2015 Year in Review

2015 was far and away the most successful year I've had since creating this blog.  I added more cards than ever and some how made it into Sports Illustrated.  Also, Tim Wallach and son Chad, appeared in HBO's Will Ferrell special, which was nice.

I had no expectations when I started this blog other than having a clean visual reference for my collection that I could pull up on demand and maybe show to a few trusted friends that wouldn't mock it too much.  Needless to say, it's turned into something else all together.

I added 3,810 cards to my Wallach collection in 2015, bringing my total to 16,048.  That's an increase of 29.7%.  It's also nearly 1,500 more cards than the 2,380 I acquired in 2014.  This spike was fueled in no small part to the incredible effort of Los Angeles Times writer Zach Helfand who took a plane, rental truck and I believe at one point a horse (or perhaps pack mule) to venture out in person to the remote city of Farmington to view my collection and his lunatic editor who actually ran the story in a major news paper.  This led to an enormous out pouring of generosity from random individuals who sent an amazing 2,019 cards in the mail this year.  I have now been sent an absurd 3,580 cards since starting this blog.

2015 saw Don Mattingly and Tim Wallach coach the Dodgers to a third straight division title for the first time in Franchise history despite a roster put together with mostly band aids and glue (The great Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw not withstanding of course).  The coaching staff was rewarded for their incredible efforts with a release, and will begin 2016 with the Miami Marlins.  They'll be reunited with 2015 batting champ and gold glover Dee Gordon (too bad Dodgers couldn't have had a steady hand, bat and base stealer like Dee last season).  They'll also be joined by Barry Bonds, who will serve as the hitting coach.  The three of them have combined for 1,244 home runs, 24 All-Star game appearances, 20 Gold Gloves, and 17 Silver Sluggers.  Which according to some dork with a calculator is not nearly as important as being able to combine on-base percentage and slugging percentage in your head, or the ability to invent other convoluted  stats that somehow outweigh experience and a natural feel for the game.  All of which is a long, not so passive aggressive way of saying that I have to go out and buy a Marlins hat now.

Here are some raw numbers:

Top Ten Most Abundant Cards in Collection


1. 1982 Topps .............................833
2. 1987 Topps .............................701
3. 1988 Donruss ..........................660
4. 1988 Topps .............................536
5. 1988 Topps All-Star ...............534
6. 1989 Topps .............................517
7. 1986 Topps All-Star ...............445
8. 1987 Donruss .........................367
9. 1990 Topps .............................353
10. 1989 Donruss .......................273

Top 10 Most Added Cards in 2015


1. 1982 Topps .........................407
2. 1988 Topps All-Star ...........140
3. 1989 Topps .........................130
4. 1987 Topps .........................113
5. 1990 Topps .........................101
6. 1988 Topps ...........................94
7. 1990 Donruss .......................91
8. 1988 Donruss .......................88
9. 1986 Topps ..........................74
10. 1989 Donruss ....................59

Top 10 Most Added by Percentage (min. 15 cards already in collection)

1. 1982 Topps ...........................95%
2. 1991 OPC Premier ...............83%
3. 1992 Stadium Club ..............67%
4. 1992 Score .............................66%
5. 1992 Bowman USA .............58%
6. 1991 Fleer .............................53%
7. 1990 Bowman ......................50%
8. 1991 Ultra .............................50%
9. 1993 Upper Deck ..................49%
10. 1993 Flair ...........................49%

Top 10 No-Shows (min. 15 cards already in collection)


1. 1994 Fleer .................................. (29) in collection, zero added
2. 1986 Provigo .............................. (27)
3. 1994 Topps Gold ....................... (24)
4. 1993 Triple Play ........................ (23)
4. 1993 OPC Premier .................... (23)
6. 1992 Topps Gold Winner ......... (21)
7. 1988 Fleer Award Winners ...... (18)
7. 1988 Topps Tiffany ................... (18)
9. 1995 Fleer .................................. (16)
9. 1995 Studio ................................ (16)

Top 10 Most Elusive by Percentage (min. 15 cards in collection, & one added)
 

1. 1984 Nestle .............................. 1.2%  (+1)
2. 1988 Topps UK Mini .............. 1.3%  (+1)
3. 1985 Donruss .......................... 1.4%   (+1)
4. 1984 Donruss ........................... 1.8%  (+2)
5. 1988 Fleer Star Sticker .......... 3%   (+2)
    2005 Topps Rookie Cup ......... 3% (+1)
    1995 Score  .............................. 3% (+1)
    1992 Topps Kids ..................... 3% (+1)
    1986 Fleer Mini ....................... 3% (+1)


I'd like to give a huge thank you to everyone that contributed cards this year, and to all the people that took the time to write about this blog.  It was really a thrill for me.  My resolution this year is to do a better job of reciprocating the generosity of all the others that have sent me cards.  I've been horrible.  I've had two 800 count boxes nearly full of cards, grouped for various people sitting in my den for over six months now, I will be getting those out soon.  Thank you all again, and I look forward to watching the Marlins win a World Series next October.