5 Posts in 5 Days, I guess I am Back...

A couple of years back when I got back into ripping packs I didn’t really have any direction. I liked to buy packs, random packs, whatever caught my eye. I would hope and pray to get an auto, or a relic, or a refractor, or something cool with a serial number, or a card of my favorite player or at least my fav team… I just ripped randomly. If I got something good it went in a penny sleeve, if it was really good it then went into a top loader… if it was really really good it found its way into a screw down… if it wasn’t good enough to deserve a penny sleeve it just went into a box. You can’t throw away a baseball card, but I ended up with a lot of cards that I really didn’t care about. They were saved, but generally would never be looked at again.

When I started trading, that changed a bit. Suddenly pulling a Braves card, or a Dodger or Cardinal or Red Sox or Rangers player was cooler. It meant that it could be shipped away to someone else and would soon magically become a card that I cared about. The worst thing I could pull was a checklist. These were USELESS. I did actually throw these away. I didn’t want them and I couldn’t trade them. They were worthless, waste of cardboard. When you were plunking down 5 bucks for a pack with 4 cards in it and you pulled a checklist, you weren’t happy, you felt ripped off. I felt really ripped off…

Of course, this has all changed a bit for me… I stopped ripping packs. For now at least cuz I am physically unable and financially handicapped. I will probably start ripping again soon, but… Basically my collecting priorities have changed a lot. I stopped doing the player collector thing… (Except for Danny Tartabull, Jared Sandberg and Buck O’Neill – I will chase those 3 until I have every last card ever made of them!!!) and I have soured on team collecting for the most part. Now I am strictly a set builder.

Now checklists have purpose. Now I wish for them, I have them on my want lists; I use them to build my want lists. I buy them, I trade for them and I value them… When it comes to vintage, I really like the ones that are marked up, that show the original owner’s progress with regard to building the set. It shows that I was not the first person to chase that set or to use that checklist. I like that. Because I am obsessive, I do like the marked up checklists, but for the sake of looking good in the binder, I try to get a clean checklist, too. I keep the marked up list in the binder at the end with the clean checklist in its appropriate spot in the binder…

So, since y’all now that I like checklists, I use them, I collect them, I need them, I like owning them and I find them useful and valuable… With all that knowledge I am now making a checklist the CT Card o’ da Day… Yep, from 2010 Topps Heritage, card #437, the 7th Series short printed checklist. It has a little picture on it. I like that. It adds to the checklist which can be boring. I like that Topps did that. I prefer it when they picture a player or team that I like or at least don’t hate. I mean really, Topps, don’t you already feature the Yankees enough? Do we need more freaking photos of the New York Freaking Yankees??? I had no idea that Captain Intangibles and Co. were included on card #437 when I placed it on my want list. I merely knew it was a short print and I needed it. Well, now I no longer need it, but since I now have it I was able to use it to add names with numbers on my 2010 Topps Heritage want list, which is up to date and can be found right here. Incidentally, I only need 33 cards to finish this puppy off... Feel free to help me out, I aint too proud to beg...

On a slightly different note, I am watching the Cubs vs. Cards game on TBS and just saw Carlos Pena in a Cubs uniform. I don’t like it. It could be worse; he could be a Yankee…

Thanks as always for reading and enjoying the Collective Troll’s Card of the Day. Go Rays! Left handed hunt and peck Troll out. (After about 35 minutes…)

Checking Off...

Any set-builder knows the thrill of scratching a card off of their needs list. Since I prioritized 1965 Topps, I have had great luck doing just that. Earlier this week I got a card in the mail – a single card purchase I made from an auction site (it isn't the sweet Norm Cash card). With this card I needed only 3 more cards to complete the first 99 cards of the set.

With each new card I get I generally spend a while staring at the photo, reading and re-reading the back, googling the player to look for new information and career stats, then I scan the card and finally put it in the binder.

The card I am writing about today broke that routine. It was a much needed one and I anticipated owning it, but holding it in my hands I didn’t feel that excitement I generally do.
It did fill up a page, which is awesome, but there was no googling, no memories, no stories, no sweet photos, no getting to learn about a player I may not have been too familiar with.

That is because card #79 is a checklist.

When I was a kid checklists were cool. Like many others, I used them. Well, I didn’t write ON them, I put them in a penny sleeve and then marked them off AND I used them to make my want list. Now, with the power of the internet I had a checklist before I even bought a binder. All this card really does is fill a hole in a page. This card is in GREAT shape, a little off-center, but has sharp corners and no markings. I got a good deal on it and it shipped to me for 3 bucks, but that was only after a lot of careful searching. These can and do sell for 5 bucks a pop PLUS shipping, for a card with no pictures.
Looking at this one does make me smile now that I think of it. The front lists the first 34 cards in the set. I have ALL but one.

The back shows cards numbered 35 – 88. I have all but 2 of those.
Collecting this set has renewed my love of this hobby. All of crap with Topps’ monopoly, overpriced cards and crappy inserts goes away when you dive into a set like this. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is getting disenchanted with the hobby.

But, I am wondering – how do y’all feel about checklists?

That’s all for now. Details on the contest will come soon along with details on my grades. I have to wait till Monday for my test score so I don’t know whether to be happy or sad just yet. Feel free to check out my want list. The binder is looking damn good with 97% of the first 100 cards safely sitting in its pages. Oh, Norm Cash has little to do with this post, but I wanted a real photo of a card that I got REALLY excited about scratching off my list...
Go Rays! Troll out.