Doing It the Hard Way

I've been trying to build my Heritage team sets mostly through trades, and in doing so it has dawned on me: in a world where efficiency is king, it's nice to have an outlet for doing things the hard way. 

I know, it sounds crazy. You'll never hear me say that in the workplace nor during a labor-intensive project at home. We're conditioned to be efficient. Time is money, as they say. Not to mention, it saves ourselves the physical energy that can be put towards something else (something important, like baseball cards!). And forgive me for thinking it, but maybe we're just a tad bit lazy. 

Anyway, it would be so much easier to just buy a team set on eBay and be done with it. I’ve done that plenty of times in the past, and in a time where opening boxes (or even many packs) doesn’t make financial sense, buying a team set, well, makes sense. But, honestly, where’s the fun in that?

In building team sets (or complete sets), I've come to discover four things it instills in a collector:

Perseverance

Who hasn't been frustrated trying to find that elusive, final card needed to complete a set? I'll be the first to raise my hand. Some cards are tough enough to find on eBay or any of the other websites like Sportlots, COMC, etc., but trying to find it through a trade? Forget about it. But do you give up and mark it off your wantlist? Of course not. You're a completist, for crying out loud.  

Patience

I'm by nature a very impatient man. There have been times in my life that I think I've overcome this character flaw and then, BAM!- I'm on the road and in a hurry and somehow end up behind Grandma Sunday Driver. This impatience spills over into my hobby life, as well. I only have so much time (not to mention, money) and there are so many pieces of cardboard to chase after. I've heard many collectors say they've been working on such and such a set for years; maybe not finishing off that team set in the first few months isn't so bad after all.

Pride and satisfaction

I could lump "joy" into this category. If you've been reading collector's blogs for very long, you've most likely seen certain entries (or series) called "The Joy of a Completed Page," "The Joy of a Completed Set," or "The Joy of a Completed Team Set." Yes, completing these projects brings joy, but it really reflects the pride and satisfaction in doing so, especially for those sets that have been an on-going project for quite some time. 

Appreciation

We all know that the child who's been given everything and has never had to work for what they have, thus they can never fully appreciate their possessions. But can the collector who just buys sets rather than build them, ever fully appreciate them? In one sense, yes. I mean, they did work hard for that money and perhaps put some kind of effort into purchasing said set. But in building something from nothing, the collector is dependent upon others to help them in finishing the project. Whether the cards are acquired through many different sellers, traders, or a combination of the two, one can't help but feel gratitude. And every time a new card is added to that binder, you're reminded again of the kindness of friends and/or of strangers. 

All cards that appear in today's post came through trades facilitated through the Trading Card Database (TCDB). I truly appreciate each and every collector whom I've dealt with through the site over the past however many years. And especially for the kindness of those who included cards from my want list but were not agreed upon in the trade proposals. It's small things like that that make trading such a valuable part of the hobby.