General Forum

 CoMMent: 

I was searching ebay and Sportslots for Team Logos. I suddenly realized, not that I didn't know long ago...BUT the "bell rang loudly"....you cannot collect every set [card] anymore. REALLY? I started collecting cards in the "day of dinosaurs", I always strived to add every set released, but by @1990, there were just too many released.

   I see why collectors had to specialiize in fave players or teams or sport or maker etc.. Even that becomes "crazy"....I opened up 2015 Topps looking for Team logo stickers or cards..and...I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled some more. Any collector would be hard pressed to complete this set in it's entirety. Trying to complete any post '90s set is a real challenge with all the parallels, subsets, golds, relics and so on. Actually, a bit relieved to realize any pressure to collect evrything is off, but still depressing it's not like "days of old".

Sad

Yeah it does seem a bit ridiculous now.  It is very confusing now, and I thought it was confusing back in the day as well, with all the companys and different sets.  But today is beyond confusing.  What is there, a hundred topps sets alone?  Just the other day I came accross some Score Football cards, and had no idea what I had...retail, non retail, retail gold hobby silver, black ice, red ice, refractor, SN, green border, red border, and on and on and on.....It is very daunting and kind of exhausting actually.  That is why I just stick to anything Royals and Chiefs.....everything else is bait for more Royals and Chiefs. 

Remember this forum post?  How many?  In 2014 Topps Co. made over 1,500 base, parallel, insert sets in their baseball products.

Just read through that forum from Aug. 2015.....WOW, it has to be impossible.  I guess it makes for fun trading, but even then it seems impossible to actually collect all of the 2012 blue border wal-mart only Topps cards.  And I forgot all of those sparkle cards and short print cards with different poses and jersesys.  Who knows how many I have just flipped through and don't even know what I have!!

I did too.....WOW is an understatement.

I know that in reality, it probably isn't sustainable business model in this day and age, but I really miss the days of having 1 card per player per set, maybe an extra if it was a superstar all-star or something. It made buying packs fun. Buy 5 or 6 packs at a time (cuz that's all my pitiful allowance could afford) hoping to get the cards of players I wanted.
Now, it's just absurd. The ludicrous numbers of parallels really wear me down. And heaven help us if it's a rookie.
From my collection (TCU alumni), Jeff Newman had a decent 8 year career in the pros with Oakland and Boston and then went on to manage in the minors. Lifetime total: 53 cards (including minor league and team issue/SGA).
Matt Curry played (basically) 4 seasons in the minors, making it as high as Triple A, and then retired. Lifetime total: 57 Cards (NOT counting 1/1s)

Football is even worse. Sammy Baugh is a legend. 1st class into the HOF. He has about 370 cards. Josh Boyce was on the Patriots roster for 2 years and got cut last August. He also has about 370 cards. Seriously. It's absurd. I've almost completely given up trying to collect football cards later than 2013 because it just isn't any fun. I still enjoy tracking down the HTF older cards, but trying to keep up with the new stuff just isn't worth it.

And don't even get me started on 1/1s. I kind of think printing plates are cool, but the parallels serial numbered 1/1 are kind of a slap in the face. I've had to force myself to ignore their existence and if I manage to snag one, it's just a bonus.

I'll occasionally buy a fat pack or something of the base sets (mostly Topps) just to see if I can snag the base cards of guys I like, or maybe grab the discount/clearance boxes for some junk to throw in my Sportlots inventory to earn credit, but I've had to really change my focus towards collecting because it just became a beating.

I took a long hiatus from collecting midway through college, starting around 1990, and decided to waste time learning things.  There was a surprisingly large network of collectors on camups, and we'd show up with boxes of cards 1-2 times per month and trade around.  Fun.  Easy way to complete sets.  Fast forward to 2002, and now I'm finally done with school/training, but have a 7 month old son and a 60+ hour/week job.  Finally restarted again around 2012, and was utterly shocked when I opened my first few packs - blue border, red foil, 1/50s, 1/299s, watch me get Gatorade dumped on me inserts, etc.  For someone OCD, it took me a while to realize that it was going to be impossible to collect everything.  Now, I focus on the base set, parallels of teams/players I like, and I try and pick no more than 3 insert sets (usually 2, though) that seem kinda cool.  The nice thing is that I'm able to share this with my 9-year old daughter.  She loves trying to pronouce the names, picking out her favorite pitcher-grimace, and has learned a lot about the sport.  She has a Mets fan for a dad, Yankees fan for a mom, and, being born in Milwaukee, went to a several dozen Brewers games before we headed back east and moved into Red Sox Nation.  Time will tell what her allegiance may be; or, maybe, she'll just be a pure fan of the game.

I agree with all. And I never tried to collect all that stuff. I just don't want 12 cards of one player every year, even my very favorite player. And I just don't care at all that the same card is gold or rainbow. Base sets each year. And I've let myself get into Gypsy Queen, because they're so different from the base sets. And the rest of my money is spent on fewer, but way cooler vintage cards. More and more I'm looking for cards I'd put on display. Because, really, how much do I/will I appreciate my 2009 Topps set? I've made a concerted effort to appreciate and enjoy the cards I have. So I started looking through all of them last summer. I have a life outside of collecting, so it's gonna be a whole year before I've looked through all of them. Maybe better to spend $40 on one old card I really appreciate, than 300 cards I'll look at every two years. 

V3

I started in 1969, collecting Topps sets, Baseball & Football.  Then in 1981 Fleer & Donruss came out, I collected those too. 3 sets a year was easy enough. Then of course Score in 88, Upper Deck in 89 followed by Stadium Club. By the mid 90's I finally said enouh and went back to just the Topps seasonal issue. If there is a parallel I like, I work on that. Any variations I keep, but don't try for them all. I have many examples from years I didn't go for the whole set, aquired through trades or buying collections. Even these days I toyed with collecting Topps Heritage,  but their practice of having short prints be a part of the set irks me to no end. So, primarily Topps, but I have no idea what football I will collect in 2016, after collecting a vast majority of Topps Football sets since 1969, and all Topps Football standard sets since 1973.

it sucks now.. everything is just so crazy as everyone else stated..the days of just the #1 through #735 are over. unless you're the type who can choose a particular set or insert set and are happy w/ that or staying small and collecting a player or team in one particular that makes it satisfying but lets face it that isnt the case for most.. and what gets me are the sticker auto's= pathetic. the auto for the most part doesn't have that meaning as it once did and the other statement about the 1/1's .. every insert set has one now... really? this combined w/ the "new age" collector (money collector) who thinks that just because that $1 card has a sticker auto or is a 1/1 is now worth $200. along with that.. you think the insert sets are nuts? check out the self designed Electronic Cards they're doing- many other designs and sell for outrageous prices as well. I'll take a vintgage SP over a current 1/1 anyday. Be nice to petition the industry to reduce the insert sets.