Getting very close

I recently decided to see if I could make some headway on my nearly complete '74 and '76 setbuilds, as trading for them seemed to be stalling out. I played a bit with TCDB and found someone who had most of my needs, and was also on Twitter. I reached out to him through Twitter and put together a very nice trade. I should probably try more Twitter trades. Here is what I got from @tbart19cards:

Two of my last three remaining '74 needs. A Hall-of-Famer and a Met - Mets were hard to come by for me as the big lots I purchased early on were from Met fans on Long Island and the Mets were missing from those.

1976 #1 Hank Aaron Record Breaker. He also threw in a damaged card so I have one to trade. Not sure which one I would trade but I'm open to offers.

Ron Guidry rookie card! It's great to see it in person finally. Gator looks great here, totally focused as he begins one of the most successful pitching careers in Yankee history. 

Five others, mostly commons, leaving me with just two to go on this set.

So what's left? Three second-year cards of Hall of Famers. In 1976 I just need George Brett and Robin Yount. I was fortunate to get their rookie cards in one of my first-ever vintage purchases. Those second years have still eluded me. And in 1974 it's Mike Schmidt. His rookie card will be a lot harder to obtain.

I'm going to hope one more time that one of you readers has one to trade, but assuming not, I'll try TCDB again, and then just look for the cheapest copies of those cards I can find online. I am guessing they can probably all be had in the $5-10 range for poorer copies.

Looking ahead: 

1973: I am three low-numbered commons (Glenn Borgmann (284), Cesar Cedeno (290) and Claude Osteen (490)) away from just needing Hall of Famers and high numbers. Once I get those three I'll start being more aggressive on the leftovers. Still need some big names like Mays and Reggie.

1972: Still need most of the semi-highs and highs. I have just about all the low-numbered commons and have a fair amount of big stars, but still need Ryan, Aaron, Mays, Reggie.

1971: Definitely trailing other sets of this era. Need plenty of commons and pretty much all the big stars.

1970: I have the entire first series which is pretty cool. Still need a fair amount of other low-numbered commons, all of the very big names, and just about all the high numbers.

1969: This set is a bit of a sleeper, in terms of being close to completion. I actually am down to less than 100 cards needed. '69 high numbers aren't as bad as most other years, and I have a fair amount. I have a few big stars like Clemente and Rose but still need Aaron, Mays, Ryan, the Reggie RC and of course Mantle.