2022: The best, the worst, the ... waiting is the hardest part

 

So, it's the end of the year and I don't really know how to kick off the big extravaganza that I put on every 365 days-ish.

People seem to think 2022 was a better collecting year than 2021, and I suppose they're right. A few boxes of cards managed to stay on shelves for more than 3 hours. I don't exactly consider that normal, but baby steps, I guess. Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel, finally, or ...

It's a train.

Mostly what I remember about the hobby in 2022, and it's definitely not a plus, was the WAITING. It wasn't lay-on-the-floor-in-the-middle-of-the-carpet-store-and-groan-until-you're-yanked-up-by-your-arm waiting. But that's because I'm not exactly excited about these new products.

I had no idea when the cards would come out. I knew Allen & Ginter usually arrived in June or July but it wasn't there. When it would show? No idea. I just forgot about it. Same with Stadium Club. I just told my brain it wouldn't show until 2023 and moved on. It really wasn't as difficult as Tom Petty makes it sound.

 

But I was definitely still waiting in 2022. Waiting for cards to show up for purchase, waiting for prices of vintage cards, or Kellogg's cards, heck any old cards, to come down. Waiting for a new set not to disappoint me. It's mere hours before 2023 and I'm still waiting for most of this.

2022 was, yeah, better than 2021 and 2020. But that's faint praise, because we all know what those other two years were like.

So let's give 2022 a slow clap before trudging into the weirdness of 2023. 

Festivities begin now.

BEST SET I COMPLETED

This was an "I'll Take What I Can Get" year.

1981 Topps Super Team Dodgers set.

1980 TCMA Albuquerque Dukes set.

1982 Kmart set.

1979 Dodger Blue set.

1979 O-Pee-Chee Dodgers set.

1981 Kellogg's set.

1979 Kelloggs set.

1980-87 SSPC Baseball Immortals set (including the high-number cards).

 

1981 Coke sets.

2008 Topps Heritage set.

A huge come down from 2021 when I was completing sets like 1956 Topps (who said the hobby was better in 2022?) Nothing I completed this year is too memorable for anyone other than me. You can thank dumb prices for that.

 

 

BEST SET I'LL COMPLETE IN 2023

 

I predicted I'd complete this set at the end of last year, too. Let's see if I strikeout a second time. After adjusting my want list earlier today (weirdly, the TCDB list was more inaccurate than the one on my blog), I now need 69 cards (nice) to finish the 1970 Topps set. It still looks daunting to me, but I need to remind myself of the following 2022 pick-ups:

Both happened in October.

As for other sets I'll complete next year, I have 1985 Fleer on my list as the FIRST set I will complete in 2023. It's been looming over my head for too long. I'd also like to get that 1982 Donruss set purchased and -- here's to hoping stupid -- a '70s Kelloggs set.

WORST SET OF 2022

The Topps RIP set actually appeared in 2021 as well, but I didn't know its existence until 2022. A set made up entirely of cards tempting you to destroy them, I'm guessing is why the name of the set is all in capital letters because R.I.P. cards.

BEST SET OF 2022

Yeah, that kind of year. 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum was the best thing I saw that was released in 2022. It is the only thing that interested me for more than a week. And for a set to use the tired 1952 design over and over and still look fresh to me takes some kind of skill ... or mass hypnosis through the internets. Anyway, nothing from 2022 is better than this.

BEST SET OF 2022, REALLY

 

Get your slow-clappers ready.

Hey, it's not like I can evaluate Stadium Club -- it just came out last week!

2022 Topps flagship was the first Topps flagship set that didn't annoy the heck out of me since probably 2015 (2018 and 2019 weren't too bad either). That's a turnaround that deserves mention. And since A&G is now on The List, what else is there?

BEST CARDS I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT WEREN'T 2022 CARDS

Another case of vintage being too expensive. This was mostly me just getting up to speed.

 

 

WORST TOPPS GOOF OF 2022

 

I'm sure there are other more drastic goofs but misspelling one of the most famous baseball names in history is pretty damn bad. At least it's correct for a set nobody buys!

BEST WAY CARDS SUMMED UP 2022

2021 Topps Big League finally showed up in April of 2022. Half the set featured players who were no longer with the team pictured and, yaaaaaayyyyy, Big League is here!!!

But there was no 2022 Big League. 

 

 

WORST DEAD-HORSE BEATING BEHAVIOR OF 2022

 

The Chicago teams were just the most obvious example, but the weird City Connect uniforms were all over cards in 2022. MLB/Topps is obviously enamored with them and they're OK in small doses -- maybe 1 player per team on a card? -- but Topps can't do anything with restraint.

 

 

BEST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT OF 2022

For me, it was spotting the arrival of 1970s players in Allen and Ginter in 2022. Players like Amos Otis, Dave Concepcion and John Mayberry are in A&G. I recently saw that the Heritage High Numbers set has an insert set dedicated to the 1973 All-Star Game (gimme) and some of the same players are in that set. So it's obvious Topps went out and got contracts with those players because it has plans to highlight them in future Heritage and other sets.

I am all for this. I just hope they don't kill my excitement with 497 new Richie Hebner cards with three-fourths of them being the same photo.

WORST HOBBY ISSUE GETTING WORSER IN 2022

Photo reuse has been a complaint about current cards since I started blogging. Mostly it had to do with using the same legends shots over and over. But the last couple of years it's gotten more and more common with current players, and in 2022, it's like everyone has stopped caring. This could be due to lingering pandemic issues, but all I can think of is "just hire a photographer, Topps."

Yeah, I know that's old-school thinking. Everyone has moved on from professional photographers being an actual thing. It sure does show, too.

BEST PULLS OF 2022

I just don't buy much current product off the shelf anymore but even this is not too bad considering. The sale of the Franco card allowed me to beef up my collection thusly:

 

Yeah, I'll still take a chance on current product for the forseeable future.

BEST I-DON'T-BELIEVE-I'M-COLLECTING-THIS-SET EXAMPLE

 

You can probably find 61 old Night Owl Cards posts of me bashing 1961 Topps, yet here we are. Partly because I was limited on what I could afford and partly because I've come around on this homely set, I added quite a few 61s in 2022.

 

BEST CARDS SENT TO ME IN 2022

Two ways to build an enviable collection:

1. Make a killing in the real estate market.

2. Start a card blog.

BEST BIZARRO SIGHT OF 2022

Dozens and dozens of unopened packs of 1979 Topps were in my house.

BEST SHOCKING HOBBY DISCOVERY OF 2022

My co-worker was sitting on a goldmine of vintage cards in the most mind-blowing condition I will ever see in my life and he asked me to help evaluate it.

BEST WINDFALL OF 2022

I was able to transfer some amazing cards from my co-worker's collection to my collection.

BEST I-DON'T-BELIEVE-I'M-COLLECTING-THIS EXAMPLE 2

 

Thanks mostly to my windfall but also due to stalling out on my 1970 Topps pursuit for several months, I added more 1969 Topps to my collection than probably any other set that didn't come out in 2022. It's been a lot of fun in a way that only the weird '69 set can do.

 

 

WORST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT OF 2022

 

My dear 1970s Kellogg's cards suddenly went from ignored and easily obtainable to insanely priced and somehow exclusive. This made me sadder than anything in the hobby this past year. I'd like these sets to go back to being forgotten in 2023.

BEST MAGAZINE ARTICLES I WROTE IN 2022

Another milestone in that for the first time I had two articles in an issue -- and that happened twice!

BEST MILESTONES OF 2022

There were a lot of them.

I reached over 4 million views. I also reached 5,000 posts and launched a giveaway that almost killed me.

I surpassed 900 Clayton Kershaw cards and this was my 900th.

Then I surpassed 1,000 Kershaw cards and this was my 1,000th.

Most recently, I surpassed 26,000 Dodgers cards (thanks to TCDB, I know this). This was my 26,000th Dodgers card, which Johnny sent.

BEST WAY TO ADD CARDS TO YOUR COLLECTION FOR MERE POSTAGE AND A CARD YOU DON'T WANT

These aren't all of the cards that I've added through Matt's Time Travel Trades over at Diamond Jesters, but they are the 2022 highlights. In fact, I just received my latest Time Travel cards today. Happy New Year, Matt!

 

 

BEST CARDS I SENT MYSELF IN 2022

That last one was the biggest fish of the entire year.

BEST HOBBY ACHIEVEMENT THAT WASN'T A SET COMPLETION OF 2022

 

I rounded up all the Clayton Kershaw goldies so I could say I have the entire run of Kershaw gold parallels for flagship. Screw that '08 Update goldie. It doesn't count.

 

 

BEST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT, 2 

After years of obviously ducking it, Topps finally used the 1978 design in one of its retro sets, this year's Archives. Now was that so hard?

 

 

BEST HOBBY ACQUISITION THAT WASN'T A CARD

My Topps wax pack shirt resembling the 1975 pack, of course!

BEST HOBBY ITEM SENT TO ME THAT WASN'T A CARD

Long live print publications.

WORST CHICKEN-COUNTING MOMENT OF 2022

I announced I was the premier Ron Cey card collector in the land back in March.

 

Then gcrl decided to add his collection to TCDB.

The only way I can sleep at night is telling myself that all of those extra gcrl Cey cards are smelly Cubs and A's cards.

 

BEST ROAD TRIP OF 2022

Visiting Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time in decades ... and discovering that the museum part of the Hall is practically all baseball cards.

BEST MILESTONE OF 2022 THAT I FORGOT ABOUT EARLIER

With these two cards I made it to 70 percent of the 1975 Topps set in buyback form. I've since discovered someone on TCDB that has several '75 buybacks that I don't have. Maybe 2023 will be the year for convincing Mr. Buybacks to let those ones go.

BEST OLD PACK OPENING OF 2002

I opened a 42-year-old pack of cards. The wrapper and the cards inside told me that was 1980 Topps, but that's impossible because there's no way 1980 is 42 years ago (OK, smart guy, 43 years ago).

BEST (OR WORST) CARD GIFT FROM MY BOSS

A vending box of 1987 Topps. Wee.

 

 

BEST THING I WANTED TO DO FOR A LONG TIME

 

Comparing the green-tint variations of 1962 Topps before my very eyes checked off a bucket-list item.

 

 

BEST CUSTOM CARDS OF 2022

 

Nine Pockets was churning them out in 2022 and I kept signing up for them.

 

BEST SIGN THIS BLOG IS STILL WORKING IN 2022

 

Reader Dana sent me this Ruben Sierra Flair card just because I mentioned it was cool in a blog feature a few weeks ago. This has happened many times -- I simply have to say it and then it shows up on my doorstep -- but it still amazes me.

He also sent all but two of the 2022 Stadium Club Dodgers. So now I finally know what most of the SC Dodgers look like this year ... no more waiting.

OK, I could go on with a few more categories, but I think you get it, it was still a pretty interesting hobby year even with the release of 2022 cards in disarray. My hobby just doesn't depend on the current year's product for me to be happy.

I don't really have a Card of the Year for 2022 for this post, but I think I'll make that a separate post in the early days of 2023.

Right now, I have the finale of every one of these posts since I started them: The 2022 Person of the Year. This year it isn't a definable person. But I owe the Mystery Man (or Woman) my gratitude, because that person certainly got me through 2022.

The Person Of The Year is whoever had the idea to insert baseball cards into boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in 1970.

Kellogg's 3-D baseball cards, which I didn't discover until around 1974 or 1975, kicked off my love of oddball cards, whether it be Hostess or Milton Bradley or Swell.

These oddball cards got me through 2022 when all of my other card loves were too expensive to obtain. So I dedicated myself to landing all of the Coke cards and grabbing whatever Burger King or Kaybee Toy or Kmart cards I could find. Because those prices were still reasonable. May they always be so.

So that's a wrap for 2022. Happy New Year and here's hoping for a much more Available hobby in 2023 in which every single person announces "The hobby aisle is open. NO WAITING."

(Persons of the Year: 2022: The idea man behind Kellogg's 3-D baseball cards; 2021 - Retail card shelf stockers; 2020 - Dustin May; 2019 - Gary V.; 2018 - Kylie Minogue; 2017 - Aaron Judge; 2016 - Justin Smoak; 2015 - Sandy Koufax; 2014 - Bill Wetmore; 2013 - maybe Josh Donaldson; 2012 - Adron Chambers)