I'm one of those "don't get your hopes up" people.
I assume this is a defense mechanism to avoid crushing disappointment. It manifests itself in many ways, and yes, it shows up in the hobby.
Even from the beginning of collecting as a kid, I set my standards low. The only thing I knew to collect were the packs at the store down the street. But I didn't have any money or transportation so I knew any thoughts about completing the entire set were unrealistic.
When I became aware of vintage -- what we called "old cards" then -- I was grateful for whatever came my way, which wasn't much. I had to pick and choose what I wanted, a particular favorite card or cards from a set I liked.
This is how my attachment to certain sets grew. I gravitated to sets like '71 Topps and '56 Topps because I liked them and I knew if I focused on just those, I could accomplish something. Why try to chase down everything? You'll never get those. You deliver newspapers! Focus on what you really like and you won't get hurt.
Without thinking about it much, that's been my mantra. I like a lot of stuff. But I ignore a bunch of it to avoid disappointment or bankruptcy.
This means obtaining certain cards from certain sets has never been a thought.
1961 Topps? It's kind of boring right? I can avoid those cards easily enough. And so I have, going more than half my life without obtaining a single non-Dodger card from 1961 Topps.
1963 Topps? I thought these were pretty cool back in high school. So classic and ancient. This was when I acquired the Don Drysdale from the set. But that was it for me. I'm good. I need to save money so I can get pizza for lunch next Friday.
1964 Topps? I didn't find it appealing, therefore I ignored it. The creamsicle backs were interesting -- still are -- but it didn't stack up with other sets I liked and all of it was expensive so I'll just buy that one 1972 Topps card, it's about all I can afford.
1958 Topps? Yeah, no. The only '58 cards I had as a teenager arrived with all those 1956 Topps cards in that grocery bag. The '56 cards blew away the '58s and it was pretty silly that I was even thinking about adding more '56 cards. We'll just ignore those '58s.
1950 Bowman? Definitely not. Stuff that old I didn't even know what it was. If you showed me a card from this time period when I was younger, I wouldn't have been able to tell you the year.
The first time I was aware of a 1950 Bowman card was probably the first time someone sent one to me back in the early days of the blog. That's not getting your hopes up: you've forced yourself not to think about it so much you've been unaware of it for four decades.
But that's also when my mantra started to change a little.
I began to see what I actually could get. And that opened me up to so many other card things.
1970 Topps was once one of those sets that didn't interest me.
I told myself it was boring, that I didn't like the look, that it just wasn't like the other '70s sets that I liked so much more.
That was really just not getting my hopes up. Avoiding crushing disappointment.
I am now collecting the 1970 Topps set and enjoying it, too -- maybe not as much as some of my favorites, but it's fun. It's especially fun when someone like reader Jonathan ships you a bunch of these vintage "old cards" that you never gave a thought to and -- bam -- how did I get four pages filled with 1964 Topps cards?
These days I grab cards that I immediately discounted when I was younger because there is also that phrase that is completely the opposite of "don't get your hopes up":
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."
I'll never be one of those people who jumps into every new thing without regard for what might happen. But there's a blog now and there's money now, so what the heck.
Let's see what's on ebay today.
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