Thanks for the ride

Today is my blog's 11th anniversary.

It's also my last post.

I've been thinking about this for some time, but it has become increasingly clear to me over the past year that I need to close this chapter of my collecting life.

I'm a much different person at a very different stage of my life than when I started this little venture, and I've felt myself growing more and more distant from running this blog over the last few years. New cards have come in, and it has started to feel like more of a hassle to scan and show them. This blog has always been a bit more of a show-and-tell, and I've always been fine with that. Some have a lot more to say and frown on 'show and tell', and that's all well and good. But the reason I started this blog was because I didn't really have anyone to show off my new cards and share what I got in the constant flow of bubble mailers stuffed into my Manhattan apartment's small PO box. In a sense, the blog served as critical outlet when I started collecting cards again. No longer did cards just arrive in the mail, get glanced at once, and then stored away in some box. It was a crucial step in my self-help journey to enjoy my '90s inserts just a little bit more.

Life has changed too. I started this blog four apartments ago, three jobs ago, two kids ago, one wife ago. A lot has happened to me over my eleven years on here! The most important years of my life. Marriage. Kids. Homeownership. Job switches and promotions. I was just a young pup when I started this, without obligations other than myself and with a hell of a lot less responsibility. Frankly, life is busier now, despite working 95% of the time from home. Work is more chaotic with a higher stakes role that needs more of my attention. My kids are playing multiple sports and require more rides, more practices, more games, and more of my time. And I choose them. Easy one.

Sure, lots of excuses above. One after another. But in the precious free time I have, scanning and writing a little thoughtless post about cards really isn't what I want to do. It's among the same reasons I no longer care to write TTM letters to strangers. In my free time, I'd rather spend it other ways.

I'm not giving up collecting or put off by the current state of the hobby. Far from it. And I still plan to read the blogs that I most enjoy, as well as hang around on Twitter and on TCDB.

And who knows, maybe I'll be back. Maybe I won't. Perhaps I'll drop in a post down the road if something extradorinaiy happens or if I just want to say hi. But I'm not counting on it.

The blog was a big part of my life for more than a quarter of it, which sounds weird to say. But the time has come to move on and not have the site hang over my head as something that needs to be maintained. I did it for eleven years, and I'll leave the blog turned on and active while it collects dust before Blogger decides one day to no longer keep these tiny sites running, which is bound to happen given Google's lack of investment in the product. 

Lastly, I do genuinely thank you for reading, for trading, for sending unexpected cards, for taking cards off my hands, and for making collecting far more interesting for the past eleven years. It was fun, and I hope you all continue to enjoy collecting the way you want to do it...for you, not for someone else.

As the cranky Upper East Side card shop owner told me back in May of 2011, it's time for The Lost Collector to officially get lost. 

Take care, and thanks for the ride!

The TTM envelopes still roll in

As this blog and my collecting habits have evolved over time, one thing that has really changed is my desire to send out TTM (through the mail) autograph requests.

I have not sent out a request since 6/28/21. Before that, the last one was 2/15/21.

I collect and view the hobby a lot differently than I did 11 years ago when I started this blog. For the first five or six years, TTMs were a mainstay here. I have 415 posts tagged with TTM. I had some great returns, and great stories from those returns. I had projects and goals.

When the pandemic started, I felt uneasy about sending unsolicited mail to strangers. Was the virus on the mail? I know that was silly, but many of us were freaked out and knew very little how this thing was carried. I then saw some posts of MLB players with mounds of mail sent to their home, pleading fans not to send to their home address. I started to see this element of the hobby as a bit of an invasion of privacy.

I stopped sending to home addresses all together. It no longer felt right. In the event I did want to send to a particular player, I sent it to their stadium or spring training. Maybe that's not that much better, but it at least felt like a bit more justifiable to me if I was going to send a piece of mail.

Despite not sending out new requests, it's not uncommon for an old self-addressed stamped envelope to make it's way back to me. Just last week, a return came back from Yankees 2020 first round pick, Austin Wells:

This was sent to spring training last February, for a 365-day turnaround. Annoyingly, the signature bubbled a bit.

I'm sure a few more envelopes will make their way back to me over the years. But as for new requests, not many will be going out.

Doon Swoon

Over the 11-year history of this blog, a guy like Napkin Doon has been here basically for all of it. I remember our first trade was in May, 2011. Previously, I had won a few cards of him from the Big Fun Game that he used to run, a Yankee swap type of blog contest.

That first trade included a handful of Tino cards, and two autographs: Ramiro Pena and Mark Melancon.  Names from the past! He also threw in a bunch of Flair cards of Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams. I remember being surprised by the package because we had only agreed on a portion of the cards, but he sent them all to me. That's just the kind of guy he is!

As he has started to reduce the size of his collection a bit, he's been setting aside non-keepers for me, especially of guys like Jeter and Rivera. He sent me a big old box of cards just a few weeks ago, and the contents definitely delivered.

See, that's a lot of cards.

But it wasn't all cards. He sent me three packing peanut NFTs of Jeter, Gallo, and Odor. If anyone tries to steal this image of my NFTs, then I will be pressing charges.

Right on top is my first Topps Holiday ornament. Fun cards. I mean, no Pacific ornament from back in the day, but I appreciate the concept.

The next card I pulled out was a Dave Winfield Kellogg's 3D stars. I don't really get these cards. They've never done anything for me at all. At least it's not curled to all hell.

The second card in the box might have been my favorite, a Bowman Platinum ice parallel of Yankees 2020 first rounder, Austin Wells. Well, that was my favorite until a Hope Diamond Curtis Granderson popped out! Numbered to 60, Topps just did so much right in 2011 with their parallels. 

Stacks of current Yankees included Gleyber, Judge, and Stanton.

I'm not surprised Napkin had a lot of spare Alfonso Sorianos, as he was the centerpiece of the haul that brought Alex Rodriguez to NY. Doon probably thought he was going to get rich of this guy.

As for Yanks of the past, there were plenty of Rivera, and Mattingly.

Poor Doon even decided to send me a few Rangers who called the Bronx home in 2021. Odor is no longer with the Yanks, but I now have an ungodly amount of his RCs. That's my first Gallo rookie, as well. I am betting he will once again hit .190 with 40 HRs. Baseball!

The bottom of the box had some odd-sized Mattinglys to top - or bottom - it all off. Man, that crouched batting stance is so cool.

This is the 45th post of mine where you're tagged, Nap. Thanks for all the fodder over the years.