The Collector: Origins

I used to blog as the Pedestrian Writer - sharing personal anecdotes, short stories, and pop culture musings to a mostly female audience of about 20 regular readers. My readership, as well as my ideas for blog posts, started to fade away slowly and then all at once. 

I still wanted to write but didn't know what to write. Until I realized that I had never really written about the one thing I knew well enough to be called an 'expert'. People in my personal life knew how much I collected baseball cards but I'd never blogged about baseball cards. I didn't think anyone did. 

What would a baseball card blog even look like? I thought to myself whlie walking home from a job that made me miserable. What topics would I cover? 

The first subject I considered was a personal ranking of early 1990s card designs. I scrapped it immediately, and it's a good thing I did because Night Owl did it much better than I ever could. 

That being said, here's a look at two of my all time favorite non-baseball designs:

The first Upper Deck hockey set is still my all time favorite. The team colored borders, stylized team wordmark, and marble/ice shaving frame are right up my alley. I liked the 1991 Upper Deck football design for similar reasons, but the Ancient Greek-inspired 1992 design is even better in my book.

I've sung the praises of Pro Set before on this blog. The brand itself quickly got a bad rap for being overproduced and error-filled, but the first two football and hockey sets were instrumental in my decision to branch out beyond baseball cards. Series II of the 1990-91 Pro Set release includes my favorite subset of all-time, in any sport:

Everything about these cards appealed to me - I was a big fan of team logos at the time. I was super curious about the history of each team, and these Team Fact cards had a ton of info. And the sleek marble design with a steely logo was incredibly cool. 

Honorable mention to the 1990-91 and 1991-92 Skybox basketball sets. Both interesting for very different reasons. The initial Skybox release had a bit of a Studio feel, while the follow-up was just soooo '90s.
 

Once I began blogging about baseball cards I realized that there wasn't much value in stating that 1991 Fleer is an abomination and 1993 SP is the sharpest looking set of the decade, in any sport. That might have been a decent post or two, but... then what? 

Well... then you discuss your collecting goals. Set builds and whatnot. Also, show and tell. A lot of this is  just scanning up what you got at a show, or in a trade, or in a box break. Or in a care package...

On Friday August 21st, this blog turns 10. From The Pedestrian Writer to the Pedestrian Collector, to just The Collector, it has been about 15 years since I began blogging. I blogged through the birth of my daughter, the death of my wife, and the biggest mistakes of my card collecting life. 

I've shared a lot of stories. I've completed a lot of sets. I've had a great time. I hope you have, too.

So celebrate with me! Show off your Anniversary Break Care Package on your blog this Friday. Share one of your favorite posts or topics here at the The Collector. Did you ride with us on the Sports Card Tour? Did you enjoy All-Time Teams? Did you learn anything from the Greatest Non-Hall of Famers [which needs to be updated, note to self] Did any other posts or series stand out to you? 

As always, thank you for reading!




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