2024 Hobby goals

[banjar]

My goals:

1) Shockingly, top of the list is keep adding to the Alomar PC.

2) I am thinking about resurrecting my Dave Parker PC from my childhood. I was cleaning out boxes from the basement as a part of the great "organize my life" project of late 2023, and I came across a binder with about 100 cards o' Dave. Thinking it might be fun to pick up pieces here and there. Dave's career was winding down just as Robbie's career was starting, so this could introduce me to an entirely different era of cards, well before junk wax and parallels and GU cards and 1/1's and all that sh*t.

3) Continue NOT buying new releases. For 2023, my final tally was 24 cards owned of a possible 257, or 9.3%. Looking to ramp this down further in 2024...

 

[Philip J. Fry]

My main goal: complete the 1997 Finest master set. Bronze/Silver/Gold PLUS the embossed Silver and Gold.

Outside of that, help my sons with their collections. One collects Judge, the other collects Mariano Rivera like I do.

Oh, and finally get a decent scanner that can scan slabs.

 

[smapdi]

Getting to be such that I can copy-paste my goals with minimal editing.
1) Continue chipping away at my 2021 Heritage Superset. I had been planning to transfer my mania to the 2024 Heritage set as 1975 Topps is my all-time favorite set, but it does not seem to be in the cards. They continue to make odds on good hits longer and longer to the point where it's not even fun to try. Of course, this will probably be the year they normalize the print runs on this product, make it fun again, and I don't preorder a case.
2) Finish 1941 Play Ball set. I only need 5, but they are Joe D, Dom D, Pee Wee, Greenberg, and Dickey. All the biggest names, won't be cheap, but I really need to finish this. I bought my first card over 30 years ago.
3) Get a really nice vintage piece. The ship has sailed on PSA 4 1951 Bowman Mantles at affordable prices, but 1952 Bowmans are still gettable. I picked up a PSA 7 Kareem rookie at the National, and I've been wanting Russell and Wilt RCs to go with it. Maybe I can swing 4s on those.
4) Chip away at my Magic collection wantlists, but I won't bore you here with that.
5) I've been selling Magic stuff at a good clip, and I've gotten over $3k from selling on COMC. Hopefully that will continue as I unwind my accumulations. That can lead to...
6) I registered a DBA last year to get tax benefits from the increased buying and selling. I hope to learn more about how all that works during tax time, and take advantage of reinvigorating the strictly fungible side of my collection.

 

[nkdbacks]

1. Complete my Diamondbacks collection website (mid/higher-end stuff)
2. Begin work on my D-backs base card project website - I am attempting to catalogue all D-backs base ever created, and seeing how deep I can get into completing the full run from 1998-present. Can't imagine I'll ever actually complete that, but a more realistic goal than most other baseball teams given the team's young age.
2b. Actually pick up base cards towards this project, I have a lot of gaps to fill from the last decade or so.
3. Pick up (3) new Brandon Webb cards print run less than 100.
4. Continue my search for less-than-100 print run Diamondbacks cards from the '90s/early '00s
5. Continue to expand the Corbin collection - I'm happy with many of my pickups this year, but hoping his second year cards will be a wee bit more affordable.

 

[dano7]

Goal #1, second of the year.

 

[mrmopar]

I have not posted on one of these threads for years. It's not something I will monitor/track/report, but my hope is that this year, I buy less than the past year and start a slowing trend that will ultimately lead to me stepping back from collecting new stuff all together and finally moving towards liquidation.

This hobby has been a lifelong interest pf mine and I still love it, but the reality is that I need to have a plan to get rid of everything. The hope that my boys develop an interest late in the game dies a little more each year. I don't want to burden my family with dealing with rooms full of crap and if there is no interest in anyone inheriting it and the sale would be a burden, then why not try to enjoy the fruits of many years of hard work.

I don't see myself stopping easily, because every day I search ebay, I find multiple things I want, be in duplicates or new items. I am actually saddened by the prospect of not searching for or receiving something new in the mail. However, I could even now probably spend the rest of my life trying to get rid of what I have already accumulated without adding 1 more thing. It's a Catch 22!

 

[banjar]

Yeah. I think about this kind of thing more and more as time goes on.

I have not posted on one of these threads for years. It's not something I will monitor/track/report, but my hope is that this year, I buy less than the past year and start a slowing trend that will ultimately lead to me stepping back from collecting new stuff all together and finally moving towards liquidation.

This hobby has been a lifelong interest pf mine and I still love it, but the reality is that I need to have a plan to get rid of everything. The hope that my boys develop an interest late in the game dies a little more each year. I don't want to burden my family with dealing with rooms full of crap and if there is no interest in anyone inheriting it and the sale would be a burden, then why not try to enjoy the fruits of many years of hard work.

I don't see myself stopping easily, because every day I search ebay, I find multiple things I want, be in duplicates or new items. I am actually saddened by the prospect of not searching for or receiving something new in the mail. However, I could even now probably spend the rest of my life trying to get rid of what I have already accumulated without adding 1 more thing. It's a Catch 22!

 

[jmc855]

Yeah. I think about this kind of thing more and more as time goes on.

Agreed. The "exit plan" is a tough thing to establish and have it be useful. In my spot, I just like Clemens cards, but my kid does not know of him aside from my room. So, he won't care, unless he cares because they were "dad's". But realistically, Clemens collections will NOT be a desired thing after my generation is gone, and I'm in my 40s. It's not like there will be a Clemens museum anywhere, or even a card-collecting museum for my cards to end up in lol.

No young people care about him as collectors to any useful degree. It's not like Mantle, or Aaron, or Jr, or Jeter, or Bonds etc, even though a sa pitcher I think there should be (tale for another time). The couple dozen or so of us Clemens folks still gathering his stuff all essentially have 85% of the same stuff, and are close in general age (there are no 15 years olds I know of seeking
The Rocket haha), so there won't be any sales to other collectors that show a major "gain" in liquidation.

Admittedly, we would all probably cherry-pick a handful of each other's stuff if given a chance, but en masse, we are mostly all set with the bulk of each other's stashes because we all have most of it. And will we really be inclined to spend any money on it all in 15, 20 or 25 years? I'll be 60 to 70. what rational reason would I, or anyone else, have to buy at that point?

I enjoy moving my stuff around in display ideas, etc, but it's just about enjoyment in the "now". Not sure I am super concerned about "burdening" anyone. It's a room that can be cleaned out in an hour or so with little care if it all goes to the dumpster, or 4 hours with good care and boxing if someone wants it. I chalk the $ spent up to "going out to dinner". We don't recupe that $ when we pass, so I'm not worried about the cards either I guess. Sorta morbid, but it is what it is. Writing this makes me re-examine why I keep buying, but there is an enjoyment factor of getting "new" old stuff I didn't have yet, so I'll stick with that! My cars will be something to worry about passing along/selling/liquidating before I go, my cards, not so much.

 

[dano7]

Goal #1, 3rd for the year

 

[theplasticman]

Link to 2023 thread


My goals for 2024

1. Continue liquidating anything that's not part of my player collections
2. Add 2+ game-used items from any of my favorite players (Darin Erstad, Will Clark, Eddie Murray, Bucky Jacobsen, Aaron Kurcz, Stacey Augmon)
3. Send off a batch of cards to PSA for grading
4. Take better photos for sharing my collection on IG.
5. Add at least 1 Bucky Jacobsen card. I need 3 non-1/1 cards. Wanted: 2005 Topps Black /54.
6. Finish my 1998 Topps Tek base set for Darin Erstad. I am missing pattern 86. For my second set, I am missing a handful of patterns: 4, 12, 59, 64, 74, 86
7. Add at least 10 new Erstad cards. I need about 106 non-1/1 cards.

Progress...
1. WHOOPS: I've gone backward on this in quarter boxes, etc., from the shows. lol.
2. COMPLETED: I added a GU Eddie Murray bat and another Erstad.
3. WHOOPS: I haven't started, but it should not be too far away.
4. IN PROGRESS: Doing better with this.
5. COMPLETED: I forget what it was, but I have added one this year.
6. CRUSHED IT: Completed two 90-card base sets. I am also up to 50 unique Diffractors.
7. IN PROGRESS: I'm sure I've added seven cards. I picked up a few last week.

 

[Topnotchsy]

I thought I had posted this year, but don't see my goals, so figure I'll post now. Bold is some of what I've done so far.


For the most part my goals have not changed in quite a few years as I found areas of the hobby I really enjoy. 2024 looks similar to previous years though I have added a few other areas of focus and tweaked some of my primary areas.

1) I want to try and sell items that are in the collection which are not a focus. Over the years my focus has shifted and I've accumulated items that I don't get much joy out of owning. I'd like to sell those. I've been selling more than in previous years, but still a long way away.

2) Items that chronicles steps of Jackie Robinson (and other major integrators') journeys before they made the Majors.
- Was able to purchase a program from the 1946-47 LA Red Devils, where Jackie Robinson played basketball in the offseason before he made the Majors

3) Find at least 1 significant lineup card collection (happy to pay a finder's fee for anyone who connects me to someone and a deal is made). Love the research and the hunt. Right at the end of last year I bought a collection of lineup cards from Don Baylor's personal collection. It turned out to be a disappointment, as I was hoping for some nice Helton 1997 lineup cards (among other things) and there was not a single one. A few months ago I was able to buy a collection of lineup cards from Tim Welke. I ended up buying around 80 pieces and got some that I'm excited about.

4) Find more lineup cards from significant games. It's been over a year since I acquired a World Series lineup card. Also always looking for debuts, milestones and vintage lineup cards.
Some finds for this year:
- Lineup cards from Lou Gehrig's 2000th consecutive game played (top 3 coolest items in my lineup card collection)
- 1996 World Series game 3 (Yankees 1st win of the dynasty)
- Rickey Henderson final career SB
- 1973 World Series game one dugout lineup card (Willie Mays final career start)
- 1935 St Louis Browns lineup card signed by Rogers Hornsby

5) I have narrowed my WWII-baseball focus to a number of areas: Baseball played in Europe, the All Star Series that were played, and anything related to black players who fought in WWII. This year I also added a focus on vintage photographs of some of the biggest ballplayers in the war (Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Hank Greenberg. I would still love to find a WWII-related Larry Doby item among other WWII-baseball items. I was able to find a small number of really nice DiMaggio and Williams photos, including one of Williams in the pilot's seat of an airplane from his pilot training.

6) Hoping to find the remaining tickets from 9/11 I don't have, at least 1 ticket from a game that Jackie Robinson played football at UCLA (1939 and 1940), a Dec 7 1941 ticket (Pearl Harbor)
- No progress here in some time.

7) I've been slowly working on the 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Autograph set. I got most of the SP's and would like to find a nice lot that helps fill in many of the lesser ones I don't have.
- Picked up the Ryan autograph from the set at a solid price recently, but not much action

 

[dano7]

Goal #1 - 4th for the year
100th card for this set

T202 Dooin Gets His Man/Dooin/Titus 9/27/24

 

[dano7]

5th for the year ....one more big name card on the way.
Collins Easily Safe/Clarke/Byrne

 

[dano7]

6th of 4 for the year....big one still to come.

1912 Hassan 1912 Hassan Oldring Almost Home/Oldring/Lord 10/4/24

 

[dano7]

7th of the year .....goal was 4

 

[nkdbacks]

Checking in on my 2024 self!

1. Complete my Diamondbacks collection website (mid/higher-end stuff) Fail. Had made good progress in 2023/early this year but ended up buying a new scanner that was significantly better, so essentially started this project over again. Hoping to finish by mid-2025 at this point.
2. Begin work on my D-backs base card project website - I am attempting to catalogue all D-backs base ever created, and seeing how deep I can get into completing the full run from 1998-present. Can't imagine I'll ever actually complete that, but a more realistic goal than most other baseball teams given the team's young age. Well I did "begin" but due to going back to the original website project, got nowhere. Probably won't tackle this for another year.
2b. Actually pick up base cards towards this project, I have a lot of gaps to fill from the last decade or so. Picked up a handful, but nowhere near where I hoped.
3. Pick up (3) new Brandon Webb cards print run less than 100. Finally, a success! Picked up 20 cards numbered less than /100, including a 1/1. A local collector has been slowly moving his collection this year, so that helped quite a bit. Don't expect near this success next year.
4. Continue my search for less-than-100 print run Diamondbacks cards from the '90s/early '00s. Added a small handful this year - nothing exciting, but always good to make a dent.
5. Continue to expand the Corbin collection - I'm happy with many of my pickups this year, but hoping his second year cards will be a wee bit more affordable. Turned out better than I could have expected. Not saying I'm glad his first half slump happened, but definitely knocked the prices down and had a great year of additions to the collection. Prices picked up at the end of the year so probably pulling back a bit here, but more than happy with the collection I've amassed now, including my first Corbin Super.

 

[theplasticman]

I finished the complete 2005 Throwback Threads Polo Grounds set of Darin Erstad. I'm super stoked to have it done!

 

[gt2590]

1. Find one of the William Shatner/Patrick Stewart dual auto I passed on 5 years ago for less than $300. Was $250 now $2K+. Still ticked about that one…

2. Now that they’ve gotten pretty much caught up, FINALLY send in my huge COMC inventory pile. Logging it and pricing will probably take weeks.

3. Get a really nice Christian Pulisic early or auto card.

4. Rip a lot less wax. Pretty sure I’ve posted that for last 2-3 years…

EDIT: Just checked my ‘23 post. Had 3 of these on that list too…

I'm hitting .250.

Although with the prices they've hit, I've pretty much given up on #s 1 and 3.

And most important, I finally got all my eBay stuff listed and sold most of it already.

Sorted my PC and COMC too, so that's definitely progress.

Now just waiting for the COMC backlog to clear...

 

[michaelstepper]

I'm hitting .250.

Although with the prices they've hit, I've pretty much given up on #s 1 and 3.

And most important, I finally got all my eBay stuff listed and sold most of it already.

Sorted my PC and COMC too, so that's definitely progress.

Now just waiting for the COMC backlog to clear...

.250 is better than most of MLB these days. Thems good odds

 

[WizardofOz1982]

2024 Goals - Some unchanged (I'm lookin at you Jeff Frye), some new

Jeff Frye - The needles in this haystack haven't changed unfortunately. They remained hidden another year making this list the same now for three years running.

1. 1997 Red Sox Score Premier #10
2. 1998 Stadium Club First Day Issue #281 SER# /200
3. 1999 Fleer Tradition Starting 9 #404 SER# /9
4. 1999 Boston Red Sox Team Issued Photocards #NNO
5. 2000 Boston Red Sox Team Issued Photocards #NNO
6. 2017 Texas Rangers Team Issued Alumni Alley #NNO
   
   For the first time in three years I managed to knock something off this list thanks to someone who saw my website and sent me the Starting 9 along with a 2001 Topps National 1/1 I didn't even know I needed. Unfortunately there's nothing to add to this list so it'll just sit at 5 cards to finish everything up for 2025.

Ryan Hesley - Ryan was in multiple Topps products in 2023 which is great for me. I managed to add most everything this year other than 1/1s but I still need a few of the rarer issues.

Add five of these non 1/1 issues.

1. 2017 Topps Heritage Minors 5×7 #18 SER# /49
2. 2017 Topps Heritage Minors 5×7 Gold #18 SER# /10
3. 2019 Bowman Prospects Red #BP121 SER# /5
4. 2019 Topps Update 5×7 #US248 /49
5. 2019 Topps Heritage Reverse Stock #717 Print Run of 5
6. 2022 Topps 206 El Principe de Gales Back W3-91 /15
7. 2022 Topps 206 Polar Bear Back W3-91 /3
8. 2022 Topps Postseason PS-70 Purple /25
9. 2023 Topps 1st Edition Light Blue Foil #229 SER#/5
10. 2023 Topps Big League Baseball Black Foil #196 SER#/25
11. 2023 Topps Chrome Sapphire Purple #229 SER# /10
12. 2023 Topps Chrome Sapphire Red #229 SER# /5
    
    I knocked one off this list so far but Ryan is in 2024 Topps Update with its 412 (think it's 32 or 34 actually) parallels so this list will grow some in 2025. I've already added several of the rainbow pieces thanks to release day listings though so we'll see. I knocked off all but the 1/1s pretty quickly for 2023 Topps. Hopefully 2024 will be the same, though there are a lot more parallels.

Add 3 1/1s - I actually need 29 1/1s, after his appearance in several Topps sets in 2023, but these are the ones I want the most.

1. 2015 Bowman Draft Metallic #189 SER# 1/1
2. 2015 Bowman Chrome Draft Superfractors #189 SER# 1/1
3. 2018 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs Black Mojo Refractors #CPARH SER# 1/1
4. 2019 Topps Chrome Update Autograph Superfractors #CUARH SER# 1/1
5. 2022 Topps 206 Ty Cobb 1/1
6. 2022 Topps Update All Star Stitches Relic Gold ASSC-RH 1/1
7. 2022 Topps Update All Star Stitches Jumbo Relic Gold ASJC-RH 1/1
8. 2023 Topps Foilfractor #229 SER# 1/1
9. 2023 Topps Pristine Superfractor #299 SER# 1/1
10. 2023 Topps Pristine Black Pristine Refractors #299 SER# 1/1
    
    I've only seen one 1/1 hit the market this year for Ryan. I did manage to snag it and it is the first Bowman Metallic 1/1 in the collection so far, along with being his 1st Bowman. They usually look so much like the base set I think a lot of them just disappear into shoe boxes. I'm still not convinced the Black Mojo 1/1 exists but I'd love to be proven wrong. His appearance in 2024 Topps Update adds 4 more 1/1s to this list for 2025. I know one of the All Star relic 1/1s has already been pulled in a personal box but it hasn't hit the market yet.

Add 3 Printing Plates:
There are 31 plates I don't have but they aren't a big priority. I'm not a huge fan of plates so I only add them if I see them at a reasonable price.

I haven't added any plates this year because I haven't seen any listed for sale so far. 2024 Topps Update adds 4 more plates to this list for 2025.

Autograph Set Goals:

1998 Donruss Significant Signatures Master Set:
I've finished this set once, minus the two expired redemption cards, and sold it. I've rebuilt it again and would still love to have the redemptions so they stay on the list. I've actually built a third copy of this set in 2023 so I have two currently. I'd still love to add the unsigned redemption cards for Ozzie and Nolan though.

1. Nolan Ryan Unsigned Redemption
2. Ozzie Smith Unsigned Redemption
   
   No change to this one unfortunately. I still have two completed master sets other than the unused redemptions for Ozzie and Nolan.