Reevaluation.

I thought of a few ways to start this post, but nothing really worked out the way I wanted.

Quotes, rants, whatever.

I believe the best way to convey my recent exhaustion with collecting baseball cards is the above screen grab, taken from an ebay auction earlier this week.

Stunning, and for no damn reason at all.

The JP Arencibia market has been absolutely destroyed by two ebay buyer in a constant pissing contest over his cards. I tracked one of their successes, and said buyer (the one who won the above patch card) has spent over $2000 in JP Arencibia cards in the past two weeks.

Must be nice to have disposable income, eh?

But it's not just JPA cards. 

I recently purchased two boxes of 2013 Pro Debut. I love the base set, but they took the best part about the set and ruined it.

Last year I was all about the patch cards. This year I cannot find more than one which I wish to own.

Oh, and they're all short-printed, repeat logos from 2012 Pro Debut and Heritage Minor Leagues set. They just extended the checklist.

And added mascots. If you want kids in the hobby, Topps, keep the mascots to stickers or Opening Day, not in a $60 box in which one of your "hits" is likely a poorly-printed photo-patch of a mascot from Podunk.

What all of this boils down to is a reevaluation of my place in the hobby. I'll still be around, but not nearly as consistent as before. Last time, I stopped blogging entirely - that won't happen this time. But it makes sense to tone it down a bit. Here's why:

• The thrill of opening packs was gone with those two boxes of Pro Debut, my one hobby splurge of the year.
• The JP Arencibia market is dead to me, and my "favourite" player has been kind of a shithead lately, along with playing rather terrible baseball.
• Financials, of course.
• I've taken to growing hops and chile peppers, and their maintenance takes up quite a chunk of every day.
• Storage.  I bought two 3000 or whatever count boxes at my last card show, and they're full, while stacks of other cards have just been piling up.
• Poor trades. Aside from a few good ones here and there (Jedi Jeff and DHoff, Waiting 'til Next Year), my trades lately have been duds. I've been giving up a lot to get nothing in return more than 1990s and other junk-wax cards. I apologize if that offends anyone, but hey, be respectful of your fellow traders.

I'll still be here, mostly writing negatives, but less so. That's all that's really changing.

Oh, and since I'll probably never win another JPA card, I'm thinking of new, primary player collections:

• AJ Jimenez
• Salvador Perez
• Marcus Stroman
• Adalberto Mondesi
• Jonathan Schoop
• Aaron Sanchez

...and some others.