2017 Mail Day #2

This mail day actually should have been #1 but it was so large I just now finished processing it.  About six months ago I created a "Barry Larkin Collectors" page on Facebook.  It is not very large as we have only 6 members in it.

One of our newest members and I compared lists.  He has slightly over 1300 as I am closer 1200 cards.  So we did a massive trade of our duplicates and I got close to 50 cards!  Here are some of the highlights of the massive stack.

It is getting harder and harder to find cards I don't have.  So those rare inserts are always nice to see in a large stack all at once.

My friend Philip did manage to hit a couple of cards on the Ultimate Want List as well.

1998 Topps Tek #57, Patterns 14 and 26

It was nice to knock out two more cards from the set of 90 variations.  This is my first accomplishment on the UWL in 2017.  I think I'm closer to 75 cards remaining in the set.

Some of you are probably wondering if I'm just going to be talking about Larkin on this blog.  The answer is more often than not as it is my main focus.  However, I am excited to be watching my CBJ beating Carolina 4-1 in the second period. 

I am also going to the Midwest Sports Spectacular at the Ohio Expo Center this weekend.  Hoping to knock out a few more on my lists.  Hope to see some of you there!

Welcome 2.0!

I am back!  After completely forgetting that I started this blog in hopes to expanding my collection and connecting with others in the hobby I am looking to upstart again.  A lot has happen both in my hobby and personal life since 2014.

I once again can call Central Ohio home.  We moved back from the Toledo area roughly two years ago to be closer with family.  During this span I happily have become a father of a baby girl.  She has truly changed my prospective on life.

From a hobby prospective my office has exploded with cards over the last few years.  I clearly lost focus on my main collecting goals trying to achieve several projects at once.  However, my Barry Larkin collection has grown exponentially to nearly 1,200 cards.  Due to the current problem of too many cards in the office I have decided that 2017 is going to be a downsizing year and to focus on the following goals:

Goal 1, Downsizing My Collection:  This may seem obvious, but I truly need to downsize.  Eventually my office is going to become a playroom, so having boxes and stacks of cards is not ideal.  I plan on selling/trading off a lot so if there is something specific you are looking for let me know!

Goal 2, Focusing on my Personal Collection:  I am going to make myself stay focused on what I collect and not go after every shiny object I see.  This will be one of my hardest aspects to achieve but I am up for the task.  Here is a listing of what I PC:

• Barry Larkin Cards
• Kahn's Red's Team Sets
• Topps NOW Reds Cards
• Joey Votto Topps Gold Border Cards
• Steelers Team Sets
• Blue Jackets Team Sets

Goal 3, Increasing my Barry Larkin Collection:  Seeing that I'm closing in the 1,200 unique Barry Larkin cards I think I should set a number of cards I would like to achieve by 2018.  As it is getting harder and more expensive to find cards I don't have I think 1,300 is a realistic goal. This will mean I will roughly need eight new cards per month.  My goal is to track my incoming cards via this blog.

Goal 4, This Blog:  Seeing that I have forgotten about this blog until recently my goal is to post at least one post per week.  I can't promise I will be writing a book each time, but I would like to post enough just to keep things interesting.  I am also going to change how I have it set up to be more user friendly.

In summary, here is to a great card collecting 2017!