A New Year, a New Focus: Shifting My Collecting Habits in the Hobby
Are Black Parallels Gone?
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My collecting focus is going to change this year.
My number-one approach is always player collecting, especially Derek Jeter, but I don't expect to collect as many Anthony Rizzo cards.
With Rizzo no longer on the Yankees, I won’t be chasing many of his new cards unless there are compelling Yankees cards from early releases. Which means more money (and attention) for Jeter cards!
That’s a big departure for me because I’ve built a great Rizzo collection of him in a Yankees uniform. I completed the rainbow for his first Yankees flagship card and have many low-numbered autographs, including several 1-of-1s.
I recently picked up a one-of-one 2024 Tier One auto relic that I had been anticipating for two years. That’s a story for another time.
As much as I love Rizzo, cards of him where he is not in a Yankees uniform don’t move my soul. And, for me, that’s how I measure if it’s a card I want to collect.
Because as a collector, I’m constantly adapting and changing my focus depending on the hobby landscape.
It’s been three years since Fanatics purchased Topps, and elements of the hobby have changed. We are in a new collecting era.
Related: Twitter Card Chat on Fanatics’ Three-Year Run
There’s a push for big autographs and rewards like the MLB Rookie Debut Patch cards and Topps Now auto sweepstakes, but sky-high prices and lower returns on unopened wax have shifted my collecting habits.
My goal is to make the hobby more enjoyable for me and I’ve always been big on controlling the things I can and letting go of the rest.
I can control how I spend my money.
I can’t control the price of boxes.
I can control where I buy my cards.
I can’t control who has the licenses or the quality of their product offerings.
I can control what cards I decide to add to my collection.
It’s a big reason I surpassed 3,000 unique Derek Jeter cards last year by adding 168 new cards to my Jeter collection. Less money spent on boxes and more on singles.
The new year offers me a chance to keep adding new cards to my Jeter PC. And maybe there will be something else to move my soul.
What are you focusing on in 2025?
Is the Black parallel gone?
2025 Topps Baseball Series 1 is coming soon. Last week, Topps announced Aaron Judge was the cover athlete for S1 and previewed the S1 design. Also — for a short time — had the product info on its site.
The page has since been pulled, but several collectors managed to get screenshots of the parallel list, which was missing a few fan favorites.
The black parallel was not included on the initial list. The black parallel has been a part of Topps flagship since 2003, whih were numbered to 52 copies to mark the anniversary of 1952 Topps.
Related: Evaluating the 2025 Topps Series 1 Design
Every year, the number on the black parallel would go up to coincide for that year’s anniversary. In 2024, it was at 73 copies a card. (Editor's note: Fixed incorrect number on the 2024 Black parallel print run.)
For player collectors, it’s disappointing news, if true. But we do have to wait to see if that’s actually the case when Topps re-releases its product spotlight.
The product is up for pre-release at noon ET on Topps’ site today.
I stopped by Sports Card Live this week. Check it out:
This year I’m working on getting myself better organized, putting away cards where they should go and cataloging what I have in TCDB.
I'm staying the course. The past few years have been eye-opening...especially with this seemingly across-the-board raise in prices for singles since the pandemic. Still coming to grips with $20-30 cards now getting $80-100 asks. I love that I've been around this block enough to realize that I can just sit in this pocket of player collecting that I adore and watch all the other chaos from a distance. I know I'm not getting one of everything, so I don't worry about "missing out" on something. I am way more conscious about how much $$$ I'm putting into my collecting and find (again...through maturity) that I can still get a ton out of cards even if I'm not buying as much. I enjoy seeing what others find for their collections and appreciate when they share via blogs or social media. It's going to be a great year!