2014 Collecting Goals Recap

2014 might have been my most successful collecting year yet.  I added a lot of great cards to my collection highlighted by completing several Charlie Morton rainbows (2014 Topps, 2002 Bowman Chrome) along with several 1/1s of Charlie but none were more important than this 2012 Topps 24K Gold Embedded card.

I completed the 1965, 1969, 1971, and 1972 Topps Team Sets.

I managed to complete half of the Tony Sanchez Slabbed 9.5 2009 Bowman Chrome Auto challenge

I got a bunch of Bowman Black autos of all the Pirates I wanted including 3 copies of Tyler Glasnow which can be seen here, here, and here, Gregory Polanco, Jameson Taillon, Reese McGuire, and Alen Hanson.

I added well over 36 Jason Bay cards to the collection, but sadly fell short for Andy Van Slyke and Ryan Doumit.

I added my 75th unique Andrew McCutchen certified autograph to the collection with the following additions in 2014:
2014 Donruss Die Cut Elite Status /25
2005 Topps Chrome Refractor BGS 9.5
2012 Bowman Chrome Dual Auto with George Springer /25
2013 Panini Team USA /25
2013 Topps Museum Jumbo Jersey/AUTO /10
2008 Just Minors Black /25
2014 Topps Dual Auto/Dual Patch Face of Franchise with Gerrit Cole /5
2014 Panini Private Signings Fall Heroes /10

The Gerrit Cole/Andrew McCutchen Dual Auto/Dual Patch is just absolutely amazing!!!!

I added an autograph of a Hall of Famer in Pittsburgh Gear (Goose Gossage)

Another 2014 Goal Accomplished

Two weeks ago I showed off one of the toughest (and most expensive) Bowman Black autographs I have ever picked up.  That Austin Meadows autograph brought me done to needing only one Bowman Black autograph of the Pirates, Alen Hanson, who I recently purchased just in time to close out the new year.

Alen Hanson entered the 2014 season with the expectation that he could be a mid season callup along with Gregory Polanco if he showed continued improvement in the field.  The 21 year old middle infielder put up strong numbers at the plate in AA despite some minor injuries and an extended period of time missed that the reason still hasn't been revealed.

In 118 games, the switch hitting Dominican hit .280/.326/.442 with 11 HomeRuns and 25 stolen bases.  Many see Hanson as a future leadoff hitter that can play 2B, SS, or 3B.  Despite the struggle that Hanson suffered last year which dropped his elite prospect status, I personally still think that Hanson will be a very good major leaguer and given the right opportunity in 2015 could have a season like 2014 Josh Harrison.  He has incredible bat speed from both sides of the plate and possesses a good bit of pop for being only 5ft10.

Bowman Black will continue to be one of my favorite autographs to collect every year going forward.  I will most likely add Connor Joe and Cole Tucker to the list of players I want to get Bowman Black autographs from in 2015.  I may also continue to pick up Tyler Glasnow's bowman black cards as well since 3 out of 25 just isn't enough.

If you want to see the other Bowman Black autographs I got in 2014 click here.

Revisiting the 2013 Goals

I did really well for myself in my 2013 cardboard collecting quest.

I managed to COMPLETE the Jason Bay Partner Project.

I completed the Topps 1975 Pirates team set (was hoping to complete 3 sets). FAILED!!!

I added a slew of new Cutch, Morton, Jason Bay, and Ryan Doumit cards to my collection.

I grabbed some awesome vintage of Roberto Clemente by picking up his 1966 Topps and 1965 Topps.

I completed my Bill Mazeroski trifecta by grabbing his 1957 Topps rookie card.

I made my own reverse box of 2013 Topps Tribute

I added 5 new Ralph Kiner autos to my collection

I added 4 Charlie Morton silk cards to my collection BUT ONLY 3 were from 2011. FAILED!!!

I managed to only get 2 1991 Fleer TTMs of Pirates (Jay Bell and Don Slaught) of a 5 card goal. FAILED!!!

I added a lot of Jameson Taillon & Gerrit Cole autographs to my collection in 2013, but failed to reach 20 autographs of each.  18 for Taillon and 21 for Cole FAILED!!!

I added some early 20th century Pirates players autos to my collection by grabbing a Babe Adams and Lloyd Waner cut autos.

I added several team logoman patches of the Jolly Roger from the Pirates sleeves including Starling Marte, Jason Bay, Andrew McCutchen, Joel Hanrahan, and  Neil Walker.

But the most important of all for my 2013 Collecting Goals was that I finally added a Charlie Morton 1/1 Superfractor from 2008 Bowman Chrome to my collection.  This card has been my top want for nearly 3 years and it has never shown up on the open market until this year.  Saying I was excited would be an understatement.

So that brings us to 2014.  What should some of my goals for 2014 be?

Well...
I would like to become more focused in 2014
The Pirates have a lot of fun young exciting players coming up and I can't be buying every card produced with a Pittsburgh Pirates or Pittsburgh baseball club logo.

I will continue to add the Topps flagship set as part of my ongoing collecting goals so knocking out a few more vintage team sets will be a goal.

My main player collections will be a focus in 2014.
Many of my Charlie Morton needs are 1/1s so I would like to try add at least 1 to my collection.
I'm going to put a strong push to adding Ryan Doumit, Andy Van Slyke, and Jason Bay cards to my collection since many of those players have mass quantities I need and are very affordable.  Grabbing 3 new cards of each player a month seems reasonable so I'm going to push for 36 new cards of each player.

I want to add  another HOF Pirates player auto to my collection (Max Carey, Paul Waner, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Goose Gossage, Arky Vaughan, Pie Traynor, Fred Clarke, and Vic Willis top the list)

Andrew McCutchen autos!!!!! I'm currently at 66 UNIQUE CERTIFIED autographs of Cutch.  Trying to add 34 over the next year to get to 100 seems incredibly difficult since most of the cards I don't own are 1/1s.  However adding 9 more seems reasonable and expensive.

Tony Sanchez 2009 Bowman Chrome AUTOs PSA graded 9.5 or higher.  How sick would it be to complete a rainbow of graded cards?  Well I'm hoping to knock out half of that rainbow in 2014.

Bowman Chrome Gold AUTOs for top prospects.  The Pirates colors are black and yellow/gold.  I want to add Bowman Chrome Gold autos for the following: Jameson Taillon, Gerrit Cole, Gregory Polanco, Alen Hanson, Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and Reese McGuire.  This will without a doubt be the most expensive of the goals to complete.