Self-Diagnosed ADCD

Attention deficit collection disorder. It's a serious, yet often undiagnosed condition that afflicts dozens of card collectors each year. I'm here to shed some light on the topic today. My hope is to raise awareness and show just how ADCD affects the life and hobby of a collector, as well as show people they are not alone.

Imagine a collection that looks organized at first glance. There is a certain theme to the collection and a focus for the collector. But a closer examination reveals not one focus, not two, or even three but ten collections within the collection. Not only that, but projects abound, sitting in various stages of completion. When new cards come in, the number of binders and boxes that must be taken off shelves and opened to put them away is staggering. Moreover, as if there weren't enough themes and side projects going on, the collector is constantly thinking of new directions to take the collection. Who won MVP of their conference in college? I should document that in cards. Who shares a birthday with my mother? I should seek out those players. Who once ate at McDonald's and kicked a game-winning field goal in the same month? That would be a cool collection to have. So it is for a collector with ADCD. No, they don't necessarily hoard any random card to come their way. There is a reason for all the cards they obtain. But their collecting attention is being pulled toward so many projects that none of them move rapidly toward completion.

My most recent COMC order is a prime example of too many collecting themes happening. I noticed this when I was sitting at the desk in my card room. I would take down a binder or a box, put two cards in it, stand up, grab another box, put two cards in it, stand up--and it went on like this. I appreciated all the cards I got. I was happy to add them. But I couldn't help but notice that they were finding final resting places all over. 

 

I picked up three new cards of the only player that I'm trying to get every  card made, Brad Sorensen. I pulled my SUU binder (90% Sorensen) off the shelf, put these three cards in, stood up, and pulled my BYU binder down.

And, okay, I spent a little time in this binder.  This was a fun COMC order because I specifically searched for players who had spent time with a stretch Y on their helmets and had cards listed in the Trading Card Database, but I had never seen any. I found a pair of CFL cards of offensive lineman Ryker Mathews, a pair of XFL tackle De'Ondre Wesley (who I never expected to go pro, by the way. He drove me crazy with his penalties in college), and even a high school All-American card of receiver Ross Apo. Apo was a big-time recruit who never panned out for the Cougs. I also picked up some nice inserts of All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner and Brad's little brother, Daniel Sorensen.

There were more BYU cards to go. All of these cards minus the Red Refractor Poppinga and the Press Pass Collie base are serial-numbered.

Steve Young in the top left, Ty Detmer in the middle, and Margin Hooks on the bottom are all serial-numbered, too. Here we see two more players that were utterly unrepresented in my collection before. Once again, they are coming from pro leagues outside the NFL. The USFL and CFL bring us receiver Neil Balholm and safety Aaron Wagner.

I found some fun BYU hits on COMC, too. Doak Walker winner Luke Staley had his school single-season rushing record broken by Tyler Allgeier this year, but I added an auto and a jersey relic still. This is my first auto of quarterback Tanner Mangum and DB Troy Warner. Troy is Fred's little brother. He signed as an undrafted free agent by the Rams, but didn't make the roster.

Of course, no 2021 BYU purchase would be complete without Zach Wilson. This is a trio of pink parallels from the 16(!) base cards of ZW in Chronicles Draft.

So I stayed for a while in the BYU binder. But then I pulled out another binder:

 

my Rookie of the Year binder. I was excited to add these three oddballs of Don Schwall, Jim Lefebvre, and Albie Pearson, respectively.

 

I spent a good portion of my COMC shopping trying to fill in my Rookie of the Year collection with some older cards of yesterday's rookies.

Some more. (I don't know how Lefebvre ended up so crooked on the scanner.)

And some more.

And these ones, too. This was a fun part of the purchase, for sure. But now it's on to the next part of my collection: set builds.

This Saquon Barkley already appeared on the blog in my completed set post. Courtney Upshaw and Harrison Smith take my wantlist to just 2 for 2012 Rookies and Stars: rookie cards of Alfred Morris and Bobby Wagner. And there is a fair amount of black and white in this scan.

I knocked off some baseball set needs, too. This scan is similar to the football in that a) Clayton Kershaw already appeared on the blog for polishing off the set, and b) Kris Bryant and Fergie Jenkins take me to 2 remaining cards in their sets.

I thought these cards killed my 2008 Upper Deck X Xponential2 needs. That's what TCDB says. But when I put these in the binder pages, I found about 10 missing cards. I don't typically just add cards to my TCDB collection without owning them. So, did I ever even have them? If so, what did I do with them? Those page slots are still open.

So those are some major focal points of my collection. Of course, I have a few special projects that I can't leave alone, either.

Like a refractor Frankenset. This one is almost done; just two more to go! Basketball cards make a rare appearance on Bump and Run cards here. These cards required another stand-up-and-get-a-different-binder move.

And then a different box for my NFL All-Time Team collection. I haven't put a ton of emphasis on that one yet, but these are a couple of nice pickups from 1975 Fleer Patches Immortal Roll.

And there are several other projects I didn't even touch in this order. My collection is super-organized (to me--don't ask me to explain it to somebody else), but there is so much going on that putting cards away after receiving, scanning, and cataloging them requires stretching. So many different projects! I haven't set hobby goals for the past couple of years, but maybe this year I will set a goal to focus on one project at a time, just for the sake of my sanity. And maybe if I focus on one at a time, I'll actually finish some off. But by then, I know I will have thought of more side hobby side projects.

Let's Check Out Some Cards

Browsing COMC can be dangerous.  Anytime I go on there, I find more cards that I had never really known before that they existed.  And just like that!  I want them.  Typically, my COMC orders are bigger than I really care to admit to myself.  In recent months, I've been trying to be more disciplined with all of my finances in general, and that has affected my collecting habits greatly.  Evidence of this comes in my most recent COMC order, which really wasn't too plentiful.  I may not have gotten a great quantity of cards this time around, but I'm very happy with the quality.

 These cards range from 1968 real cardboard feel to shiny modern cards.  Heck, we have a shiny modern refractor of a vintage Bobby Bonds.  It's a beautiful card.  Then we have a faux-vintage Gypsy Queen of legend Joe Morgan and a shiny vintage-style of youngster Alex Bregman.  The one common thread is All-Star Game MVP.

A couple more players who belong in that category, in miniature form.  Lots of legends in this order.

There really isn't a common thread for these two cards.  I needed the Shields for my slow-moving Bunt Programs set-build.  The 1976 Rookie Pitchers card features two players I need for two different reasons.  Ken Crosby could obviously fit in my Cubs binder, while Butch Metzger would go in my ROY binder.  Since this is the first Ken Crosby I own, the nod goes to allowing him representation in my Cubs binder.

More shiny!  These are some set builds. 2013 Prizm Brilliance is completed.  2016 Panini Legends of the Shield is one shy.  2016 Absolute Unsung Heroes is also extremely close.  I'm only missing rookies for  2016 Panini, but Tyler Boyd is no longer one of them.

We'll finish this short post with some all-time greats.  Three of these cards are serial-numbered (Hendricks /499, Jones /999, and Kevin Williams /2011).  My favorite, though, is the Finest Refractor of Aeneas Williams.  He may be a Hall of Famer, but I still believe he is underrated.  This card is beautiful in-hand.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Spring Cleaning My Scan Folder

But it's nearly fall, you say?  Well, yes.  But COMC had a Spring Cleaning promotion in May, and I partook.  COMC offered a free shipping voucher to anyone who deposited $50 in store credit during that week.  I decided to take my card budget and do all my shopping on the secondary market that month so I could get my cards shipped to me before the Black Friday promotion.  The way I shop on COMC, $50 can really do some damage to my wantlists.

I have nothing but High Praise for this 2012 Cooperstown insert set.  I've been working on it for a couple of years, but these cards will complete it.  My favorite quote on these cards is Reggie Jackson's remark, "Blind people come to the park to hear [Tom Seaver] pitch."

Three more sets I'm working on.  Those are the final three cards to complete my 2008 Topps set build.  The Limas Sweed is an interesting card.  Here is the back of it:

That's Justin Forsett on the back of Limas Sweed's rookie card.  It's not a simple printing error in which they fed the wrong sheet or something and some cards snuck through.  This is the only version of the card.  Poor Limas Sweed didn't get his vitals on the back of any card in the 2008 Topps set.  It also means that no card technically has the number 365 on the back, which is where Sweed is listed on the checklist.  I find this card highly interesting.

A couple of months ago, I posted about a partial set of 1999 HoloGrfx and the NFL 24/7 insert set from the product.  I bought it from Sportlots figuring I could easily complete it.  All it took was these six cards from COMC and I had both sets done.

Here are a couple really shiny sets that I'm working on.  2013 Prizm Brilliance is almost done.  I'm not quite halfway through the 2016 Absolute Unsung Heroes yet.  I'm particularly happy about adding Eric Berry and Ziggy Ansah, two of my favorite dudes in the NFL.

From extra shiny to real cardboard.  As my mini-collection binders draw nearer to completion, I've decided to start being a little more discerning in what I'm actively pursuing.  For my mini-collections, like these All-1980s team, I've decided to only seek out and purchase older cards from the actual playing days of these players or inserts.

The same thing applies for these mini-collections.  Although, I'm not sure too many modern base sets are including players like Leon Wagner (ASG MVP 1962) or Johnny Callison (ASG MVP 1964).  Wagner, who was the second player to ever win the award, makes his first appearance in my collection with this 1962 issue--the year he took home the award that secured a spot in my collection.

Some more vintage here of two All-Star MVPs (Callison and Bonds) and two ROYs.  This is Steve Howe's rookie, and the first card I have of him with the Dodgers, with whom he won the award.

The other cards I would accept of these mini-collections would be inserts.  Here we have fairly recent inserts to 80s stars Dan Fouts, John Riggins, and the "Manster," Randy White.  Ben Coates, Hardy Nickerson, and Kevin Greene had their heydays in the 90s.  The Greene Contenders card is numbered to 199.

Representing the All-2000s team are these inserts.  I guess that the La'Roi Glover isn't technically an insert, but an oddball from SI for Kids.  Glover, Mawae, and Kevin Williams have been hard for me to find for collection.  Just not enough love in the card companies for the big uglies.

My baseball mini-collections got in on the inserts, too.  I know, I cheated with Yaz and that isn't an insert.  But for a little over 30 cents, how could I pass up that beautiful card?  For some reason, I really like the Corey Seager Break Throughs card.  It seems a bit loud for my taste, but something about it is just great to me.

 

 I've been using COMC to work on my Refractors Frankenset.  I picked out a handful of really cheap refractors this time around, too.  I really like the Collegiate Draft Picks football card of Antonio Gates playing college basketball.  He never played college football after Michigan State coach Nick Saban told him he would only allow him to play football.  He transferred around a bit after that before landing at Kent State, where he played two seasons of basketball.

I added to my BYU collection with this purchase.  These are my first cards of Virgil Carter, the Cougars' first great quarterback in a span of 20 years in which almost every BYU starter spent time in the NFL.  It's also my first card of Daniel Sorensen.  I'm really happy to see him succeed in the NFL.  To be honest, he often drove me crazy while in college by getting burned too often.  The Chiefs gave him a chance, though, and I think he's better in the NFL than he was in college.  The really big card here is my first Ziggy Ansah auto.  

Finally, I picked up an autograph of Packers linebacker Kyler Fackrell.  He may not have played for BYU, but he is a fellow Utahn.  It seems that not too many kids play high school ball in Utah and ultimately end up in the NFL.  When one of them ends up as a Packer, you can bet I'll support him.

I used my $50 to complete at least a couple of sets and do some damage to other areas of my wantlist.  Vintage, inserts, autos--I'm happy with my haul.

COM(Refractory)C

The last post coming from my Black Friday order will feature my refractors.  I decided to build a refractor Frankenset, which also happens to be my one true Frankenset, in the sense that the card numbers actually go in order.  I have a couple of collecting projects that I consider Frankensets, but refractors are the only to be numbered 1-300.  I have a long way to go, despite the fact that it is a mixed sport set and I'm including Panini Prizms and some other cards that I have judged that fit the rainbow-y, refractor-y bill.

Basically, I did my shopping by going to COMC when the Black Friday sale was happening and finding the best looking cards and best players I could for under 40 cents.  No, I wasn't picking up any superstars, but I did manage to get a variety of sets and some names that I will probably remember years down the road.

I don't like the way these scanned.  At least they're not dark, like the base would be, but I would like to be able to see the rainbow a little bit.

I also tried to find different colored refractors, too.  Here we have pink, light blue, red-white-and-blue, sepia, and purple.  Not a bad bit of rainbow for the set.

I may be only about halfway to 300 refractors for the set, but these 18 brought me a little closer.  I don't know how long it will take me, but I'm excited for what this binder will look like when I finish.  I have most of my Frankenset needs on my wantlist page, but I haven't quite finished putting them in.  This will remind me to go ahead and finish that.

Now that my 2017 Black Friday is done, I'll be able to move on to 2018 findings.  Thanks for reading!

COM(Football)Cards

I recently began showing off my Black Friday (yes, the Black Friday from last year) COMC order.  I started with an eclectic mix of baseball players that mostly filled insert and short print set needs.  I tend to shy away from common base cards on COMC because paying 50 cents for common 2012 Topps card can be a little painful.  But the same price for an insert seeded just two per box is doable.  Today, I want to post my football card haul from COMC's Black Friday shipment.

Some base cards are worth it, though.  I used COMC to finish off these two sets.  The three 1988 Topps cards were stars that I had not seen available through trades or in my LCS's monster box of 1988 singles.  The 2008 Topps rookies were mostly rookies, but there were a couple of subsets that I hadn't found in a few years of set building.

2013 Topps Strata is also done.  I have completed the entire set, plus both versions of each rookie.  Rookie cards in this set had different photos for hobby and retail packs.  I had to pick up the Michael Vick when I noticed that I didn't actually have the base card for the set; I had slipped a Black Onyx parallel into the binder without noticing.

More rookie card photo variation fun.  I decided to collect all of 2015 Prestige plus the SP rookie photo variations.  I don't know why.  It's something I've never done before and don't plan on doing again.  For my own purposes, I don't feel the need to have all the SPs in a set for it to be complete.  That may make some completionists bonkers, but I know what I want for my collection.  COMC has provided most of the rookie SPs for really good prices, but I don't know that I'll ever pull the trigger for Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, and Todd Gurley.  I guess it's just a half-hearted effort to get the full set included SPs.

It's been slow going with some of these 2016 Panini rookies.  This feels like a set that I should have finished already, but I either haven't found the price I want to pay for the rookies, or I get distracted spending my money elsewhere.

Now for some insert set needs.  I'm down to seven cards needed for my 2013 Panini Prizm Brilliance set. Apparently, I already had the Russell Wilson, so that card is an extra and available if anyone is in love with it.

Another shiny set that I'm trying to build is 2016 Absolute Unsung Heroes.  I love the concept.  I love the look.  And I love the checklist.  This is a fun set to me.

The last insert purchase is a pair of needs from 2016 Panini insert sets.  If I weren't building these sets, I would still have taken both of these cards for my All-1980s collection.

Speaking of all decade teams, here are some fun cards that I picked up to fill out my binders.  Kellen Winslow is my first look at Panini Unparalleled.  It's really shiny and kind of interesting.  I haven't decided if I love it or hate it yet.  I picked up the 89 Score Derrick Thomas rookie after trying to trade for it on TCDB.  When I realized how cheaply I could snag it on COMC compared to the book value we were using in the trade, I pulled it from the trade and replaced it with some other cards I wanted.  The Terrell Davis you see here is a cool Sample Card from 1998 Playoff Contenders.  I didn't know that when I bought it; I only noticed it when I scanned it.

Here are three cards I got because of the players' college days.  This is the first card I have to represent Danny Wuerffel in my Heisman Trophy binder.  Luke Staley and Ziggy Ansah both are BYU guys, with opposite career trajectories.  Staley was the big man on campus during his time at BYU, winning the Doak Walker award and setting all kinds of records.  Then he was drafted in the seventh round and never played an NFL down.  Ansah, on the other hand, came out of nowhere and only started his senior year.  Then he went on to be a Top-5 pick and All-Pro in the NFL.  It's funny how things work out.

From BYU to SUU here.  My Brad Sorensen collection is growing a bit at a time.  Miles Killebrew became the second T-Bird drafted in 2016, and he is represented here with a SAGE stickergraph.

Finally, some Packers that I couldn't pass up.  A Brett Favre oddball and some vintage.  This is my first card of Hall of Famer Henry Jordan.  John Hadl's best days were before Green Bay, but he was a solid quarterback.  I love the hair here.  I don't think I've seen too many cards of players with full-on male pattern baldness featured on the card.  At $1.50, Henry Jordan was the splurge of this group.  The rest were all 75 cents or less.  I'm happy to find them.

I have one more section of COMC Black Friday to show, and then I can focus on cards I actually acquired this calendar year!