My 2019 Card Collecting Goals

In order to have some control over this crazy hobby of Baseball card collecting, it's imperative that I set goals for myself to reach this year. When I have guidelines to follow as to what I should and shouldn't purchase, it allows me to zero in just a little bit on what I'll be collecting throughout the next 12 months.

Last year, I set 7 goals for myself and pretty much stuck to all of them. It was my very first time setting goals for me to achieve in this hobby, and they seemed to work out pretty well. I feel like 7 goals is a good number, so I've decided to stick with that for my 2019 goals as well.

One change I've tried to make for this years' goals involves choosing fewer straightforward tasks to complete. For example, while completing a certain set is a good goal, it's very direct in what it's asking. Given the wide range of cards I collect, I don't think those types of goals are the best for me.

Instead, I'm going for objectives that are a little more up for interpretation. Goals that allow me to freely choose what to collect without the direct burden of completing a certain set. With goals like the ones I've created, I can see myself going 7-7 once again with them in 2019.

#1 Make significant progress with 1976 and 1979 Topps

While I can see myself completing one of these 2 sets in 2019, my main mission is to make progress with the 2 70s products rather than finish off the sets altogether. Neither 1976 nor 1979 Topps is all that common at card shows, where I do most of my buying, so I have my work ahead of me to complete these 2 sets in 2019. However, if I can bring each set down to 100 cards or so that I need, I'll be in a great position to complete both of these Flagship products next year.

#2 Complete any year of Topps Heritage (2016-2019)

Yes, I realize I'm immediately contradicting myself by pledging to complete one of the 4 Topps Heritage sets listed above, but it's only because I haven't seen any of these sets through completely despite me being an avid Heritage collector for years now.

I've collected Topps Heritage from 2016-2018 and see no reason to stop this year with the set design being 1970. Out of all the years, I seem to have the most from 2017, so it seems likely that I'll choose that year to complete before the end of 2019.

#3 Continue to focus on player collections

I don't think any of my goals are more critical than the one to continue focusing on my player collections, because frankly, I don't know what I'd collect without them. My player collections make up most of what I bring back from trips to card shows and shops, and I have complete inventories of the cards of every player I collect. 

Player collections are one of the most fun parts of collecting cards, and I've put so much work into them, especially over the last year and a half. Therefore, I'm in big trouble if I don't concentrate on player collections like I have in previous years.

#4 Obtain 500 Nolan Ryan cards

At the start of 2019, my Nolan Ryan player collection was at exactly 450 total cards, meaning I need to acquire 50 new cards for the player collection to reach 500 by the end of the year. While it's far from impossible, it's going to take a lot of work, and I'm intentionally trying to avoid just buying 50 online to get this over with. I want to enjoy the process of adding cards to the largest PC in my collection. As long as his cards don't disappear from the dime bins, I think I have a reasonable shot.

#5 Sell and trade more cards than I did in 2018

I have Sportlots and eBay stores for selling, and there are countless fellow bloggers that I can trade with. However, 2018 wasn't a huge year for selling and trading cards, something I hope to rectify this year. I've already been selling quite a bit on eBay in the last few days and have a trade in the process of being completed as I speak. I don't expect to keep up the same momentum all year, but this year, it's important for me to sell and trade more than I did in 2018.

#6 Collect more oddballs

With all that I collect, the one thing that manages to escape my mind whenever I'm thinking about buying cards is oddballs, and that's a shame because they're probably the most fun thing to collect. No matter what set you choose or how seriously you decide to collect it, oddball sets and cards have something for everybody. Even if the goal is just to pick up oddballs for player collections and not to complete sets, it's something I hope to achieve this year.

#7 Collect only what I'm interested in and have fun doing it

I've saved the best, or at least, the most important goal for last; collect only what I'm interested in and have fun doing it. If this goal isn't achieved in its entirety, that means I need to reaccess how I collect cards. 

I'll be trying my hardest to stay away from splurging and instead collect only what I want to collect in 2019 and in reasonable amounts. Most importantly, it's important that I have fun no matter what I choose to collect. 

It's one thing to have a bad blaster of cards, but to go back for a 2nd and equally disappointing blaster box would mean that I'm buying cards just for the sake of buying them, and that doesn't translate well into enjoying what I collect in 2019.