The Cardboard Dugout: December 2011

Being a self acclaimed hardcore Mark Teixeira Collector, I decide to shoot for something this year (2011) that I've never done before. I decided to try and complete a "Rainbow". I'm sure there's not a clear definition of what a Rainbow actually is, but here's my take: All of the colored parallels of a certain player from Topps Chrome (red, purple,gold etc..) and I completed it, in timely fashion. So I decided to go broader. This led to what I'm officially dubbing the "Pose Collection". How many different variations could I find of Mark Teixeira's 2011 Topps card in the Pose you see below (get used to those puffy cheeks). As of today I uncovered 27 different 2011 Tex Base Cards. Now, before sharing my spoils with you, let me gripe. Topps sure knows how to milk a pose. This collection was bittersweet, because although I'm proud of its completeness, it was expensive, time consuming, and just plain got annoying as other weird variations kept popping up. I'm usually not one to complain about collecting (if you hate it, why do it?) but this is just nuts. I guess any player collectors ultimate goal is to own as many different cards of their guy as possible. So does this mean I'll have to collect 30 more Mark cards in the same pose next year? I don't know, I'm too exhausted from this year. I'll decide after a long winters nap.

Below is my "Pose Collection" in ascending order by rarity. Enjoy!