Taking back the hobby on my own terms
It is purely a coincidence that the topic of the hobby’s evolution and its future has come to the forefront just as I’m getting to this reveal. I started the buildup to this at the beginning of the month, mainly because I knew I wouldn’t have much time to develop much new content and updating a picture once a day for 30 days seemed like a good way to keep the site active. Now that we’ve reached the anticlimactic finale, my previous “Hobby in crisis” pieces make a perfect lead-in to a story of how I’ve learned to adapt to the changing landscape of baseball card collecting.
Card collecting has become increasingly difficult as the number and variety of cards have increased (and as the print runs have decreased). eBay has also changed the game by making common items more available at lower prices and opening the market for rarer items to the entire world. This drives the demand for rarer and rarer items in new products, which raises prices and turns the original draw, the base set, into unwanted overhead. The whole thing ends up being lose-lose for case/box/packbusting; if you want a set, you can get one cheaper and easier on eBay than you can by opening packs, and if you want high-end inserts, the long odds of getting what you want at random, the premium added to the case/box/pack price for at best a miniscule chance of a big hit, and the ever-decreasing prices on the secondary market make those prospects dismal at best. I’ve built sets, I’ve collected players, and I’ve chased rookies, but it seems like the rules keep getting changed out of my favor. It got to the point where I had no choice but to call it quits. This hobby just wasn’t fun anymore.
When I came back two years later, the landscape had changed. The excess of the last few years had resulted in rock-bottom prices on everything that wasn’t a current “in” product. Now I could go to work making my own rules and shaping a collection the way I wanted it, free from the constraints of checklists. The problem before was always one of availability; if you wanted an autographed or game-used card of a minor star or less, you had maybe a couple of cards to choose from, if any. Inevitably, these would be a bat card or plain white jersey card and maybe an obscure autographed card, not exactly the sort of thing to get excited about. My ground rules were simple – assemble a unique collection of items covering the history of the New York Mets. The successes, the failures, the quirks, and the downright disgraces, all of it had a place if it added something unique to the story.
At first, I just grabbed whatever I could get at a reasonable price. Much of it was to fill in gaps from my earlier attempts at Mets game-used and autograph collections, but I eventually got a feel for what was out there and what was worth getting. With so much available, I needed some strict guidelines to set boundaries on the collection as a whole. This resulted in a set of themed collections, most of which had associated collecting projects with some sort of completion criteria. Some were easier to complete than others, some were open-ended, and some were just impossible to ever fully complete. The challenge in many cases wasn’t just to acquire items but to identify what even existed in the first place. As I began to amass a variety of game-used patch cards from different teams, I came up with the idea of the 30 Patch Project.
Same as above only widescreen
As the name implies, the goal of the 30 Patch Project is to assemble a collection of 30 patch cards. The end result will contain a piece of a game-used patch from each of the 30 MLB franchises. And, fitting with my focus on the Mets, each patch must be from a uniform worn by a player who has at some point played for the New York Mets. With the challenge in place, I scoured eBay and Mets history for pieces that would help me reach my goal.
It took me about two years to complete my first iteration of the 30 Patch Project, with much of that time spent waiting for the right combination of player signings and acquisitions; the final piece, obtained just after the 2009 World Series, was from Gary Sheffield, who was signed for the 2009 season after being released by the Tigers (you may remember him from 20 years earlier in my collecting history). After it was finished though, I added a few new rules to keep things interesting. Star players were always preferred, but having 30 different players would be an improvement. Having the team of the patch match the team of the uniform the player was shown in would also make sense. Players at all positions would also be more interesting, especially if a workable roster could be made (relief pitchers are problematic though).
It took another six months to reconfigure the collection to comply with the new rules. Cards continue to come and go as new patch cards are released, new players are signed, and the gaps in my patch collection are filled. The current configuration is framed on my wall as the only baseball cards I keep on display. Looking over the names and faces, it is clear that some cards are a better fit than others.
The Hall of Famers (Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Gary Carter, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray, and Roberto Alomar) and those likely to join them (Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, and Jeff Kent) should have a place in here somewhere (though Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Yogi Berra, Richie Ashburn, Warren Spahn, and Joe Torre could also come into play).
Current/recent stars like David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana, and Carlos Beltran are a good fit as well.
The two best Mets first basemen (Keith Hernandez and John Olerud) are tough to displace.
Other stars (Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Delgado, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, Heath Bell, and Lenny Dykstra) are secure unless someone better needs their slot. That just leaves eight positions that make good targets for an upgrade.
White Sox
This is the easiest upgrade, with Tom Seaver, Roberto Alomar, and Robin Ventura all being much better options than Lance Broadway. Unfortunately, White Sox patches are hard to come by and, for Seaver and Alomar, replacements at their current positions aren’t any easier; George Foster is the logical replacement at Reds, while Indians would go to Eddie Murray, who would in turn be replaced at Orioles by Melvin Mora.
Yankees
The Yankees are tied with the Braves with the third-most options for patches (behind the Mets and the Dodgers). The options here are loaded – Yogi Berra and Joe Torre provide managerial alternatives to Willie Randolph, with Darryl Strawberry and Robin Ventura also in the mix (Gary Sheffield and Rickey Henderson are covered elsewhere and Xavier Nady isn’t even in the discussion). Ideally, I would go with Berra (with Strawberry as a backup), but those are both tough patches to get a hold of (and I love the 01 UD Decade patches).
Marlins
Cliff Floyd is a decent choice in a field that includes the already represented Mike Piazza and Carlos Delgado (plus a bunch of players not worth mentioning), but I’m holding out for Jose Reyes with the new wonderfully hideous Marlins M logo patch (if their Twitter account is to be believed, Topps already has a jersey in hand). Shortstops are at a premium here (only Mora at Orioles and Berroa at Royals are alternatives) and slotting Reyes in at Marlins would let Wright go solo in the Mets slot (getting rid of Kaz Matsui).
Pirates
If you think Jason Bay is bad, this used to be the home of Oliver Perez. Or would you rather have Kris Benson or Xavier Nady?
Diamondbacks
Shawn Green didn’t do much as a Met, but neither did the only other option, Jay Bell. I might swap the two if Cliff Floyd loses the Marlins spot (need to have an 01 Private Stock Game Gear Patch in there somewhere), but Green also represents the best right fielder of the bunch (Darryl Strawberry would be my choice if I could find a spot for him). Or I could just fudge it and move Beltran over to right (position for this exercise is based on most-played position as a Met, but I’ll allow myself to break my own rules).
Cubs
It’s Moises Alou or Damon Buford, so Alou is pretty much stuck here until something better comes along.
Brewers
The only other option here is Gary Sheffield, but he is the only option at Tigers (the only Mickey Lolich patch is from a Padres uniform unfortunately), so Jeromy Burnitz is stuck here until Carlos Gomez gets some patch cards. Somewhere, someone is one player away from winning Infamous Mets Players Bingo. Jim Fregosi?
Rays
Brian Stokes is the only option here with no relief (no pun intended) in sight.
The other 29
This is what the 30 Patch Project looks like for the Mets, but what about the other 29 franchises? I’m not even going to try to do the same for them under these rules, but I have started something similar with the 900 Patch Project (now 41% complete).
How would you meet this challenge for your favorite team?
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