9-pocket PC: Jackie Robinson

I've been doing a new thing with my collection where I've added a ton of new limited player collections.

These are generally players who don't quite compel me to full-on collect them (that is to say, go my normal "hundred card club" method of player collecting), but I still like 'em enough to want to get them represented in my collection in some way. 

So instead of trying to get 100 cards of theirs, I'm only going after 9. This is also a way for me to "engage" more with my collection via binders (I'm historically a box guy). Once a page is filled with 9 cards, if I then get a 10th card, the challenger will have a shot at bumping out an incumbent from a slot. The goal is to achieve a page for the guy with 9 cards that I really like. I can always promote the PC to a full (box) PC instead of a 9-pocket PC if I start having difficulty turning away cards or just decide I want to collect the dude in ernest.

And it goes both ways: some of my smaller PCs (who might not even have 9+ cards in them) have found themselves downgraded to 9-pocket PCs, and guys I collect who sort of fall out of favor with me can go this route too.. I just pair down the collection to the cream of the crop with my favorite 9 cards and toss the rest into the "for trade" bin.

I've really been digging this method of player collecting so far and plan to keep expanding it, likely into a few binders eventually. Feels like it's both opening up my collection, yet also tightening it up since they're capped at 9 cards each, it's got that finish-line/closure aspect that I really appreciate.

Another cool thing about all this is I can do quick posts featuring these 9-pocket PCs. My posting frequency on the blog has been dipping for a while now, and I'm going to try to start doing more frequent, shorter posts to help keep Baseball Card Breakdown boppin'.

Anyways, I figure Jackie Robinson makes a good pick to kick off the series.

Here's my page of his. Gotta love Jackie Robinson. While I've got strong admiration for the man, he's never been a guy I collected much. Cards from his playing days are expensive, and his modern cards tend to get monotonous with the same few pictures used over and over.

I don't have much method to card placement beyond putting the "best" card in the middle, here being a Gallery of Greats insert from 2015 Topps. I made a half-assed attempt at completing the set back then (and its Chrome version), but eventually let it go due to prices and lack of availability outweighing my interest. But at least this one is getting its moment in the sun at "center square" of the page. Hadn't really thought about it before, but I suppose these things remind me of the black refractors I love so well from 2004 Topps Retired and 2004 Chrome.

Other than that one, these cards aren't exactly locked in. Oh wait, the autograph-signing Stadium Club isn't going anywhere either. The card most likely to be the first bumped out would be the 1st card. It's kind of redundant, being very similar to the 2nd card, but I like the second one a bit better since it's shiny.

I consider Jackie's 1956 Topps to be a "bucket list" card for me. It's a great looking piece of cardboard and I hope to add one to my collection someday, though it hasn't been an active pursuit yet. And even if I did score one, it wouldn't be eligible for the page since '56 Topps are a little oversized.

Here are the backs. I try for at least one of the 9 cards to feature full stats on the back for easy pursuing of the guy's career path. There are 2 such cards here, though the Archives barely counts since it's hard to read. I wonder if Topps will start including his 1945 season with the KC Monarchs in his career stats, keeping with the game's recent "The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues" shake-up to their official record keeping. That'd be cool.

So there you have it, my 9-pocket PC of Jackie Robinson. Nothing too incredible, but a solid page and makes me feel good to at least have a little piece of my collection dedicated to this legend.

Update: Since drafting this post, I decided to swap out that 1st card with an Allen & Ginter X. I was originally going for a thing where the top row all had similar photos, but I think I prefer the variety of working a Ginter in there.

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody!