Blog Bat Around- What I Collect

I am a walking disaster.  I don't particularly want to be, but I don't seem to have much say in the matter.  I rarely wake up with more than maybe 50% of an average person's energy levels (usually more like 30%), and usually little-to-no ability to focus that extremely limited energy on things that actually need to be done.  When combined with all the other numerous mental health issues I deal with on any given day, things often fire off in strange and unusual ways.  The most mundane things can turn into a ridiculous adventure with me.

What does my damage have to do with my collection, you may be wondering?  The answer is everything.  The way I collect is directly tied into how wildly unstable my mental health and energy levels and total inability stay on target or handle structure in any meaningful way.  My least structured collections are the ones I enjoy and indulge in the most, even though I would likely would have finished many of the more structured ones by now if I were able to concentrate the bulk of my energy on them.  But anyway, with all that tediously said, these are the things I collect.

 SKETCH CARDS

Yes, sketch cards are pretty much my favorite thing in the world.  I want to own them all!  Somehow, even with my horrible budget restrictions and the wide net my collection casts, I've still managed to to accumulate somewhere around 300 keepers over the years, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  It's just pure fun, even with the growing amount of structure I continue to impose on this collection.  They also look absolutely phenomenal in a binder.  That doesn't hurt.

Nico Minoru (Runaways) by Stefanie Battalene..

My primary collections are Raven & Starfire from DC Comics and She-Hulk & Rogue from Marvel, but there are many other specific things I'm interested in (several other comic characters, video game, cartoon, & anime PSCs, sports, Star Wars, a page from specific sets, etc...), and like I said, I am open to just about anything if I like it enough.

Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) sketch card drawn by yours truly..

I also make art myself and am open to commissions or trades (art trades or for cards in general), but as noted above, energy, focus, and (in this case) confidence are often problems, so it may take a long time for me to get anything done.  I have dozens and dozens of finished sketch cards of available if you want something from me but don't wanna wait on a commission though.

Lara Croft 9x12" pinup..

I'm known to pick up larger pieces of original art on occasion when I can find them cheap enough during lulls in the never-ending hunt for more sketch cards.  There are some absurdly good deals on truly fantastic art by criminally underappreciated talents out there on the interwebs, due to the gross inequality and general lack of appreciation of art and/or artists that afflict our world.  The above Lara Croft pinup was one of a half-dozen wonderful works of art I picked up from a single seller that combined to average out to around $7.50 apiece.

And one more sketch card, just because..

MISCELLANEOUS NON-SPORT/OTHER SPORT HITS

2000 Press Pass Rage Tara Dakides Graffiti Autograph..

I considered this to be primarily a non-sport collection until fairly recently.  The Olympic stuff & Goodwin Champions hits have really started to pile up in recent months though, so I figured I'd just lump it together here, for simplicity's sake.

Never watched Idol, but I had a Jtv/Twitter friend who knew her, so...

I don't really go in with a plan with this collection, even less so than with the sketches, where I do have some specific character wants.  Here it's mostly just a matter of finding someone I like, or at least recognize, and if I the price is right, I'll pick it up.  Heck, if it's cheap enough (or if they're pretty enough), I don't necessarily even need to recognize them.

Blue is the best color parallel. Don't @ me..

SINGLE PAGE SENSATIONS

The start of one of my newest player pages..

Exactly what it says on the tin. Nine cards.  One page.  For anyone I like enough to want to collect, but not enough to want to bother with a full PC.  They might also just be too expensive, lacking enough cardboard, or some combination (or all) of the above.

Quite possibly the single greatest photo variation of all-time..

Collecting like this allows me to collect more of the players I like and allows me to bling those collections out a bit more than would be possible with full collections.  I feel it's the best possible quality over quantity solution, though I admit, the sheer volume of stuff I collect does noticeably dilute things (moreso in speed than overall quality, but the quality probably does take a small hit).  I also do this with sets I like a lot too, because I don't have the focus (or space) to be a set collector.

My page of random non-baseball A&G autos is coming along nicely

I think I have *at least* 55-60 baseball Single Page Sensations, not even counting my Cubbies (which is probably another 20 or more), and the number seems to go up by a few more every season, over 30 basketball (there are no additional full collections or teams to worry about though), and 25-ish football, with at least a dozen more Bears on top of that, and a handful of current and former Blackhawks from their dynasty of the past decade.

Gold refractor /50..

There are also a few soccer players, several wrestlers, MMA ladies, Star Wars & comic characters (mostly the same ones I have dedicated sketch card collections of).

One of the MMA ladies I collect, even though I barely watch it..

FULL COLLECTIONS

An amazing custom from a couple Christmases ago by mah boi Gavin..

Now onto the full collections, of which there are few enough I can probably just list off.  These are the most tedious collections, even with soft capping them off at 100 ala mah boi Gavin.  I should have probably completed at least half of them by now.  I just can't maintain my focus on them very well because they are big and unwieldy.  I'm terribad about trying to make them as blingy as Single Page Sensations when that isn't really their purpose as well.

Bling..

Anyway, here are the full PCs.  I prefer to fill the sports ones via trades because that's the easiest way for me to do it without getting all hung up on things to the point where I mostly just ignore them.

A photo from the archives..

Cubs: Javier Baez (maybe), Ernie Banks, Kris Bryant, Starlin Castro, Andre Dawson, Kosuke Fukudome, Fergie Jenkins, Aramis Ramirez, Anthony Rizzo, Ryne Sandberg, Kyle Schwarber (maybe), Sammy Sosa, & Billy Williams.  I guess Yu Darvish belongs on this list instead of the non-Cubs list now too.

The rare mid-tier insert from recent years that has retained its value..

Other Baseball: Jose Abreu, Robinson Cano, Nomar Garciaparra, Vladimir Guerrero, Frank Robinson, Ichiro Suzuki, & Frank Thomas.

My only Matt Forte autograph..

Bears: Matt Forte, Devin Hester, Alshon Jeffery, Thomas Jones, Kyle Orton, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers.

Star Rubies used to be a hyuuuge deal..

Other Football: Jamaal Charles, Warrick Dunn, Randy Moss, & LaDainian Tomlinson.

My latest of my queen..

Pro Graps: AJ Lee, Booker T, Eve Torres, Sarita/"Dark Angel" Sarah Stock.

A higher end base card of the Jade Giantess #'ed /225..

Comic/Star Wars: Rogue, She-Hulk, & Ahsoka Tano.

So many Ahsokas..

OTHER COLLECTIONS

He was great, but wasn't around long enough to get attached..

There are some things I don't have any specific use for, or really actively seek, but I like to hang onto when they find their way to me anyway.  I have binders for some of the nicer miscellaneous Cubs, other baseball, Bears, other football, basketball, hockey, and "girlie" cards, as they've been dubbed (because most card bloggers apparently fund their operations by being of old-timey private detectives and/or radio hosts and/or barkeeps from the first half of the 20th century).  Soccer and non-sport, certain non-hit items featuring dudes are also under varying degrees of consideration.

If they have cardboardy backs, I needs 'em..

I'm also chasing a Buyback Frankenset (+ "inserts" & hits!) that I can turn into a massive repurposed sketch card set.  I don't think I even have more than 20 cards to put towards it right now, so if anyone can help me out with that, I would appreciate it very much.

Pokemon cards have gotten crazy looking since I was a kid..

The last thing I'm after at the present time is one of every Pokemon from the TCG (and maybe a few more key character cards while I'm at it, since I already have a couple in secret rares in Misty & Team Rocket).  This is another one I'm struggling with wanting to be as blinged out as possible, since just about every card has at least a reverse foil parallel these days, so even the common as heck weaklings get the chance to be shiny these days.  I'm a little further along on this goal, but it's already pretty close to the same size as the buyback frankenset, and will only grow hugerer as new generations add more new mons for me to chase.

Epic Misty..

THINGS I'M NO LONGER COLLECTING

Sorry Charly. Also, you have a huge hole in the side of your dress..

There are a couple sizable collections I've built up that I'm no longer interested in pursuing.  Really they are probably mostly being dropped more out of lack of resources than lack of interest.  So with that said, I'm no long chasing anything just because it's NXT-related.  I never got far with this anyway, but it did produce the odd gem here & there.

Not sure if this Cooks RC has actually turned up yet or not..

A far more fruitful, but ultimately doomed pursuit, was my RC collection.  Another great looking binder of randomness, I'm extremely reluctant to drop this one.  There are a few I'll hang onto (Payton, Rice, Trout, maybe a Posey since I accumulated three or four different ones somehow, and maybe some team & player collection RCs), but the vast majority will be available, for sale preferably.  But if you come at me with an offer I can't refuse, I might be willing to trade something from the roughly 350 RCs & prospects (there are some inserts, parallels, & a couple scrub relics in the boxes too) I've dug up so far.

So yeah, that's the whirlwind of madness that is my collection right now.  Thanks for having a look around.  If you wanna do some wheeling & dealing, feel free to drop me a line.

Until our next...