Gimme Five!

 

 

What a fun baseball card. There's Tom Paciorek, scoring a run at Shea Stadium, wearing those classic Mets uniforms, and giving a high-five to his waiting teammate. (Wally Backman, perhaps.)

 

And whether it's on the baseball diamond or anywhere else, exuberant high-fives like this one never really go out of style, do they?

 

That being said, get ready to give this blog a high-five. . . 

 

. . .because it's turning five years old!

 

I started this blog in late December of 2018. Time sure does fly.

But it's been another good year here at Nine Pockets. I was able to complete a few more card sets from my childhood era (1980-81 Topps hockey, 1981 Topps baseball, and 1988 Score baseball), and I created a bunch more custom cards, including a set of 1980s movie cards and even some Nine Pockets wax packs!

 

I also managed to post something here on the blog every Sunday yet again, keeping the streak going for the fifth straight year. It was a busy time personally (new job, new home, among other things), but I'm happy I pushed myself from January through December to come up with content that I hope you readers have considered engaging and entertaining. 

Interestingly, the sidebar on the blog shows 53 total posts for the year instead of the standard 52. After some investigating, I found that the first Sunday of 2023 happened to be January 1st, and today, the final Sunday of 2023, is December 31st. So the calendar managed to squeeze in just enough room for the bonus post.

 

As for year six? Well, I think it's similar to how I felt last year at this time. A big part of collecting is still about nostalgia for me: The memories and good feelings that trading cards bring about. The energy and excitement that comes with hunting for the next cards you want for your collection. I haven't felt that as much lately. I didn't really add a whole lot of cards to my collection aside from completing a few sets. I didn't trade very much at all on TCDB, or with fellow bloggers and collectors. I didn't comment as much on other trading card blogs. And so I want to try to get a little zeal back for the hobby. 

 

I'm not sure how much of that will happen this coming year, but if nothing else, I'd like to sit down and take a look at my collection, and which types of cards make me the most happy and nostalgic. I'm pretty sure the answer to that is vintage cards, plus oddball and food-issue stuff from the 1980s. And maybe some vintage non-sport stuff, too. So let's see what happens.

Regardless, I've got a lot of good ideas for upcoming blog posts, and a pretty big list of custom cards to work on. So I'm not going anywhere. Stay tuned for some fun content and potential giveaways. 

 

Thanks to all of you for reading, commenting, and most importantly for inspiring me through your blogs and your collections.

Here's to another great year of collecting!