I have never made a collecting goals post before, but I figured I would just so I could see how my goals changed over the year and how I actually did at the end of 2021.
There are a number of things that I can think of off of the top of my head. Some of them are attainable, others might take a little bit of work, and others will just come down to luck. These are in no particular order.
1. Spend less on retail.
Even with the flippers and their despicable ways, I have been able to get my hands on a decent amount of retail this year. The beginning of the year, I had a number of hanging boxes that my wife got me of Series 1, Opening Day, Donruss, and Heritage. Once the flippers pulled their crap, I missed out totally on Bowman, and got my hands on 2 hanging boxes each of Big League and Series 2, and 1 of Stadium Club. Once Update came out (which I suspect Topps may have double or triple printed), my wife was able to find a good amount of it at Target, and I got like 6 hanging boxes and a 16 pack box worth, enough to leave me just 8 cards short of completing the set. When I add all of those packs up, sure it was fun to bust all of them and get some inserts, but I ended up purchasing the 2020 complete set, so most of the cards I got in those Series 1 & 2 boxes were just dupes that I wouldn't have had if I had just waited until the complete set came out around July. I will still probably purchase a hanging box of each series just to get a taste, but after that (at least for Topps Series 1 & 2), my money is better spent online or at a card show or my LCS.
2. Pull a printing plate
I've pulled 2 printing plates in my life. a 2007 Upper Deck Jose Contreras, and a 2017 Topps Mark Canha. The Canha I traded away to a guy who collects him, and the Contreras I still have. It would be cool to pull another one in my lifetime (even if it turns out to be a Yankee).
3. Complete the Rays/Tigers Topps team sets in 2021
Shouldn't be that hard to do, but with flippers, I'm skeptical if I'll even see any 2021 Topps packs on the shelves in retail, and my LCS will probably charge 8 bucks a pack. At least trading and eBay are still around.
4. Add some nice relic cards and autographed cards. For relic cards, I still have some big names I would like to add to my collection (Jeter, Trout, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Mickey Mantle, Randy Arozarena, Ronald Acuna, Ohtani, Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew McCutcheon, Joey Votto, and just some of the upper-echelon guys in the past 20 or so years). For autographs, I would love to add some guys to my Rays binder that I don't have, like JP Howell, Carl Crawford, Jorge Cantu, Kevin Kiermaier, Randy Arozarena, Tyler Glasnow, Brendan McKay, Brent Honeywell, Greg Vaughn, Fred McGriff, Scott Kazmir, and Blake Snell).
5. Pull some Rays postseason Highlights cards
Topps just did 4 World Series cards for the winning Nationals and none for the losing Astros in the 2020 Flagship set, so unfortunately, it looks like I will have to get some from 2021 Topps Heritage. I would love to pull a few Arozarena cards, one of them winning the '20 ALCS. and one from the Brett Phillips/Randy A. game (trades are welcome!)
6. Complete my Rays Topps run with cusom cards.
This one might take a while. I have all of the missing Topps Rays cards listed out, and I would ultimately like to start printing out the ones I haven't printed yet. I would most likely start from the beginning with the 1998 set. It would be really cool to thumb through my Rays binders and go through each years' Topps set knowing that there are no players/cards missing.
7. Finish the 1994 Topps Traded, 1998 Topps Traded, 1991 Topps & Traded, and possibly one other complete custom card set
I am almost 1/2 way done with the '94 Traded set, the '98 one shouldn't take too long, and I don't think 1991 will be that difficult with all of the random minor league sets printed in '91. After that, I think 1991 is really calling my name, but with only 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000 being left in order to finish up anyone who played a season in the '90's, I may just have to go with 1995. We'll see.
8. This isn't really for me, but I would like for my son to pull his first hit.
This one will be tough for me and will really show if I am a decent person or not. I think I'll be excited for him to pull an autographed card or a relic, but I think part of me is going to wish I pulled the card for my collection. Maybe even more if it is a Ray/Tiger or someone I collect. I could go on about personal goals for 2021, but let's just say I hope to grow as a person/husband/father/employee in 2021 as well.
Lesser goals:
I would also kind of like to get all of my loose cards in binders, but with my cards organized by years, it is kind of a problem. I have a few new cards to put in that are before 2018, but the majority is newer stuff. With 28 teams at 2-3 binders per team, is it really worth it to put in a card from 1981, and then more cards over one by one for 10 years of junk wax before finally putting another new one it?
I also kind of want to organize all of my duplicates by teams and year so I can find stuff for team collectors I trade with more easily.
Finally, I wouldn't mind going through all my basketball and football cards and organizing them by teams.
I think that about sums it up. What do you think about the goals for 2021? Are they achievable? Is there anything you think I missed?
The holidays are finally over, and work will finally be slow again for a few months. It will be nice to have a little free time after clocking out and getting to do customs/organize cards again. I'm working tomorrow morning, have a day off, and am working the next 4, so I won't do anything big for new years, but as bad as 2020 is, I'd just rather get ready for bed, and quickly fall asleep, becuase for as long as I usually feel asleep, it will almost go away quicker if I go to bed than waiting 2-3 hours for midnight. Not to mention that I would be a wreck in 4 hours when I would have to get up.
The new year might not change anything, but I think as a whole that 2021 at least has a shot of being a better year than 2020. If we had another healthy kid in 2021, my wife would slowly get less headaches and not have to have another surgery, or the Rays/Tigers/Auburn football wins a championship, I think that much in itself would do it for me. Whatever situation you find yourself in during 2021, I sure hope your year is better than the last one and that you pull some nice cards for your collection and that I can trade some with you to help it.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy
The team wasn't really good in 1998, finishing last in the American League East. I went to 3 or 4 games that first year, seeing them play the Athletics, and I believe the Red Sox and Twins. So many memories from those games, but I might do a post like Night Owl recently did, and kind of go through an entire year with memories, and card stuff. 
The last page is Julio Santana, first overall pick of the expansion draft Tony Saunders, Dave Silvestri, Bobby Smith, Paul Sorrento, Dennis Springer (who only pitched 1 year in Tampa, but I swear I saw him pitch like 4 times and saw him give up dozens of Home Runs off of his knuckleball), Jason Standridge, Kevin Stocker, Ramon Tatis, Bubba Trammell, Tropicana Field, Terrell Wade, Jerome Walton, Rick White, Luke Wilcox, Rick Williams, Randy Win, and another guy who gave up tons of Homers that I saw pitch in just about every game I went to, Esteban Yan. A bunch of guys you’ve either forgot about, or never heard of, but many of the names bring back memories of games attended in person, games watched on TV, or baseball cards for me. A special thanks to everyone who has traded with me and helped me add cards to my Rays Topps run (and the ‘98 set in particular). 
