Hoops Hobby

I’m approaching the halfway mark of the ‘By the Letter’ series, and since I started it back in 2021, I’ve added to some of the early binder pages.

I have some takeaways, such as creating some metrics around the state of the project, including:

Acquisition Type (TTM, Online Purchase, In-Person Purchase, Trade, Gift)
Acquisition Location (Website, Card Shop, Card Show, etc…)
Acquisition Date
Card Brand/Manufacturer
Card Type (Licensed, Custom, Pro, College, Unlicensed)
Set Type (Base set, Insert, etc…)

At some point I plan to create a gallery of binder pages showing the state of the collection at any given time.

But for now, I want to provide some updates on some of the earlier posts/letters.

Letter A – Original Post – March 30, 2021

Old collection percentage 3 of 14, 21.4% Complete
New collection percentage 9 of 15, 60% Complete

New player added to All-Time Roster – Justin Anderson

Anderson played in 13 games for the Pacers during the 2022 season. with the Pacers being his last NBA stop. Anderson played meaningful rotation minutes for a handful over NBA teams, and he averaged over 20 minutes per game during his time with the Pacers, starting in 6 of those 13 games.

As a Virginia Tech grad, I remember Anderson as well for his time at the University of Virginia.

For the card, I added a 2015-16 Totally Certified Rookie Roll Call on-card autograph from Anderson’s rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks. While this is clearly not a Pacers card, it also don’t completely jump off the binder page as a Mavericks card.

This one was a COMC pickup for just a few dollars, too. Hard to beat that with an on-card autograph. And speaking of COMC, I appreciate the ability to export my entire purchase history into a spreadsheet that I can easily filter on.

Next, I’ll go into the other cards I’ve added since the original post.

I shared this Lavoy Allen autograph from 2013-14 Panini Preferred on my Instagram, but not on the blog. An example of an on-card autograph from a premium set for cheap, and this is another reason why I love this autograph project. I have a reason to pick up cards from sets across eras, manufacturers, products, just about everywhere in the basketball landscape. And there’s no pressure to complete team sets or rainbows. I can just grab the single card I want and be on my way. The Preferred base set has 600 (600!!??) cards from across multiple brands, with varying print runs per card. The Lavoy Allen is /75.

I already talked about the Justin Anderson above, and the Ike Anigbogu is a Prizm Silver rookie, an eBay purchase from October 2023. Can’t go wrong with a Prizm Silver rookie for the binder.

Bob Arnzen was a TTM return back in 2023 on this 1971-72 Topps Cincinnati Royals card which I talked about in this post.

I ended up adding the 2012-13 Timeless Treasures autograph I mentioned back in my original post in 2021. This copy is numbered 99/99, and was another COMC pickup back in October of 2023.

I’m fond of this 2013-14 Pinnacle autograph set. The Pinnacle set is one of the last hobby boxes I opened, which was back in the 2016-17 timeframe. I didn’t open the Ayres myself, but the box had 2 Giannis rookies as well as some cool museum parallels and inserts.

This is another example of a non-Pacers card that doesn’t stand out as a non-Pacers card. I try to target these in general for players that don’t have any Pacers cards.

Letter B – Original Post – September 19, 2022

Old collection percentage 6 of 34, 17.6% Complete
New collection percentage 17 of 39, 43.5% Complete

New players added to All-Time Roster – Tony Bradley, Bruce Brown, Kendall Brown, Moses Brown, Thomas Bryant

Three out of this group were added to the roster this season for depth at the backup center position. Bryant is getting meaningful playoff minutes while Bradley did see some time in the big game four win over Cleveland. The Luminance autograph is out of 10, and isn’t overly obvious as a non-Pacers card, with the profile picture.

While I appreciate Bruce Brown as a player and was glad for him to be on the Pacers, he ended up being a part of the trade to land Pascal Siakam, so I will always look back on his time fondly. I first picked up an on-card autograph with Brown shown as a Piston, but I later added the Crown Royale autograph, only to find that it is much, much too thick for the autograph binder. I’m tempted to move the sticker onto another card with Brown as a Pacer, but I haven’t made that switch as of yet. For now the Pistons card remains in the binder.

Kendall Brown is showing up in releases as a Pacer in current year releases. He most recently played for the Nets G-League affiliate. If I’m grabbing a binder autograph, can’t do too much better than a silver rookie autograph from Optic.

Here are the other cards for the letter ‘B’ that I’ve added since my original post back in 2022.

Johnny Baum returned his 1972-73 Topps card back signed through the mail in about two weeks, back in September of 2024. This is a great looking card from an iconic Topps set.

I had to share a binder replacement as well. Even though I own a handful or so Jonathan Bender autographs, I added a 2001-02 Topps Pristine autograph off of COMC back in 2022, around the time I wrote the original post. It’s my favorite autograph set of all-time, so it has to be in the binder.

This Goga Bitadze Rookie Ink autograph from 2019-20 Hoops was a contribution from Kyle of the Wax Museum Podcast. He was kind enough to reach out and offer up a stack of cards to add to my autograph project, and this was one!

The Brian Bowen autograph is a Prizm parallel from 2019-20 Hoops Premium Stock, a product that had a lot of hype around it back when it was released, so it’s fun to have that product represented in the binder. This was an eBay purchase back in 2023.

Jamison Brewer was a 2nd round pick in 2001, same class as Jamaal Tinsley. He wasn’t nearly as well represented in sets from that season, and his only autographs are from college releases. Happy to have him represented in the binder though from a 2001 SAGE Hit product.

Brezec, I’m just going to say it, was underrated. He was an expansion selection of the Bobcats, and I enjoyed watching him start games for them and get his chance to shine. This is his only autograph card where he is pictured as a Pacer. Glad to own it.

Brissett was a valued bench player for the Pacers. Always felt like a threat to make an impact when he was on the floor. Picked up the 2021-22 Optic Signature Series as a cheap option for the binder, but this might be one I look to upgrade for a Gold or even Silver parallel down the line, or look at an autograph from Illusions instead, which have a design that I prefer a bit more than this one.

Brogdon’s always been a steady player but the way Aaron Nesmith fits with this current Pacers team, that trade ended up being just what the Pacers needed. I do like the look of the Fast Break Prizm autograph from 2019-20 Mosaic. My complaint about it is that it’s horizontal so it doesn’t look quite right in the binder. Even a Hoops autograph might be an upgrade since it’s a vertical card.

Chase Budinger has reinvented himself as an Olympic Volleyball player. While Budinger is in some really nice autograph sets, this 2015-16 Threads Signage card is the only one I am aware of where he is featured in a Pacers uniform. This was a COMC pickup back in 2023 and is number 170/199.

Letter C – Original Post – September 23, 2023

Old collection percentage 4 of 18, 22.2% Complete
New collection percentage 9 of 18, 50.0% Complete

New players added to All-Time Roster – None

No new players starting with last name ‘C’ since Torrey Craig in 2022.

I’ve added five new autographs in this group over the past 20 months, two of which are TTM returns.

Corky Calhoun continues to be an excellent through the mail (TTM) signer. He kindly returned a custom card signed, which I talked about here, back in September of 2024.

I wrote about picking up the Chubin autograph from a kind member over on TCDB.com who was willing to sell me their copy of a Lana Sports autograph where Chubin is featured as a member of the Anahiem Amigos.

Leroy Combs signed a copy of his 1983-84 Star Pacers card back in August of 2024. Since this is his only Pacers card and one of only two cards in total, I was very pleased to receive a response, including a note, back from Mr. Combs.

Like I mentioned in my original post, Torrey Craig appears as a Pacer in his 2021-22 Select autograph, and so it was an automatic add to my collection. These cards are sharp and have a premium look and feel. Always pleased when a Pacer shows up in a modern set like this, especially when it’s a new add to the team at the time.

I also added a Michael Curry autograph from 2003-04 Topps Rookie Matrix. Curry has other autographs from more recent sets, but the framed autograph card in a Raptors uniform was the coolest certified autograph of his to add, by far.

Looking back at the collective growth of my Pacers autograph project since I started, especially from these first three letters and original posts, it makes me appreciate the project and my collection even more, and it motivates me to keep going, especially as the cards and players get tougher to find.

Are you in the middle of a long-term collecting project? I’d love to hear about it! What do you find rewarding about it and what are the biggest pain points and challenges?