We are approaching the time of year (my favorite time actually) where the baseball card releases slow down a bit, giving collectors a chance to catch up on getting organized. While there are still baseball products being released, this is typically the time of year where they are far and few between due to the winter sports taking over. I’m okay with that because I have piles upon piles to put away. It’s also the kickoff to the holiday shopping experience for those crazy enough to brave the malls the day after Thanksgiving.

I took some time to log in cards, put them into their player binders, and began to think about where to go from there. I have piles from recently opened blasters, cards from trades, cards from eBay, and just cards for cards sake lying around. I began thinking that there has to be an easier way to do things, so that I’ll know what is where. Some of you may remember from a previous post how crazy I am about how I organize and handle my cards; so it may come as no surprise, but I am looking for alternative ideas here.

We all determine which players are worthy of being sorted from the rest based on our own ideas, but what happens once we figure that out? Or when that player retires? Or if they turn out to be terrible?  This is where I am at now: all players that are currently sorted into my binders are now in alphabetical order (excluding Pujols, Jeter, A-Rod, Lind, Tulo, Martin and Yankees). Now that they are all making new friends next to their alphabetical counterparts, some of them have since retired, or may retire this season.

Once a player retires would it be a good idea to start a binder of retired players (much like my retired Yankees binder)? Or should they go into a retired alphabetical box?  I am leaning towards boxing retired players so that as rookies come up, or I acquire new cards of the guys in the binder, I will have more room.

Many of you are against binders altogether, because they tend to overfill. Cards can also bend against the rings of the binders, or the pages themselves can bend in storage. However, I have never had any of these problems, and rather enjoy being able to flip through my cards and enjoy the collection.

I would really love to hear everyone’s opinion on this because I am at a loss, and after this week I will have more free time than I can handle with no baseball on.

Shopping Season

This time of year also means Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  For those of you who don’t know, Black Friday is the kickoff to holiday shopping starting the morning after Thanksgiving. I can see some of you rolling your eyes wondering, “What does shopping for hours on end starting at 3:00 AM have to do with sports cards?” It’s important, because Black Friday leads right into Cyber Monday.

Internet sites have started to implement their big sales the Monday after Thanksgiving, rather than trying to compete with the deals at brick and mortar stores.  I am hoping to see some sweet deals from some of the wholesalers on hobby boxes, so that I can snow someone into buying me a cool present for my birthday or Christmas (or maybe even buy myself a little something nice). By “sweet deal”, I don’t mean places offering seven boxes of something for a ridiculous price once an hour. I am talking about some sort of percentage off for a 24 hour period.  Something like taking 10%-15% off box prices and offering free shipping on orders over $100 will motivate customers to buy enough to get free shipping. That may have been more than they were setting out to spend, but the discount makes collectors happy to spend a little bit more.

I just got a flyer in the mail from one card wholesaler offering free shipping on larger orders, free packs and boxes depending on how much you spend, and a coupon code for another discount. Another wholesaler is definitely having a Black Friday promotion. As for me? I’ll be at the mall around 4:00 AM like a lunatic.

I know, way to turn into a woman and bring up Christmas shopping. We all have to start thinking about our holiday shopping.  Despite all the craziness and occasional elbowing that goes on Black Friday, it’s addicting.  At least to me, other people think I am off my rocker.

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving . . . and to those of you shopping the day after, may the sales be with you.

Marie co-writes the blog A Cardboard Problem in addition to being a season ticket holder for the Yankees and an all around baseball fan.  Marie is an avid card collector and welcomes comments, questions, and e-mails.