Lurking in the Shadows

As luck would have it, a few days after I acquired the Piazza and Thomas shadowbox cards this Freddie Freeman card appeared on eBay with a Buy it Now/Best Offer. I submitted a reasonable offer to the seller and he accepted. This is my 15th shadowbox signature card from 2015 Topps Strata and I'm now down to needing only 9 cards to complete the set.

It Pays to be Patient

 A year ago I saw a listing on eBay for a 2015 Topps Strata Frank Thomas Shadowbox Signature card for $250. At the time, I was tempted to purchase the card to add to my set Shadowbox set build but I decided to hold off until I took care of some of my other collecting goals first. Needless to say, I waited too long and the card ended up selling a few months later. I guess that was a good thing because last week another 2015 Topps Strata Shadowbox Frank Thomas popped up as well as a 2015 Topps Strata Shadowbox Mike Piazza COMBINED for less than that first Frank Thomas card I saw listed a year ago. Check them out!

With these two additions I'm down to just 10 more cards from this set build. The Ichiro is going to be the tough one to chase. Regardless, it's nice to add two Hall of Fame autographs to my collection

Just as good the second time!

Today I was able to finally cross off another project on the blog, for a second time. I've completed once more the 2015 Topps Update All Star Stitches set and this time I won't be getting rid of it. I'm still kicking myself for selling this set a few years back. I think Topps did a great job with incorporating the Palace of the Fans design since Cincinnati hosted the mid summer classic that year. I would still like to add a seat from that stadium to my man cave sometime in the foreseeable future. Glad I'm finally able to put this project to bed.....again.

Passing the 500 card mark

Today I was able to meet another goal I had wanted to complete before the end of the year. I finally crossed the 500 card mark for my Pete Rose PC. While I no longer hold the #1 spot on Tradingcarddb for Rose cards in my collection, I am happy with the progress I've made in acquiring his cards. I know it's a bit premature, but maybe I'll be able to hit 600 by the end of the year. Onward and upward, unlike my Reds who are sitting in the basement in the NL Central.

Replacing Some Amazing Cards

 I decided to revisit and update one of my completed projects recently, my Album of Amazing. There were some cards in that album that I wasn't happy with. Sure, they're great cards, but I feel that there were other cards out there more deserving to be part of the album. This past week I purchased 7 new cards to add to the album. Without further adieu, here they are.

Daniel Corcino Auto

I picked this card up a few months back and was waiting until today to show it off. Did you know that on June 17, 2012 Corcino, along with pitcher Wilkin De La Rosa threw the first no-hitter in the history of the Reds Double A Team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos? Corcino also had a stint with the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2021. I love that Corcino is sporting the St. Patrick's uniform on this card. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Half empty or half full?

It's always nice to know as a collector that once you hit the halfway mark of a set or any other goal you set out to achieve that once you hit the halfway mark then it should be all downhill from there. Of course, more often than not, collecting is like running a marathon. You have to be in it for the long haul and while it can be daunting at times and seem nearly impossible, once you acquire that last card then you realize the accomplishment you've achieved. Today, I crossed the halfway mark on my Votto Parallel Universe project. I now have 45 of the 90 cards I'm chasing for this project. Card number 45 is this 2019 Topps Chrome Indigo box topper numbered out of 150. I'm not sure what number in the print run it is since I still need to receive it in the mail, but it's definitely a nice card and can't wait for it to arrive. I also don't have all the photos listed on the project page since they're currently in my COMC inventory and I don't want to use a picture with their watermark on it. I'll be content to wait until I have those in hand before I post those pictures. It's been a fun project to tackle so far and I can't wait to see what other Votto cards I can add to this.