Card of the Day December 2018 - Project Completion! (and a recap of my 2018 Goal)

This was an interesting project for sure. I thought it was going to be a lot more fun than it turned out to be, but in the end, I'm glad I did it. 30 years in the hobby is a pretty big milestone- especially when I almost died during the 25th year, making me appreciate everything I have, and get, more. However, I know that this was a one-and-done project- I will not attempt it again, even though I built up such a stash of cards that I could probably keep it going until 2021 or later, even without adding anything new to the stash. I have entire boxes of cards that I set aside for this that I never even saw during the course of the project. I don't even remember where some of them are- a hazard of setting stuff aside starting in 2015, I suppose.

Now, you all know I'm OCD so I compiled a few stats, which you can see down at the end after December's cards.

December 1st:

2018 Sports Illustrated for Kids 5 #782

My monthly subscription arrived on the first day of the month, and the first card in it was my first of Karlsson with the Sharks. Cool!

December 2nd:

2006-07 Topps Full Court #89

I went out to do my Secret Santa shopping that day, but of course I ended up finding some stuff for myself, too. By now everyone should have gotten the surprises I picked up for them as well, which was fun to spread some cardboard joy.

December 3rd:

2017-18 Panini Stickers #388

A pack of last year's stickers from the dollar store. This was the last card in the project to get scanned- I realized it was missing a scan on January 3rd, when I finished the post off.

December 4th:

Karlsson appears twice in the first four days! Both times, pure luck. This time was a random (eyes closed) pull out of the COMC box.

December 5th:

2019 MNS Cards The Chaney Legacy Promo #LCP-3

There's apparently going to be a set about Lon Chaney this coming year. This is a promo for it that arrived in the Non-Sports Update that showed up that day.

December 6th:

1983-84 BASF Los Angeles Lakers

I got this in trade from Bevans on the Trading Card Database. I was not expecting it, either! I was expecting his dupes from 2018-19 Hoops, which he sent, but he included this one and two books as well!  The card is 5x7, and I've been wanting one of these for a long time. I read about them back in the 90s in Beckett but never saw one until the box arrived.

December 7th:

2018-19 Hoops Winter #284

I got this and a whole bunch of others in trade from Database member Lugnut80. Note the snowflakes. This is the Hoops Winter set...which is just like the regular Hoops set, but has snowflakes on it. As silly as that sounds...and is...I like them, a lot. I am a big fan of snow, and the winter months in general.

December 8th:

1987-88 Pacific MISL #94

This came from a sealed pack someone sent me years ago...I don't remember who, or when. It's only the 7th soccer card in my collection.  It is also, naturally, my first card of him.

December 9th:

1998 BBM Sumo #107

Near the end of 2016, SumoMenkoMan sent me a whole bunch of Sumo cards...probably into the 4 digits! I set them aside for the Card of the Day project, but didn't go into them until December. I held off because these cards are not listed on the Trading Card Database yet (The Japanese issues is something that needs a knowledgeable collector to come in and help on) and it's one of only two cards out of the 365 in the project not shown on my list on the Database. (See link at the end). The other is also a BBM issue, and also came to me from Ryan, not a surprise!

December 10th:

1990-91 Hoops #85

 This excellent off-center error came to me from Splinter_9 on the Database. He sent me two exact copies- cut the exact same way- which I would consider moving to another error collector for a different error someday.

December 11th:

1972-73 Topps #129

Later on the 10th I got a box from Mark Hoyle, and it was packed with early 70s NHL cards- specifically 1971-72, 72-73 and 1973-74. I made sure to get every set into the project, and I still have some left to go through at the end.

December 12th:

1971-72 Topps #112

 Another from Mark. Just pure dumb luck that I happened to pull a Ranger out- I didn't look into the box when I was pulling cards.

December 13th:

Chrome Perspectives Jedi vs. Sith Prism Refractor #45-S

 This one came to me from Jon of A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts. I think I've written about this card already but I can't remember, so I will say it's serially numbered and from the last Star Wars set I actually enjoyed.

December 14th:

2005-06 Upper Deck #63

 I got this one in trade with Database member Wbaker01.

December 15th:

1994-95 SP #84

 I got this one in trade with Database member Berton Russell. Ironically, I got a Mark Jackson card AND a 1990-91 Hoops card during the week there was all kinds of hubbub about the Menendez brothers appearing on his 1990-91 Hoops card...a card I've had for years, as I completed the set in 2016, but had that one before I started recording dates of addition...which I began doing in 1999.

December 16th:

2016-17 SP Game Used Rainbow Player Age

No, Miles Wood is not 221 years old...they made 200 copies of the card, PLUS however many years old the player is. It's my first card from this parallel and second of Wood, and came from COMC.

December 17th:

2002-03 Bowman Fabric of the Future

Another COMC find.

December 18th:

1994-95 Emotion #115

 This came to me via Database member Capper14, a trade. One of Shaq's biggest regrets is (probably) sticking his tongue out all the time...at one point he bit it so bad he had to get stiches...in his tongue. Eek. One of my bigger regrets in the hobby...I have less than 5 regrets, mind you...was not buying a box of this set when I had the chance in 2000. My local hobby shop had it in the case, and every week I would say "I'll get it next time, I've got to get the newly released set I don't have any of"...well, the next time I went in, there was nothing new that I needed...and the box of Emotion had sold, too. Now, I've traded for so many that it would be a waste of money. I think I took in more of this set via trade in 2018 than any other set- the trade I made with Capper14 alone got me 11 new cards, and it wasn't even the only time I traded for cards from this set in December!

December 19th:

1973-74 Topps #65

 Another one from Mark Hoyle, this one giving me one from each set in the box as Card of the Day. Like the Pat Stapleton, it's my first and currently only card of him.

December 20th:

1968 Topps Hot Rods #31

 I wrote up a post about this set when they arrived, so I won't retype it here, just link to the earlier post.

December 21st:

2010-11 Rookies & Stars #161

This is from COMC. This is not a relic card- a manufactured patch, which to me is just a card made (partially) out of cloth or metal. The auto is real, though it didn't scan too well being set back some. I believe this is the only card in my collection SN to 457. A totally odd number that I have no idea how they came up with. (All the others I looked at are SN500)

December 22nd:

2018-19 Hoops #43

I had purchased a few packs at the local Dollar Tree, this was my last one.

December 23rd:

2007-08 O-Pee-Chee #319

 This one came as a gift from Kin.

December 24th:

2017-18 Prestige Rain #127

Since I have been taking part in the Blogger Secret Santa program, I have made it part of the tradition to open the package, and post about them, on Christmas Eve. This year was no exception, and this was the first card out of the package sent to me by Jon.

December 25th:

2018-19 O-Pee-Chee Blaster Box Panel card

 Christmas is traditionally one of the bigger days of the year for me card wise, and this year was no exception- at 879 new cards, it's the 11th most I've ever gotten in a single day in my life! This one is my first, not only of the day, and thus part of this project, but also of the set.

December 26th:

2018 Donruss Top Tier #TT5

For Christmas I got a box of Donruss, and came up 4 cards short. I had one pack left out of the blaster I purchased all the way back on June 1st and have pulled from several times for this project. I opened it on the morning of the 26th, hoping to pull the last 4 missing cards. No such luck, this Kyle Busch insert was the only new card in the pack. However, since it was new, it became Card of the Day.

December 27th:

2017 C2Cigars

 The rest of the project is mostly loose ends and plans, some of which worked, and some did not. Back in January, Chuck- AKA C2 himself- sent me some of the cards he made of Trading Card Database members which I've pulled from from time to time. (There was actually a thread this week of someone looking to trade for a copy of the card of me from the 2018 set...never thought I would ever see that) I had to get one in the last week, and it happened to be Mark, who is attempting the same project I am of trying to get one card of every hockey player, but he's taking it a step further and trying to get one of every set as well- not just set by my parameters, but every single insert, parallel, promo, team set, etc! Me, I'm just happy if I can get one card from a set- any card, doesn't have to be one of each insert, etc.

December 28th:

2000 Artbox Simpsons #25

 I only had one factory sealed box that I purchased to be part of the stash for this project, and had to open a pack of it during this last week.

December 29th:

1991 Tuff Stuff The Civil War #81

I had purchased what was purported to be a complete base set of this release at a flea market around 2016 and saved it for this project- but I didn't actually touch it until December 29th! I asked my brother to pick me out a card for my card of the day, with the only parameter being "no dead bodies", and this is the one he chose. It shows John Magruder, the Confederate general who made his first appearance in my collection earlier this month when SumoMenkoMan sent me some Civil War Battlefield cards. At some point I will figured out if the set was truly complete or not.

December 30th:

1991 Leaf #98

 I had originally thought of this project in 2015. That is when I had finally counted up how long I had been in the hobby, and realized I was approaching my 30th anniversary. The idea hit me when I was going through a store-collated repack I had purchased in 2014...but a big box of stuff that covered all 5 major sports and non-sports, sent to me by a Trading Card Database member who asked not to be named, arrived in June 2015. It was the first time I consciously set cards aside, without opening/looking through them, for this project, when they arrived to me. I still have most of the box to go, which is comprised largely of 1991 Leaf baseball and 1992 Wild Card football.

December 31st:

2002-03 Topps Black #60

In the end, the project that started fun, got annoying, and by the end had made getting new cards a chore instead of exciting, ended with supreme frustration. I have a little bit left of that box I was going through in 2015, purchased in 2014, when the idea hit me for this project. Probably only about 25 cards, of which I can expect maybe 5 of them to be new. I had a box next to my computer table that I was sure was that box...I had put it there specifically so it would be close at hand for the end of the project. I open it up on the 31st, intending to move through the remainder of the box and finish it...and I open it up, and it's a totally different box. I said some rather unpleasant things, tore through every box I could get my hands on, but came up empty- the box I had been saving was nowhere to be found. Finally, around the 10 PM hour, with no more boxes to go through...I gave up, and had my mom root around in the COMC box for an Elton, which is exactly how I started the project way back on January 1st. I have to say...it's the least happy I've ever been to get an Elton card.
It also made me have to re-write two blog posts, in part. This one, and the next I publish, whenever that may be.

But...it's DONE!! I will never do this project again, and I would advise anyone not to attempt it either.

I am not sure anyone realized how much work it actually was...even my family didn't realize how much work it entailed until after it was over. These are the steps I took to do this project, and what it entailed:

1. Build a stash. Started in 2015. I made sure that there were unopened packs, or unsorted boxes or repacks of cards around at all times. Some of them were random gifts sent to me by other collectors.
2. Close the list on the Database, so I could add new cards to it. List was created 1/1/18.
3. Add new card. (2 and three were usually done at the same time, unless I pulled from the COMC box, because I knew they were all new, not a chance of a duplicate.)
4. Go to each card's page and add it to list.
5. Return to list, and manually move it to the top of the list so it would show as the list sample image.
6. Write caption on the Database. Open list.
7. Scan card. (Sometimes done before steps 4-6, sometimes after. If the card was on the Database by somebody else already, after for sure...I didn't finish scanning the cards until January 3rd)
8. Edit and label scans
9. Post to Database, if needed
10. Post scan to my backup blog that I use as an image backup (I do this for every card)
11. Enter card into Excel chart documenting my collection order
12. Write card into my paper listing, if it gets listed. (I do no write out inserts, baseball and football, and some non-sports cards)
13. Copy scan to a folder specifically created for each month, editing the label to include the day of the month
14. Create the monthly wrap-up posts. 
15. Post scan to my website, sometimes done before 13 and 14, depending on how soon I get around to the monthly wrapup post. 

Were I to do this project again....and there's not a chance I will....I would not have pulled from the COMC box as much as I did. I kind of used that as a crutch, for when I didn't feel like doing all the steps, or when I just didn't care enough to put any effort in...it left me with literally thousands of cards in the stash that I built up for this project that I didn't touch at all. 

If you wish to look at 363 of the 365 cards...in reverse descending order...this is the LIST on the Trading Card Database that I keep mentioning. 

Now, as I mentioned before getting into December's cards...I did keep some stats. Easy enough to do, as it's ALL contained in the captions of the Database list...I created these charts on December 29th, so this is not something I was aware of during the course of the project.

Here is a chart showing what kinds of cards made up the project. Interesting that I missed one month each for NASCAR and Non-Sports, but boy did I go on a non-sports kick in August! I'm genuinely surprised that Multi-Sport had such a steady, if not large presence. A large number of them were SI for Kids cards, but not all, as this next chart shows. 

This chart may be my favorite...the sources. Look how many in particular came to me as gifts from other collectors! For Stash, I defined that as something I had and held before 2018, while new cards purchased by me were mostly from blasters and the hobby box of Upper Deck Series 2 I bought in June but portioned out until October. Trades were 99% through the Trading Card Database, I think 2 were with bloggers. As I mentioned above, I wish I had pulled more from the stash and less from COMC. And my repack buying is WAY down. That used to be my main source of cards. Card companies include Panini Instant and the one redemption I got from Panini. Internet purchases are any non-COMC purchase. Ebay, other collectors, etc. 

Here we see how it breaks down by card type. I am truly surprised inserts beat parallels, as I am a documented parallel fanatic and am more likely to buy them on COMC than inserts. But base cards rule all. 

And speaking of parallels....

I had to keep track of how many Serially numbered cards were Card of the Day. Had I been updating this chart throughout the year, instead of making it in December, I would have had my mom find me a SN card in the COMC box in September, so I could have gotten them in every month...although to be fair the numbered card in December is from December 31st, two days after I made the chart, and had that box not disappeared, December likely would not have had a SN card either. 

And that's it...the end. I have nothing more to say on this project, other than I'm glad it's over. We're now on January 3rd as I finish this post, and I have not gotten any cards yet in 2019...it DOES feel like something is missing, but I'm also feeling a sigh of relief that this project is done with. Of all the crazy projects I've tried, those I've written about and those that never got that far...I think this was the craziest one of all. 

Thanks for reading, and thanks to those of you who sent me cards- several people said they sent me stuff just specifically so it would appear in the project! I appreciate the contributions from my fellow collectors quite a bit. I really could not have done it without you!