The Year in Review

Is 2012 really coming to an end already?!  In some ways this year has seemed to fly by while at other times it seems to have dragged.  It's been a great year overall.  Although the frequency of my posting has dropped since the end of the baseball season, it doesn't mean that I'm not collecting or just as excited about trading cards as I was 12 months ago.

I may have not been able to pick up as many key cards as I had wanted to, but I was thrilled to make this nice 2012 Topps Gold Rush auto Tim Hudson my first auto of the year.  To this day I still haven't seen many of this card made available online so I'm especially happy to have grabbed it when I had the opportunity.

 As the year progressed I was able to add a few other autos of Huddy to my PC.  Still haven't grabbed any of his 2012 Triple Threads autos yet...perhaps that will be a goal going into 2013.

One segment of my collection that doesn't always get as much attention as other segments is my NC State collection.  Back in the spring I was thrilled to see the Pack headed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament.  It's been awhile since there has been an NC State player to make a big impact in the majors, but that doesn't stop me from rooting on my favorite collegiate team.

Of all the great things that came out of 2012, one announcement wasn't so great - especially if you were a Braves fan.  After a very long and successful career with the Atlanta Braves, Chipper Jones announced his retirement before the season would begin.  What a awesome final season it was too - for both Chipper and the Braves.  I still have a bitter taste in my mouth for how the season ended in the stupid one game playoff against the Cardinals.  At any rate thanks Chipper for all the great memories!

Another loss the blogging community suffered was the Sewing Machine Guy withdrawing from collecting.  In my few short years of blogging and trading I came to really respect the SMG.  I completely understand why he (and JABO) left the community so no hard feelings there.  Before the SMG guy left, he was kind enough to send me this awesome low serial numbered jersey card of Panthers WR, Steve Smith.  Thanks buddy for all of your support!

 

Not all of my purchases were of baseball players.  Don't ask me why I was so eager to pick up an auto of TV's Super Nanny, but this is my favorite non-baseball card of the year.

Of course I can't do a year in review post without mentioning another great year of hosting my monthly Affordable Group Breaks.  2012 saw a lot of great product ripped spanning nearly 20 years.  The breaks may have slowed down in the last few months (it's a lot a work you know!) I do have a great break on taps to kick of 2013.  Sign-ups have already been posted so check out the top right corner of the blog for all the info.  A big thank you to all the participants and vendors that supplied the boxes.  It was a lot of fun and I hope to carry on the tradition of Affordable Group Breaks again in 2013.

The last thank you I want to make is to all of you - the readers.  There are no shortages of great blogs and bloggers out there now so I appreciate all the support I've received throughout the year.  Here's to a great 2013 here at Cardboard Collections.  Don't forget to like us on Facebook as well as I do post exclusive content there from time to time.