The Travis Snider Quest...

[topherkris]

I decided to collect a player, and I figured I'd start with someone I'd already gotten a couple autos from in person.. Why not Travis Snider? He's a rookie, he can't have too many cards, or so I thought. Anyways, I only started collecting cards in general 3 or 4 months ago, and Snider about a month ago, but I'm in way over my head --

If someone here has any of the following cards, I'll make it worth your while but this isn't really about that -- It's more about this:

Travis Snider has played 100 games (maybe) and Beckett has him in for 250 cards, and it's like one third of the way through the card production season.

Is there any way to be a player collector, like seriously?

Anyways, if you have...

2009 Topps Series 1 - Black Border Parallel
2009 Bowman Blue, Gold, Copper
2009 Goudey 4-in-1 Blacks (65 & 99) or any Blacks or Minis..

or pretty much any Snider card, shoot me a message.

This is just mind numbing, and i haven't the fondest clue as to how anyone would actually collect a players cards to completion..

[EricDavis]

My opinion is this. You CAN'T be a player completionist. And oh well! What you can do is have a very well-rounded and extensive collection of a player.

What's wrong with that? There are 250 Travis Snider cards out there right now? So if you wanna collect the guy I'm sure there are 215 quite affordable Travis Snider cards out there for you to enjoy without blowing the bank. And 35 more that if you happen to get you can be like "Damn. That's rad." And enjoy it. If you got every Snider card you'd be done. With 1/1's and whatnot you'll probably never be done. And I think that's a good thing. You'll always have something to do.

I have almost 300 different Eric Davis cards. Somehow that is less than 30%!! That's kind of exciting. My collection may look pretty sweet now, but imagine if I buckled down and got up to 75%

All that to say I personally like how hard it is to get every card of a single player these days. And if you don't like that then maybe this essay will change your perspective a bit. And if you really don't like it, then don't be a player collector. It's just not the route to go for someone who needs to complete a collection.

[topherkris]

Yah, collecting a recently retired player seems about ten times more afforadable than collecting even the worst young player.

Right now, there's no way I can afford 300 for the Gold, 500 for the Orange, 1000 for the red, and who knows where the 1/1 is. You're basically looking at 2000 for 3 rookie cards...insane.

I've yet to understand how people think those cards will go up after the initial boom. Unless someone Pujols / Longoria's the situation, the cards will actually lose value.

You'd figure that people would learn from the Delmon Youngs, and Brandon Woods of the world.. but nope.

[RockiesFan33]

That's the beauty of collecting a non-superstar like Andy Sonnanstine. I started collecting his cards after he started signing and commenting on my custom cards. His low #'ed stuff has been affordable and fun to collect. I have a copy of nearly every Sonnanstine card by now, including 7 or 8 1/1's.

I collected Larry Walker cards for a long, long time. I spent a small fortune on 1/1's, etc. Then Playoff Absolute created their abomination of a set with dozens of game used/auto'ed cards #/25, /50, /5, etc a few years ago and I gave up. No way I was going to keep collecting Walker when I'd have to drop $400-500 on cards from one set.

A guy like Snider will make for a nice collection, but you can expect a lot of competition for his cards on eBay. The low #'ed stuff will be pricey for sure. If you're just looking for a player to collect, and you're not a real "fan" of the player, I think you'd be better off collecting HOFers, or quality RCs of good prospects. Especially in respect to the kind of $ you'd drop of a Snider collection.

[topherkris]

I decided on Snider because I'd gotten a few IP autographs from him, and he just seemed like a half decent guy.

Because the Jays don't have a tonne of cash-money, I wouldn't be surprised to see Halladay leave and Rios traded.

It was a choice between Snider and Lind, and I hadn't gotten Lind in person..

[topherkris]

Is anyone here a player collector? I'm curious as to who else is collected, and if people generally go for affordable players or stars.

I'd love to collect Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson, but knowing Billy Beane -- they'll be traded just as my collecting gets going.

[Dalkowski110]

"Is anyone here a player collector?"

Yes. I collect cards and photos of the following ballplayers...

-Steve Dalkowski
-Al Ferrara
-Herm Starrette
-John Papa
-Jim Lehew
-Dalton Jones
-Billy Scripture
-Boog Powell
-Chuck Estrada
-Earl Weaver
-Billy DeMars
-Joe Pignatano
-Pretty much anyone else who contributed to my Steve Dalkowski book project that has cards and widely available high quality photos.

[gobigpelf34]

Im a Mike Pelfrey Supercollector, you can see my collection here:
http://mikepelfreyshouse.wordpress.c...ey-collection/

[EricDavis]

I'm an Eric Davis player collector.

[EricDavis]

Im a Mike Pelfrey Supercollector, you can see my collection here:
http://mikepelfreyshouse.wordpress.c...ey-collection/

I wouldn't call you a supercollector. Not to be rude but if you want that title you have to blow people away.

[gobigpelf34]

Hahha, ok. I thought i could be considered one because i have just about every card of pelfrey ever made! ( Hes not too popular and dosent get into many high end things) Hey, not trying to brag but I got a 1 of 1, and like 4 out of the 5 autos that exist of him! Thanks for checking it out By the way!

[topherkris]

I think you gotta at least get to the "gold" to be a super collector, and Pelfrey's actually bridging on having to get the red.

The collections nice, but when you think about it -- there are 5 red Pelfrey's out there, and each person that has one, has a collection that's worth more than yours :P

By the way, you seriously should be putting some of those cards in cases rather than pockets.

[gobigpelf34]

lol, they are in cases now auctually. Thats an old picture im too lazy to update..