serial #1 card, looks great with the sig!

MyDaughtersNameIsMattingly

@maddux69 said:
My Dad had a '66 as well, although it is from the other side! lol It is a '66 Caprice Coupe with a 396, very fun car to drive!

That is a bad ass Caprice Jason! That 396 must be a monster!

Edit: Kinda funny that I have a Ford in Chevy Red and you have a Chevy in Ford Blue!

Thanks again for helping me with the trade! Here's the back of the card