Hobby goals for 2023
 

The new year is quickly approaching. Like many collectors, I have looked both back and forward lately. I've enjoyed my 2022 hobby acquisitions; however, I've begun to get a list together of the things I'd like to accomplish next year.

As I grow older (turned 50 this year) and my view of the hobby changes, so do my purchasing habits. The "quality over quantity" mindset is beginning to take hold.

So, goal #1: pick up 5-6 cards that matter.

Obviously, the value of this type of card will vary from person to person. What "matters" to me might seem like drek to some. However, the basic idea is universally applicable. Instead of picking up 10 cheaper cards, hold out for one card and spend the money on that.

I have a few other goals in mind. However, I don't want this thread to be all about me. What are some of your goals for 2023?

It can be anything. Finishing a particular set, landing that grail you've been chasing, downsizing your collection, etc.

Finish run of post war HOF RCs.

One more Ruth card, maybe.

Resist temptation to buy any more modern. Yes, it's too damn early to buy Julio Rodriguez.

Want to really try to secure a 1953 Topps Mantle. Have some bills to pay and things to take care of, but a little bit of saving at a time should do the trick. Also I would like to get to some more shows, and chat with some members of the board in person!

Pick up more Cobb's and Mathewson's,Cy Young's, and Walter johnson.
Try to find more t206 brown Hindu's, and broadleaf's
Maybe buy more undervalued rookies like Clemente and Carlton.

2023 Goals
 

I started 2022 with no vintage cards! 2022 was good.

Now heading into 2023, I find myself very close to completing a few major projects!

Complete T200 Set (have 14/16)
Current needs:
NY Americans
Detroit Americans

Complete Vintage 100 Index (have 91 of 100)
Current needs:
1949 Bowman Satchel Paige
1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson
1951 Bowman Whitey Ford
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle
1951 Bowman Willie Mays
1952 Topps Eddie Mathews
1954 Bowman Ted Williams
1954 Topps Hank Aaron
1955 Topps Roberto Clemente

Complete T206 HOF run (have 56 of 74)
Complete T206 Portrait Set (non-Southern Leaguers) (have 148 of 157)
Current needs:
Ty Cobb Portrait Red
Ty Cobb Portrait Green
Ty Cobb (bat on shoulder)
Ty Cobb (bat off shoulder)
Johnny Evers Portrait
Johnny Evers (cubs on shirt/blue)
Addie Joss Portrait
Nap Lajoie Portrait
Nap Lajoie (w/bat)
Joe Tinker Portrait
Joe Tinker (bat off shoulder)
Joe Tinker (bat on shoulder)
Frank Baker
Mordecai Brown (chicago on shirt)
Hugh Duffy
Walter Johnson (glove at chest)
Cy Young Portrait
Cy Young (w/glove)
Bill Dahlen Portrait Brooklyn
Kid Eberfield Portrait Washington

In addition to the above, I continue to look for:
Clay Dalrymple oddball items.
Abner Dalrymple 19th Century items.
Cards for my Cal Raliegh super collection!

Make it to the National. First for me since 2019.

slowly completing an off back t206 set

Great progress Brian, good luck in 2023.

Thanks Phil!

My main acquisition goals for 2023 are:
(1) Any Sam Rice card I don't already have.
(2) A couple of real-photo, black & white cards of WaJo with scarce ad backs from the 1916, 1917, and 1921-22 sets.

T2o6 off-back set. Slowly but surely continue plugging away...

Goal number 1, keep my family safe and healthy, so that I can continue to collect what I can when I can. Goal number 2, appreciate and enjoy what I have. Pull them out and look at them, in my own hands, from time to time.

MY goal every year is always more quality Ruth and Jackson Cards

But more specifically

Jackson like a 1913, 1915, and 1919 card as well as a 1916 BF2 Fergusen Bakery Felt Pennant and 1914 B18 Blanket Purple.

Ruth I would like to finish my run of getting 1 card from each year of the 1920's and then finishing the 1921/1922 e121 card run by getting the Ruth Holding the Ball and Ruth holding the Bird.

If things were perfect would love to get a 1920 Heading Home Ruth Card.

Since setting myself yearly goals - Something I hadn't done before seeing a thread here years ago, I have been much more successful in achieving quality over quantity. Having said that...

~ Continue to plow away at my T206 set
~ 3-5 Ruth playing days cards
~ 3-5 Cobb playing days cards
~ N48/N508 (They've changed the designation) - Sub Rosa Women in Baseball #6

It's my white whale and I haven't seen one surface in over 10 years.

Good luck to all - and enjoy your holidays!

I am going to focus on picking up a W530 Wagner. Its the only card I am missing in order to complete my set. I was the underbidder on the card in REA. I will probably also work on some upgrades.

I also have a low grade E93 partial set I am going to work on completing.

Complete the 1952 Topps low numbered set, and the T206 HOF portrait subset.

More of the same
 

"2022 goals
This past year I picked up more catcher B18s, T210s, E254 & E270 Colgan Chips, catcher S74s, catcher position pins, and catcher rppcs, and would like to do the same in 2022."



2022 was a very successful year for buying for me.

I picked up a half dozen T210 catchers, half dozen T204 catchers, some catcher position pins, S74s, E254s, and a super T206 Abbott with the Howie McCormick stamp.

Best pickups were: an Ira Thomas Weasner Cabinet (Providence), B18 Hank Gowdy (Red infield), and a T211 Red Sun James LaFitte.

My goal for 2023 will be more of the same.

Top of the list, would be to pick up a T210-3 Yantz Red Border to go with the Orange Border Yantz I already have, and a T210-8 Lafitte Red Border to complement the recently picked up Lafitte T211.

Patick

Continue converting my T206 collection with miscellaneous backs into a T206 Polar Back set - and MAYBE spring for a Demmitt or O'Hara....

MAYBE...

Picking up quality not quantity

For the first time...my 2023 goals do not include DOTS MILLER!!!!! My goal is to add top tier hof'ers to my pc...I'll mainly be fighting many of you for playing day babe ruth cards!!

I'd love to get either the T206 Blackburne - EPDG or Lavender - Cycle cards to complete either of these two brands for my Providence team set.

Otherwise, just hope to pick up a couple of cards that I enjoy. For post-war, would love to finally add a 54 Bowman Ted Williams.

Focusing in sets I am close to. I am down to a couple for each set and would like to clear them out by the end of 2023.

A new collector asked me the same question earlier in the week. I also told him to stay focused on priority cards.

trying to get to 200 t206s and hopefully finding a darby chocolate card ...oh well

I'm horrible about sticking to any yearly goal or focus as I'm always seeing new amazing pieces each year that I didn't know I wanted or needed when I made my yearly goals list.

To keep it simple this year, my only two goals will be:
1. To acquire a really nice N173 cabinet of an Indianapolis player.
2. To just enjoy the hobby, my current collection, and whatever else I may add.

I have not made a real singular hobby purchase over 500 I can remember since the start of the pandemic. Simply because I can’t justify the prices in my head and I haven’t believed in them. That said I have sold quite a bit over the last few years because I am not crazy, lol.

After watching some of these nutty prices start to settle, my only hope is that I can feel a bit more comfortable by the National to maybe dip my toes back in.

Honestly, it might be sooner as something I have been looking for 7 years for popped up in Memory Lane and everyone knows the rule on when it’s time to buy something you never see, lol.

Probably finish my Diamond Stars set. I am mired in the high numbers. Just looking for some decent eye appeal cards. Won't go out of my way to get the variations. Might expand my blog into a book on the 1941 Double Plays...

Try to afford something I want.

I suppose a handful of general strategies come to mind:

1) Refrain from getting emotionally invested in auction items, to avoid getting into bidding wars that result in a Pyrrhic victory.

2) Stick to my convictions that prices can’t stay this high forever for mainline items, no matter how many times my fellow collectors declare that current prices are the new floor.

3) Keep grinding. I have a handful of player sets with a few items left to find. Maybe this is the year! If not, then keep searching for upgrade opportunities, but without losing my shirt to pick them up.

Hmmm.
 

1) Pickup any Clemente item that I "need" that shows up - at this point I can count on 1 hand, so it would be cool to find even 1!

2) Continue on the Pirates team collection that my kids and I started - more specifically try to finish off:

T213 Pirates - need 7 - anyone have any they would consider selling?
T205 Pirates - need 4
T207 Pirates - need 1 - McKechnie
1914 Cracker Jack - need 5
1915 Cracker Jack - need 5
1959 Venezuelan - need 1 (McDaniel)
1967 Venezuelan - need 3 (Stargell, Face, Wills)

3) Scan /photograph more of my collection and share it!

PSA graded Hack Wilson as a Cub (non-oversized/exhibit/postcard).

1933 Goudeys are everywhere and 1934 Batter-Ups aren't a hard find, but outside of that there's not anywhere the numbers of Hack Wilson's earlier releases come up for sale/auction.

Simple goal, just waiting for the right time/price/opportunity. It's a waiting game more than anything because the cards are out there, but people seem to be holding them rather than putting them out there.

Jimmy Lavender and Vic Aldridge, too. It's a similar goal, but those I've seen out in the wild have crazy prices attached to them.

If I can take care of 2 of 3 by 2023's end I'll consider it a win.

If I didn't drag my feat in the past all 3 could have been taken care of. Hindsight, etc...

I love looking at these threads especially when people add the goals from the previous year and you can see how they did. Here were my goals for 2022 and they will pretty much be the same moving forward.

1) Add another E92 red croft, menagerie, or prizefighter - Didn't even see one up for sale again this year
2) Add 2 more cards to the E92 Nadja Set - Nope, don't recall even seeing one I needed for sale.
3) Add another back to my E/T Young backrun (preferable a T216) - No T216, but did add E92 Black Croft Candy
4) Finish my Davis backrun (need cocoa and black candy) - nope, didn't see either offered for sale
5) Add another Wagner, Cobb, and maybe Ruth - Yup, added M110 Wagner and a Pirates postcard with Wagner. No Cobb or Ruth for the PC though.
6) Add another T222 Short-print - Huge yes, added Henry, Schulte, Smith, McBride and a few others. Down to just Baumgarder and L. Magee for the shortprints. Completing the set actually feels possible now.
7) Finish my W554 set - Yes, Fonseca was the last one.
8) Pick up another significant HOFer for the PC796/novelty cutlery set. - Yes, added Mathewson and Collins

For me.....Get off my arse and stop being lazy and get some cards in to PSA for grading.
Then see if I can get into and set up at the December Valley Forge /Oaks, PA. show.
Bob

I need four T206s, one T205, and two T3s to complete the Cubs team sets. But I am a type collector at heart, within my very narrow focus of Cubs dynasty players as Cubs (and Feds) and Black Sox as White Sox, so it’s a long game for me. no goals other than to have fun with it.

Here are a few of the cards I have in mind:

• T206 Matty
• T206 WaJo Portrait
• T206 Tris Speaker
• 1933 or 34 Goudey Gehrig
• 1950 Bowman Jackie
• 1953 Bowman Mantle

They're all fairly common cards, so they will be easy (though not cheap) to find. With a little discipline, I should be able to knock a few of these off my list in 2023.

(note to self: STOP making those $100 impulse purchases...unless it's a Steve Carlton card you don't have yet)

What? You're not going to tell us what it is? :p

This too is big for me! I want to get my collection scanned and easily viewable/sharable.

Green Cobb for me

Push the focus of my collection even further to rare examples, refrain from buying cards that "would be nice to have" in order to pull the trigger on higher value rare cards when they become available.

I'd like to complete my E-card goal of having a Master Set, high grade set, Color run, & back run.

Very simple for me. Get a nice looking low grade Green Cobby.

Anything else is just gravy.

Happy Holidays!

Bill

I managed to break myself from this habit and it paid off very well. I was able to focus and go from having 10 T206 HOF Ports exactly 1 year ago to completing the subset this year (including both Cobbs).

Not pre-war, but I'd like to finish my 1955 Topps set (5 cards to go, thankfully none of which are Clemente) and my 1969 set (15 cards to go.)

I'd also like to add a few new cards to my Paul Blair and Johnny Antonelli collections, though it may be difficult since I am down to either rarities (Packard-Bell or House of Jazz Antonelli) or cards that I have moral qualms about (buybacks and unlicensed cut auto cards.)

Looking for some Weed while in Spokane. A 1910 T212 Obak Weed, Spokane to be more specific. I also need 2 more T210s to finish the Ft Worth team set. If I get any one of the 3 I will be happy.:)

My quest to finish my 1939-46 Salutation Exhibit set has gotten so slow the last couple of years that my goal is to pick up just 1 of the last 7 I need for that set in 2023. It would be nice to add another 1 or 2 to my Billy Williams master set this year too, that one has gotten very hard to find some of the regional issue and test issues that I still need.

Last week I did start a new set though inspired by my son who collects of all things football cards, I think he got that from his mother. I decided to put together a set of all the rookie cards of Oklahoma Sooner football players that have played in either the NFL or CFL since the 1940’s. I’m still putting together the full list of cards that will compromise this set, but so far thankfully not too many really high dollar cards, but a few obscure Canadian issue cards that I have put some feelers out for and miraculously came up with one of the more difficult ones from the early 60’s from a dealer in Canada. Should be a fun set to put together and my goal is to keep it a secret from my son until I have a good portion of it done and we can finish and keep it current together.

Who're the last Salutations you need, Steve?

Finish my 1934 Goudey HOF set.
Get the last card for my t205 HOF set graded!

I got some amazing cards in 2022 that I'm very happy about - highlighted by Turkey Red Tris Speaker. I sold some cards to pay for them. But in 2023 I want to slow down and get one big item - because I don't want to sell any more. I'm thinking about:
Babe Ruth 33 Goudey 181 (I'd need to sell or trade for this)
Lou Gehrig 29 Kashin
Jackie 54 & 55 Topps
Joe Jackson - National Game, Polo Grounds, etc
Joe Dimaggio 1936 National Chicle "Dimaggio slams it"
Barry Larkin GU bat
Julio Rodriguez Logofractor


Or, I might focus on framing and slabbing what I already have and prepare for 2024.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk

Keep maneuvering around to acquire and upgrade Cobbs.

To add 2-3 quality Ruth cards to my PC and finishing his 30-35 playing years run, before the tough process of 20-29 years.

I love these threads - you guys are after some amazing cards. Cheers to us all getting something we want!

For me:

N28 King Kelly
Either a 1915 CJ or e121 American Caramel Grover Cleveland Alexander
Finish another T206 team set with 0 duplicate backs (getting close on Washington and Cincinnati)
T206 Lenox
5 1952 Topps high numbers
Finish 1968 Topps set

Let the games begin.

Price run-up during the pandemic has held me back on the Ruth's in particular but hoping for the following:

1) 1933 Goudey Ruth either #149 or #181
2) T206 Speaker (not Pied or SC back)
3) T206 Wajo Portrait
4) T206 Tinker Portrait
5) Finally get around to selling all the extras and cards from projects that I have abandoned.

The T206's would complete my HOF Portrait run, less the two whales. Good Luck with all your goals guys!