My 2011 Greatest Hits List

It was hard to make a list of just 10 favorite additions to my card collection in 2011, since it was certainly a busy year of collecting (probably too busy when I look at my wallet...).  But here, in no particular order, are some of the standout cards I picked up in 2011:

2011 Topps Corey Hart Diamond Die Cut

How acquired: trade on the Topps Diamond Giveaway site

I got my first shipment of cards from the Diamond Giveaway last week, and I must say these Diamond Die Cuts are very, very cool.  The scan doesn't do the card justice, it is very shiny and looks like a refractor.  The cards are really thick as well, so hopefully they won't ding as easily as some of the old die cuts from the 90s.

2010 Panini Epix Ryan Mathews Football Field Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

These are some of the coolest on card autos I've seen.  I was very happy to pull one, and even happier to have pulled a pretty good player!

2011 UD Goodwin Animal Kingdom Prairie Dog Patch

How acquired: trade with The Lifetime Topps Project

I still can't get over my good fortune that one of the bloggers I trade with had the exact Animal Kingdom patch card I was looking for.  I expect you'll be seeing more of these posted to my blog in 2012.

1996 Studio Ken Griffey Jr. Stained Glass Stars

How acquired: purchased on eBay



This is an awesome concept for an insert set and immediately became one of my favorites in my whole Griffey collection.  I wouldn't mind trying to put together the whole set of these someday.

2011 Topps Mark "The Bird" Fidrych Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

Outside of my one Griffey autographed card, this is probably my favorite auto in my entire card collection.  A nice card of one of the great characters of baseball history.

2011 Topps Platinum Diamonds (over 400 and counting....)

How acquired: every way I could

I couldn't do this list without including the insert set that has so dominated my attention in the past year.  It's going to be an awful long time before I can complete the whole set, but I still remain committed to my goal.

2001 Topps Archives Paul Hornung Milwaukee County Stadium Seat Relic

How acquired: spin on the "crack wheel" at the local card store

 My LCS has a wheel with numbers 1-25 on it that you can spin for $10, and the lower the number you get the better the card you can win.  My fiance dubbed it the "crack wheel" because she was so addicted to playing their little game (not that I complained too much - I've picked up a whole lot of nice autos and patch cards from her spins.)  This one is my favorite though - a card with a piece of a seat from the Brewers' previous home, good old County Stadium.  I especially love that it is a "2 color" paint patch from one of the very old seats.  It goes well with my other County Stadium relics:

That chair has a place of honor next to the TV in my living room.  My chair is also both of those shades of green, so this is one Topps relic that I KNOW is legit!  :)  I also have a brick from the stadium around here somewhere...

2010 Topps Magic Roger Stauback Chrome Refractor Auto  #9 of 10

How acquired: pulled from a pack

 Definitely the most valuable card I added to the collection in 2011.  I pulled this all the way back in January, and I said then that it would be awful hard to top this card when I put together a list of my best pulls of the year.  I wish my scanner did better with refractors, because this one looks so cool in person.

2011 Topps Ken Griffey Jr. Platinum Diamond(?????)

How acquired: from multiple sources

My lovely fiance felt bad that there were no Griffey Platinum Diamonds for me to get in this year's set, so she decided to put her craft skills to work creating one for me!  She had me order a second copy of the 1993 Upper Deck Triple Crown Contenders Griffey (one of my favorites, as I've posted before), and she carved out the border, background and logos from a couple of platinum diamond duplicates I had lying around.  Who says the best cards have to all be real?  :)

2011 Tristar TNA Signature Impact Rob Van Dam/Sting Dual Auto

How acquired: pulled from a pack

 And finally, my first ever double autograph card was a good one, with a pair of stars from the squared circle. 

I have one last card to put up - the booby prize for my WORST "hit" of the year.  It's always a bit of a letdown when you pull a no-name player's auto from a pack. It's even more of a letdown when that player plays for your team's most hated rival.  But the final insult is the sheer laziness of this signature....

2010 Panini Certified Corey Wootton "Autograph"

How acquired: pulled from a pack

Honestly, would you take a look at that crap?  I'm left wondering if this guy is that lazy or if he doesn't know how to spell his own name.  At least it gave me something funny to wrap up the year in review with.  :)

That's it for me today.  I look forward to reading about everybody's big hits in the coming year!!