I decided to answer the call of the great Gellman of Sportscards Uncensored and domy version of his bat around.  I would have done it sooner, except I’ve been up in New Jersey all week with the family, and the creative juices just got sucked out of me on the trip. So I left his questions in italics and mine will be in regular fonts.

As you have navigated the hobby, what are the biggest challenges you face as that type of collector or label of hobby enthusiast?

The biggest challege of course is going to Walmart or Target and looking at packs of cards and not feeling like a pedophile.  Seriously though, the challenges are widespread, everything from the incredibly soaring prices, to the lack of “good” cards, to the astronomical price of memorabilia.  Everything in this industry takes money and the average collector, or shall I say, the average Chemgod, has not much to spend.  I find myself gravitating more towards the bottom feeder sets.  The regular Upper Deck Issue, the regular Topps issue. It’s not that I dislike the higher priced sets, it’s that to put them together is almost unattainable. A second challenge I face is people not understanding the idea of a grown man collecting sports cards. It’s not that I’m ashamed of collecting cards, but on a work level or even a personal level it’s difficult to explain why I like to collect cards.  I just know that I have tried to quit the hobby many times and that I’ve always come back.  I realize now, that I am a collector and will always be one.  Explaining that to work colleagues can be difficult though.

What have been your biggest successes/failures?

My biggest success has been my blog.  I started it as a creative venue to be able to write what I want to write about the topics I want to discuss.  It’s been a big success in my life as many of my friends read and react.  It has also opened the door to many new friendships I have forged with my collecting and blogging brethren.  My biggest failure, was to not be able to control myself upon getting back into the hobby.  I was swept up in the tide of cards, both low and high priced.  It took a lot of money and time from me and in the end I was able to stave off disaster by settling in by finding bargain cards,and learning to collect on a budget.

What would you like to see the manufacturers focus on to make your type of collector flourish in the hobby?

I’m not dumb, card making is a business, they spend (no lie) close to or more than a $100 million a year on player and league licenses.  The days of a set a year are done and never coming back.  If each manufacturer can make no more than 16 sets per sport per year, why not make a set for ever collector?  A couple of kid level sets where complete sets can be made, no short prints.  Then a few middle level sets where sets can be made with the aid of short prints.  Some high level sets where everything is sequentially numbered, then very high end sets where the rich can dole out big bucks for one of a kind autographs and patches.  The problem is the wrong demographic is being surcharged for product.  The lowest level hobby boxes should cost no more than $36 – 45 .  No guaranteed hits, 1/2 to 2/3 of the base set per box. Then start a small surcharge on the middle level products, $50 – $75, you get one hit either auto or game used. The high end stuff can go from $80 – $150 where you get multiple hits, and multiple sequential numbers.  This is where you can put in your parallel versions.  The very high end stuff runs from $175 – $500, every card is a hit,or a low sequential card, only super stars and super rookies.

If you feel your type has been covered on another blog, tell us how you do things the same or differently. If you dont identify yourself as a type, explain why, or explain how you think of yourself.

There are several blogs which cover what I cover.  I focus on collecting on a budget.  What your hard earned dollars can buy on eBay, or how to get the autographs you want though the mail.  Some people feel that what I do is cheesy and that’s fine, I don’t really care what other people think, because I know that I’m not alone, I know there are others out there just like me who want to collect autographs and memorabilia, but just don’t have the money.  I hope my blog inspires that person to go out and collect on a budget.