Monday, January 30, 2017

2017 BBM Japanese B.League Basketball Fast Break 1st Half Checklist


The 2017 BBM Japanese B.League Basketball Fast Break 1st Half Set is here.  I picked up a box for Billy over at Cardboard History and kept a box sealed for my collection.  Billy is going to do a box break on his blog so am excited to hear his results....sounds like it went well for him.  Believe it or not, the 2nd Half releases in a few weeks so am anticipating that one as well.

The latest copy of SCM came out and here is the two-page color spread:



I'll let Billy give you the details on the cards, but here is the checklist for everyone's consumption:

001 - Asahi Tajima
002 - Takehiko Orimo
003 - Shin Aoshima
004 - Yoshitake Matsushima
005 - Ryosuke Mizumachi
006 - Shighiro Taguchi
007 - Ryosuke Shirahama
008 - Deshawn Stephens
009 - Takehiko Shimura
010 - Manato Kikuchi
011 - Dieye Sakamoto
012 - Masaharu Kataoka
013 - Yuta Tabase (Former Phoenix Suns player)
014 - Yutaro Suda
015 - Hironori Watanabe
016 - Naoya Kumagae
017 - Hilton Armstrong (Former NBA Player)
018 - Yuki Ueta
019 - Kosuke Ishii
020 - Ryumo Ono
021 - Diante Garrett (Former NBA Player)
022 - Zach Baranski
023 - Shohei Kikuchi
024 - Daiki Tanaka
025 - Yuki Mitsuhara
026 - Leo Vendrame
027 - Ira Brown
028 - Soichiro Fujitaka
029 - Masashi Hosoya
030 - Tauya Kawamura
031 - Ken Takeda
032 - Jason Washburn
033 - Yuma Fujii
034 - Takahiro Kurihara
035 - Naoto Tsuji
036 - Yuya Nagayoshi
037 - Tenyoku You
038 - Shunki Hatakeyama
039 - Clint Chapman
040 - Kimitake Sato
041 - Yu Okada
042 - Kensuke Tanaka
043 - Masashi Joho
044 - Motoshi Shimada
045 - Robert Dozier
046 - Atsuya Ota
047 - Toshifumi Kawamitsu
048 - Shuto Tawatari
049 - Takumi Ishizaki
050 - Seiya Funya
051 - Jun Uzawa
052 - Taito Nakahigashi
053 - Ryoma Hashimoto
054 - Isaac Butts
055 - Makoto Hiejima
056 - Sakuragi Junior
057 - Ryota Kobayashi
058 - Tomonobu Hasegawa
059 - Daichi Tanaka
060 - Yutaka Yokoe
061 - Hayato Kawashima
062 - Sunao Murakami
063 - Yusuke Okada
064 - Takuya Sato
065 - Shota Konno
066 - Takuya Hashimoto
067 - Hiroyuki Kinoshita
068 - Josh Harrellson (Former NBA Player)
069 - Anthony McHenry
070 - Shigeyuki Kinjo
071 - Kazuya Hatano
072 - Ryuichi Kishimoto

Here is the On Fire Checklist

OF01 - Takehiko Orimo
OF02 - Shigehiro Taguchi
OF03 - Takehiko Shimura
OF04 - Yuta Tabuse
OF05 - Ryumo Ono
OF06 - Daiki Tanaka
OF07 - Leo Vendrame
OF08 - Takuya Kawamura
OF09 - Naoto Tsuji
OF10 - Kimitake Sato
OF11 - Masashi Joho
OF12 - Atsuya Ota
OF13 - Taito Nakahigashi
OF14 - Makoto Hiejima
OF15 - Yutaka Yokoe
OF16 - Yusuke Okada
OF17 - Hiroyuki Kinoshita
OF18 - Ruichi Kishimoto


There are 72 autograph cards in the set (1 for each player) each numbered to #115.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

2017 BBM Sumo Wrestling Box Break - Part #1

We have a new Yokozuna in sumo...and the first Japanese Yokozuna in 14 years!  Congratulations to the 72nd Yokozuna Kisenosato (shown here during the official announcement)



Last month BBM announced their upcoming 2017 sumo set and I did a quick highlight on this blog about the set.  A few weeks ago BBM released the set and last week I had a few boxes on my doorstep.  I finally got around to opening the first 8 packs from the box and each time I open BBM sets I am impressed with the printing quality.  Back in 2015, BBM released three sets throughout the year (click here for a quick rundown) and last year in 2016 they released only two sets....three if you count the Masterpiece set which included some retired wrestlers.  I hoping we get back to three this year, but unless there is some big changes in the format of how BBM does their sumo sets, I suspect we'll only have two.  Back to the 2017 set, the front designs are quite appealing as its lessens the amount of spectators usually shown on the cards.  The top 4 ranks have a floral design in the background, the Maegashira ranks have a maze design, and the Juryo ranks have a hexagon design.  Each front has the wrestler's name in English and Japanese as well as his rank and stable info.  The backs have the all-important biographical info along with a full-body, kesho-mawashi photo and a short, anecdotal write up about the wrestler.  Along the bottom are the wrestler's 2016 record and ranks and the top has the name in English and Japanese again.  A simple, well balanced design in my opinion.  I opened 8 packs for Part #1 of this box break and got 40 cards with zero doubles....none of the special autograph inserts yet.  So far so good on the collation and the best card out of the bunch is Yokozuna Hakuho.  At the very end I included the checklist for this set.











Checklist for 2017 BBM Sumo:

Regular Cards
#1 - Yokozuna Harumafuji
#2 - Yokozuna Kakuryu
#3 - Yokozuna Hakuho
#4 - Ozeki Goeido
#5 - Ozeki Kisenosato
#6 - Ozeki Kotoshogiku
#7 - Ozeki Terunofuji
#8 - Sekiwake Takayasu
#9 - Sekiwake Okinoumi
#10 - Komusubi Mitakeumi
#11 - Komusubi Tamawashi
#12 - Maegashira Tochiozan
#13 - Maegashira Aoiyama
#14 - Maegashira Kaisei
#15 - Maegashira Yoshikaze
#16 - Maegashira Endo
#17 - Maegashira Shodai
#18 - Maegashira Kotoyuki
#19 - Maegashira Chiyonokuni
#20 - Maegashira Shohozan
#21 - Maegashira Takarafuji
#22 - Maegashira Nishikigi
#23 - Maegashira Tochinoshin
#24 - Maegashira Takekaze
#25 - Maegashira Takanoiwa
#26 - Maegashira Sadanoumi
#27 - Maegashira Ikioi
#28 - Maegashira Myogiryu
#29 - Maegashira Kagayaki
#30 - Maegashira Chiyoshoma
#31 - Maegashira Arawashi
#32 - Maegashira Kyokusho
#33 - Maegashira Hokutofuji
#34 - Maegashira Daishomaru
#35 - Maegashira Chiyotori
#36 - Maegashira Hidenoumi
#37 - Maegashira Ichinojo
#38 - Maegashira Sokokurai
#39 - Maegashira Chiyotairyu
#40 - Maegashira Ishiura
#41 - Maegashira Toyohibiki
#42 - Maegashira Gagamaru
#43 - Juryo Chiyomaru
#44 - Juryo Amakaze
#45 - Juryo Kotoeko
#46 - Juryo Chiyoo
#47 - Juryo Tokushory
#48 - Juryo Sato
#49 - Juryo Onosho
#50 - Juryo Daieisho
#51 - Juryo Ura
#52 - Juryo Tsurugisho
#53 - Juryo Osunaarashi
#54 - Juryo Azumaryu
#55 - Juryo Amuru
#56 - Juryo Asahiso
#57 - Juryo Aminishiki
#58 - Juryo Homarefuji
#59 - Juryo Kitaharima
#60 - Juryo Asasekiryu
#61 - Juryo Kitataiki
#62 - Juryo Yamaguchi
#63 - Juryo Kyokutaisei
#64 - Juryo Seiro
#65 - Juryo Daishoho
#66 - Juryo Oyanagi
#67 - Juryo Ryuden
#68 - Juryo Sadanofuji
#69 - Juryo Satoyama
#70 - Juryo Meisei
New Juryo Cards
#71 - Juryo Rikishin
#72 - Juryo Daiamami
#73 - Juryo Terutsuyoshi
Behind the Scene Photo Cards
#74 - Ozeki Goeido
#75 - Ozeki Kisenosato
#76 - Ozeki Kotoshogiku
#77 - Ozeki Terunofuji
#78 - Sekiwake Takayasu
#79 - Maegashira Endo
#80 - Maegashira Kotoyuki
#81 - Maegashira Ishiura
Young Hopeful Cards
#82 - Maegashira Mitakeumi
#83 - Maegashira Shodai
#84 - Maegashira Kagayaki
#85 - Maegashira Hokutofuji
#86 - Juryo Sato
#87 - Juryo Ura
Three Stage Stance Cards
#88 - Upper, Hakuho and Kakuryu
#89 - Middle, Hakuho and Kakuryu
#90 - Lower, Hakuho and Kakuryu
Special Insert Autograph Cards
Sekiwake Takayasu
Sekiwake Okinoumi
Komusubi Mitakeumi
Komusubi Tamawashi
Maegashira Endo
Maegashira Yoshikaze
Maegashira Takanoiwa
Maegashira Shodai
Maegashira Tochinoshin
Maegashira Ishuura

Monday, January 23, 2017

Part Ni - Japanese Auction Proxy Bidding Final Comparison: JAUCE & Buyee

A few months ago I did a post comparing the Japanese auction proxy bidding services of Japan AUction CEnter (JAUCE) and Buyee.  I have had great success with JAUCE, but felt they were a little too expensive given the amount of new proxy bidding services that have sprung up recently.  After a lot of research, Buyee seemed like the best choice for me if I was going to switch.  If you recall, I wasn't quite sold (no pun intended) on Buyee after my first order.  I'm happy to report, that despite some nuances, I think Buyee is a cheaper option for me and some of the niceties, outweigh the quirks so I am going to permanently switch.  Here is my final report.



I purchased 7 auctions over this shipping period....a variety of stuff for my personal collection, a BBM card for RAZ's collection, and some stuff to sell on eBay.  Some of this stuff I have already blogged about including the Masterpiece Rugby card of Takizawa-san and the 1959 Manga King Bookmark Card.









Storage Fee Time - Final Conclusion
Winner: JAUCE
I actually got bit by two days of storage fees this time for one item while I was waiting on the final item to come in.  In the end it cost me only ¥200, but still annoying that they give you only thirty days.  I'm sure there is a business reason for it, but it feels like being nickled and dimed.  JAUCE is the clear winner here with their 60 days of storage.

Consolidation Fee - Final Conclusion
Winner: Buyee
To summarize, each of these services charges a consolidation fee.  Buyee is ¥1000 for three or more auction consolidations...¥500 for two.  JAUCE is only ¥400 for two or more.  When you have to gather and ship items so quickly with Buyee, this can really eat into any cost savings they have over JAUCE.  Fortunately, it appears my orders are going to be between 7-10 auctions per shipment and the fees are so low that the little extra Buyee charges doesn't drive up the per-lot-price more than JUACE. 

Auction Fees - Final Conclusion
Winner: Buyee
It really is nice not having to pay an arm and leg in auction fees for using their service.  The fact that I can snipe bid with Buyee, along with regular bidding makes this an even better deal.  Hands down, Buyee is the way to go.

Japan Domestic Shipping - Final Conclusion
Winner: Tie, but leaning a little to JAUCE
I went back and check some of my older auctions along with these 7 auctions and it really is hit or miss with Japanese domestic shipping.  Even JAUCE, which doesn't require tracking services, had some higher than expected domestic shipping.  This time around all my auctions with Buyee had pretty reasonable domestic shipping costs associated with them, although they are a bit higher on average than JAUCE.  I'll call this a tie, but leaning toward JAUCE.

Snipe Bidding Service - Final Conclusion
Winner: Buyee
As I mentioned before, Buyee software is more capable and allows you to bid live or set snipes.  Sniping is really handy due to the time difference...I'm not sure if the other proxy bidding services do this, but JAUCE needs to jump on board with this.

International Shipping - Final Conclusion
Winner: JAUCE
It is a little annoying that I am forced to pay ¥1000 and all Buyee does is throw my stuff in a box...they don't literally throw it in there, but when I open the packages, all the stuff is just, well, there.  JAUCE packs it really well and cushions everything.  Buyee sets it all in a box, puts a little packaging on top of it all and ships it.  I can see myself getting damaged goods at some point.  But hey, I am paying for a cheaper option so this is one area where Buyee feels they have to skimp.

Payment Method - Final Conclusion
Winner: Buyee
I love Buyee.  You pay only when you win and then debit your PayPal account directly.  No fees to transfer money like JAUCE does.  This might be the main reason I've switched.

Website Navigation - Final Conclusion
Winner: Buyee
JAUCE's website isn't difficult to navigate, neither is Buyee's.  I like the fact that I get offers for Buyee discounts which can even drive the savings lower with Buyee if I ever take advantage of them.  There are some quirks about both, but Buyee has more options to it.


Here are some rough statistics on the four previous shipments I had coming from Japan and my latest one (Buyee Shipment #2)

JAUCE Shipment #1: Hammer Price vs Total Price Percentage - 64% (so 36% in fees)
JAUCE Shipment #1: Average Hammer Price vs Total Cost Per Lot - 50% (The higher % the better)
JAUCE Shipment #2: Hammer Price vs Total Price Percentage - 54% (so 46% in fees)
JAUCE Shipment #2: Average Hammer Price vs Total Cost Per Lot - 51% (The higher % the better)
JAUCE Shipment #3: Hammer Price vs Total Price Percentage - 72% (so 28% in fees)
JAUCE Shipment #3: Average Hammer Price vs Total Cost Per Lot - 62% (The higher % the better)
Buyee Shipment #1: Hammer Price vs Total Price Percentage - 64% (so 36% in fees)
Buyee Shipment #1: Average Hammer Price vs Total Cost Per Lot - 57% (The higher % the better)

Buyee Shipment #2: Hammer Price vs Total Price Percentage -70% (so 30% in fees)
Buyee Shipment #2: Average Hammer Price vs Total Cost per Lot - 63% (The higher % the better)

For Buyee Shipment #2, overall I paid 30% in fees and the average percentage of hammer price to total cost of each lot (fees + shipping + hammer prices) was 63%.  Not bad and the highest of the 5 shipments, which is good.  The numbers definitely show that Buyee does have overall lower fees which is what I was aiming for.  That can be easily be $25 or more per shipment in savings which can be several hundred dollars per year.  That is definitely worth it and Buyee does seem like the right choice for me.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

New Set / 1959 Manga King Magazine Bookmark Cards - Wakanohana and Nagashima! (B591)

This knocks out 1/5th of one of 2017 collecting goals which is to discover and catalog 5 pre-1960 sets.  Here is an interesting pair of bookmark cards that I picked up over in Japan recently.  It is from a bimonthly magazine called Manga King (漫画王).  This was given away in the annual 1959 New Year's edition and measures approximately 4 3/4" x 4 3/4" and printed on thin cardboard.  I've never seen this set before and it has a previously uncatalogued card of Yokozuna Wakanohana and an uncatalogued second-year card of the baseball Hall of Famer Shigeo Nagashima of the Giants.  The back is printed in purple ink and has calendars for the first 6 months in 1959.  There is also a line down the middle to cut the card in half so you get two separate bookmarks.  These type of sets were fairly common in the 1950s and 1960s as give aways in magazines....especially in the elementary school magazines.  Hopefully there are more cards to this set out there.  Here are the cards and the sample cover of the April 1959 magazine.



Friday, January 13, 2017

2017 BBM Japanese Shining Venus Female Athlete Cards

Later this month, BBM is releasing a Shining Venus set (similar to Real Venus sets I believe) staring Japanese female athletes from a multitude of sports.  On thing I find interesting is the vast array of sports represented here: sport climbing, unicycling (yes, I said unicycling), BMX, weightlifting, swimming, table tennis, skateboarding, keirin (competitive short-track bicycle racing), basketball, karate, and so on.  Wow, talk about some niche sports here. Retail on these is 1 pack with 5 cards for ¥300 or a box with 20 packs for ¥6000.  You can preorder them on Rakuten for ¥5400 right now.





Some of the athletes are putting in signed Valentine cards with messages....just in time for the romantic holiday in February as well as some Happy New Year cards!!





Anyone thinking about ordering any of these?

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

A big bowl of Sukiyaki! - New Set 1963 Amada Famous Stars Trump (G631)

Everyone knows the feeling of reaching into your winter coat pocket after you put it on the first time during winter and discovering a long-forgotten $20 bill, getting surprise present from a fellow trader or friend, or finding out the latest episode of The Walking Dead is an hour and a half instead of an hour.  This newly discovered set is all those joyous feelings wrapped up into one.  Due to oversight or carelessness, I thought I had picked up a 4-card auction of Japanese sumo and baseball cards.  Low and behold, I realized that I was bidding for the entire 54-card set (52 cards plus 2-jokers).  And what a set it is in the sheer amount of famous stars from Japan from 1963.  However, as I was thumbing through the set I realized that there was one card in here that stood out from the rest as I saw the telltale kanji of 九 in Kyu Sakamoto's name.  Kyu Sakamoto had some semblance of Richie Valens' life in they both had successful singing careers early in their life and both died in plane crashes: Richie tragically in Iowa and Kyu in the mountains of Gunma Japan on Japan Airlines Flight 123...the deadliest single plane accident in history.  I had a chance to visit the crash site and memorial when I lived in Japan and a somber rememberance of all the lives lost.

Why am I mentioning Kyu Sakamoto?  This card is the earliest known of him (although my research against this statement is very limited) and printed just a few years after his breakout single Ue O Muite Aruko (Sukiyaki in Western Countries) made him a superstar in Japan and the United States.  Sukiyaki was the first Japanese song to climb to #1 on the American Top 100 charts which did so in 1963.



On a brighter note, these are two previously unknown baseball cards of Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima...hopefully they'll make it into the next edition of the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist.  This set also has Yokozunas Taiho and Kashiwado which I'll get into the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist.....Pro Wrestler Rikidozan is in this set and was was unfortunately murdered not too long after this card was printed.



Saturday, January 7, 2017

2017 BBM Japanese Basketball B.League Cards

A few weeks ago, BBM announced the upcoming release of a new set of Japanese B.League Basketball cards.  I only occasionally watch NBA basketball here in the States so doing some research on Japanese basketball made my head spin.  In a nutshell, here is how we get to the B.League, which started up just a few months ago:

Japan Basketball League 1947-2013
Basketball Japan League 2005-2016
National Basketball League 2013-2016
***BJ League and NBL merged in 2016 to form B.League
 B.League 2016 - current (Operated by Japan Professional Basketball League)

A quick search really shows very few Japanese basketball sets exist.  According to SCM there are four sets:
- 1998 National Team Set
- 1999 BBM JBL Set
- 2000-2001 JBL Set
- 2001-2002 JBL Set

Here are the details for the 2016-2017 B.League set.

1 box is ¥8000 (about $65)
1 box has 20 packs with 5 cards per pack
There are 72 base cards (4 players from each of the 18 teams)
Insert Set called On-Fire (looks like 1 player from each team)
Unknown amount of autograph cards

This 1st Half set comes out at the end of January and the 2nd Half set sometime in February.

Here are some pictures for the enthusiasts from BBM's website:





 It is interesting to note that there can only be 3 foreign players on a team...which isn't surprising since baseball and sumo have similar rules.  I'm not sure of all the foreign players in the league right now, but imagine there are some ex-NBA stars living it up over in Japan.  I guess Yuta Tabase, the first Japanese ever to play in the NBA, has a card in this set.


Friday, January 6, 2017

New Set / Circa 1975 Boken Oh New Year Playing Cards

Getting back to sumo cards after a few other posts, I picked up these sumo card singles a month or two ago over in Japan.  Normally for these kids magazine cards I turn to the Japanese Baseball Card Checklist as Gary usually has most of these cataloged.  Surprisingly, this set is not it there, but these cards appear to be from around 1975 given the wrestler's ranks.  These trump cards (as the Japanese call playing cards) came in small boxes and different sets were inserted in issues of Boken Oh (Adventure King) magazines throughout the year during the January issues.  Likely there are 52-54 total cards in this set and I have three of the sumo wrestlers (Wajima, Takanohana, Kitanoumi) and one pro wrestler (Antonio Inoki), but there are likely singers, actors/actresses, baseball players and other famous people throughout the set.  They measure 1 5/8" x 2 1/8" and are printed on thin paper stock.  Anyone else have any of these?




Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Favorite Card of 2016

Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji pointed me to a contest P-Town Tom was running through 9 January 2017.  The basic premise is to post your favorite card of 2016 and you are entered into a contest to win a 2017 Topps S1 blaster.  I have too many sumo cards to choose from, but one "other" card that I do consider to be one of my favorite is this 2016 BBM Masterpiece of Sunao Takizawa who is the captain of the Japanese NEC Green Hornets rugby team.



There are three reasons this card is my favorite:

1. Takizawa-san's legs are bigger than my waist...look at those things.  Plus, his hair is flying up because he is lowering his head to ruin someone's day.  This is one of the most menacing cards I have ever seen.

2. I owned exactly one autographed card before this one.  It is a Laura Prepon 2015 Panini Americana that I picked up cheap at the Chantilly Card Show.  Other than that, this is it (Actually, this card is on its way over from Japan, but this is the auction photo of it).  Takizawa-san's signature is a really beauty and when I saw this card, I knew I needed to have it.

3. This card would not have been possible without the help of Raz over at The Raz Card Blog.  I shot him a small care package a few weeks ago and he unexpectedly dropped a little extra in my PayPal account to say thanks.  A huge gesture and this card represents the great folks I have met over the past year of blogging.  Thanks Raz!

Thanks to P-Town Tom as well for running your contest.  Cheers everyone!

Monday, January 2, 2017

2017 Collecting Goals

Happy New Year Everyone!  I'm assuming if you are reading this your survived all the festivities and are ready to clean the slate as we enter another year.  As everyone knows, 2016 was a tough one in the collecting community as many of our childhood idols passed on this past year.  In the sumo world, we lost one of the best modern Yokozuna the sport has seen with the passing of Chiyonofuji who won 31 national tournaments.  A simply amazing wrestler that drove the popularity of the sport to new heights in the 1980s.
Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (June 1, 1955 – July 31, 2016)

This year will bring change again as my family faces an impending move from Alabama to some unknown destination, but likely overseas.  As last year, the move will probably kill my blogging chances throughout the summer and hopefully we'll be back up and running sooner than later.  But in the meantime, I'll have 5 months of uninterrupted blogging opportunities with a short break as we head to Japan for Spring Break.  With that, I wanted to lay out some goals as many have done on the board.  In order of priority, here are my goals:

1.  Finish the 4th Edition of my Sumo Menko & Card Checklist.  I'm about 1/3 the way done with the 4th Edition update.....which is about 25 pages of new sets and updates to existing sets.  The 3rd Edition was published in December 2014 so it is time for an update.  Looking at my schedule, I think I should be complete with it in the late April, early May timeframe. 


2. I'm hoping we end up over in Europe or Australia.  If we do, this goal focuses on branching out of the sumo world and collecting cards of the local sports team and hopefully the main sets of the entire league.  I could see myself getting into the German Bundesliga or Premier League for soccer or cricket or rugby down in Australia.



3. As far as sumo menko and card collecting, my goal is to "discover" and catalogue at least 5 vintage sets (pre-1960), add at least 3 of the 1973 Calbee cards to my set, and complete the base 2017 BBM set from opening boxes and trading.  Finding new sets is becoming harder and harder as most of the material out there I have already documented.  Likely, any new set is going to be from the 1930s or earlier.  The Calbee cards have always been a fascination to me and buying the entire set at one time is out of my price range.  So I am forced to pick up singles from this set and occasionally I think I can nab one for under $50 per card.  If I could ever complete this set, it will be a highlight of my modern collection.  And the BBM sets I have woefully ignored in order to focus on the vintage stuff, but there is a good group of collectors that focus only on the modern sumo stuff and I need to as well.



4. I've always had a fascination with old Japanese stuff and the old Japanese tobacco cards have been intriguing to me for a while.  I'd like to start collecting Murai Tobacco Cards, but I am very ignorant on what sets were produced, prices, and availability.  Just adding a few to my collection this year would be fun to see if it would be worth pursuing any further.  Lots more research to do in this area.


5. I think most of us are collecting now because we had such fond memories of collecting in our youth.  I was a big baseball card collector in the late 1980s and early 1990s (along with all the other kids) and the strike of 1994 along with college killed my baseball card passion.  I still pick up a pack now and then, but it's not the same.  One set that I think can change all that is the 2017 Topps Heritage set and I plan on trying to complete that set through boxes and trading.  Plus the fact that the 2017 set is based on the 1968 design is a bonus, as Nolan Ryan is my favorite player and his 1968 rookie card is a must have.



Image from Beckett.com
Image from Beckett.com


6.  The last goal isn't really last on my list, but it is one that I haven't been able to think through all the details so I put it here.  But I'm thinking about trying to do an interview post 4-6 times a year where I'm able to interview fellow collectors and blogging the details and transcript.  Its goal is not to dig up embarrassing facts, but an opportunity to get to know fellow collectors a little better and focus on collecting, their collections, and blogging life.  I've even thrown the idea of maybe trying to organize a round-table discussion with 2-3 other collectors where a relevant topic is discussed.  Lots of hurdles to make it fun, readable, and relevant.  Again, I haven't thought through this one as much, and I'm not sure blogging is the right venue for it.....but it seems like there could be some potential or opportunities.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Good luck to everyone else on their goals and I'm looking forward to 2017!