Moving Forward

Yesterday's frankenset post signified a change in my blog content. After 7 recap posts highlighting my pickups from The National, it's time to move forward with my collecting as we reach the middle of August.

At this point in the Baseball card collecting year, new products are being released left and right, but I'm trying to swear off buying cards until at least Labor Day when I might ease back into things with a trip to the show.

This is also the time, I've noticed, where the views and comments on my blog usually decrease. This is understandable since many people take their vacation around this time of year.

Since I've been so occupied with recapping The National, I haven't had any time to share what I've done across the 12 days that I've been back. 

 

For starters, I went to the Red Sox game on August 6th, my 2nd trip to Fenway Park this year. Though I had a memorable experience and amazing seats, the game, at least from a Red Sox fan's perspective, wasn't too great. The Sox lost to the Royals 6-2 in a matchup that Boston seemed destined to lose from the start.

Continuing with the theme of moving forward, I've used my free time over the last 12 days to do some serious organization in my Baseball card room. I started by simply putting the cards from The National away in their proper boxes and binders, but I have accomplished so much more since then.

I've created new binders, decluttered the card counter, purchased more empty boxes for extra storage, and taken better care of my oversized cards by keeping them in a binder together. 

Most significantly, I've completely reorganized my Red Sox and Cubs team PCs by giving them clean sheets, new binders, and changed the format of these collections so that the organizational system makes more sense. 

This brings me to the subject of today's post, a surprise package from Night Owl Cards that I received soon after I returned home from Chicago. This is actually my first look at the 2019 Topps Big League set, though I recognize the blue parallels from last year.

While the Bogaerts and Betts cards will go to their PCs, Eduardo Nunez's Big League parallel will fit perfectly in the new Boston Red Sox PC that I'm almost finished organizing.

Basically, the new system, in addition to providing new (much-needed) sheets, organizes the sets by brand, then by year, so all the Topps Flagship Red Sox sets are together in one binder which is where these 2 cards will be heading.

All the Bowman, Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, and any other sets that I can't think of right now are together as well and are chronologically organized. As for oddballs or sets that I only have 1 card from, those are together in a miscellaneous section of one of my binders.

A significant portion of this surprise package, however, consisted of set needs for 2015 Topps and its various insert sets. Night Owl has supplied me with a reasonable number of cards from this set over the last couple of years, so it stands to reason that most of what I'm missing is Dodgers base cards.

Thankfully, he covered that part of the set too and sent me enough Dodgers base cards to where I think it could be an entire team set. With all these Dodgers now in-hand, 110 cards are standing in my way of completing the greatest Topps Flagship set of the decade.

As you can see, I'm moving forward with my collection in many different ways following an unforgettable experience at my 2nd ever NSCC show. Similarly, the Boston Red Sox are trying to move forward despite an unexpectedly tumultuous year.

The starting pitching has been a huge disappointment for Boston this year, particularly former Cy Young award winner Rick Porcello, club ace Chris Sale, and, of course, their bullpen with an astounding 22 blown saves.

The Red Sox have the best offense in baseball, thanks in large part to Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts. While they haven't come close to playing at the level they did last year, there's still some hope of the Red Sox sneaking into the playoffs as a Wild Card team.

After all, things are different once October rolls around.