I’ve spent a great deal of time in the last few months having fun with my baseball card collection. So much that it seems like I’m writing a post about it every other way.

While it’s fun, it’s not easy work – doing it the way I want to do it.

I’ve been outlining my collection fun for the near future, and have decided that I’m going to stick with a few commitments going forward.

Interest List: I do have the Interest List (formerly the “Want List” until people erroneously assumed that I was just going to pay any amount of money for those cards) as close to stretched-out as I can have it. Sometimes I will hear a story that will pique my interest and go after a certain card, but it’s usually only one card at a time.

I have both a PC of about 5,000 cards, and a “rump stash” of about 30,000. Sometimes I may “rescue” a card from the forgetaboutit pile and add it to the PC. This is what I recently did to the 1980 Topps Byron McLaughlin, pictured below:

McLaughlin didn’t do much in the majors. I wanted to find a card of him with shoes on. Why shoes? His post-MLB career had a lot to do with shoes – and illegal ones at that! Find him on Wikipedia to read about what led to his current status of “whereabouts unknown” as a fugitive from justice.

Card shows to visit: So far I have two planned for sure. Those are the next shows in Janesville and Peru. I am considering visiting Madison, Dubuque and a NW Indiana visit later in the year. Not sure if any of the three will happen based on the cards that I am looking for, although Dubuque may be a possibility. I have been to Madison once this year.

There also is a shop in the region that I do plan to go back to a couple of more times to try to hack away at the low-end of the List finds.

Future cards: I did buy a 2022 Topps Series 1 blaster box at my local Walmart last week. No Wander Franco base card, just a cheaper insert. Several great finds in them, but I am going to bundle them together for resale. I did pick out a few cards for my PC: Mike Foltynewicz, the Trout/Ohtani Angels team card, Albert Pujols and my first Cleveland “Guardians” card.

When trying to determine which current-era cards I’m looking for, I look at interesting moments and records in baseball history. The one I have in mind for sure, when/if it comes in a 2023 set is the Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina accomplishment of most wins by a battery. Another interesting record could pop up if Trea Turner hits for the cycle again, which would be an MLB record fourth time. Those, and any local guys.