At the end of the 2019 season I was looking over my collection and noticed that I had not completed any of my Topps base sets from 2016 through 2019 and resolved to not buy any packs for the then upcoming 2020 set. I have not regretted that decision in the slightest.
By forgoing new sets, I can spend more time appreciating and upgrading the sets I do have (especially the sets pre 1988) and continue building a 1971 Topps set. Rather than spend money that I don’t have (my daughter will be going to college in a year and half), I’m flipping cards on COMC and using the profits to purchase the singles I need. It’s a slow process, but oddly rewarding. Over the past year, I’ve managed purchase a few dozen, including many HI numbered cards including Willie Mays. Now if COMC can get their act together and mail them out to me sooner than three months from now, this plan I have could work.
I’ve also started flipping graded cards on Thepit.com. After a slow start, I’ve managed to earn a few hundred bucks over the past month. Like flipping on COMC, it’s oddly rewarding to purchase cards, never have them in your possession and then sell them for a profit. Since The Pit does not take a cut until you cash out, I can keep flipping and flipping until I grow tired of it. However, unlike flipping on COMC, I’m not sure what my long-term plan is there. Maybe I’ll try to flip enough to purchase a nice PSA 8 Clemente or Aaron.
Another reason I have vowed to not collect new sets is a change of mindset. As I look at my wall of sets in binders, I ask myself why do I have so many? Do I derive any joy from them? What’s going to happen to them if I‘m hit by a bus? Will they be a burden to my family? Well, I came to the conclusion that I only really look at my sets which predate 1988. Why? Well, I turned 16 in 1988 and the ballplayers seemed more human; not the gods I made them out to be when I was younger. Now as a soon-to-be 49 year old, I find I’m asking myself if I see current ball players in the same way as I did when I was a kid. Well, of course not. All of them are significantly younger than I am and that would just be weird. So why am I spending all this time and effort building new sets? Frankly, I flip through the older cards because I think they are more interesting to look at in terms of style and subject matter than those that followed. My wife claims that I am going through a mid-life crisis and while I’ll never admit it to her, I think she’s right.
As for flippers going to Walmart or Target and buying out all of the new product to sell at shows, well that sounds very disheartening. I hope that it does not turn off too many of these younger collectors who seemed to have recently joined our ranks.
Sorry this post got way off topic but reading these posts and listening to 70s music on SiriusXM just stirred up these sentiments.