Hey, Card Hemorrhage is Back and "Better Than Ever"

Hey everyone. Well that was a nice little break from "the hobby", now wasn't it? I haven't posted anything since Valentine's Day, and listen, it's not because I stopped collecting or anything. Nah, as I said in earlier posts, I had something of a "reckoning", given that my baseball card collection was starting to overtake my ability to appreciate it and care for it. It was time to reassess and figure out what it was that I truly wanted to collect. Where I ended up was something of a surprise, even to me.

So regarding baseball, my wants and needs were basically whittled down to a few vintage sets - 1965, 1971, 1972, 1975 and 1976 Topps; to two players (Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum); and to various odds and ends that'll let me complete a few things I've started. All of it is on my want list here; if you can help, I've still got plenty to trade.

The only other sport I've really done much with over the years is hockey. I collected every Oakland Seals / California Golden Seals card from the 60s and 70s; I manually assembled and completed the O-Pee-Chee 1974-75 WHA set (maybe my proudest moment in collecting); and I'm nearly complete with the 2001-02 Topps Heritage Hockey set (a few expensive high numbers notwithstanding). 

For a while, I reckoned that was just enough when it came to hockey. Then came my layoff and reevaluation. Now I'm actually over-indexing on the hockey cards, buying stuff at will and relatively randomly, in an attempt to figure out what's out there and what I really like. You can see here that one I'm dabbling in is 2021-2022 O-Pee-Chee Retro, which unfortunately has 600 cards to chase, but damn it, I'm chasing them. I've got a few other sets that are really intriguing as well, and just like any other dork, I'm been ripping Upper Deck packs to try and find some of those "Young Guns", maybe a Kirill Kaprizov or a Trevor Zegras. I started buying some Mika Zibanejad cards because I've been digging that guy (New York Rangers) during the playoffs this year, despite his hockey hair. 

But mostly with the hockey, I'm just buying it all to try and get a sense of it. It's all new and exciting. I mean, I'm going to stay away from virtually all 1980s and 1990s hockey, but aside from that, it's all systems go. I'm glad to be back, and hopefully you're okay with this blog bouncing between baseball and hockey - our two finest sports, right?