Brooks Robinson, 2008 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BF-7

A few weeks ago, I climbed up on my soapbox and swore that I would not be collecting any card sets released in 2011. Nope, no buying retail for me. No chasing shiny gimmicks and inserts, no getting sucked into marked-up retro sets. My money would be better served augmenting my vintage collection and maybe completing some of the dozens of half-finished sets I’d already undertaken.

I figured that I might as well give you a progress report to show that I’m putting my money where my mouth is…on eBay.

Last week I went on a bidding frenzy but didn’t quite drive myself into the poorhouse. First I nabbed a random assortment of 14 slightly battered cards ranging from 1955-1962. This lot included three cards of Hall of Famers: a 1957 Topps Robin Roberts, a 1959 Topps combo card with Richie Ashburn and Willie Mays, and a 1961 Golden Press of Grover Cleveland Alexander. By happenstance, 10 of the cards featured Phillies, including all three of the above. I also got a 1958 Topps Granny Hamner, which I’m pleased to add to my collection solely on the basis of that excellent name. Not bad for a shade under $11.

Clicking on some related searches, I found a huge lot of 1959 Topps: 173 cards in all. Just browsing on eBay made me think that I’d like to give it a go and collect this set. Great classic colorful design, some solid photos, and it’s not nearly as challenging as most sets from that decade. I’ve gotten a good head start by virtue of chasing the Orioles team set and grabbing assorted singles from the dollar boxes at one of my hobby shops. Besides, Thorzul recently mentioned that he was working on this set and I am easily influenced. I hung in the bidding right up until the end, going out of my normally thrifty comfort zone, but bowed out as the price cleared three digits. Ultimately, the whole shebang went for $106. Maybe I should’ve done it. I also took a few cracks at a lot of 154 1958 Topps from the same seller, but the winning bid in that case was $130.59. Shortly after losing out on those two auctions, I found a lot of 71 cards from the 1959 set with a closing time for the following evening. The price was still surprisingly low, so I put in an initial bid and played the waiting game. I was finally outbid the following afternoon, but jumped back in during the final minutes and won the day with a bid of $39.33 (including shipping). I’d forgotten how fun (and dangerous) it could be to treat eBay as your own personal card show!

Anyway, I’m cutting myself off from straight-up card purchases for the rest of the month, but I could be convinced to part with a few dollars for shipping costs if anyone can help me do some set-building through trades. I have want lists for several sets on my other blog: Topps sets from 1965, 1975, 1992, and 2010 Update Series; 1989 Upper Deck; 2008 Topps Heritage; and 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee. Eventually I’ll get around to putting up additional lists for sets like 1959 and 1982 Topps, 1994 Score, 1995 Stadium Club, and 2010 Topps Update Series. If I put goals in writing, I’ll be more persistent in achieving them…right?