Tomorrow marks the 40th day since I last opened a pack of baseball cards. It’s pretty big milestone for a guy who at times can be addicted to ripping packs and thumbing through new baseball cards. But I know that tough times are ahead as 2010 Topps baseball has already started to hit the market.

But what has made this 40-day journey easy on me is a bit of fantasy and reality. You see, about two weeks ago I bought my first 2010 fantasy baseball magazine, and just yesterday I purchased a second one just to give me a few different views on things. I’m currently involved in a pair of long-term keeper leagues with some friends, and over the last week I’ve managed to make some trades that have netted me Prince Fielder, Felix Hernandez and Jon Lester. Needless to say I am super excited about the 2010 season, even though my early start is going to make the next three months agonizing.

In terms of reality, my wife and I have booked a trip to the east coast in May which will lead us to two major destinations: New York and Boston.

The trip is to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary as well as our 30th birthdays, all of which fall within a month of each other. This will be my first time to both cities. During our seven-day trip, we’re also making two stops that any baseball fan must make: Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.

As a Red Sox fan, this is a dream come true. As it turns out we will watch the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on May 17, and then two days later we’ll have the fortune of watching the Sox at home against the Minnesota Twins. For those counting, that is two games in three days at two of the most storied ball parks — well sort of. I kind of wish the Sox-Yankee game was at the old/original Yankee Stadium, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just happy to have the experience and to share it with my wife, who has been nothing but supportive in my desire to visit these parks, particularly Fenway.

These two items — fantasy baseball and our east cost trip — have left little time for me deal with baseball cards. I’ve not made any additions to my collection over the last month with the exception of my 1954 Topps Ted Williams. I’m actually trying to decrease the amount of stuff I have in the garage and reclaiming whatever money I can. (See eBay items here)

But as I noted earlier, tough times are ahead. Over the weekend I checked eBay to view some of the 2010 Topps cards and some of them are appealing to me, particularly the Red Sox stuff. So what am I to do?

If history has taught me anything it’s that the new base Topps set of every year sends collectors into a feeding frenzy for about three weeks for two major reasons. First off, it’s NEW baseball cards, not stuff we’ve been looking at for months or years. And secondly, we’re all feeling baseball withdrawal right now so in some way the release of the new Topps set is our way of welcoming in the new season, even if the players don’t start to report to spring training for another three weeks.

As these packs start to trickle into retail stores — where I do most of my shopping — I just need to remember that this urge to buy every pack on the shelf is temporary. It won’t hurt to buy a couple packs to celebrate the 2010 season, but there is no need to buy more than just a few. I think I am done with the idea of trying to build sets, and the abundance of 2007 Topps inserts sitting in my garage serve as a reminder as to what can happen when you buy way too much of a product that offers very little in return.

This entry was posted on January 26, 2010 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Newspaperman with tags 2010 Topps, baseball, baseball cards, Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, New York Yankees, sports, Topps, Yankee Stadium. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.