Casting a wider net

 

 

This 1975 Hostess card of Brewers pitcher Billy Champion cost me 8 bucks -- a little more than 10 with shipping included.

 

The card contains a small crease in the corner and the pitcher, although featuring one of the all-time names in the sport, was an average performer in the '70s, otherwise known as "a common." But it's a short-print.

 

The Champion arrived not too long after the card of his former teammate, Robin Yount. The Yount is a short-print and its his rookie card, too, but it cost only a few bucks more than the Champion, likely because it's got a few issues (though nothing that bothers me in the slightest when it comes to Hostess cards).

 

I've returned to attempting to finish this set after getting frustrated with it last year. I didn't encounter the kind of price bumps I'm seeing with '75 Hostess when I was completing the 1976 and 1977 Hostess sets (1976 completed at the end of 2021 and 1977 in mid-2024). But I've got around 17 more SPs to get for '75 Hostess.

 

Pivoting in the other direction, buying packs of current product has gotten pricey, too. Prices have gone up in just about every configuration. Sure, it's fun to pull a colorful numbered parallel as I did with Shota Imanaga out of a hanger box, but it's a bit shocking when I see the price ring up at the self-checkout. 

 

I don't need to tell any collector reading this that the hobby has gotten more difficult -- no matter which way you turn -- for collectors in my situation, which I would term "Traditional Collector With a Budget".

 

I don't have the money to throw at a hobby box of current product, nor would I want to in most cases. Nor do I have the money to pay the inflated prices for vintage cards that have soared in the last five years in just about every area. I've been collecting long before the latest hobby boom, and ...

 

I remember thinking, "well, at least I have Kellogg's cards to collect. No one wants those."

 

Then I said, "at least I have Hostess cards to collect. No one wants those."

 

So, now what? No, I don't want to collect 1988 Donruss again.

 

For me, it means casting a wider net, while I try to save up money for those special sets, like '75 Hostess and '75 Kellogg's, that I really want. A budget guy like me seeks other, cheaper, avenues.

 

 

There is the giveaway trade thread on BlueSky in which sometimes you can find vintage -- for absolutely nothing. I recently picked up a 1970 O-Pee-Chee Sal Bando and the kind giver -- Andy -- threw in an unexpected 1966 Rico Carty! This budget collector likes free!

 

 

That same lot contained a 1985 Leaf rookie of Dwight Gooden! Yeah, I still need the Donruss version, which I will most certainly have to pay for, but the Leaf version that looks almost identical was free, baby!

 

 

The blog version of hunting for vintage deals is the Time Travel Trading at Diamond Jesters. For the latest round I picked up three vintage cards. All three of them have seen better days, but there's no sunshine around here for nine months out of the year so it's never going to be bright enough for anyone to tell.

 

For me, just knowing that I have around 55 cards of the 1966 Topps set and about the same for 1968 is a hoot! I never thought I'd have more than the Dodgers for either set, neither of which are favorites. And if you knew me as a kid, 1960s cards were the height of "old". (Forget about 1950s cards, we didn't even know they existed).

 

 

I also traded for three 1988 Topps football cards in the same lot (again, the Bosworth is not pack fresh). The Roger Craig showed up on the day he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

 

All of this only cost me cards I already have in duplicate. (I've been burying Matt a bit in 1979 Topps football, which no one sadly seems to want, which baffles me. Maybe Matt can start collecting the set, he said hopefully).

 

And speaking of football cards:

  

I adore 1976 Topps football. The first cards I pulled out of packs (I don't remember how many packs I bought that year but it wasn't much, maybe three?).

 

As I've said before, I have no real plans to complete this set because I know the Payton rookie will haunt me at some point. But when you're collecting on a budget, you find what you like and if it's cheap enough, you grab it.

 

And that's where I'm at now. I hope some day that prices go down for some of the things that I really like. Heck, it would even be nice if prices would go down on the cards selling in stores. But I doubt that will happen.

 

Just know that if you price things reasonably -- i.e. not pricing every current Shohei Ohtani base card $2 or more for no reason at all -- I will find you, and give you my business.