An Update on the Update

The tally is done, folks. I now have the current results of my previously mentioned 2013 Player Collection Project.

Drum roll, please...

Well, there you have it. A hair under 61% complete. Six set under half-way complete. That's actually less than I thought. None reaching the 90th percentile, and only two greater than 80%.

39.02% doesn't sound like a lot, but in terms of Tim's money, it might as well be Robinson Cano's 2013 salary. I kid. Just Eliot Johnson's salary.

Like I said before, I could use any help at all. I know with the release of 2014 Topps flagship everyone with be switching their attention, but if you have any 2013 laying around I can use, it would be appreciated.

You can find my up-to-date want list here or at the bottom of my PC page.

Have a great night everyone! [Dang. I hope I didn't sound too desparate.]

Update Coming

Ok, folks. Though we are almost 1/12 of the way through 2014, my 2013 PC Project is still in full swing.

With that said, I hope to have an update tomorrow of the progress of each "brand" (Bowman, Panini, Topps).

I fear this project may last all of 2014, but with you're help (and eBay among other outlets), I'd like to put this to rest before the dawn of 2015. So if you have something that appears on this list, please drop me a line.

A Trio of Todds

Hooray! Posts on back-to-back days! Go me.

While sharing my recent acquisitions with you yesterday, I neglected to mention my continuation of collecting the namesake of this blog. It's not much, but in this quest even the smallest of base cards is considered a blessing.

Without further ado, let me introduce you the cream of the crop, and honestly almost any crop I've ever had.

BAM!!! Numbered 1 out of 25, a 2013 Panini America's Pastime Boys of Summer Auto Gold of Mr. Helton. This is literally the third most awesome card in my collection. I even rank it higher than my only printing plate. (Reason: It's from Pacific. Still ranks Top 5, though.) I didn't even know this set existed until 10 days ago when I spotted a few on eBay, and this one is all mine!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mwahahahaha!

Sorry. Got a little carried away there.

Anyway, I do have a couple others to show. Though not as high profile as "The Auto," as we will now refer to it, the next card has a connection to the one pictured above.

Another Panini! Panini has been elusive for me in terms of Helton. If I am recalling correctly, I have just five Heltons made by Panini (Prizm, Pinnacle, Hometown Heroes, Select, America's Pastime) this year, not including "The Auto".

I'm slacking, friends. So if you have any Panini Heltons...well, you know where to find me.

The third of this triplet of Todds is not the prettiest or hottest or most recent, but as I said earlier every little bit helps.

A 1998 Pinnacle Plus rookie. You can never have enough rookies, right? I thought so too. Definitely a solid add.

That does it for tonight's episode, boys and girls. Tune in tomorrow to see if I can make it three days in a row. Have a great night!

So Much for Keeping Up in 2014

As you can tell, I've neglected my spot here at the Home of the Toddfather for several days.

Go ahead. I'm a terrible representative. Management needs to make a call to the 'pen. I'm well aware, but I may or may not do better. Not sure. Might want to check back next week.

While I'm here, I might as well show you want I've picked up recently. Before that, I'd like to say that I'd love to get back into the swing of trading with my fellow bloggers/readers. Most of my best trades have come via the blogosphere. Honestly, I miss it. So don't be surprised if you get a friendly email from your friendly neighborhood Tim.

I'm still in the midst of working on my 2013 PC Project (want list here). Slowly but surely, I'm inching closer to a finish. A nice fire sale on one of the forums I've joined helped out a ton.

My love for '13 Platinum is well documented, but the Sapphire Platinum Freeman is beautiful. Gotta love the cracked ice look. A Finest Longo, a couple each of the newly formed team of Trumbo and Goldschmidt and a trio of Cargo finish out this starting lineup. Actually, the Finest, Topps Chrome and Update finish those sets in my binder. Told ya...closer and closer.

While I as at it, I added some other player delights to their respective collection. Color is the key here, mostly.

Green, black, sepia, gold and uh...prizm? I did say mostly color, right? If I had to pick a favorite here, it's definitely the Chrome Black Trumbo. Oh, and here is the numbers on the top row. Longo, 12/199. Trumbo, 30/100. Bautista, 19/75.

How about some Rockies? You got it.

Let's see. Where to start, where to start? The Bowman Draft Jonathan Gray is my first in terms of Gray and '13 Draft. The TTM Pacheco only cost me a quarter! I also got my first new-to-me Ellis Burks in about six months. Last and definitely least, I'm glad Dante Bichette got rid of that horrible fu manchu. 

Since it was a fire sale, I took my opportunity to pick up some less notable but still very good rookies from the Class of 2013.

I love this guys name...Jedd Gyorko, and he plays second base. Maybe a few PC. I do have a soft-spot for very good two-baggers. Schoop had a great showing with the Dutch in the World Baseball Classic, and he's in purple, even better. Alex Wood was very effective down the stretch for the Bravos. Very unorthodox, but effective nonetheless.

You didn't think I'd leave Ashley out, did you? Ok, normally you'd be correct, but did I mention it was a fire sale?

Let's see how I did. Ashley's favorite color is blue, check. Ashley likes the old-looking style, check. Ashley loves shiny, check. (What woman doesn't? Am I right, fellas? Oh, um. Don't let you woman read this part. Don't want any nasty emails.) Overall, I'd give my effort a solid A, and Ashley agreed.

All of this for just over $10. Can someone say steal? I know I did. Have a great night, friends!

Check Out My Success, Part V: Player Paradise

Finally, it's the final installment of a series of posts I started in the final weeks of the year to finally show you all the cards I finally added to my Player Collections...FINALLY.

You know, I've been on a bit of a "schnide" (I think that's how Chris Berman spells it) with adding to my Player Collections other than 2013 editions. Yes, that is a choice I made, but it doesn't always have to be that way, which I proved with this portion of my COMC order.

We start with the obvious, the newly retired namesake of this blog. The Toddfather, himself. Todd Helton.

I couldn't quite leave out the 2013 theme in this post as you see with the Pinnacle Artist's Proof, but I'd been looking to add the All-Star Stitches card for quite a while now. It was overpriced for me on eBay, so I found this one for under $1.50 so I jumped on it. Add in the OptiChrome Limited and the Blue Bowman Chrome, and I'd say the post is off to a great start.

Speaking of cards I've been looking to add...

My LCS has had this same Helton/Kaz Ishii card for as long as I can remember with an outrageous price of $10 on it. Luckily, I've talked myself out of it more times than I care to count because I purchased the one above for 10% of his asking price! By the way, I had no idea UD was still doing Electric Diamond parallels in the 2000s.

Time to blow the dust off another almost forgotten Player Collection, Dan Uggla-style. Ok, so he was the second worse player on the Atlanta Braves in 2013. Doesn't mean I'll stop collecting him...for now.

I was unable to stay away from 2013 with Dan for one simple reason. 2013 is the only year I have my Uggla collection cataloged completely. I will have to redo my list sometime in the near future. So without a relatively good idea of what Dan I had in past years, I stuck with the ones I knew I needed. FYI, the A&G Minis are not completely the same. One is a A&G Back. Just trying to clear up any confusion.

From one second baseman to another, the last time I added a Freddy Sanchez to my collection was my last order at COMC...I think.

With a small start to the Sanchez PC, I knew these two would be a great addition. I really liked watching Freddy play the game. It was like everything was simple for him. Whether it was him and Jack Wilson (one of the best double play combos of my generations) roam the middle on the diamond in Pittsburgh or watching him lace a double in the caverns of AT&T Park, everything seem to come naturally. I'd love to seem someone, maybe Atlanta, give this guy another chance to play.

Finally, with the coming of Black Friday on COMC, there is a guarantee that someone is trying to get rid of some Gypsy Queen Variation Minis. This year, no different, of course.

Goldschmidt, CarGo and Longo all have a new home here with the Toddfather. Have I ever mentioned that I love when Topps uses photos of the Rockies in their purple unis. Always a great shot.

So there you have it. The highlights of my Black Friday buys from comc.com. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I hope everyone has had a great start to their New Year. Here's to a better 2014, no matter how good/bad your 2013 was.

Have a great night!!!