My Collection Guidelines

With my stated goal being to collect at least one card of every man to play for the Cubs, even so little as a 1/3 of an inning, optimal specimens simply aren't going to exist or be prohibitively expensive.  Thus, I have developed the following system that details where various cards would rate in my collection.  With #1 being the most optimal, #2 the next most and so on and so on, here are my grades:



#1 - Player pictured and listed as a Cub on the front
       Card printed when player was active:

#2 - Player pictured and listed as a Cub on the front
       Card printed after player's career ended (including reprints):

#3 - Player listed as a Cub on the front but pictured in another uniform, or vice versa
       Card printed when player was active:

#4 - Players listed as a member of a Cubs minor league affiliate

        Card printed before or after a player's career ended:

#5 - Player pictured and listed with another team (at any level) on the front.
       Card printed when player was active:

#6 - Player pictured and listed with another team (at any level) on the front.
       Card printed after a player's career ended (including reprints):

There you have it.  The long and short of it is that I prefer my cards to depict the players as Cubs, but that's simply not possible for many guys.  In addition, I prefer cards that were printed in the time that the player was active because it feels more like an historical artifact and my collection more like an anthology than a book of cardboard. 

The actual condition of the card comes into play too, but I have no clear ranking for that and I go based on what I like best at that moment. That is, unless the card has been put through a paper shredder or something ridiculous.