BBA/Question Revival: My Trading Card Bucket List

Do you remember 43Things? It was a social networking website created about 15 years ago where people would post their life goals. You could have up to 43 active goals, and you could mark completed goals and write reviews of your experiences. Other people could have the same goal as you, so conversations were shared among all users.

Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I can see that I first joined the site in 2007, and one of my first goals was to visit Japan. How about that? And back in 2007, I had two goals on there related to trading cards: to sell my old baseball cards, and to make a trading card set from my photos.

Well, twelve years later, I've done neither of those. I still have all my extra old baseball cards taking up space in my storage unit. And I have yet to make a trading card set from my photos, though I've made some mock-ups, a few of which have been published on this blog.

Thanks to a post by Fuji, though, I'm inspired to revisit the concept of a bucket list. I set goals for myself every year, so why not set some lifetime goals?

Fuji's idea was inspired by Cardboard History writer Billy. But I saw Fuji's post first. And both of those were made last summer. Looking at Billy's list, many of them are unattainable or simply dreams for the future. To each their own, but my bucket list is about things I can do.

So, similar to Fuji's post, let's first look at some impossible dreams. Like Fuji, I'll include my guess as to how slim a chance I have at completing these.

1. Complete my type collection. Chance of success: 0%

My type collection spans the entirety of baseball history, and the entirety of the baseball world. Every set, insert set, and parallel set. MiLB seems the most possible - almost all of the sets were created in my lifetime, and while they are oddballs, they aren't impossible to find. But in total I'd need about 65,000 cards (of which I have 17,000 or so) for MLB, MiLB, and Japan, plus cards issued in other countries like Australia, Korea, and the Netherlands. And just in the MLB list, there are several sets with only one card, with a print run of only one. Not to mention the expense of locating all the cards I need.

2. Complete an entire set run of Topps from 1951 to present. Chance of success: 1%

Infinitely more possible, but still unbelievably expensive, is the dream of having a complete run of Topps sets. I have a pretty good start: all of the sets from 1978-2019 are under my belt, and I have the 1973 set. So what's left? Every set that costs more than a Benjamin, basically. Unless there's an unlikely bottoming out of the market when all the Boomers die (sorry, it's just the truth, I'm not trying to offend here), or I win a big lottery jackpot, I am never finishing this goal. It would be nice to at least have all of the sets from 1971 to present. (Don't get me started on Calbee.)

3. Have a relic or autograph card from all of my favorite celebrities. Chance of success: 5%

It's a matter of logistics here. There are some celebrities who will probably never have an autograph or relic card made of them. Some will have cut signatures, or there's the chance for in-person or through-the-mail autographs. But there are some who I just can't get on cardboard. That said, there aren't that many celebrities I don't have something for already. Perhaps it's just a matter of time.

4. Have 100% of wanted sets on my non-sport set list. Chance of success: 15%

I mentioned this collection yesterday. It would take around 600 sets to finish this off. Not all of them are expensive, and if I visited a good non-sports card shop I could probably come home with a big stack of sets I just haven't bothered with yet. But there are some rare oddball sets I've discovered but never got my hands on, plus the vintage sets which are extremely difficult to track down and pricey. I do regret not keeping all of those Garbage Pail Kids stickers I had in the 1980s.

5. Complete my archive collection. Chance of success: 0.01%

Let's finish with another impossibility. There are major league players out there who never received a card. Conlon Collection certainly helped with many of them, but there are countless others whose careers are but a couple lines in a stat book or a few pieces of data on MLB's website. Even having a card for every player who ever received one is virtually impossible, as I just can't afford those vintage cards. Reprint sets have been a big help, and NPB Card Guy provided me with a bunch of old reprints (T206!) to get the ball rolling. There have been 19,489 players to take the field according to my records. Yes, through 2019; Kyle Zimmer is sitting right there in front of me. It would take an amazing effort by a trading card company (and dozens of series) to issue a 20,000 card set. Plus all the subsets and inserts and autographs and relics to keep people buying packs and boxes.

Now how about the realistic bucket list goals?

1. Finish every set on my want list. Chance of success: 75%

If I exclude all of those vintage Topps flagship sets, I need less than 100 sets. Some cards are expensive, but I only see three actual cards which are pretty unattainable. As I continue to chip away at the list, more sets get added, but those modern sets are much easier to complete than those more than 15 years old.

2. Have 25% of cards for every year in my MLB type collection. Chance of success: 50%

Over the last few years, I've made it a goal to have 25% or 50% of cards for each year in my type collection, working all the way back to 1978. I don't have over 25% for any year prior to 1978 except for 1951 for some reason (four out of 13, 31%). But I am close for every year between 1951 and 1978. And then there are cards from the pre-Topps eras. In all, I need about 250 vintage cards to reach this goal, and many, many more (less expensive) modern cards (2016-2019). The vintage cards won't be that cheap, but it'll be a nice challenge. The real challenge is the 19th century cards!

3. Complete my player collections. Chance of success: 75%

The few base cards, figurines, and single autograph (Masahiro Tanaka) I need are easily attainable. But (excluding 1/1s) I need five Buck Farmer rare cards, a bunch of Charlie Hough and Bobby Cox oddballs, and plenty of Jose Altuve and Michael Jordan inserts.

4. Create my own trading card set(s). Chance of success: 99%

If this is so easy, why is it here? It's been a goal of mine for over a decade, yet I still haven't made it happen. I've made some big progress toward meeting this goal, and perhaps I'll see it through in the near future. There are tons of ideas in my head.

And a quick thought, here: what items might have been on my bucket list when I was a young collector? Owning my own card shop (I had a "card shop" in my bedroom when I was in high school... and my best friend was my only customer), owning a card company (which I suppose #4 is the evolution of), having my own professional baseball card (I got those "card" photos when I played Little League, but I dreamed of being on the Braves), and open up a baseball card museum (blogging has been my way of living out this dream). 

I'll probably have more on this in the future, but this post is already long enough.

So, until next time...