Monday, January 5, 2015

Revamping my wantlist for '15


I'm adjusting my collecting focus for 2015, at least in regards to player collections on my wantlist. I'm pretty much still collecting the same guys, but adding some organization to it.

Introducing The Hundred Card Club.

Essentially I'll be actively collecting favorite players of mine until I reach 100 different cards. Once the player gets in the Hundred Card Club (HCC), I will celebrate, soak in the sweet feeling of a completed goal, and stop actively collecting that guy for the rest of the year (or the duration of however long I decide to collect using this method).

This will help me focus, while also diversifying my collection, as well as help me to feel some closure in the infinitely-ongoing process of being a player collector.

So let's induct the inaugural class of the Hundred Card Club (guys I've already got 100+ cards of.)

Tony Gwynn
Reggie Jackson
Dave Winfield

So these three guys are technically off my wantlist for 2015... though I obviously won't reject any cards that come my way, be it via trades, ripping packs, or even an occasional purchase. I'm really just "letting myself off the hook" when it comes to collecting them going forward. I'll probably do separate "induction" posts for these guys where I feature the cards and talk about them a little.

The next tier down is the Fifty Card Club. These are guys I have 50 or more cards from. I'm actively collecting them and working toward getting them into the HCC.

Adrian Gonzalez
Bill Madlock
Brian Giles
David Ortiz
Frank Thomas
Fred McGriff
Gaylord Perry
Goose Gossage
Greg Maddux
Jake Peavy
Marcus Giles
Mike Piazza
Nate Colbert
Rickey Henderson
Roberto Alomar
Trevor Hoffman

And then there are the general GIC (Guys I Collect), split into high, medium, and low priority. I have less than 50 cards of each of these players below. The task at hand is to get them into the Fifty Card Club, with a long-term goal of getting them into the HCC (though a few of them have less than 100 different cards out there).

High Priority
Andrew Cashner
Bip Roberts
Carl Yastrzemski
Dick Allen
Dick Williams
Gavin LaValley
Giancarlo Stanton
Hoyt Wilhelm
Jerry Coleman
Matt Ginter
Mickey Mantle
Mike Trout
Paul Goldschmidt
Roberto Clemente 
Rod Beck
Stan Musial
Ted Williams
Willie McCovey
Willie Stargell

Medium Priority
Al Hrabosky
Al Oliver
Andre Dawson
Bert Blyleven
Bob Gibson
Bruce Bochy
Bryce Harper
Carlos Delgado
Carlton Fisk
Chris Sale
Clayton Kershaw
Dave Parker
Dwight Evans
Eric Owens
Ferguson Jenkins
Frank Robinson
Gavin Floyd
Gavin Cecchini
Hank Aaron
Jim Kaat
Johnny Bench
Jose Abreu
Julio Franco
Ken Griffey, Jr
Kent Tekulve
Khalil Greene
Lou Brock
Matt Kemp
Mike Schmidt
Nolan Ryan
Ozzie Smith
Pat Neshek
Paul Molitor
Pedro Martinez
Phil Niekro
Randy Jones
Randy Johnson
Reggie Sanders
Rod Carew
Rollie Fingers
Sparky Anderson
Stephen Strasburg
Steve Carlton
Steve Garvey
Thurman Munson
Tom Seaver
Tony Perez
Vida Blue
Vladimir Guerrero
Yasiel Puig
AJ Lee (WWE)
Gavin Escobar (football)
Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR)

Low Priority
Bake McBride
Benito Santiago
Cal Ripken, Jr
Charlie Hough
Dan Quisenberry
Darrell Evans
Dave Staton
David Wells
Don Zimmer
Garry Templeton
Jesse Orosco 
John Kruk
Ken Caminiti
Mark Fidrych
Marquis Grissom

Oscar Gamble
Pete Rose
Robin Yount
Ron Gant
Sandy Koufax
Tim Flannery
Vince Coleman
Wade Boggs
Wil Myers


These lists are not written in stone; I'll surely decide to add guys and remove other guys. As far as other guidelines: cards residing in complete sets shouldn't count toward the total, but I'll be flexible about that. Different parallels count as different cards, of course. I'll probably also count cards such as League Leaders, team cards where you can clearly see the guy, highlight cards, cameos on other players' cards, minor variations, non-certified autographed cards, etc, and well as non-card items (for example, I would count Chipz toward the 100.)

I'm not only collecting cards from guys listed in this post, but I'll probably at least sorta try to focus on them. Additionally, I'm still working on a few sets, as well as quirky minicollections like #'d 12/25 cards, glowing cards, miscellaneous Gavins, and my massive stockpile of Marquis Grissom 1990 Upper Deck.

There are also a few guys I actively collect who aren't playing the HCC game because they have less than 50 cards out there. These are mostly little-known guys who went to my high school, as well as legends underrepresented on cardboard such as Buck O'Neil up top. There are also several football, basketball, and hockey players I'd like to pick up some more cards from who I'm not including at the moment.

This is a long-term thing and I'm not really attaching year-end goals to it, such as a certain number of players to try to get into the HCC by the end of 2015. But that said, I'll be interested to look back on this post in a year and see what progress I made. I'll probably stop short of keeping a running total for each guy, as I can see that becoming a lot of work. But maybe.

So that's my player-collecting plan going forward. What do you think?

13 comments:

  1. I think you have a good plan. The wide variety makes it easy to send trade packages your way.

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    1. Glad to hear it! I know that not being a team-collector makes me trickier to send cards to, so having a long list of player collections should hopefully help.

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  2. COOL, I will see if I can't work something up for you soon.

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    1. Thanks, John! I know I still owe you a return package sometime soon.

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  3. Good luck, I never did player collections before I started ready the blogs. The few that I do I only really chase stuff from their playing days. Anything else I pick up I consider a bonus.

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    1. Thanks, Mark. Yeah, though I love the Padres, I've always gone after collecting my favorite players, regardless of what team they're on.

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  4. Love the O'Neil card......bought a copy of the same card first time I saw it at a shop in Orange County...felt that he was under-represented on cards and it would be a great keepsake. Then I read Joe Posnanski's book about him and have enjoyed it even more!

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    1. Cool.. I'll have to keep an eye out for that book! I pretty much just know of Buck from Ken Burns Baseball.

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  5. The 100 per player is a great idea for guys like me who have a hard time sticking to one sport or one player etc. Im gonna start with Will Clark, Willie McCovey and go from there.

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    1. Glad you like the idea! Good luck with your PCs!

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  6. i think it's ambitious and i also think we need to trade!

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  7. I also read Joe Posnanski's book The Soul of Baseball. I've loved Buck since seeing Ken Burn's series. I agree Buck is truly under-represented on sportscards - and I think worthy of the Hall. I picked up a cert auto card earlier this year. It's one of my most treasured cards right now. You have interesting goals Gavin! Hope I can help you out sometime!

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