One Million Cubs Project Update: Unorganized Chaos

The One Million Cubs Project is a great success only five weeks in. However, the project has pulled me in multiple directions and at times it's been very challenging.

I love a challenge, and attempting to collect one million Chicago Cubs baseball cards is exactly that. Currently, the focus is a bit lacking due to many reasons.

First, my current collection is not organized, nor counted. The cataloging process is long and tedious and less than 9,000 cards are accounted for. This creates a logjam for new Cubs acquired. 

Second, I still sell cards on eBay and Sportlots. As I stated in a previous blog entry, my focus is not solely on turning a profit. My eBay listings are few at this time, but Sportlots sales have ramped up with the release of Topps Series One and spring training beginning next week.

Third, I'm still acquiring cards. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but for her it's out of sight/out of mind. Last week, another truckload (at least 150,000 cards) were added to the collection.

Which leads me to the sorting. I'm slowly starting to sort the latest haul I mentioned before shoving the monster boxes into a closet for later team sorting. I'm pulling stars and Cubs, first. Then I will go back and sort into teams. 

Finally, the trades! That's the impetus of the project. Without trades, the goal may never be reached. Some trades require much sorting still. 

And on to the numbers...

Current (estimated) Cubs Count

Approaching 100,000. This number could be as low as 70,000. The problem with estimating is that many of my cards remain unsorted and the number of Cubs cards is unknown. 

Current Cubs Cards Cataloged

8,447. This takes a lot of time! My goal is to be caught up by end of year, but that's most likely a pipe dream at my current pace.

2018 Cubs Goals

Stated above, I would like to have the Cubs inventory cataloged by January 1, 2019. That's unlikely. 

A more attainable goal is to reach 250,000 Cubs cards by the same date. This will be challenge, but I have made some great trades already and believe I can get there.

Trade Count

The latter goal is attainable because I've concluded many trades in just five weeks. There have been 21 trades made that have netted nearly 10,000 Cubs cards.

Biggest Trade

Last week I picked up 150,000-170,000 cards for a 2018 Topps Harrison Bader autograph. The sorting process is ongoing, so at this point it's unclear how many Cubs cards are inside the 51 monster boxes.

What I Have To Trade - Baseball

At this point, I'd like to stick to team trades. Every team is available. I have thousands of Dodgers and Yankees ready to go. Also, White Sox are now available. I have between 500-1,000 White Sox left over after my latest trade.

What I Have To Trade - Football

All football teams available except the Green Bay Packers (trade pending). Football is largely unsorted, so it will take a week to put a package together.

What I Have To Trade - Hockey

All teams available except the Pittsburgh Penguins. Same with football, as hockey is unsorted.

What I Have To Trade - Basketball

All teams available. Again, basketball is unsorted.

What I Have To Trade - NASCAR

I have about 10,000 or more racing cards. I know little about racing cards, but more than willing to trade them off.