What's Going On?

What do Goose Gossage, Lou Gehrig, and Francisco Cordova have in common that makes them all legends?  The answer is in one of my new collecting projects.  Night Owl started an interesting Blog Bat Around about what current collecting projects he has.  I've been planning to write a post introducing my latest project for a while now, and here is my chance.  But let's start with other, larger projects.

I really don't want this to turn into a "What I Collect" post.  I'm going to stick strictly to what I would consider a "project."  For what I collect, let it suffice to say that I collect Packers, Cubs, and BYU players, and it is never a project.  It's just ongoing addition to my collection.

Most of you who read the blog regularly also know by now that my PCs and mini-collections center around All-Decade NFL teams, baseball All-Star Game MVPs, and baseball Rookies of the Year.  Those are ongoing collections, too.  However, there is an element to project about them that I will address here.

Project 1: Mini-Collection Binders

I have 5 binders of mini-collections: All-Decade Teams for the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, All-Star Game MVPs, and Rookies of the Year.  I will continue to seek out and keep any of these cards that come my way for most of these players.  However, some I've the players in this collection I don't like at all (see: Ryan Braun, Darren Sharper).  So there is a project for these mini-collections that will mark the end of my collecting for many of these players.  The is project is simple: create one entire page for each player.  After that, I will be more picky about the players I collect.

All-Star MVPs

All 1990s Team

Rookie of the Year

Project 2: Clean up my set wantlist.

I'm not spending much on cards this year.  I can't.  So the very limited budget I have will go mostly toward the hundreds of set needs I still have from yesteryear.  Sportlots, COMC, Just Commons, and ebay You-Pick lots will be main shopping spots this year as I seek out individual cards.  Just this week, I picked up nearly 400 cards from card sets ranging from 1992 to 2008.

Project 3: Refractors Frankenset

This one is self-explanatory.  I'm working on a Frankenset of refractors.  Any sport, any year.  1-300.  I'm probably about halfway done.

Project 4: Franchise 9

This is a project I started especially for this blog. . . and have done basically nothing with.  I need to start it up again when football training camp gets closer.  In a nutshell, I've got a 9 pocket page for each NFL team, featuring the franchise's best nine players in the Super Bowl Era.  I'm still missing about six cards to complete it, and I still need to do the write-ups.  By the time I get around to it, I may need to update the teams, though.

Project 5: Super Bowl Winning QBs

This one is simple: I add one card to the binder each year, of whichever QB won the Super Bowl that year.  Typically, I don't even need to buy a new card, as I already have a card of that player somewhere.  I wish I could have added Carson Wentz instead of Nick Foles to the binder, though.

And finally, my latest project.  I've been hard at work researching for this one.  I love projects that require some research and learning on my part.  So, who thinks they have figured out my initial question?  Gossage, Gehrig, and Cordova are legendary in the sense that they are all the best players ever to wear their respective jersey numbers.  That is my most recent undertaking.

Project 6: All-Time Best Jersey Numbers

I've spent a lot of time on baseball-reference.com for this one.  I've been finding out who had the best careers while wearing a certain number.  The names that have come up have been surprising.  Some numbers have far too much representation to include all of them, while others have just a few big-name players.  When the numbers get above 50, there are fewer players to actually play in the Majors with the number.  Some numbers have no real representation.  But the project will include the top three players of each number, to fill one row of a 9-pocket page.  It's kind of fun and I'm excited to show it off, but I still need quite a few cards.

So there you have it.  My collection in projects.  And, of course, the old team and player collection standbys will continue to factor in.