Trading Cards: Where do you get your checklists?
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We need checklists for our collections. It’s the guiding post that let’s us sort through the cards we are looking for. But one thing I’ve learned is there not one source to find every card you need.
There are good sites that posts checklist, some some don’t go back far enough, others have incomplete data or don’t account for printing or odd errors.
As a player collector, this is really tough for me. Because as I attempt to log and sort my Derek Jeter Collection, I find there is a lot more than just looking up the cards, putting it in a Google Sheet and going from there.
Here’s how I work:
- I look the card up in Beckett
- If it’s not listed there, I go to Trading Card DB
- If it’s still not clear, I go to eBay, COMC or PSA Registry
So far, this has worked because someone somewhere has the same card, but they’re not all listed in Beckett. Butc it goes to show that no place is perfect.
After discussing checklists online a bit, it seems a lot of other collectors have similar issues. Cardboard Connection is good for set checklists, but the checklist there don’t date back decades. Also, I’m not sure there is a good way to search if I am looking for a specific player or just a team.
Beckett is good because its database is huge. But, I still haven’t found every card I have. I also have found incorrect listings.
Trading Card DB is also a good option though it’s not as seamless as Beckett. However, Trading Card DB has had cards listed that Beckett does not, especially some of the regional sets that don’t pop up often.
BaseballCardPedia is another great resource. I often go there when looking for more information on sets, especially when cards were released, how they were released or different quirks about the set. They usually have solid information in that regard.
I did an informal poll Twitter.
There is no perfect site. But I have found that using all of them has gotten me pretty close. It take a lot of research (which I actually have fun with) and a lot of open browser tabs.
What has been your favorite checklist site of choice? Or do you bounce around as well?
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Similar: Whatever it takes.
I use Beckett, TCDB and baseballcardpedia. Sometimes I use COMC to eliminate/confirm something. Use teamsets4u, too. But I also use valuable off-line means: still have old Beckett price guides and the giant Standard Catalog from about 10 years ago, which work really well if you don't need recent sets.
That is the same routine I follow for my Braves. CC usually has the new checklist days before Beckett, sometimes weeks. Team sets 4 you usually has all of the regional and odd ball sets or at least info on them. But it does take a combination of them all to find every card. I do believe that it really isn't possible to find every card on a checklist.
I use all of the sites you mentioned. However, I do wish there was one place I could go to download a full player collection checklist (in my case for Barry Larkin). The best resource I've found for that is fellow Larkin collectors on Facebook of all places.
I've enjoyed building my own over the years…..using all of the resources mentioned, plus a few others – including other player collector lists. I feel that after 15-20 of working on it, I've got the definitive master list for my player…..which I kind of enjoy. It's laid out the way I want it and it showcases the information that is important to me. It's 100% unique.
I like adding to the list – the feeling of being "up to date" on things. And I love discovering something that wasn't previously on my list. It's like I've discovered gold or something.
It's odd…..I really have enjoyed the process of digging and researching to build my list. A definite sense of accomplishment.
When I do research for my posts, I usually use Beckett, Baseballcardpedia, and Cardboard Connection for checklists. But I love COMC if I'm looking for images.
First glad to have you back posting regularly and I love that Card Chat has returned on Twitter, one of my favorite things you do. When you put this poll out I picked TCDB, but to be honest I'm like a lot of commenters I use it all. For new checklists I tend to go with Cardboard Connection, just because they tend to do a great breakdown of the published checklists, but I do love Becketts team checklist feature that Ryan has been doing over there. The problem is none of these resouces are complete or infallable. TCDB is basically crowd sourced, which has it's good and bad aspects, but it is a great community and does have a lot of oddball stuff that Beckett doesn't.
It's sort of a wonky site in a way and i'm not endorsing them but Break Ninja does a pretty good job of covering lists since about 2014. Not good for before that but recent products are there for the most part in all sports. Plus there is a team search feature that let's you find just your players from each release. Ive found a few unknowns by checking there before.