The Process

Aside from the retail and hobby packs that I rip, most of Baseball card purchases that I make go towards my player collections, a collective list of 250+ players whose totals and inventories I'm constantly looking to build.

With PCs ranging from 9 cards to 479, there's no telling what I'll find when I search through a bin at the card show or an LCS. My dime box hauls consistently bring home a wide range of different players while paying more per card allows me to zero in on a few guys in particular.

No matter how much I pay for the card, where I go to purchase it, or how many I buy, every addition to my player collections goes through the same process. These steps keep my collection somewhat organized and provide me with up-to-date totals for each PC.

I've talked about my player collections, specifically the online inventories that I always seem to be updating, on numerous occasions. Because of that, I thought that I'd take some time today to share the process by which I obtain, categorize, and store each card that goes towards one of my player collections.

Step #1; Purchase the card(s)

Before I can complete any other step on this list, I have to actually purchase the card(s), whether I do so at a card show, online (COMC, Sportlots, eBay), or an LCS.

I usually buy player collection cards in groups, particularly when I look through dime or quarter boxes, though I don't refrain from buying a smaller selection of desireable cards. After all, look no further than the recent LCS visit from last weekend.

Whether I purchase 1 card or 500, the first step of the process is always the most exciting. No matter how many times I visit a card shop or look through boxes at a show, buying cards for my player collections will never get old.

Step #2; Organize the cards alphabetically by their last name

My player collections, both physically and digitally, are organized by last name, a change that I made back in July that has made the organization unbelievably easier. Before I can actually put any of the cards away, the new pile of cards needs to match how I store the existing PCs.

By taking 15 ish minutes to sort the new additions alphabetically by the player's last name, I save a substantial amount of time, since I'm not forced to go totally out of order when completing the subsequent steps on this list.

Step #3; Add the new cards to the online inventory

My player collections are made up of thousands of cards, all of which are categorized online in Google Sheets. There are 2 documents, one for player collections A-L (last name) and another for M-Z.

Each document houses one sheet for each of the players that I collect where the cards are organized chronologically, then alphabetically. This allows me to, if need be, find a specific card in virtually no time.

Though I am looking to filter all duplicate cards out of my PCs in the coming month or so, the organization, as well as the 3rd step of this process, will not be affected by this change.

When I add a card to one of my player collection sheets (I'll continue to use Hank Aaron's 2018 Topps Museum card as an example), it appears at the very bottom of the page. Moreover, the numbers on the side tell me exactly how many Hank Aaron cards I have in my collection.

With the addition of this 2018 Topps Museum card, I now have 128 cards of the 21-time All-Star. Having easy access to this number will prove to be useful for the 5th and final step of the process which I'll describe later on.

The final stage of step #4 is placing the new card in the correct position on the spreadsheet so that it lines up with the other 127, both chronologically and alphabetically. In the case of the '18 Museum card, it falls in between 2017 and 2018 Topps Stadium Club.

Each page of the document has the same format as Aaron's. That is, 1) year; 2) card number; 3) brand and set name; 4) additional info (like serial numbering; 5) team name.

It took me around 6 months to create this online inventory, and it was definitely a painful and frustrating process at times. At this point, however, I'm beyond grateful to have an up-to-date inventory for this part of my collection.

Step #5; Adjust the player collection tiers list

This is a relatively new addition to the process, but the 5th step is to adjust the player collection tiers list after making any additions to one of my player collections. Whether I add 1 new Hank Aaron card or 50, I have to adjust this spreadsheet along with the PC inventory.

On this Google Sheet, all of my player collections, along with their totals, are listed. The different colors indicate the player's tier (platinum is 200+, gold is 100+, silver is 50+, and the bronze is 49-). This gives me an idea of where each player stands beyond the number of cards in each PC.

On the PC tiers document, the numbers next to each entry tell me where each player collection ranks solely in terms of the number of cards. The list starts with Nolan Ryan at 479 and ends with J.R. Richard at 9 total cards. 

With the numerical ranking as well as the player's tier, this spreadsheet is essential to showing me where each player stands in terms of their total number of cards. As you can see, the 128 cards in my Hank Aaron PC puts him at #28 out of all the guys I collect.

Surprisingly, Jeff Bagwell, Nomar Garciaparra, and Hanley Ramirez are also at 128 cards each, so I organize the players alphabetically if there's a tie.

Step #6; Physically put the card(s) away

After doing a lot online when it comes to organization, it's refreshing that the 6th and final step of this process is simple as can be. With the card(s) added to the online inventories and the PC tiers list updated, all that's left to do is to place the card in the proper box.

For example, all players with last names A-B are organized alphabetically in a box together. Flashcards help indicate where one player collection ends and the subsequent PC starts. 

In the boxes, the cards aren't meticulously organized like the spreadsheets, so I can place that 2018 Topps Museum card anywhere in the 128 cards between the Hank Aaron index card and the one that reads "Abreu."