My 2013 Collecting Goals

In the five years or so that I've been operating this blog, I haven't really been huge on laying out specific collecting goals for each year.  While I do try to narrow my focus, which is a constant struggle, one of the things I like most about the hobby is the huge variety of stuff that's out there.  There are few things that I enjoy more than the totally random purchase that doesn't necessarily fit into my collection but that I just have to have for whatever reason.  In 2013 though, I do have a few specific items I'd like to accomplish with respect to my collection.  So, I'm taking a page out of many other bloggers' books, and here are my 2013 collecting goals, in no particular order (with pictures, because who wants to read a blog post without pictures!)...

Increase my New England Whalers/Hartford Whalers collection to 1,200+ cards

As of today, I have 790 unique Whalers cards scanned, cataloged and added to my online collection on Zistle.  I would like to get this number up above 1,200 unique cards by year end if at all possible.  This one will be a challenge because there just haven't been too many Whalers cards released since 1997, and there weren't a ton of them out there prior to the Whalers coming to the NHL in 1979-80 either, but I'm hopeful that I can pull it off.  If you have any Whalers cards that you think I may need hit me up!

Increase my Red Sox collection to 2,000+ cards

Right now I have 1,217 Red Sox cards cataloged in my online collection on Zistle.  Getting this number to 2,000 or greater will be a challenge in terms of scanning time, etc.  However, unlike with the Whalers there are just so many Red Sox cards out there that I should have no trouble tracking down enough.  In fact, chances are I already have many more than 2,000, this one's just a matter of getting the cards organized and cataloged more than anything.  I'm pretty confident that I can knock this one out as well.

Increase my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection to 100+ cards

Same deal as my first two goals.  Currently sitting at an even 40 cards in the collection, but I have quite a few more that are waiting to be posted already.  I don't see an issue with getting this one squared away either.  As an added caveat, I'd like to double my printing plate count from the 5 I currently have to 10.  This could be tough as there are only so many printing plates that were issued of Gonzalez in the not-quite-two-seasons that he was with Boston, but we'll see...

1953 Topps Project

I ended 2012 with an even 50 cards down in my quest to complete a 1953 Topps set all in PSA 6 EX-MT slabs.  I have literally been at this project since the day I started the blog, and it's been a lot of fun so far.  Before 2013 is done I'd like to see this number at 65, which would bring me to just about 1/4 complete.  I already posted Peanuts Lowrey here at the beginning of this month, so 1 down and 14 more to go on this one.  I'm about 75% sure I should be able to make this mark in 2013...

Complete the 1980s Topps Hockey run

For what seems like forever now, I've been working at trying to finish off the complete run of Topps hockey cards from the decade of my collecting youth, the '80s.  This means every flagship Topps set from the 1980-81 release through the 1989-90 release.  I've already completed and posted about the '86-87, '87-88, '88-89 and '89-90 sets.  Given that there were no Topps sets released in '82-83 or '83-84, that leaves me with '80-81, '81-82, '84-85 and '85-86 to knock off.  I've already got a good chunk, if not all of the cards, so please don't send me your '80s Topps hockey cards.  Again just a matter of scanning, organizing and posting, at least I think.  It would be an added bonus to keep cranking through the '70s sets if I get the '80s done.

Complete at least a dozen trades

No picture for this one, but thanks to Zistle my trading activity is really starting to take off.  I really haven't been a huge trader in the past, so even though 12 trades in a year may seem like small potatoes to some of you, to me it's going to be an undertaking.  This may be the least likely goal to be achieved off my list, we'll see how it goes.

Complete at least 10 sets, aside from '80s Topps hockey

There are numerous sets, both baseball and hockey, that I'm well within striking distance on.  This one could be trouble but what would a list of goals be without at least one or two that aren't so attainable.  Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself.

Everything else

Aside from that all of the usual items apply.  Keep organizing and scanning, get want lists better updated and more fleshed out, pick up some more great on-card autos, keep accumulating Nolan Ryan, Will Clark and Milt Schmidt cards, stray from my goals on purpose sometimes...you get the point.  Oh yeah, and maybe land at least one really fantastic "white whale" type card before the year is out.

Well, that should give me plenty to do to keep busy this year!  I'm looking forward to another great year of being a part of one of the best online communities out there, and I hope you enjoy this year's posts here at Shoebox Legends.  It will be interesting to look back on this post in 12 months to see how I stacked up.  Until then...