A look into my collecting goals for 2020

Like everyone else it seems, I have a yearly set of collecting goals, but maybe it gets too long winded to fully break down on a blog - I feel like a goof when I don't catch up to any of them and so maybe it is easier to keep them offline.

On the other hand, building up my mini-collections are my outlet as far as having fun with a card collection - so it's easy for me to dwell on and share the things I want to do with them through a current year without feeling like I'm going on and on.

A.) My goal for 2020 is to have at least 500 new collecting topics cards - same number to shoot for over the last three or four years, but tilt it so I have more control over the cards I bring in.

Roughly count out 100 specific cards towards the 500 cards I’m looking to add for the year - I hope to focus on cards I want to seek out and highlight outright, besides cards that come into my hands by default breaks and/or finds.

Look to pick up 50 either old-school [pre-1980] and/or vintage [pre-1973] cards - I don’t know if can whittle the numbers down further, so they are more realistic to reach, but still remain a challenge. I’d really like more old-timey cards sprinkled in with my newer stuff, but I don't know if I seek out old-school / vintage cards without an outright outlet.

Look to add 25 cards from other sports - trying to get cards from other sports is a wrinkle but always going to have a ‘baseball first’ mentality.

See if I can come up with Top 10-15 list of cards to hunt down and maybe posted on this blog and/or my offline cheat sheet; as I complete one, maybe I'm looking to make another list; aiming to make at least 5-10 lists by the end of the year.

B.) See if I can make sampler pages for my mini-collections that don’t have them - including unofficial collections. IN GOOGLE SHEETS, HIGHLIGHT THE CARDS I'VE USED IN BLUE.

For AA, make one for classifications / groupings - to clarify what it is.

C.) Rejigger designations for bonus babies / star on star cameos - sometimes I have two stars on one card as a 'bonus baby' when I guess it wouldn't necessarily be accurate to imply one is the lesser player even if one or the other didn't end up being a player who was or is on a HOF track.

Bonus babies = star cameos on common players' cards

Star on star cameos = two stars or better captured on one card

D.) Try and complete at least 15-20 bloodlines relationships in a given year [knowing there maybe others along the way] - i.e. find the son, the cousin, the father’s card to go with what I may have in a collection already.

I do think it’s important because I would like to have cards of all related athletes together at the same time just so there is closure - when things already feel like a claptrap, I feel like I’m missing gaping holes in my collection.

As is, it maybe too tedious for me to make sure I have those completed bloodlines relationships and list what I may have added as achievements - but perhaps there is something about being more conscientious, so this goal may stay up for another year.

At the very least, go through my bloodlines Google Sheets file and make a running wantlist of the missing guys I either have and can track down and also the guys I need outright - there might be some obvious haves ‘missing’ that I’ve never added as well as potential ‘adds’ to fill in the gaps.

E.) List out adds that count for achievements in a particular year, permanently put away cards I’ve already listed [between adds and loose cards I already have] on a regular basis - at times, space gets impacted, so I need to see where I need to account for new storage options as needed.

Though this is what I do to keep up for myself, not some random goal to achieve - but maybe sometimes I neglect the basics.

F.) PEDs mini-collection - streamline implicated tab / comments [maybe a little redundant; what is the implicated tab listing and what is the information listed in the comments tab]?

G.) Research and development - the goal here is to cultivate lists of specific names and cards to seek out [either new 'adds' or old 'haves'] on my cheat sheet; at the end of the year, add listings to wantlist.

Maybe this is for my cheat sheet, but does it make much more sense to list out specific players / cards straight to a wantlist [?] - I think my cheat sheet is designed where I should add cards to the file 'on the go,' as opposed to a more formal list. Maybe there needs to be some redundancy so things don't exactly fade.

List out at least 20-30 old-school and/or vintage cards - do the research to see if there is a run of assorted cards I can pick up [for at least 4-5 six mini-collections].

List out at least 20-30 subjects’ cards for topics that go on and on - nations, bloodlines, local guys, infamous, PEDs.

List out at least 20-30 cards from seemingly unrepresented topics - broken bat shots, interesting backs, retro uniforms, inking it up, cult baseball players / feats, beyond the glory and uncorrected errors.

Go through Baseball-Reference.com’s player biographical information pages for various information on players from a particular nation - click through the sortable column headers to see the leaders in various categories [batting average, home runs, RBIs, games played, All-Star selections, etc] and check if I can list a run of names to add i.e. whether or not I have cards I can use already or need ones to seek out.

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