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Today happens to be Valentine's Day (I'm sure you all remembered to buy roses, chocolates, lingerie, or whatever it is your lady is into, right?). Anyhow, since it's a day of love - let's celebrate a few of the things that I love!
1. Family & Friends. You can't do a list of things you love without starting with family. That said, it's sort of cheating to start with such an obvious choice so let's redo this list in terms of things I love about my hobby.
#1: Set Collecting
I'm a set collector first and foremost - and yes, I have a lot of sets that I'm working on at the moment. I have also started to highlight some of the sets that I've managed to successfully complete (and completed sets get the most love from me)! My collection is currently houses in four bookshelves completely full of binders plus a fifth (larger) bookshelf that is partially full of binders. I also have a few assorted stacks of cards in my desk...and my drawers...and a cupboard...and well, you get the idea. I'm close to being fully organized, at least with my sets.
#2: Barry Larkin cards
So far, no surprises on my list. You can find many, many posts at Nachos Grande dedicated to Mr. Larkin. My favorite Barry Larkin item isn't a baseball card though - it's a magazine. Not just any magazine, but one that celebrates Barry's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame AND in which I was interviewed and quoted in regard to my collection of Barry Larkin cards. For all the digital love that blogs provide, there's still nothing quite like seeing your name (and comments) in print.
#3: Mail Days
Whether it's a big trade package or a plain white envelope, mail days containing baseball cards are simply the best. Sometimes I get packages that are the result of a carefully orchestrated trade. Other times someone sends me something completely "out of the blue." And, once in awhile, someone tells me they have something for me and then they just send it my way without requiring I send them something first. For example, Kerry (from Cards on Cards) recently sent me this beauty:
I don't buy Bowman cards usually, so I rely on traders to help me acquire the various Reds. As a general rule, I don't bother with Bowman relics or autographs at all since I never have anything to trade in return from the set. However, if someone sends me one for free...well, you better believe that I'll enjoy the heck out of it!
#4: Making others happy
Yeah, I love getting mail - but I also love sending mail out. It's a blast knowing that I've made someone else happy - and I love reading about their experiences and thoughts on their blog. Sometimes I'm able to make people happy as a surprise, other times it's because of an agreed upon trade (and, hopefully in a case like with Kerry, it's in appreciation for something kind that was done to me previously).
#5: Randomness
I actually consider myself a fairly organized (and admittedly boring) person. However, despite my need to keep things orderly, I still enjoy my fair share of randomness from time to time. My current "random" hobbies include collecting LEGO set and figures and video games (just got a Nintendo WiiU).
#6: The blogging community
This one probably should be at the top of the list right underneath family - without the blogging community I probably would have given up on baseball cards (again) a long time ago. There's no way I would have ever completed as many sets as I have (or acquired as many different Barry Larkin cards as I have). Basically, my collection wouldn't be what it is without all of you. In fact, it's not just the traders that I appreciate - I also love that people actually read my blog (at least sometimes)!
That's what I love right now in terms of the hobby. I'm curious as to what things you love, did I miss anything? You'll notice I don't love short prints, super gimmicks, or sets that are of a size that is divisible by nine.
1. Family & Friends. You can't do a list of things you love without starting with family. That said, it's sort of cheating to start with such an obvious choice so let's redo this list in terms of things I love about my hobby.
#1: Set Collecting
I'm a set collector first and foremost - and yes, I have a lot of sets that I'm working on at the moment. I have also started to highlight some of the sets that I've managed to successfully complete (and completed sets get the most love from me)! My collection is currently houses in four bookshelves completely full of binders plus a fifth (larger) bookshelf that is partially full of binders. I also have a few assorted stacks of cards in my desk...and my drawers...and a cupboard...and well, you get the idea. I'm close to being fully organized, at least with my sets.
#2: Barry Larkin cards
So far, no surprises on my list. You can find many, many posts at Nachos Grande dedicated to Mr. Larkin. My favorite Barry Larkin item isn't a baseball card though - it's a magazine. Not just any magazine, but one that celebrates Barry's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame AND in which I was interviewed and quoted in regard to my collection of Barry Larkin cards. For all the digital love that blogs provide, there's still nothing quite like seeing your name (and comments) in print.
#3: Mail Days
Whether it's a big trade package or a plain white envelope, mail days containing baseball cards are simply the best. Sometimes I get packages that are the result of a carefully orchestrated trade. Other times someone sends me something completely "out of the blue." And, once in awhile, someone tells me they have something for me and then they just send it my way without requiring I send them something first. For example, Kerry (from Cards on Cards) recently sent me this beauty:
I don't buy Bowman cards usually, so I rely on traders to help me acquire the various Reds. As a general rule, I don't bother with Bowman relics or autographs at all since I never have anything to trade in return from the set. However, if someone sends me one for free...well, you better believe that I'll enjoy the heck out of it!
#4: Making others happy
Yeah, I love getting mail - but I also love sending mail out. It's a blast knowing that I've made someone else happy - and I love reading about their experiences and thoughts on their blog. Sometimes I'm able to make people happy as a surprise, other times it's because of an agreed upon trade (and, hopefully in a case like with Kerry, it's in appreciation for something kind that was done to me previously).
#5: Randomness
I actually consider myself a fairly organized (and admittedly boring) person. However, despite my need to keep things orderly, I still enjoy my fair share of randomness from time to time. My current "random" hobbies include collecting LEGO set and figures and video games (just got a Nintendo WiiU).
#6: The blogging community
This one probably should be at the top of the list right underneath family - without the blogging community I probably would have given up on baseball cards (again) a long time ago. There's no way I would have ever completed as many sets as I have (or acquired as many different Barry Larkin cards as I have). Basically, my collection wouldn't be what it is without all of you. In fact, it's not just the traders that I appreciate - I also love that people actually read my blog (at least sometimes)!
That's what I love right now in terms of the hobby. I'm curious as to what things you love, did I miss anything? You'll notice I don't love short prints, super gimmicks, or sets that are of a size that is divisible by nine.
I don't love short prints either. As a set collector there's nothing that pisses me off more than intentional SP's. And that will be the reason I don't put together this years Heritage and Topps Magic. I will tolerate A and G though, for now.
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