This will not be news to anyone who reads this blog, but I often struggle with how to define my collection.
There's a bigger philosophical question at work here - one where I wonder if a card collection needs to be defined at all. I don't necessarily think so, but I think it's worth trying to put a label on my great big mass of baseball cards sometimes. It's a way to try to convince myself that there is at least a little bit of conventional sanity at work here.
I've always said that I am, in essence, a player collector who collects about 400 different players. But even this isn't exactly right. I'm not the type of player collector who goes out and tries to get every single card of, say, Vladimir Guerrero or Ichiro, including all the insanely scarce parallels numbered to 23 or something. And for the most part I don't even specifically search for their cards on eBay or wherever else, scouring lists to find the cards I need.
The way I define and rank my player collections, as I've come to realize, basically revolves around how much sheer joy I get out of getting a new card of any given player, however I may get that card.
There's a flip side to that - sometimes I realize how important a player collection is to me when I feel the horror of not having a fairly obvious card of said player.
There's a large group of guys who I happily collect, but don't necessarily agonize over having super intricate or well-rounded pages of their cards in my binders. Names like Stephen Strasburg and Will Clark come to mind. But when I discovered I didn't already have the '95 Pinnacle Rickey Henderson at the top of this post, it instantly went on my Dime Box Dozen list - it's a great card on its own, and anything I don't already have of Rickey excites me.
Thankfully, it wasn't a need for long - Jeremy of the (hopefully shortly!) hiatused "Topps Cards That Never Were" blog included it in a heaping box o' cards he sent me recently, along with a couple other Rickeys from his later years that seemed to span 27 different teams.
Simply put, I guess, my most important player collections are the ones that excite me the most.
I may not go for every single parallel of guys like Ichiro or Paul Konerko - I don't have the time, money, or interest to chase infinite copies of the same card - but anything new of these guys is sure to put a smile on my face.
My player collection moniker gets a bit more convoluted with my weird quirk of only collecting some guys on certain teams.
I don't hoard Carlos Baerga cards with anything approaching regularity, but show me a card of his forgotten Red Sox days and I'm there.
I've collected Ron Santo for a long time, and it was awesome to see him pop up on a Turkey Red insert on 2020 Update since he doesn't get many cards anymore.
But while the collections I've had since I was a kid will always be near and dear to me, it's been a blast adding new guys to the catalog in recent years - including all the Mo Vaughn and Ozzie Guillen cards I should've been chasing a long time ago.
My mini-collections throw an even bigger wrench into trying to define my collection - whether it's Frank Thomas or some rookie I've never heard of, I want any and all throwbacks in my binders ASAP (special nod to the excellent Washington Senators uni at the center here).
Oddballs earn extra points if they happen to feature guys I collect, like these spectacular regional Expos oddities from Jeremy of a couple stalwarts in my player collection canon.
But oddballs don't have to feature my favorite players for me to enjoy them - in a way I collect the brand more than the player sometimes.
I seem to have accumulated a ton of Juan Gonzalez cards without ever really collecting him, but that Hamburger Helper card is one of the few that's grabbed my attention, if for no other reason than I didn't know cards were ever issued with Hamburger Helper (though I still find the food itself disgusting).
More nifty oddballs from Jeremy - I'll admit that despite the numerous Seinfeld references I make, I've never had a Drake's Coffee Cake (do they still make those?).
A few horizontals here, including the sight of Eddie Murray in an Angels uniform that'll never, ever look right to me.
I opened a surprisingly ample amount of 2020 Topps Update, but somehow the coveted Randy Arozarena rookie didn't fall out of a single one of those packs (meanwhile I was pulling five or six copies of some other cards).
Jeremy put an end to that painful gap as well with this unexpected gift that was a hot commodity on the flipper market at one point. I haven't heard much about Arozarena since his Ruthian playoff run, and I don't know if people care much about his cards anymore, but I still want them. Along with the scores and scores of other players I joyously collect. And oddballs. Oh, and throwback jerseys, too. Oh, and...
I guess it's no wonder, then, that the question I hear the most at card shows is the one I can never answer: So, what do YOU collect?
12 comments:
Wow, Crime Dog cards!? Cool!!
Yeah, I hate that question. I always answer the same way.....A little bit of everything.
My collection is very diverse. I hoard sets, singles, players, teams, autographs, vintage, and so on and so on and so on. And then within those categories there are tiers of interest. For example... I enjoy collecting Frank Thomas, but not nearly as much as Tony Gwynn.
Player collectors may hate that question, but if you're not a player collector it is a struggle to find cards to send to that person. I have a very difficult time, and sometimes I just give up and don't send anything because I can't possibly take a week to go though my collection to find those guys.
You, however, are an exception because not only do you collect players but you collect oddballs and vintage and a few Cubs here and there. A lot easier than the strict player collector.
I have been having the same question thrown at me lately. What kind of collector are you? What do you collect? I have a team collection and player collections in baseball, football, basketball and hockey cards. Then in baseball and football, I am building Hall of Famer Frankensets in both, and in hockey cards, I collect goalie cards and creating a goalie Frankenset. Then in baseball, I have an album of "fun" cards and in football a collection of former Ohio State players and in basketball, I collect former Duke Blue Devils. Then I have a few other smaller collections. Some may think I am crazy but I just truly enjoy the hobby.
At this point I've just come to know you as the collector. Which is to say that you (and a few other souls) represent someone who I can just chuck a stack of random cards at and there's a high chance you'll get a kick out of at least one card in there, maybe even more. I do know that there are specific names (Hoyt Wilhelm, Vlad Guerrero, etc...) and even a team (Cubs) to associate with you, but I also know it doesn't need to be that defined. It helps, but on the whole "I think this card is neat" usually tends to work the best when I look for stuff for you, because chances are you'd agree.
This is in stark contrast to me because I've solely devoted everything to just my favorite player and everything else has kinda been left by the wayside lol.
That McGruff card is great, never saw it before
I'm now officially on the look out for a copy of that Nomar/Crime Dog card..
I’m like you Nick, it’s hard to put a handle on what exactly I collect. Sure, Reds cards are always cool but I like a good variety of different stuff, some inspired by you like short-term stops, throwback uniforms, zero year cards etc. But really, I like pretty much baseball cards of all types.
Fun post and great cards.
The unanswered question is, is there a Fred McGriff / McGruff the Crime Dog card?
You hit a lot of the same thoughts I have about collections and what I collect. And I too have ended up with a ton of Juan Gone for no real reason. So many cool ones, in fact, that I actually collect him now, just because I seem to always be able to find more cool cards of his. Very soon, a card show post I am writing will show some. By the way, I love those Expos oddballs!
Post a Comment