Collecting shouldn't feel like a chore. It's a hobby that one should enjoy. When it starts feeling like a chore, or a job for that matter, then it's lost its purpose entirely. A few years back I started a PC of my favorite Reds player of all time. I had amassed more than 600 unique Pete Rose cards at the pinnacle of collecting his cards. While I can reflect now that 600 was a lot for someone who last took the field 30 years ago, I wasn't content with my collection. The parallels and short prints that comprised Donruss in 2008 as well and Leaf and Panini from 2011 to today just became too overwhelming for me. I felt that if I couldn't own every single Pete Rose card that the hobby produced then it made no sense having a PC of Rose. So I dumped the collection...all 600+ cards. It was freeing knowing that I no longer had to set aside funds to chase down a numbered color parallel to 10 or a short print photo variation; however, there was a part of me that regretted that decision. The variety of cards that I had acquired from the 70s and 80s (Kelloggs, Kahn's, Purina, Nestle, Hostess, Drake's, Coca-Cola, Squirt) was fantastic. It showed a time when anyone and everyone was producing baseball cards to include in their products. These were cards that I had wanted to grab when I was a kid but couldn't afford to buy didn't have the funds to acquire them at the time. After a lot of thought I decided I would create another Pete Rose PC collection but with one major difference. I would make sure that I would abide by some of the cardinal rules of collecting.....collect what you like and have a goal in mind. So, I've already stated my enjoyment of the oddball issues of the 70s and 80s. My goal for this PC will be to keep everything within Pete's time in the majors. Nothing past 1989. There are a couple of cards I will be trying to track down that won't be part of this collection (2014 Leaf Q autographed jersey relic, a 2014 Leaf Q Pure Auto, and the 2015 Leaf Sportkings base, mini and autograph cards) but that's it. I know that if I stick to my goals I'll enjoy putting this PC together and it won't feel like a chore this time around.
4 comments:
Best of luck with it this time around. I enjoy collecting players, but the whole "super collecting" thing isn't my thing. I'll pick up singles of my guys whenever I can... but don't stress over needing everything.
Although... I am quite impressed at some of the player collections people have put together over the years. And there are times I've sat back and considered doing it myself. But that thought usually goes away as soon as I see high end singles sell for ridiculous prices.
Thanks Fuji. While it's intriguing to own every single card of a player, financially it's just not feasible with modern releases. I look at people's collections (Tanner) who was the Jose Canseco super collector and it's was mind blowing what he had accumulated. That being said, I also saw where he broke up his collection and purchases some high end vintage Pre War cards.
Sounds like a better approach--good luck with it. I have a few player collections (mostly Phillies--Schmidt, Carlton, Luzinski, Robin Roberts, Ashburn) but I generally try to focus on Topps base set cards or cards that are in the design of those. So when Richie Ashburn appears on a Topps Archives card in the 1977 design, I buy it, but when Mike Schmidt has a signed, die-cut, relic 1-of-1 card (or, really, any of those three qualifiers), I don't. It keeps the collection smaller!
I also collect all Topps base set, Archives and Heritage Phillies cards, including SPs, but when something goes for a ridiculous amount (like the Heritage throwback uni cards that can sell for hundreds of dollars), I satisfy myself with a printout of a photo of the card. If I hit the lottery someday, I will try to track those down.
Thanks Steve. I guess I'm a little fortunate in that only Panini and Leaf are still producing Pete Rose cards since Topps can't touch him with MLB's license. Even so, there are some very expensive non licensed cards out there that I just can't touch since it would eat up my budget. I would be happy if card companies did away with limited print runs and focused more on releasing quality products that are affordable to everyone.
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