Like most kids I had some baseball cards growing up but after 10 years away from the hobby I started collecting again in 2003. Being a lifelong Yankee fan my collection has been centered around the Evil Empire but more specifically the '90s championship teams I followed growing up. Although I like many players from those teams I have chosen to focus my collection on Paul O'Neill who is my favorite. Listed below are some of the things I collect starting with my top priority, O'Neill.
Site last updated: 11/28/2009.
O'Neill's perfectionism, intensity, and refusal to surrender even a single at-bat set the tone for the Yankee championship run. Fighting for every pitch, taking the extra base, playing through pain, and seemingly appearing out of nowhere to haul in yet another dangerous fly ball, he was a warrior who played the game the way it was meant to be played.
I was getting into baseball around the time O'Neill came over from Cincinnati. Being the new guy that year, O'Neill became my favorite Yankee. It was hard not to like someone with such intensity for the game. Despite being the newcomer, O'Neill quickly found his groove in New York, becoming the clubhouse leader after Mattingly and leading the Yankees to incredible success over the next few seasons.
In 2005 I started my O'Neill collection and it has been my top priority since. Over the past four years I put together a collection of 900 different cards thanks to the help of some very great traders. As of now, I am over 71% completion and still need many more cards to reach my goal of 75%. If you have any O'Neill cards to trade/sell, please contact using any one of the links from the sidebar.
My collection has grown tremendously over the last two years from 300 cards to 500 to over 930. But with only the tough stuff left, it has been harder and harder to pickup new cards and continue progress at the same rate. However, I still keep plugging away picking up what I can. My goal is to get a near complete run of the cards from O'Neill's playing years, and pick up as much of the post-retirement releases as I can afford.
Using numbers from the OPG, below is a tally of the cards O'Neill has broken down by year. The list is not comprehensive by any means, but it has almost all main stream card releases which have been the focus of my collection
Paul O'Neill Collection Breakdown by Year
Paul O'Neill Collection Breakdown by Decade
Player Collections I collect everything O'Neill but with the other guys, the depth of my collection varies. I like to use PSA's Basic Collection checklist as a guide when picking up base cards. Right now I am looking to finish basic collections of Mattingly, Munson, Bernie and Tiger. I am also looking for rookies of most of these other guys including all minor league cards of Bernie Williams.
Sets
The main set I am looking to complete is 1986-87 Fleer Basketball for which I need just 18 more cards. My other long term project is to get complete Yankee team set for all Topps releases.
There are also a few non-sport sets from the early 90s which I am looking to finish mainly because I have had these since I was a kid. I have unfinished sets but since my cards are in poor condition I am looking to start them from scratch.
Sports
Non-Sports
Other
Other things I am looing to pickup include autographs of the 1990s championship Yankee teams. I want certified autos if available, and TTM/IP autos for the others.