I'm eight weeks away from my self-imposed deadline to complete my card collection, and there's still a lot of work to do. Some of it is being slowed by outside forces - Beckett in particular, but also cards not arriving in the mail (the notorious Sandston, VA USPS hub has swallowed a trade and a purchase)
Some of it is simple lack of time and/or money. Organizing and cataloging takes more time than most of us have, it's basically become a second job for me over the past month. Football and basketball cards are completely cataloged and updated - but they're only about 1/6th of my collection.
I won't reach my goal of 10,000 total basketball cards - and that's okay. My current total is 9,181 with 88 cards remaining on my 'must have' list (for trade purposes I have more listed on my TCDB wantlist) This list would actually be shorter if I hadn't tossed a couple from my collection due to poor condition and also dropped a Michael Jordan card. Ugh!
I also need three more Jordan cards to complete my 1992-93 Upper Deck set.
For football I have a total of 16,063 cards at the moment. The disparity between my Packers collection and every other team's count is amusing to me:
There isn't much room left for Packers cards in my five binders and two two-row boxes, which is good. Aside from that I've got 86 'must have" football cards on my final list - though that might need a retool.
This is a base insert (not rare, not #d, not SP) from a cheap set and it costs more than Barry's actual rookie card?!?! Collectors appear to be singling out the 1989 rookies from this set in particular, considering the Deion Sanders flashback sells for about $30 while the Tom Brady insert sells for $10. Can't say I blame them, there's a reason I bought the Deion years ago and hoped to buy the Barry - 1989 draftees got hosed and this was Score's way of making up for it. The other years' rookie classes already had better photos than this high school yearbook-style crud.
I'm going to try and finish updating my TCDB wantlist and tradelist this weekend before cataloging baseball and hockey cards. Despite stating multiple times how much I dislike 2021 Topps baseball and have no need for it I might try to trade for the entire set if I can fit my 2025 Topps Heritage cards in a binder - since I'm probably going to give up the pursuit of those 70 remaining short prints.
Aside from that I only have about 60 "must have" baseball cards - not counting Red Sox and cards stuck in limbo at the Beckett marketplace. My order was placed two months ago and I still have no confirmation that Jim & Steve's ever received it. Also BGS still hasn't completed my grading submission. I'm going to need an extension on this year-end deadline.
If I ever get those five cards back from Beckett my plan is to round up all the slabbed cards I want to consign (about 30) and use all the proceeds to buy a Gordie Howe card. Hopefully this one:
Hockey cards shouldn't take too long to catalog. Even though I've got over 60,000 of them I haven't added many since the last cataloging update a few months ago. Most of the set fillers I need are being held in a Sportlots box (aside from some pesky Eric Lindros cards I'll still need) and my "must have" list - excluding set fillers and Devils cards - is just 35 cards.
Aside from the Gordie Howe there are a half-dozen vintage cards I'd like to acquire before I call my collection complete. Rookie cards of legendary players are almost certainly out of reach and pre-war Hall of Famers are, too. I've got my eye on these classic cards as sort of a "bucket list"
- 1941 Play Ball "Indian" Bob Johnson
- 1952 Bowman Warren Spahn
- 1955 Topps Duke Snider
- 1959 Topps Frank Robinson
- 1967 Topps Carl Yastrzemski
- 1970 Topps Reggie Jackson
The 1978 Topps Burger King Lou Whitaker card was on this list for most of the year, but $300 for a high-grade copy is too expensive. Yaz and Spahn are probably beyond my budget as well. Duke Snider is the toughest on the list, but if I can only acquire one, that's the one I'd choose. Christmas is coming after all.
Which brings me to another goal I will likely fail to complete by my self-imposed deadline.
The weather is still warm and sunny (at least it was until today) and I've been walking and biking around the neighborhood as much my schedule will allow. Yet the only time I saw Neighbor Lady was when I was walking to work and her car pulled up at the corner. I turned my head at the sound of crunching leaves and before I even realized who it was .. she waved 😊
After work that day I walked home and saw her mowing the lawn - in her backyard. On the other side of her fence. I was too far away to say anything, and I haven't seen her since.
In the meantime, I've been trying my hardest to get in better shape. I should be doing this anyway, but there's no one in my life that supports me and my cardiovascular health is getting worse. It has to be the energy drinks I consume almost daily, since I have never smoked and I'm not completely sedentary. I go for walks every day. I ride my bike around at least 3x a week. And I still have weak lungs.
Side note: how is Neighbor Lady so fit if she never leaves the house? She must have a Peloton or something.
I've been loading up on protein bars, powders, and good mood gummies. We'll see if any of that crap works once I get into a regular schedule at the gym. I was supposed to start Sunday 11/1, but Halloween was such a shitshow that I was too mentally and physically drained to do anything the next morning.
So I'm going today. And Sunday. And hopefully 2-3x a week for the rest of fall and winter and spring. And if I can cut out the junk food and eat healthier I hope to be back around 200 lbs by the end of April.
I probably have a better chance of quitting card collecting than cleaning up my diet completely, but I need this. I need to live longer and be healthier for my daughters, regardless of what happens with Neighbor Lady. But it does help to have some extra motivation.
Been listening to this song almost daily. I'm taking my daughter to see him in a couple weeks. 🤘
Thanks for reading!
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