It's been two or three years now since I decided to switch from mostly set collecting, to mostly player/person collecting. For the most part, I have no complaints, and still feel like it was the right thing for me to do.
I do occasionally miss the thrill of the hunt that comes from collecting sets, but on the flipside, don't miss the long stretches of not being able to find, or afford, needed cards for certain sets.
Right or wrong, I was never, or couldn't ever be, content to leave sets inactive for very long, and felt a lot of pressure to always be seeking out missing cards. I suppose even this wouldn't have been too bad if I had been able to limit myself to just a couple of sets. Unfortunately for me though, once I took up collecting cards again, I just kept starting more and more sets - mostly of the vintage variety - and things just got out of hand. It was making collecting feel more like a chore than a hobby, and my interest in said chore started waning... hard!
One thing that I haven't been able to figure out so far, though, is the arbitrary manner in how I go about deciding which cards I want to collect for each player/person. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, and it varies greatly from person to person. Very little time or research is spent making these decisions either, with most being almost instinctual. More often than not, I know from the moment that I start collecting somebody whether or not I just want stuff from their playing days, or if I'd be happy to just get anything I can from them, or even, and this is a much more recent development, if just one pages worth of cards will do. And then there's those folks who's entire catalog is on my want list.
There are a few players who I'm trying to collect every single 'card' of, but of the guys with a hundred cards or more, there's really only two that I think I have a genuine chance of achieving that goal for. If you've been unfortunate enough to have been coming around here for at least the last couple of years, then there's a good chance you already know that Reggie Roby is one of these two guys.
I'm not sure what my current count is, but I do know that I'm past the halfway point as far as his catalog goes. I haven't spent a lot of time looking for base cards in the last year or so (those can be gotten anytime), but do spend some time each week seeing if any of his slightly harder to find cards have popped up anywhere. Not surprisingly, people aren't going out of their way to send his items into COMC, but a few do show up occasionally, and more often than not, I'm the one who ends up buying them.
Both of my semi-recent shipments from the site had cards of his in them, some harder to find than others. I did overpay for the Stadium Club card, but since I could see that it was problem-free, I didn't mind ponying up 50¢ for such a clean copy. The McDonald's orange and '86 Police were the better two of what's been seen so far, but the real prize was a card that I showed two Black Friday's ago when I won it.
I don't like to show the same cards over and over, but I'll make an exception for Reggie's only certified autograph, besides last time it had the COMC watermark over it, and that's not a good look.
The front for anyone who cares. Note the stamp in the lower right corner. |
The only other player over the hundred-card mark that I think I have any chance of getting every card for is Dennis Smith, and wouldn't you know it, I just so happen to have knocked a few of his cards off the checklist, too.
I'm not sure how far along I am with Dennis' collection either, but do know that I don't have any of his big 3 cards, those being the Pro Line autograph, the Wild Card 1000 Stripe, and some crazy rare thing that came out in 1987 called an "Ace Fact Pack". It's a card of some sort, but that's about all I know. [Edit: There's also the 1994 Pro Mags autograph, but from what I've read, it's entirely possible that not all of the advertised signatures made it into the final product; Dennis Smith being among them.]
Reggie's last playing days card appeared in 1996, Dennis' in 1994, so both were able to avoid having cards made during the craziness that was the late 90's. Both guys have only appeared on a couple of tribute cards, and aside from a pair of Score buybacks three years ago, neither have appeared in a modern Panini set. Because of this, I feel like I have a very good chance of completing both of their entire runs. though with Topps (under Fanatics) coming back into the football card fold sooner than later, there's at least a slight chance that my plans will be foiled at some point. Topps is going to need plenty of bodies to flesh out their dozens of football sets that I'm sure will be coming each year for the foreseeable future, and I'm just hoping that given how unpopular both guys are with modern collectors, that Topps will leave these two bodies alone (And I see you lurking over there in the dark, Panini, you stay away too!).
Interesting choices of players to collect. I guess that pressure of collecting missing cards could go either way for set or player collectors and it could be equally expensive depending on the set or player chosen to collect. I know that looking back through some of my sets, my OCD kicks in and wants to see those completed, which has compelled me to overspend on some cards. I guess that's why I have eschewed modern cards, I'd rather focus my time and energy on cards that relate to my youth and the players I watched growing up.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. I'm not saying that player collecting is the best way to collect, but it is working a lot better for me. And player collecting can be extremely expensive, possibly even more expensive than set collecting, that's why I'm grateful that I don't feel like I have to have everything from every player that I'm collecting. I don't know what it was, but me trying to collect sets just wasn't working well. Maybe things would've been different if I had been able to say no to certain sets, but pretty much any time I got a couple of cards from a set, I felt compelled to then start working on said set. I was getting spread out pretty thin there at the end. And I too have really started to focus on subjects from my youth. In fact, the majority of my player collections are of guys that I grew up watching, which, as you pointed out, makes the collections much more relatable.
DeleteThe Ace Fact Pack cards are a playing card set, very similar to Top Trumps, and I believe both come from England. They are not standard card size but they are not standard playing card size either I don't think. I have a Formula 1 set from the brand.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the info, Billy! I know Top Trumps, so that works well as a comparison for me.
DeleteThe Stadium Club Roby and Finest Smith caught my eye.
ReplyDeleteMcDonald's card is cool too.
DeleteThe image on the Stadium Club card has a nice combination of color and texture, and in my opinion, is one of the better shots in the set.
Deleteyou touch on the struggles of player collecting - go full bore or pick and choose what to obtain. and if you pick and choose, how do you pick and choose?
ReplyDeleteat one time, i didn't care to add steve garvey padre oddballs to my collection (like drake's, mother's cookies, etc) but eventually caved. then was all in on every card for a few years. now i am content with one of most releases and don't worry about the other parallels, but never say never! gah.
I've had surprisingly little trouble when it comes to what I want to get for each player. Like I said in the post, I seem to know almost instantly what, and how much, I want to try and collect for each player. I know that it's not like that for every player collector, so I feel lucky to be one that doesn't have to get stressed out over such things -- I wish I could've said the same for set collecting.
DeleteI definitely would lean more toward player collecting. Just seems more fun. I totally hear you on the 'instinctual' part of what cards to collect. That's a big part of why I find it difficult to make a very useful want list. But it is pretty awesome to be able to go to a card show and find stuff I'd love at most every table!
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly more fun for me. I've had so much trouble making want lists for the blog over the last few years, so I completely understand where you're coming from on that. Card shows are the best place for instinctual buying. Even better if you collect a lot of different things/people, as you'll almost never walk away empty-handed.
DeleteInteresting choices. Are you the Steve Atwater guy?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'm THE Steve Atwater guy, but yes, as far as more contemporary players go, he's one of my main guys.
DeleteDefinitely not a player collector. Also very difficult for me to find cards for those who are player collectors. (Probably because my collection isn't organized that way, but I think it's more than that).
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I have trouble finding cards for player collectors too, as my duplicates aren't organized by player either (they're done by set).
DeleteI enjoy collecting specific players, but the downsides were addressed in this post. That's why I don't feel the need to super collect. If a card is affordable, I'll grab it.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part, I echo your sentiment. It's really nice to be able to collect players without feeling like you have to have everything.
DeleteWow, Roby has some great cards as a punter.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a desire to be a set collector. Just how I'm wired. I've gotten much better at not chasing everything within a player collection, since my main player collection is a guy (Tino) that doesn't drive a huge hobby demand. If I decided tomorrow to get rid of it all, I'd only be able to move a few higher end cards. It's not like a guy like Jeter or Jordan or Griffey where I'd make out well if I bailed.
He seems to have come along just at the right time to have gotten all of these neat cards.
DeleteI've said it many times before, but I wish I would've started out collecting like I do now, because if I had, I have no doubt that I wouldn't have left for 10 years like I did. And of course then, I wouldn't have missed out on as much as I did, either!
If Topps football is like Topps baseball than any sets with retired players will have the same guys over and over. So the Dolphins will always be Marino, Griese, Csonka; the Broncos will always be Elway, Terrell Davis. Shannon Sharpe? Smith, Atwater and Mecklenburg are all probably pretty even in getting a shot. I can't see them making a card for any retired punter not named Ray Guy.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right about Reggie. Panini has gone absolutely bonkers with Steve Atwater over the last couple of years, and I will not be surprised if Topps ends up doing the same.
DeleteIf I had to pare down my collecting to just one facet, I'd probably pick player collecting too. I have the most fun finding oddballs and singles from so many diverse sets for my player guys (and other people's). (Not planning on paring down anything so far).
ReplyDeleteYou're really doing well with Reggie.
With my guys (who are mostly vintage), I'd start with the basic base cards and inserts (Topps, then later Donruss & Fleer), and the easy oddballs - Kellogg's and Hostess. Then I'd branch out to other oddballs and parallels as I would find them - Tiffany, Fleer box sets or card size stickers, OPC, etc.
For my reference list I'd either start with their entire Beckett listings (later TCDB) and edit out the printing plates and s/n less than 5 or 10. Or I'd just put down the basics and keep adding things in as I found them.
Being able to get a bunch of different cards from sets without actually having to collect the entire set, is big for me. This goes doubly so for players that fall into the vintage category, although for a lot of those guys I'm only doing playing days stuff. I'm kind of tired of all the tribute cards, and save for a couple of guys, I don't really have much interest in collecting any more of them.
Delete👍
ReplyDeleteBetter than a thumbs down!
DeleteI had a friend from St. Louis recently send me a big box of cards. He is getting out of the hobby. I believe their are some Dennis Smith cards in there. I have a busy weekend, but I will dig them at some point next week and DM them to your Twitter account. I think I have another football card laying around here from awhile ago with your name on it. I will try to find that too.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wouldn't mind seeing them if there is indeed some to be seen. Obviously there's no rush, so don't worry about it if it takes a little longer to look. Thank you!
DeleteYeah, you don't really get "Reggie" from that first part, but you're right, he had a nice flow.
ReplyDelete