Box of 20

[wondo]

A popular coin collecting strategy is to pick 20 awesome coins for a collection to avoid all the common coins needed for any set. Does anyone do this in baseball cards? I often get bored picking up Joe Schlabotnicks that I have no interest in to complete a set. It would be fun to get 20 great cards - but would that be enough? Comments welcome.

john

[Fred]

John,

I heard of some collectors/hobbyist using the number 25 as the total items in their collection. If they want another card they're supposed to get rid of one of the 25 that they have. Does that same "rule" apply in what you're describing?

No way I could do that....

[JLange]

I actually broke up a bunch of sets (all 1975 and later) and pulled out just HOFers and Cleveland Indians. Everything else is sorted out as commons available for sale /trade/giveaway. Not only were they taking up too much space, but I was not enjoying owning them as complete sets, and I too didn't like the prospects of searching the world over for another common I might need in an older set. So now my targets are ~40-50 cards total per set, and I have a more realistic chance of getting them. I am reinvigorated as I look for just what I want at shows and on eBay. And its even fun to sift through all the cards I put aside, looking for newly minted HOFers, as I recently did when I pulled every Bert Blyleven card I had previously cast aside. I'm sure I'll do the same when some others get the call, especially managers (Torre, LaRussa, etc.). Not exactly a box of 20, but not too many more for sure!

[wondo]

Originally Posted by Fred

John,

I heard of some collectors/hobbyist using the number 25 as the total items in their collection. If they want another card they're supposed to get rid of one of the 25 that they have. Does that same "rule" apply in what you're describing?

No way I could do that....

Yup, That's the idea..........any number works 10,25,100. Perhaps a theme - favorite t206s, catching poses, single season leaders, or, no theme. I don't know that I could do that either, too much flux. Just an idea.

[frankbmd]

Your concept, although seemingly practical in terms of storage and cost, with limited goals for a specific set suggests that you do not possess the set collector gene. The set collector gene, that many of us carry, has been exploited by tobacco, gum and candy manufacturers for over a century. The realization that the short printing of Arthur Schlembowski led to a three fold increase in the sale of wax packs, cigarette packs and Cracker Jacks has driven the capitalist gum, smoke and sugar barons for decades.

One hundred years ago the Monster was created. With virtually no hope of a Wagner, Plank, Magie or Doyle falling in our laps, many of us continue to pursue completion of this beast, knowing full well that we will fail. We don't need to read "The Myth of Sisyphus", we live it. My goal has recently been recently been reduced by 24. I am climbing K2, not Everest. I will not pay thousands for a mid range St Louis Demmit, dammit. O'Hara belongs in NY and O'Hare in Chicago, not in St. Louis. Dahlen could have seven different colors of B on his chest. I don't care, one is enough. Chance, Chase and Cobb portraits are print variations of the same card. Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Pink....so what....one of each is enough already.

But I have the gene, i need eleven more cards to reach the K2 summit of 500. I can smell it. Every day I comb the Web looking for my guys in a condition and at a price I can live with. They can run, but they can't hide......Chesbro, Jimmy Collins, Cranston, Doyle (NY), Hickman, Johnson, Paige, Shaughnessy, Carlos and Sid Smith and Thornton are in the crosshairs and they know it. I will ultimately succeed, hopefully this year. I am a set collector and proud of it. Make me an offer I can't refuse and your check is in the mail (or a Paypal gift if you prefer)

[Matt]

I've done two variations on this idea (I also don't like collecting Joe Shlabotnik cards).

One is to take a set and collect only the HOFers in it, as I've done with the tough V100 issue.

The other is to pick your 25/30/50 favorite players, and form a collection of 1 card of each player. I've had great fun doing that, and making up my own rules about what can be in the collection (e.g. max 1 card from any issue; if a player has a card from a Cleveland team, I have to use one of those, etc.).

[Wite3]

I know one collector on this board (no, I will no out him) has a collection of something like 10-15 cards total.

Joshua

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

But I have the gene, i need eleven more cards to reach the K2 summit of 500. I can smell it. Every day I comb the Web looking for my guys in a condition and at a price I can live with. They can run, but they can't hide......Chesbro, Jimmy Collins, Cranston, Doyle (NY), Hickman, Johnson, Paige, Shaughnessy, Carlos and Sid Smith and Thornton are in the crosshairs and they know it. I will ultimately succeed, hopefully this year. I am a set collector and proud of it. Make me an offer I can't refuse and your check is in the mail (or a Paypal gift if you prefer)

I have the set collector's gene as well. I love your mountain climbing analogy as it is so true! For me, it's an exhilarating experience to complete a set. Acquiring that last card is a rush regardless of whether it is of a superstar or a common.

The other reason I don't mind searching out commons is that I look at each cards as a window into a players life at a particular point in time. While I love the fronts of my cards, the backs that contain player information are even better. How was this player doing in 1935? His stats. His health. How did his team do? Was it early in a career that resulted in induction in the HOF? Or was he a one season wonder that wasn't able to realize his promise? Or did he never really have much success? Did he go to college? Play other sports as well?

Houston Antwine of the old Boston Patriots died the other day. He was not a HOFer but a very good player that I didn't know a lot about so I pulled all of his cards and spent some time looking at them and reading up on his career. Kinda my own personal tribute to his life. You all probably saw that his wife passed the next day as well.

I'm not trying to romanticize our hobby too much but I personally enjoy the "people" aspects of my cards regardless of whether the person on the card was a superstar or a common.

jeff

P.S. sorry for the football reference in a baseball thread but it was timely

[tbob]

I definitely have the set collection gene. I tried collecting only the large letter variation P2s and the HOFer Domino Discs and slid in to collecting the whole dang complete set of each. It definitely is an adventure to track down the ones you need, but inevitably the one by one collecting makes it much more pricey to collect the set than to just wait and wait and wait and try to buy a complete set in an auction. I have always felt that it is idiotic that a complete set won't sell more for the sum of the parts, with all the time, work, hair-pulling, etc. involved, but I get the fact that many people don't want the Topsy Hartsels or Al Matterns of the world...

[wonkaticket]

After years of collecting sets, this year I think I will be trying a hybrid of this. I will still continue to upgrade and add to my 2 fav sets T206 & T212.

But vs. 20 I'm going to go for a top 100 cards of my own choice.

Cheers,

John

[Orioles1954]

When I get back into the hobby, I will definitely do a "Top 25" and focus on my true love, the Baltimore Orioles and its history.