I was bored yesterday and came up with the idea to count the "hit" cards in my Oakland A's collection. I've been collecting the A's since I started watching baseball in 1988, but it's been more hardcore since around 2003 when I stopped messing with football stuff (other than my Dilfer collection). I've never counted my collection before so some of the numbers were a little surprising.
My counting method was to figure out how many of each type of card I have, so if a card had different attributes it could show up on multiple lists...an auto/patch card numbered /25 would be counted on the autograph, game-used, patch, and low-numbered lists. My A's collection includes a lot of cards of guys in different uniforms, which I counted separately (for example a Coco Crisp Red Sox auto or Sonny Gray Team USA jersey). If it was a draft pick card of a player who was drafted by the A's or a minor league card when the guy played for an A's affiliate I counted it as an A's uni card. I did not include cards of players I collect that never played for the A's, such as Xavier Nady.
The numbers:
Cards serial numbered /150 or less (not including Moments and Milestones base cards)
A's Uniform: 1,377
Non-A's: 218
I picked 150 as the dividing line because the first rare serial numbered set was 1996 Circa Raves/150. This number wasn't too shocking, I would have guessed around a thousand. I love those numbered cards!
Game-Used cards
A's Uniform: 665
Non-A's: 161
About half the number of low-numbered stuff, I would have guessed a smaller percentage. I have tried to limit my non-A's uni pickups to guys without A's uni GU cards so I'm surprised I have 161 of them.
Patch cards
A's Uniform: 61
Non-A's: 10
I was very surprised that I had that many patches, it always seems like such a treat when one arrives in the mail. I'm on the road to 100!
Certified Autographs
A's Uniform: 707
Non-A's: 205
I was shocked that I had more autographs than GU cards. Looks like I'll pick up #1,000 total next year.
Non-Certified Autographs
A's Uniform: 66
Non-A's: 9
These are mostly cards I got signed at minor league games and TTM, and does not count the cards in my 1988 Topps autographed partial set.
1/1 Printing Plates
A's Uniform: 61
Non-A's: 7
I was thinking 30-40 so not too bad! I generally only pay around $8-10 for players I don't care about much and $12-15 for better guys.
"Real" 1/1s
A's Uniform: 3 (2009 Topps Unique Platinum Brett Anderson RC, 2005 Diamond Kings Platinum Mark Mulder, 2006 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Barry Zito)
Non-A's: 4
I was surprised I had so few A's 1/1s, I need to step up my game. I should make a 2013 resolution to double my A's uniform 1/1s.
Richard
My counting method was to figure out how many of each type of card I have, so if a card had different attributes it could show up on multiple lists...an auto/patch card numbered /25 would be counted on the autograph, game-used, patch, and low-numbered lists. My A's collection includes a lot of cards of guys in different uniforms, which I counted separately (for example a Coco Crisp Red Sox auto or Sonny Gray Team USA jersey). If it was a draft pick card of a player who was drafted by the A's or a minor league card when the guy played for an A's affiliate I counted it as an A's uni card. I did not include cards of players I collect that never played for the A's, such as Xavier Nady.
The numbers:
Cards serial numbered /150 or less (not including Moments and Milestones base cards)
A's Uniform: 1,377
Non-A's: 218
I picked 150 as the dividing line because the first rare serial numbered set was 1996 Circa Raves/150. This number wasn't too shocking, I would have guessed around a thousand. I love those numbered cards!
Game-Used cards
A's Uniform: 665
Non-A's: 161
About half the number of low-numbered stuff, I would have guessed a smaller percentage. I have tried to limit my non-A's uni pickups to guys without A's uni GU cards so I'm surprised I have 161 of them.
Patch cards
A's Uniform: 61
Non-A's: 10
I was very surprised that I had that many patches, it always seems like such a treat when one arrives in the mail. I'm on the road to 100!
Certified Autographs
A's Uniform: 707
Non-A's: 205
I was shocked that I had more autographs than GU cards. Looks like I'll pick up #1,000 total next year.
Non-Certified Autographs
A's Uniform: 66
Non-A's: 9
These are mostly cards I got signed at minor league games and TTM, and does not count the cards in my 1988 Topps autographed partial set.
1/1 Printing Plates
A's Uniform: 61
Non-A's: 7
I was thinking 30-40 so not too bad! I generally only pay around $8-10 for players I don't care about much and $12-15 for better guys.
"Real" 1/1s
A's Uniform: 3 (2009 Topps Unique Platinum Brett Anderson RC, 2005 Diamond Kings Platinum Mark Mulder, 2006 Bowman Chrome Superfractor Barry Zito)
Non-A's: 4
I was surprised I had so few A's 1/1s, I need to step up my game. I should make a 2013 resolution to double my A's uniform 1/1s.
Richard
