Christmas Wish List, Baseball Style

All I want for Christmas...

Is...

You! (hah, that video is awesome - if only I had a class that I could get to dance like that!)

Okay, back to reality. What do I want for Christmas? I've outlined all the small things I miss here in Japan on my other blog. It's always the other blog. Why does it have to be the other blog?

But in addition to the random junk food, there are some baseball items I really would like to get my grubby little hands on. Will I ever get them? It didn't work last year, so why should it work today. But a guy can dream.

While many collectors complain about the lack of team logos on Panini's products, there are two releases I'm interested in pursuing this year. The first is this, Triple Play. It has a cheap price point and a colorful, playful design that Topps hasn't attempted since Bazooka dropped off the face of the Earth. I would like to put together a master set of this release, and I'm hoping to pick up a few boxes on the cheap to compile the set by hand. I've been keeping my eye on the Black Friday deals, though I know shipping to Japan will certainly eat up any savings.

I am also a big fan of retro-themed sets, and I would like to give Panini Cooperstown a try. While I won't go for a box, I know I can get a lot of support in my awards and leaders collection with this release - older players and other HOF members who have few easily-attainable cards. I would love a good lot of these (possibly hand-picked for my Awards-Leaders Want List).

I have a complete set of most of the Allen & Ginter issues. I haven't picked up a 2012 set yet, though. I am working on it, I swear... And while we're at it, I would like sets of World's Tallest Buildings, Highlight Sketches, and mini Musical Masters.

In the Japanese card world, I would like a full base set of BBM's No-Hitters. With just a couple exceptions, there is a card for every recognized no-hitter in NPB's existence. This would be a big kick-start for my NPB Awards collection.

Last, as I have focused on Japanese cards this year, I have been pretty far removed from most 2012 issues. I hope to tackle a large portion of the 2012 type collection through COMC and trades. I'd be happy to trade Japanese cards for US cards - including MLB cards from the Japan-issued Sega CardGen card-based game. A list of the 2012 cards is here - anything marked in the left column means I have that card already, though right now there is a pending trade for a bunch of the Allen & Ginter and Topps Archives sets.

If you have anything for trade, let me know! I can work things out pretty easily, and you can ship to my US address to save yourself some mailing costs.

I hope to be back to regular, somewhat-interesting posting this weekend! Until then, I hope you had a great Turkey Day yesterday and enjoyed any Black Friday shopping today.