A Very Simple Idea

"...possessed by an idea, this one, very simple idea, that changed everything..."
-Cobb from the movie Inception

In an age of cell phones, on-demand movies and instant everything, there is still something magical about a kid collecting baseball cards.  In the movie Field of Dreams, Terrance Mann told Ray Kinsella:

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time..."

Even though baseball is no longer even close to being our country's number one sport, I still hold to the romantic notions of baseball as America's Pastime.  Gone are the days of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Micky Mantle, but names such as Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, and Mike Trout are still commonly known and revered.  And the simple truth for me is that I love the sport more now than I did even in childhood.  

Collecting baseball cards has been a part of my love for the game, from the very beginning.  Whether it was saving up change to buy a pack from Wal-Mart or seeking out every police officer I could find for the Rockies cards they would give out (this was a cool program I thought), seeing my sports heroes on a piece of cardboard was a true staple of childhood.  I lost touch with that hobby for almost twenty years, but have waded back into a whole new world of collecting in recent years.  And while the landscape of the hobby has changed drastically (thank you Twitter and eBay in particular), the simple joy of collecting baseball cards still has a deep hold on me.  

One of the things I have wanted to start doing is be more than just a consumer of cards.  Too often I have chased after a card (or set of cards), acquired it, put it on a shelf, and began looking for the next hobby score.  Probably the only time I really took some time enjoy my collection was when I finished the 2013 and 2014 Inception sets the first time. 

This has got to change.

What's the point in calling myself a collector if the only time I savor my collection is at a point of finishing something?  Why search so hard for good deals and the right card if it is in a box within minutes of arriving in the mail?  That's not collecting, it's consuming.  The reason I am stepping out of my comfort zone with this blog is because I am done being a drive-through-collector.  It's time to start getting to really know my cards and the players on them.  

One way that I have started to make this transition is that I have just about completely stopped buying packs of cards to open.  The thrill of possibility, of the unknown in an unopened pack of cards, is one of the true joys of collecting.  But it almost always leads to a stack of cards that end up in my closet, rarely to be seen again.  And the simple truth is that I have no desire to end up with thousands (or millions, as with some of my buddies) of cards taking up space, rarely seeing the light of day.  For me, collecting has become a balance between seeking cards I enjoy and not wanting to spend obscene amounts of money for just a few cards. 

Enter Bowman Inception. 

I am not sure who sent me my first Inception, but I was immediately intrigued.  The style of the card, the on-card-autograph and the general quality of the player on the card has always been attractive to me.  And so I set my sights on being an Inception Collector.  And these are the types of things that I want to explore in this blog.  When I say I want to get to know my collection, I want to start getting to know every aspect of my cards.  

This blog is going to look at one Bowman Inception card per week.  There will be three aspects of the card that will be explored: the look of the card, the history of the value of the card, and the career of the player who appears on it.  

Since Inception cards are all fairly similar in look and color within each set, the focus of the look will mostly be on the photo of the player (though the first couple of entries per set will have notes on the color and background).  In all truth, this will be the most subjective part of the blog, but it will allow the English Major in me to let loose in all my word-smithing glory! (See what I mean?)

As for the history of the value of the card, my two main sources of data will be eBay and COMC.com (Check Out My Cards).  If there are other free sources of information regarding this part of the blog, I am happy to take suggestions!  I am very interested in looking at how much cards sell on the secondary market at the beginning of their run, and three years later (such as the 2013 set).  There will be variances to look at like off-season pricing and bumps from events such as winning awards (Rookie of the Year, MVP) and death (Oscar Taveras and Jose Fernandez come to mind immediately).  Honestly I don't know how far down the rabbit hole I will go with each card, but it should be fun! 

And the career of the player will obviously vary from week to week.  Some studs like Carlos Correa and Kris Bryant have had much more public careers than Daniel Corcino and Ben Lively.  Yet all of these guys have been considered prospect enough to be put on these cards.  I am sure this will be one of the more illuminating and thought provoking parts of this project.  

Alright.  I have rambled on long enough with this introduction.  If anyone actually reads this, I would love to hear from you!  Does this sound interesting at all to you?  Any suggestions with resources?  Have any Inception cards you would like to donate to the project? (Just kidding) I hope that you will join me on this journey, but even if you don't, I am excited to begin!