And the winner is...

First off, I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to comment and share with me your favorite cards. It's always nice to hear feedback and know that my work is actually being seen by the eyes of others. Now onto the giveaway.

I took the list of commenters (ordered by comment chronology) and ran it through random.org once. Here are the results:

Congrats to McCann Can Triple! Her*(thanks for the correction)  favorite card of the set was #327 - David Price.

I can't really argue with her choice. Luckily for Mr. Price, he'll have another card in Series 3 with him actually pitching. That's right, I finished putting together the checklist and I'll be doing another 300 cards. Luckily for you, though, I'll spread it across fewer posts so you won't have to click through as many near-identical blog entries. My goal is to have the final card posted before the final out of the World Series. If the Giants manage to make it to World Series, that may be an obstacle. We'll see...

Again, thank you all for commenting, reading or even just scrolling through to look at the pretty pictures. I really do appreciate it.

Give me your opinion, I'll give you this autograph

In case you didn't read through my final Spirit Base post, now that I'm finished with Series 1 and 2, I'm looking for some feedback. All you have to do is tell me which of the 600 cards I created you like best. It could be your favorite player, a really great photograph or any other criteria of your choice. Either leave a comment on this post or the last past of the series. Or you can tweet your choice to me if that's your thing. On Friday, October 10th I'll randomize all comments and one winner will receive this 2014 Topps Archives Bill Russell Fan Favorites Autograph. No need to write your own blog post linking to mine or anything like that. Just comment with your choice (card # and player name) and you're entered to win. That's it.

Again, thanks for all your patience and time during this project. There may even be a Series 3 to come. If that happens, I'll change the post format a bit so it won't be so spammy for all you followers.

Diamond Market - Part 1

Well, it looks like Topps finally opened the Golden Giveaway gates yesterday. I'm still on the fence as to whether I'm going to redeem my codes or just sell/auction them off on eBay. I'll probably wait a few weeks to hear people's thoughts on the GG before deciding either way. But this seems like the perfect time to introduce something similar to Topps' online endeavors but potentially better.

Say hello to Spirit's Diamond Market. It's similar to the MCG, DG, and GG in that you get a card with a code, entered said code online and unlock 'stuff.' Where it's different starts with the code cards themselves. Instead of just some flimsy, over-crowded card that you throw away once the code has been redeemed, these Diamond Market Code Cards are worth keeping in your collection. They're shaped like credit/debit cards with the round edges and printed on a similar plastic-like stock. There are 20 different players depicted in the 'set' so it's worth collecting even after the codes have been redeemed.

The credit/debit card motif isn't just for looks, though the hologram Spirit logo and player name embossing does look neat. The Diamond Market itself uses the concept of accruing credits into your account and then using them to 'buy' exclusive cards available only through the Diamond Market. When you enter a code, it adds a value of 10, 25, 50, or 100 credits to your account.

Instead of just randomly getting whatever card you happen to 'unlock,' the choice is yours as to which cards to add to your collection. No more 1988 Chris Bosios or 1980 Ed Halickis languishing in your 'portfolio' for perpetuity because they aren't worth the $10+ it takes to ship the batch of junk to you. These are brand new cards of players that people actively collect.

These cards are inserted into Spirit Series 1 packs at a rate somewhere between conventional inserts and relic cards. Something like 1:16 or so. They won't be as easy to pull as Topps' code cards but they won't be so rare that you have to buy box after box just to rack up enough credits to broaden your options. Because, as Part 2 of this post will show, you might want to save up some credits to really splurge.