Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings HOF Heroes

Except for some relics and autographs, my 2003 Diamond Kings Master set is done!

This Stan Musial HOF Heroes card was the last standard insert I needed:

This is one of those insert sets that I don't think are all that great until you look at the set in total:

 

 It's a short 10 card set, but the artwork is fantastic!

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond King Relics

Made some more great progress on my 2003 Diamond Kings master set this week with a couple of jersey cards:

The Helton even has a pinstripe!   I've got 39 of the 50 jersey relics, almost to the 80% mark!

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings: Heritage

Progress on my 2003 Diamond Kings master set continues as this week I finished up the "Heritage" 25 card insert set.  The last card I needed was Thurman Munson, and I finally found a great deal on one online.  The pages are now full, and it's a nice looking set:

The only non-relic insert set I need to complete now is the HOF Heroes reprint set.  They are proving difficult to find at prices I'm ok with.  That's fine- it took me 10 years to get this far, I can drag this out as long as needed.

IF anyone happens to have any of the HOF Heroes cards they are willing to part with, the cards I lack are:

#4 Duke Snider
#6 Early Winn
#7 Yogi Berra
#8 Stan Musial
#10 Ted Williams

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings Relics

I finally managed to complete a relics page in my 2003 Diamond Kings album.  The missing peice was this Rickey Henderson bat card:

I thought this one might be hard to get, but I actually got it under $4 shipped.  And now I have a full page of bat relics:

Pie Face Funded: 2003 Diamond Kings

I was able to knock out one of the insert sets from 2003 Diamond Kings using my "Pie Face" funds, and it's a satisfying feeling.  I mean, I've been working off and on towards completing this master set over 10 years now.   I've got a few of the inserts done, and I've got a bunch of the autos/relics.

I can include the "Team Timelines" set to the "done" pile:

The cards are all numbered to 1,000 and have a nice leathery feel to them.  Here is the beautiul set in a full page:

 The Gehrig/Soriano card is number 10 and is on a separate page.  I kind of wish card compaines would make all of their sets and inserts in multiples of 9s rather than 5/10s. 


I also picked up one of the 3 cards I needed from the "Heritage" insert set:

 

I'm only missing Thurmon Munson and Barry Bonds now, so if you happen to have either of those available, please let me know!

Return From Vacation Mailbox Goodies Posts: Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings

I’m down to the final 4 needed to complete the bat relics insert set from 2003 Diamond Kings.  I’ve got 26 of the 30, with this latest addition:

I only need R. Henderson, C. Ripken, R. Sandberg and Babe Ruth.  I’m going to forget about the Ruth one because that ain’t happening.  The other 3 won’t be cheap, especially the Ripken, but I should be able to manage them over the next year.

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings

It would be nice to finish up 2003 Diamond Kings this year.  After 10 freaking years of working on it.  There are a few relic cards that I may never get (Ruth bat, Gerhig jersey) but the rest I think I can manage.  I made a nice push this week, adding one of the nicer relic ards, and several of the cards of one of the tough insert sets.

First the relic:

 When this George Brett card popped up last week on eBay, I thought it might go out of my price range.  He had just been named the hitting coach for the Royals and was getting a lot of media love.  Attention sometimes translates to higher prices on cards, but this card didn't seem to be impacted and I got it for a good deal.  I'm almost set on the bat relic group- I've got 25 of the 30 cards of the set.  The last five will be tough: (Ripken, Mattingly, Ruth, R. Henderson, Sandberg).  Once I get Sandberg, Henderson and Mattingly I may call it good. 

I was very tickled to get this lot of cards from the Heritage insert set.  They've been hard to buy at good prices and I still lacked 9 of the 25 in the set.  I picked these up as part of a larger lot of 16 cards.   I was able to knock off 6 of the 9 I needed, and as a bonus I've now got doubles of some of the more expensive cards (Ripken, Ryan, etc.)  Not sure if I'll trade, eBay or Listia them.

The final 3 I need won't be too tough to get:

Barry Bonds
Carlton Fisk
Thurmon Munson

Black Friday COMC Spoils Part 3: 2003 Diamond Kings

2003 Diamond Kings was the first “Master Set” I ever committed to building.  I started with a wax box of it in 2003 and a decade later I’m still at it.  I’m fine with the slow going of this set though.  The COMC Black Friday sale was a great chance to make some headway.  Here is the card I’m most pleased with buying for this set, and perhaps the best cards I picked up from my overall Black Friday purchase:

 I’ve got 37 of the 50 jersey cards from this set.  I don't think I have that many other jersey cards from all other sets combined.

I didn’t have many of these Heritage cards, but am now 60% done with this part. 

I’m a little surprised how hard these HOF Heroes reprints have been to find at good prices.  They’re ok looking, but not my favorite insert from this set.

 Finally, I was able to get one Team Timeline card, and have 6 of 10 of these cards.

Checklist Chipaway: Mark Smolder, I Mean Mulder Autograph

When the lovely wife and I started dating, she had only a very mild interest in baseball, especially compared to my obsession.  However, over the years, her interest in baseball has grown quite a bit and she's a pretty knowledgeable fan now.  I'd like to think it was because my passion for the game was so contagious.  Perhaps that's part of it, but I can pinpoint the moment she started paying attention to the game, and it had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the ever so dreamy Mark Mulder.

You don't worry me, pretty boy.

The A's were playing on TV, and there was a camera shot inside the dugout of Mulder.  I don't remember what the announcers were saying, but I do remember the lovely wife (girlfriend at the time) snapping to attention in her chair and asking, "Um, who is that?"  

"It's Mark Mulder.  He's a pitcher."

"Yeah.  He's hot."

I started to ask what he had that I didn't have, and quickly realized I probably didn't want to hear the answer to that question.  So I just sat quietly and picked my belly button lint and let her ogle the TV.   

Clearly, things turned out fine for me in the end.  The lovely wife still consented to marry me and we've lived happily ever after.  Mulder has been out of baseball a few years, and other than seeing him on Baseball Tonight periodically, I don't have to worry about him getting her attention too much anymore.

So I felt safe enough to pick up this Mulder Auto from the 2003 Diamond Kings master set I'm building:

I was going to hide this card from her, lest she try to steal it and hide it under her pillow.  But he looks kind of dorky here, so I'm not too worried.    Besides, if she gets a little worked up looking at it, I'll be the one to benefit, if you know what I mean.   Am I right fellas? Am I right? 

Sort of a Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings

When I build sets, I often am content to just stick with the base cards.  When the mood strikes me, I’ll add the insert sets and build a master set.   I guess I usually have a pretty loose definition of what makes a “master” set however.  For example, I am building a “master set” of 2012 Gypsy Queen, but am leaving off the relics and autos and minis.  So, some of you might say I’m not really building a master set.  To you I say: mind your own business

The 2003 Diamond King set is one I’ve been working on since, well, 2003, and pretty much intended to take on the whole set and not skip over anything.  However, it was only about a year ago I discovered there were relic versions of the “Team Timeline” insert set that were produced.   I was unaware of it.

 It was unbeknownst to me.

I was ignorant of it’s existence.

These cards are numbered to 100 each and feature relics from a past and current (in 2003 at least) star from a particular team.  After learning about it, I decided to skip this pricey parallel and stick to the standard Team Timeline cards.

But about 2 weeks ago, the Chicago White Sox relic card from this set popped up on eBay and had a very low price.   I put in a low bid and lucked out and won it:

Now what do I do?  Do I have to work finish this now too?    I got this one cheap, but man the other ones have been expensive that I’ve seen.   Wouldn’t it look weird in the album to just have this one straggler hanging out with the other cards?  


These are the kinds of burning questions that torment me all day.  Sure, I could be working or doing something productive, but I worry about this kind of stuff, and now I’ve written a post about it and the whole world can fret over it with me.

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings

I've had some good momentum on this set recently, and last week picked up four relic cards at great prices on ebay:

I'm now 72% done with the jerseys and 80% done with the bats.  As my two year old would say, "I so et-sided!"

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings Aubrey Huff Auto

I took the “Diamond Signatures” insert checklist off my master checklist sheet since I don’t really anticipate finishing it.  However, I recently was able to get this Aubrey Huff card for a great price online, so I might add the set back in.  

That’s the kind of scintillating dramatic conundrum you can expect from this blog, so tell all your friends!

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond Kings Mike Schmidt Relic

I've been on a little bit of a roll lately with my 2003 Diamond Kings master set.  A few weeks ago, I got a Roy Oswalt jersey and this week I bought a Mike Schmidt bat card.  I got this way cheaper than I thought I would, which is always nice.  I'm now 70% done with the bat card section of this set and need just 9 more.

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond King Diamond Cuts

I don't care how long it takes, I am going to finish the master set of 2003 Diamond Kings.  I just sit up in my tree like a sniper and every once in a while my prey comes into affordable view and I'm able to chip, chip, chip away towards completion.

The autos on this set are reallllllyyyy going to take some time to finish, but I'm a patient dude.  I managed to snipe this Mike Sweeney auto recently:

I'm still here 2003 Diamond King cards, I'm still here.

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Diamond King Diamond Cuts

This is a set that has bogged down on me over the past year.  The cards are getting hard to find, at least at prices that I’m willing to pay.  I picked up an Alfonso Soriano jersey this week though to give this set a little movement.    I’m at 66% completion on the jerseys now.  This is one of those sets I don’t mind dragging out though.  It’s kind of nice to savor a single card pick up here and there and slowly fill the page.

The Cardboard Junkie Made Me Tear Up

I come to you today with a spring in my step.  I received some cards from the King of baseball card blogs, dayf, aka, the Cardboard Junkie.   His was the first blog that got my attention as , as it pertained to baseball cards.  In fact, it was this post that I specifically remember that hooked me.   I followed dayf's posts about A&G religiously every day.  He made me want to buy Allen and Ginter.   His posts were creative, funny and informative.   And he inspired me to write my own baseball card blog, not because I thought I could do it as well as him, but because he seemed to be having so much damn fun doing his. 

 

And dayf is an extremely generous gentleman, too.  I sent him a little note recently, just teasing, saying he didn’t love me because he hadn’t ever replied to an email I sent when I first started blogging and asked him to pretty please put me on his blog roll.    I guess I made him feel bad because he said he was going to send me some cards I needed for my Gypsy Queen master set (which made me feel bad for making him feel bad).  The cards came in the mail today.  

I could not believe one particular card that was included.  I stared in disbelief at it for a good 20 minutes.  I'm saving it for the end of this post though. 

First, here was the note in the package:

My very own "My Little Pony" sketch from the great Carboard Junkie!  How awesome is that?  Next, I noticed that there were way more cards in the package than I was anticipating.  He sent about 20 Gypsy Queen base that I needed.  I give you but a sampling:

He also sent a couple of the very cool Sticky Fingers inserts that I needed:

I only need one more (Jeter) to knock this sucker out.

Then, I came across the first big surprise:

This 2003 Diamond King Heritage insert not only knocks the rust off my 03 Diamond King master checklist, but this is one of the toughest cards to find.   I was stunned to see it, and am extremely appreciative!  But, what I came across last, in a simple penny sleeve, immediately became the highlight of my blogging experience to date:

A 1/1 sketch card of George Will.  As you may know, I am half-ass campaigning/wishing to get George Will on a 2012 Allen and Ginter Card.  Dayf beat Topps to it, and I don't think I would trade this for one from Topps if I had a choice.   And as I stated to him, the greatness of the front is only matched by the brilliance of the write up on the back:

I'm speechless over this card.  I'm glad I have dayf's address so that I can attempt to return the favor.  I'll never be able to fully though, because the Will card is priceless.    I hope my sincere gratitude is a start.  Thank you again dayf, you are the king.

On The 7th Day of Brycemas

My Harper gave to me:

(7)  Random, Yet Important, Cards:

My freaking scanner!!!

1999 Flair Warren Morris- This was one of the first cards I bought when I cashed in on the Harper Auto.  I’ve had no luck finding this card cheap for years now, and couldn’t bring myself to pay over a buck for it, plus shipping.  But since I had nice card fund, I decided to put this set out of its misery and add the last remaining card.  For the first time since my blog started, this card is off the Most Wanted list. 

Along the same lines, I was able to knock out my final 2 Diamond King Base Cards from 2003.  Hard to believe I didn’t have the Tony Gwynn already, but I didn’t.

With these two Reel Time Cards, my 2002 Stadium Club Set is now 100% complete.  There are some relic card inserts for this set, but I’m going to pretend they don’t exist and call this set done.  Also shown is a Topps HD Game Defined Mark McGwire.  I was actually a little miffed that this was an aluminum parallel card, even though it is a rarer card than the standard Game Defined Card.  I bought it on Sportlots and the listing did not have an image.  I probably would have got it anyway had I seen it was a parallel.  This is not my first loose interpretation of a complete set with HD.  Man, HD was nice.  I wish it would be re-issued.

Another SPX 2003 beauty.  This. Card. Is. Awesome.  Greg Maddux is a guy who I appreciate more and more with time.    Craig Biggio is the other one.  I really should have more good cards of them both.