My work here is done

If I were to stop collecting right now, immediately this very minute, ignore the card show coming up this weekend, return the amount in my paypal account to the bank, leave the cash that I received for my birthday for the express purpose of purchasing more cardboard on the counter, I will have led a good hobby life.

In many ways, I'm done.

I don't need to acquire any more cards. I own far more than I ever thought I'd obtain, and have far more interesting cards than I ever thought possible even five years ago.

A few recent developments have lead me to this.

The first came when I received yet another card bonanza from Jaybarkerfan's Junk. As I often do, after first going through the cards, I then figure out which ones are duplicates. There were a lot of duplicates, which is no problem because there were a lot of terrific non-duplicates, too, which you'll see soon.

I put the duplicates where I normally do, and then -- I don't know what possessed me to do it this time -- I took a picture of where they're stored.

Here is a look at my Dodgers card dupes:

Sorry about the card blurriness, this is a dark corner under my desk.

The box at the bottom (ignore the writing on there, that was from a long, long time ago) is packed full of Dodgers doubles. Inside that box is one full set of columns on the bottom, followed with another full set of columns stacked on top of the bottom columns, with some small rows jammed on the end.

And then there are the stacks, there are six of them that you see there, of cards that don't fit in the box. There is also a separate stack up on shelf that you can't see.

Once upon a time on this blog, I advised people to go through their doubles periodically because you never know when you'll find a card in there that you actually need.

I now shudder at the thought of that.

I also haven't organized my doubles in probably a couple of years. That's both a function of less time and MOAR DOUBLES.

And when I see what's before me, there is that inevitable thought:

Are we done here?

Hmmmm.

OK, the other occurrence that caused me to consider whether I've accomplished everything I need to do.

Often, people ask me out of the blue if I need a certain card. I am always grateful for the thought. Thinking of little ol' me just because they have spare Dodgers card.

But I didn't know how high on the priority list I actually am. Here is a tweeted response from a blogger when I thanked him for considering me:

Honestly, I think that's all I can accomplish. There is no chance I eventually surpass Koufax or Robinson on that list, so everything else from here on out is either a lateral move or heading down.

But when you see something like that, your thought -- or at least my thought -- is: (*fist bump*) mission accomplished.

I wanted people to send me Dodgers. Now they do it almost as a reflex action. Right after thinking of the man who broke the color barrier.

What else is there to do?

Well, I guess the least I could do is show the cards that Jaybarkerfan's Junk sent.

I sincerely hope he did not spend $10 for this card. First, that's too much to spend on a card you're going to send to me. Second, I still can't figure out why these are so valued -- if they are anymore. I'm going to hope it's because of rarity and not stitching. Please tell me these were rare.

More stitching. The heart of the package was relics. A whole mess of them as you can see.

I also no longer have room for all of my Dodger relics. A year or so ago I planned to weed out some of my relics. But that involved trading, selling and mailing and there is no time for that, so I've just let them pile up. The Delwyn Young relic is a dupe, that Shawn Green relic is Green relic No. 15 in my collection, so obviously I need to take some action.

But let's move on because I don't want to think of that.

 

I still have room for tobacco minis. I'm running out of pages, but at least I can buy more without worrying about creating a fire hazard.

I also have a space rule for vintage. If I receive vintage doubles of Dodgers from 1977 or earlier, I file them in the appropriate binders.

Anything after 1977 goes in the dupes pile that you just saw in that picture. So the above cards are safe. I think that might be my 7th or 8th 1977 Cey, so I may have to bump the rule back to 1976.

OK, now here -- here is why I am not calling it quits (I had some of you worried this whole time, huh?). This lousy 2014 Topps Series Kenley Jansen card is why I'm still pressing forward.

This is just the third Dodger from Series 2 that I own. That's all I have. For someone who comes third behind Koufax and Robinson, don't you think I would have wrapped up all the Series 2 Dodgers by now?

Clearly I have still have some very important work to do.

My work here is NOT done.

Not by a long shot.

(*clears throat*)

Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Night Owl.

I want your Dodgers cards.

Tell your friends.

Thank you.