A look at my binder "sorting"

A commenter on yesterday's post was interested in seeing how I sort my 29 Dodgers binders.

This is an odd time for me to do this since TCDB is making me question my sorting abilities. I mean look at this display here. This is a picture of my Dodgers binders from the 1920s/30s to around 2012. Obviously, I'm not finicky about how I display things.

That one binder with the tape all over it is barely intact (I desperately need about 5 new binders) and unlike folks I have seen on this very blogosphere with every binder the same color and size with perfectly printed dates on each spine, there is none of that there. Just a mish-mash with binders facing this way and that (I get paranoid about cards warping) and no effort at all to get any of them to look alike (who has the time?)

But it's not like I'm giving tours of the place, so if it doesn't bother me, it's perfectly fine.

The cards inside is what is important and those are sorted a little bit better than the outside ... sort of.

 

Here is a basic binder page (I agree, absolutely nothing about 1959 Topps is "basic"). This shows that I sort each set alphabetically.

 

Here is a look at the hierarchy that dominates my binders. I'm trying to get away from it, but because Topps was the one-and-only card set in the land for many years and during my card collecting debut, Topps naturally is filed first each year. (I store pre-1977 dupes in the binders, too).

This is how that hierarchy goes:

1. Year

2. Topps set

3. Alphabetize everyone in that Topps set

4. Subset cards go at the end

5. Them other jokers who produced cards may be filed now

So for 1962, the Post cards come next. There is really no rhyme or reason for my filing of food-issue cards and oddballs as you'll see. The '62 Bell Brand cards follow these Post cards and that's not in alphabetical order. My plan is to correct that some day. But I don't think I'll ever be able to put Topps in the back, behind Bowman and Donruss.

 

Moving into the '90s when there were multiple card sets.

I still have Topps presented first each of these years. Then it's a weird combination of "priority sets" and alphabetical order. So, in 1993, after Topps, it goes: Bowman, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Upper Deck, Pacific, Pinnacle, a bunch of other things.

 

This makes absolutely no sense, except to me. I have always placed Fleer before Donruss because back in the early '80s when Fleer and Donruss first made sets in 1981, I knew what Fleer was. I had heard of them before. I didn't know who the bleep Donruss was, therefore, they go after.

 

I have tried to rectify this while doing one of my twice-a-year sorts, moving Donruss before Fleer. But I find that during this often mindless exercise, my brain goes on autopilot automatically and puts Fleer before Donruss. So it might be hopeless, but I'm going to try again.

 

 There is the end of the 1993 UD base set and then the inserts kick in near the end. I try to sort the inserts in alphabetical order but I don't focus on it so I'm sure everything's out of whack.

Here is where double-bagging comes in handy -- you can see the progression all in one shot (I have yet to be convinced that this isn't the way to go. Without double-bagging, I go from 29 to 58 binders and nobody is going to agree to that).

After the main set comes the "spin-offs," such as the '93 Upper Deck Heroes BAT tri-folders thingies. I intersperse different page sizes without a thought. Better to have them presented in the year in which they were made.

 

1993 Upper Deck continues with the Fun Pack set and SP. I know SP is alphabetized separately on lots of baseball card sites and in various checklist books. But like Topps and Stadium Club, I consider SP just another Upper Deck set and it gets presented alphabetically with the rest of the UD sets.

You can see at the end of the page on the right where 1993 Pacific starts, and, yes I know "P" comes before "U". Hierarchy, you know. I'm working on it.

 

When it comes to parallels, I flip-flop on those, too.

In a lot of cases, I will sort the parallels after the base set, such as this 1994 Topps example. All the golds are shown after the base set is out of the way. It's like this for many, many of the Topps sets that follow and other card companies, too. It just looks better to me than seeing the same card repeat over and over within the base set.

However, sometimes I do place the parallel next to the base card. I probably do it without even thinking about it.

I think I do it when I don't have a lot of parallel examples in a set and also when the parallel is not readily noticeable by me.

Here is why presenting all of the inserts together after the base set pays off. That is fantastic. (Also, sorry to those of you bothered by "Flair" coming after "Fleer". It makes sense to me).

 

 

Going back to 1993, here is an example of where the oddballs go and that there isn't a lot of rhyme or reason. The Classic cards are behind the LA Police cards because Classic is minor leaguers and college kids.

 

 

 And here is a modern example of my sorting. The Topps online cards always go last in the Topps sorting. It's basically my personal F-U to Topps for issuing a bunch of cards that spelled the end to my dream of gathering every Dodgers card.

 

Then you see Bowman kick off "the rest," so, yeah, Topps, stop smirking, you know I still love ya.

 

 

Finally, a palette-cleanser with cards from a time when sorting was a breeze and not a brain-teaser.

 

Oh, and all that 1993 Upper Deck was chosen for a reason.

 

I WILL be doing another set blog.

 

And it will be 1993 Upper Deck.

 

It's not happening soon though. If it gets started in 2022, that will be a minor miracle.