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Card Collecting ADD (Featuring Joe Mauer)
This is not a rare problem in the trading card collecting community. We’ve all been there. We’ve all gone through it. With so many ways to collect, so many different companies producing cards of all kinds, so many different products offered each year and countless other factors each collector must weigh, who could blame us? In fact, I am willing to bet that at least one of you reading this right now is suffering some form of Card Collecting Attention Deficit Disorder.
Of course, my collecting concentration has narrowed and become more focused over the last few years but that does not preclude me from future bouts of “ooh, shiny” distraction. I’ve gone from wanting every single Twins card ever made to collecting anything that Beckett said was worth anything. I’ve gone from digging a hole of debt to scrounge up as many Twins hits as I could afford to trying to put together the ’09 A&G set. I’ve yet to see any of those collecting routes through to fruition (although I got VERY close with the A&G set–in fact, I may still put that thing together yet).
The one collection, if you can even call it that, that has escaped my attention with the least effort features, naturally, a Minnesota Twin–Joe Mauer. While scouring eBay for Twins hits and Joe Mauer autographs, I came across a (still to this day) gorgeous 2007 Upper Deck SP Authentic Joe Mauer “By The Letter” autographed manupatch “U” numbered 25/25. I paid up a cool $50 or so for it with the thought that I would find and buy the remaining letters (M, A, E and R) a few months at a time. However, after sealing the card up inside a mag-case, I basically forgot about the rest of the cards. I somehow got distracted.
There it still sits, on my display case with none of its other signed manupatch companions to surround it. I haven’t given much thought lately as to whether I will FINALLY seek out any of the other letters. At this point, the card is well enough on its own. It may even serve as a reminder of a much more disorganized day in my collecting life.
While this Joe Mauer card represents the chaos in my baseball card collection, there is another Joe Mauer card in my possession that defines my currently much more focused collecting habits.
Perhaps the most sought-after Joe Mauer card on the market, the 2002 Bowman Chrome RC AU sits comfortably close to the Mauer BTL on my display case. It was this beauty that gave me some real direction. Knowing that I had just landed likely the biggest RC AU I’ll see in some time, that Mauer card inspired me to begin collecting other Twins RC AUs. I’ve since stopped hoarding every Beckett listed card I come across, I’ve temporarily abandoned my quest for every Twins card ever printed, I’ve been on an ’09 A&G hiatus and Twins hits have become an afterthought. I’m currently up to 35 Twins RC AUs–37 if you count the two signed game-used rookie cards also in my collection. The great thing about collecting Twins RC AUs is that there is a very manageable list of cards for me to go after, not many people collect them so they’re typically easy to get and, as long as the Twins are still around and card companies keep making Twins RC AUs, I’ll always have a reason to keep chasing.
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Of course, my collecting concentration has narrowed and become more focused over the last few years but that does not preclude me from future bouts of “ooh, shiny” distraction. I’ve gone from wanting every single Twins card ever made to collecting anything that Beckett said was worth anything. I’ve gone from digging a hole of debt to scrounge up as many Twins hits as I could afford to trying to put together the ’09 A&G set. I’ve yet to see any of those collecting routes through to fruition (although I got VERY close with the A&G set–in fact, I may still put that thing together yet).
The one collection, if you can even call it that, that has escaped my attention with the least effort features, naturally, a Minnesota Twin–Joe Mauer. While scouring eBay for Twins hits and Joe Mauer autographs, I came across a (still to this day) gorgeous 2007 Upper Deck SP Authentic Joe Mauer “By The Letter” autographed manupatch “U” numbered 25/25. I paid up a cool $50 or so for it with the thought that I would find and buy the remaining letters (M, A, E and R) a few months at a time. However, after sealing the card up inside a mag-case, I basically forgot about the rest of the cards. I somehow got distracted.
There it still sits, on my display case with none of its other signed manupatch companions to surround it. I haven’t given much thought lately as to whether I will FINALLY seek out any of the other letters. At this point, the card is well enough on its own. It may even serve as a reminder of a much more disorganized day in my collecting life.
While this Joe Mauer card represents the chaos in my baseball card collection, there is another Joe Mauer card in my possession that defines my currently much more focused collecting habits.
Perhaps the most sought-after Joe Mauer card on the market, the 2002 Bowman Chrome RC AU sits comfortably close to the Mauer BTL on my display case. It was this beauty that gave me some real direction. Knowing that I had just landed likely the biggest RC AU I’ll see in some time, that Mauer card inspired me to begin collecting other Twins RC AUs. I’ve since stopped hoarding every Beckett listed card I come across, I’ve temporarily abandoned my quest for every Twins card ever printed, I’ve been on an ’09 A&G hiatus and Twins hits have become an afterthought. I’m currently up to 35 Twins RC AUs–37 if you count the two signed game-used rookie cards also in my collection. The great thing about collecting Twins RC AUs is that there is a very manageable list of cards for me to go after, not many people collect them so they’re typically easy to get and, as long as the Twins are still around and card companies keep making Twins RC AUs, I’ll always have a reason to keep chasing.
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