The Budget Trading Card Collector

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The Organic Nature of The Budget Trading Card Collection Pt. 2

This is a continuation of the post in which I looked at the organic nature of my trading card catalog. The myriad number of sets to the growing number of cards, in its organic nature, my card holdings seem to have a mind of its own. Recently, I have added even more variety to my collection. I gave in and went off budget and acquired one of those special cards that I wondered if I would ever own. 1982 Topps card #21, the Ripken rookie card. With the acquisition of this card, I also now have hope and the possibility of completing the 1982 Topps checklist.

In a recent haul, I acquired what I believe to be a complete set of 1992 Topps Home Alone 2 and the 11 sticker cards. As a whole I am a fan of Topps and the sets that they produce. While I am not ravenous about non-sport cards, I like them okay. But the Home Alone set has to be one of the worst sets that I have ever had the misfortune to catalog. It is not as if a photographer had to be dispatched to get the shots for the set, just take them from the movie. The images are grainy and, to me, do not tell the story of the movie well. But it is cards in my catalog, it increases my non-sport numbers as well as my over all numbers.

Early in this period of collecting, I acquired a large block of cards and in it was a stack of 1987/1988 Pacific MISL Soccer cards. I put off cataloging these cards for a long time. Then as I started to work on the set and am now over half finished, I find that I am beginning to like the set. There are no great photo shots, but over all it is a set that I am now enjoying adding each new card.

I am working on the 1991 Impel Marvel Universe set. Shades of my youth and Spider-Man comic books. I was hoping that the entire set was there, but alas I think it is missing a couple of cards.

Another small stack of cards that I recently came purchased, 1976/1977 Topps Hockey. I was able to pickup over 50 of these and they are nice. I do not collect much Hockey, but I am proud to have these in my catalog.

Yet another small stack, about 60 cards, came my way, 1982 Fleer Baseball. 1982 Fleer Baseball is not a popular set as it is not a very well produced set. All this being equal, I like the set and am very pleased to have my small holding of 1982 Fleer increased.

In the high production era, 1987 Topps Baseball cards are everywhere. I do not purposely seek these cards but add them if they happen along. I cracked a couple of repacks lately and, as usual, many '87 Topps, '88 Donruss and '89 Topps. My number of '87 Topps is up to 524. I have a complete set, but decided not to break it just to add to my catalog. Just letting the '87 Topps grow organically.

And some other cards that I have added lately.

Another stat that I follow in my catalog is the number of cards from Topps Baseball base sets 1953-2005. I am speaking of just base sets, not Traded or Total, Opening Day, Chrome or anything other than base sets. Total number of cards(with variations that I have cataloged thus far) 34059 and of this number, I have 4271 for 12.54% complete.

Cards from 735 different sets
Would take 232,037 cards to complete
Have 5.1544 % of cards in sets represented
Cataloged 11960 Total
Cataloged 9489 Baseball
Cataloged 1089 Football

Happy collecting
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Friday, November 1, 2013

Treasures Via the Mail.

In 2005 as I was acquiescing to the reality that I was about to embark on another journey of cheer and discovery of trading card collecting. With millions of cards of a great number of subjects available, I knew that baseball would always be my first choice. The final decision saw all subjects being considered with my favorite, Baseball far out in front.

As I began to collect in earnest, good fortune shined upon me and with a few good luck finds, I found myself with over 15000 cards to sort and catalog. There was no way that I could think about trading as I had no idea what cards lay hidden in that mass of cardboard.

Here it is 2013 and 11404 cards cataloged and finally I can see the bottom of card stacks to be cataloged. A short time ago I decided it was time, I sought a trading partner and initiated the first trade. Here's to Nick, the great blogger of Dime Boxes -- The Low-End Baseball Collector's Journey for a truly wonderful first trade experience. A few of the treasures I received.

2001 Topps 378 Don Larsen. Only baseball can produce such moments that define the history and presence of a spectator sport. Throughout the history of baseball, moments of this type have woven is fabric into the aesthetic of American culture. I like this card and the feelings that it evokes.

1996 Topps 189 John Smoltz. If you ever had the pleasure of watching Smoltz pitch you were treated. But if you ever witnessed that wild look in his eyes and the hard line of the jaw, you knew what was coming, he was mad and the hitters did not have a ghost of a chance.

2001 Upper Deck Vintage 337 Jeffery Hammonds. Hammonds means little to me as a player that I would seek, but 2001 Upper Deck Vintage is a issue that I like. Not being a particular fan of Upper Deck, I must confess that they did a very good job on this issue. It is nice to add this card to my catalog.

2002 Topps 604 Rick Ankiel. You have to admire a player that would be willing to totally reinvent himself to remain in the game. Rick came to the majors as a picture, but retrained himself and became an outfielder when his pitching career was not keeping him in the game. I like the determination.

2003 Ultra 94 Fred McGriff "Crime Dog". This is one of those players that I am always happy to get a new card of. 2003 Ultra is a nice set and this is a player that I like, so the two together make this a treasured card in my collection. Like ripping a pack and finding a favorite player.

I am always happy to get certain players on sets or brands into my collection. These are the cards that make the work of sorting and cataloging fun and a pleasure. As I find new examples of these cards, it always brings a smile. Topps is my favorite brand most of the time. It is always great to find a card of one of the true greats of the game like Hank Aaron. And John Olerud and Chili Davis are players that I do not mind adding to my catalog.

Nick sent these and bout 55 other cards. My collection is improved.

Happy Collecting.

Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Organic Nature of The Budget Trading Card Collection

My cataloging software sorts cards into 10 different categories or subjects. These categories are 0 for baseball to 9 for other. Cards are sorted by category and then by year and next by set name and lastly by card number, So the first card in my catalog is 1967 Topps Baseball Card #91 and the last card in my catalog is 1987 (1987/1988) Pacific MISL Soccer Card #101 with 11238 cards in between. As I did not set up a category for soccer, it is in the Other category.

I search for trading cards in any manner that seems likely to allow me to acquire cards. I never know what cards that I will find next. Likewise, I catalog the cards in a similar manner as to how I acquire them, so cards are cataloged in a very random manner making my catalog grow in an almost organic style. I add cards and they land at all points within my catalog. The number of cards in a set increases as does the number of cards in a year and in the category also. I have recently added cards from 1971 baseball, 1989 football, 1992 basketball, 1991 Impel Star Trek and 1987/1988 Pacific MISL. As can be seen, my catalog grow in a very organic manner and I like it that way.

Of the 11240 cards in my catalog, 9052 are baseball cards, so it is evident that I am a baseball fan and prefer baseball cards. I seek baseball cards and accept cards of other subjects if I come across and am able to acquire them. I collect 2005 and older. In the case of basketball and hockey 2005/2006 and older. This cut off year came about "just because" this was the year that I decided to seriously collect and discovered that I was not going to chase modern issues. The exceptions to this collect all attitude are no high school, college or minor league sets. I do get some cards in those exceptions if they are part of a regular issue.

My catalog has data on card sets and player names. My open collecting

policy has led to my having a large number of sets and players represented in my collection. Currently there are cards from 698 different sets represented in my collection and that number continues to grow. Set definitions have the number of base cards with a field for number of variations. Variations are added as I acquire a card with a variation and agree that I want to collect the variation. For instance, currently, I have 6 variations for 1991 Topps baseball. As I cataloged 1991 Topps Baseball I identified 6 variations that I would like to have in my collection. Of those 6 variations I have both versions of 1991 Topps Baseball #366. Of the other 5, I only have 1 of the variations. Currently, my name data base has 3958 different names in it. I do not add names of actors or movie characters or other characters, just players and coaches. So this open collecting policy of names and sets means that my want list is growing not getting smaller as I continue to add cards.

As I add new cards I see sets grow, new sets being added and the number of cards for a given player increase and new players being added constantly. Like a living organism, my collection grows and at the same time, what my collection could or will be changes as well. What my collection will be, I do not know. Frankly, at this point, I am not sure that my accumulation of cards is properly a collection yet. But I will continue to add cards, sets, names and with avid interest, watch this thing grow.

698 sets = 222,231 possible cards
of 222,231 possible cards have 11240 = 5.0578% complete
3958 player, coach, manager names
Andre Dawson 21 cards
Nolan Ryan 20 Cards
Jose Canseco 20 Cards
22,433 images (fronts and backs)
1990 have 1198 different cards
1981 have 1138 different cards
4 years with over 1 thousand cards (1981, 1989, 1990, 1991)
658 of 690(30 variations) possible1981 Fleer Baseball

Some recent sets added:

1989 Fleer All-Stars, insert, 12 cards
1989/1990 Topps Hockey, 198 cards
1988 Pacific Legends I Baseball, 110 cards
1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow Baseball, 720 cards
2002 Fleer Fall Classic Baseball, 100 cards
1987/1988 Pacific MISL Soccer, 110 cards

Happy Collecting
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Thursday, October 3, 2013

The Undiscovered Country

I make regular trips to a neighboring town for the purpose of visiting a pain clinic where large needles are plunged into my back in an effort to make my life a little more livable. The efforts of this clinic are at best marginally successful. Some time back, on one of these journeys, I decided to check to see if the internet would reveal a worthwhile stop in my quest for trading cards. My search revealed a shop, and the map revealed a location, but when I located the area I did not find a card shop. A few visits later, my wife professed hunger and we had spotted some eating establishments near the address where the card shop location was so headed back to this area. I happened to look at the restaurant address and realized that the map for the card shop had caused me to search the wrong side of the street for the card shop......

Gadsden Sports Cards, 512 Broad St, Gadsden, AL

After eating, I waddled over to the card shop and it was 4:40 PM when I arrived and the shop closed at 5:00 PM, this would be a intro visit only. As I entered the shop, I saw familiar images that let me know; so far so good...there be trading cards here.

The budget collector went to work to utilize his 15 minutes to scope out any bargains. There was a box to 4 for a $1 packs of cards, 2 for a $1 cards in top loaders, and single cards on display that had 2 prices on the sticker...there was hope. I understand; the closeout packs box will not have any packs with great treasure in them while the 2 for a $1 box may contain any worthwhile hidden treasures and the dual prices(book and sale price) on the singles told me that the prices were reasonable.

A little over a week later(2 days ago) it was time for another needle in the back and I ventured back to the card shop. On this visit, my endurance was undermined, but I was determined.

First visit:

2 packs 1990 Score Baseball....had about 30 in my collection
2 packs 1991 Series 1 Score Baseball....had about 20 in my collection.
4 packs 1989 Pro Set Football....had less than 20 in my collection
4 packs 1989 Topps Stickers Baseball....had none in my collection.
1 pack 1990 Fleer Baseball....wanted unopened pack.
1 pack 1992 Stadium Club Series 1 Baseball....wanted unopened pack.
1969 Dark Shadows Green #63 $3
1968 Topps Baseball #144 Joe Morgan $3($15)
1968 Topps Baseball #85 Gaylord Perry $2($8)

2nd Visit:

4 packs 1988 Topps Stickers Baseball....had none.
2 packs 1990 Upper Deck Baseball...had about 50 in collection.
2 more packs 1989 Pro Set Football
1 more pack 1990 Topps Stickers Baseball
1 more pack 1990 Score Baseball.
15 1981 Fleer Baseball .10c Box...brings collection within 20 of complete.
10 cards from 2 for $1 Box
1970 Topps Baseball #300 Tom Seaver $15($30)....Very, very nice.
1982 Topps Baseball #90 Nolan Ryan $2($6)

The packs, of course, are the budget cards for my collection of as many cards

as I can acquired on my small collecting budget. The 1981 Fleers brought me some of the common variations that I was missing. The single cards added some cards that I will not find in my normal budget buys(I know that careful use of that cash could have procured a large number of cards) and as a collector, I am normal, I want those cards also. The packs allow me the fun of ripping packs to see what will be revealed.

I have decided not to separate Topps Stickers from Sticker Backs but to collect the intact versions of these cards. I have, also, decided to collect Sticker Backs first and this poses another question, whether to collect backs with all different stickers or just one example of each Sticker Back.

All in all, I enjoyed my visit to Gadsden Card Shop and will surely return so if you are in the area, I think that it would be a worth while stop for any collector looking for cards.

Happy Collecting.
Jerry Yeager.

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

A Small Milestone...10,000 Cards Cataloged

1989 Topps All Star #18
Andre Dawson
First Card Cataloged

I am slow; cataloging cards is a daily endeavor, but only a few cards get cataloged each day that I work at it. My speed is somewhat deliberate and somewhat a necessity of health and wanting to know everything about each card added to my catalog. I research each card with an absolute OCD dedication. Finally today I reached the 10,000 card mark. I know that that is a small collection, but it is my hard work to build my collection.

I have software that organizes my collection as well as gives me some insights into the current state and status of my collection. I decided to post a break-down of where my current catalog stands.

I have every hope and intention of add more cards; starting tomorrow.

1975 Topps #61
Dave Winfield
10,000 Card Cataloged

I normally add cards randomly, that is not selecting the next card, just cataloging the next card in the stack. That is not entirely true. I randomly add cards in a somewhat orderly fashion. Selecting from baseball, football, basketball and non-sport at fairly regular intervals. The card that comes from each subject is random. All of this being equal, I decided to select the card that would be number 10,000. After some thought, I added 1975 Topps Baseball #61 Dave Winfield. 1975 Topps Baseball is one of my all time favorite sets and #61 Winfield was available to be cataloged.

I am a little OCD, so numbers and stats are things that I must know about my collection; here are some of those numbers and stats.

1986 Topps #161
Jerry Rice

644 Sets currently represented in my catalog.
208033 Possible cards from those 644 sets.
73 Variations included in the 208033(variations are added when a card is cataloged with a variation).
37 Different years represented(collect 2005 and older)(Basketball and Hockey 2005/2006 and older).
For split year cards, I catalog them in the first year IE 1991/1992 is cataloged as 1991.
149750 Possible Baseball cards, have 8065
40679 Possible Football cards, have 962
14198 Possible Basketball cards, have 644
2324 Possible Hockey cards, have 42
315 Possible Racing cards, have 10
196 Possible Gaming cards, have 30
571 Possible Entertainment cards, have 247
31633 Possible 1991 cards, have 960(the year of change, I wanted to know)
34059 Possible Base Topps Cards 1953-2005, have 3727(again I wanted to know. 1953-2005 because I store cards in 9 pocket pages...1952 will not fit and not interested in 1951)(If I am ever able to collect 1952, will be in a separate collection).
1981 Cards 1119 unique cards.
1990 Cards 1017 unique cards. (first 2 years of more that 1000 cards)
1981 Fleer 643 of 690 possible unique cards.
1987 Topps 423 of 793 possible unique cards.
1982 Topps 344 of 793 possible unique cards.
1991 Star Trek 213 of 310 possible unique cards. (possible cards based upon identified variations at this point in time)

1991 Star Trek #1

3754 Names in database(just players and coaches from major sports, no racing nor actors and famous persons)

If I am fortunate enough to catalog another 10,000 cards, what will my collection look like? I have no idea, but I hope to find out. Will update you later on progress.

Happy Collecting.
Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Monday, September 9, 2013

1991: The Year That Brought The House of Trading Cards Down

We all know about the crash of trading cards of the mid 90's, but I have some thoughts about how it all actually came about. It is true that many factors contributed to the down fall and we blame the card manufactures for over production, but that is just a small part of what happened.

First, a single card may be the first link in a chain of events that culminated in the broken dream of card collecting. Upper Deck Card #1, Ken Griffey, Jr. was a singularly industry changing card. This card promised that a card of significance could be pulled from an ordinary pack rip. This card increased in value at an astounding pace and collectors flocked to own this piece of cardboard gold that could be pulled from an almost current offering of cards. Then prospectors flocked to card collecting to own a portion of the riches that would come from owning a card that would be worth a fortune in the future. There was proof of this fact, and it was the 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle. Then in 1990 it seemed to be happening again with the Leaf #300 Frank Thomas, so come one, come all and get rich. Sadly, reality would tell the real tale very soon.

Over production that had started in the mid 80's continue and increased as a huge influx of collectors pushed cards sales to new highs that had never been seen before(and will never be seen again), and the card companies were not inclined to withhold cards that would mean ever larger revenue numbers. To satiate this hunger for cardboard riches, card companies came up with a plan.

Marketing comes to the card collecting world. The card companies found themselves in a place that they had never know before, and I believe that they turned their collective backs on collectors. New retailers that had never sold trading cards before were giving cards prime shelf space and production was kept high to satisfy this demand. This demand was coming form a new source of buyers, trading card collecting was now in the hands of commodity traders.

The card companies, probably, had no idea of what the consequences of catering to these commodity traders would have on the industry. The card companies only saw the need/opportunity to give these new buyers what they wanted. So 1991 saw the card companies embracing their new reality of sales, sales and more sales. Upper Deck had proven that quality would sale, so new product lines, new gimmicks could only mean more new sales.

In 1991 the card companies unveiled the future path of card collecting:

New product Topps Archives Baseball
New product Stadium Club Baseball
New product Ultra Baseball
New product Studio Baseball
Baseball had over 13000 cards in main and popular oddball sets
Baseball had over 70 sets of main, inserts and parallels

The other sports saw equal increases in sets and offerings. Most collectors were overwhelmed and could not keep up, so were forced to choose what items to collect as they could not collect it all. But the trend was set and would eventually result in card companies offering so many products that no one understands or tries to collect it all.

1991, new products, glossy, special, parallel, and the first impulse of chase cards and the card companies thought they were covering any buyers wants. But the commodity traders have a different view to that of collectors, they want items for investment, not to build collections. So when a card did not show potential, it was dumped and a new item to replace it sought, so all of these hoarded cards began to come back into the market as they did not seem to meet the expectations of traders. By the mid 90's, all of this over production was out there and the core of true collectors could no absorb it all and reality crashed as there was far more product than buyer.

I do not think that the card companies deliberately set about to hurt nor abandon collectors for the connection was far to deep and traditional. The loss of card shops and retail locations that stocked cards was a fact of the crash not the wishes to the card companies. When collectors that were not strong enough to seek other avenues(myself included) of obtaining cards stopped collecting also and their collections were also added to the over abundant supply, the crash was complete.

I see 1991 as the year that the card companies initiated their marketing plans that eventually led to their part in the bringing down of The House of Trading Cards. The collectors and traders part in the crash would come later, but the path was chosen and there is no turning back.

So now I am again collecting, but this time I am in no hurry and it is the joy of collecting that now compels me to collect.

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far
SportLots Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

Update Stats:
9720 cards cataloged.
638 sets represented.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Budget Collecting and Buying on Internet Auctions

8/31/2013

I live far out into the big woods. There are no cards shops close by, so locating cards is a hit or miss affair. I check thrift stores or the occasional yard sale. Sometimes I find cards, most times I do not. My cache of cards to be cataloged is getting smaller and smaller. I collect 2005 and older so retail is not and option for locating cards either. I decided to take a look at biding for some cards on a internet auction site.

I looked at Ebay and a few other sites, but finally decided on SportsLots for my first test purchase. This site is a little different since there is no snipping or last second bidding. The auctions close after the item goes 3 days without a bid.

The first set of bids was on 1967 Topps Baseball and 1964 Topps Football. I won 4 of the baseball and 1 of the football. $1.25 auction and $4.55 shipping = $5.80. Did not do very well.

The second set was a single item, 34 1970 Topps Baseball. Won at 0.25 and $4.25 shipping = $4.50, did pretty well. The cards were in EX+ condition except 1 was in VG.

The third set was more complex.

1983 Fleer 507 Sandberg NM won at $3.50
1986 Topps 255 Football Esiason EX+ (tiny corner chip) won at 0.25
1989/90 Topps Hockey 1 Lemieux NM won at 0.25
1971 Topps Baseball 8 card lot(7 EX+/NM 1 poor) won at $2.75
1976 Topps 500 Baseball Reggie Jackson(EX+ little off center vertical) won at $2.75
2 Largent Football 1979/1980 (NM) won at 3.00
Shipping $4.15
Total $16.65

Over all I did very-very well. 52 Collectible cards for $26.95 with a book value of over $75.00.

As a budget collector, this was not the best use of my collecting funds. My goal is the most cards for the money. I must admit, having these cards is nice and I do not regret the over all amount that was paid for them. But I blew my collecting budget for more than a month and only have 52 cards to show for my efforts.

I intend to make occasional purchases of this nature, but I must adhere to my normal methods of obtaining larger numbers of cards. After all, the goal for my collection is the largest number of cards that I can collect.

Happy Collecting.

Jerry Yeager

Some Links That Could Be Useful

Trading Card Database Very Nice site for creating online collection as well as resources for researching your collection and images for over half million cards so far
SportLots Sports Card Auction Site

The Card Collector High end Software for cataloging cards

Sports Card Collector Software better for budget with fewer features

Updated Stats
9525 Cards Cataloged
1981 Fleer Baseball have 643 different cards
1987 Topps Baseball have 420 different cards
Year 1981 have 1110 different cards