2013...So, How Did I Do? (and Some Card Porn)

Yes, it's time for my obligatory year-end post, where I look back over 2013 and see how I did with the collecting goals I laid out for myself back in January.  I promise I'll try to make it interesting and include some scans to keep you from falling asleep if you decide to read along.  First off, I'll take a look at the goals I set and give myself a grade on each one...

Increase my New England Whalers/Hartford Whalers Collection to 1,200+ Cards

Grade:  B

I'll just come right out and say it, I fell short against my goal of 1,200 unique Whalers cards.  I didn't miss by much though, as 2013 saw the number of Whalers cards in my collection grow from 790 to 1,133.  That's a net gain of 343 unique cards, leaving me just 67 cards short of my goal.  I'm still giving myself a 'B' though, because many of the cards I did pick up, like this Gordie Howe auto, were really great, and I started an entirely separate blog to track my Hartford Whalers cards, something I hadn't planned on at the start of the year.  Not a terrible start...

Increase My Red Sox Collection to 2,000+ Cards

Grade:  A+

I smashed it out of the park on this one.  A good portion of my hobby time in 2013 was devoted to cataloging the mass number of Red Sox cards, both that I already owned, and that joined the collection this past year.  I ended the year with a total of 2,639, over 600 cards more than I was shooting for!  I more than doubled the size of my organized Red Sox collection, which started the year at 1,217 cards.  Not only that, but the additions ranged from your average common up to a couple of collection cornerstones like this original Cracker Jack card.  I even managed to compile a list this past summer (already woefully outdated) of my Top 100 Red Sox cards...

Increase my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox Collection to 100+ Cards

Grade:  B-

There's really no excuse for not finishing this one off, a simple $5 Sportlots order could have put me over my threshold, but as it stands I quite frankly got bored of this project and came up short at just 85 cards.  I also failed my sub-goal of getting to 10 printing plates, falling tantalizingly short at 9 total.  I have a few more Gonzalez Red Sox cards to post but I don't really actively seek them out anymore.  There are just too many of them, and he was only with Boston for less than 2 seasons.  I don't know how you player collectors do it, but I'll stick to vintage thank you very much.

1953 Topps Project

Grade:  B

I was really ramping it up towards year-end with this one before I was totally sidelined with the flu for over a week.  As it stands I finished the year with 61 cards towards my set, 4 shy of my goal of 65.  Nevertheless, I give myself a 'B' on this one, because I did manage to profile 11 new cards, or roughly 1 per month.  I'll look to improve on that in 2014 for sure as I approach the new year with a renewed focus on this beautiful set.  All in all, not too bad...

Complete the '80s Topps Hockey Run

Grade:  C

I failed to make good progress on this goal in 2013, profiling just a single set, '85-86.  At this point I've still got the '84-85, '81-82 and '80-81 sets left to feature, and I hope to knock those out this winter.  Then it will be onto the '70s continuing to work my way back...

Complete At Least a Dozen Trades

Grade:  A

By my count I completed over 30 trades in 2013!  For me this is amazing, in fact I'd be willing the bet I traded as much this past year as I did in the five years prior since I started the blog.  It was really great to see so many unwanted cards go out this door this past year, and so many wanted ones come back in return.  Thank you to the many, many great trade partners I had over the past 12 months!

Complete At Least 10 Sets, Aside From '80s Topps Hockey

Grade:  F

Probably my weakest area overall, as I knocked out just four, and barely four at that with '01-02 Topps Archives hockey (less than 100 cards), 2013 Topps baseball (Series 1 only), 2012 Topps Archives baseball (without the short prints), and 2010-11 Score hockey (which Douglas finished for me!).  Oh well, there's always at least one area where we can improve, and I do have some great sets finished off that I plan on posting about in 2014.

Everything Else

Grade:  A

As usual, I thrived in the "everything else" category, as 2013 once again proved that I have serious collector's ADD.  Along with Marc Potvin's fantastic mullet, here is some good ol' fashioned card porn as a reward for reading this far into the post.  All of these cards debuted here on the blog over the last 12 months...

Wow, 2013 was certainly a great year for my collection looking back on it now.  If you enjoyed these cards, wait until you see what I've got in store for 2014!  Happy New Years everyone!