5 Questions for collectors Part 4

 

I'm a people person. I love talking to people and learning their stories. My wife tells people all the time that I am the type of person who could talk to a wall and get it to talk back. That's probably the reason I really like these 5 questions. I love learning about people, especially those that I have a common interest with like card collecting. If these are interesting to you and you haven't read the previous 5 Questions, you can find them here Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. If you haven't answered them, its' not too late!

I need to come up with a different name for this post. I don't like Part 1, Part 2, etc... Gotta work on that one. 

On to the questions! 

 Question: Do you have a “rule” for your collection that you never break or almost never break?

When I first started collecting, I wanted everything baseball; Topps, Fleer, Donruss, etc... Needless to say that's not really an option. When I decided to really get back into the hobby I had to make a some "rules".  Now, some rules are made to be broken, but for the most part I've stayed the course with these.

 First, baseball only. I really enjoy seeing guys post about their card collections of birds, pirates, presidents, etc... but I had to draw the line somewhere. I'm a Cowboys fan and I've thought long and hard about collecting Cowboys, same with the Mavericks and Stars, but it would just be too much. 

Second, I decided Topps sets only. I have varied a little bit on that one. I have started Heritage sets and Stadium Club, but that's not an every year thing. Technically, they are Topps sets, but not what I was going to do. `I will also pick up Panini and other company cards for my player collections, but I'm not opening any of those cards. 

Third, because I'm a set collector, I decided that I need to put a limit on what sets, so I went with 1972 to present. Why '72? That's the first year of my Rangers. I'm focusing on about 2 or 3 years at a time of those vintage sets that I don't have. Right now, it's '75 and '78. I have picked up a couple of '79 lots and it will be my next set to work on once I've finished one of the others while putting together sets of the new stuff. 

Question: What’s your favorite way to spend time with your collection?

This is a tough question for me. I enjoy almost all aspects of working on my collection. Right now, I'd just enjoy spending any time working on my collection. The two most annoying things of working with my collection would be documenting it and listing cards to sell on buysportscards.com. I think my favorite is sorting cards and hunting cards that I need to complete the sets. I really need to start spending more time looking through my cards and appreciating what I already have. 

Question: If you could build your perfect product or set, what would it look like?

660 card set. White borders (I can't stand it when the dark borders flake and show white). There will be no posed shots of the players. Everything will be action shots or candid shots. There will be All-Star cards and league leader cards with the top 3 leaders on it for NL and AL. I don't mind parallels but I sure don't want 17! Let's say 4. I do like inserts but I'm not a huge fan of something like the Stars of MLB where there is a million of them. 5 or 6 different inserts works for me. I'm fine with  relics and autographs too. Numbered parallels? Okay, I guess, but no crazy 1 of 1's. I got ChatGpt to make me a card...I like it, but I'm not the most creative person either. I would like this set, but I don't know that I would love it.

It gave me an Aaron Judge card with the exact same pose. I asked for another player and it random generated someone who was not who I was asking for. I think I could have some fun playing with AI, but it does scare me a little bit with how much people are beginning to use and rely on it. 

Question: Do you prefer collecting active players or retired players? Why?

Both! For my player collections, it's definitely both. I probably spend more time and energy doing the active players, but I've found myself starting new playing days collections of players that I really liked who may not be that famous, but I always enjoyed watching them play. 

.  

When I went to Ranger games I used to hate it when Elvis wasn't playing. To be honest the only cards of his that I collected were for sets. I'm not sure why I did that, but I decided that I needed his playing days cards. Same thing for Jim Abbott. How could anyone not appreciate all he that he accomplished with what he had to deal with? He's another one that I'm working on. I guess to answer the question, it's definitely both.

Question: Do you think you will ever think that your collection is “complete,” or will it ever be?

I'm 100% sure that my collection will never be complete. The second that I complete all the Topps sets from 1972 to present, I'll start working on an older set. I'm always adding players to my player collections too. Plus, every year there's a new set to collect with my grandsons. 

That's my answers to the 5 questions...What's your answers?

Peace,

Michael

Isaiah 40:31