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Baseball Collecting "Dark Ages"

In the LEGO collecting sphere, there's something called the "dark ages" that most adults go through.  Essentially, it's the time period between when you stopped playing with LEGO as a toy and when you started collecting LEGO as an adult.  

Well, I also think we can define baseball card collecting "dark ages" in a similar way.  For me, I stopped collecting as a kid around the year 2000.  By 2001, I was graduating high school and heading off to undergraduate school.  I didn't return to the hobby at all until 2007.  

By 2008, it was safe to say my personal dark ages were behind me as I went all out in 2008 collecting all sorts of sets.  For example, I've built the following sets from 2008 alone:
  • Stadium Club
  • Topps Allen & Ginter
  • Topps Heritage (low & high series)
  • Upper Deck
  • Upper Deck Baseball Heroes
  • Upper Deck Spectrum
  • Upper Deck Masterpieces
  • Upper Deck Timeline
That's EIGHT different sets completed from 2008 alone!  And now...over a decade later I can add a ninth completed set to that list:  2008 Upper Deck Goudey.

That's right, I was finally able to track down the last two remaining short prints that I needed from the '08 Upper Deck Goudey set.  


Dave Winfield and Larry Bird finally make their way into my set binder...and with it, I can officially close the chapter on collecting 2008 sets!

Even better, I'm nearly done with all baseball card needs from 2008 as I'm only missing six more Barry Larkin cards as well.  If, by chance, you have one (or more?!) of the following available, let me know:

2008 17 Donruss Threads Century Collection Materials /100
2008 6 Donruss Threads College Greats Signatures /50
2008 4 Playoff Prime Cuts Barry Larkin         /249
2008 4 Playoff Prime Cuts Century Silver         /25
2008 29 Playoff Prime Cuts Icons         /25
2008 29 Playoff Prime Cuts Icons Bat         /75
2008 29 Playoff Prime Cuts Icons Materials Icon /30

While I may have emerged from my dark ages back around 2008, I do think I might be slipping back into a second dark age...or at least a very dim age as I've been gravitating towards buying less and less new product for the past several years.  That's due to a number of reasons (cost, storage space, lack of interesting products, etc.) but no matter the reason there's no denying that I haven't been keeping up with the latest hotness.  Then again, I can't say I haven't been buying cards - I have...it's just been cards that I need from older sets (such as 2008 Goudey) - plus trying to constantly add to my Barry Larkin Collection.  

Now that I think about it, maybe it's not that I'm entering a new "dark age" but rather I'm simply shining the light on a new way of collecting.  I may always be a set collector in my heart but if the major card companies won't make set collecting palatable (and affordable) then I'm not afraid to adapt to a new way of enjoying my collection!

Comments

  1. Congrats on the completion! I haven't been buying any new product myself. With there being way too much stuff out there people are going stupid over, I'd rather concentrate on catching up on vintage/90s stuff that is getting overlooked. '08 Stadium Club is one I'm still building (was out of the hobby back then), but those darn /999 base cards...

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  2. Congrats on putting that stupid year of 2008 behind you. I also tried to complete a bunch of sets that year. I succeeded with A&G, Stadium Club and Heritage, but had to make concessions with the latter two. ... If you're counting "dark ages" as completing sets, then yes, I'm in my second dark age as I haven't completed anything more recent than 2015 Topps.

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  3. My "dark ages" were from about 2000 to 2010. There's a few sets that I like from that time period, but overall, I don't feel like I missed all that much.

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  4. Pretty sure your Dark Ages and my Dark Ages mirror each other. Although when I returned to the hobby, I was opening up more basketball and football products, so I didn't complete any 2008 sets. I was obsessed with Upper Deck Masterpieces though... and I purchased several of the parallel sets back then.

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  5. I was dark from basically 1995 to 2017—basically half my life.

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