Dash It All

 

Congratulations to the new World Series Champions! Or not. I'm writing this when it could still be either the Dodgers or Yankees. Like a chonky but enthusiastic squirrel I have been creating posts for use at future dates and throwing them into a publishing queue for future use. I already have enough profiles of cards from my in-progress sets to nearly get to the end of the year. Take a look at the ones that made it to the primary CardBoredom site this month:

1952 Topps

• Prior to Shohei Ohtani, the last American League pitcher to steal home plate did so in 1950. He was even portrayed running to home plate on his '56 Topps card.
  
• An excellent defensive infielder went to prison after explosives were planted on the cruise ship that would eventually become the set of The Love Boat
  
• Pitchers will do anything to stay in the game. One even had his teeth removed to keep throwing.
  

1993 Finest

• I don't believe the rumor that this member of the '93 Finest checklist is trying to corner the market for his Refractors.
• A baseball card once became the emblem of clubhouse discord among the New York Mets.

Dashboards!

One of the reasons for getting so far ahead of writing has been to ensure an adequate flow of posts while I put the finishing touches on the reporting output of the databases that drive my collecting records. Earlier in the year I teased alongside the rollout of new player infographics that additional updates would be rolled out in stages. I am pleased to report the release of the next upgrade: Improved dashboards for my 1952 Topps and 1993 Finest projects.

The '52 Topps dashboard should look very familiar to anyone familiar with these cards. I think I got the coloring and cardboard texture right while capturing the current state of this project. It is certainly an improvement over the prior donut chart showing progress to date towards completion. Aside from expanded data and better aesthetics, what I am really excited about is how every aspect updates automatically based on the checklist where I track my progress. All I have to do is save the resulting image whenever I want to announce the addition of a new card. Anyone wishing to see the live version of the graphic can find it on my '52 Topps overview page.

Upgrades are also live on at the bottom of my Refractor Dashboard page, an area of CardBoredom that sees quarterly updates with the latest overview of data on these shiny parallels. I improved the graphics while automating future production output. From this point forward, publishing of this data should be able to take place with the click of a button after proof

Powering this from behind the scenes is database that extends well beyond what is provided by any individual publicly available collector resource. While the dashboard gives a general overview of the availability of these cards, the database and my internal files are now at a point where they can generate usable insights into chasing this set. In early January a much more detailed version of the dashboard will be released as a full report on the state of the '93 Refractor market. I promise it will not be just a recitation of pop counts. It's going to be fun.

Next month I will have a homework assignment for you. Until then, don't let your cardboard be boring.