More than one One of One

Most sports card enthusiasts have a player collection or ten, a short list of guys (or gals) that we'll prioritize and stash away as a 'PC'. Some of us even attempt to Super Collect one specific athlete. The Lost Collector(Tino Martinez), Collecting Cutch(Andrew McCutchen) and Zippy Zappy(Luis Torrens) come to mind. CC has ceased his pursuit of all things Cutch and ZZ has divested himself of nearly all his Torrens singles, with good reason. Super Collecting is insane!


I knew this when I started super collecting a former NHL enforcer, but I figured that Peter Worrell would have a manageable amount of cards to collect considering that he had a short career (mostly in south Florida) and was not a star. TCDB doesn't have every Worrell card counted, but a rough estimate puts his card count at about 205-210 unique singles.

Today I'm going to spotlight just two specific sets, to illustrate how chaotic super collecting can get.


2011-12 Enforcers Combatants dual relics had an announced print run of 120 copies per card. Peter Worrell was featured on two of these - one with future Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara, and one with prototypical pugilist Dennis Bonvie, who holds the career record for penalty minutes in the AHL. 

These cards have rare red parallels (red because.. blood) with a print run of 10 copies per card

Simple, but not easy. The Chara red parallel was a tough one to track down, but once I did it felt like a complete collection of Worrell cards was possible -- aside from One of Ones of course. Hold that thought.

Pete also appears in the 2013-14 Enforcers Combatants set. This was billed as a Series II even though it was released nearly two years later. In The Game used many of the same designs as the 2011-12 set - and many of the same players. Worrell was featured with former Dallas Star Aaron Downey.

The print run was increased to 150 per card for these base relics, but the red parallels were still 10 copies each.

My guy was still appearing on hockey cards ten years after he played his last NHL game. This pleased me as a super collector; I wasn't expecting to have any more of his cards to collect. And I assumed this unlicensed niche set would be the last one I'd have to worry about - especially when In The Game was unable to secure NHL licensing and folded in 2014.

But... two years later, the company liquidated its stock in a 2015-16 release called Final Vault. The cards ITG set aside as replacements were stamped in several different colors, creating "new" cards.

On the plus side, this allowed me to easily acquire Worrell One of Ones.

On the minus side, there were now way too many One of Ones.

In The Game used ten colors for these 1 of 1 stamps. So the base Worrell-Chara now has ten more variations and the red Worrell-Chara has ten variations. Twenty more "unique" Worrell cards to collect!


And twenty more One of Ones of Worrell and Bonvie:

And twenty more One of Ones of Worrell and Downey:

I actually don't have a Vault 1/1 of Downey, so I clicked on over to COMC and that's when I saw this:

There are two Emerald Green One of Ones?!?!? That's unpossible! No wonder In the Game went under.

And that's not the only Peter Worrell One of One that isn't a true One of One! Going back to 2014, In The Game released Ultimate Tough Decade Enfourcers - which included quad relics of the decade's top face-punchers:

These Silver versions had a stated print run of 9 copies per card - though, it should be noted, there is no serial numbering on the cards. I considered myself lucky (and slightly foolish) to secure these for about $40 per card.


The gold versions are One of One, at least according to TCDB. I have assumed this to be true since they were released. How eva..

I have a couple Worrell-related eBay searches set to notify me whenever something hits the site. Just a few days ago I was deleting the same 'Artifacts Petwer' email that yields nothing for me, when I thought to myself that I might never find another Peter card I need. There are very few non One of Ones remaining, and everything that does come up is a show-stamped parallel of the same card I already have.

That's right -- even more One of Ones!!

But this seller had two of the EnFOURcers Superbox quads - the gold versions.

 

I was so.... annoyed. They are asking $50 per card. Plus shipping and tax, that comes to over $110! For two tiny quadrants of a guy who hasn't played in two decades? I already have the silver versions, do I really need these?

Not to mention the fact that I'm planning to attend a card show in three days. If I blow three digits on these two quad cards, what will I have left for the show?


I quickly accepted that I would not be adding any more Worrell to my PC. And then I started to wonder if I was satisfied with my collection as-is. Do I really need any more cards of this long retired 4th-line enforcer? There are so many other things to collect.  

 

And so I pulled the Peter PC box from my closet and thumbed through the cards to appreciate what I had, and to scan the cards you've seen here. 

And that's when I found this:

One of One my ass...

This is the worst case scenario because 1) I know these 1 of 1s aren't 1 of 1s, and 1) I have 1 of the 1 of 1s but I don't have the other 1. If I had both, I'd be thrilled. When I thought I needed both, I decided they weren't worth acquiring at the seller's asking price. But now I only have to spend half of what I expected. Hmmm...


What would you do in this situation - buy the card you don't have and continue super collecting? Or let it go because the Ones of Ones are multiplying so fast that a complete collection will never be possible?

Thanks for reading!



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