What I Collect - Blog Bat Around

I was putting this off because I kind of touched on a lot of it when I came back to blogging at the beginning of the year and was setting my goals. But readership has picked up a bit in the past weeks the more I posted so I'll take another stab at it with a few more details.

Cubs and Cubs Accessories:

As a Cubs centered blog, this is probably self explanatory. I am a Cubs team collector and looking for as many unique Cubs cards as possible. I know the chase will never end, but that's what makes it fun!

With the exception of my Opening Day splurge, I am picking up team sets as they come out this year. Trying to plug holes from previous years' sets is proving to be a losing battle without more organization, so I am on a buying hiatus from past years until I can attack the needs a little more methodically and cost effectively.

Other Cubs memorabilia in my collection include autographs, magazines, books, cups, ice cream helmets, photos, bobbleheads, Starting Lineups & McFarlane figures, shirts/jerseys, stadium giveaways, etc. You name it. With the move next summer, I am starting to box things up, but am taking pictures as I go. I hope to show these in a series of Throwback Thursday posts throughout the year.

Everything and anything Cubs. Check.

Autograph Collections:

I have a few smaller autograph collections within my Cubs collection.

Among other things, I have been slowly working my way through the 1991 Topps Desert Shield parallel set, as well as the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup cards.

But my most agressive project is my ATCRCS (All-Time Cubs Roster Custom Set). This a custom made set for each player to have suited up for the Cubs. I haven't added to it in quite a while but intend to refocus on that this year.

Player Collections:

I have two player collections, Ryne Sandberg and Tony Campana. I am currently scanning and cataloging my Sanderg PC and am nearing a finish on that end. My Campana collection has essentially ground to a halt as I'm down to 1/1's or otherwise extremely limited cards. There's a tab at the top that shows what I have for him. But as I posted yesterday, Topps is almost forcing my hand into a third PC with Jose Quintana. Which brings me to my next collection.

I Was There Cards:

Since the creation of Topps Now, I thought it was really great to have a card from a game I attended. That snowballed into seemingly every game I have attended since its inception garnering a card. I've also really enjoyed researching the source photos from Topps card since they use Getty Images for their photos. This has made it really easy to determine if I was at a game and has resulted in the aforementioned Quintana explosion in my collection with all the various parallels.

The Andrew McCutchen was from the 2015 Wild Card game. I did succumb and pick up some Topps Now cards that aren't necessarily Cubs finest moments (the Jayson Werth walk-off in 2016 and Ryan Zimmerman home run in the 2017 NLDS). I also went to a random Marlins/Nationals game last August that saw Giancarlo Stanton hit a bomb and get a card. I have around 25 cards in this collection, almost triple that if you include all of the parallels.

Cubs Topps Now:

This obviously falls into my Cubs collection, but I keep them separate. I bought in early to this Topps cash cow. I have completed the 2016 Cubs team set, including at least one version of each of the autographs and relics released. That got quite pricey towards the end! For me, Topps really caught lightning in a bottle that season with the Cubs ending their long World Series drought. I didn't think I would keep up with it in 2017, but I did for the most part. I completed the base set and all of their subsets (Road to Opening Day, Player's Weekend, Post Season), but I refrained from most of the relics and autographs this time. Will I keep going in 2018? Probably. This binder is one of my greatest collection joys.

Cubs Adjacent - Ivy and Cubs Cameos:

Aside from the few complete sets I have, non-Cubs cards have a hard time staying in my collection. My biggest niche collection is made up of cards that feature Wrigley Field's iconic Ivy in the background. I recently surpassed 500 cards and honestly, without a checklist to work from, I have no idea what all is out there. That makes finding new ones such a treat. All Ivy cards are welcomed and I am in the process of compiling a Frankenset as well. I am also thinking of starting a TTM project with my duplicates asking the players if they have any Wrigley specific memories.

Cameo cards are a bit unorganized at the moment from a cataloged standpoint, although I keep them all together. Basically, if a Cubs player shows up as a base runner on a double play, as a catcher on a batter's card, as a fielder on a runner's card or whatever, I'll add them to this collection. Ivy trumps cameo, but if I have a duplicate, each collection will get one.

Undercover Cubs:

I touched on these recently as well. These are cards of players from other teams but are also "Cubs" card somehow. The Dexter Fowler is a photoshop job as the source photo shows him as a Cub. The Joe Girardi is a Rockies card, but show him as a Cub because they didn't photoshop the uniform.

Very Unofficial PC Guys:

I collect cards of Cubs players so designating them as PC guys seems a bit redundant. This list is made up of guys with non-Cubs ties. Before I started this blog, I did a summer internship for my local Minor League team, the Potomac Nationals, the high-A Washington Nationals affiliate. I saw dozens of games that year and I became partial to a few guys that I saw play and will root for them (as long as they aren't playing the Cubs). I won't go chasing parallels online or anything crazy but if I pull their card from a pack, I'll set it aside. If I come across something in a dime box I need, I'll pick it up. A few of them have even had Topps Now cards, but I've passed on them for now. These guys all came through Potomac that season, either with the Nats or as a visitor.

Justin Grimm (even though he isn't a Cub anymore, I'll keep adding him)

Jeremy Hazelbaker

TJ House

Sandy Leon

Manny Machado

Tim Melville

Whit Merrifield

Jake Odorizzi

Mike Olt

Eury Perez

Jake Petricka

Tyler Saladino

Jonathan Schoop

Andrelton Simmons

Steven Souza

A few others made it to the show but I've never really seen cards of them.

Washington Nationals

Finally, Washington Nationals cards. At work, I have the opportunity to work with kids and occasionally we have a baseball themed program. Nats cards, like most teams in their local markets, tend to command a slight premium around here so they get pretty excited when I bring in a box or two of Nats cards for them to go through.

We had a Spring Training program a few weeks ago so my Nats cards are tapped out again. In fact, I just joined a Team Collectors site as the Nationals representative for the sole purpose to replenish. Thanks to Paul from Wrigley Wax for the idea a few years back. He's a teacher (principal?) and does this for his kids with Tigers cards if I recall correctly.

That was a lot longer than I expected. I thought "Cubs and Cubs Accessories" would cover most of it but it turns out a lot of little things add up!

Shameless plug! Don't forget to check out my new blog 2018 Topps Opening Day! No post today but the first insert will show up tomorrow!