Someone on Twitter the other day asked how many houses people had been in since last March. I really had to think about it and on a walk through my neighborhood I saw some friends and brought it up with them.
I figured out that I had been in only a couple houses besides my own and even then, it was only to step in the door while I dropped something off during the winter when it was cold. I stepped inside my Aunt’s house and my brother’s condo. That’s it.
So I expanded it a little further. I had only been in two additional areas outside someone’s house other than their front step or porch. I hung out with a neighbor and their family late last summer/fall in their side yard and I had band practice in the fall in my buddy’s backyard.
I don’t know whether any of that is good or bad honestly. Sometimes I think good because I’m doing my part to stay apart. But then other times I think that I feel like I’m going crazy. I really am starting to miss having a good full on band practice. Can’t wait to get that vaccine I guess.
Thanks for listening! Hope you are doing well.
The Monthly Numbers
I feel like I say this a lot, but this month kind of snuck up on me as a good month. I think sometimes I lose track of where I am in the month compared to what kind of success I am having. At some point the returns slowed down a month and I felt like I was in a spot to feel like it wasn’t going to be as great as the previous two months. But it turns out this month was right in the middle of those.
There are some good peaks this month with two days of seven returns and another day of six and another of five. But there’s a heck of a lot of consistency too. I love when it looks like I’m getting something everyday, except for Sundays of course.
Again, you’ll also see that the failures have increased a bit. They’ve been higher overall this year but this is the most so far. Some of that is that I am sending out more I guess.
Oh my goodness, look at all those colors! I hit pretty much every category this month. The hockey returns are my favorite though. I really thought that I just wasn’t going to get to them right away when I set a goal for that. But I got them out and they are coming back. Plus the research in seeing recent returns is helping for that too.
Of course there’s a peak in the 90-91 range. That’s not going away any time soon.
Milwaukee’s Best! For reals! This month I got back 30 Brewers cards and then three Packers cards. I think the 30 has to be some kind of team record for me for a month. That certainly put those Wisconsin number into the stratosphere. In most months everything is a lot more even across the board.
So the Brewers, Orioles, Braves, Royals, and Mariners stayed in the Top 10 this month. The new teams showing up that surprised me a little are the Twins and then the Caps. Apparently when I got into hockey I was ready to Rock the Red.
Here are the Top 10 individual teams for the month (by cards returned):
- Milwaukee Brewers – 30
- Minnesota Twins – 13
- Baltimore Orioles – 12
- Atlanta Braves – 9
- Kansas City Royals – 9
- Seattle Mariners – 9
- Washington Capitals – 9
- Detroit Tigers – 8
- Four with 8
Getting Trendy
Pretty darn consistent when you look at it. Crossing my fingers that it stays that way. January was my low this year with 73 and then I had 84 in February, so March being a 77 returns it’s pretty much the low-middle of those numbers. I’d be really happy if I can stay somewhere in that 70-80 returns per month.
Again you get to see all of those pretty colors. This is becoming like my old brand graphic though. Baseball is so much of my totals that it just takes over everything. I might have to think about it going away at some point. But what I am happy with on here is that hockey finished second to baseball in the totals.
My monthly card total was right in the middle of my two previous months just like the returns number. 277 was even more dead center though between January’s 264 and February’s 287. Again, if I can keep in that range I’ll be happy. I have a feeling that I’m going to have some more attempts go out with less in the envelope though.
The Overall Numbers
The totals for the month of March was 77 returns and 277 cards. Another great month. That’s 45% more returns than last March and almost 40% more cards. I’m on about the same page as I was in other months but March in previous years were some pretty good months.
I’m already halfway to the number of returns I had in 2019. It’s pretty similar with cards, but even better. I’m still a bit away of last years numbers from being worth mentioning my pace.
He’s Making a List
I didn’t have many stragglers this month. Just looking at who was over 250 days it came down to:
- Shane Rawley – 985
- Ken Anderson – 433
- Jeff Ballard – 251
I think that’s another benefit to doing some more research on recent returns and seeing what other people are getting back. I’m thinking if guys are in the mood to sign I better get into their queue.
One of the failures I had that’s worth mentioning was Rheal Cormier who was also a straggler. That was returned after 433 days and I would imagine his family returned it after he passed away. RIP Rheal.
Some of my favorites for the month were: Toby Harrah, Dick Schofield, Don Money, Greg Anthony, Greg Gagne, Wayne Garrett, Doug Henry, Lance Johnson, Johnny Meads, and Jeff Ballard. Again I feel like I listed a lot of favorites but I did get back a lot of cards..
I hope you had a great month too!