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.
