Collecting in 2012

As I said in my first post, this is really my first full year back in the hobby. In 2011, I sporadically started collecting Topps Attax(more on those in a later post), Topps Series 2 and Topps Update. So as 2012 release dates started approaching, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to collect.
I looked at some of the products that Topps had planned to release and tried to figure out what I wanted to collect and what I might shy away from.  The next few posts will be a trip down memory lane, of course it will be a short trip because it is only July, but I will take you through the collecting year of 2012, so far and talk about the Topps products that I purchased, show some of my hits (maybe some misses) and provide some Trade Bait for anyone who may be interested. 

Topps Series 1
I had already settled in my mind that I would collect the flagship Topps product. I like this year's design, especially the Gold Variation cards, and I liked the idea of some of the insert sets. I especially enjoyed the 1987 mini cards. There is just something about the 1987 design that draws me in. I also liked the idea of the Golden Moments and Gold Standard, but wasn't big on the fact that they highlighted things that weren't really stand out events. Curtis Granderson's card highlights an RBI single and run scored that earned the Yankees a win in May. I vaguely remember the game, but it wasn't exactly "golden". The Gold Standard cards, I think were created to honor milestone achievements, but even some of those, while impressive (3,000 K's for John Smoltz), they don't exactly get everyone excited. I also enjoyed the Classic Walk Offs and the Gold Futures inserts. I think the Timeless Talents theme which compares a modern player to a great former player is starting to get overdone. The Golden Greats insert set has a nice look, but was quite large (75 cards) and got boring with 5 cards for each player included.

I was very excited for the release day, I purchased a few blasters from Target and a Hobby jumbo box from my LCS, The Baseball Card Store in Midland Park, NJ www.baseballcardstorenj.com, its a great shop with awesome owners, who love to talk about the hobby. If you live in Northern NJ, it is worth the trip.
I completed the Base Set with ease, had a good start on the 1987 mini and Gold Futures sets and traded a bunch of my inserts to acquire cards I wanted from the other insert sets. I ended up with only 15 of the Gold cards, but still have decided to take on the long, and probably expensive challenge of completing the entire set (see previous post). 
As for my hits, I wasn't overly excited about my first two hits (both of which are available for trade):
 

But my next hit made up for it. Growing up in NJ in the 80's there was only one Yankee that you really cared about:

It is a really great card, the weight of it is cool, but the feel of the ring makes it an awesome card. It was a great pull for me and I was very happy about it, so all in all I consider the box to be a success. This was the first box of cards that I purchased in a very long time. I really enjoyed ripping into it and really like the product itself. I love completing sets and getting the Mattlingly Retired Rings card, just made this a great way to start off collecting in 2012.