Where is the itch?
Usually around this time of year, I get the itch for baseball cards. It wanes a bit in the offseason, but comes back full force right around Spring Training – except this year.
I have no idea what’s happened. I don’t know why I haven’t been going after cards and I’ve missed out some good ones. There were two Kouzmanoff cards that I’ve stalked eBay for over the last two years or so. In the past three weeks, they popped up on eBay and I missed them both.
One sold for $1.50, the other for $2.37 (or something). Certainly they were in a good price range, but I missed out because I didn’t check eBay enough. I strangely was OK with missing the cards as well. Usually, I get disappointed when I see a card that I missed. But not this time.
I feel as though part of the problem is the lack of variety. I’m tired of looking at the same cards for the last few months. We should have had some new product, we should have been expecting a ton of new product. But, I can’t get excited for the same 2010 Topps Heritage cards that I see on everyone’s blogs over and over. Yes, there are SPs, but even those have gotten tiresome.
Perhaps the cynical side of coming out in me as I get older. Maybe being bombarded with work over the last few weeks has taken its toll. Either way, I don’t have the itch to buy cards.
How do I get it back?
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What I had to do, and have done twice before, is to take a step back from the hobby. Just stop and focus on other things in life and wait for cards to worm their way back in (they always do). You'll get hooked all over again.
Some of the lack of itch is the lack of infectious material, too. Remember we'd normally have four or five releases now if Upper Deck were around, and they would provide an alternative to those of us non-Heritage enamored folk.
But they aren't. So instead, it's Heritage or nothing at all.
Next up is Pro Debut, which should find more of a limited audience and is hobby only. So you just have to keep waiting for the next big to bite (Allen and Ginter or Chicle perhaps).
Buy either vintage or 1996-2005 stuff.
The trick is to buy cards at work. But, it is definitely easy to get jaded.
I'm not really into Pro Debut. I just want my guys on cards.
At least in all this my wallet is a lot lighter.
I agree with Wombat, there just isn't a whole lot out right now to get excited about. 2010 Topps is kinda "blah", all the Upper Deck stuff is either expensive or getting pulled, and we're still a month from the season actually starting!
I go in waves where I don't care about cards, except my waves are only a couple guys, usually when a bigger impulse purchase is involved!
I've bought so much 2010 Topps already in anticipation of the start of the season that I've burnt myself out a little. I'm taking a little break since Heritage doesn't appeal to me all that much and just focusing on other things. If I must have cards I've found some good cheap stuff on eBay recently as well as completed a few "blog trades".
I wish I had an answer for you. I got the 2010 Topps cards I wanted, but I just don't care about any of the other current releases.
I'm looking forward to Pro Debut a little bit, but when I'm looking at cards at all right now it's to fill in holes in my autograph collection.
I've got no itch either.
I actually think the Topps set looks nice even with the recycled design. I'm just not that interested in getting packs of it this year.
You know what I'd really like now is an old fashioned 1-800ish card base set. Opening packs with a huge set of randomization seems more intriguing than "which insert did I get from the insert set I don't care about". I want more opportunities to pull Brewers and Twins.
I miss that the most.