Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Wanted: Team Collectors

From time to time I mention the group of team collectors I'm a part of.  And with school back in session, it's time to set up our table at the recruitment fair and tell everybody how cool our club is!

But seriously, we have quite a few empty teams that we would love to fill, if for no other reason than to clear out the thousands of cards that are taking up space in our closets that don't have a good home.

The concept is pretty simple: we're a group of team collectors.  As we accumulate cards of other teams, we ship the cards off to the respective team collector, and they do likewise.  It's technically a trading group, but that's a bit too formal.  It's a great bunch of guys (and gals) who chat about life, sports, and cardboard - usually in that order.

Aside from exchanging cards of our teams, we also have group breaks every few months.  It's usually newer products coming out, occasionally with some older stuff sprinkled in.  We split the cost, stream the break live over Google Hangout where everybody can chat, and nobody makes a dime off of it.  It's a cost effective way to get all the new cards of our teams, and a chance at some nice hits, for usually between $15-30 per break depending on whether we're just doing a few boxes or a full case of product.

Once a year, we even try to get together for an annual convention for those who can make it.

Without making this sound like a damn infomercial, being a part of this group has really been one of the most rewarding parts of collecting.  The group has been around over 10 years, forming on the old Beckett message boards.  I joined about 5 years ago after I learned about the group on a message board.  I didn't really know anybody, and didn't even really consider myself a team collector at the time.  I had around 4,000 Pirate cards but mostly just focused on autographs.  Now I have close to 16,000 different Bucco cards, thanks in part to the Team Collectors generosity.

So here's an open invitation.  If you think it might sound cool, come check out our forum.   You can be as active or inactive in the group as you like.  If you wanted to join, chat, and participate in the occasional break that would be totally fine.  Want to be more active?  That's great too.   And we'd love to have you.  It's amazing how hard it is to find collectors for some teams - even big market teams like the Mets seem to be nonexistent.  So don't worry about whether you have enough cards to send out, or if you're noncommittal - if the concept sounds intriguing, at least come check it out.

If anyone is interested in learning more, please either email me or leave a comment with the forum username you register with.  The forum gets dozens of spam-bot registrations every day that our admin purges every so often, so I can pass along your user name to make sure you don't get purged.

10 comments:

  1. I'll join up and check it out. Yeah - I may not be too active, but I do like reading stuff, so anything to add to my reading material is a good thing.

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  2. Oh, and I just signed up with 2x3heroes.

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    1. You're in! We actually have a White Sox collector, so you could become the Tier 2 Sox guy - which is actually perfect if you don't want to be too involved. Basically the way it works is the T2's send cards of all the teams to their T1 collector, and then the T1 will send you all his doubles of your team. I'm the T2 collector for the Pirates, and I still end up with a ton of new cards.

      Stop by and say hi. It's a great bunch.

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  3. I thought about doing this in the past, and now I did sign up. I'm with Jeff -- I may not be incredibly active but I do like to read stuff. Plus, it looks like y'all need Brewers collectors.

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    1. You have nooooooo idea how hard it has been to find a Brewers collector. It's just as much, if not more, about the social aspect, discussing cards, etc than it is about the trading aspect. It's been a long time since there was a Brewers collector, so I know most will be more than happy just to empty out some space in their boxes.

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  4. If the Cubs ever open up please let me know!

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    1. If you'd be interested, you could jump in as the Tier 2 collector. I'm the Pirates T2, since the Bucs were already claimed when I joined, and still end up with a ton of new cards. Basically you send cards of all the other teams to the Tier 1 collector for your team (which he then sends out to the rest of the group), and he'll send you his Cubbies doubles in return.

      If you want to stop by and check out the forum, let me know and I'll tell the admin to keep an eye out for a new registration.

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  5. I only collect one football team myself, but I'm in a trading group with several Mets fans if you still need one.

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    1. That would be great! We have two Yankees guys, but haven't had a Mets collector in a couple of years. If any of them might be interested, send them this way.

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    2. One of our guys signed up for the Orioles....

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