Hot Off the Press....Well, Sorta!

For the past few weeks I've been keeping an eye on a couple of cards that appeared on eBay under one of my followed searches. On Saturday I decided to finally purchase both card - a 2013 Topps Opening Day Magenta Joey Votto printing plate and a 2013 Topps Mini Yellow Joey Votto printing plate. I'm excited to finally be adding not one, but two new "cards" to my 2013 Topps Joey Votto rainbow project. It has been well over a year since I purchased a card for this project and I was wondering if the well had run dry with trying to find cards I still need. There are now 33 different cards that comprise this rainbow. I still have hope of trying to track down three more cards to put me at 36. I would eventually like to purchase 4 ultra pro 9 card screw down cases and display the cards on the wall of my man cave (similar to an Andy Warhol work of art). 

A Change of Scenery

For the past month I haven't purchased much in the realm of baseball cards. I have picked up a few Pete Rose cards here and there that I needed for my Rose PC, but nothing worth blogging about. I've also made some strides in getting my man cave set up. Hopefully that will be something that's finished in time for Opening Day. So, what have I been up to lately? I decided to get into learning guitar. I've been playing around with a Squier the past few years, but recently a buddy of mine at church was looking to sell his Fender VG Stratocaster. To say that I've been having a blast playing it would be an understatement.

It's a black Mexican Strat with a maple fret board. The biggest thing that made me ultimately buy the guitar was the emulating options this guitar can do. I've posted a video below if you're interested. There were a couple of things I wanted to change on the guitar. I recently added some locking tuners and swapped the strings out to 9s so that it would be easier for me to play. I'll probably also replace the neck plate with a Fender logo plate just because I don't like the blank plate. I'd also like to swap the gig bag out for a nice tweed case, but that's not high on the priority list. I'll probably keep the rest of the guitar the way it is because I think it sounds great and the pickups are fantastic. I would eventually like to purchase an American Strat sunburst but that won't be until I've gotten decent enough playing to justify the cost. I am kicking around the idea of possibly modifying my Squier strat (adding locking tuners, new pickups, new bridge and block, adding an lsr nut) but I'm not sure I want to sink a lot of money into it. Anyway, I hope to put some finishing touches on the man cave and have photos for you before April 1st.

2017 Topps

I'll be blunt, I'm not a fan of this year's Topps base design. When I saw the design six months ago I wasn't impressed. Now that the cards are out, my opinion has changed whatsoever. There's just too much wasted space on the cards because the design takes up about a third of the real estate, not to mention how overpowering it is. I've come to expect the photos to be the primary focus but that doesn't appear to be the case with this year's issue. Maybe it's me, but I miss borders on Topps flagship set. Full bleed photos should be reserved for sets like Stadium Club. Perhaps I'm just old fashioned when I say that I prefer a simpler design to a set that's been around since the 1950s.

1974 Reds Team Signed Baseball

I decided to save the best for last when it comes to the autograph baseballs in my collection. Although the 1985 autographed baseball holds a special place in my heart because of Pete Rose passing Ty Cobb's mark of 4,191 hits on September 11, 1985, this baseball features many prominent members of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine. While the 74 Reds didn't make it to the Fall Classic, the fact that this ball is autographed during the Big Red Machine era puts it as the pinnacle of my autographed baseball collection. There are a total of 23 autographs on this baseball and the signatures I can discern are: Sparky Anderson, George Scherger, Johnny Bench, Fred Norman, Cesar Geronimo, Bill Plummer, Darrel Chaney, Phil Gagliano, Alex Grammas, Don Gullett, Denis Menke, Joe Morgan, Ross Grimsley, Ted Kluszewski, Pedro Borbon, Pete Rose, Andy Kosco, Tony Perez

2016 Year in Review

Another year has come and gone with the blink of an eye. As I've done the past few years I decided to once again reflect on how my collection has changed over the past twelve months. Below is a quick recap of my collecting milestones for 2016:

1. Reached the halfway mark on my 1971 Topps Set
2. Added more than 75 new cards to my Pete Rose PC
3. Completed my 1991 Topps Desert Shield Cincinnati Reds team set
4. Completed my 2008 eTopps Set
5. Purchased a 1963 Cincinnati Reds Scorecard 
6. Completed my 2014 and 2015 Topps Star Wars Chrome Perspectives sets
7. Added 8 new cards to my Rookie Book project (Maddux, Griffey, Thomas, Gwynn, Jackson, Mattingly, Canseco, Smoltz)
8. Added a black mini to my 2013 Topps Votto Rainbow project
9. Purchased a ticket stub to the September 11, 1985 Reds game where Pete Rose recorded his 4,192 hit surpassing Ty Cobb as the Hit King
10. Added another T206 to my collection (Billy Campbell)
11. Added 6 bobbleheads to my collection (Cueto, Chapman, Mesoraco, Cozart, Rolen, Frazier)
12. Completed my 2016 Topps Cincinnati Reds team set
13. Purchased a 2016 Kahn's Cincinnati Reds team set
14. Purchases a 1955 Topps replica tin sign for the man cave
15. Add 66 2014 Bowman Billy Hamilton rookies to my Bowman Billy Binder project

I had hoped to wrap up my man cave and post pictures to the blog this past year, but that was one project where I failed miserably. I'm hopeful however that by this coming spring I'll have it finished and pictures to post. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and here's to another year of collecting in 2017!

Todd Frazier Bobblehead

This marks my 39th bobblehead to enter my collection. 30,000 of these nodders were given to fans on July 3, 2013 when the Reds faced the Giants. Cincinnati won the game by a score of 3-2. While Frazier was runner up for the Rookie of the Year award in 2012, he's best remembered by Reds fans for his performance in the 2015 All-Star Game Home Run Derby contest. You can watch the final round of that Home Run Derby below. Sadly, Todd now calls the Windy City home playing for the White Sox.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

Last week my co-workers were gracious enough to give me a $25 gift card to Amazon for Christmas. Although Amazon is sparse when it comes to card options, there are other items the online retailer offers that I've always wanted but didn't want to spend my card dollars on. This is one of them. It's a modern metal sign that's made to look old. Since I've always been a Topps fan, the sign made logical sense to add to my man cave. There were a variety of Topps signs to choose from but this one depicting the batter, catcher and umpire is by far my favorite.