An Update on Player Collection Tiers

Last November, I developed a new method to help better organize the main focus of my Baseball card collection; my 250 different player collections. 

Given how many PCs I have, it's become rather difficult to keep track of all the different players that I collect. Thus, I created player collection tiers, separating my PCs into platinum, gold, silver, and bronze tiers according to the number of cards in each collection.

A complete list of all the players that I collect and their respective placements on the tiers can be found here. Now, in addition to adding PC additions to my online inventories, I also adjust the player's rankings on the tiers list.

Of course, because I dedicate lots of time and resources towards boosting my various player collections, the card totals and rankings have changed quite a bit since I created the tiers in mid-November of 2018. 

Because so many changes have occurred, I thought it'd be worthwhile to do an update on the progress that each tier has made, something I could see myself doing twice a year or so. 

Since I created the player collection tiers, many changes have been made regarding player collection totals and rankings. In what has recently a vital part of my card collecting habits, let me update you on the player collection tiers.

Unsurprisingly, Nolan Ryan is still my largest player collection with an almost unreachable total of 461 cards. Perhaps more impressive than the number of cards in Ryan's PC is the 197-card lead that he holds over my 2nd largest player collection, Greg Maddux.

Going into 2019, one of my Baseball card collecting goals was for my Nolan Ryan player collection to reach 500 total cards. At this rate, it's going to be a close call, so we'll have to wait and see what happens. 

Still, even if Ryan's player collection doesn't reach 500 cards this year, I highly doubt that Maddux or any other PC will come close to rivaling the 461 cards that I currently have of Nolan Ryan.

As I explained in November, the very top tier on my list is called the platinum tier, and the only PCs eligible for this tier are those that have eclipsed the 200 card mark. Certainly, only a select number of player collections will achieve this total, yet 3 players have done just that since I created the tiers list.

Recently, Rickey Henderson and David Ortiz joined Ryan, Maddux, Griffey Jr, and Manny Ramirez and officially became members of the platinum tier. I focus more on my player collections than any other aspect of my collection, yet very few players have achieved the 200-card mark.

This proves that, although we are arguably living in a neo-over-production era, how difficult it is for any player collection to achieve 200 total cards. At the same time, there are currently 3 players within 7 cards of that total (Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Vladimir Guerrero).

The 7th and final member of the platinum tier also reached the 200-card mark in the 5 months since I created the player collection tiers. Ichiro has since passed Ortiz and Henderson to inch his way to the #5 spot on my list. 

Although there's a sizeable gap between Ichiro, Griffey Jr, and Manny (who are tied for the #3 spot), there are a few gaps in my Ichiro PC that I could potentially fill to boost his total more so than I currently am. For example, out of the 213 cards that I have of the future Hall of Famer, I have just 2 from 2013-14. 

Not including the 7 players who have reached platinum tier status, the gold tier encompasses 33 players with 100-199 total cards. As I mentioned when I introduced the PC tiers in a blog post, the 100-card mark is what I would like each player collection to eventually achieve.

Although some gold tier PCs are closing in on the 200-card mark, I've seen a respectable number of player collections achieve gold tier status over the last few weeks. In particular, star players from the 2000s and 2010s have reached the 100-card mark, including the 4 players above.

Anthony Rizzo and Miguel Cabrera are just 2 of a few active players whose PCs have reached 100 total cards. Other players featured on that list include Craig Kimbrel, Albert Pujols, and Joey Votto.

If you count the platinum tier, I have 41 player collections with 100 cards or more. In addition, there are 9 total players who are within 10 cards of reaching gold tier status.

If a player collection achieves the silver tier mark (50 cards), there's a high chance of that same player reaching gold tier status in the future. Because of that, I don't expect certain players to remain in the silver tier for long. One of those guys is Mookie Betts who just recently reached the 50-card mark.

In addition to Mookie, active superstars like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Justin Verlander, and Giancarlo Stanton are all members of the silver tier. There is also a wide range of retired players who also encompass part of this tier as well. 

Typically, members of the silver tier are commonly found in the dime boxes, meaning it's easy to boost these player collections whenever I go to the Baseball card show or my LCS. Thus, I fully expect many of my 75 silver tier PCs to eventually reach gold tier status, especially Harmon Killebrew who is currently just 1 card away.

Speaking of 1 card away, Bernie Williams' player collection currently sits at 49 cards, 1 card from the 50-card mark and silver tier status. The final of the 4 tiers is the bronze tier, encompassing the most players out of any PC tier with 134 members. 

Theoretically, any PC with as few as 1 card qualifies for the bronze tier, but the lowest total out of any of my bronze tier players is 9. While the range of player collection totals isn't very large, the bronze tier features tons of different players from various eras of Baseball history.

Some of these guys, like Curt Flood, may stay in the bronze tier for as long as I collect cards. Others, like Xander Bogaerts and Jacob DeGrom, will likely reach silver tier status in no time. 

A wide range of factors contributes to whether a player will remain in the bronze tier for years to come or reach silver and even gold tier status. However, it's unlikely that current players, such as Kyle Schwarber, will stay bronze tier PCs so long as I actively boost my various player collections. 

Thanks to Topps' emphasis on rookie cards and the availability of the veteran base cards, I can easily add to player collections like Schwarber's without much trouble. On the other hand, I don't come across cards of Andres Galarraga very often, so it'll be much more difficult for his PC to reach 50 total cards.

Out of the 134 bronze tier player collections, a whopping 36 of them are within 10 cards or fewer of achieving silver tier status. As I have recently discovered, my player collection tiers run in a cycle. 

There's always going to be a player on the brink of platinum, gold, or silver tier status, and I like that quite a lot. While they haven't necessarily changed the way that I collect, player collection tiers have helped make being a player collector much easier.