I don't think I want every Dodger card anymore

 

I've reached a realization that's been coming for awhile now.

Over the past six or seven years, the quest to pursue every Dodgers card has grown more and more ludicrous to me.

 

 I've known that it's an impossible quest and I've known that probably since the early days of this blog. But even then, even after everything that happened in the 1990s, "collecting them all" still seemed like something I could rationalize. Things hadn't gotten quite so ridiculous.

Then, around 10 years ago or so, we started seeing stuff like inserts being paralleled in earnest. Then, around the same time, card companies got into online exclusives and then those exclusives started being issued weekly. Then Panini issued Chronicles, which is sets within a set with multiple parallels of parallels. Then Topps started creating parallel sets, things like Allen & Ginter Chrome. Then Topps started issuing multiple chrome brands, cosmic and sonic and bionic and moronic.

 

It's an impractical quest being a team collector now. Each year you know you're beaten before you start. I naturally gravitated toward team collecting when I began a blog because that was the quest as a kid -- find all the Dodgers. It seemed difficult at the time, even with only one set when I started. Even trying to finish off team sets for three or four brands sounds quaint now.

 

But still I've plodded on, knowing, but pretending not to know.

 

Then the other day I received four envelopes from Johnny's Trading Spot. The next day, nine more showed up (my wife said, "You have 9 envelopes here from John -----". Yup, that's nothing new).

 

Most of the cards were Dodgers, stuff he had accumulated but wasn't interested in -- I'm an easy and willing target.

 

I will gladly take stuff like this (Andre Jackson was the overwhelming champion of these envelopes). I like Chrome, I am still a sucker for colored parallels and the parallels that were around when I started blogging.

 

I probably should stop caring about these -- no logos, you know -- but this year's Panini (Donruss and Prizm) is showing off older players while also including guys who ended up getting called up during the year, so that's a little bit interesting.

But then there is stuff that gives me no joy and makes me question what I'm doing, even if I'm not buying these kinds of cards.

This is the prime example. A foil stamp does not make anything a "new card." That should have stayed in the '90s. It's the most pointless "parallel" I can think of. It's even more useless when it's connected to "The 582 Montgomery Club" which is some Topps club that I'm surprised is still suckering people into joining -- why in the world would I want a card advertising that?

The same goes for the All-Star Game stamps. I like my All-Star cards but not this gimmick. And one more gimmick: the gold star parallels that showed up a couple of years ago are still showing up! I remember when I saw these for the first time, I thought, "well that's just copying Panini" and then Topps kept doing it! Stop buying these guys!

 

Here is other Dodger stuff I should stop collecting: Parallel sets like Allen & Ginter and Stadium Club Chrome; Topps Now cards; Bowman everything, especially inserts; inserts that look cool -- like the '95 Finest Taylor -- but I can't figure out what set it goes to; reverse image variations like the Duke Snider; and inserts that contain more than one card of the same guy like the Muncy Home Run Challenge.

All of these are not needed as far as my collection goes, I can't find a reason why they exist, except that Topps/Panini wants to trap another collector.

 

So what does that mean for me?

 

I haven't quite figured that out. I don't want to turn away or discourage people sending me Dodgers cards. Sometimes I find cool stuff I didn't know about through random sends.

 

But I think pretty much what it means is there are going to be some types of cards now that don't go in my Dodger binders, and get banished to an "Also" box.

 

I used to shudder at such a thought, but the binders that claim to have "all" the Dodgers aren't even close to being complete. As my collection grows, the further and further away I get from completion. So the extras box seems inevitable.

 

I know player collectors and collectors who pick-and-choose what cards they like, regardless of team or set, have done this for years and have figured that all out already.

 

But they didn't grow up during the time that I did, when completion was the goal and having a favorite team was an easier way to get there (completing a full set on a paper route salary was hard).

 

Speaking of that, a couple envelopes that Johnny sent were my favorites and that's because they are related to that simple time in collecting -- the '70s.

 

Johnny found not quite all, but almost all, of the non-SP wants I had left in 2023 Heritage (which as you know duplicates the set that were the first cards I owned). I think there's maybe five or so left. It's interesting that I wasn't able to get two of the Aaron Judge cards until now.

 

And Johnny's about the only other blogger that gets the appeal of vintage Wacky Packages, those stickers that I collected right along with 1975 Topps. I adore these.

This doesn't mean I'm going to cut back on collecting my Dodgers -- I already don't buy a lot of that stuff that I complained about up top. But I think I'll be freeing up a decent amount of space in my binders for Dodger cards that have meaning to me.

Because, to be honest, there are a few of them that absolutely do not. Thanks for killing a good thing, Topps and Panini.