Exit Interview: I'm Retiring from Collecting Canseco
mouschi
Posts: 687 ✭✭✭✭
To say a lot has transpired over the past couple of weeks would be a vast understatement. To make a long story short, (trust me, the long story is below!)
1) I have decided to quit collecting Jose Canseco baseball cards (Video of the explanation is below).
2) I'm selling my collection (well, most of it, anyway.)
3) I'm writing a book about my hobby experiences. Please let me know if you are interested in reading it!
While I fully understand most of you will not care a lick about this, I also know some folks out there would like to know why. Plus, I feel like I owe it to everyone to share the wild ride of it all. I'd be thrilled if you had the time to read the story of my journey.
Allow me to start at the beginning.
As a "pseudo card dealer", I have bought and sold approximately 10 million cards over the past decade. While the number may sound impressive, please keep in mind the vast majority of them were junk wax commons. Even still, 10,000,000 is huge ... to me, anyway. Back in 2013, I ended up selling out everything I had, except for my childhood Jose Canseco baseball card collection. Because there was nothing "special" about it, I ended selling it too - it was very base heavy, with tons of doubles. After it sold, I started asking myself "what if I did this right?" I started picking up an Artist's Proof here, a First Day issue there, a couple of refractors, etc. Soon, I started getting several game used Canseco cards and happily marked off parallels that I had never before held in my hand.
I had such a blast marking them off in my checklist, taking pictures of mail days and posting them online for you to see. Heck, even the evolution of my checklist was rewarding - from MS Word, to Excel to an online document eventually to a full blown custom website. While this was the most serious I had taken my collection ever in my life, I wasn't about to claim that there was anything special about it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought my collection would have grown to what it is. Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote at the end of 2013:
Within two years of the time I wrote this, I had hung out with Canseco at his house, landed the cover of Beckett and had a special NSCC promo card made of the cover I was on. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that could have happened.
Later on in the next year (after I wrote that article), I started picking up steam with my collection, but it wasn't until 2015 (shortly after I was at Jose's house) that I landed my first true 1/1 I ever picked up to my recollection: a 2015 Topps TEK Black Rainbow:
I even remember where I was - at a stop light on my way to church to pick up our son from Youth Group. The seller spelled his name wrong - "Conseco" and I was the first on the scene. With a few clicks, I was the proud owner of a 1/1 Jose Conseco ... errr ... Canseco 
I was elated to have finally beaten all of the other big Canseco collectors. Man, I have so many stories for each and every one of my cards. I love it!
It was all down hill from there.
To understand my collecting habits, you have to know me. I went into this thinking I would be able to keep it casual, but that just isn't my style. I poured myself into it. When all was said and done, I amassed 230 1/1 Jose Canseco cards and 1,000 unique game used / autograph cards. Here is a screen shot from an article I had written a few months back:
Perhaps some of the beloved items in my collection that I would place just as high (if not higher) than the 1/1's are the plethora of proofs, prototypes, and other cards that aren't supposed to exist. I remember when I first saw these 1992 Ultra boardroom prototypes. I was instantly hooked.
Or these Fleer bankruptcy paper proofs that aren't supposed to exist. My gosh, I heard angels singing when I saw these.
With over 5,000 unique items, inside of three years of serious hardcore collecting, I went from having virtually nothing, to assembling the #1 largest unique Jose Canseco baseball card collection on the planet. I am proud, grateful and ashamed all at the same time, but more on that later.
HOW I DID IT
To become a supercollector, you may automatically think of someone who is absolutely obsessed with a certain player, and has limitless funds. While I'm sure both would definitely have their merits if supercollecting is your goal, I went about it a different way. I would say my main ally was passion. I LOVE this hobby. More than I should. I spent a tremendous amount of time making fun graphics and shooting them all over social media. Things like this:
Or this:
Or even this:
Heck, I'd even enlist the help of Disney
Even Trump and Obama lent a helping hand. Thanks guys
It's completely normal to morph yourself into your favorite player, right?
Even sharing my successes got a graphic:
After writing my heart out, making graphics (which weren't JUST for marketing purposes ... I truly loved the art of it all), hanging out with Jose at his house & being on the cover of Beckett, multiple radio / internet interviews from Beckett, Topps, Blowout and Sports Collectors Daily, I started being offered Canseco cards by multiple people on a daily basis. At some point, I started routinely getting called out on video by the breakers themselves when a high end Canseco was hit. People would write me and say "I was just called the Tanner Jones of Don Mattingly collecting!" or similar. It got to a point where it seemed like 4 out of 5 "important" cards would be offered to me before ever seeing the open market. If they hit the open market? No problem at all. I would be the first one to see it, and either purchase or start negotiations well before anyone else had a chance to see it. The only way I'd miss a reasonably priced card I needed is if it were set to go to auction and went for higher than I'd want to pay.
Check out this listing someone posted the other day - they put my name in the title, and that isn't the first time it has happened!
Many people wrote to me saying how I am an inspiration to them on either a daily or weekly basis. This was all so very flattering, but also very disconcerting. I truly hope I do not sound like I'm bragging, because that isn't the case. I am writing out all of these things to be a cautionary tale for you, in addition to documenting my story. Over the course of the past few years, I've noticed an epidemic of people saying they were hiding their "epic mail days" from their wives, and even experienced the destruction of a marriage that was made very public on social media - it wasn't the only divorce I've heard of due to sports cards, either. And that doesn't even get into the potential other relationship issues this type of "cardboard addiction" that can happen between a husband and wife.
To think that I may have had a hand in such things is terrifying to me. While I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for all of you who have gone out of your way for me to land the best Canseco cards out there, I have a legitimate concern that my example / lifestyle has been leading some down the wrong path. If I have had any part (directly or indirectly) in directing you toward a negative path, I sincerely apologize. Collecting baseball cards and directing others to collect baseball cards is not my mission in life. My mission in life is to glorify God. As a Christian, I believe this takes many forms. From leading others into a relationship with Jesus to making disciples of the nations, to feeding and clothing the poor, to loving and caring for your family. I have found that obsessively collecting can almost be the antithesis of all these things I hold so dearly. I have probably had more fun than anyone else in this hobby of ours, but I deeply regret if my passion has rubbed off negatively on any one of you in taking this too far. As with anything in life, there is such thing as too much of a good thing. A bowl of ice cream is a blessing; 10 bowls of ice cream is diabetes.
MY LARGEST ACQUISITION EVER?
So, onward with my story...
I was constantly being told that I had the most impressive and complete baseball card collection of any player collection out there for anyone. I never sought out to become the best or most well known; I think that any perception my fellow collectors had of me was all a byproduct of my extreme passion for our hobby. As the 1/1's, /5's, /10's and prototypes continually rolled in, it almost seemed like an old hat. I thought back to my excitement of that first 1/1 Tek I landed at the stoplight on the way to church a few short years ago. My excitement had not really died down; I just felt more accustomed to it, I guess. There just didn't seem to be anything else big out there to accomplish.
As a supercollector, you are always looking for the next "high". At this point in my collecting career, I felt like I had nothing else big to accomplish. After making it to the pinnacle of your collecting niche, where do you go? I had to face the facts: everything else from here on out would just be a slow burn of acquisitions as the card companies would release more new material.
Then, I got to thinking. What would be the biggest thing I could do with my collection?
Over the past couple of months, I had been in talks with the supercollector I mentioned in the screenshot at the beginning of this article about acquiring his entire collection. AJ has spent a decade meticulously putting together a world class Canseco collection far before I started. I have spent years drooling over cards he had that I knew I would never be able to touch. Over the years, we have gone from collecting competitors, to frenemies, to friends. I can safely say that outside of my own collection, there is nobody else's collection out there that I would rather have than his. This is no small feat either, because there are some amazing collections out there of Canseco.
Recently, our talks became serious and ended up becoming a plan. I was going to do it. The plan was to fly up north to make the largest purchase I had ever made, outside of a house. Visions of 80 or so 1/1's were dancing in my head, and all told would put about 200 cards that I didn't have in my collection. I would then end up selling off and trading away the doubles for others I did not yet have.
Guys, I cannot stress how big this was to me. It kept me up at night dreaming and planning. Simply put, this hobby could not offer me anything better. Think about all of the vintage "finds" over the past several years. You know the kind - the ones where a guy was rehabbing a house and found a bunch of beautiful tobacco cards worth tons of money. Or Mr. Mint's purchase of all those beautiful 1952 Topps cards. To me, this was my find, and it wouldn't be anymore exciting to me than if they were all tobacco cards. I want to be clear here with what I'm saying: Rare Jose Canseco cards meant MUCH more to me (as they do with a handful of other guys) than any Babe Ruth bat knob or Ty Cobb cut auto ever could. This to me, was the jackpot. The deal of a lifetime. It is important to note that AJ never intended to sell his collection. He just felt that based upon my position, that it made sense to move them to me. We had done a deal a while back where he purchased a few cards from me and in return, he swore off buying any new 1/1's from that point on. That may have made the thought of him selling to me more palatable.
I had discussed this with my wife a number of times, and while not thrilled, she said ultimately it was up to me to decide (YES!!!! Here I come, AJ!) I had one last discussion with her the night before I was considering purchasing a plane ticket ... and guys ... let me tell you. I cannot tell you how excited I was to document everything in pictures and write up an article of the whole thing. Every last piece of it was absolutely incredibly exciting. Oh, the nights I would stay up writing, documenting, taking pictures of my newest cards, etc. The fulfillment of posting them on social media and displaying them on my website. The Youtube video reveals. It would be pure, unadulterated joy. True satisfaction. The biggest high at this point that I could ever have collecting cardboard.
The discussion with her went similarly to the previous conversations we had. She was not feeling the love of the collection like I was, but said if I was praying about it and felt God was okay with it, then she was okay. The stars were aligned and the doors were all opened. The problem? I had this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. Like something was tugging on my conscience to pay attention to the still small little voice. I may have heard it before regarding this subject, but perhaps I just wasn't ready to listen ... or didn't want to.
I can't quite explain it, but sitting in my living room with my wife that night, I felt like it would be a selfish endeavor. It felt as if I already had the world's fastest car by a country mile, but wanted to add 1,000 more horse power just because. So I told her I no longer felt okay or right about making the purchase. With my mind going a mile a minute, I started thinking to myself If I'm not buying this collection, then what am I still doing here collecting? There is nothing else left for me to accomplish.
Almost in the same breath, I told her "Maybe I should just go ahead and sell my collection as well." Did I just say that out loud? What was I thinking? Years of dedication, and just like that, gone? How can I go from one extreme to another within minutes?
She looked shocked and smirked. "I'm not going to tell you what to do either way - you do what you feel is right."
Just like that, on the evening of June 8th 2018, I had made the decision to walk away from the thing that I had been hyper dedicated to for the past 3 years.
LIFE AFTER COLLECTING
I had contemplated quitting collecting a number of times over my collecting "career". I always wondered what it would feel like. How I would feel. Would I be letting people down? Would they be disappointed in me? What regrets would I have? Haven't I passed the point of no return? How hard would it be to sell everything? I then realized that it wasn't hard at all. It wasn't a long, arduous road; it literally stopped once I decided to do so. I told AJ about my plans, and to say he was shocked is an understatement. He also was excited, because with me out of the game, the restriction of not getting any 1/1's from here on out was lifted. That's right - AJ is back!
Throughout all of Saturday, I felt free. I felt a huge amount of peace like I hadn't in a longtime. Sunday, however, was a different story. Simply put, I felt bad about it all. I asked God to give me clear direction on what to do, because I considered slipping back into it all. A mere couple hours later, we were sitting in church and our pastor said the following: (this snippet is less than 1 minute long).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7ATHtLXSs
My eyes almost popped out of my head. Snickering to ourselves after hearing that, I dug my fingers into my wife's leg as to control my laughter. I thanked God for a clear sign.
On the car ride home, we told our son my decision and what all had transpired. Then my wife said:
"So, here is something I haven't told you yet. You know that I've been praying for you about this decision during my runs. What I didn't tell you, is I've also been praying that God show you if you are supposed to sell your collection - even before you ever mentioned considering selling!"
It is truly amazing to me how good God is, and I am overjoyed in how it happened so I can share it with you all here.
This all transpired a couple weeks ago. I have since disabled all tricks I had in place that gave me an edge and ultimately put me in the position I am in. I have politely declined 20 or so purchase requests and have for the first time, I have not felt the compulsion to check all of the websites I used to check countless times each day.
If you are a supercollector or aspiring to be one, this is huge. You may be tracking with me when I say there is a compulsion to keep your phone on you at all times, and to check for new listings any time you get a free moment. EBay, COMC, the forums, various social media outlets and various other websites were all places that funneled cards to my collection, so I kept a vigilant watch on all of them. The anxiety of losing a card I needed to someone else kept me alert at all times. If an extremely rare card would be listed auction style, I would frequently lose, because other collectors would simply be willing to pay more than I would.
Part of what makes it easier for me to walk away are the memories that I can hold onto thanks to how much I've documented over the years, and it has been greatly enhanced by your positive feedback. What I've written for you to read is satisfying, but what you have written for me to read has added a tremendous amount of depth to this chapter of my life. I can look back at this journey with no regrets of walking away. I have no worries that I left anything to conquer on the table because I have squeezed every drop of satisfaction and enjoyment I possibly could from it.
To wrap this all up, I'll share a few of my closing thoughts:
- Please do not think I am condemning collecting as wrong/bad/evil because I am not. My addictive/obsessive personality made it an unhealthy lifestyle for me. I LOVE this hobby and will continue to be slinging cardboard, making fun customs and writing (I need to write as therapy to help me through this!) I just won't be collecting Canseco anymore. I may keep a nice base collection as a fun reminder.
- Please take a moment to think long and hard about where you are in your collecting journey and where you are in life. If you feel that you have sunk into the situation I was in, or worry you may get that way, I will be more than happy to try and help talk you through everything. Perhaps God has brought me through this journey to help *you* along in your journey. I would be overjoyed if I can help you through an addiction situation. Please let me help you.
- Though this article is long, it is only the tip of the iceberg. I am about to finish writing a book. I hope that you will find it entertaining enough to read. Perhaps I'll share some/all of my tricks that catapulted me to the top of my collecting niche!
- Last but not least - you guessed it. My collection is for sale! Everything is pictured at www.CansecoCollector.com if you want to take a peek. It will be sad to see it all go, but I feel like I'm doing the right thing. I am also VERY happy that some cards in my collection may find their home in your collection. (Queue the circle of life song). I'd love for these to filter throughout the hobby and hope the story of my journey will follow them into your collection. In purchasing some cards, you will also be helping me out. I have a tremendous amount of ground to cover in selling, so please consider grabbing some
I am humbled by and thankful for all of you. For all the kindness that you have shown me over the past several years. This has been a wild ride and was truly thrilling from start to finish. I will close by using a quote from the esteemed Dr. Seuss which pretty much sums up everything about me closing this chapter in my life:
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
http://youtu.be/Bp3L_Fj-mWU?hd=1
http://www.tanmanbaseballfan.com/2018/06/exit-interview-im.html
Comments
lets start the bidding here....i bid $100
Collectors are like boxers ... they retire but always come back ...
Good luck to you Tanner
I feel where you are coming from as a fellow player collector. While I have always collected Greg Maddux I haven't always had his #1 master set. There was a fellow collector that had his Greg Maddux master set around 75% complete and ended up selling most of his collection. When you get so heavy into collecting that your binders are on it could eventually get the better of you. I have kept the mindset of building my Greg Maddux collection, yet I have remained strong in only collecting items from his playing years and limiting the 1/1's(I think I only have 2 or 3 lol) . I have allowed myself to take small breaks from my GM collection if it becomes too tiresome. When doing such I have explored other areas of the hobby and shifted my collecting interest. This has allowed me to acquire some great pieces that anyone would love to own such as a 52T Mantle, high grade MJ 86F and my Hank Aaron autograph collection. Take a step back for a bit and ask yourself if you would like to keep some of your collection and possibly revisit it at a later date.
eBay Store
Greg Maddux #1 Master SetGreg Maddux #2 Basic Set
But Tanner I just found a The lost Panama Issue Canseco 1/1 I thought you might like?
Kevin
I think it is great that you are listening to your heart. It's easy to let things get ahead of God & our relationship with Christ. You are showing the world what's most important!
Never a big fan of Canseco, but truly enjoyed your writing style, vision on advertisement, and, more importantly, your relationship with Christ. Great read and best of luck. I want your book if it happens.
Congrats Tanner, gotta do what you feel is right and makes you happy in life. Hopefully it will lead to other opportunities and that you will find a way to still stay connected to the hobby. I've enjoyed watching your journey.
Currently Collecting:
Flickr: https://flickr.com/gp/184724292@N07/686763
Scrolling through your website brought back some good memories... TY
Now just stay away from Jim Abbott and we are cool lol
Thank you so much for the kind words, everyone! I am so happy to have found CU
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Andy......er, Henry David.
Andy
are you going to stick around here, I'll miss your posts
best to you
collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.
looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started
How does Jose feel about this news? Are you still collecting junk era Unopened?
I do prefer stories of "I'm ready to sell" over "I have to sell".
All the best Tanner!
Time to start an Ozzie Canseco collection!
Andy
Thanks folks! My plan is to stick around as long as you all will have me. I'd love to continue writing and custom card making. As for collecting wax, well ... it is taking a back seat ... in a card 12 bus lengths back. I'm going to have my hands full selling these cards for a while.
Tanner, you are the bomb. Always enjoy your posts and fascination with Canseco. Hope you stick around and continue to grace us with your presence. I was going to buy your book, but read your post above instead. Is the book shorter?
Collecting Unopened from '72-'83; mostly BBCE certified boxes/cases/racks.
Prefer to buy in bulk.
LOL! Right?! When I get to typing, I guess I just don't know when to stop
Do you have 40/40 vision?
Hiya Tanner
That was a lot of digest.
I'm sure you know - also - that God gave us free will - so IMO - "you're off the hook buddy."
Nice.
I was gonna say about a book - on your post - I think I've seen shorter "masters" dissertations?
But, I enjoyed how you put the whole thing into perspective.
Geez, not sure where you/this/us go from here?
Ya know, I've been here for almost a decade and a half and it's contributors like yourself that keep me coming back even tho it's hard to post here since most have no interest in what I collect (just look at my last thread
)
Hope the sale goes well for you. It's been a pleasure.
Okay, so this is one of the most brilliant things I've heard today. Kudos! LOL!
Thanks so much good sir! I'll still be around, writing custom making etc
What was the cost in total of acquiring all those Canceco cards?
Good luck but I think that you should still save your favorite 5-10 cards of him. I have just one card of Canseco. I like his 1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Card.
Wow, Tanner!!!
I have no words, but wish you all the best going forward.
I will just say that I have felt the same obsession that you talk about and thankfully my funds or lack thereof make me step back. I found out early on to set a limit on my spending, therefore limiting my obsession and so far that's worked for me.
Wishing you all the best in whatever you decide to do and with a passion like yours I'm sure you will do great things.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
When I started reading, I thought there was going to be something sad/tragic as the catalyst. Glad it did not take that turn.
You have probably already done this, but I would recommend documenting your favorite aspects of your collection so that you can still enjoy it later down the road. It is only cardboard after all.
I'd keep about 10-20 of the hardest cards to come by, this way when another collector needs them, you control the keys to the castle so to speak, plus you can pretty much ask your price.
This post is going to sound more negative than the intent behind it, so please keep that in mind:
Tanner, I welcome your decision to sell your collection. It has become clear, to me anyway, that you, at least in part, had succumbed to the attention and to the ego-feed of having such an impressive collection. Your unwillingness to assist others in areas not related to Canseco might be evidence of that as well. Kudos to you for recognizing the monster was swallowing you and setting yourself on a course correction.
I most definitely look forward to your book.
I was just thinking about all of this and it's hard to distill.
First.
I remember a collector here who had in his sig line: "there's thin line between a hobby and insanity"
It's easy to go all OCD and if ya feel that way? Some self reflection would be needed - maybe even talking with a friend or something.
I remember when people ask about becoming a collector - I always give my "patent" list of rules:
Simple?
Yes. Hard to follow? Yes! Yes! Yes!
I'm one of the oldest people here and I've broken those rules but all and all stay inside the box - a Hobby is a great way to keep someone from feeling like there's no purpose - especially when you retire.
Last: I think what I was trying to say is - "if you hold onto your collectibles too tightly? They'll onto you"
I'll be at the National again this year - it would be great if they still had "round table" discussions of things like this?
But, I'm more than happy to talk with anyone who wants to share their experiences - I know I have a lot of "highs" but also a lot of "lows."
I remember reading your Focus and Budget rules when you had mentioned them in a thread a while back and it's gone a long way to help my decision making. Those rules plus figuring out "does buying this card make me happy". Often times I've felt the need to get a card merely to upgrade a set rather than get a fun card I'd just really like to have. Thanks for helping me keep perspective!
Currently Collecting:
Flickr: https://flickr.com/gp/184724292@N07/686763
You are quite the articulate word smither, mr. tabe! I would write more, however, after feeding my ego, my dance card is full with people I'm unwilling to assist
VERY well said, as always good sir!
Yes sir! That is precisely how I plan on going about it and what I use my blog/the forums for and ultimately my book. Well said!
Thanx for the kind words.
My pleasure.
Hey Tanner
Just want to say thanks for the ride – I truly enjoyed your acquisitions - not so much for the card(s) you picked up but for the detailed recap(s).
For awhile I was in your shoes, well maybe shoe, I collect anything and everything Gary Carter and would jump at the chance to pick up something new and hopefully “odd”. Early in the ebay days (dial up, before BINs and automatic bids) if you wanted that unique item you needed to wait it out getting ready to raise your bid during the last seconds – many nights I would stay awake or set my alarm for that 3am closing. I have totally scaled back over the last decade – grabbing only a few here and there. When Gary passed part of my desire to pick up stuff went away, I do miss that but having my collection to look back on now and then does bring a smile.
I wish you well and will grab a book when it comes out
I think a lot of serious collectors go through the same thoughts at some point. When you buy cards, get in mailers and barley look at them before filing them away without any excitement you start to think “why am I spending hard earned money on something just to put it in a binder 2 seconds later”.
I think it helps to sell something at some point, it makes you appreciate what you do have more. Although having gone through similar, never sell anything you know you’ll never get back because one day you might regret it.
I'm sure that can be shared by many Matt.
I also wonder.
How often do we really "appreciate" what we have by taking the time to view the stuff.
That's why I started a new thing - Baseball Card Binder Thursday - take a loose leaf binder and take the time to really observe.
Look at the backs of the cards - read the stats - look at the comic art...
I've found that the "Hunt Value" far exceeds that of actual acquisition value in some cases.
Great witness Tanner! Thanks for your passion for cards and Christ.
I was coming here to post this very sentiment. I do love the hunt often more than the acquisition. Perhaps, Tanner, you'll just find something new to hunt down the road. Give it a rest for a while; come back when you know it's right. Thanks for putting me in the passenger's seat of your hunt.
Andy
Andy
I meant to post this yesterday, but here is the wrap up of day one: "The Day After Canseco"
So, this was a herculean undertaking and not even a drop in the bucket. This is insanity. Here is what a "reverse mailday" looks like. Believe me ... NOT NEARLY as fun as a real mailday!
A lot of most excellent cards were picked up, many of which were a big deal to me when I was just starting to get into it. I've gotta say, it is super fun getting some of these cards out into other people's collections!
The heart breaker of the day is seeing this go:
So long, my first bat barrel - you will be missed! *sniffle
So, a few cool things that I learned about today:
While all day was FILLED with pulling cards, shipping, etc. and has been exhausting, I have to say - it has been truly good! I'm thankful
On my way to the post office!
Day two picked up where day one left off: shipping out LOTS of cardboard. I have to say, a part of me is having a lot of fun filling people's want lists. Whether it is the stack of Pinnacle Museum cards going out to a collector in Sweden, or several blank back cards to a collector of errors. Heck, even those who were just starting their collecting journey and decided to pick up some cards that more advanced collectors wouldn't think twice about. I guess you can say that I'm happy so far that everything seems to be going to places where they will be thoroughly enjoyed.
Almost as much so as my dogs enjoyed my favorite hat
Seriously, y'all. I have NO idea where the rest of the hat went. The bill is all I could find. #customtime
A few fellow collectors sent over $20 and instructed me to send them a surprise card just so they could have something in their collection from mine. Others requested autographs and a paper with my picture stating their purchases came from my collection. I honestly can't type all that without smiling - that's the greatest feeling ever that people care that much about a fellow collector to have something of mine as a part of their collection. It makes this whole experience truly special to me.
A collector by the name of Dan picked up the beauty below: A 2000 Fleer Legacy Showcase Collection #/20. Dan asked me if I had any backstory on it, because he loved hearing the history of the cards. I am exactly the same way, as might you be. I love any story that may come with them. I told him I don't recall where I got it from, but I did recall having it displayed on my desk the day I picked it up. I turned off the lights to leave the office, and caught a glimpse of Jose GLOWING from the light coming out of the window. It looked like it was on fire ... so beautiful.
Canseco supercollector Andrew picked up this card, along with many others, but before letting it go, I had to tell him about its story as well:
I remember a guy who built this entire set and was selling it on eBay. I was with my family at Wal-Mart and saw it pop, because, you know - it's a perfectly natural thing to check eBay on your phone while walking through the frozen pizza aisle, right? The hefty price tag of the set was awe-inspiring and surely he wouldn't break up the set ... but ... ya gotta try. If memory serves, I believe it took a few days, but he decided to break up the set and also sell me the Canseco! After talking to him more, it turned out he was a supercollector of that set and his accomplishments landed him in the pages of Beckett Monthly.
Man, that was cool to hear. It made it so much more desirable just because of its back story.
Fellow Cansecbro Rodney ended up picking up my entire run of Broders and Star sets/promos. They are some of the most difficult things to catalog from the 80s and 90s, but with me, it was a labor of love and was happy to be able to put together the most complete visual checklist of Broder and Star cards for Canseco on the interwebs. The box below shows them together, plus a few other goodies. It marks the largest purchase volume wise so far, knocking out over 600 cards in one shot, which is over 10% of the size of my entire collection.
That was just the tip of the iceberg for today, though. Here is a pic of what went out.
This gave me a flashback to when I was a kid, wheeling and dealing cardboard through Prodigy. We had a ledge just like this where numerous packages would sit, ready to be sent all over America. Man, those were fun times.
After a few days of selling, I can safely say it has not been painful to let go. Selling has given me a way to make more memories in this hobby as they go from my collection to others.
You definitely raised the bar on being a supercollector. Glad that you were able to find peace with the decision and it is definitely respected.
On your book, do you have plans for the profits you make? Any charities or non-profit orgs in the running?
Say it ain't so Tanner, Say it ain't so !!! Your Jose collection will be missed, but it doesn't look like you're leaving the hobby which is a great thing.
Thanks! I'm not sure what the money will be used for - maybe just to build Tanner's house of wax (boxes)
I do look forward to continuing to run contests for Compassion International, and perhaps others though. Maybe with my extra time, I'll be able to put more thought into it.
Thank you sir! Yeah, I'm staying put
Good luck with your liquidation. Your Canseco threads were some of my favorites. I admired the way you marketed and worked to get as many unique items as you could.
Beautiful sir! LOL
I was interviewed by Patrick of Radicards and promised him I'd post it. As always, I had a great time talking with him.
I have to admire your reasoning for getting out. I too am a Christian and my relationship to God is very important to me. I must say that your post has made me evaluate where I am with my collection. I am a very focused Cardinals team set collector. I tend to stay very focused and stay within the boundaries I have set for myself. I just want to be very careful not to make my hobby "a god" to me. The very first commandment says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me". It would break my heart for me to realize that my collection (or anything else in my life) has become a "god" to me.
Also, I think we as collectors should consider something, whether you are a Christian or not. I fully realize that there is a lot of enjoyment in the pursuit of that rare card or the pursuit of filling needs within your collection. One thing that I have realized over the years is that there is also enjoyment in my EXISTING collection. If I didn't pursue another piece, I can honestly say that there is enjoyment in the collection I have built. I look at it as my personal archive and museum of Cardinals history and baseball history. There is a scripture verse that backs up this idea....1 Timothy 6:6 says "Godliness with contentment is great gain." When we as collectors are content, we don't have the need to pursue additional pieces.
As someone already said....that is easy to talk about....much harder to do.
Shane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
Canseco should be in the hall.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
Well said!
LMAO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_from_Panama
I forgot to publicly LOL on this myself
Remember that meme that was going around where a clown is in the gutter saying something like "Hey kid! I have candy!" And the next frame, you see the kid's legs sticking out from the gutter because he dove in? That totally would be me with Canseco cards I didn't have.