Tuesday, July 28, 2020

The Beginning. (Which is actually the middle.)

I guess I should start by telling everyone how I got to this point. I don't mean a recap of the bio page, I mean what prompted this blog. My cards were getting--well, out of control. I had diligently cataloged everything in Trading Card Database and kept that updated on my personal spreadsheet. Then, the numbers didn't match and I didn't know why.

In an effort to organize my ever growing card collection, I decided to go through every set in both Trading Card Database and my massive spreadsheet to see why they don't match numbers wise.

Right as I was going to start this (about a month ago), my wife found a deal on Craigslist. A guy was selling his collection. $300 for more than 120,000 cards. We drove up to Bellingham, WA and found a guy a lot like me. (Combat Vet, named Joe, collector, health issues, etc.) He was looking to go RV'ing and 120,000 cards wasn't gonna be able to go with him. So, we got everything card wise and then he threw in some extras. I got a new Griffey model Rawlings glove and a bunch of autographed photos, including Warren Spahn, Vida Blue and Duke Snider. I was beside myself and he was happy another collector had found him and not a flipper...

So we brought the haul home. (In a future post, I will share some pics of the highlights.) Combining this with my already growing collection put me at just over half a million cards at last estimate. Of which, only about 1/5 is cataloged and accounted for.

What I am finding as I do this is that I am sooooo close to so many sets and have a ton of doubles to trade. Thus, the blog along with Twitter and TCDB.com are going to be critical to finishing these sets.

Each day, I am slowly cataloging the sets and the doubles so that I can have an accurate idea where I stand in the mess.  Right now, I have roughly 15% of what I aim to collect. By the time I sort through all of the other Joe's cards and absorb them into mine, I'm hoping that's closer to 25%--which means there is still work to do.

The plan is to post a weekly rundown of the highlights that I have added and maybe a tracker of the places I've traded with. I will also add photos and keep the counter and close sets pages updated as I go.

I hope as I talk about this stuff that others will see why this hobby and the community are so amazing.

Maybe I can even get some of the people I know Twitter to do an interview or something? We will see where this goes.

So, that's why I'm here. Finish sets and help others do the same.

I hope everyone is staying safe out there!
Joe