Sunday, October 19, 2025

It Takes a Village

Twelve years ago, I purchased two wax boxes of 1986 Donruss baseball for $50.  It was a birthday gift to myself with the hopes of pulling the iconic Jose Canseco rookie card.  That didn't happen, but it did start a set build that continues to this day.

Recently Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life! helped me get two steps closer to completing this set:

1986 Donruss #601

I primarily remember Joe from his time with the Houston Astros, but I knew he was a Yankee too.  Sadly he passed away nineteen years ago at the age of sixty-one.  

1986 Donruss #638

Meacham's career was much shorter than Niekro's, but luckily he played during the first half of the Junk Wax Era.  In other words, he was featured on plenty of cards during his six years in the MLB.  That's why I definitely remember his time with the Yankees even though he was only an average fielder and a career .236 hitter.  The power of cardboard and childhood memories is legit.

With these two cards added to the set, I'm now only twenty-five cards away from completing the six hundred sixty card set.

Bo also sent me this 2011 Topps Update card of Cody Eppley:

2011 Topps Update #US97

If you asked me about this guy two months ago, I'd have no idea who he was.  But thanks to him being one of the final cards needed for this set build, he's become a familiar name.

The other card I needed was one of the Brandon Crawford cards in the set, but that arrived last week in a Sportlots order.  Here's a look at the completed set:


Thank you to the following bloggers for helping me complete this set:

and retired blogger, Tom @ Angels in Order.

I appreciate all of your help with this set.  It feels great to cross this one off.  Honestly... I'm kinda on a roll.  I've got another Sportlots order on the way and a scheduled COMC shipment.  Both contain cards for another set that bloggers have helped me with this year.  I guess the old saying is correct.  It takes a village.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be receiving the cards from COMC until November, but as soon as it does I'll let you all know.

Don't worry about me not having enough content to write about.  There are three large care packages waiting to be opened... including two from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.  Plus I made a huge purchase this weekend at the Branham Flea Market.  It helped cross off six sets I needed from the 80's, so stay tuned for those posts.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

7 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

Awesome set to finish. Congrats!

The Angels In Order said...

Nice set to finish especially with that Trout rookie.

Bo said...

Glad to help! Meacham was a frequent target of George Steinbrenner's wrath. Eppley was a Yankee for a short time too.

The Angels In Order said...

And thanks for saying "retired blogger". I hadn't thought of it like that, but that's pretty spot-on.

night owl said...

Congrats. No plans to complete the 2011 Traded set, but I think I have all the big ones already.

Fuji said...

the lost collector - thanks. it wasn't a set i ever thought i'd build, but definitely one i'm excited to own.

the angels in order - the great thing about retirement is that it doesn't have to be permanent. one of my friends who retired from teaching subs in our district almost every day :D

bo - i didn't know the details about george and bobby, but that doesn't surprise me. seemed like there was always at least one player george was upset with.

night owl - if you ever do, i actually have a bunch of duplicates :D

Chris said...

Congrats on completing this very tough and attractive set! I have the 2011 base set and Chrome but couldn't handle Update.