How to reach a milestone

OK, so this post starts out talking about some simple MLB history, but I am going to try to tie it in to my collection, so hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Growing up, I loved baseball statistics and history, and one of the first things that caught my eye was the 3000 hit club.  At that point, it was a pretty exclusive club, with only 15 players ever to have accomplished the feat.  And one of my favorites, Rod Carew, was getting awfully close.

At that point, the only type of hits that had been a player's 3000th were singles and doubles.

Since that day in the early 80's, 17 more players have joined the club.  Out of those 17, Ichiro and Paul Molitor's 3000th were triples.  And Wade Boggs, Arod and Jeter knocked the ball out of the park for their big hit!  Here's the list:

Player	3,000th hit
Pete Rose	Single
Ty Cobb	Single
Hank Aaron	Single
Tris Speaker	Single
Carl Yastrzemski	Single
Eddie Collins	Single
Willie Mays	Single
Eddie Murray	Single
Albert Pujols	Single
Cal Ripken Jr.	Single
George Brett	Single
Paul Waner	Single
Robin Yount	Single
Tony Gwynn	Single
Dave Winfield	Single
Craig Biggio	Single
Rod Carew	Single
Lou Brock	Single
Cap Anson	Single
Stan Musial	Double
Honus Wagner	Double
Nap Lajoie	Double
Adrián Beltré	Double
Rickey Henderson	Double
Rafael Palmeiro	Double
Al Kaline	Double
Roberto Clemente	Double
Paul Molitor	Triple
Ichiro Suzuki	Triple
Derek Jeter	Home run
Alex Rodriguez	Home run
Wade Boggs	Home run

And here is a cool pic of all of the current members of the club

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So I am also coming up on a big (for me) milestone in my collection.  Not quite 3000 hits, but I am pretty sure I will never get to 3000, so 1000 will have to do...

With recent additions from Jeremy over at Topps Cards That Never Were. I am up to 989 unique Mark McGwires.  1000 is in sight!!  And that got me wondering, what will the 1000th be?  Will it be a base card (single)?  Or a parallel or common insert (double)?  Or a serial numbered/refractor/rare insert (triple)?  Or could I be like Wade Boggs, and have the unlikeliest event, a relic or auto card (HOME RUN!)?

Another thought.  Craig Biggio got hit 3000th hit, a single to the outfield.  Must have been quite a rush, because he just kept on trucking and got thrown out at 2nd, going for a double.  Talk about your buzz kill!!  So in card terms would that be like getting a 1985 Topps Tiffany McGwire RC, but it has a huge crease in it and a mustache drawn on Mark's face????  Hilarious!!

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Now of course, none of that really matters.  At all.  I'll be super glad with whatever card gets me to 1000!  And no matter how much the rest of the blogging community doesn't want to read any more posts about Mark 'Roid Boy' McGwire, you can bet I will be posting when it happens.

1000 McGwires is 1000 McGwires. And 3000 hits is 3000 hits.

3000 hits get's you into the Hall of Fame.  All 1000 McGwires gets me is 8th place on the McGwire's collections over at TCDB.com (for some reason, this link takes a while to load).  But to me, its pretty exciting!  Wish me luck!

And though I am not soliciting you to send me McGwires, I am always interested in trading for anything not already marked on my TCDB list.  Thanks for reading!