My latest project

I've grown sick of how this hobby is becoming all about money. I feel like collectors associate cards with their value instead of appreciating what they really are. I've decided to do something that I've always wanted to and I've been working for about 2 months now. I've been buying and sorting singles. I have about 30k that I'm working on now. They are all sorted by the letter of the player's last name. About 75% of the cards are sorted by each individual player. I'm creating a file for each player and putting their card(s) inside of it. It can become a mess at times, but its a ton of fun. It's relaxing looking through cards, learning about the players, appreciating designs, actually enjoying some of the great pictures. It doesn't matter what these cards are worth to me. I know the would sell for next to nothing, but they can provide hours and hours of enjoyment. Finding cards for TTM or IP autographs is amazing with this set up. I'm sure I'll be able to help player collectors out as well.






Comments or questions welcome...

very nice man! I need to sit down and do this to.

mlbfan10 said:

very nice man! I need to sit down and do this to.

Click to expand...

Thanks. It takes a ton of time. Once I have finish the whole alphabet I'm hoping it'll be much easier to maintain when it comes to filing away my new cars.

I have to agree 100% with everything you have stated. This is the main reason I just lost interest in collecting. The hobby is completely based on money/value, and its all about "did I get a good deal so I can flip). The major thing also is the outrageous box prices but thats a completely different story.

Its nice to see you have found a "new" love for the hobby and actually enjoy whats it all about "CARDS". If I ever get back in it (which I'm sure I will) I will contact you for the guys I collect. Thanks for the post

17ROCKIES12 said:

I've grown sick of how this hobby is becoming all about money. I feel like collectors associate cards with their value instead of appreciating what they really are.
Comments or questions welcome...

Click to expand...

Cardboard?

matty07 said:

I have to agree 100% with everything you have stated. This is the main reason I just lost interest in collecting. The hobby is completely based on money/value, and its all about "did I get a good deal so I can flip). The major thing also is the outrageous box prices but thats a completely different story.

Its nice to see you have found a "new" love for the hobby and actually enjoy whats it all about "CARDS". If I ever get back in it (which I'm sure I will) I will contact you for the guys I collect. Thanks for the post

Click to expand...

For the last year or so I've kind of been at this crossroad, and I'm glad I figured out what to do. I hope you are able to find something you like. I realized that boxes/packs weren't the way to go a few years ago. Then I moved onto singles because I could get the cards I wanted. My Barmes collection isn't growing to quickly and nothing else really looked interesting to me. I see myself sticking to this, TTMs, and Barmes cards from now on.

boxbreaker44 said:

17ROCKIES12 said:

I've grown sick of how this hobby is becoming all about money. I feel like collectors associate cards with their value instead of appreciating what they really are.
Comments or questions welcome...

Click to expand...

Cardboard?

Click to expand...

Baseball cardboard. The best kind.

I think once I have the funds i'll slowly start back up and purchase a few prospects I follow nothing big. But I'm gonna start a huge player collection of Justin Upton from all his base to affordable autos hahaha

Great idea, I've been working on something similar for the past few months. I'm working with about 25k cards I'd guess, from '06-'09. I'm separating them all by sets though, then team, then player. Growing up, I always marveled at my dads binder with cards from '58-'62, filled with Musial/Aaron/Mantle/etc...so sick. So that's what I'm doing, and putting them in binders.

any miggys?

chisox1917 said:

Great idea, I've been working on something similar for the past few months. I'm working with about 25k cards I'd guess, from '06-'09. I'm separating them all by sets though, then team, then player. Growing up, I always marveled at my dads binder with cards from '58-'62, filled with Musial/Aaron/Mantle/etc...so sick. So that's what I'm doing, and putting them in binders.

Click to expand...

That's gonna take a ton of binders. That should be pretty convenient though. Do you collect sets, or get autographs?

miguelcabrera said:

any miggys?

Click to expand...

(26) 2008 Bowman
(3) 2007 Artifacts
(3) 2008 Topps
(2) 2010 Topps
2007 Co-Signers
2008 UD "Starquest" insert
2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom
2007 Bowman
2009 Topps "Turkey Red" insert

This is what I have sorted so far. Probably have a lot more though.

PM me your address I will get some stuff to you I need some space
also please state team and players in your pm Thanks

craiger122003 said:

PM me your address I will get some stuff to you I need some space
also please state team and players in your pm Thanks

Click to expand...

Pm sent.
Thanks

If anyone wants me to see what I can pull up of any players lmk!

So, what is your break down? I mean, you can't seriously TTM 30,000 cards. Do you have a monthly budget for TTM's?

Adamsince1981 said:

So, what is your break down? I mean, you can't seriously TTM 30,000 cards. Do you have a monthly budget for TTM's?

Click to expand...

Last year I sent out about 60 TTM requests (~$50). I just like having things organized, and being able to find them quickly. It's nice having 100 cards of some of my favorite players easy to find without having to set them aside and create clutter. If I want to send things to a random player it's nice being able to pick out my favorite card of him, and not have to look through thousands and thousands of cards. It's nice being able to pull out my miggy cards in 5 seconds when miggy asked what I had (above). I'm not doing this entirely for TTM convenience, and I doubt I ever get more than 5% of these cards signed.

Great project 17Rockies12. Good to see other collectors appreciate the simple things of this hobby. As I'm writing this I glanced over at my binder of Palmeiro cards lol That's right, binder. No one touch, no top loaders. I went old school like I collected as a kid and decided I would keep all of my Palmeiro's in a binder. My theory is, if it's too expensive to keep in a binder then I don't need it in my collection. I got tired a few years ago of chasing thousand dollar cards and paying $2400 for this, and $1500 for that and even $300 for a regular auto. I'm lucky if I drop $10 on a card now and I'm loving it. I haven't enjoyed cards this much in years!

NYCrulesU said:

Great project 17Rockies12. Good to see other collectors appreciate the simple things of this hobby. As I'm writing this I glanced over at my binder of Palmeiro cards lol That's right, binder. No one touch, no top loaders. I went old school like I collected as a kid and decided I would keep all of my Palmeiro's in a binder. My theory is, if it's too expensive to keep in a binder then I don't need it in my collection. I got tired a few years ago of chasing thousand dollar cards and paying $2400 for this, and $1500 for that and even $300 for a regular auto. I'm lucky if I drop $10 on a card now and I'm loving it. I haven't enjoyed cards this much in years!

Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying things. That binder must be fun to look through. I love pulling out my cards of some of the guys I grew up watching (Larry Walker, Ellis Burks, even guys like Chuck McElroy). It's fun just thinking about memories of the players, and the game of baseball, instead of thinking about the value.

17ROCKIES12 said:

NYCrulesU said:

Great project 17Rockies12. Good to see other collectors appreciate the simple things of this hobby. As I'm writing this I glanced over at my binder of Palmeiro cards lol That's right, binder. No one touch, no top loaders. I went old school like I collected as a kid and decided I would keep all of my Palmeiro's in a binder. My theory is, if it's too expensive to keep in a binder then I don't need it in my collection. I got tired a few years ago of chasing thousand dollar cards and paying $2400 for this, and $1500 for that and even $300 for a regular auto. I'm lucky if I drop $10 on a card now and I'm loving it. I haven't enjoyed cards this much in years!

Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying things. That binder must be fun to look through. I love pulling out my cards of some of the guys I grew up watching (Larry Walker, Ellis Burks, even guys like Chuck McElroy). It's fun just thinking about memories of the players, and the game of baseball, instead of thinking about the value.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more with the bolded above. I do miss some of my more expensive cards and cards that I'll probably never even see again, but I don't miss the money part of it. I enjoy collecting on the cheap now. Much less stress and easier to collect.

Nice system. Reminds me of the index cards that libraries used to have. I can't imagine having that many cards. Thank got there's only been 41 Japanese players to date. That's all I collect. I have about 400 cards total.