Enhancing My Performance

This year's new project - the SCAM Project!!

Last year my big project was collecting 1000 refractors.  I accomplished the goal, and it was a blast doing it!  I know it's almost April now, but it's time to unveil this years 'big project'!

I teased it a couple of posts ago with this horrible, puke invoking picture.  Take a minute to look if you are prepared and haven't eaten recently.  Are you back?  Good.  The obvious conclusion from that hint would be something about steroids.  Right?  But why would anyone celebrate the steroids era?

 

Well personally, I think that the steroid era was, like the picture, horrible and puke invoking.  The congress hearings and lying, the inflated stats and, most of all, just the plain cheating made for a reprehensible time for the sport.  Even the start of the 'clean-up' was completely self serving with Jose Canseco using his insider knowledge to keep himself relevant and make a few bucks.

But there were positives.  Bringing baseball back from the damage caused by the last players strike would have taken far longer without the drama from the record chases.  Another positive, at least in my mind, is that performance enhancement was not limited to the late 90's.  It's been a constant battle ever since players started making money for playing a game that rewards the best.  So the roids era, while tragic, at least forced people to take notice and forced baseball to take action.  We can debate baseball's 'action' another time, but at least the issue, a systemic, long historied issue is being attacked.

Blah blah blah.  Debate on the Steroids Era isn't really the point.  My new project is!!

This year I will create a collection commemorating the Steroid Era! It will be known as the Baseball's Super Cheating American Men Project or the SCAM Project.  Now a project like this has to have parameters.  There are many, many players who have been subject to the roids whispers.  I've decided to limit my collection to a few of the most prominent.  Not all of these players have admitted Steroid use.  Not all have been caught. Some have.  Not everyone who has admitted or been caught makes the list either.  No Andy Pettite.  No Melky Cabrera.  No Manny Ramirez.  I'm 'mostly' keeping it in the late 90's/early 2000's.  Pretty arbitrary, but that's how I'm doing it.

The 8 players that will be collected:

Alex Rodriguez - admitted
Barry Bonds - admitted, but not his fault
Mark McGwire - admitted
Jose Canseco - admitted
Raphael Palmiero - no admission, has a failed test
Jason Giambi - admitted
Roger Clemens - no admission, acquitted of perjury charges
Sammy Sosa - no admission

For each player, I'd like to have by the end of the year:

1. A complete Topps base run for their playing career.
2. At least one GU and/or Auto of each (hopefully more than 1)
3. And at least 100 40-45 of the below for each player.(this is 5 nine-pocket pages with room for any GU or Auto's.
     a. Refractors - any
     b. Numbered - any
     c. Parallels - Rarer and pretty only
     d. Inserts - Rarer and pretty only

If I get over 100 for any player, my favorite 100 for that player will be used.  At the end of the year, these mini-player collections will be closed and kept 'forever' as my personal reminder of and tribute to the steroids era.

I'm hoping that the steroids taint drives down the asking price on these players/cards so that I can turn this collection into a reality despite my meager budget.

Please don't go sending anything at this point, though if you have stuff you want to trade, let me know! I'll be making another post that is a little more specific on what cards I want/need.  Thanks for reading!!!