Skip to main content

I don't need another project, here's another project

One of the byproducts of the recent blog bat-around is discovering potential future collecting projects.

There were a handful of collecting pursuits that I think would be interesting to try. Whether I ever get to doing them is another matter.

But there was one I had to attempt right now.

Red Cardboard said one of his binders houses his Opening Day collection. It's a page for each year of the Reds' Opening Day lineups. It's such a simple, tidy idea. Nine players in a lineup. Nine pockets in a page. It's a great way to look back on your team's hopes for the upcoming season each year.

Also, it's a great way to display some dupes.

So, even though I don't need another collecting project and I definitely don't need to get another binder, here is the 2018 Opening Day page for the Dodgers:


How about that intimidating clean-up hitter in Enrique Hernandez? Looks weird without Justin Turner in there.

Unfortunately, that's not the exact representation of what my 2018 Opening Day page looks like. It actually looks like this:


I am dedicating only doubles to this project. But since Topps is biased against your everyday non-superstar, non-rookie player, I have absolutely no doubles of Chris Taylor and Logan Forsythe because relatively few cards of them have been created as Dodgers (I couldn't even find a dupe of Taylor as a Mariner or Forsythe as a Ray, not that I want to put those foreign uniforms in the Opening Day binder).

It's interesting that I have plenty of dupes of Alex Verdugo -- a player working in the minor leagues currently -- but not of regular contributors to the big league team.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before I get a repeat card of Taylor and Forsythe so I can complete the page.

I'm looking forward to using additional doubles to create Opening Day lineups for past Dodger teams. I'm fairly confident I can fill all the slots until I get into the early 1970s.

I don't plan to spend any extra money for this project -- outside of getting another binder, that is -- so I probably won't create too many complete pages for, say the 1960s.

But I am looking forward to this being an Opening Day tradition.

Comments

Nick Vossbrink said…
Oh that *Is* a fun idea. I like the National League bias here too. What'd keep me from starting this is the way that two of the Giants Opening Day starters don't even have cards as Giants yet (and Longoria only appears in GQ, the Team Set, and Panini) so this is more something I'd be considering as part of how I page a complete set at the end of the season.
Svasti7 said…
I really liked the opening day idea too but I collect Royals, and being the American League I have ten players to account for so who do I leave out...pitcher or DH. I don't like the DH much but I can't omit the great Hal McRae during the 70's & 80's and you can't play without a pitcher so...
JediJeff said…
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit.

(finds empty binder and gets pages within)

I like the idea too, enough to maybe do one myself but using the actual year card dupes. I always seem to wind up with a ton anyways. Now I do have several Forsythe Dodger cards in your stack right now (it's about 6" high).
How about the starting lineup for Koufax' last game - in the '66 World Series?
See, this is why we should all be NL fans! :)
ketchupman36 said…
Damn this is such a cool idea. Like Doug mentioned, being an AL fan this would be tough. I can't leave out Felix or Cruz from an opening day page so this idea is unfortunately DOA in my book.
Angus said…
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I stole my Mets opening day project from Red Cardboard. Luckily the Mets don't go that far back.
Red Cardboard said…
Gotta put em in the page respective to their positions though! LF CF RF across the top, SS P 2B across the middle, 3B C 1B across the bottom is how I do it.
Red Cardboard said…
Also, I'm only 9 cards short of the 1869 Reds lineup. Someday.
Bubba said…
I used to do this unknowingly as a kid. I had a Braves binder where I would constantly adjust the front page to display the current Braves projected lineup. Suffice it to say... those cards are now completely beat up from so much handling.
RAZ said…
I was thinking that I would use a similar layout, but Night Owl's batting order layout also works. I just feel like the consistency of this layout lets you compare the team more easily from year to year.
Fuji said…
This is an awesome idea. I'm not sure if I have the time or dedication to pull this off right now (maybe during my summer break)... but if I go for this project, I think I'd try to do it using the current year's designs. I wonder how far back I can go before I start running into problems with not being able to find cards.
Jongudmund said…
I like this idea a lot. Definitely something to consider doing.