Unfamiliar Territory; Card Show Recap #25

I take pride in having a reasonable understanding of Baseball and cards, particularly the 1960s-70s and the 2010s. It helps when I want to include bits of information on my frankenset page posts or when I'm updating my online player collection inventories following a trip to the card show.

Being able to write a few sentences about Dave Parker off the top of my head or identify some crazy Panini Prizm parallel helps me out big time, but really, the more cards/information I come across, the better equipped I am for when the next stack of dime cards needs to be categorized.

That being said, there's always been one period in Baseball history that's challenged my ability to identify cards and list facts about players. I'm referring to an era chock full of various brands, products, and parallels as well as high print runs and, to make things more confusing, dates printed on the back of the cards that don't match the year the set was released (I'm looking at you, Upper Deck).

The mid-1990s through the end of the decade (~1995-1999) perplexes me to this day. There's just so much inventory that I haven't yet familiarized myself with like I have for virtually all other decades in Baseball card history.

Alas, when updating my player collection inventories, I have to search for most mid-90s cards on COMC to ensure that I'm adding the correct one to the spreadsheet.

I suppose, nonetheless, that continuously buying and adding cards from '95-'99 to my collection will only help me gain more knowledge about this period in Baseball history. This plan, unintentionally so, went into effect when I visited my local Baseball card show earlier today.

Before I get to the glorious cards from the 90s, there was a small portion of pickups from today's post of cards that didn't hail from the last century.

As is always the case when I'm at the card show, I kept my eyes peeled for Red Sox singles so that I can continue adding to and building up my coalition of Red Sox cards, meaning both my player collections and the actual PC.

The 4 cards above, come to think of it, are all from 2019, and most of them will be going to their respective player collections. The only exception is the Wade Boggs card which will go towards my 2019 Panini Prizm project.

In addition to new Red Sox cards and 2019 Panini Prizm project additions, I'm always on the lookout for new Craig Kimbrel cards to add to the closest thing I have to a "super collection."

If someone were to ask me for my top 3 focuses as a collector, I'd list the 3 things above, though I'd have to rank my individual player collections above all.

Anyways, I came across a new Kimbrel card while searching through a bin of cards priced 3/$1. One of the easiest decisions I made all day, I added the card to my stack and went on with my time at the show.

I suppose you could include the first couple years of the 2000s (2000-2002) alongside the mid-to-late 1990s in terms of periods in Baseball history that I'm not overly familiar with. Honestly. with all the different brands, sets, inserts, and parallels out there, can you really blame me?

I will, however, stand by my thoughts that the 2000s, leading up to the end of Donruss and Fleer's respective runs as Baseball card manufacturers, was one of the golden ages of card collecting. Even if Panini gets the MLB license, I doubt we'll see as wide of a selection of sets as we did in the early 2000s.

It was that period, for better or for worse, that delivered some picturesque set designs and creative inserts, just like the 2 cards above.

Moreover, stars who debuted in the early 1990s and lasted through the mid-2000s are the recipients of some of the most cards produced of any single player, primarily because they played at a time where there were numerous brands, each of which was striving to produce the best possible cards.

What I got, as a result, was an extensive range of Ivan Rodriguez cards, for example. This sheer variety is what allows for so many of my player collections to reach gold and even platinum tier status. The wide selection and availability of some players' cards are simply unparalleled.

At the end of the day, Baseball cards from this era, more so than most others except for the 2010s, will be viewed with mixed opinions depending on what each collector likes and looks for in a card.

Those who love inserts and parallels as much as I do will be fond of the mid-1990s while those who prefer traditional cards might not be so inclined to pick out either of the 2 Topps Tek cards above.

At the end of the day, these cards have their ups and downs just like all others, but something intrigues me about the unfamiliarity that makes me want to come back for more.

I know that I haven't discovered everything that this period has to offer, and that's both exciting and slightly scary at the same time.