Last Card Needed

[Rich Klein]

I was working on a project for one of my columns, and although digital, I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I found the final card we needed.

That got me to thinking, and you can answer this question for any set old or new. what was the last card you needed to complete a set and is there a good story behind buying or trading for the last card. (It's OK to list without the story -- but a good story makes this exercise better)

Rich

[Cardboard Junkie]

Dreyfus for my Tip Top set.......TUFF!!

Houtemann for 53 Glendales......another tuffy.

Both sold/ traded now.

[Piratedogcardshows]

Not much of a story but here goes.I only needed Buck Hooker to complete my T210 Series 2 set.I was bidding on one that was in a auction and missed it due to sleeping through an alarm I set.A couple weeks later the same card was on Ebay and I won it for exactly what it sold for including the BP.Here he is.

[darwinbulldog]

"Honey, why are you setting that alarm?"
"Well, um, I finally have a chance to pick up a nice-looking Hooker around 3 o'clock."

[and my wife would reply -- "But I thought you weren't going to buy any more cards this month."]

Originally Posted by Jason

Not much of a story but here goes.I only needed Buck Hooker to complete my T210 Series 2 set.I was bidding on one that was in a auction and missed it due to sleeping through an alarm I set.A couple weeks later the same card was on Ebay and I won it for exactly what it sold for including the BP.Here he is.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

"Honey, why are you setting that alarm?"
"Well, um, I finally have a chance to pick up a nice-looking Hooker around 3 o'clock."

[and my wife would reply -- "But I thought you weren't going to buy any more cards this month."]

Hahaha that was a good one

[Jantz]

Hi Rich

Back in the late 90s I was building a Bowman Chrome set and got down to one card. I remember reading an article in Beckett that said this set was one of the toughest sets to build from the 90s.

Ironically it was a Cleveland player. I figured since I live here in Ohio, it wouldn't be that hard to find. After months of stopping by card shops...(card shops? What are those?) and hitting a few card shows I would be able to locate this last card.

After months of searching with no luck, I grabbed the latest issue of Beckett and began calling all the card shops advertised in the back of the magazine. Finally found a shop out in Las Vegas that had my last card I needed.

So after months of searching and an inflated long distance phone bill, I finally found that last common card I needed to finish my set. But as we all know, the hunt is a big part of what makes this hobby so enjoyable.


Jantz

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

"Honey, why are you setting that alarm?"
"Well, um, I finally have a chance to pick up a nice-looking Hooker around 3 o'clock."

[and my wife would reply -- "But I thought you weren't going to buy any more cards this month."]

Excellent! Thanks for that, Darwin!

[atx840]

I'd been studying the T206 set on and off for around five years and decided the SC F649 subset would be a fun way to start the collection.

Last card I needed was Bransfield, months of searching with no leads.

Bill Brown was slowly working on the same subset and offered his example to help me out. Not a tough project but sure learned a lot.

Thanks to Bill and many other boardmembers who have helped me along the way.

[freakhappy]

Al, jantz, and Koufax...great stories! It's crazy how one or two cards can elude us, even when they are commons.

There is always that great feeling when you complete a set, but like someone said before, the journey is often the best part. So many stories and fond memories on purchases, interactions and friendships made...priceless!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[z28jd]

I started collecting Old Judge cards of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and had a card of every player except Deacon White. Then he made the Hall of Fame and I'll finish this story once I win the lottery.

An actual set I finished with an interesting story. As a young child I bought many 1987 Topps cards and never got a Teddy Higuera card and my friend didn't have one either. Between us, we probably had close to 3,000 cards at the time. Even another friend that had about 150-200 cards didn't have Higuera. I bought a couple of the 100 card packs they sold and still didn't get the Higuera, so I finally ended up buying one at a card store for 35 cents. I decided to see how close I was to a second set and I was missing only three cards, two of which I got from my friend and there I was, one Teddy Higuera away from a second set.

[glynparson]

1960 Topps- Danny Murtaugh - tough one to find nice, manager from my favorite teams World Series victory year.

1966 Topps- Grant Jackson -I looked so long for one I since have become a little bit of a hoarder of this one as i buy it when i see one priced reasonably.

1980 Topps- Roy Smalley This was the first set I ever put together as an 8 year old. I still rember buying the card at a flea market at Wilson central junior high in 1980. I still remeber the feeling like it was yesterday. I do not know what happend to that particular card, it is one i actually hope is still in my old card chest at my parents with other sentimental but worthless (dollar wise) cards.

19867-87 Fleer Basketball- I got lucky and started the set when Jordan was still only $35. By the time I finished the set was pretty popular I think the Barkley cost me as much as The Jordan by the time I bought it from Gary Oates ( at his parents house in Wernersville PA) whom I ran into at this years national, he still is in the business.

There have been many more, these stood out for some of the reasons mentioned.

[Leon]

Nice stories, guys. There is a story behind the last e94 overprint I needed, but I forget all of the details now.

[bbcard1]

In both 1973 and 1974 when I was putting my sets together old-school by trading and buying cards at grocery stores and five and dimes, both years Cy Acosta was the last card I needed.

The last card for my T206 520 set was O'Hara St. L. Just took a while. I think I ended up overpaying just a little in the end.

Finishing up my 1933 DeLong Gehringer was the last card I needed. I was quite happy with the buy I got on that one.