(Not) JustSetNeeds

For once, I was going to JustCommons for a reason, other than getting countless player-collection crap.

Okay, I lie. Yes, I was planning on grabbing player-collection stuff, but MAINLY...I was trying to work on some set needs. You see, this summer I'm trying to do some major blog reconstruction, and one of the steps is getting back into trading. I want to complete some sets, and I want to have more specific guidelines for what I want, so I don't confuse prospective traders. But mainly, I wanted to see what I could do to some sets I was trying to complete.

Of course, I did get a little carried away with some other stuff, as you'll see, but all in all this was a pretty prosperous JC purchase.

Set Needs:

These three cards were the last ones I needed to complete the 1992 Stadium Club Series One set (spoiler alert for the box I've been busting this week). Including the Murph, which was one that was evading me as a player-collector as well- Phils Murph is pretty rare.

These were the tip of the iceberg, though...

My main area of damage, though, was 1993 SC, and I knocked a ton of those off of my wantlist (which is updated, and on the sidebar). These two shots were some of the better horizontals, especially Fielder.

Juan Gone was one of the few pricier base cards I got from 93SC, as he was pretty big in the early 90's. Mark Gubicza seems to be on the set of the latest Tron movie. I threw in Macfarlane for a nice catcher shot.

I'll finish with some of the goofier looks of '93. I still hold the teal Marlins uniforms near and dear to my heart. In terms of the shades battle in the other two, Cotto wins, but not without some serious competition from Oz.

I got a ton more 93SC, but didn't want to scan everything.

They only had 3 cards I needed from the 94 set, but they were pretty nice ones. The Big Unit is a beaut- just a lot of grace and poignance in there. Carter's has a nice amount of effort as well, with a very nice composition of background and foreground. I also needed Clemens.

Player Collections:

Yeah, you knew I'd go hog wild with this one. I figured I'd search for some players I collect in odder uniforms, or just ones I didn't have that looked cool. I don't have nearly enough Hunter Pence as a Phillie cards, so this '12 Heritage release certainly helped.

Three guys I collect that I didn't find too much of. A-Gon was in a few issues as a Ranger, and I'm currently looking for the last few of those. Dickey as a Ranger isn't too uncommon, but I didn't have the '04 Fleer Tradition one. And I can never turn down a Juan Pierre card. NEVER.

For some reason, these two '04 Update releases had evaded my grasp. The A-Rod is even more disappointing, as I should have had it years ago.

Also, the quest for more Tim Raines cards (from the 'I can't stay in one place for more than a second' era) continued, with a few more Yankees issues. 97 Circa is pretty crazy, but there's something very alluring about it.

Two late-era Derrek Lee cards I didn't have. I tend to forget he was an Oriole for a split second.

Sigh....

I bought these a week before the news came out. At that point, I was still trying to get as many Byrd issues that I missed into the collection, as I took him out in the period following his departure from Philly...and put him back into the binder when he returned and hit like hell in 2014.

Now...I don't know, keeping him in might be counter-productive.

Some early-era Brandon Phillips. I don't talk about this enough, but Bowman Heritage is probably one of the most underrated sets of the last decade. So many cool, retro cards. Gone way too soon.
Yeah, those Indians issues are pretty rare as opposed to the last decade of 'Phillips in Cincinnati' photos.

As you may have saw at the top of the post, I'm trying to boost up my Jayson Werth collection again, little by little. I have accumulated a few Jays Werth cards, from Topps Total, but I've recently been stocking up on Dodgers issues. The one in the middle is pretty nice. Then again, I can never have enough Phillies Werths.

The one guy I did end up getting a great deal of was Zack Greinke. I barely have any cards of him as a Royal, which is a shame, because he came up in the early 2000's, and a lot of non-rookie pre-fame cards of his have evaded my grasp, like this '08 A&G card of his.

The '05 Ulltra one was one I'm surprised exists, as I didn't think Fleer would take a gamble on him and put him in the base set, but it worked out, somehow. The '05 Tradition one is nice too, even if I'm not the hugest fan of that set.

2016 Needs:

This was also equally important. For a number of reasons, I haven't bought a ton of cards this year so far. I'm not a fan of Flagship, and while I do like Heritage this year, I haven't had a ton of time to get cards at Target or something, so I used this JC run to remedy that a bit. I figured I'd start with Donruss' umpteenth Ichiro, which is different, because they're no longer the official Ichiro suppliers in cards anymore.

From D16's '81s subset. One last card of Heyward as a Cardinal, and a pretty amazing card of Steve Carlton. They got around the whole 'no logos' thing by throwing in a hatless shot, and this one is really graceful, and well-filtered. Well done, Panini.

My main endeavors, however, were with Topps Products, specifically 2016 Heritage and Gypsy Queen. This Johnny Cueto, while mainly being one of the few mementos of his Royals tenure, also is a pretty sweet throwback to the '67 set.

I separated the bulk of the purchase into some major categories-

Yankees and Phillies: While the photoshopping on Chapman isn't great, this is still a pretty nice bunch. I appreciate the inclusion of not only Darin Ruf, though his time as a Phillie is probably going to end as Tommy Joseph seems to be the answer, but Aaron Altherr, the Phillies outfielder of the future who's gonna rule this lineup once he gets off the DL.

Guys that ended 2015 in different uniforms than they started 2016 in: This works out, because I definitely needed at least one Swisher-as-a-Brave card, and another J-Rol for the pile. Kazmir's Astros run at least got them to the playoffs, and should be remembered. Reyes...poor guy...

Guys that retired before Heritage was released- LaRoche at least looks pretty happy there.

Obligatory Cubs- Even if the PS'ing isn't great, the thought is still there, and these guys just look really happy- especially Lackey, as I'm assuming that's a genuine Cubs uniform.

Pitchers in new uniforms- The Heritage Greinke I knew was fake, because I made a custom with that exact photo last year. The Cueto, as I assume it's a PS job, is pretty damn good, as are most of these.

Batters in New Uniforms- Top half are doing some major damage so far. Bottom half have some progress to make. The Simmons is a pretty damn good one.

Guys that used to be Yankees- All very well regarded in my collection, even Utley. Grandy, of course, will never NOT be one of my favorite players, and Cano's a couple more awesome seasons like this one away from glory.

Assorted guys I collect. The A-Gons were a must, but it was nice of Topps to give Josh Hamilton a card here, as he deserved something. Cespedes and Sale because they're killing it right now.

And, of course, because I'm happy he's back with Topps...some Ichiros. Because how can you not love Ichiro?

Finally, I figured I'd throw in a few cards from First Pitch, because I love the set so much. Brownstein was a great one, even if I made a similar custom last year. Too funny not to pass up. And Hayley Atwell's a Marvel fan favorite in Agent Carter, so it was my duty as a geek to pick that one up.

Speaking of my geekiness...

Yeah, this was my favorite one.

Levar Burton, not only as Geordi LaForge, but as the host of Reading Rainbow, made a difference on my childhood. And I couldn't NOT pick this one up, on top of everything.

That was the geeky little cherry on my JustCommons purchase.