Featured autograph - Josh Hamilton

The 25 guys on the Angels 2015 roster grinding it out are the ones who want to be there and the one who didn't is now a Texas Ranger - it's kind of just sad how Hamilton's Angels career imploded but I'm kind of just over it.

Hamilton has shown no contrition for his relapse and I'm glad as hell the Angels took a stand and got rid of the guy - even though the national media have killed the Angels and owner Arte Moreno for apparent lack of tact in handling this delicate flower.

Maybe if Hamilton was putting up numbers the Angels would have taken more care help the guy out, but I think the fact that he struggled was just one part of the equation - I get people like Hamilton's story, people are still going to bat for him and his supposed disease as if he was one of them, but does anyone really know what is going on with him at any given moment?

Just to play around sometimes, I still want to imagine being Hamilton, the guy with the bravado, the guy with ability to swing for the fences willy-nilly and actually do so - maybe he makes a comeback, maybe he gives the finger to the Angels and this idea of being accountable at points in one's life, but he is someone else's problem now.

Josh Hamilton

Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Hamilton are the three 'money guys' in the Angels' lineup but at least Trout and Pujols have put up some numbers - take it how you will but this post has finally come to fruition.

I don't think Hamilton has been a very good baseball player with the Angels and with him, you never know what is going on in his head - his first year, it was supposedly losing weight that deflated his numbers.

This past year he gained back the weight and was off to a good start, but then he got injured sliding into first base and was never the same - as is, the Angels were stupid enough to pay him $25 million a year and as a fan, I just have to go along with the roller coaster ride.

What bothers me the idea there are still fans out there who think he is great and think you are spitting on his face - when the guy is just a professional baseball player who hasn't lived up to the hype of a big contract.

While I'm down on this guy because he hasn't performed, no I'm not rooting him to fail - fans who are mesmorized by his journey as a man and his faith seem to think otherwise.

Featured autograph - Jose Abreu

After getting skunked in trying to get something signed by Abreu in-person, I relented to pick up a signed bat - even though he’s probably not a future Hall of Famer, he has some real juice in his bat and the talent is legit.

More than likely, he will put up big power numbers in the next few years - but as a 27-year old rookie, he’s likely as good as he is going to be and he's not going to put up real significant lifetime stats.

Because of how the hype machine works in professional sports, Abreu could put up a fine season in 2015, but basically be obscured by younger and brighter rising stars - not get to get too dramatic, but because he is one large human, he is more likely to suffer injuries that may hinder his playing career.

All things considered, the guy was a Cuban superstar, not some minor league journeyman bouncing around in various stops - he is set for life, even if he doesn't build upon what looks like a great first year.

Unfortunately unless otherwise noted, when it comes to signing autographs - I see him another grumpy foreign born player who doesn’t speak English but is ‘big time’ now.

I didn't realize how brutal he would be in-person and he’s not going to get easier - a schlub like me isn't going to get him to sign a bat, even if I immerse myself in Rosetta Stone lessons for a year.

The bat comes from a card shop in Chicago that had a signing with him and is PSA/DNA certified - admittedly, it’s a typical Rawlings Big Stick [engraved with his name] as opposed to anything close to something he’d actually use on the field.

My new hobby coming soon - basket weaving

Out of the bad things that can happen when out at the ballpark trying to get autographs, I lost my book with my visiting players' cards inside - I guess I’m not cut out to graph in-person and with my up-and-down interest baseball cards, I might be doing something else.

I don't even know where I lost it, all I knew is after a game I realized I didn't have the book - it could have ended up in anybody's hands and I'm kind of bummed out about it.

I probably have enough extras to have something to get signed, though I’ve lost some set cards and other cards that may have been priorities - it’s an eye opener because I tend to be on auto pilot [when it comes to graphing in-person] and when I make a rookie mistake, I’m reminded I’m not so flipping perfect, things aren’t so seamless and I really have to be focused.

I go through a mental checklist since I’ve messed up and lost my autograph book before - though 'it' happens, I try to keep things simple beforehand and alert to make sure I don’t leave things behind.

I try not to run around like an airhead when I’m graphing, so I try to exercise some 'quality control,' even if it seems all kind of random and unorganized - making sure I’m not getting a bunch of imperfect autographs [streaking, beading, etc] by using crappy pens, making sure the autograph is dry on the cards and making sure signed cards are tucked away from cards I’m still trying to get inked up.

It’s kind of ironic, this latest mess up comes at a time, when I’m trying to bring less cards - maybe the good thing is that I had whatever signed cards I had put away in my binder for the home team and in the plastic box I was carrying around in my tote bag.

I have to ‘rebuild’ what I lost, but I think I can basically account for many of the cards - most of the unsigned cards lost are feature players that either are tough or won’t sign; if the players had signed those cards already, maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about lugging those pieces of cardboard I lost.

Card shop finds - retro uniform images on 2013 Finest cards

I grabbed these 2013 Finest base cards of Roy Halladay, Chris Sale and Adrian Beltre - it is fun for me to be able to flip through a handful of cards from the quarter box and come across random cards that have to stick in my stack even after I've whittled down the number of cards I'm actually going to buy.

I've kind of neglected picking up and talking about collecting topic cards - I'd rather do things on the down low, maybe trying to work picking just a bit more cards here and there hoping to list the collecting topics cards I've picked up this past year in a database and putting the actual cards away.

My cardhoarding misadventures - the struggle to keep collecting viable

Nothing is ever clean like the way I go about things but it doesn't mean I'm not trying to figure things out - however, at times I feel like I'm swamped with baseball cards and a reboot is in order to stave away the idea all I've collected isn't relevant.

If I'm not efficient, if I'm not putting things away, then why even bother [?] - maybe there hasn't been any commitment to what happens after the fact.

From reading other card bloggers, it's hard to believe that baseball / sports / non-sports cards can fit so neatly within their daily lives - I have no card room, no card table and no space to really leisurely stretch out with my cards.

Maybe my safe haven is being able to be upstairs in my sister's old room - but then having gone through this past summer, there are prolonged periods of time when I just don't want to be in there because it is too hot.

I find myself struggling with the collecting dilemma - how do I keep things relevant, where I care about the cards for themselves, when I get overwhelmed and feel like I've outgrown them.

If I can see things five or six years from now, I'm sure I'll still be collecting something - so I kind of want to have a blueprint of my collecting activities i.e. this is what I'm doing with the cards I add on a regular basis.

I'm afraid I'm the guy with no focus on his collection - if I'm sort of, kind of collecting, how do I stay away from being aimless?

Not really having the card space to deal with anything but squirreling them away in random spots - where I hope to get back to them [or not].

A.) What I really want is a 'competent' A-Z singles collection - I want to build up a collection of trade bait perhaps, but just cards I can flip through as far as relevant players and possibly some relevant, but not quite my PC stash of cards.

B.) I also want is a comprehensive 'PC' where I have any cards picturing Angels / related to Angels accounted for - anything picturing an Angel at some point is part of my PC, though with varying qualifications.

Angels commons are cards I generally don't care about though I want to keep some handy. - most cards produced between the junk wax era, say 1986-1992 and featuring a rank-and-file player, is stored as commons within my A-Z archive.

I have a section of Angels among my 'team boxes,' which is basically an assorted group of cards put together with the idea I have something to flip through - this is where I sort of want to keep any card that piques my eye but isn't really worth more than about a quarter.

Cards of Angels team stars are stored either in my decade star boxes or within my A-Z archive for space - some players I sort of still care about, but others, not so much.

Angels inserts - I think I'll tend to lose them if I put them in a book, but if it doesn't feature a prominent Angel or even one who made it with the MLB team, what am I going to do with some card?

Angels A-Z singles - what maybe more decent than a common insert, but something less than something for my PC/showcase collection.

Angels personal collection - I feel like I don't have enough unique Angels cards for a Top 30 PC deal, so maybe change the name to 'showcase collection,' so it maybe a little be more inclusive.

C.) Realistic and reasonable consumption - can I go to a Target and pick up a blaster or a rack pack of sorts and feel like I'm not wasting my money? Sometimes I get self-conscious when I feel like I'm not really going to get the nice hits and it's not worth it for me to rip retail in any form.

It's easier for me to grab some packs at my local card shop, when I see there is something new out - though at times my LCS visits maybe infrequent.

I was totally disinterested visiting a card show this past weekend- maybe it was because it was in the morning and I'm not a morning person, but I was meandering around, wondering if I could pick anything up.

If I could go watch myself without a purpose and a plan - almost feeling out of my element.

Maybe I prefer the quiet LCS or at least picking things up online - the only things I picked up were six single packs of penny sleeves [non-premium] for $0.50 each.

When I hit the bargain bins at the card show, card shop, et al, how do I find cheap cards I'm going to appreciate - what do I really do when I bring home a 'haul' of assorted cards worth about $0.50 or less? What do I do to prevent decent looking cheap cards from being just another grouping of cards, particularly the ones I end up not picking up because I can get them autographed in-person at some point.

D.) How do I hammer on the established activities and shine them up [?] - collecting topics, mini sets i.e. transaction box, maintaining decade boxes of 'binder stars,' etc.

Featured autograph - Mike Scioscia

Every year there seems to be an MLB organization that is outed as having a miserable, laughable, Mickey Mouse atmosphere behind the scenes - Scioscia's Angels fit that narrative this year and he might get the ax despite the money and years left on a long term contract he signed.

Winning smooths out a lot of the dysfunction but the Angels aren't competing for squat any time soon - with a bunch of gimpy, overpaid, underachieving fools save for Mike Trout and maybe one or two other guys.

It maybe petty and I'll always be an Angels fan, but there maybe is a little schadenfreude on my part to see the Angels struggle - as a guy who tries to go his share of Angels home games, every time I see Mark Trumbo or Jered Weaver turn their back on fans wanting their autographs, the ballpark experience cut short by overzealous ushers / ballpark security, I think what a fraud this organization has been and I just chuckle.

It all trickles down when there isn't enough winning done on the field - right now, it looks like the organization has no farm system, no clue and it is a dark time for Halos fans at the moment.

Collecting A-Fraud

I sort of miss the mid 2000's when this guy was the best player in the game and trying to flag him down to get something signed meant all the world - even if he'd be rather oblivious when walking through the crowd of fans like he was some kind of deity, there was a few opportunities where he would sign at the ballpark.

Of course, A-Rod is still a big deal these days but for all the wrong reasons - I don't think anyone is shedding a tear because he might be on the brink on being suspended through his age 40 season.

I will give A-Rod all the credit in the world if he can play a full MLB season in 2014 or after when he serves an apparent suspension, how ever long that will be - I still want to see what he can still do as a player and see this latest mess he's put himself through as just one hurdle he has to get through with the world against him.

Over the last decade, I've picked up assorted base and cheap insert cards over the years featuring A-Rod - I've also got a couple of signed baseballs [one he signed in-person and one bought from eBay], his 1994 Upper Deck SP rookie card and a couple of certified autograph cards I paid some good money for.

I'm not going to go out and burn what I've picked up, though I have long stopped caring about actively collecting anything of his - since in a superficial way, it's all relatively worthless now.

Featured autograph - Grant Green

I've seen Green at the Arizona Fall League in 2011 and 2012, but got a couple of new cards [2013 Topps Pro Debut and 2013 Panini USA Champions] signed in-person about a week or so - before the 25-year old rookie got traded to the Angels in exchange for Alberto Callaspo.

Hopefully Green, can figure things out sooner than never and maybe in a few years - be another Mark DeRosa, a useful guy who can play a couple of positions with a decent stick at the plate.

As for the Angels, I have to be a fan, but the product on the field is unwatchable - there is a 'what you see is what you get' quality to the Angels, which is to say the way the team has been built over the last three years, there hasn't been the ability to go out and get players that add depth to the pitching staff or among the position players.

I don't know how much further the Angels will have to fall before hitting rock bottom, but seemingly each loss is worse than the last - the 'go for broke' trades during the middle of the year and big free agent signings of the last four or five years have torpedoed the ability for the team to bounce back as a legitimate contender.

I was for the Albert Pujols signing a couple of years ago, even when he is hobbled up now - but the Angels should have built a rebuilt a team through three or four players instead of throwing out money to Josh Hamilton last off-season.

Albert Pujols - busted expectations

Pujols was going to be the savior of the organization, making the Angels a national brand in Major League Baseball through the next 10 years - putting up metronomic numbers for 162 games a year as the Angels muscled their way to dominate the American League West.

Now, Oakland has put out a better baseball product, Texas still has a decent baseball team and the Mariners will probably end up being better than the Angels at the end of the year - what a disappointment to see how things have fallen apart for the Angels, not knowing the downfall started with the signing of what was one of the dominant talents in the game over the last 10-15 years.

If Pujols had only pop a few more home runs, get a few more hits to raise tha BA or do enough things to get his OBP and slugging up, maybe I'd be more confident in him in 2013 - but he's put up sluggish numbers seemingly all season long, presumably because he had to nurse his bum foot on a game-to-game basis.

Now, with Pujols shelved for what most likely be the rest of the year, I have no rooting interest for the crap team the Angels have put together for 2013 - except for Mike Trout perhaps, who the F cares what the rest of the team does now that Pujols is a goner.

While I don't question Pujols' ability, smarts, desire or 'want it,' not even at these dire times - how is his broken down body going to allow him to become a relevant player again, even if come the start of next year, pronouncing himself healthy and ready to go.

I was naive in thinking Pujols would be the same player when he'd already been decline before he signed with the Angels - what a raw deal for the fans, since I don't think it's going to get better for him.

The Angels have me wondering why I even bother

As an Angels fan, at times I feel like I'm made to suffer through lackluster performances as the team limps towards the end of April with a sub-.500 record - the Angels roster construction is rigid and while fans were happy when owner Arte Moreno throws money around in the off-season on supposed franchise players, the results are not there when those main big money guys struggle so far during the regular season.

The Josh Hamilton signing has been an early albatross - the Angels could have used the money spent on him on a good starting pitcher or two and instead of going cheap on has-beens like Joe Blanton and Tommy Hanson.

More imagination should have been used to patch up faults of the team in the past several years - the corpses of Albert Pujols and Hamilton aren't hitting the ball with authority and maybe both will round into form though Pujols' plantar fasciitis and his general well-being in particular scares the crap out of me.

A bright spot may actually be Mark Trumbo, who is off to good start - after his second half crash in 2012, I didn't expect him to recover but it looks like he's actually a better hitter so far.

Can it be possible that Trumbo is really becoming more of a guy who can hit the ball to all parts of the field - he's going to hit share of  home runs but I'm sort of excited by the fact that maybe he's aiming to be a better all-around hitter instead of a one-dimensional, all-or-nothing power guy.

2013 Topps Heritage blaster recap

I picked up a couple of blaster boxes [$19.98 each] and a jumbo rack [$5.97, already recapped] from a Walmart - I don't like the idea of the one-per-box blue border variation card because it's not unique; just another parallel created that doesn't add any value to these boxes...unless of course we fast forward to the future and realize only then that these cards were harder to find than others and some crazy collectors are willing to pay premium prices for singles from this parallel insert set...I don't think that is going to happen...

Pack one
#52 Jayson Werth
#153 David Murphy
#300 Jason Heyward
#392 Mike Baxter
#298 Buck Showalter
#71 Carlos Gomez

#428 Ryan Howard - SP
#216 Jason Kipnis
#202 Luke Hochevar

Pack two
#191 Anthony Rizzo
#119 Dan Uggla
#418 Bryan Morris / Justin Wilson - 2013 Rookie Stars
#127 Edwin Jackson
#244 Jon Jay
#100 Robinson Cano
#BF-BG Bob Gibson - Baseball Flashback insert
#95 B.J. Upton
#258 Michael Young

Pack three
#253 Sergio Romo
#348 Miguel Gonzalez
#63 Jason Grilli
#163 Gaby Sanchez
#201 Manny Machado / Dylan Bundy - 2013 Rookie Stars
#330 Johnny Cueto

#451 Jake Peavy - SP
#183 Fernando Rodney
#73 Steve Lombardozzi

Pack four
#280 Ryan Vogelsong
#399 Dale Sveum
#281 Adam Warren / Melky Mesa - 2013 Rookie Stars
#15 Drew Storen
#3 Gio Gonzalez / R.A. Dickey / Johnny Cueto / Lance Lynn - 2012 National League Pitching Leaders
#273 Matt Moore
#NAP-CG Curtis Granderson - New Age Performer insert
#226 Steven Lerud / Luis Antonio Jimenez - 2013 Rookie Stars
#7 Buster Posey / Andrew McCutchen / Ryan Braun / Yadier Molina - 2012 National League Batting Leaders

Pack five
#139 Sergio Romo / Buster Posey - Break Out of the Broom / 2012 World Series Game #4
#310 Mark Ellis
#251 Juan Nicasio
#42 Tommy Milone
#343 Daniel Nava
#214 Jean Segura
#TN-MD Eddie Mathews / Adam Dunn - Then and Now insert
#284 Yasmani Grandal
#142 Daniel Murphy

Pack six
#307 Dan Straily
#99 Tim Lincecum
#119 Corey Hart
#334 Kurt Suzuki
#93 Christian Friedrich
#206 Huston Street

#MM-DJ Derek Jeter - Memorable Moments insert
#61 Kirk Nieuwenhuis
#357 Ryan Hanigan

Pack seven
#349 Ian Stewart
#230 Mark Reynolds
#179 Justin Maxwell
#326 Geraldo Parra
#272 Matt Joyce
#160 David Freese
#458 David Price
#225 Jason Kubel
#49 Brett Jackson

Pack eight
#131 Dan Haren
#260 Drew Stubbs
#90 Joe Mauer
#87 Bruce Bochy
#176 Ervin Santana
#254 Nathan Eovaldi
#447 Felix Hernandez - Walmart blue border variation
#112 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
#224 Jamey Carroll

The Braun Advantage

I pulled a card of Ryan Braun from a break recently and was going to include the following, though it's been about a year since his PED flap and people stumbling onto the blog might consider the comment uncouth, so I edited it out - it might be unfair but the only differences between clean PED free athletes and dirty ones is when they take their meds and whether their law firms can beat the rap if their test results are found suspect.

I was kind of shocked [or took some delight in the schadenfreude] when I heard Braun was caught up in another PED flap - but kind of pissed I took out my prescient jab just a day or so earlier.

Comparing Braun to A-Rod, at the very least the guy in his late 20's still had his MLB career ahead of him - unlike the guy in his mid 30's whose baggage has out for everyone to see and whose career is towards the bitter end.

Still, I find this whole thing sad for Braun and in the same boat - there is a part of me that is ambivalent towards apparent PED use, thinking fan sentiment is kind of stupid about guys suspect but are playing for their home team or are media, golden boy jocks.

However, past the supposed Steroids Era from the early 1990's to the early 2000's - it makes me feel some authenticity and transparency is still missing, that regardless of hardships in playing through a full 162-game season, I can't trust in MLB players in general as far as the numbers they put up and how they go about things.

A-Rod's road to irrelevance

With his latest hip surgery, I thought Alex Rodriguez's career was probably over - in a sense where he's not going to have anymore full seasons as a dominant player [this has probably been the case for the last three or four years] and even if he came back some time in 2013, it's going to take a long, painful process to get things going again just to have him playing well.

Then a new set of PED allegations came out this past week and it's ugly to read about and think A-Rod's career has been a sham - as an admitted frontrunner who 'rooted' for A-Rod since he was the best MLB player at points of his playing career, I don't know if he is someone to still believe in as a ballplayer.

Other players have been suspected of being PED cheats and others have failed tests but with his career winding down - it seems like A-Rod is more like Jose Canseco than an active or former player with PED baggage you can still judge on some sort of merit like a Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens.

Edit [2/1/13] - and the details keep getting ickier and ickier.

Rebooting my core interests in cardboard

Thinking about the baseball cards I collect, my interest lingers but my lair is in ruins, my collection is in decay - life isn't linear, years go by, stuff happens or doesn't happen and and it's just a matter of when things get blown up, when I thought I had a system in place for five or six years.

Maybe cardboard is useless anyway but I feel like stuff I've coveted at various points are literally collecting dust, loose in places where I don't want to deal with them - have I gone too far in literally not doing anything with cards I once collected?

While the part of my collecting life as in-person / through the mail autograph collector has been pretty much spelled out - I'm kind of 'lost' at times as far as other aspects of collecting baseball cards for themselves.

I feel like I've got to reboot my collection in a radical way because I've sort of lost the way I organize my cards - the way I physically put them together isn't quite how I want things to be and it bothers me.

I keep in mind lists list of all the countless, various places [representing various interests] where I funnel cards into - but that is mostly sorting cards to be autographed and separating them in a nuts-and-bolts way as opposed to having a definite way to collect certain cards [that are not really meant to be scrap cards to be autographed or shoved away as part of my collecting topics collections].

I don't know where cards I've blogged about end up - I hoard and look for stuff that ends up being clutter.

What about the personal collection cards - is there a core set of cards I can showcase or is it all just jumbled up?

What about the various cards in my 'A-Z' singles collection that are now scattered all over - various certified autograph cards of prospects who are supposed to be great but end up being busts?

I cling to the idea I've got to play with all the cards I've hoarded instead of looking for the next cardboard fix - this is my cardboard collecting life and I make my own fun and try not to worry about anything else, everyone else is doing.

However, as much as I wouldn't care to admit it, I'm more hoarder than collector and its come to a head - I have gotten older and as much as I want to collect, maybe it's time I stop pretending to be a mad scientist.

Mike Trout

I don't know what to say to praise Mike Trout even more - there maybe veteran position players like Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter, but they've been pushed aside as complimentary pieces as Trout has thrived as a superstar in his first full season in the Major Leagues.

However, the Angels pitching staff [minus Jered Weaver, Ernesto Frieri and maybe Scott Downs] needs a lobotomy - there is no better feeling than knowing even if the Angels' lineup scores a good number of runs [with Trout igniting the lineup] early in a game, the Angels pitchers trotted out on the mound will probably blow the game eventually.

Featured autograph - Howard Kendrick

I got this card signed in-person during the last Angels homestand - Kendrick has been a pretty good signer before Angels home games, though depending on the crowd lined up along the rail, he might not be able to sign for everyone.

The Angels are my team and it hurts to watch them go through this prolonged funk while that other Southern California team playing in Los Angeles is flourishing at the moment - it looks like one of the teams has the best player in baseball right now and his name isn't Albert Pujols...

My baseball card collecting endeavors have gone nowhere

It is probably no coincidence I'm throwing this up at a time where at least a couple of collectors - have expressed concerns about their own collecting endeavors.

For me personally, I love the novelty of collecting baseball cards - partly because I can objectify the players I may get to see on TV and in-person through little pieces of cardboard that are supposed to be collectible in one form or the other.

However there are so many random cards scattered about in a bed I'm probably supposed to have been sleeping in, my computer table, my sorting table, out in boxes all over the floor in my room, et al - I've kind of let the cards pile up without dilligently picking after myself.

IT IS LIBERATING TO SEE HOW pointless collecting baseball cards is -when I can't account for particular ones or when I feel like I'm buried under the rubble. Do I really to pick up anything else? I don't really have the gumption to consume anymore new cards.

During the last 10-15 years, I don't know if I've been able to buy as many cards compared to the average Collector Joe who spends hundreds or thousands of dollars each year - but I feel a big burden with the amount of card clutter I refuse to have anything to do with at this time.

Do I have a collecting goal and/or purpose - yes, it just doesn't have anything to do with baseball cards right now.

I'm more interested in collecting baseball autographs in-person - other than picking up ones picturing players I hope to see in-person and trying to get them inked up.

Living within a half hour to a Major League Baseball stadium, collecting baseball autographs in-person - keeps me compelled to keep up with baseball cards, but I've taken one, long detour as far as having a beat on what actual baseball card collectors / speculators are going gaga about these days or not.

Baseball cards and me - trying to be honest about my waning interest in cardboard

I don't feel like I can relate to collecting baseball cards right now because I've just gotten too lazy [in life] to care about them and I have these things going on in my mind - where I'm ambivalent towards my collection of baseball cards. 

I think at times I say, 'I'm too cool for cardboard,' since I live within 30 minutes of a Major League Baseball team and going to games takes up most of my leisure time [tough life] - and perhaps any sort of spending money I may spent for actual baseball cards is used to pay for tickets / gas perhaps and food. 

Back when I first started to collect, 15 or 20 years ago, I could never have imagined to get my little pieces of cardboard signed by the players shown on the cards - now I've got cards to sorted out by MLB teams with some knowledge of getting them signed on somewhat regular basis [whether it is cards featuring a college player, professional player from the minors to the Majors and even some retired guys]. 

Collecting baseball autographs in-person [maybe through the mail, though sending requests has slowed down for me] takes some precedent over merely collecting baseball cards of players pictured - and it gives me an excuse to conveniently ignore collecting baseball cards for the sake of collecting them like I see through other baseball card / trading card blogs.

Perhaps I'm not so eager to secure something for my 'personal collection' and I'm not as enthused buy into the hype of new releases - I'm a fickle baseball card guy as far as budget is concerned and I don't need another fancy set-builder product like Topps Chicle with unopened boxes around $80. 

At times I feel nostalgic about collecting the cards for themselves - maybe I'm trying to find a way to enjoy card collecting again, even though most of the cards I'll be trying to pick up are ones I'm trying to get autographed.

The anti-collecting post

I don't know if I'm really devoted to collecting baseball cards as much as I like the idea of being able to say I still collect after all these years - it seems tough to set goals or at least ones that will stick through next year.

At times I do not want anything to do with collecting - I realize cardboard pictures of men isn't where it's at and I shudder to think that is all I care about after 15 or 20 years, while other people have moved on.

1.) I think too much about collecting, I read the blogs, peruse the forums - without actually enjoying it.
2.) If I buy a random box of cards, unless I pull something - I'm just paying towards someone else getting the big hit out of a product. If pull a big hit, then it probably will not be worth as much in a few months.
3.) Random hits are worth $0.99 plus shipping on eBay - no matter how much I talk particular ones on my blog.
4.) My favorite players are more successful in their life, than I am in mine - collecting their cards is a reminder of that.
5.) One day I'll be buried in my cards - who knows where the cards and I are going afterwards.
6.) Listing collecting goals for a particular year falls flat - when there is no money or interest to pursue them.
7.) I don't know what not 'being able to polish a turd' means - so I keep picking up crap cards [repacks, loose packs from the 'junk wax era', etc] and convince myself I can do something with them.
8.) My only option for opening packs is retail - but the ones at Target or Walmart are mostly searched.
9.) Picking up a few base cards of my favorite players doesn't really amount to much - I've hit the ceiling.
10.) I'll be more than 10 years older - than some of players I'm currently or will be collecting.