Sorting, sorting, sorting...

All that sorting means that there has been some good mail this week.

The week began quickly on Monday with a package from OBCer Linda Fitak, who sent a padded envelope brimming with cards. After sorting I was able to record hits to my 1955 Bowman, 1956 Topps, 1960 Topps, 1961 Topps and the 1970 Topps sets.

Tuesday was more of the same as OBCer Rick Johnson added about 20 hits to my 1974 Topps list. An ebay package added 8 hits to my 1971 Topps sets for a total of 28 hits on Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet, but Friday made up for it.

Friday yielded a box (literally) of cards containing a 1952 Topps, a pair of 1954 Topps, a 1955 Bowman, a trio of 1955 Topps, 4 1956 Topps hits, 6 1958 Topps, 2 1959 Topps, 4 1960 Topps, 2 1961 Topps, a pair of 1962 Topps, a single 1963 Topps, 3 1965 Topps, 1 1966 Topps, a pair of 1969 Topps cards, a 1973 Topps, 3 1975 Topps and a single 1978 Topps hit.

In total this package brought me another 39 hits.

The end result of thus flurry of activity is a total 87 hits. So here are the newly updated totals:

Cards in my Collection: 4,669
Total Cards needed: 17,936
Cards remaining to achieve goal: 13,267
Percentage Complete: 26.03%

I expect things to quiet down a little bit now for the next little bit, although I am expecting another Mantle in the mail. Obviously when that happens it will merit a special place in that weeks post, but we'll see about that when we get there.

Finally! It's here...

Needless to say this week has been not unlike Christmas in my early youth, filled with agonizing anticipation for the eventual payoff which I already knew would be worth the wait.

It seemed that fate would conspire to deny me for another long weekend, with the snow storm in the middle of the week slowing the mail down and with nothing coming in yesterday... however this post clearly indicates that after mocking me endlessly the mail gods have at last rewarded me for my reluctant patience. Before getting to that though...

Tuesday brought a second package to my mailbox courtesy of Father Pat Wattigny containing a dozen hits to my various lists including 6 1961's, a 1968, a 1970, a 1975 and 3 1974's, one of which was the Dave Winfield rookie. Very nice, thanks Father Pat.

So obviously between my last entry and this one we have quantity and quality. The final package of the week came on Friday and put the exclamation point on the quality portion of our program.

Yes indeed, my 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle finally arrived. It goes without saying but I am most pleased. This has long been my favorite Mantle, although the 53 and 52 Topps come a close second, but this one is one of the first ones I spent a lot of time looking at in the old full color price guide I received for Christmas when I first started collecting.

Obviously you can see that the Mick has taken a hole punch to the head for some reason, but this was part of the reason it was affordable. Beyond that though, this is probably one of the nicer poor condition 56 Mantle's you'll see.

For those interested, here is the back. I believe you can click on the image for a bigger version of the picture to get a better look:
So there you have it, quite the exciting week for me. In addition to the 80 hits from Monday's package the two other envelopes this week added another 13 hits, this in turn brings the progress at the end of this week to:

Cards in my Collection: 4,582
Total Cards needed: 17,936
Cards remaining to achieve goal: 13,354
Percentage Complete: 25.54%

Big Envelope

Normally I wouldn't post an update right at the beginning of the week, but I was surprised with an envelope of sufficient note that it warrants it's own entry.

Contained within the large padded envelope was no less than 11 1974 Topps and 72 1975's. A few of the 74's were duplicates, but in total I was able to scratch off 80 numbers off of my lists.

Here is how things stand at the moment:

Cards in my Collection: 4,569
Total Cards needed: 17,936
Cards remaining to achieve goal: 13,367
Percentage Complete: 25.47%

I easily shot past 4500 cards and I've should pass 4600 before the dust settles on my recent ebay wins. The next major milestone is 5000 and I can see it in the horizon, maybe in a month or two depending on how much progress is made on the 75 list.

Clearly this means that this week is already the biggest week in terms of damage to my list since I started this little chronicle to keep track, so I'll just make the appropriate update to the counter and I should be back at the end of the week with (hopefully) a few more items I'm expecting.

First February Update

Since nothing came in during the latter portion of last week I decided to wait until the end of this week to post my newest update.

This week yielded an even dozen additions to my lists, combining quality and some quantity. Among the newest additions were the 1974 and 1978 Topps Nolan Ryan cards as well as a 1970 Topps Roberto Clemente and a high number. Some additional 1974 Topps and 5 1968 Topps singles rounded out the additions.

While 12 is not a ton, it none the less succeeds in moving me to and past the 25% mark. Another similar week and I would shoot past 4500 different cards, and considering I'm expecting an envelope containing more than that from one source alone, it's a foregone conclusion.

All this and I haven't even gotten my 56' Mantle yet. Although I was made aware this week that it was in the mail on Monday so now it's a matter of when Canada Post sees fit to bring it my way. Here's hoping for that next week.

So with that here are the latest numbers:

Cards in my Collection: 4,489
Total Cards needed: 17,936
Cards remaining to achieve goal: 13,447
Percentage Complete: 25.02%