Not many people like homework, but I have a secret that makes it pretty fun. The answer? It gets pretty interesting when you are the person who assigns the homework.
I have an idea that would be fun (for me) to see implemented. I want to read a summary of your hobby year. I was away from the hobby when many of these blogs started up, and the experience of discovering another good one is sometimes akin to joining a conversation without all the necessary context. Annual review posts are very helpful in coming up to speed on a collection and help identify subjects that may have been overlooked amid particularly active posting activity. Several of you have been doing this for years and I really appreciate it. [Some established examples: Tim Wallach / Night Owl]
I've been kicking the idea around for a while but never got around to properly preparing one of my own for publication. This time I'm ready. A full report has been written and needs only a few finishing touches in the form of final numbers for the year.
Here is the general framework I am using:
- Collection metrics: How many cards are currently in the collection? What is the breakdown between types of cards? How have these numbers changed over the past 12 months? How do these cards shake out in terms of number of what fits within the core collecting focus versus interesting items are that are just "there."
- Highlight new arrivals. Which new cards finish in the top three for the year?
- Review progress made towards longstanding collecting goals. Detail any changes in strategic direction.
- Grade performance against 2024 collecting goals and lay out new ones for 2025.
- Note any changes to the blog layout. A lot of work goes into personalizing these things and I suspect we are never finished tinkering with elements of design and usability. Did anything change in 2024?
I'll have my report up at the end of December and hope to read about other collectors as well.
Other Items
If you haven't been to the main CardBoredom site recently, here is what was posted in November:
1952 Topps: The best worst card I'll ever see from the high number series. Dick Kryhoski had an eventful introduction to the Navy. I accidentally went nuclear trying to add a card to the set building project.
1993 Finest: News flash - Athletes are good at athletic events. Also, some Greek antiquity, college football, and fast Saabs/slow Ferraris. My first experience with the retirement of a "modern" player.
Wallet Card: Looking back at the time I unsuccessfully tried to destroy a Ken Griffey, Jr. card.
I collect pretty much everything baseball-card but am focused mostly on vintage. I still love the newer stuff though. For me the collecting is all about fun so I never set goals, though.
ReplyDeleteHaven't changed my layout since I started. Maybe I should but I've never really felt the need. Design is not an area of strength for me.
"...all about fun so I never set goals..." - Maybe make a baseball card bingo card for the coming year? Each space could have something to look for in the cards you pick up over the next 12 months. You could look for airbrushed hats, photographer seen in a reflection, misspelled names, cards with obviously incorrect player weight, etc.
DeleteIf had been any other year, I'd have took up the challenge, but with as much trouble as I'm having getting posts done now, I don't see how I could possibly do something like this. I could spend the whole month working on it, and still not be able to finish it in time. It doesn't help too that I've spent the last few months going through my whole collection; ostensibly to thin it out a bit and then to finally catalogue everything. I'm almost done organizing, but have barely started with the cataloguing. I'm gonna be giving the TCDB another try, but that's gonna mean yet another thing that I'll have to try and squeeze into the less than an hour I have each day to do computer things before my vertigo starts to kick in.
ReplyDeleteCompletely understandable. Hopefully you gain some traction with the TCDB project.
DeleteIt took me so long to type out my first comment (typo's and all) that I forgot to mention how much I enjoyed your Griffey wallet card post. I loved everything about it, from hearing about your neighborhood trading as a kid to the value comparison through the years. I can honestly say, without any hyperbole, that it was easily one of my favorite posts to read this year on the blogs.
DeleteThank you, this means a lot.
DeleteI don't know if I'll write a post like that - tho it could be kind of cool - but Jason (notably of the SABR card blog) just did:
ReplyDeletehttps://jasoncards.wordpress.com/2024/12/01/the-year-in-review-2024-collecting-highlights/
That's a good link, thank you.
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