Wrapping Up 2024

Do you know what Rickey Henderson, Kobe Bryant, Kurt Suzuki, Charles Woodson, Barry Bonds, Doug Wilson, and Marshawn Lynch all have in common?  They all wore #24 at some point in their careers and they're all athletes I really like and collect.

That's why I'm wrapping up 2024 with a celebration of these athletes and twenty-four of their cards featuring clear shots of #24.

The cards will be presented in chronological order... so you'll see streaks of certain players.  That's because some of these players wore #24 during specific parts of their career.

For example, Barry Bonds wore #24 for most of his tenure in Pittsburgh which lasted from 1986 to 1992.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of quality examples of his cards featuring #24.  However I was able to dig up two of his early oddball issues with nice photos:

1987 Classic Travel Update #113

1988 Kenner SLU #NNO

Three of my all-time favorite athletes wore #24.  Rickey Henderson wore #35 his first stint in Oakland and #22 right after the Yankees traded him back.  However... he only wore #22 a minute amount of games in 1989.

1992 Donruss Elite Legends #NNO

He worked out a deal with Ron Hassey to acquire #24 (the number he wore in New York) which is the number he wore with the A's from 1989 to 1993, 1994 to 1995, and in 1998.

Charles Woodson wore #24 for the Oakland Raiders.

1998 Bowman Chrome Interstate Refractor #181

He was such a fun player to watch... that I liked him immediately after entering the NFL.  But I became an even bigger fan when he signed with the Green Bay Packers in 2006.

2000 Crown Royale Game Worn Jersey #6

Not sure why he ended up wearing #21 for the Green & Gold.  But when he returned to Oakland in 2013, he went back to #24.

Another one of my all-time favorite athletes is Kobe Bryant.  You won't see any of his early cards featured in this post though, because he wore #8 the first half of his career from 1996-97 to 2005-06.  But he switched to #24 in 2006-07:

2006-07 Finest Green Refractor #25

I acquired most of these Kobe cards during the late 2000's when they were still affordable and I was still opening basketball products.

2007-08 Bowman Draft Picks & Stars Triple Relics #BR-KB

2007-08 Fleer Feel the Game #FG-KB

2007-08 Stadium Club Beam Team Relics #BTR-KB

This one isn't valuable, but it does feature a fantastic action shot of him:

2007-08 Topps #24

Don't worry... there's more baseball coming up.  Just two more Kobe relics:

2008-09 Topps T-51 Murad Relics #T51R-KB

2008-09 Topps Treasury Relics #TTR-KB

Okay... let's transition back to baseball and another all-time favorite player of mine:

2009 Allen & Ginter Mini Printing Plate #105

Kurt Suzuki wore #24 for the Oakland A's in 2008.

2009 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relics #CC-KS

I'm not sure why he opted to switch to #8 in 2009, but that's the number he wore the majority of his tenure in Oakland.

I've always thought it was cool that Kurt and Kobe both wore #8 and #24.

Okay... one final jersey card of Kobe:

2009-10 Crown Royale King on the Court Materials #10

Okay... transitioning from the hardcourt to the gridiron, we go from The Black Mamba to Beast Mode:

2012 Topps Prolific Playmakers Autograph #PPA-ML

Marshawn Lynch started his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills where he wore #23.  However he was traded mid-season to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and wore #24.  That's the number he wore in high school and his freshman year at CAL.

If you're a baseball fan who patiently stuck around, here's a few more baseball cards:

2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-RH

2013 Topps Five Star Autographs #FSBA-RH

2015 Gypsy Queen Autographed Relics #AR-RH

2016 Topps Tribute Ageless Accolades Autograph #AA-RH

2017 Topps Definitive Autographed Relic #DCAR-RH

I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime around 2013 or 2014... Topps started inserting a ton of Henderson on-card autographs into their products.  This flooded the market and allowed collectors like me to start adding them to my collection for $50 or less.

2017 Topps Five Star Heart of a Champion Autograph #FSHC-RH

The Hobby Boom of 2020 changed the way people collected... and drove Rickey's autograph prices through the roof.  I haven't bought a single one since.

Switching sports... here's a San Jose Sharks legend:

2019-20 UD Chronology Canvas Autographs #CA-WI

Doug Wilson only played two seasons in San Jose, but he spent sixteen seasons in the NHL.  He wore #24 the entire time.  After he retired, he would return to the organization in 2003 as their general manager where he built a perennial playoff team.

Let's wrap things up with one last Rickey:

2020 Topps 1985 Topps Baseball Relics #85R-RH

Well there you have it... twenty-four cards of seven guys who wore #24.

Now I know there are a bunch of legends like Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Miguel Cabrera, Rick Barry, and a bunch of others that I left out of this post.  But I wanted to narrow it down to guys I really, really liked to root for... and collect.

Not a fan of my selections?  Create your own list of 24 cards showing of #24.

Happy New Year and sayonara!

It Takes a Blogosphere

I've been a busy blogger lately... and I'll be publishing more posts than usual in the upcoming weeks to prove it.

Today's post will target my 2024 Topps Series 1, 2, and Update set builds which received a huge boost this week from two bloggers:  Dennis (@ Too Many Verlanders) and John (@ Johnny's Trading Spot).

To help put things into perspective, here are all of the numbers they crossed off:

And here is an updated look at my set needs:

These two generous donations have my Series 1/2 set build down to needing only 14 cards (2%) and 2 cards (.6%) for the Update set build.

These singles were only a fraction of each of their care packages.  Dennis sent me a really interesting collectible for my Tony Gwynn collection that will receive its own post.  While John sent me a smorgasbord of trading cards for a variety of collections that I'll highlight very soon.

Today's focus is about building sets, so I'll wrap things up with a few other singles from Dennis are for sets I'm currently working on.

2020 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Not Complete

I started this set a little over four years ago with a blaster and a nice stack from my buddy.  A few other bloggers have contributed over the years.  These four are the latest additions: 

I'm still fifty-one cards short, but only a percentage of them are short prints: 

Set Completion Prediction:  2027 to 2028

I just need to find a nickel box filled with singles from this set... which might not happen for a few years.

2002 Donruss Estrellas Estrellas:  Complete

2002 Donruss Super Estrellas Estrellas #5

This Nomar completed the Estrellas insert set... but I'm still seeking a few others to complete the 2002 Donruss Super Estrellas master set:

Set Completion Prediction:  2026

This is just a matter of me opening up the wallet and purchasing singles from COMC or Sportlots.  Unfortunately... I'm not one of those guys who are willing to pay more than a buck for any of these cards, so it's a waiting game.

1992 Pro Set HOF 2000: Complete

1992 Pro Set HOF 2000 #1

Just needed one card to complete this set... and it was Marcus.

This set build is officially over.

1995 Classic Assets Phone Cards:  Complete

I think this set build started with a box break... but I'm not 100% sure.  I'm also not 100% sure why I needed two copies of the Jeff O'Neill, but according to my wantlist... I did.

And that's what Dennis sent my way:

1995 Classic Assets Phone Card #NNO

Unlike the 1992 Pro Set HOF 2000 set, this set build wasn't in my cabinet and according to my database... it's buried in a box under a lot of other boxes in my closet.  I usually reorganize my collection once a year during the spring or summer.  I'll add these to the set build(s) when that happens.

1993 Donruss Masters of the Game:  Complete

I'm always excited to complete a set, but some sets are a little more exciting than others.  I was really stoked to see this card in Dennis' care package:

1993 Donruss Masters of the Game #4

First off, it's a cool set that I hope to show off in a post eventually.  Yeah... I like it that much.

But it's also an oversized set, so I'm glad to finally take it out of my set build cupboard and make room for other projects.

1986 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 4:  Complete

Almost 13 years ago, I made one of my favorite card show purchases... a collection of Garbage Pail Kids from the 80's that included complete sets from Series 2 to Series 10.

1986 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 4 #158b

Unfortunately, there were five cards missing from the Series 4 set.  Don't remember where or when I picked up the first four cards I needed... but this IG Lou completes the collection:

However... just like the Classic Asset phone cards... this binder is sitting in a box that needs to be unearthed.  I know where it is, but won't be able to dig it out until the spring.

So there you have it... a bunch of set builds and a lot of generosity from two awesome bloggers.  Both of these guys actually sent more stuff.  These were just cards of the set building variety.  I'll definitely showcase the other items from their care packages in the next few weeks.

Until then...

Thank you John and Dennis!

Happy Saturday and sayonara!