2012 Goals, Revisited

Since I am getting back to collecting again, I figured it was time to revisit my 2012 goals and see if my 4 month hiatus changes anything. So, let's get to it.


Sets I am working on now that I want to finish

1971 Topps - there is a show next weekend in OKC and my intent is to focus on this set. I still have a fair number of semi-high and high numbers to go, so I doubt I will finish it there, but hopefully I can get myself in striking distance. I'll keep this goal for the year.

1976 Topps - I've taken a big chunk out of this over the last few days and only have 91 cards to go. I may pick up some next weekend, but it won't be a priority. I still have to go back to one of my local LCS to go through his 1970s Stars box. Once that is done, I'll try to get close at a show over the summer, and knock off the balance on COMC. This should be done this year.

At least 1 of the 3 Heritage sets I am working on (2001, 2002, 2011) - Not so sure about this one. Given that I overwhelmingly need short prints, and the SPs are pricey on COMC and Sportlots, I think my best strategy here is to bid low on those U-Pick-10 auctions on EBay and hope to get them on the cheap. Given that, I am going to drop this goal for the year.

Sets I want to start and finish

1975 Topps - I won't start on 1975 until 1976 is complete, so I am probably looking at a late summer/early fall start. Not sure it is realistic to expect to finish it within the year, but I am going to keep this one for now.

2012 Heritage - Definitely going to drop this one for the year. I'll buy some retail and may splurge on a hobby box, but I don't feel a huge urgency to work on this one. I'll probably just treat this one like the other Heritage sets I am working on and only work on them when it can be done at a discount.

2010 Obak - I've already started it, and don't have that many base cards to go, so I'll add finishing the base set as a new goal. I'd like to also complete the T4 cabinet cards and the T212 minis, but that will definitely take some time and is not realistic for this year.

Sets I want to continue working on

1956 Topps - the nice thing about having a goal to continue working on a set is that I really only need to buy one card to achieve this goal. I'm pretty sure I can achieve that. Verdict: Keep.

1963 Fleer - Since this is a small set (67 cards, of which I have 27), I'd like to knock a bunch of this off this off during the year. However, since there are 6 cards that I need with book values over a C-Note (Brooks Robinson, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Joe Adcock, Roberto Clemente, and the checklist) I don't expect I'll finish it anytime soon.

Sets I want to start

1973 Topps - Technically, I've already started 73 with a trade earlier in the year with Ted at Crinkly Wrappers. I'm going to call this goal achieved and not do anything with it until I have both 1971 and 1975 complete. So, finishing it is the first of my 2013 goals.

1961 Fleer - This is a new goal I just added. One of my local LCS has a stack of about 20 cards from this set that he has been sitting on for years. I am inclined to grab them and make working this set a long term project.

Miscellaneous Goals

Add to my Paul Blair and Johnny Antonelli player collections. I've already added a few Blair cards this year. I need to ramp back up on what I need for Antonelli and will probably add a few as the opportunity strikes.

Do not buy any 2012 product except Heritage - I have no interest in any current set other than Heritage. In fact, I am so ambivalent about the 2011 Series 1,2, Update, and Lineage that I am in the process of taking them out of binders and putting them in boxes. The binders and sheets have more intrinsic value to me than the cards. Lesson learned.