A look back into a 2020 collecting goal

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.

Looking at my generic goals I'd written for 2020, stuff that made sense at the beginning of the year - doesn't end up ringing quite as true, like trying to add some high-brow cards for my personal collections, notably old-school / vintage rookie cards of selected Hall of Famers for example.

The ongoing pandemic makes me skittish about throwing money into something that only sounds good on paper - when values have supposedly been artificially pumped up across the board, I find myself priced out in general.

Maybe I've shifted to lower-end interests in my collections, whether talking about strictly baseball cards or anything to do with autographs - one of the listed goals I had for 2020 to see if I can pick up 10-15 autographs of one-time Angels players.

I was able to ramp things up and 82 new autographs for my collection, though I have to officially list them - to make sure they are physically in my collection or otherwise accounted for.

1. 2014 Panini Donruss The Rookies Signatures Series autograph Tommy La Stella #68 [$1.75] - COMC; listed as a ‘Atlanta’ [Braves] card

2. 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Mini Autographs Julio Teheran #AGA-JT.1 [$3.99] - COMC; listed as a Atlanta Braves card

3. 2014 Bowman Prospect Autographs Chrome Mike Mayers #BCAP-MM.1 [$1.25] - COMC; listed as a St. Louis Cardinals card

4. 2019 Bowman - Chrome Prospect Autographs Jose Suarez #CPA-JS [$3.85] - COMC

5. John Verhoeven - TTM card

6. Al Spangler - TTM card

7. Chris Knapp - TTM card

8. Dave Sells - TTM card

9. 1989 Fleer Update Claudell Washington CAS Certified Sealed auto #U-17 [$5.45] - COMC

10. 2014 Topps Pro Debut Autographs Matt Ramsey #PDA-MR [$1.99] - COMC

11. 2013 Panini Pinnacle Autographs Tony Campana #TC [$1.08] - COMC

12. 2011 Topps Pro Debut Solo Signature Autographs Thomas Field #SSA-TF [$1.14] - COMC

13. Dustin Garneau - IP card

14. Dick Lange - TTM card

15. Steve Kealey - TTM card

16. Don Kirkwood - TTM card

17. Jack Hiatt - TTM card

18. Tom Donohue - TTM card

19. Lloyd Allen - TTM card

20. Tom Egan - TTM card

21. Larry Harlow - TTM card

22. Dave Parker - TTM card / $10

23. Merv Rettenmund - TTM card

24. Roger Repoz - TTM card

25. Jason Castro - IP card from 2012 era

26. Trevor Cahill - IP card from the 2012 era

27. Steve Renko - TTM card

28. Jason Gurka - TTM card

29. Ken Oberkfell - TTM card

30. Rudy Meoli - TTM card

31. Terry Humphrey - TTM card

32. Ed Ott - TTM card

33. Tom Bradley - TTM card

34. Billy Cowan - TTM card

35. Eddie Fisher - TTM card

36. Jim Barr - TTM card

37. Don Robinson - TTM card

38. Jack Lazorko - TTM card

39. Paul Hartzell - TTM card

40. Mike Bielecki - TTM card

41. Jim Hibbs - TTM card

42. Bob Botz - TTM card

43. Ike Hampton - TTM card

44. Balor Moore - TTM card

45. Tom Griffin - TTM card

46. Doug Rau - TTM card

47. Richie Scheinblum - TTM card

48. Frank LaCorte - TTM card

49. Bob Sprout - TTM card

50. Jim Walewander - TTM card

51. Bill Grabarkewitz - TTM card

52. Dave Goltz - TTM card

53. Gary Lucas - TTM card

54. Ron Tingley - TTM card

55. George Hendrick - purchased card (s)

56. Bill Melton - TTM card

57. Steve Lubratich - TTM card

58. Syd O’Brien - TTM card

59. Jarrett Grube - TTM card

60. Ken Berry - TTM card

61. Bill Voss - TTM card

62. Dyar Miller - TTM card

63. Ed Halicki - TTM card

64. Billy Moran - TTM card

65. Rick Burleson - purchased card (s)

66. Bart Miadich - purchased card (s)

67. Rich Rodriguez - purchased card (s)

68. Skip Lockwood - TTM card

69. Leo Burke - TTM card

70. Bob Duliba - TTM card

71. Sherman Corbett - TTM card

72. Tom Murphy - TTM card (s)

73. Vic Davalillo autographed custom card [$4 plus $1 PWE plus $0.99 = $5.99]

74. Jose Lind - purchased card (s)

75. Pete Coachman - purchased card (s)

76. Craig Gerber - purchased card (s)

77. Tim Fortugno - purchased card (s)

78. Lee Thomas - TTM card

79. Ken Tatum - TTM card

80. Dave Lemanczyk - TTM card

81. Chuck Dobson - TTM card

82. Dick Drago - TTM card

Maybe it’s ‘easier’ to have a looser goal where I can cobble things together where I’m not restricted by specifics or standards - being able to add a number of random autograph cards featuring rank-and-file guys that played for a random big league team may make me more like a hoarder, but it’s fun nonetheless to see what I can nerd out on as far whose random autographs I can find and add.

Trading cards are the easiest to store in any sort of quantity so for most of the ‘rank and file’ names, that what the autographs are on - for 2021, the goal to add more one-time Angels player autographs sticks though I need to dig deeper to see if I can add old-school / vintage player content, get the 'here and now' players, while adding different players as I can through TTM requests and purchases.

A couple of new 2020 pack breaks

2020 Topps Fire value pack

It maybe a case where even one lousy pack of Topps Fire is enough for the year - but I should appreciate the idea these cards are supposed to be a little funky looking, rather than a little more conventional.

#98 Aristides Aquino
#100 Luis Castillo
#155 Luis Robert
#131 Cole Tucker
#116 Andrew McCutchen - Green parallel serial #171/199
#FIU-12 Mookie Betts - Fired Up insert
#SS-1 Pete Alonso - Shattering Stats insert
#40 Danny Mendick - Blue Chip parallel
#12 Eric Hosmer
#62 Kolten Wong
#104 Alex Verdugo
#27 Clayton Kershaw

2020 Topps Archives value pack
#210 Ralph Kiner
#217 Cody Bellinger
#294 Elvis Andrus
#245 Yuli Gurriel
#287 Jonathan Villar
#33 Will Smith
#25 Jackie Robinson
#80 Ramon Laureano
#40 Sam Hilliard
#34 Brusdar Graterol
#B55-20 Luis Robert 

#301 Pete Alonso - Polar Bear
#60AR-SO Shohei Ohtani
#186 Willie McCovey
#177 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#152 Corey Kluber
#180 Gleyber Torres
#133 Tony Gonsolin

A taste of some actual retail therapy

Whenever I go into Target, I always 'fly by' the card section, but most of the time in 2020, I've come to expect nothing - I was headed to the card section for another fruitless check, when I saw a dolly [near the games section, closer to the toy aisles, where other non-sport gaming cards are located] holding a box with a MJ Holding logo, which I know as one of the companies [there is more than one?] that puts trading cards on the shelves for Target.

I was hoping that was a good omen for the actual card section that matters and sure enough, the shelves that usually resembled a Cold War era Soviet supermarket had been replenished with some actual baseball cards - there were no retail flippers looking to pounce at the seemingly fresh setup, so I was all alone by myself to take things in for at least a couple of minutes.

Maybe what sort of caught my eye were the supplies - since Ultra Pro makes their products in China, I'm not sure if there is still an obstacle to getting new batches of supplies through a pandemic.

However, the various things that hold and protect cards should be as important to the average card collector - there was a 5-pack of Ultra Pro magnetic holders [too bad they were 130-pt and not the 55-pot I usually like to use], a 4-pack package of penny sleeves and an 'odder' toploader combo.

Maybe these retail offerings were repacked from older, inferior stock - but for the moment, I was glad to see them in-hand.

As for actual baseball cards, I'm not sure if 'Topps Fire,' 'Topps Archives' or 'Topps Stadium Club' will ever be sought after 'for value' like the Bowman Mega Boxes, Topps Series 2 or Topps Chrome I've whiffed on - but after a long drought, the former are baseball cards to me just the same [TSC is always a 'fan favorite' in my book] and tried to see what combination I could pick up.

I don't expect to see this card section to be as fruitful in my next visit, but like a good boy scout, I only grabbed what seemed reasonable to me at the moment - a couple of blasters of 2020 Topps Stadium Club, a hanger pack of 2020 Topps Archives [I have a couple of blasters I'd ordered online that are still MIA after three weeks] and a hanger pack of 2020 Topps Fire.

I ripped through my little haul and go figure after finding an IP autograph card I got signed from 2019 spring training maybe the day before - I pulled cards of hot rookie du jour Luis Robert in both hangers and one of the two blasters I ripped.

2020 Hall of Famers - Larry Walker and Derek Jeter

While never linked to any chicanery, I tend to think of Walker as a product of the era he played in through the mid 1990s and a Coors Field star - Walker also never struck me as a relatively healthy player, appearing in 145 or more games only once in his big league career [though after the fact, him playing in so many games a year maybe a little arbitrary, when he had legendary seasons regardless].

I thought those warts would prevent him from getting inducted in his last year on the ballot, but the most important thing to remember is when the modern analytics groupthink gets churning, it usually goes one way - there maybe something about a guy's numbers not getting any better once he retires, but I was resigned to seeing Walker get that one final push with the new age focus on viewing a player's career achievements.

Having a more nuanced, refined way to look at the advanced stats available is the norm vs. merely looking at the counting numbers, milestones and narratives - I tend to feel like the 'experts' can slice and dice a player's career to sell the public a bill of goods, but it's always for the guys they want inducted, the guys that fit their personal narratives.

Regardless of my personal opinions about certain 'borderline' guys, once a player like Walker is announced as a Hall of Fame inductee - it is a moment where his career is validated and maybe it's time to get clued-in on the things he was able to accomplish.

There might be a manhunt for the lone voter who prevented Jeter from being unanimous - it says more that only one person didn't find it in their mind to vote for Jeter than the idea it is some kind of injustice that 'Jeets' didn't end up following in former Core Four teammate Mariano Rivera's footsteps.

Maybe the fascinating thing about Jeter was how he was a No. 1 pick and a future star as soon as he turned pro - but while there were growing pains in the minors [with his defense in particular], the narrative was about how he always kept himself in check and mapped out his own blueprint to be the player he would become.

I found grumblings about his defense a little weird, but maybe it was a thing that emerged from early career scouting reports - but mushroomed to ridiculousness as people who didn't particularly like the attention showered on Jeter took him to task for his shortcomings.

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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