The Ripken Pursuit

Ripken Cards from eBay

ryanmemorabilia — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:06:39 +0000

It seems that a shift in my collecting habits has sent me to eBay even more than before. I mean I try to find Ripken cards from the local card shops, but the cards are either in really bad shape, severely picked over, or too expensive. So off I go to eBay…

Year: 2006

Set: Topps Sterling

Card #: 86

Year: 2006

Set: Topps Sterling

Card #: 89

Year: 2006

Set: Topps Sterling

Card #: 95

Year: 2007

Set: Spectrum

Card #: CR87

Year: 2008

Set: SP Legendary

Card #: CR

Year: 2007

Set: Ultimate

Card #: CR

Year: 1994

Set: Fleer Update

Card #: 10

Year: 1997

Set: Ultra

Card #: 1

Year: 1999

Set: Upper Deck PowerDeck

Card #: AUX3

Year: 1998

Set: Pinnacle Plus

Card #: 5

Year: 1997

Set: Collector’s Choice

Card #: 5

Year: 2001

Set: Upper Deck

Card #: BB8

2004 Fleer – Classic Clippings (Week 7)

ryanmemorabilia — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:29:09 +0000

Year: 2004

Manufacture: Fleer

Series: Classic Clippings

Card Number: 3

Numbered: 331/750

How I got the card: eBay purchase

When I saw this card on eBay, I thought I needed to add this card to the growing collection. Luckily, it did not sell for too much money.

I just think this is one of the coolest ideas for a baseball card. It depicts the newspaper box score for Ripken’s debut game.

Back of Card: “In a 12-inning affair at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, Cal Ripken Jr. made his major league debut as the Orioles topped Kansas City 3-2. Originally drafted as a pitcher in the second round of 1978, he started out his career as a third baseman before moving to shortstop in 1982.”

Cross another 4 SPx Iron Man cards off the list…

ryanmemorabilia — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:38:10 +0000

As I have stated in the previous Iron Man post, I am still working on the 2007 SPx Iron Man set. So with these four beautiful cards I only need 94 more… Seems like so many, at least I have a goal to work towards.

117/699

Card: IM3

Back of Card: “In a move that would revolutionize the position and set a burgeoning superstar on a stellar career path, Baltimore manager Earl Weaver moved Ripken from third base to shortstop on 7/1/82. The tallest regular shortstop (6- foot-4) in the history of the game at the time. Ripken went on to set the all-time record for homers at the position as the single- season fielding mark.”

243/699

Card: IM53

Back of Card: “The Orioles were down a run entering the fifth inning against the Blue Jays on 9/15/90, but the Ripken brothers quickly reversed that and put Baltimore up a tally after they both connected for a solo HR in the frame. Even though Toronto rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth for a win, the game marked the first of two times that Cal and Billy homered in the same inning.”

340/699

Card: IM57

Back of Card: “Starting with six hits in a doubleheader on 6/23/91, Ripken pounded out 12 base knocks in 5 games to bring his season average to a sparkling .355 on 6/27. The eventual American League Most Valuable Player Award winner finished the year first on the circuit with 368 total bases, second with 210 hits and sixth with a .323 average.”

247/699

Card: IM76

Back of Card: “The shortstop’s season-high six RBI on 5/24/94 were in part made possible by his three-run roundtripper in the third inning. The blast was Ripken’s third of the year and the 300th of his career. It also brought the Orioles to within one run of the Brewers, 5-4, and Baltimore went on to score nine unanswered runs to take the road contest 13-5.”

Trade with Big D from Hey Thats Mine and a collection Milestone!

ryanmemorabilia — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:29:34 +0000

As I was going through the great cards Big D from Hey Thats Mine sent me, I came across three Ripken cards I didn’t have in my collection yet. And as I was entering them into Zistle I realized I had hit a major milestone in the Ripken collection. Big D, if you need any 2007 Masterpieces cards, please let me know and I will send them your way.

So here are the three great Ripken cards I did not have yet:

Year: 2007

Set: Ultra – Iron Man

Card #: UIM-19

This 20th Anniversary Upper Deck Preview card is officially my 500th in my Zistle collection!! You read right, big number 500. AWESOME!!

Year: 2008

Set: Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Preview

Card #: UD54

Year: 2007

Set: Ultra – Iron Man

Card #: UIM-43

Since I have started on my quest for Cal Ripken Jr. cards, many bloggers have helped me out through trades and I would like to thank everyone who has traded me Ripken cards.

My Player Collecting Guidelines

ryanmemorabilia — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:18:26 +0000

I am sitting around pretty bored and started to read back a bit on a few blogs and read their comments. One really jumped out at me, Mario from Wax Heaven, asked a simple question “So which era do you prefer and why?” … Read here.

After reading the article and all the comments I started to think about my collecting guidelines/ goals. I am still shooting for 1,000 different Ripken cards by 12/31/2010. However, I think that Dave’s comment about how he goes about collecting Longoria cards was great.

So I decided to make my own guidelines for building my collection.

The 6 commandments for building my collecting:

Don’t try to buy every super short print (under 25 created).
Enjoy every card in the collection (No matter what the value is. Value is relative.)
Do not overspend trying to create the greatest Ripken collection of all time (Someone will always have a card you don’t have, so build a set you can be happy with)
Try to work out trades for a part of the collection (Trades are fun and you can end up with some awesome cards)
Help out as many fellow collectors in their collections as possible (Spread the joy of the hobby)
Make this something I can share with my family (Has anyone thought what would happen to their collection when they stop?)

Overall, as I am going over my commandments, the theme is just to have fun building my Ripken collection. Everyone collects in a different fashion and for a wide variety of reason. So if you can not have fun with it, why would you even bother collecting little pieces of cardboard?

2009 Upper Deck Cal Ripken Jr.- Goodwin Champions Preview (Week 6)

ryanmemorabilia — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:12:01 +0000

Year: 2009

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Insert Series: Goodwin Preview

Card Number: GCP-11

How I got the card: Through a trade with Beardy from Beardy’s Baseball Blog

I got this card awhile back from Beardy, this just does not look anything like the 2009 Goodwin Champions. This card is very special to me. When I got this card, it started the interest and drive to start this blog. At the time I had a lot of random, unorganized Ripken cards every where. After the arrival of this card, I started to think about how incredible his career really was. I mean, who has not missed a single day of work/ school in roughly 17 years!! So I figured why not put most of my collecting efforts to the pursuit of a majority of the 12,ooo+ cards of Ripken Jr.

So thank you again Beardy for helping me organize my collecting goals!

New Shiny Ripken Cards

ryanmemorabilia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:24:49 +0000

I could never justify paying full price for a box of Sterling, it’s just a little too much for me to take the gamble. With that being said, I love the base cards. Something about them just jumps out to me. So I have been stuck with picking up singles on eBay for now. Here are the two new Ripken Sterling base cards.

Year: 2008

Manufacture: Topps

Series: Sterling

Card: 229

Back of Card: “After winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1982, Cal followed up by capturing AL MVP honors in 1983 by batting .318 with 27 homers and 102 RBI – and helping the Orioles to a World Series championship. Ripken was named MVP again in ’91.”

Year: 2008

Manufacture: Topps

Series: Sterling

Card: 230

Back of Card: “Ripken’s career will be remembered for hard work, consistency, and of course “The Streak.” A model of determination, Cal shattered Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak by playing in an astounding 2,632 straight from May 30, 1982, until Sept. 20, 1998.”

One Wicked Trade (Ripken Edition)

ryanmemorabilia — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:13:59 +0000

Yet another great trade package came last week. I was very lucky to have worked out a trade with WickedOrtega from My Past Time…I Love It. All I did was send over a few cards that he wanted and ended up with an awesome pile of Ripken cards. Thank you so much!

Year: 1997

Set: Finest

Card #: 252

Year: 1992

Set: Fleer Lumber Company

Card #: L7

Year: 1993

Set: Upper Deck Then & Now

Card #: TN4

Year: 1988

Set: Topps

Card #: 650

Year: 2008

Set: Donruss Threads – Generations

Card #: 2

Year: 2001

Set: Topps – Combos

Card #: TC16

Year: 2001

Set: Topps Chrome- Combos Refractors

Card #: TC3

Year: 1996

Set: Upper Deck

Card #: 1

Year: 2005

Set: Upper Deck Past Time Pennants

Card #: 13

Year: 1996

Set: Denny’s Instant Replay Holograms

Card #: 2

Year: 1998

Set: Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Preview

Card #: 40

Year: 1992

Set: Stadium Club

Card #: 595

In addition he also sent a large stack of 2008 Heroes and Orioles cards! Many Thanks!

Trade with AdamE from Thoughts and Sox

ryanmemorabilia — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:23 +0000

This was the second trade with AdamE from Thoughts and Sox, and he sent me 4 awesome Ripken cards. Again, all I had to do was send him some of my unwanted Red Sox cards. I am very happy that my old Red Sox cards now have a new happy home. I have plenty more cards, AdamE, so please contact me again for another trade!

Year: 1994

Manufacture: Post

Card Number: 25

A simple design and pretty basic, but it was a card I was missing.

Year: 1999

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Series: HoloGrFX

Card Number: 10

Awesome shiny card, I can’t help but love this card. It just stands out to me…

Year: 1997

Manufacture: Pinnacle

Card Number: 191

“I got it!” I guess that is what he is trying to say here… I really enjoy the Pinnacle cards.

Year: 1994

Manufacture: Bowman’s Best

Card Number: 94

I have a question about this card… I was checking Zistle and this looks like the image of the refractor. So is there any way to be sure it’s a refractor or not? Please help me out.

Trade with Brian from Play at the Plate

ryanmemorabilia — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:07:02 +0000

Awesome Ripken Trade! I saw awhile back that Brian, of the new blog Play at the Plate, is trying to collect the 2008 and 2009 A&G minis. We very quickly worked out a trade, Ripkens for Minis. I really hope you enjoy the minis, I’m greatly enjoying the cards that you sent Brian. Thank you.

By the way, the Ripken collection has past 300 cards!!

Year: 2001

Set: Fleer Tradition

Card #: 340

Year: 1998

Set: Upper Deck Prime Nine

Card #: PN32

Year: 1998

Set: Upper Deck Prime Nine

Card #: PN30

Year: 1998

Set: Pinnacle

Card #: 183

Year: 1998

Set: Pinnacle Museum Collection

Card #: PP86

Year: 1994

Set: Collector’s Choice – Silver Signature

Card #: 240

Year: 2000

Set: Topps Magic Moments

Card #: 238E

Year: 2000

Set: Fleer Tradition Dividends

Card #: D3

Year: 1999

Set: Skybox Premium Soul of the Game

Card #: 11

Year: 1991

Set: Leaf

Card #: 430

Year: 2000

Set: Topps Opening Day

Card #: 107

Year: 1995

Set: Pinnacle FanFest

Card #: 1

Year: 1998

Set: UD3

Card #: 65

Year: 1998

Set: UD3

Card #: 155

Year: 1998

Set: Upper Deck – Prime Nine

Card #: PN29

Year: 1998

Set: SPx Finite Spectrum

Card #: 64

Year: 1992

Set: Ultra

Card #: 11

Year: 2000

Set: Upper Deck PowerDeck

Card #: PD2

Year: 2000

Set: Topps Magic Moments

Card #: 238 B

Year: 1998

Set: SPx Finite

Card #: 145

Year: 2000

Set: Upper Deck e-Card

Card #: E3

Year: 1999

Set: Upper Deck PowerDeck

Card #: 3

Year:1998

Set: Upper Deck Prime Nine

Card #: PN31