The fix

Every so often, I hit a wall when it comes to my collection.

I've already detailed about a recent roadblock I hit in terms of my blogging habits, but I've noticed the same thing happen with my incoming cards as well from time to time.

This "wall", however, doesn't have anything to do with a lack of desire. In all my years in the hobby, I can't recall a time where I put cards on the back burner. I've never gotten tired of it.

There's just a few periods of time each year where I don't have a lot of new cards coming in, for whatever reason. Little to no trades, no interesting sets coming out, no card shows, no nothing.

It's been one of those times lately.

Luckily, I think it's coming to an end. I managed to make a trade for a bunch of Bowman base cards I needed, so I probably won't be picking up any packs in the coming weeks. (I can't even recall the last time I bought a pack of Bowman, now that I think about it.)

Plus, 2012 Topps Archives is coming out in a couple weeks, a set I'm really looking forward to sampling.

What really marked the end of the "card lull" was finding an unexpected package from Night Owl in my mailbox this afternoon.

A "fix", if you will.

So in honor of the cards he sent, I'm going to try my hand at a Night Owl-esque trade post, revolving around the following thoughts.

Do you ever hit similar lulls in your collection, like me? And if you do, how do you attempt to break them?

If I'm not getting a bunch of new cards in, I like to go back and dig through my collection, perhaps in search for some more "Cardboard Masterpieces".

These "Superstar Celebrations" inserts are criminally underrated, in my opinion.

You just don't see terrific shots like that every day.

Two of my larger player collections are of Mark Grace and Ichiro Suzuki.

I'm getting close to the 200-card mark with Mark (excuse the unintentional repetition), and I own over 400 cards of Ichiro.

I get so many new cards of them that I sometimes go back and see one I don't even remember acquiring. Times like these are good to go back and "investigate" my player collections.

I won't forget about these though, thanks to Night Owl. The '89 Topps "Rookies" card of Grace is one I don't already own, much to my surprise. I thought I already had almost all of Grace's overproduction era cards.

During times like these, do you gaze through cards of your favorite team?

I do.

The Cubs are probably the most looked-through of all my various team binders. They've always been my favorite team, through the good and bad. (Mostly the bad, though.)

I'm not really a team collector, per se. But page for page, I get the biggest kick out of sifting through my Cubs cards.

Franchises don't get much more historic than the Cubs, after all. They've been around since the birth of the National League in 1876. I've got players from Cap Anson to Geovany Soto in there. Even blemishes such as Zambrano and Fukudome are still welcome into the hallowed "Cubs binders".

One of my friends was over at my house a couple years ago. He's the biggest baseball fan I know. (Except me, of course.)

Since he's a White Sox fan, I handed him my White Sox binder to see what he thought of it. After a little browsing, he said something along the lines of, "Looking at these is like going through their history."

I'd never thought of it that way, but it's one hundred percent true.

Every time I go through my binders, I think of what my friend said.

Baseball cards really can take you back in time.

There's a couple monthly card shows that aren't too far from my house.

The only problem is that I don't have any money.

Perhaps the biggest "itch" I have from time to time is the "card show itch". I will never get tired of card shows. Whether it's just a small room or a giant convention hall, the feeling I get when I first walk into a show has never changed.

It's addicting.

Even though I came away with probably my best overall card show haul about a month-and-a-half ago, I still want more. I'll have to scrounge up some money, somehow. (Maybe I should try applying to Good Burger.)

Night Owl hit a couple of my remaining Opening Day needs with the above Heyward and Lincecum cards. One of the more overshadowed things about card shows is that you can find a lot of newer base cards on the cheap. I'd probably be able to knock out my last four Opening Day base needs.

I guess patience is a virtue, as they say.

I was tempted to rip open a few packs these last couple days.

I actually almost bought a pack of Bowman, for goodness sake. I almost broke my withstanding rule.

"Never buy Bowman!"

It's nothing personal. I just don't like getting cards of guys I never heard of. Plus, they seem determined to put out the least flattering design each year. Plus, I've found that I can easily trade for all the base cards I need on the trading forum I'm on, as most of the people who buy five boxes of the stuff aren't after the Casey Kotchman or Justin Masterson base cards.

But I almost did it. I almost bought a pack of Bowman.

Night Owl saw to it that it didn't happen, as he had a cure for my itch to bust open some new product.

I knocked out all of my Heritage base needs a while ago. I take the inserts and SPs when I can, but I don't actively chase them.

But I missed Heritage. I've always enjoyed the set, year-in and year-out.

He included a couple Heritage short-prints in the cards he sent me. As all of us know, SPs are often hard to come by, especially with Heritage.

Now, I have absolutely no desire to touch a pack of 2012 Bowman, all thanks to Night Owl.

Getting new cards in is still one of my favorite things about the hobby. In a weird way, though, I've found that the "card lulls" are one of the more interesting times in the world of a collector.

In the end, it shows us how dedicated we really are to the hobby.