Greetings from 1997 (Happy New Year!)

So it's New Year's Eve, and the last day of 2013 is upon us.  A time for reflection, a time for hope, and even a time for a little sadness for time gone by.  For your's truly, put me down for the first two.  Normally, I'm a little somber on NYE, but with a new little life on its way to our family, I've got no time for the sadness or looking back.  I'm excited and anxious for the new year and all of its little joys, as well as its many challenges.

But, we as baseball card collectors, one of our favorite pastimes is looking back.  Whether that involves browsing through a binder of cards from a vintage era or trying to complete a 10+ year old set, it's part of the hobby's pulse for most of us.

One older set I'm still working on is 1997 Topps Stadium Club.  Not exactly what you'd call a "vintage" set, but its one that caught my favor back in my teenage years and still has its hooks in me today.  I didn't have the dough to realistically work on the set back then and, truth be told, I wasn't much of a set collector in those days anyhow. Nowadays, I'm happily hunting down the at-large cards at shows and online in hopes of eventually completing '97 TSC at some point.

Over the weekend, I was able to slip out to a local card show for a little while and was pleasantly surprised to actually come across three cards I needed towards the set.  They were in one of those big monster boxes mixed in with a bunch of other base cards from the mid '90s.

I'm creeping my way towards finishing Series 1, as the three pictured in this post leave me just two cards shy of turning the trick (Nos.172 and 187, to be exact).  Series 2 cards seem tougher to come across and, as a result, I'm still considerable number short.

So, this is another quest among many that will spill over into a brand new calendar year, and I'll enjoy the thrill of the hunt just as I did this year all years prior.  The journey is the fun part anyhow, right?

For those that have been kind enough to follow this silly little blog throughout the year, I humbly thank you. Here's hoping all of your sports card pursuits, both vintage and recent, bring you much happiness into the new year.  And, of course, good health and prosperity to you and your families.

God bless, and we'll see ya in 2014!

MK