[mouschi3]

If you are a player or team collector, it is my hope you can identify with this. Heck, you could probably copy/paste this in Word and do a find/replace of my guy with yours and it would still be applicable.

I wanted to take little time this evening and muse about the peaks and valleys of collecting. It has so many highs and lows. It consists of friends, enemies and frenemies. You win a new "trophy" card, and show it off for all to see, or you can spend the rest of the evening pining about the card you missed out on that may never be seen again. And then another card comes along ...

A while back, I posted a goofy graphic I made of me holding the sign below ...



People kept showing me cards, yet all of them that I was shown, I already had. One guy made this graphic:



I got a huge kick out of that. It's a LIE, people - don't believe it! While it is true that adding things to my collection is getting harder and harder, there is a TON of stuff out there I don't yet have.

Take, this past month for instance. In roughly a month, I have added over 100 new items to my collection! These aren't just cards i clicked from ebay. Some have their own personal side stories that go back several months. Some have come from a former die-hard collector, one from a trade with a forum moderator. Heck, one was even pulled from a pack on camera at the MLB Network Studio with Lauren Shehadi. Thanks again, Anthony! (Anthony is the guy who pulled it.)



(Here is a link to the video: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_f...7166781694 )



Each piece has its own origin / backstory.

The 92 Topps A.S. buyback shown above wouldn't mean NEARLY as much to me had it not been shown on camera, and given to me by Anthony for free. It just may prove to be my favorite 2017 Topps buyback card because of it!

Perhaps it is the origin / backstory that we have created which cause many collectors to say they wouldn't accept $100 for a card in their collection, yet would not have paid nearly that for one if it weren't already in their possession. As irrational as it sounds, I am one of those people.

Here are the rest of the 100+ additions that are on my desk, awaiting their fate to be archived on my website and integrated into my collection.



Included in this lot are fun / obscure / controversial items, as well as things that other people probably wouldn't even care about. Here are a few:

1993 Upper Deck Triple Crown card from a 1993 Mead notebook



The original acetate proof used in the making of the card shown below



Severely mis-cut cards from uncut sheets - Origin/backstory: Someone was selling sheets of 1986 Star with blank backs. I wanted to add a blank back set to my collection, so I purchased a sheet perhaps a year ago or so. I had to return it, because the sheet was bent like crazy. I ended up purchasing another, and guess what? It too, was bent like crazy. The seller had another sheet and sent it to me. Yup. Bent. A lot. Recently, I took a bent Studio Heritage sheet and got some crazy mis-cut cards out of it. A lot of people LOVED them as much as I did, so I figured why not do that to the Star sheets? One with Jose on top and bottom; one with Mattingly on top and one with Joyner on top.



Some hard to find beautiful autographed & patch cards:

2016 Tek Red Storm #/5 Autograph



2017 Topps Wood Autograph Parallel #/10



2016 Topps Archives Signature Series Buyback #/2



2004 SP Game Used World Series Patch #/50 (with Devil Rays patch) - Origin/Backstory: I pestered a poor guy for a LONG time for this card who ended up ignoring me, so I backed off. Then it showed up in someone else's collection who was selling. Had this not happened, the card wouldn't mean nearly as much as it does.



2016 Topps Pressed Into Service - Origin/Backstory: When a picture of this card first surfaced in 2015 I believe, someone on the forums said Topps probably made this just for me. I LOVE the card. I have the base, the gu/auto #/10 and the auto #/25. For some reason, this card has alluded me for about a year now, in spite of it being #/50. I literally could have had this card 2-3 times already, and finally have been able to land it.



Adding over 100 items in a month is quite frankly something far beyond what I thought I would ever be able to add to my collection in such a short amount of time at this stage of the game. It will likely never happen again. You'd think this would be a mountain-top experience, yet what am I focused on?

The cards that got away, or are lingering.

How can this be? The stuff I've picked up is great - I absolutely love what I've added, yet it is so hard to get over the card that I JUST missed because I wasn't there are the right time, or because I couldn't convince the owner to deal it away, no matter the cost.

I think I have found the reason why the cards that I miss out on tend to mean more to me than the cards I land. This may be the same to you as well, I don't know - If you are like me, when you win a card you *really* want, it feels AWESOME. It is an absolute rush!



Can you connect with this? I'd like to expand on the last part of this graph. It isn't that I am indifferent about the card that had me on cloud nine a few days earlier; it is more that the excitement has turned into satisfaction, and the excitement is immediately transferred into finding the next deal. I liken it to watching James Harden dunking on Lebron. Awesome? Yeah, but there is no time to celebrate like there is when Trout hits a game winning home run.

The thrill of finding a card is huge. Waiting it out / negotiating for it can possibly take some of the wind out of your sails, as it could either take one conversation for 18 months. Striking the deal is such a massive rush, quickly followed by impatience for the card to be delivered. For me, I take a pic of it & write about it, show it off and display it on my desk. After a while, I add it to my website and guess where it goes? In one of the white boxes I have.

We are now back at the level of wanting to get the next deal done. It is like going harrrrrrd for a piece of gold, and when you finally have gotten that gold nugget, you hold it up for all to see.

Then like Scrooge McDuck, you toss it into a sea of other gold you have accumulated. Here is my sea of gold ....



While the appreciation remains, the excitement level is lost. It is just another piece of cardboard in one of the white boxes. This is human nature, of course. I mean, we can't maintain a high level of excitement about virtually anything forever.

So where does that leave us with the gold nuggets that we just couldn't get our hands on? It lingers in our heads as something that is untouchable, so if another pops up, it becomes an obsession. I think there is a well known quote out there that says just as much. Something along the lines of "rejection breeds obsession". Sometimes it doesn't work out like that, but many times it does.

On another interesting note, I find that the MORE pieces I get in bulk, the harder it is to get excited. I've picked up some huge cards over the past three years for my collection. I've nearly bought out about four collections, and there were some great pieces, but it was almost like getting an absolute overkill of goodness in too short of a time. These pieces were collected by their previous owners over the period of up to decades. Some may have been on a checklist for years, and finally picked up 10 years later after tough negotiations with a dealer at the table of a card show. The origin / backstory is somewhat lost when dealing in bulk.

One of the first big collections I picked up had a 1986 Donruss Highlights white letter variation in it. After nearly three years, I am just now able to fully appreciate how big of a card it is. My appreciation level for it probably would have been much higher had I picked it up if one had ever hit ebay. It would have cost me a lot more, but the appreciation would have been much more prevalent.

Can you connect with any of this? Part of the reason I write is to document the enjoyment I have gotten out of these cards before I archive them on the website and file them away in my collection. I am constantly on the hunt for ways to achieve contentment and appreciation for what I have while continually trying to add more. I think that is very important for all of us, in anything we do.

Who all feels the same way, or has more to add?

[osujeffrey]

Wow.... lots of deep and well thought out facts and opinions. A great read and I appreciate you taking time to share.
I am a set builder that cillects Mantle on the side. Currently I live overseas (uk) and sadly that has taken the social aspect completely out of the hobby for me. Fortunately trying get back into the hobby via this site.
I love hearing stories from other collectors as the hobby is often a solitary hobby.
Anyway, great read, I agree that there are highs and lows along with complete lulls in collecting. But like a good friend cards can be picked up any time and always welcome me and my money back to the hobby

[mouschi3]

Wow.... lots of deep and well thought out facts and opinions. A great read and I appreciate you taking time to share.
I am a set builder that cillects Mantle on the side. Currently I live overseas (uk) and sadly that has taken the social aspect completely out of the hobby for me. Fortunately trying get back into the hobby via this site.
I love hearing stories from other collectors as the hobby is often a solitary hobby.
Anyway, great read, I agree that there are highs and lows along with complete lulls in collecting. But like a good friend cards can be picked up any time and always welcome me and my money back to the hobby

In my opinion, thanks to message boards like this and social media, the social aspect is stronger than it has ever been before. There are meaningful relationships you can form online through them, and lots of trades. It definitely doesn't haven't to be a hobby of solitude anymore

[oneofakindcards]

Although I'm truly happy you enjoy the hobby - which has a lot to offer - and appreciate your post, your post can't help but re-emphasize the absurd number of cards being produced today. Jose retired over a decade and a half ago, and someone's still adding 100 cards a month of him! How many cards will current players have 15 years from now, especially if they're HOF (unlike Jose)?

The sheer, outrageous number of cards out there create a different kind of solitary within the hobby...there's so much stuff out there that even collectors don't know of, and have a difficult time appreciating cards other collectors have simply because they have no clue of what those cards are. Hard to build community here when collectors themselves can't really identify with one another. Of course, vintage doesn't have this problem.

[zeprock]

Interesting read. It got me all introspective. I too have felt the highs and lows of collecting albeit in different ways than you. Not having much disposable income to fuel my obsession is the biggest drawback for me. I think the biggest high for me is sorting through a box at a card show or card shop. That initial first view of a card that I don't have and the realization that it is going home with me is the biggest thrill for me personally. The low point for me unfortunately happens here on Beckett when I spend hours going through someone's ORG cross-referencing cards from my extensive wantlist and sending them a trade offer for them only to get a Trade Cancelled response in return.

Putting a card in it's new home is a mega-step process for me, sometimes taking me months to get it put away because it's not as simple as slabbing it and putting it in a box for me. Once I have the card home and in hand there are about a dozen steps I take it through before it ends up in it's final resting place. That's a long story but it's just me and the way I do things and keeps the hobby enjoyable for me.

[mouschi3]

Putting a card in it's new home is a mega-step process for me, sometimes taking me months to get it put away because it's not as simple as slabbing it and putting it in a box for me. Once I have the card home and in hand there are about a dozen steps I take it through before it ends up in it's final resting place. That's a long story but it's just me and the way I do things and keeps the hobby enjoyable for me.

I'm curious about this - would you be willing to share the steps you take?

[crossada]

Do you have a white whale you're still hunting outside of a new 1/1?

I checked out your website and youtube videos when you scanned all your collection last year and noticed you didn't have the 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold. Have you ever saw this card yet? I hear it is one of the hardest of the 90's inserts to obtain.

[zeprock]

I'm curious about this - would you be willing to share the steps you take?

Since you asked. I'll refer to elements seen here on this one wall of my "man cave". One thing you need to know is I am mainly a player collector who collects every Hall of Fame player, those I perceive as future Hall of Fame players and the idiots who screwed up their chances at the Hall of Fame but still rank high in the record books. In my ORG I have a different collection named after each player that I collect (more than 100). I also have a collection listed for each year from Pre-1950 up through 2017 for all the cards that are not of players I collect. These are all marked Private. I also have a collection for basketball, football, hockey and other sports, all of which I do not collect and those collections are marked Public because all of those are for trade.



The first thing I do when I acquire a new card is enter it into my ORG into a collection I've labeled 1Purgatory ("Purgatory" because the card is in limbo until it is assigned to a collection and "1" so it appears as the default when I enter cards into my ORG). Like most of you, I usually acquire more than one card at a time so they all go into this collection until I sort them. Then one of two things occur to me. I either have the card already or I don't. If I already have it then I check the card against the one that I already have and see if it's an upgrade. Either way I mark one for trade here in my ORG and I enter it for trade on my personal website (www.zeprock.com) and ftp it onto the worldwide web. Then I topload it in hard plastic if it's worth more than $1, soft plastic if less and it goes into a "wait box" where it will sit until I can find time to put it into one of my big boxes of dupes by player (not pictured here) or by brand (boxes on the bottom row and lower left) depending on who it is.

Now if I don't have the card, then I delete it from my wantlist and upload my revised wantlist onto my website. Then I copy the card info (year/brand/subset or insert/card number) onto my backup file on my computer. I copy that backup file onto my travel drive as a secondary backup which I carry so I have all my info with me when I go to work or if my computer dies (again). Then in my ORG, I send the card to it's corresponding player or year collection.

Next I take the card and check to see if it's "worthy" of being featured in my Card Gallery on my website. I normally feature my most valuable cards in my Gallery. Here's a link if you want to check it out:
http://www.zeprock.com/Gallery.html
If the card is "worthy" then I scan it, compress it in PhotoShop, save it to my Index and ftp it to the web so it will appear in my Gallery. I also have to change the html code of my Gallery page to reflect the addition of the card. After this process or if the card is not going to be featured in my Gallery, then I have to decide if it's going into one of my player collections (the binders on the shelf) or one of my year collections (the boxes on the top of the shelves and lower right). If it's going in a year collection, then it goes into a different "wait box" (next to the skull on top of the safe) until I have time to file it in it's proper year box. If it's going into a player collection, then I determine if the card is valued at $3 or more. If it is then it goes into a "wait box" inside my gun safe until I find time to place it chronologically into it's corresponding player binder (also in the safe). If it's valued less than $2 then it goes into a different "wait box" (the wooden box on the second shelf up from the floor) until I have time to put it in it's corresponding player binder (on the top three rows of the shelf). This picture is a couple years old and currently I have binders filling all of the top three shelves. When I find I have time, I take a stack of a certain player's cards from the "wait box" and sit with my wife while she watches tv with my binder in my lap and move my cards from pocket to pocket and insert my "new" cards in their proper chronological order.

This is a seemingly never-ending process and it seems like I always have cards to file away but that's a good thing because it means I am always enjoying some aspect of my collecting.

Aren't you glad you asked?

[mouschi3]

Do you have a white whale you're still hunting outside of a new 1/1?

I checked out your website and youtube videos when you scanned all your collection last year and noticed you didn't have the 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold. Have you ever saw this card yet? I hear it is one of the hardest of the 90's inserts to obtain.

Oh goodness - can I limit my list? I have OCEANS of white whales out there. Here are my top few/several I'd love:

1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold (Yes, I still need it, lol!)
1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Gold
2015 Museum Momentous Materials Laundry Tag
2016 Finest Superfractor

I'll limit it to that for now ... so, so, so many more I want at www.tanmanbaseballfan.com/most-wanted

---

Since you asked. I'll refer to elements seen here on this one wall of my "man cave". One thing you need to know is I am mainly a player collector who collects every Hall of Fame player, those I perceive as future Hall of Fame players and the idiots who screwed up their chances at the Hall of Fame but still rank high in the record books. In my ORG I have a different collection named after each player that I collect (more than 100). I also have a collection listed for each year from Pre-1950 up through 2017 for all the cards that are not of players I collect. These are all marked Private. I also have a collection for basketball, football, hockey and other sports, all of which I do not collect and those collections are marked Public because all of those are for trade.



The first thing I do when I acquire a new card is enter it into my ORG into a collection I've labeled 1Purgatory ("Purgatory" because the card is in limbo until it is assigned to a collection and "1" so it appears as the default when I enter cards into my ORG). Like most of you, I usually acquire more than one card at a time so they all go into this collection until I sort them. Then one of two things occur to me. I either have the card already or I don't. If I already have it then I check the card against the one that I already have and see if it's an upgrade. Either way I mark one for trade here in my ORG and I enter it for trade on my personal website (www.zeprock.com) and ftp it onto the worldwide web. Then I topload it in hard plastic if it's worth more than $1, soft plastic if less and it goes into a "wait box" where it will sit until I can find time to put it into one of my big boxes of dupes by player (not pictured here) or by brand (boxes on the bottom row and lower left) depending on who it is.

Now if I don't have the card, then I delete it from my wantlist and upload my revised wantlist onto my website. Then I copy the card info (year/brand/subset or insert/card number) onto my backup file on my computer. I copy that backup file onto my travel drive as a secondary backup which I carry so I have all my info with me when I go to work or if my computer dies (again). Then in my ORG, I send the card to it's corresponding player or year collection.

Next I take the card and check to see if it's "worthy" of being featured in my Card Gallery on my website. I normally feature my most valuable cards in my Gallery. Here's a link if you want to check it out:
http://www.zeprock.com/Gallery.html
If the card is "worthy" then I scan it, compress it in PhotoShop, save it to my Index and ftp it to the web so it will appear in my Gallery. I also have to change the html code of my Gallery page to reflect the addition of the card. After this process or if the card is not going to be featured in my Gallery, then I have to decide if it's going into one of my player collections (the binders on the shelf) or one of my year collections (the boxes on the top of the shelves and lower right). If it's going in a year collection, then it goes into a different "wait box" (next to the skull on top of the safe) until I have time to file it in it's proper year box. If it's going into a player collection, then I determine if the card is valued at $3 or more. If it is then it goes into a "wait box" inside my gun safe until I find time to place it chronologically into it's corresponding player binder (also in the safe). If it's valued less than $2 then it goes into a different "wait box" (the wooden box on the second shelf up from the floor) until I have time to put it in it's corresponding player binder (on the top three rows of the shelf). This picture is a couple years old and currently I have binders filling all of the top three shelves. When I find I have time, I take a stack of a certain player's cards from the "wait box" and sit with my wife while she watches tv with my binder in my lap and move my cards from pocket to pocket and insert my "new" cards in their proper chronological order.

This is a seemingly never-ending process and it seems like I always have cards to file away but that's a good thing because it means I am always enjoying some aspect of my collecting.

Aren't you glad you asked?

I am glad - I love it. Thanks for sharing!

[scottzoe]

Interesting perspectives and several very similar to my own...

Your graph of emotions, I think, is particularly accurate. From the thrill of the chase, to the high of obtaining the card, right down to the "I've got it, what's next?" That is all part of the joy of collecting.

Zep's additional steps are something that is familiar to me as well, I have a collection named "add to list" similar to purgatory, I then update my lists, scan cards, organize, move them to their final collections and start again.

Scott