I have what you might refer to as collecting ADD.  I lack focus.  Many collectors have projects, some manage to work on those projects for years, even decades, and even with the knowledge that they likely will never complete said projects.  Not me.

I can’t even make it a few months before I tire of a project and move on.  Case in point – the PSA Pro Football Hall of Fame set registry.  I dove into that set head first, starting with all the players from 1980 to present and picking up Bears players here and there.  In fact, I was only two cards away from having every one since 1980, and then I threw in the towel.

It’s an expensive and expansive project to try to complete that set.  I knew what I was getting into, but I didn’t appreciate it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I loved picking up guys that I grew up watching and admiring, guys like Darrell Green and Reggie White.  I liked having the big cards in my collection like the Steve Young, Barry Sanders and Joe Montana Rookies.  That just wasn’t enough, though.

After a while, I grew tired of the project.  My joy in possessing these cards decreased over time, and I ultimately started seeing them as Jacksons and Hamiltons rather than Elways and Marinos.  So, I sold them.  All of them.

Though it may seem like it as you read this, I don’t regret getting rid of them.  What I regret is the fact that I just couldn’t stick to it.  My pride of my collection currently is my University of Illinois All-Time Greats set—not because it includes the most amazing cards in my collection (although I really do love my Grange), but because it’s the only collecting project that I ever started and actually stuck with.  Believe me, I love my Les Bingamon 1954 Bowman that I bought raw and, thanks to my keen grading eye (and some luck), got graded a PSA 9 just as much as I love my Butkus RC.

My regret with the Hall of Fame project, and so many others that I had great intentions with but never more than that, is only that I didn’t get that sense of pride and continuing enjoyment out of the collection to keep me going.

Perhaps I am just not meant for projects.  Lately my kick has been picking up cards of Illinois guys in their college uniforms with no real goal in mind.  Even more recently I’ve been grabbing Frank Thomas cards with no particular focus other than grabbing cards I see and want (although, to be fair, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve “started” collecting Frank Thomas cards).

Perhaps it’s this focus-deficient type of collecting that I need to enjoy the hobby – one where I just grab what I like and enjoy it while I got it.  This way, if I ever get rid of it, I don’t have to deal with that pesky, lingering sense of failure.  I think there’s a saying – “You can’t win if you don’t play . . . . but you can’t lose either.”  There’s probably a reason I was never a very good baseball player.

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