Ever Evolving Organization

As collectors in a hobby that spawns thousands upon thousands of items to somehow store, we all no doubt struggle to find ways to keep our collections in check.  Whenever I pull cards whether it is for a trade or to simply look at them, I spend far too long pulling monster boxes to find the card.  Completed sets and player collection cards are located in binders so those are easier to find.  It's all the miscellaneous singles, sorted by set, that elude me.

The bulk of my collection is stored in 12 two-row monster boxes.  Initially, things were simple.  Baseball, basketball, and football all fit neatly into boxes in a logical manner.  This made it easy to write on the outside of the boxes what was contained inside.

As boxes began to fill up, this required me to start shifting cards around.  All of a sudden, the box that said "2016 Topps..." wasn't so accurate anymore.  Football is mixed with baseball.  Old sets are mixed with new sets.  It's a headache.

I've recently begun using a master Excel spreadsheet to track various card related items.  I decided to utilize Excel as a tool to track where sets are located.  This way whenever I am looking for a card I can simply search the spreadsheet to find which box contains the set.

Simple yet effective

All it takes is four simple columns.  One for the box number and three for the three different sports I collect.  Hockey, miscellaneous sports, and non-sport are such a minor part of my collection that they do not warrant this treatment--at least not yet.  Those cards are stashed away in 600 count boxes. 

So long as I remember to keep the spreadsheet updated as I add new sets and move old sets around, this method should require minimal.  It feels a little ridiculous that my collection now requires this but c'est la vie.

All this work has also produced another tangible result: a clean desk! For the first time in months, my desk doesn't have any unsorted cards lying around.  It's nice to have the space back.  Plus, I can clear cards off quicker. 

A post isn't a post without cards I'll show off some of my semi-recent 2018 Topps Flagship and Heritage pickups.

These are short printed photo variations.  They are uninteresting photos but at least they weren't too expensive.

I amassed a small handful of the Home Run Challenge cards as I find it to be a neat idea.  Pick a day and if the player hits a home run, you win a parallel card.  I've yet to see the design of the parallel cards so I'm not sure how hard I want to try to win. 

  

The black bordered Gamel autograph is out of 99.  It actually cost me the same as a base autograph.  On the right is the Topps Salute autograph version featuring Gamel in his Father's Day uniform.  The powder blue uniforms always appeal to me. 

With Heritage I beefed up my Padres collection a bit.  I believe the black bordered cards have a print run of 50.  Despite the low print run, this card cost me a whopping 99 cents.  I guess that's the benefit of being a Padres collector.  

 Although not in his new Padres uniform, I felt like picking up this refractor as it is numbered 999 out of 999.  That just seemed like a cool number.

Finally, to balance out the Padres, I purchased a game-used Felix jersey swatch.  For being one of my favorite players, I'm light on Felix relics. 

That wraps it up for my baseball purchases.  I've actually shifted a bit towards a football product (a rarity for me) that I plan to cover in a different post.

Thanks for reading!

Catching Up and Jumping Aboard

May has surprisingly been a busy month for myself.  During the first week of May I headed down to San Diego with my wife and her parents for a nice, relaxing getaway.  Then after I got back the weather started to shape up, which meant getting outside more to take advantage of the weather before it goes by too quickly.  That also means that cards have taken a backseat in the car that is life. I have picked up some cards here and there so I will show some of them off.

My first time to San Diego was fantastic.  It was even made better by what else? Baseball.  It wasn't planned this way but our trip happened to coincide with a Padres home stand.  I've never been to Petco Park so I told my wife the only thing I wanted to do was attend a baseball game there.

Petco Park

I found a ticket for a day game against the Colorado Rockies.  Knowing I would not visit again soon, I picked the best seat I could without breaking the bank.  I ended up finding a seat right next to the Rockies dugout, row 7.  Technically there were only two other rows of seats in front of my so the view was incredible.

I was so close to the field that I was even on camera at least once.  This particular shot occurred during the bottom of the 9th in a break in the action after Hector Sanchez let his bat slip and it hit a lady in the stands.

I'm on TV!

There I am inside the yellow circle rocking a Padres hat and sunglasses.  Everyone is concerned, looking at the woman who was hit and I was just thinking "how long is this going to take?" I'm sure there were other times when the camera caught me given my placement.

Nolan Arenado

I had a great view of Arenado's defensive skills at third base.

 

All of those shots I took my from my seat.

Watching the game felt all too familiar as a Mariners fan.  The Padres had trouble getting hits and missed opportunities when they finally did get on base.  In the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and either one or two outs, San Diego couldn't close out the game.  They went on to lose it in extra innings.  That sort of disappointment is vintage Mariners.

Even though the Padres and Mariners are considered rivals for the purposes of interleague play (I know, it makes no sense), I now consider myself a Padres fan.  The ballpark was enjoyable, the city was nice, and the team has some likable players.  With the Mariners and Padres similar struggles with success and perennial underdog status, I couldn't help but embrace the Padres.  Plus, I didn't really have any NL team that I felt strongly about.

The Padres are not well represented in my collection (currently ranked #22) so next time I am at a card show I'll be on the lookout for any cards of current Padres players.

Since this is a card blog, I owe you all some pictures of cards.  Here are a few cards I have received lately.

A batch of 2017 Topps Now cards.  Did you know that Ichiro has as many Topps Now cards of him at Safeco Field as the Mariners have in general?  Yup.  The Mariners have two cards this year and Ichiro had two cards this year when he returned to Seattle.  Topps isn't all to blame as the Mariners have been lackluster this year.  

I've set an eBay reminder for 2008 Topps printing plates as I would love to be a super collector of anything and everything 2008 Topps.  Printing plates show up often on the site but I ignore any ones over $10.  I think this Willis McGahee yellow plate was right at $10.  That seems reasonable enough for a 1 of 1 card.

Blue Die Cut

Gold

Gabe Marks, the standout wide receiver from WSU made his way into a few Panini products this year, including 2017 Elite Draft.  Marks was featured in the autographs insert and with the dizzying array of parallels Panini puts out there have been plenty of cards from which to choose.  Here are a couple of the more short printed cards.

That is it for cards.  Thanks for reading!