Player Collection - Doing the Impossible

[CSSports]

OK - So I was pondering on the thought of my Robitaille collection.....
I have close to 40% of all his cards.....then went on thinking of what my goal was for this collection...
What did I want to accomplish......so I broke down all the #s for his cards.....and found some interesting things......

Total Cards 1851

Print Run 1/1 = 146 - 7.9%
Print Run 2-10 = 216 - 11.7%
Print Run 11-25 = 122 - 6.6%
Print Run 26-50 = 117 - 6.3%
Print Run 51-100 = 176 - 9.5%
Print Run 101-250 = 50 - 2.7%
Print Run 250+ = 67 - 3.6%

Rookie Cards = 2 - 0.1% -
Autographed = 214 - 11.6% - (155 are on Hard Signed)
Memorabilia = 448 - 24.2% -
Serial # = 872 - 47.1% -
Promo = 3 - 0.2% -

1980s = 35 - 1.9% -
1990s = 669 - 36.1% -
2000s = 1296 - 70.0% -
2010s = 57 - 3.1% -

1986-87 = 1 - 0.1% -
1987-88 = 14 - 0.8% -
1988-89 = 14 - 0.8% -
1989-90 = 6 - 0.3% -
1990-91 = 30 - 1.6% -
1991-92 = 45 - 2.4% -
1992-93 = 40 - 2.2% -
1993-94 = 60 - 3.2% -
1994-95 = 63 - 3.4% -
1995-96 = 65 - 3.5% -
1996-97 = 50 - 2.7% -
1997-98 = 105 - 5.7% - (Year of the Parallels)
1998-99 = 61 - 3.3% -
1999-00 = 144 - 7.8% -
2000-01 = 185 - 10.0% -
2001-02 = 168 - 9.1% - (ITG introduced)
2002-03 = 149 - 8.0% -
2003-04 = 57 - 3.1% -
2004-05 = 19 - 1.0% - (NHL Lock-Out & UD signs exculsive NHL/NHLPA Deal)
2005-06 = 157 - 8.5% - (Robitaille Retires)
2006-07 = 96 - 5.2% -
2007-08 = 100 - 5.4% -
2008-09 = 149 - 8.0% -
2009-10 = 57 - 3.1% -

And this is what is KNOWN of whats out there...Does not include anything UD has not released but will give away as redemption replacements (like SPA Sign of the Times Kopitar)

Robitaille is no different than any other player - although newer players will have more lower # prints (Case in point - Trevor Lewis....Yes I know...WHO???....has 41 cards on the market...17 of them are 1/1 = 41%)

So how does one collect an individual player anymore????

Comments appreciated

[shadeslayer]

Wow, thats an awesome breakdown. I dont really have goals for my Sbisa collection, I just have fun putting it together and really enjoy talking and trading with other collectors.

[CSSports]

Ahhh - Dont get me wrong....I LOVE trading on here and have enjoyed every second on my collection....I was just thinking about how I have missed so many 1/1 auctions and trades (mainly due to my budget) that I will never get anywhere close to finishing it.....

As you may have seen, I am pretty active on SCF and enjoy talking to many people - Have made many friends from here and and many trades - My collection would be NOWHERE near what it is now without this site and everyone on here and I greatly appreciate it.....

Just laying out some thoughts on collecting individual players

[shadeslayer]

Yea, I see what your saying.

I have also had to pass on every 1/1 ive seen and now that ive got the money to buy my 1st one they are nowhere to be seen lol

[CSSports]

That, my friend, happens to all of us....

[30ranfordfan]

You've got almost 4 times as many cards as me to chase..... and a player who was in the league 5 years longer (and that's 5 years of lots of releases). Before I start with my response, I just want to point out that what I've been able to you, and what it seems like you would like to do, aren't the same thing. Little perspective here - I've got an easier time.

I took these counts directly from my Supercollector Application from last June:

Grand total unique cards: 518
Grand total unique rookies cards: 2
Grand total unique Autograph cards: 36
Grand total unique G/U cards: 100
Grand total unique base cards: 178

Grand total unique Inserts cards: 167
Grand total unique 1/1 cards: 1
Grand total unique oddballs cards: 55
Grand total unique Misc. cards: 12

List of cards: The 518 unique number is actually smaller than the other numbers combined, becuase some cards would count twice. (i.e. a Patch / Auto I\'d have included in the Auto and Game Used Totals).

Oddball I defined as anything that wasn\'t a typical card. This include Kraft food issues, Oilers Team issued Cards, Stickers, Pogs, Playing Cards, etc.

Since then I've added a few more cards..... the total number would be 520ish. I think Ranford has now been on just over 530 cards (though I haven't done totals in a while) and I'm missing 10 of them. This doesn't include 1/1s. There's around 20 of them. I have only 1. All the ones I'm missing are numbered to 25 or lower.... and most of them 10 or lower.

My rule was always to ignore the 1/1s. Treat them like a bonus if and when I could get them (which wasn't very often). For a truly unique one, I would have gone crazy (another Ranford collector has the only one I would describe like that - an 04-05 ITG Shield. I'd give up a hefty sum to get it, but he won't move it). I actually saw most the 1/1s from 02-07 go through eBay..... but another Ranford collector (who I still don't know) that had deeper pockets than the College Student version of myself bought them all.

Other than that.... I don't know what to tell you. Make you master checklist, and just keep working away on it. A lot of that stuff will be very hard to find - but it does exist. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've searched eBay for 'Ranford' (maybe spending 2 minutes or less) virtually every day for the last 8 years, or so.

I used to buy lots of Ranford cards - 300 at a time.... hoping I'd get 5 or 6 base / insert / parallel cards I needed. He's never been a very expensive player to collect (and I don't know about Robitaille) so maybe that's not an option.

The other thing I would commonly do, was send want lists out to anyone that would take them. This was long before I ever got onto SCF (join here in Dec of '08, I think). Never did a forum like this before then.

But some of those eBay sellers I was buying from..... would offer to take wants lists. I'd drop them and email.... and send away. 90% of the time they'd have nothing for me - but the other 10% ? They'd have something to help me out. One guy actually had somewhere in the range of 60-80 mid/late 90s parallels I needed. BV was close to $350 - he sold them to me for $100 shipped (I could pass his contact info onto you if you were interested, 7 years later I still deal with him).

It's tough. Even if you can pick up a GU card #/30 for $20 (not a bad price).... that's a lot of money if there's 50 of them you need..... and they all come out in the same year.

I think all you can do is commit to a plan, and plug away at it. Buy what you can, when you can. Limit what you're spending on anything else. My collecting while I was in college (and for the first couple years afterwards) amounted to nothing more than Ranford singles. I didn't start doing sets again & busting wax (like I did when I was a teenager) until the last couple of years, when I could afford to do more than just grow the Ranford collection.

[lumm0x]

Put everything on your want list that you don't have, accept and understand that you can never get them all and just keep plugging away having fun with the chase of each and every one. If you miss some as they pass you by take solace that they always appears again sometime. I've missed 1/1's thinking they are locked away in someone else's PC forever only to see them surface again 2+ years later. Many people have short attention spans, little commitment and run with trends. Just keep at it.

[CSSports]

I hear ya...and thanks for the input....

I will still continue to plug away at the collection....I am aware it will take me a looooong while to get anywhere close to finishing but Luc is my favorite player and will always be...

I started another one I feel is actually achieveable (Marty McSorley) to get every card but its in the beginning stages...LOL

BTW - I have it as a Favorite and search eBay at least 4-5 times a week on Robitaille for the last 7-8 years and I have a ton of Robitaille extras from buying lots.....just havent bought any lots in a while since I have almost all base from the 90s and 99% of the lots are just that.....I have a checklist going...just have to convert it to show a wantlist to give out...but I like that idea...

If you dont mind sharing that contact....when I get a wantlist made up I will shoot him an email....

Thanks

[charvey9]

Well.....

If you want my opinion, far too much focus is given to acquiring a high percentage of a particular players cards to "validate" your collection, but I guess it depends on your own personal tastes. The idea that you need to attain a certain percentage of a players cards in order to have a prestigious PC does not make any sense, unless that is a goal that YOU have set for yourself and owning a million base cards is satisfying. In the modern collecting world it is impossible to own 100% of any players cards for an extended period of time, but that should not be viewed as a collecting failure.

I consider myself a serious Lidstrom collector, but have no idea and never intend to figure out what percentage of his cards I own. Other than a few rookies, I gave away or sold all the base, inserts, parallels, and low end GU/autos to focus on higher quality cards that I enjoy owning. I think my PC is awesome, even if it does not conform with the mainstream theory of collection benchmarks.

I for one think it is awesome that the last 15 years have taken the hobby in a new direction that values quality and rareness over quantity. I don't know why so many collectors haven't followed the trend and still focus on pure numbers.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can still be a player collector and have a great PC without having to do so much math.

[SkyFire47]

don't set goals. just grab what you like and leave it at that. the hobby is about collecting, not owning everything.