Getting Organized

Both of my regular readers have probably noticed that I've spent a lot of space on my publications lately. That was prompted by my determination to get my collection organized again after years of just being a hodge-podge of shelved paper. Once upon a time I had a nice system and display of my team-issued ephemera but then came kids, storage issues and shuffling rooms.

Two "bad weather/no-school" days later I have everything cataloged, organized and dupes ready for possible eBay selling. And boy, do I have dupes! With my needs finally clear and laid out in a spreadsheet I have been able to close the gaps on my list.

This 1956 Baltimore Colts' Media Guide I picked up brings me to within one of having a complete 'modern franchise' run from 1953 through 1983. I lack just the 1977. I'm a victim of assuming that I had all the guides from that decade as I spent lots of time over the years poking around the 'net in search of 1950's and 1960's guides. If I had the '77 at one time it's gone now, and so I'm on the lookout.

I also am tracking some Orioles items. The 1954 media guide is out of my monetary reach for the time being but a 2008 O's Yearbook should be easy. There is one on eBay right now but the guy is asking $18 (waaay too much) and he has me blocked as a buyer anyway. He claims I once left him unwarranted neutral feedback over a shipping issue. I have no idea of what he's talking about. I used Toolhaus.org to go back through time and I have no history with him. Whatever. He has failed to sell and had to re-list that '08 yearbook over and over. Before I found all this out I was willing to over-pay on a BIN but he was a rude jackass. LOL He can choke on it now.

Meanwhile I'm upgrading a couple of vintage Orioles yearbooks. From 1962 through 1965 the Orioles issued over-sized yearbooks. They are roughly double the width of standard ones and apparently were very hard to carry home or browsing through without really roughing them up. My 1962 is particularly 'used' with big-time creases and some kid's writing throughout. I've been looking for a replacement for it and the 1965 for awhile.

'62 Orioles yearbooks are normally pretty expensive. Here are two currently on eBay:

I know that's tough to read but they prices are $180 and $230. And the top one, the $180 book looks pretty bad, certainly less presentable that even my book. I'll pass. Especially since I won a bid for one for the grand total of $2.50, yes.... two dollars and fifty cents!

It's not here yet but it should be soon. Here is my win:

Add in $9 shipping and I have a much upgraded example of one of the coolest pieces in my collection for under $12. Hard to beat that.

I also won a pretty nice copy of a 1965 for about $18 shipped. It's not a huge upgrade ofver what I had but since I can probably sell mine for at least that it's like a free upgrade. I've added quite a few other items lately. mostly New York Ranger Guides/Bluebooks and Baltimore Colt game programs. Nothing hobby-related makes me happier than picking up new-to-me publications.

With my publications collection shaping up I've turned to my cards. Each day I am devoting an hour of so to sorting my boxes and boxes of loose cards into recognizable piles which will in turn be placed in albums and shelved. I can't believe I've let it go this long. Like a trip to the dentist I just kept putting it off. As a result I now have to ignore the immensity of the task and concentrate on one shoe box at a time.

The first step was deciding on categories and sub-categories. "Primary Orioles faves" consists of the Robinsons, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Elrod Hendricks and Dennis Martinez. "Other Orioles faves" means Mike Cuellar, Cal Ripken, Ken Singleton, Boog Powell and so on. There is a Koufax pile, a vintage stars pile, an 'oddball Orioles cards' pile, a 'cool vintage cards of guys I don't especially collect' pile and a 'pink card' pile among others.

I have 22 piles of cards and a fair sized box of 'crap'... junk wax that survived my purge of a decade ago, football cards of defensive players who will never make my fantasy team binder, non-Orioles Topps base cards from the last couple of years, etc. Piles get re-done and re-named regularly. It's all a huge-ass work-in-progress.

Last night's biggest dilemma... where do I file this beauty?

And trust me, there is a pile for it, I just haven't decided on it yet.