What are your thoughts / opinions on other styles of collectors ?

I am (shockingly) a player collector. Rarely, if ever, do I put together sets. I've tried my hand at prospecting a few times (picked up Uggla / McLouth in '07 and was rewarded, but also picked up a massive Merkin Valdez collection in '09 and he never really panned out, to say the least) but it doesn't really appeal to me that much.

With all that useless info thrown into your lap, how do you feel about other collectors ? I always enjoy seeing all the other posts, no matter what it is (a vintage Hank Greenberg pennant, a Stan Musial 3 color patch, a Byron Buxton Gold Refractor Auto or a Mark Grace Topps Tek pattern 38).

The one thing, I don't seem to understand, myself, is where a collector can drop hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a guy who has never played above AA, especially when you can either drop that kind of coin on a HOF'er high grade RC or auto.

Just my $0.02. What's yours ?

I switch between so many hats, it's hard for me to judge anyone else's preferences. I'm pretty much like you in that about the only thing I don't do is prospect. My interests, from high-to-low, go like this:

Player Collector
Set Collector
Vintage Collector
Type Collector
***** League Collector
Insert Collector
Team Collector
Local Player Collector

I am strictly a player collector. Theres enough cards out there for me to get that I dont need to focus on anything else.

I had never really thought about different "styles" of collecting until you mentioned it. To be honest, my husband and I have 2 completely different styles of collecting. I want to collect Brandon Webb and Huston Street cards and had never thought about doing sets until he kept mentioning it so I bought a hobby box of series 1 and 2 of 2007 Topps. Still not interested in completing sets. I prefer to concentrate on my favorite players and get their cards.
My husband, however, I still don't know what he is actually doing. He likes vintage cards, which don't interest me at all, and has changed his mind a thousand times about what he actually wants to collect. I think he may be going for the 1934 Goudey set and some Old Judge something or other, but he has seriously changed his mind so many times since we started wanting to collect. Give him a week or 2 and he may be working on something else instead. Ha, his mind is everywhere but I still love him

I'm primarily a player collector (Olerud and Arencibia), but in the past year I've gotten more into Topps set building via trading on Zistle. I buy a few hanger boxes to jump start the set, then trade the inserts as well as some of the thousands of 1990's and 2000's cards I have on my tradelist.

- Rodrick

It's because you are a collector, like many other collectors of many other things. Rarely do we see prospectors as collectors as many and most focus so much on profit. A collector cares little about profit. I imagine you and I have RARELY made money on anything we've sold nor do we care or mind. The fun is worth the price paid. But there are prospectors out there who collect, the largely silent minority and at least that we can understand

Depending on the time(s), I too wear different hats with regards to collecting. I have zero opinions on others who collect how they like or what they like as I simply appreciate those who appreciate the hobby. Having said that, I am somewhat partial hobbyists who collect well loved vintage.

I've gone from player collector to adding in a few sets to complete but it never kept my interest in finding all the cards I was missing. So back to player collector than the history of the game started peaking my interest so HOF autos and GU of those autos I can't afford have incorporated into my collecting. Eventually a few other collecting Niches crept in such as 400-500 hitters and 50hr seasons taking interest and time away from the player collection
I too don't see the collecting charm or focus of prospecting. It absolutely blows my mind what some of these people pay or do for some of these cards. I enjoy the colors and autos but it's simply not for me. I'd put it a close second in "things I fail to understand" right after women...

I have several sub-collections in my overall baseball card collection.

In order of preference, I collect:

1. complete sets, mostly pre-2000
2. oddball cards and sets, mostly from the '80s
3. vintage cards
4. autographs, including through the mail
5. a few players
6. old magazines, pins, pennants, programs and anything else baseball, mainly Rangers and Yankees

I tried the prospecting craze from 2003-2005 and did very well, but it got boring because I was buying cards of minor leaguers I cared nothing about for the sole intention of making a profit.

I think prospecting ultimately can be damaging for the future of our hobby, because many kids (and some adults) think they can make big money, so they blow their allowance or part-time job money buying risky players, usually lose their money, and are turned off by the hobby.

I've seen it so many times. Most kids don't realize that prospecting is risky, or they think it's easy.
Then when they don't make a profit, they think baseball cards suck, never realizing that prospecting is just a tiny percentage of our hobby.

I am a player collector. Recently going after 1998 teks of my guy.gave away most of my yankee collection to family and friends. I do bust wax for fun sell the hits on ebay. I am amazed at how manny different ways people collect. More power to them.

I don't have any specific preference.

I really enjoy all the different styles, it keeps all the posts interesting. Though there are plenty that I wouldn't get into myself (prospecting, vintage, etc.), I still love seeing the different styles and different cards.

I prefer collectors who have interesting collecting themes. I like seeing people rack up great players collections of lesser known players. I like seeing the extensiveness of team collectors who go after everything, especially seeing interesting or unique team sets together. I enjoy browsing through oddball collections to see the weird stuff that is out there and what has settled into collections. I enjoy seeing and learning about unique themed collections (all-star roster autographs, mexican players, jewish players, variety of GU items, etc). I especially enjoy seeing the dominating player collections out there that not only impress the heck out of everyone by being by far the best of the best, but are deep with variety beyond basic cards and GU/AU items.

I don't particularly care for the motive of profit driven "collectors", but then again they really aren't usually collecting. They are buying to resell, not collect. I don't have a great interest in the graded aspect of the hobby. To me it parallels the profit motive, although there is some value is legitimizing items (if you can trust the grading company not to make a mistake as well). I don't really get the unopened collection theme either. that also feels profit driven. I would enjoy a nice run of different packs because some of the early wrappers are just colorful and interesting, and star on top cellos and racks are an obvious choice for collecting (but no hoarding), but stockpiling unopened boxes of 1984 Topps is lost on me.

Um, I just pick up my players cards and whatever I think it a nice card..

One of these days I'll get to scanning in my stuff..(maybe even taking a picture or two)

I'm a team collector - Pirates , but now I mainly collect players of local low "A" team [Rangers] and will collect certain cards of them since I do get to meet / talk to them regular . The main item I'm collecting now is autoed game tickets of local team .

I like seeing the variety of the collections and the way each collector enjoys their niche in the hobby.
DANNY