The Organization Of One Million Cubs

Counting and organization of one million Chicago Cubs baseball cards will be the largest struggle of this project. Moreso than the actual attainment of one million cards.

So how will it be done? Initially, the plan was to sort through the existing collection which numbers somewhere between 50,000 and 75,000 cards.

That seemed very time consuming and tedious. However, in some form or fashion a better organization plan will be implemented. At this time, the organization goal is to catalog the existing collection and get an accurate count.

Typically an estimate is not too difficult because the card boxes store an approximate number of cards. Monster boxes hold 5,000 or 3,200 cards on average. Other boxes containing Cubs hold 550, 800, or 900 cards. There are a few binders that contain maybe 500-1,000 cards. But then there are the multiple boxes that remain unsorted. So the current estimated count is in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 75,000 Cubs cards.

The first action has been simply to start an Excel spreadsheet (pictured above). This database contains the key checklist items to eventually sort the collection by finding out how many total cards, but also how many cards from a player, or set.

This strategy will come in handy to track down missing cards from the collection. Ultimately, I would also like to pull all Ryne Sandberg, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and other players to insert into binders.

That’s also where this form of compiling data can get tricky. Once catalogued, I plan to move these cards from their existing homes inside the boxes on the spreadsheet.

Each box will be numbered. Currently, I am cataloging the second box. The first two boxes are titled, A1 and A2. Then from left to right each row is numbered 1 through 4 or 1 through 5.

Time will tell how the spreadsheet will change after any cards are pulled and given a new home. This method will suffice for now, and it’s a still a long journey to one million.