I Dared to Dream, It Became a Reality

 A few years ago I predicted that if I ever were to finish the T206 New York Highlanders team set, it'd be done across several years when the mood struck me, or I'd finish it in one swoop as soon as possible.

Well it turns out that the latter ended up being the route I chose.

Because Clyde Engle here arrived and capped off my New York Highlanders T206 team set*.

*To set the record straight again, I'm not referring to a team set in the traditional sense where I'm going after one copy of everyone including image variations.

No, I'm keeping my sanity by only going after one copy per player listed as a Highlander in the team set. If a player has an image variation (or several of them), I'm just going to get one and that's their only slot. Also no this is not accounting for the backs, beggars can't be choosers.

Look at that.

What a byotiful sight.

What a gorgeous sight.

It's tremendous.

A project 12 years in the making finally done!

Yes I will keep pushing that picture in everyone's faces, because IT'S THE 1909-11 T206 NEW YORK HIGHLANDERS TEAM SET*! I BUILT THAT ACROSS A DECADE AND THEN SOME!

This final push was partly inspired by my collector friend here in Japan named Anco89 who completed his own 12 year project where he assembled the certified Major League autographs from 2014 Topps Archives.

I had my own project from 2014 that was left open for too long too. Time to get moving damnit. I don't even have a Charlie Sheen autograph to make this ungodly expensive. I just needed to allow the shipping lanes to work their "magic".

So with this chapter finally closed, what the future holds for me and my collecting journey remains to be seen. I'm sure it'll be mostly smatterings of impulse purchases that eventually get dumped onto the usual suspects. But at the very least I'm at the point where I'm comfortable if I never used eBay ever again. I don't have a reason to.

I might eat those words given how whenever I declare something on this blog the opposite usually happens, but what I am trying to convey is that I'm feel content at this specific moment and I hope I can remain so for a while.

This cycle of endless accumulation. It's the part I like least about this hobby. Even though I'm happy about this there's no getting around the fact that all I did was spend a ton of money on pieces of paper with dead guys printed on them.

But damned if these pieces of paper aren't cool as shit.

Clyde Engle Back

I'm kinda sorry to Engle for not even attempting to go into his story but the situation called for something much different. If nothing else he can take solace in how I always intended for him to the final card in my team set build.

I saw him and passed up on him so many times at card shows, even back when commons were cheaper. I regret passing up those prices but I did not regret my decision to save one of the most ho-hum commons in the set to be the very last card I needed. Made it all the sweeter when everyone else with actual significance (especially Willie Keeler and Joe Doyle) were out of the way.

人生って面白いよね。何があるか分からないもん。

これからもどんどん楽しく生きていこうぜ。

As always thanks to you all (the readers) for stopping by.

Thanks to all of my collecting friends who've motivated me to keep on through the years.

20/20

Take care.

(Note: this blog is not ending, I'm just done with the final pie-in-the-sky collecting idea I had and am making a big deal about it)

Oh also I set up a gallery page for this. Also made gallery for cosplay girls in pretty outfits too.

Enough Beating Around the Bush

 There are certain things that seem "wrong" to say.

Saying that one bought multiple T206es in one swoop is probably one of them.

Or at least that was always the case for me. It always felt like these old tobacco cards are so old that they seem beyond the concept of bundles or "lots" like they're a stack of 1970 Topps. Although who knows, with the hobby bubble being where it is maybe lots in general don't exist anymore.

Even in past posts where I showed off multiple T206es, they were separate purchases from different people. Never did I think just bundling cards this old and significant (citation needed) would be possible.

But when a seller just happens to have 3 T206es I needed at the cheapest possible options, it'd be dumb for me not to just swoop in. Because what's the alternative? I just buy those three at different times from the same person? Yeah no, these take nearly a month to get to me now. Might as well save on time and shipping fees.

Jack Knight

Charlie Hemphill

Kid Elberfeld

Enter Jack Knight, Charlie Hemphill and Kid Elberfeld.

Unfortunately there isn't a lot on Knight but Hemphill is interesting to me in the sense that his run during the years the T206es came out (1909-11) were basically in sync with the last three seasons of his career. He was supposedly a power threat in his day (keep in mind this is pre-integration dead-ball era baseball, his career .070 ISO basically says as much) but he also took his walks. During his Highlanders tenure his walk rate was above 10% every season and in his worst season hit for a 108 wRC+ (stats per Fangraphs).

Elberfeld being a longtime MLBer in his time left behind a lot of interesting tidbits and stories. Keeping a Highlanders specific point of view, Elberfeld was the second ever captain for the franchise and during his second life as a manager down in the minor leagues he mentored a future name in Yankees lore named Casey Stengel.

Jack Knight Back

Charlie Hemphill Back

Kid Elberfeld Back

19/20

Wake up, no more dreaming. Time to make it a reality.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.