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Quieting the little voices in my head

 
I don't know about you but among the many voices in my head are the ones that say "have you finished this set yet?" "Don't forget to complete that team set!" "Wow, it's a long time since you did anything with that set!"

So many voices and out-and-out badgering about card tasks. So the first Sportlots order of the year was about quieting a bunch of those voices -- or at least cutting down on the volume -- by completing as many sets as I could as cheaply as I could.

You already read about me finishing the 1986 Traded set. I posted that back on May 27, and there's still one card straggler from that Sportlots order that hasn't arrived. It's always interesting how some cards show up within days and others seem to have a long conversation with themselves over whether they really want to live in my house.

When that card arrives, it will complete a team set, too. But let's see the stuff that's actually here.


Look it, you guys, 1981 Fleer Star Stickers is finally finished!

Oh, I know, there's probably some period out of place on the back of one of the cards, but for people with jobs, this set is DONE. I still think 128 cards for a sticker set from the early 1980s is a wild ask by Fleer. As I've said before, I only vaguely recall these being available in 1981 and I don't think I ever bought any.

This set is fun to compare the photos with the 1981 Fleer base set and maybe I'll do that now that the set is finished. And, no, I'm not sticking any of them, not even the dupes.



1983 Kellogg's is finished, too. Weee!

A couple of these babies showed up curled, which I'm well-aware that Kellogg's do, but I thought 1983 was immune. I think they'll flatten out without cracking, I haven't seen many cracked '83 Kellogg's.

This was the final Kellogg's set from the golden era and completing it means I have the Kellogg's run from 1976-83 finished. All that's left are those evil cracking sets from 1970-75. We'll see when I get brave enough to finish those. I don't think I'm ready for alcohol-fueled set-building.
 
 

I am closing in on finishing the 1977 Hostess set -- this is something I'm working on at this very moment (Willie Stargell arrived today). I should have a completed post coming out by around the end of the month.

I'm disappointed in the Pete Falcone card. Collecting Hostess means keeping standard low, but I'd like to have as much of the card as possible. This is the drawback of Sportlots, as you can't see photos in most cases, but I've almost never been burned by it. ... I may be buying another Falcone.



I tried to complete 1990 Swell -- again -- with this order. This is the set that I thought I completed last year but later discovered I was missing the Rocky Colavito card ... and the Dizzy Dean card. I got the Colavito card, but Sportlots didn't have a Dean so let's just prolong this set build so it's so tedious that I never want to look at it again.
 


The 1969 Topps Dodgers team set has been finished for quite awhile but these two guys were needed for the main '69 set build! I think I have all the Dodgers in there too now. The question now is which binder gets the Drysdale with the crease in it -- team or set? I go back-and-forth on that.



The final PermaGraphics Dodger to complete those early '80s sets. Have I ever told you the story about how I ordered this card once and the seller sent me a paper copy of the card? That was a fun incident. ... I still need the Steve Sax All-Star card from 1982, I haven't bothered looking into that yet.



More Dodgers team set work. The two cards on the left finish off sets for me. It's my second Derrel-Thomas-Is-The-Last Card post of the week!

There's still work to be done for the cards on the right. Orel Hershiser in the Classic case and Steve Howe for 1981 OPC.



Even more of the absolutely Only Exciting To Me kind of cards. The 2006 Upper Deck First Pitch cards complete that set -- how I even noticed that this was not completed, I have no idea. The Big League leaders card and What A Day A&G card finish team sets and both were Nebulous 9 needs. Finally the one Classic card there was part of my quest to be done with Classic chases forever. But, no, not quite done.

Still I managed to shut up five head voices forever and dim the volume on a few others.

But you know how it is with set-builders. There are always more voices waiting to hound. Because we're crazy.

Comments

bbcardz said…
As a long-time set collector, I view completing sets as not crazy but constructive, therapeutic and just plain fun. Either that or I'm in denial, lol.
1984 Tigers said…
The 1980s and early 90s seemed to have so many of those cool sets and reasonably priced at the time. Swell is definitely one of them. I even found an 11 card set of 1992 Ziploc that were inserted into boxes of baggies back in the day (probably 1 per box???).

Funny thing is that I worked at Dow which owned ziploc and probably bought some boxes at the Dow store at employee discount. Totally forgot about these and must not have kept the originals but was happy to find a full set.
Doc Samson said…
Those 1983 Kellogg’s bring back memories. Can you imagine if that was like a 300 card set? Not even remotely feasible, but I would collect and try to complete the entire set in a heartbeat. Thanks again, Mr. Owl.
Jon said…
Happy completed sets! I really like the Fleer Stickers set. I'll probably give that one a go someday my self.