Low-hanging fruits

With the post title, I'm referring to a term I came up with recently to describe how I collect: I'm a collector of opportunity. I can no longer really be defined as a set collector. I've never been a player collector although there are certain players who I do focus on...they are hardly all I collect. Theme collecting? Not sure how that applies when I collect everything for my sports...and whatever anybody sends me for the other sports as well. 

So when you collect as much as I do- 4 sports (NASCAR, NHL, NBA, Olympics, which I count as one sport)- as well as a large portion of non-sports...there's ALWAYS something pulling you in a thousand different directions on what to add to the collection. And that's just this one collection. I also collect models, diecast cars, comic books, coins, stamps, and more. And I have a very limited budget...I try, but not always succeed, at keeping to $100 a month for all the hobbies combined. 

That's where the "collector of opportunity" arises. Since I like having a large quantity of things, I usually don't set out looking for anything in particular. I pick off the low-hanging fruit, as it were. And since I collect non-sports cards, occasionally they even ARE fruit. 

Whether I'm at a card show, on COMC, Ebay, or wherever I'm going to spend some money, I generally tend to sort by lowest price and add as many as I can until I run out of money. 

I know that I'll rarely ever complete any sets this way. While that at one time would have bothered me, it doesn't anymore. The joy of set building no longer exists for the most part, due to the sets being produced...but I still will if the opportunity arises. 

I've been thinking of my collecting in these terms for several years now, but realized I never actually put "pen" to "paper" and made it official. 

And you know what's a great byproduct of this? Variety and a lack of boredom (mostly). If I get tired of working on a bunch of cards that look basically the same, I can easily switch over and work on scanning an entirely different sport with minimal to no effort. I tend to get bored after scanning 6 pages of one set, but the variety of things combats that. 

I know there's not much to this post that you probably haven't figured out from reading my posts in the past, but you'll have to forgive me...this is the first card-related post I've written in almost 3 months. 

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 2010-2019

In this decade, the current decade as I write this (but perhaps not when I publish it I didn't plan to drag this out to October) so much changed for me...some for the better, but most changes were not an improvement. I nearly died in 2013 from a disease I didn't know I had (diabetes). Some other health related stuff I'm trying to distract myself from with the hobby. On the plus side, I joined the Trading Card Database in 2012, I launched Cardboard History in 2014 and put a massive amount of work into creating the Cardboard History Gallery in 2018, 19 and 2020- hopefully I finish in 2020! (Update: Nope) I began going on Adventures with my brother in 2018, and I also significantly stepped up my photography hobby, taking 10 thousand photos in a year for the first time in 2017, and, if all goes according to plan, blowing that out of the water by taking over 40 thousand photos in 2019. (Update: I ended up taking 41,288 in 2019) In the hobby, all the major sports now have exclusive licenses, and most real sets have been replaced by memorabilia delivery systems, which is not a good thing.

2010

2010 Topps Empire Strikes Back 3Di

2011

2011 Topps American Pie

2012

2012 Topps Galactic Files

2013

2013 Topps 75th Anniversary

2014

2014 Press Pass Redline

2015

2015 Upper Deck Avengers Age of Ultron

2016

2016-17 Upper Deck

2017

2017-18 O-Pee-Chee

2018

2018 Topps US Olympic Team & Hopefuls

2019

2019-20 Artifacts

2011 saw me get back into Non-sports cards in a big way, thanks to a random purchase of the last 4 packs of this 3Di set that my local Target had. I was extremely frustrated with Press Pass at this point and was no longer enjoying NASCAR cards...2011 and 2012 were dedicated almost solely to non-sports cards. Not only that, I now had internet access and a whole new world of information was opened to me that was not available the last time I actively collected non-sports cards in 1996. In 2012 I joined the Trading Card Database and listing my collection on there, based off my paper listings, reminded me of how much I enjoyed the NBA aspect of the hobby, which seemed like such a long time ago although in actuality only a break of 6 years. I've been collecting the NBA again ever since, making up for lost time, at least attempting to. However, the card I've chosen for 2012 is from my favorite Star Wars set ever, Galactic Files. Running 750 cards over 2 years, (series 2 came out in 2013) it accurately covered the entire history of Star Wars...only to have it all thrown out when Disney bought it in 2014. (you won't see Star Wars again on this project, because of it.) 2014's 75th Anniversary of Topps set is a bit of a stretch- the company was founded 75 years previously but didn't produce cards until 1948-but I still enjoy it for it's overview of the company's non-sports history, although at 100 cards is disappointingly small. For 2014, the year I began Cardboard History, I decided to go with the first card I ever showed on here, all the way back on 11/22/14. For 2015, I've chosen a card from the Avengers movie of that year. I never thought it would be possible, but the Avengers series has surpassed Star Wars as my favorites of all time...and got me buying Marvel cards for the first time since 1994. In 2016, the 4th era of my collection began when I became an NHL fan. {The first era, 1988-1995, is the Beginning era. The second era, 1996-2006, is the NBA era. The third era, 2007-2015 is modern era, and beginning in 2016 is the NHL era. I believe this is the final evolving of my collection, unless the card companies realize there are more than just six sports and start giving cards to all the other sports I enjoy watching...in the Modern Era and NHL era I am fully, officially collecting 4 sports (counting the Olympics as one sport) and non-sports.} This was the first NHL card from my first current season pack after I began collecting. Choosing the last three years were actually the hardest. So much of my collection is built around memories, and the cards are still too new to know what's going to stick in my head, what's going to bring me a wave of nostalgia in the future...to be honest, I chose 2017 just so I could get my favorite NHL player into the project, and 2018 just so I could have the Olympics in the project at all, and the 2019 card for the sole, simple reason that it was the most recent card I got while composing this series!

So, what does the future hold? I don't know, of course. I do now that I will continue collecting, and writing about collecting, for as long as I'm able. I don't know what will be produced but if current trends hold true the NHL will eventually overtake the NBA for largest portion of my collection. After only 3 and a half years the NHL is already neck-and-neck with Non-Sports cards for third largest portion of my collection.  Non-sports cards are on a downward trend, with most sets released being for TV shows and movies I have no interest in seeing, which includes Disney era Star Wars. NASCAR, too, is not getting very many cards produced so it's only a matter of time before the NHL surpasses them as well. Even though I do think it will surpass the NBA at some point, it's not going to be soon...not likely in the 2020s, as the NBA still has an almost 80 thousand card lead.

I hope, that by the conclusion of the 2020s, I will have finished scanning my card collection and have gotten the Cardboard History Gallery fully formed where I can just worry about keeping up with new additions...

I do know for sure that, although this project is now complete, I do plan to publish update posts when I fill in those missing years...probably waiting until I get 5 years to post at a time. Complete, but not done...not by a long shot.

What I've been doing instead of cards Part 2

 Still haven't been doing cards...the modeling has taken over. I have been in the hobby for 21 years, but these last two months are by far the best. Both in enjoyment of the building and the quality I'm turning out. I have brought my completions on the year to 23 NASCAR models, which is the second most I've ever done in a year, however, the 1st in quality! Since I shared a first 10 post, here's a second 10 post...

While I do expect to finish more models on the year, the time is running short. It's getting too cold to paint outside, where is where I do the bulk of my painting. (It's too cold and rainy right now, which is why I'm posting this instead of building more). I MAY set my new personal record for a year, which currently stands at 30 models, and I have 23 completed...and 10 more that are close. But I am not sure if I can get them all done before it's absolutely too cold. There are a couple I'm absolutely sure I CAN finish, but all 10 may not happen. Time will tell...

Here's a blurb about each model, copy and pasted from the captions on my website. 

1982 David Pearson: One of David Pearson's more obscure cars, he drove this scheme in only six races, a limited schedule in 1982, and while he won 2 poles including the first time out with the car, he suffered 4 mechanical failures resulting in DNFs, with the only truly good run being the Firecracker 400 where he placed 5th. This was the first time Pearson teamed with sponsor Chattanooga Chew. They would remain with him for the remainder of his career as a driver in 1986, and would sponsor the family team with Larry driving in both Busch and Cup through 1989. They would then leave the sport and never sponsor another NASCAR team or driver.

This car was an essential build for my NASCAR by the Numbers project, since it's the only #03 car I have decals and a kit to put them on (and one of only three sets I know to exist) so it had to be the representative in the 03 slot. Monogram Buick with Tamiya white and black paint. Wetworks decals, which included the yellow panel- unfortunately the bottom of the left side ripped and was blown away by my fan.

2003 Jamie McMurray: Way back in 2006 I decided that I wanted to build all the Rookie of the Year Winners in NASCAR history. It's been on my mind since then, but this is the first time I've finished one since I began the project! Jamie McMurray beat Greg Biffle for ROY of that year, despite the fact that Greg won a race and Jamie did not. The decals were issued then and include everything. Only painted part is the black.

JWTBM decals and Tamiya Black on Revell Intrepid.

My new goal going forward is to build at least one Rookie of the Year winner every year. I've narrowed the plan from all of NASCAR history to just the Winston Cup and Nextel Cup eras, mostly due to lack of availability for earlier and later than that. Despite not finishing any for 14 years after starting the project, Jamie's car here is one of three I expect to finish during the month of October.

2004 Jimmie Johnson: I've never been a huge fan of Jimmie Johnson, mostly because I felt like they took away from Jeff Gordon to favor him, when Jeff has always been one of my favorites. But, Jimmie HAS won the most amount of Championships in my lifetime, and the second most amount of races, and he's retiring after this season, so the least I can do is build one of his cars. Plus I needed a #48 for my NASCAR by the Numbers project.

Testors silver which was cleared and polished, JWTBM decals on Revell kit. The blue is all decal, and was not easy. This isn't my best build, but it's also not my worst, either. The numbers are neon but neon doesn't photograph all that well.

1982 Mark Martin: Mark Martin drove this car in 5 races in 1982, the year he ran for Rookie of the Year, with his best finish being 5th at the season finale in Riverside. I chose it to be the representative for the #02 in my NASCAR by the Numbers project. The build was simple, just a Monogram Buick, Tamiya white paint, and WetWorks decals, which provided all the striping. The 5-hole wheels came out of my parts box, I believe from a Thunderbird kit. I built this concurrently with the #03 David Pearson car but it got delayed some by the fact that I dropped the headlight and couldn't find it. I found it and eventually got it finished off. Unlike the #03, I do have other #02s that I will build at some point, including a couple others driven by Mark himself.

1996 Steve Grissom: (My favorite caption, since I wrote it to the Flintstones theme) 

Grissom

Meet Steve Grissom

He drove the Chevrolet you see

From the, town of Gadsden,

he's now documented in scale model history

his season, really wasn't all that great

he was, replaced by Robert Pressley at a later date

When you, use Slixx decals, you have a great old time!

2000 Geoff Bodine: This build is a first for me in that I used Testors Decal Bonder for the first time- although the Grissom car I finished the day before was the first one I completed using it. This car caps off an incredible week for me of completing 5 models in 5 days, and fairly high quality models at that. (4 of them NASCAR, three of them new numbers I've never built before!) And this car was a must for my NASCAR by the Numbers project, as it's the only #60 I have decals for. This is my first build of Geoff Bodine, who is the winningest Cup driver from my home state. The year 2000, though, would be the last time he attempted a full season, and at that he only ran 12 races in this car, with a best finish of 12th at the Brickyard 400. His 2000 season got off to a horrible start in the Truck race at Daytona, where he somehow managed to live through one of the scariest accidents I've ever seen, and absolutely the scariest where everyone survived. He missed the first 10 races of the season while recovering from the injuries he sustained, and while he raced until 2011, this was the end of the line for him being a full time driver.

Slixx decals and Tamiya black on a Revell kit.

1987 Steve Christman: The first model I've ever completed on my birthday, it would be the start of something amazing- 4 models completed on my birthday! I sort of cheated by saving three that I could have finished at any time, specifically so I COULD finish them on my birthday, needing a total of about an hour to finish them all. The fourth model was a natural completion, something I didn't expect to finish that day.

This is also my first ever completed Salvinos JR kit. They debuted in 2019 and while the 1986-87 Pontiac 2+2 was not the first kit they issued, it was one I was really looking forward to...and when they came out, I jumped in to several builds right away...only for each of them to have problems. Not anything I couldn't fix, obviously, or else this would not appear here, but it was somewhat frustrating. This model was painted three times, for example, and it's not perfect, but it's good enough to complete. This build is the only #62 that it's possible for me to build, so it was absolutely needed for my NASCAR by the Numbers project. Christman would attempt to run for Rookie of the Year in 1987 with this car, but it was not a great season. He only qualified for 20 of the races, with a best finish of 11th at the fall Richmond race. To put it in perspective, of his 20 starts, 10 were DNFs, and his second best career finish was actually a DNF, in 15th at Charlotte. He would never run another NASCAR race, although he did find success in other series. One interesting anecdote- all 20 races were apparently using the same car! Considering 4 of the DNFs were crashes, that's actually really impressive. And now I've replicated that car in scale, using the aforementioned Salvinos JR kit, Tamiya white and bright red (which is not very accurate, but it's supposed to match the decals) and Pattos Place decals. Masking was actually not as hard as it looks.

1996 Johnny Benson: Of the three I saved this one needed the least amount of work. All I had to do was assemble the suspension and do the Sharpie bits, which are the hood and trunk pins, the fuel filler and overflow, and the wheel hubs and lugnuts. When I started my Rookie of the Year project back in 2006, I always knew this would be one of the first cars I did for the project...I just didn't know it would take me 14 years to do it! But it's still the second car I've completed for the project since it became a project. I always liked the Pennzoil cars and had already built Michael Waltrip's, which didn't change all that much...although I could build the 1993/94 or 1995 bodies, but that's besides the point.

I used one of the ProFinish kits, which in retrospect was a mistake- the overall Pontiac body style was the same from 1996-2002, but the side rear windows changed at some point before 2000. The kit has the new shape, while the older kit has the more correct shape. But I doubt anyone would notice if I didn't point it out...the paint is Testors yellow, which I polished- the paint, not clearcoat, it has none- and Carolina Motorsports Graphics decals, which were excellent, and so good in fact that I've actually moved up some other CMG decal cars on the building order, although probably not until 2021.

1980 Buddy Baker: Funny story about this kit...It's one of the Salvinos Oldsmobiles, with their decals, but not the kit the decals came with. The Gray Ghost was actually the first kit they issued, but when I got that kit, I set the decals aside and used my copy of the kit to build Cale Yarborough's First National City car from 1978 with Cady decals. Well, it went poorly, though I could save it...if I could find the hood. When Salvinos JR issued the same Yarborough kit in 2020, I decided to build the Gray Ghost after all. I wasn't intending to build it at all- scared off by the masking- but with my 2020 success rate I grew my confidence and decided that I COULD in fact pull it off...and so I did.

Paint is Tamiya Silver Leaf, which I clearcoated before adding the Tamiya black. The silver part of the car was polished, the black didn't need it. The silver foil decals look really great in hand but don't photograph all that well...but note the reflection.

1991 Dave Marcis: While I knew I would finish the other three on my birthday, this one was a surprise to me! I knew it was coming along nicely but I thought I still had a day or two before completing it. It practically fell together, and I finished it late- hours after the first three, but still before midnight.

This car was run in 1991 Daytona 500 only. Due to the start of Desert Storm, Winston stepped up and put the five branches of the US Military on 5 unsponsored cars. I plan to build all 5 eventually, although 3 of them are very complicated paint schemes. This is actually the second time I've done this body. Way back when I first started, I painted up a body for Dave's Big Apple Market car, but then got a copy of the JNJ decals for the Coast Guard car, and promptly applied them. Then I thought to look at a photo of the real car, and I discovered that the Coast Guard car was darker. The color was totally wrong. It's sat in a box ever since, unsure what I should do about it. The car is totally wrong but the decals layed down well. Now, I built this one, using the significantly better PowerSlide decals, and the correct paint (Tamiya French Blue) making the other body redundant...I did use the original #2 on the windows as a nod to the original build. PowerSlide only included one, when two are needed, and since I never did the windows the original JNJ 2s have been rattling around my decal parts box since circa 2005. A nice nod to my history with this car...

Dave finished 35th, completing only 40 laps before going out with a bad valve, but he still managed to beat two of the other military cars- Buddy Baker placed 37th with an engine failure and Greg Sacks finished last, 42nd, after a crash. (Mickey Gibbs placed 17th and Alan Kulwicki 8th, for the record)

Since I can't work  on models now, I may actually scan some cards...which is not something I've done a lot of lately. But as we get more into the winter months cards will return to the forefront. I actually used cards in some of these models. When I was decaling the Johnny Benson car, I pulled up his 1996 Racer's Choice card, which has a great photo of the car, to use in decal placement. I may spend much of the winter going through my NASCAR cards and pulling the ones that have car photos to scan...I have so many models I want to build, for years I never thought I would be able to. Now, with the skills and confidence I have, I believe I likely WILL be able to build them, and I'm so enthusiastic for the hobby right now, for the first time in more than a decade, I don't want to stop. 

Cardboard History Gallery 2 Year Anniversary

 Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a great one. I completed 4 models, bringing my completion total up to 20 NASCAR models on the year. Since mid-August this has been one of the best periods of my modeling career- both the fun I'm having and in the quality of the work I'm doing. I've finally figured out pretty much all of the things that had been holding me back, and the results are coming out great! But this post is about the Cardboard History Gallery, which I launched on my birthday in 2018. making it the second anniversary. 

I have a large portion of it built, but I still have a ways to go. 

What I have have accomplished:

Auto Racing is complete

Hockey is complete

Other sports is complete

Non-Sports is complete

By complete, I mean that the albums are all created for each set, year/topic, person, and team if applicable. 

I'm still working on uploading the basketball by player. That's the largest portion of my collection by a wide margin. I have up to letter N completed, but I still have O-Z to do. I have not done the baseball or football players by person at all yet. 

What that all adds up to?

That's a lot of work. 

I have not really worked on it at all since August...when I got on the modeling kick, I stopped doing cards almost totally. I worked on it I think only 2 times since I got going with the models, and then I only did it because it was raining out, which means I can't work on models. 

I'll get there, eventually...maybe by the third anniversary it will be complete, and then I will just have to work on updating it as I scan things- the break even point. 

Modeling for the year is coming to a close...it will soon be too cold to paint, which I do outside, or even have the windows open. When that happens, I will probably mope for about a week, accomplishing nothing, then get back into the scanning, uploading, and posting here on Cardboard History. 

One other anniversary I want to touch on...yesterday, my birthday, was also the anniversary of getting my very first scanner. Back in 2005 my brother gave me the best one I've ever owned for my birthday. The very first thing I scanned was a card I had gotten that day. Although we didn't know it yet, scanning would go on to be a MAJOR part of my life, and in 2009 I decided to scan my entire card collection. Still have about 1/3rd left to do, or more. 

I'm in such a modeling mode right now that my family didn't even get me cards, they got me modeling supplies! I did get some cards, however. a pwe from Chris, aka The Collector, arrived, and he said some of them were cards I claimed from him...it took me a few minutes to remember that he did a Free Stuff Friday series. I have no idea which ones I claimed and which are a Pay it Forward gift, lol. Since it got too cold and I had to close my window, thus no more modeling, I actually got them scanned. 

This is my first card from the Yo! MTV Raps set. I'm not a huge rap fan but will occasionally mix some into my music choices. Run-D.M.C. is iconic and a perfect card to be the first in my collection. Could this set be any more 1991? That's a good thing, by the way. 

This is an OPC version...I don't have too many of this set.

The Gold Parallel of the Rangers team card from 2013-14 Score. If Panini had given this set a colorful back this would probably be my favorite NHL set ever.

This was actually the first card out...I don't have many from this set either. I do like the design of it.

No, I'm not going to start collecting soccer cards! Although I do have a good number of this set...

Thanks Chris!

Tracking my NHL collection after the 2019-20 season

 This has been a crazy year. I think we all know that. Who could have predicted that my NHL end-of-season wrapup would be written on October 5th, instead of June somethingth? Yet, here we are. 

This is something else unusual, in that we have no real idea when the NHL will play again. Normally the new season starts this very week, and I would be anxiously awaiting it after several months without hockey. This year, the break came during the season, for 4 months, everybody played in a bubble and the season took 51 weeks to complete. And no one knows when hockey will be played again.  If any of our writing survives into the distant future, people who didn't live through 2020 will likely look at the records and think "that can't be right"...but it is. 

I normally write up the end of the season review the day after the season ends, but I have been so busy with my scale modeling that I didn't have time to do that...and I'm depressed about the Rangers cutting my all-time favorite player. Why do they always make the wrong choice? I digress. Now, finally, it's too cold to work on models, so I finally have time to write this post, and do the work required for it. Not that taking screencaps is really work. 

As usual, all information is provided by the Stats page on the Trading Card Database. One thing that's different now is that I am no longer tracking the 1990-91 through 1992-93 Upper Deck sets on the Database. They put the parallel into the base set checklist, and basically make it useless, so I now only track them on paper. So, the numbers will be slightly skewed going forward, but they were never truly accurate to begin with...what with them tagging team, League Leader and multi-player cards to each person that appears, not truly cards of that person or team at all. So this is just a basic concept until I finish scanning everything myself. 

Using my posts from previous years, I'll look and see how the top 10 in the three main categories have changed...

I begin with the players:

Finally, the King holds court, taking the top spot from the Great One, and also being the first player to clear 100 cards! And the only one- actually speaking Gretzky ends the 2019-20 season at either 96 or 98 cards in my collection, I forget. It's the first time since I began tracking the stats at season end that there is a change in the lead. I don't know if he can hold it forever, as players in the 1990s got a LOT more cards than players today, since there were many card companies instead of one. As it turns out, there is a lot of change in the Top 10 this year, largely due to that huge purchase I made of early 1990s cards at the one and only card show I went to in 2020. Mark Messier and Brett Hull in 3rd and 4th place are the only two spots in the top 10 that did not change from last year. Eric Lindros jumps up to 5th, after not even cracking the top 25 last year, all due to that card show that yielded at least 40 new cards of him. It's the largest jump in the three-year history of the project...and may hold the record going forward as well! Brian Leetch drops one spot to 6th, and Patrick Roy jumps from 10th to 7th. Joe Sakic drops from 7th to 8th, and Jaromir Jagr drops from 6th to 9th...I'll have to change that. Mario Lemieux holds down the 10th spot. Dropping out of the Top 10 is Teemu Selanne, who falls to 12th. Interesting to note that the two Fleurys, who are not related, are tied. Mats Zuccarello, my favorite skater, makes the screenshot for the first time. Totally missing is Vincent Lecavalier, who falls all the way to 41st, in a tie with Paul Coffey, P.K. Subban and Pierre Turgeon with 35 cards. Lecavalier held the #1 spot at the time I began collecting the sport, since he was (and still is) my friend's favorite player, the friend who sent me 2000+ cards back in 2015, including his duplicates, which put the Lightning and Lecavalier at the #1 spots. 

The teams stay somewhat more stable down the middle, but there is massive movement in the top 10! The Rangers jump from 871 to 1437, due in large part to back in November when I got most of the 70s and 80s Topps Rangers cards. The lead the Rangers have over second place moves from 210 to 591, meaning that the gap between teams, if it was cards, would rank 19th among all teams...wow. I don't forsee the lead changing hands ever, so watching the gap will be fun. Second place changes again. I've done this three years, after my three full seasons watching the sport, and it's been a different team each time. First the Devils, then the Canadiens, now the Bruins take the second spot! But wait, looking closer, they are TIED! But not really. Huh? Part of that purchase I made in November included two Bruins cards that were in such poor condition that I didn't list them as part of my collection. Even though they are in my possession. So the Bruins actually do hold 2nd by themselves. The Red Wings jump from 7th to 4th, a big jump. The Blackhawks jump from 10th to 5th, making the entire top 5 composed solely of Original 6 teams, for the first time ever. That's interesting, because I don't really have access to a lot of cards from the Original 6 era- however the November purchase included about 3/4ths of the Parkhurst Missing Link cards, which are all Original 6. That must be what did it. The Devils, which had been 2nd just two years ago, drop to 6th. The Kings, which started in 6th, moved to 5th, and now dropping to 7th. The Penguins drop from 6th to 8th, and the Flyers make a huge jump- from 14th to 9th. The Maple Leafs, the last Original 6 team, are in 10th, 22 cards away from putting all the Original 6 in the Top 6. The Canucks are the team that the Flyers knocked out of the Top 10. Looking deeper, I find it interesting that the Sharks and Jets have held 19th and 20th in all three years. (The Database combines both Jets franchises, I do not, another reason I don't consider these stats accurate). Some other teams have held steady over the years as well, although changing position, they have not changed more than one spot. The Sabres have either been 16th or 17th, the Capitols either 18th or 19th, the Hurricanes either 24th or 25th, and the Stars and Senators have swapped 21st and 22nd between them. The Panthers started 25th, moved to 24th and now are 23rd...I will be curious to see how they rank next year. 

The seasons are the last of the "big three" stats, although the Database provides 5 different stats. It's fun to me to see how the current season places in with the cards added only during that season. As it turns out the 2019-20 season is the largest total of cards added during that season, coming in at exactly 1375, good enough for 4th place all-time. That is due to the fact that I got a hobby box of both UD series, O-Pee-Chee and Topps Stickers, which all adds up quite a bit. The one I wanted to key in on was 1993-94, which is the year most of the card show 90s purchase contained. It was enough to move 1993-94 from 10th to 6th, exactly 700 new cards since last year. 1997-98 is the year that drops out of the Top 10, falling from 7th to 11th. I added less than 100 new cards to that season. 

The sets can really change a lot from year to year...even a blaster is enough to move a set into the Top 25, and a hobby box of the right set can just about put a set into the top 10- note that the 2019-20 Topps Stickers jump right to 12th on the strength of one box! 1990-91 Pro Set has held the top spot since I began tracking this info, and it's one of my favorite sets, so you won't see me complaining about that. 1990-91 Score American, thanks to the Factory Set I got as a gift this season, jumps from 25th all the way to 3rd, it can't get any higher since I have completed it! 2019-20 Upper Deck is the only set from this year to break into the Top 10, and it knocks out last year's set, which I didn't do a hobby box of either series so I'm surprised it's so high. Last year's MVP factory set, which is complete, also falls out of the Top 10. 

Looking at the brands, Upper Deck has such a huge lead that I doubt it can ever be caught...that's what happens when you produce a 500 or more card set every year for 30 years. The lead UD has over Topps is exactly 2600 cards...that would be 2nd itself if it were a thing! Really puts it in perspective to me. Topps moves up to 2nd due to getting the 1990-91 Factory set and the 70s and 80s Rangers (and others). O-Pee-Chee drops to 3rd, but I suspect it will retake 2nd because O-P-C is still issued while Topps has not been since 2003-04. MVP drops to 4th, while Score moves to 5th, from 7th. Pro Set holds 6th, which is pretty amazing because they only issued three sets! And one of them has only 11 cards in my collection! Ultra drops to 7th, while Panini Stickers hold steady at 8th. The Database counts Score American differently from Score and that alone ranks 9th now, again on the strength of a factory set. It knocks Artifacts out of the top 10. The fact that Artifacts ranked in the top 10 really tells you how much being available at retail in blasters really shapes my modern collection. Parkhurst holds on to 10th. 

My oldest and lowest SN card are the same as they were last year, no change there. Since my lowest SN is 1/1 I doubt that will change, but my oldest might someday. 

and in case you are wondering, I actually transcribed all this info over to an Excel chart to make it easier to reference from year to year, LOL.