For the player collector in me

 

I don't spend a lot of time checking how many cards I have of each player but it's fun to do from time to time.

 

As someone who collects sets first and then my team, player collection totals are a natural subset of those and easy to categorize on TCDB or on whichever favorite counting spreadsheet you prefer. Also, unlike set or team collecting, the totals change fairly often.

 

When Johnny's Trading Spot sends out one of his "inventory cleanser" packages, I can't help but notice those player totals because the guys he's scrapping stand out.

 

Alex Verdugos

 

Up to 87 cards. 153rd on the list.

 

 

Dalton Rushings

 

43 cards. 471st on the list.

 

 

Tony Gonsolins

 

75 cards. 189th on the list.

 

 

Walker Buehlers (still haven't come to terms with his Padre-ness)

 

287 cards. 20th on the list.

 

 

Duke Sniders

 

318 cards. 16th on the list.

 

 

 Shawn Green and (tiny) Fernando Valenzuela

 

517 cards and 308 cards

 

4th and 18th on the list.

 

 

Dalton Rushing (again), River Ryan and Hyseseong Kim (bad photo, those Platinum Chrome cards are not easy to photograph)

 

River Ryan - 10 cards. 2,668th on the list

Hyeseong Kim - 29 cards - 888th on the list

 

 

A couple of 2026 Donruss newbies-to-me, including my first Das Boot ... er, Zach Root card!

 

Alex Freeland - 12 cards. 2,284th on the list.

Zach Root - 1 card, 7,517th on the list!

 

 

And heck, let's throw a couple of 2024 Topps parallel needs in to the computations.

 

Ryan Yarbrough - 11 cards, 2,461st on the list

Miguel Vargas - 48 cards, 397th on the list

 

As I was doing my casual counting, not really paying attention to the totals, I noticed I was getting pretty close to a milestone for one of the more loved players in my collection -- someone I would really "player-collect" if I was the player-collecting type.

 

A healthy stack of Hideo Nomo cards.

 

But even if I'm not focusing on a particular player, it's still easy to accumulate a lot of Nomo's cards. It's just part of collecting the Dodgers and Nomo's playing career starting in the 1990s.

 

But I have all of those above cards.

 

I needed two cards to reach 600 total Nomos in my collection. And with only two cards left to categorize, things weren't looking good.

 

Then something happened ...

 

This is not an ordinary 1997 Finest Hideo Nomo card, which I already own.

 

 

It is a sample card! NEW TO ME. Hideo Nomo card No. 599!

 

Now, only one card to go!

 

 

This isn't the regular 2004 Bazooka card, it's the mini card ...

 

Do I need it? Do I need it?

 

TCDB says ...

 

I NEED IT!!

 

 

  

600! 

 

Hideo Nomo is just the third player in my collection to reach 600 cards. I'm not sure if there is another player that will get there. Right now Mookie Betts has the best shot with nearly 500 cards and more of his Dodger cards being created at a pretty good clip.

 

Outside of a random night card, there was really only one type of card to come from the box that Johnny sent that didn't fit neatly into my team or player collections.

 

It is related to a set -- and therefore it made me the happiest.

 

I've been jumping on Johnny's Trading Spot's weekly vintage Wacky Packages giveaways and was lucky enough to win the first two.

 

 These are the needs from Week 1.

 

 

These are the needs from Week 2.

 

Plus there were some very welcome upgrades in the Wacky giveaways, too. Since scrapping COMC from my card purchasing options, I don't have a reliable Wacky Packages source anymore, so I really appreciate this giveaway and I hope to win at least one more.

 

I am looking forward to adding these to the Wacky binder more than anything else that arrived in that box. Because set-collecting still rules over all.