30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Borrowing Ideas is Not a Crime

Way back in 1981, my parents bought me my very first complete set while we were on a trip to Seattle.  When I got home, I had so much fun sitting down on my family room floor... sorting and resorting that complete set.  I'd build fantasy line ups one day.  The next day, I'd pull out the sports section from the San Jose Mercury News and create lists for batting and pitching leaders.

1981 Fleer #381

In hindsight... that's probably why I liked Bill Madlock so much as a kid.  He was consistently had one of the highest batting averages during the strike-shortened MLB season.

Anyways... it'd be fun to have a Christmas Carol moment, travel back in time, and watch myself sort and resort that set.  I'd love to see all of the creative ways I sorted cards as a nine year old.

These days... I don't find different ways of sorting cards, but I do enjoy finding new and creative ways to collect cardsFellow bloggers are my number one source for these new ideas.

Back on January 2nd, 2010... Drews Cards: A Teenager's Journey Through The Card Collecting Universe showed his readers his collection of Sports Card TrifectasWhat's a trifecta?  Well it's where he'd pick up a rookie card, autograph, and memorabilia card for a specific player.  Considering I enjoy collecting all three of these things, I immediately fell in love with his idea.

Nearly twelve years later, I've put together thirty-nine different trifectas.  The latest involves one of the newest members of the National Baseball Hall of FameMr. Derek Jeter.  Let's check it out...


Rookie Card1993 Topps #98


I have a few different Jeter rookie cards and enjoy all of them.  Ultimately, I went with this one because it's a nice looking card and collecting Topps flagship rookie cards have been a part of my collecting interest since the early 80's.


Memorabilia Card2003 Flair Sweet Swatch Jumbo Jersey #DJ-SSJ


I'm pretty sure I only own two Jeter game-used memorabilia cards... and one of them uses the 1993 Topps card design.  That left this oversized card which I pulled out of a Fairfield Cache box back in 2013.  I remember scouring all of the Targets, Walmarts, and Toys "R" Us stores in my area searching for these boxes containing the 2003 Flair box topper packs.  It paid off for sure.


Autographed Card1997 Topps Rookie of the Year Autograph #NNO


Normally my favorite autographed card gets the honor of being part of the player's trifecta.  Unfortunately... my favorite Jeter autograph is a Stadium Club Co-Signers card which he shares with Chipper Jones.  It doesn't seem right that he should have to share the spotlight with another guy, so I decided to go with this on-card autograph from the 90's.

Thank you Dean for sharing this idea on your blog I'm not sure if you're still collecting, but I wanted to let you know you have forever made an impact on my collection and it's much appreciated.

How about you?

Have you ever borrowed a collecting idea from a fellow blogger?

If so, share it down below.  Maybe I'll borrow it too.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

12 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I think we all do at some point.

Brett Alan said...

I've certainly borrowed the trifecta idea! I'm up to 26, of which 8 are what I call "Fivefectas", where I also have some pre-rookie card and a serial numbered non-auto or relic card. (Ideal one numbered to, say, 300 or fewer, but I'm flexible.)

I've got a spreadsheet of them and of the guys where I'm two-thirds there. Oddly the ones where I need a rookie include some who should be really easy to complete (Jay Payton, Phillip Humber, Vernon Wells) and some where there's basically no chance I'll ever complete it (Tom Seaver, Duke Snider).

Elliptical Man said...

I got the frankenset idea from somebody, but I only go 1 - 100.

John Sharp said...

Well, If I haven't, I will now.

Good Job. 👍

Offy said...

I remember this very well from when Drew introduced the concept. Now rookie, relic, auto cards are such a common thing. The trifecta was a cool way to put together a mini collection of a player that you like, but don’t want hundreds of cards of.

The Lost Collector said...

Ahh, Drew was a great blogger and trader. Good to see his name pop up. Love the Jeter trifecta. Happy to say I have it completed as well.

Matt said...

That's a great idea! I guess I never read his blog, seems I have some catching up to do

NPB Card Guy said...

I've taken several ideas from Night Owl Cards and redone them for Japanese cards.

Jon said...

I'm not sure if it's the same guy or not, but there's someone on Twitter that goes by Drew's Cards.

The Snorting Bull said...

I borrow ideas for posts from other bloggers all the time. Drew was before my time, but I enjoyed look through some of the posts on WayBack Machine. The trifecta idea is pretty cool.

Nick said...

All the time! I feel like every post I write borrows/steals from other blogs I've read at some point. Even some of my collections - frankensets, double play cards, etc. - are rehashings of things others have done.

Fuji said...

johnnys trading spot - i know i do for sure

brett alan - i like the fivefectas idea. not sure how many pre-rookie cards i have laying around, but that would be part of the fun/challenge

elliptical man - one of these days i'll get around to building a frankenset

john sharp - have fun! i'm sure you have a few tiger trifectas sitting within your pc already

offy - you brought up a great point. autographs and especially relics are so much more common than a decade ago.

the lost collector - it's a shame he's not blogging anymore. i'd love to see his collection of trifectas

matt - his blog has been taken down, but you can see some posts by using the wayback machine

npb card guy - i'm sure i've borrowed from night owl too. i've definitely used several of his blog post ideas.

jon - interesting. i'd seek him out and add him. unfortunately i rarely look at my twitter feed

the snorting bull - yeah... the wayback machine definitely comes in handy. in fact, i discovered that website on someone's blog ;D

nick - sharing is caring, right? i'm sure i've borrowed ideas from your blog numerous times over the years.