Does it seem like finding the baseball cards you want is like finding a mate these days?
It does for me. Oh sure, I can find cards that I like and add them fairly easily. But the ones I really, really want seem more and more elusive. Is it because everyone else wants them, too? Is it like when everyone wanted to go out with that one girl?
It feels like that.
I’ve all but given up on the 1975 Kellogg’s girl (or the earlier ’70s Kellogg’s sets for that matter). They’re playing way too hard to get. Higher prices and you can’t even be sure that the card is going to come without flaws.
I’m still in hot pursuit of 1975 Hostess though. It’s gotten more and more challenging. I just landed this Roger Metzger short-print and purchased another SP just today. But there are 10 cards to go after that and most are SPs. Did you know there’s some guy selling the Bill Buckner card for $200??? You’re not worth that, honey.
I’m trying to guess which card will be the last that I get (one way or another, I’m gonna get ya, I’ll get ya, I’ll get ya). My guess right now is Ted Simmons. He’s about the only big name left. Thank goodness I obtained Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount and Reggie Jackson before the hobby got even weirder.
I normally don’t place modern cards as high on my wants as vintage goals but it happens sometimes, especially with team set goals. I finally landed the Shohei Ohtani 2025 Chrome card this week. It was part of the Topps/card shop buyback program/gimmick (along with the Aaron Judge card), which made it more difficult for commoners like me — who does not have a card shop near me where I can turn in my Ohtanis for credit — to find the single Shohei Ohtani card I wanted.
After months of seeing the card sell online for double figures — the buyback program ended in January, by the way — I finally got one for just under 5 bucks. That is some playing hard to get.
It’s all part of the collecting game though I have to realize. There’s always been some of that elusiveness in the hobby. It just seems more of it is artificially created today.
You just have to decide whether the card is worth obtaining and be good with that. Do you really need to date … er, purchase every 1967 Topps high number?
There are plenty of other cards in the sea.