Baseball Baseball Set Conundrum

[CamaroDMD]

I baseball set I have always liked since childhood is the 1994 Upper Deck set. It's a very pretty set with lovely colors and awesome subsets and it features all the players I remember from my childhood. It also has that famous MJ baseball rookie card and a number of other rookies (ARod, Jeter, ect.) For an affordable set from the junk era, it's really a neat one in my opinion.

The set was issued in 2 series with a total of 550 cards and I have always wanted a set. It's not hard to buy one...with shipping included a complete set can be had in the $30 range. The set also had a parallel set called "Electric Diamond." They were a 1 per pack insert and basically had sparkly foil writing on them that said "Electric Diamond." Even a complete parallel set can be bought for $50 or so if you are patient.

I would love to have an Electric Diamond set. Problem is...I don't like buying complete sets. But, in this case I don't think assembling one from packs makes sense either. It would take hundreds of packs. I could buy lots online but who knows how many doubles I would end up and it would cost me way more.

I honestly think this is one of those cases where set building simply doesn't make sense. I think I would be smarter to just wait until a decent set comes along and buy it...but for some reason that thought bothers me.

Any thoughts?

 

[ranbethscards]

I understand what you are saying... but to me... buying a set is just a waste of time. The "hunt for the card" is what makes collecting worth while to me.

I know I have several sets (base) that I could have purchased as a whole for alot less that what I have in the set, but it's about finding the cards at shows, through trades, through auctions, etc., that makes it all worth while to me.

 

[CamaroDMD]

I agree with you...that's why I'm so stumped. I love the hunt too. But I almost wonder if this is one of those rare cases where the hunt isn't worth it. I will have to think about it.

 

[Taliasen]

I love the hunt just as much as you guys. When my hobby time starts eating into family time, I usually make the decision to buy a harder set (parallel) set outright though. This saves on y sanity, wife's patience and resources.

 

[ranbethscards]

I understand what you're saying Tim... luckily my sanity left about 20 years ago, so I'm expected to do some strange things like spend hour after hour searching for that one special card on eBay or trade sites.

It sort of helps that the wife is a big collector of Peyton Manning, Dan Marino and Kyle Busch... so if she questions anything I tell her I'm searching or bidding on cards from one of those people and she will usually leave me alone.