[mrmopar]

I don't discriminate and at any given point, something could catch my eye. I stopped buying packs in the early 00s. I do maintain an ongoing Dodger autograph collection, so I keep up with who is on the team at any given point. That leads to other autograph pick-ups. I also collect Steve Garvey and up until 2021, I would pretty much plan to buy anything and everything with almost no exceptions. One such exception was Leaf and those unlicensed, multi-player GU dump sets that started around 2018 or so. That is not to say I have not bought any, but I stopped chasing them aggressively. 2021 brought a weird surge in prices for Garvey cards, especially whatever is new. After missing more cards than I would allowed myself in prior years, I have tossed in the towel on even trying to get certain new cards.

One thing that is definitely turning me off, even with singles, are that all the cards are starting to blend together with their gaudy prism, sparkle and color selections. These are 4 pictures from a local card shop, showcasing some of their new additions. They offer a very wide selection of stuff, so in fairness to this shop, I just picked a couple random pics out of 20 or more. i'm sure there are desirable cards in there, but not to me.. It's easier for me to say no, because baseball is my primary interest now and has been for years, but there is nothing exciting in these cards that all blend together.

And don't get me wrong, I loved and still do love a lot of the 90s insert designs across all of the sports. They had personality. The new stuff doesn't.