Finally at the quality over quantity phase

  

Ever since I was a kid I've been about the "more" of cards. I have always liked "more cards" over "less cards."

 

This probably has to do with not having a lot when I was a kid. I had old-school parents who thought kids should earn things through something called an allowance. I didn't have much money, and there was nobody around to just give me stuff unless my grandma made a visit or it was my birthday. Even then nobody was gifting me a complete set.

 

So when I finally started working and receiving a paycheck, well, adding as many cards as I could seemed like a great idea.

 

Add the fact that I come from the set-building generation -- what's the point of getting cards if they're not going toward a set? -- and more is the way to go. Those sets are at least 660 cards strong and filled with commons.

 

So through decades of following the "more mantra," I have added binders upon binders of cards and boxes upon boxes. You've seen my card room. It's filled. Not a lot of extra room. "More" has backed me into a corner.

 

I'm working on that through a series of downsizing giveaway posts. I've had four successful ones and I'm preparing for another one later this month.

 

The collector I was from approximately 1975 through about 2015 though would be horrified by what I am doing and who I am becoming. I'm starting to be one of those "quality over quantity" guys! Ewwww! Ewwww!  Is my collection going to be five slabbed cards displayed in a different room of my house? Ewww.

 

But this is the way it is -- I feel myself naturally moving toward less, rather than more.

 

 

That is a monthly account on TCDB of how many cards I have added to the site. I have added just about every card in my collection to TCDB and have done so since late 2021.

 

Except for the first year or so when I was adding cards already in my collection to the site, I averaged around 500 new cards per month from late 2022 through 2024.

 

But the final month of 2024 you can see a change. Those 127 cards in December of that year were the fewest I had added since joining the site. Any other month had been over 200. Then in November 2025, another sub-200 total of 129. Then in March 2026 -- 171. And the last two completed months -- May at 121 and June at 148.

 

I am almost downsizing instinctively.

 

Some other reasons for me moving away from "more".

 

1. I'm not collecting any big vintage sets anymore. Maybe I'll do it again, but there are no plans.

 

2. The cards I'm interested in are expensive. Whether that's vintage or current, the hobby has gotten more expensive and I can only afford sometimes buying one card at a time. I'm not buying in bulk anymore.

 

3. My favorite team is getting expensive. A premium is placed on guys like Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki.

 

So cards are trickling in at a slow rate.

 

The Shohei Ohtani card at the top of the post showed up today and finished my 2025 Archives team set. Of course, it was the last card I needed and of course it cost a couple bucks.

 

 

This 2026 Heritage short-printed card showed up today, too. It was not cheap It's one of  TEN Dodger short-prints in the main set and that's not cheap either.

 

 

This 1975 Hostess Ed Herrmann was one of the final eight cards I needed for the set. It's one of the short-prints. It wasn't cheap. Back when I was first pursuing Hostess cards with the 1976 and 1977 sets, the SP's weren't as hard to find. 

 

(I will say that just today I discovered a pretty cheap Cesar Geronimo '75 Hostess card and snapped it up).

 

 

This was the latest 1975 buyback to arrive in the collection. Fortunately I was the only one to bid on it and I got it for less than a buck. But overall I am resigned to paying double figures for what I still need and an instance like this will now be known as a "little victory."

 

 

Finally, a new arrival from the 1967 Topps set that I've told myself to stop chasing because it's just too damn expensive.

 

I didn't pay for this. It was a Father's Day gift, but I did pick out the card. It was expensive enough even with the wrinkle near Hank's head and the worn corners. I don't mind any of that stuff but it shows you how much prices have risen.

 

And that's where I am. Through situation, the current hobby economy, my collecting state-of-mind and my card tastes I am now in the quality over quantity camp.

 

I still hope there are binders in my future. If you walk into my home and see a single slabbed card on a stand on a little table in each room of the house, you know I've gone too far over to the other side.