For October an up-and-down trend continued… and it was one of those “up” months. This was probably one of the top five months I’ve ever had. I think my best month ever was 47 returns and I was just short of that. Plus this month a new sport started getting a little more into the mix.
I’m starting to put together a pretty good total for the year and I am about to cross the 365 total returns for the year which means my “1 per day” goal from last year is definitely being blown out of the water this year. But I will most definitely be short of what I need to average 1.5 per day like I wanted to this year.
So let’s dig into these totals shall we?
The Monthly Numbers
October 10th was probably one of my best days of the year. I think the most I’ve gotten in one day was six successes. Well, six came back and five were successes that day. That sure helped carry the month pretty well, five days with three and one day with four successes sure helped too.
I’m loving the consistency for the month. It felt like it dropped off a bit toward the end, but it can’t go on forever.
Somehow the failures are really staying down too. One of those failures I got right back out the next day because luckily there was a forwarding address on there. Of course it was lucky that I hadn’t used all my stamps up when I got it though, otherwise it would have sat around waiting for me.
HE’S HEATING UP! There’s basketball on the heat map folks. I’m loving that gray color at the top of some of those peaks. I wanted to work in a new sport this year so I’m glad that’s working out. I may save hockey for my goal to work in for next year.
This was a month for some Spring Training successes as well as a few that came in that I sent out to current players at the end of the year. But the Spring Training ones that come in during the fall always feel like a bit of a bonus for me. But that’s why you are seeing a bit of a hump toward the right side of the chart.
Topps, Topps, and more Topps… of course. But you can see the basketball showing up with NBA Hoops, Topps, Upper deck and some of that Skybox as well. Fleer made a comeback this month and you can see that football returns are helping out Score still.
There were a few shifts in the numbers this month. Oakland/San Francisco dropped a bit and Atlanta, Minnesota, Montreal and St. Louis jumped up a bit. I might have to extend that graph a bit so you can see all of the bars labeled. I want you to get all this great information (yeah, whatever Bill, we don’t care actually).
A crazy thing about the Top 10 teams for this month is around St. Louis. I got 10 St. Louis Cardinals cards in October again. Except this month, that was only good enough for sixth in the Top 10. The Braves, Astros, Twins, and Expos all stepped in there (along with the Red Sox staying hot).
Here are the Top 10 by team for the month:
- Boston Red Sox – 13
- Atlanta Braves – 12
- Houston Astros – 11
- Minnesota Twins – 11
- Montreal Expos – 11
- St. Louis Cardinals – 10
- California Angels – 8
- Baltimore Orioles – 7
- Toronto Blue Jays – 7
- Three teams with 6
Getting Trendy
Here’s that up-and-down graph for you. While it goes up and down, I feel like the trend is still up for the last couple months. I think for what I am planning to get out over the next few, I’m trying to aim for guys who return a little faster so I can maybe keep up some consistency.
As of the end of the month I was not too far from “one-per-day” territory which I am super happy with. I’m also happy with the total cards. But somehow too, I am keeping true failure returns down. Last month was zero and this month it was two.
That little basketball bar is peaking out just a little bit more. Woo hoo!
Last month there was a point where I wasn’t sure how the month was feeling and then things kind of started to happen. This month I was ahead of the game almost from the get go. It was pretty early in the month that I knew I was ahead. I’m always thinking about it when I log my cards in and see the number of the return for the month and then think about the date (i.e., I have 20 returns and it’s the 18th). That’s always a good feeling when it’s the right ratio.
The Overall Numbers
At the end of the month I was at 354 successes and 31 failures for the year. I told you I was close to “1 per”! And not that I broke 1K in cards returned, I’m really keeping track to see if I will get to 1.5K by the end of the year. I was two cards short of 1.2K with 1,198. I think given where I am this year, 302 returns in the last two months could be possible.
Like I said earlier, if I can plan some quick returners and they come through for me that will go a long way to making that goal.
He’s Making a List
This month I got a few back from some Mets, although only one of them was in a Mets uniform… Neil Walker and Brad Brach came back to me. Brad was interesting and I’ll cover that when I get to his post.
Others that I can’t wait to show you: The Fridge, Thunder Dan Majerle, Chris Pine (or maybe someone he played), and some guys with some pretty great names. The only thing is, I have a TON of backlog at this point. I probably won’t get to these (unless I do something special with posting) until maybe December.
Keep on getting those envelopes out!