2020 : My Year in Card Collecting

 

I like year-end lists.

I like the finality of them. The end point of a year that people give themselves when compiling these lists to share. Best books of. Best records of. Best films of. My year in. You get the gist. The year-end/Best of lists that people compile allow me to sit back and agree and/or disagree on my own, without somehow insulting one’s tastes.  A lot of these lists allow me find things that I forgot or completely overlooked during the course of my own year. A book I might’ve forgotten. An album that I knew nothing about. Lists for movies, especially this year, are big for me. Everything film-wise that came out in 2020 was essentially lost on me thanks to this goddamned plague. Christ, how I miss going to the movies.

I thought about those lists in terms of card collecting, i.e. making a best of list or a my year in list. 2020, for as shitty as it was, was actually my first full year back into card collecting since 1992. What would a best-of/year-in essay mean for me, per se? I’m obviously better versed in how modern collecting works in 2020 than I was when I came back in 2019. I have the various podcasts that I listen to to thank for that (shout outs to Sports Card Nation and About the Cards for informing a guy).

But I still feel like too much of a newbie to sit here and detail what I thought the best card products of the year were. Also, I’m trying to keep this blog more on the personal/remembrance of things past, a Proustian blog on baseball/sport card collecting, if you will, rather than post on here praising or slagging card products when they come out. There are enough people, way better equipped people, out there doing reviewing products. I’ll stick to the home spun tales.

So what then? The most obvious choice for me was to make a year-in collecting essay for the Junk Wax Jay blog. Take a little time and space to casually talk about what I’ve been collecting in 2020, and what I hope to continue collecting in 2021. Sets I’ve put together. Sets sitting there waiting. Players I’m PCing. That interesting stuff.

With no further explanation…I give you…my year in card collecting 2020 edition:

Sets:

When I initially got back into collecting my goal was to collect sets (mainly Topps) from what I consider my main wheelhouse era of collecting. These were the years 1983-1992, even though technically I can go back to 1980. I was also going to collect anything new that caught my eye. Collecting the older sets meant collecting a lot of so-called Junk Wax Era cards. The cards that were still sitting in wax boxes by the cases. The so-called worthless stuff. So that’s where I went.

When you’re collating and building junk wax sets by hand, basically you’re throwing reasonable economics out the window. Building junk wax sets via wax box is way more expensive than buying those sets outright…and a lot less fun. I wanted to have fun not pay ten bucks for a set, put it in a binder, and then shelve it. Also building sets via junk wax boxes allowed me to rebuild/build a personal collection of players that I loved watching back in my collecting prime.

In 2020 (with a lot of purchasing help from 2019) I managed to complete Topps base sets from 1986-1992, as well as a 1987 Donruss base set. I’m most proud of building the 1987 Topps and Donruss sets, as they are two of my favorites produced during my collecting heyday. Honestly, for me, you can’t go wrong with 1987 sets. I was hoping to hand collate a 1987 Fleer set as well, but prices for wax boxes have nearly tripled as 2020 moved along its murderous pace. A wax box of Fleer (From a Sealed Case) was about fifty bucks as the beginning of the year…it now goes for about one-hundred and fifty. Another time perhaps.

Building sets (I’m looking at YOU 1982-1985) by hand using wax boxes was going to get quite a bit more expensive if I went any earlier than 1986. We’re talking five hundred dollars a box, for a set that is worth maybe fifty. Damned card grading…I kid…I kid. I had to figure out another way of putting those sets together. To be honest, I cheated a little and purchased  1982 and 1983 Topps sets outright. And I concur that it wasn’t any fun. But I sure love looking at the two, and 1983 is hands down my favorite year for my era of Topps after 1987.  If you don’t count my precious 1980 Topps, of course.

If I wanted to keep up with my collecting goals, earlier sets became a what-to-do scenario. Like I said, wax boxes were out of the question. Card shows were gone. I’m remain completely in the dark about buying card lots, and I don’t trust eBay. But this summer I got lucky.

A local card shop that I go to bought incomplete sets of 1984 and 1985 Topps. Both sets were in binders and came with their respective traded sets. By incomplete sets, I mean all of the usual suspects were missing. Mattingly rookie. Clemens rookie. Puckett. Gooden. Strawberry rookie. McGwire USA card. You name it. But the sets were only nine dollars each. Overall, each set was only about fifty cards shy of completion. Using SportLots and ComC, I began the process of rebuilding the sets. As of this writing, I’m currently two cards shy of completing my 1985 Topps set, and about forty cards away from completing 1984.

That said, having a lot of extra time this year, and thankfully, still being paid for the work I do…I went a little overboard trying to put together Junk Wax Era sets. In my closet listed under incomplete currently reside the following: 1988 Donruss (yeah, I did it), 1988 Fleer, 1988 Score 1989 Fleer, 1990 Bowman, 1991 Bowman, 1991 Donruss, and 1992 Donruss.

Why in the hell did I put together 1991 Donruss? Because it was cheap and it helped with the depression, the sound of sirens going up and down my street. Opening cheap packs and building cheap sets became a cathartic act. But, ss 2020 moved along, I began to feel a little Junk Wax set building overload. So, I’m keeping those sets at the ready to complete at a later date and at my leisure.

 New Sets:

            I’ve always been a flagship man. Of course, for the bulk of my collecting years, flagship was the only set a company produced. By the time Topps, Fleer, Donruss etc. were rolling out their Stadium Clubs, Ultras and Leafs, I was getting ready to roll away from the hobby. When I came back in 2019 it was specifically to buy hobby boxes and put together the flagship set…and, all right, the Heritage set. And that’s what I did…in 2019. But what’s the old adage? How do you make God laugh? Make a plan…I think I used that one before.

            2020 proved to be a different beast. Where I dabbled in current sets in 2019, in 2020 I got myself a bib and took a seat at the card buying buffet. I didn’t go hog wild, and by other’s standards I’d still be considered tame, but I bought way more current product in 2020 than I thought I would. Aside from compiling the flagship set for Topps, I also put together the Topps Archives set and am one card away from completing Topps Big League (one of my favorites for design alone, wish it was double in size) and about seventy away from finishing Stadium Club. Not to mention the random stacks of Gypsy Queen, Bowman, Donruss, etc, that I have in boxes.

But while I am a sucker for nostalgia, I abandoned putting together Topps Heritage set. Don’t get me wrong I love Topps Heritage. But I just found trying to put together a set, including the short prints, to be a frustrating and expensive proposition. It’s not a Sisyphean tasks, but it might as well be for a guy like me. I commend those collectors with the time and energy to devote to building a complete Topps Heritage set. Going forward I will admire Topps Heritage from afar, and only pick up the players I want for my PC.

Ugh…and that brings me to my personal PC.

 PC (personal collection):

I really worked a lot on my PC this year, both old and new players. In 2019 I didn’t know a thing about purchasing web sites like SportLots or ComC, so most of the cards that went into my personal player collections from came from Junk Wax doubles, and doubles that I got from current products. But with the use of SportLots and ComC I was able to buy individual cards and start putting together I PC that I’m enjoying. And as this blog IS about an anxious man coming back into collecting, buying online more has helped me not have a complete anxiety attack every single time that I make a purchase. Almost.

I pretty much PC the older players by keeping a general collection of Hall of Famers and players that I liked growing up. The Hall of Very Good, as the podcast of the same name likes to call them. I started building up card collections for Johnny Bench, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Will Clark, Doc Gooden, Ken Griffey Jr, Tony Gwynn, Bo Jackson, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Al Oliver, Dave Parker, J.R. Richard, Pete Rose, Daryl Strawberry, Wille Stargell, Fernando Valenzuela and Andy Van Slyke. I’d say I PC Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente too…but we’ll see how that goes.

Some recent PC purchases:

I’m most proud and excited about the Stargell’s that I bought. Pops’ legend always loomed large over the Pirates when I was a kid. When I started collecting again, I knew I wanted his cards in my collection. It was great to build my Willie Stargell’s back up, even getting cards that I never had the chance to have as a kid. That 1963 rookie still alludes me, however.

As for current players…that’s proven tougher. Getting back into collecting in 2019, meant that I was also getting back into a sport that I loved but had turned my back on since 2014 (if you want a rehash of that you can find it here). When I quit watching baseball there was no Aaron Judge or Cody Bellinger. Mookie Betts was a rookie and Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were just beginning their careers. I had to watch the sport to figure out who I wanted to collect.

To be honest, right now I tend to just hold on to all of the star cards for current players like I did as when I was a kid. Because Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was all the rage when I got back into collecting, I have a decent amount of his cards. Pete Alonso and Yordan Alvarez for the same reason. But do I P.C. them? I don’t know.

I keep the Pirates guys that I hope will turn out, though that is pretty dim right now. And just this week my Josh Bell PC was rendered obsolete by another dumb (but typical) Pirates trade. But I’m counting on you Ke’Bryan to save us all! I’d have to say that I really enjoy watching Tim Anderson play ball, so I’ve been buying cards of his here and there. Eloy Jimenez as well. Juan Soto is in there. And while collecting any Atlanta Brave other than Dale Murphy is anathema to my very being, I do have some Acuna Jr’s in the PC. But the current player PC is a work-in-progress overall.

 I did dabble a little in these:

And this happened to me on Christmas morning. I never hit anything and this came from a blaster box my wife bought me. It’ll be my pack-opening high water mark.

Goals for 2021:

More than anything it’s to make it to the other side of this pandemic, get vaccinated, and get back to living a life. I’d like to see something other than my neighborhood. I’d like to see a live ball game and go to a card show. I want to eat a huge bowl of ramens in Japan.

But we’re talking about collecting goals here, right? Obviously, I’d like to finish the sets I’m working on, specifically the 1984 and 1985 Topps set. Older sets keep calling to me. I did a post about 1980 Topps cards a few weeks back, as they were the first pack of cards I ever opened. A major goal of mine is hand-collating and completing the 1980 and the 1981 Topps set, even if they get me out of my comfort zone and force me to learn how to buy card lots. There’s always room for growth.

My Pittsburgh Pirates collection is going to be a major focus of mine. Building Pirates team sets from the 1970s and 1980s specifically. And as for the PC of older players, I’ve already got past Buccos like Bonds, Bonilla, Clemente, Oliver, Stargell and Van Slyke…but there’s room for Manny Sanguillen, Steve Blass and Bill Mazeroski in there as well.

On last thing about my year in collecting in an essay that has already gone on too long…it was really great to connect with a lot of other collectors, especially on Twitter. In real life I tend to be an introvert of the worst kind…case in point, my social calendar during a pandemic wasn’t much different than it was in 2019. But following different collectors and seeing how they went about the hobby, their opinions, frustrations (there’ve been a lot), joys, and triumphs have really added a lot to make knowledge and appreciation of this strange and wondrous thing that we put or time, energy and heart into.

Thank you to all in The Hobby whom I’ve connected with, the ones posting, the ones doing the podcasts, the ones doing the blogs, or the ones lurking around like me just trying to find your way back. May we all meet at the next major card show!

 

Thanks for reading. Happy collecting. And have a Happy New Year.

 

Next Friday:  How I sold out my dog for a pack of 1983 Topps Baseball Cards.

 

--JG