Two sets with one trade

I completed a trade with Charles of Lifetime Topps recently. He sent me a bunch of mid-1990s Dodgers goodies, which as you know, is the weak link in my collecting portfolio.

Here is just a sampling:

Oh, and here's a decidedly non-90's card:

But the key part of the trade for me was that I was able to complete TWO sets with the cards that he sent. Prior to last week, I had completed the 2010 Topps base and A&G sets and the 1976 Topps set this year. I can now say I have finished off a fantastic five of sets in 2010.

Here are the two others:

1981 Topps. This was the last card I needed. I blathered about it here.

1993 Upper Deck. The best UD set ever made (I blathered about that here). This was one of six cards that I needed.

Here are the others:

The two Dodgers I already have in my Dodger binder, and I'm sure I probably have a few extra in the Dodger dupes box.

The Nen and the Fryman cards I know I've had before -- must've traded them off. I think I had the Pudge card, too, at one time.

Anyway, it is very cool to have the '93 Upper Deck set in its entirety. I need to find a suitable binder for it. Right now it's in a broken-down, duct-taped thing, and that's not right for a classy set such as this. I also should track down some of those Iooss inserts, as that is one of the very coolest parts of '93 UD.

Once I've finished off some yearly sets, I always look toward what's next. But I'm not going to add anything new (sorry '82 Topps) just because I want to get some of the many other sets that I'm trying to finish off to stop hounding me.

So this is what I'll be working on in the coming year:

1971 Topps (44 cards to go): I'd love to complete this set in the next year. I'm not sure if I can handle that. But that is a goal for now.

1972 Topps (about 400 to go): I hope to get to a point in the next year in which I can finally put up a want list for this set. Right now all I can say is I need Lots.

1977 Topps (many, many to go): I just started on this project. I'm basically replacing all the cards from this set that I collected when I was 12, so I'm looking for about 600 or so cards.

1984 Donruss (99 to go): I'm casually collecting this set. I don't know or really care when I finish it. The only thing I do know is the Mattingly rookie will be the last one I need.

1988 Score (8 to go): There is no way I should not complete this next year. In fact, I am required to complete this in 2011. It's at the top of the New Year's Resolution list -- a goal that is actually doable. (By the way, if you haven't taken a shot at naming the set, give it a whirl).

2008 Topps Heritage (22 to go): A set forgotten by time. This set is also the reason why I don't collect Heritage anymore. Just about all of the needed cards are short-prints.

2009 Upper Deck OPC (19 to go): I need to get the other 19, so I can see what kind of strange photos I am missing.

1956 Topps (don't know how many to go): I am also collecting this one slowly. In fact I almost forgot to add it to the list. I'll be happy if I add a couple more handfuls of this set in the coming year.

Oh, there's another matter about 2008 Stadium Club, but I think I actually will forgot about that one.

I think I have enough on my plate for 2011 without adding any actual 2011 cards to the set-collecting pile. But let's see if I feel the same way in late June of this year.

Meanwhile, thanks to Lifetime Topps for taking two more sets off the lengthy list.