One of our primal instincts is the desire for tasks to be completed. It’s aggravating to see something partially completed, but with nobody making a move to progress it toward completion. That’s especially true when something is almost done, but not quite.
I think this is what drives people to collect things. A collector’s ultimate goal is always completion. Whether they collect Vietnam-era American stamps, antique pocket knives from Tennessee, or baseball cards numbered “7,” the ultimate goal is always completion.
But for most collections, completion is practically impossible. Many people don’t think through exactly what they’re collecting and whether or not it’s even possible for them to achieve completion.
I collected baseball cards at the heart of the junk wax era—in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Back then, I collected very naturally. I would see shiny new packs at the store and buy them with my allowance money whenever I could. Maybe it was because of the the growing unrest in baseball culminating in the 1995 baseball strike, or maybe I was just getting older and finding better things to spend my time and money on, but I abruptly stopped collecting baseball cards around 1993.
Fast forward to 2008, I was in a comfortable place in life, married, a new homeowner, and with a good job and no kids (yet). I decided to get back into baseball cards. But this time, I had a grand plan. I began surfing eBay and buying up old unopened boxes of baseball cards. I bought Topps hobby boxes for every year from 1985 through 2008. Then I started a blog called 25 Years of Baseball, where each day I opened one pack and showed off the contents on the blog. Then I abruptly stopped collecting again in 2016, when I quit my job to learn the art of writing. But those eight years of collecting were good years, and I look back at the memories fondly.
Now it’s 2021 and I’ve decided to start collecting baseball cards again. But this time, I have a new focus. After much introspection, I answered the question, “what matters the most?” That is, what part of baseball card collecting sparks the most joy? What 20% of the hobby brings 80% of my enjoyment?
The answer I arrived at was, I enjoyed collecting cards of the Heroes of Baseball. I enjoyed collecting their standard Topps base cards as a sort of historical record. I enjoyed collecting their autographs and admiring them in my display case. And I enjoyed trying to predict future Heroes of Baseball before the players come to the Major Leagues.
In the end, I decided to get rid of the vast majority of baseball cards I own, probably more than 30,000 cards. Most of those cards just sit in big 5,000-card boxes in my office and never get “enjoyed” anyways. Instead, I’m going to collect only what matters the most to me. That is: Topps base cards of my favorite players, rookie cards of my favorite players, and autographs of my favorite players. And of course, my favorite players are the Heroes of Baseball.
All in all, I’m keeping a display case of my most prized autographs, three binders of baseball cards, and one big box of loose cards. Everything else will be eBay’d off to the highest bidder in lots. Have a look at the pride and joy of my “new” collection:
Of course, I will continue to update this blog and expand on the stories of the Heroes of Baseball. After all, it’s what matters the most to me.
What matters the most to you? Have you thought about why you collect and what “completion” looks like for you?
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