P-town Tom’s Card Collection, Coaching Life and Long-awaited Vogelbach Card

P-town Tom’s collecting has slowed, but one long-awaited card has finally made its way into his collection: a 2013 Bowman Sterling Canary Diamond Refractor dual auto with Anthony Rizzo, numbered 3/3. Tom had been chasing it for 13 years. His update offers a welcome glimpse into the life of a familiar cardblogger whose enthusiasm now stretches from baseball coaching to disc golf.

A decade of blogging, then a change of pace

Tom started Waiting 'til Next Year in 2011 and posted regularly for about a decade. He remembers blogging as a source of friendships, trading and the pleasure of discovering cards alongside other collectors. The blog’s latest post recaps a Zapping from April 2025, so the door hasn’t been closed for good.

The shift came after the Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Tom had spent years cheering for a championship, and once it arrived, he says he lost his way for a while. His interest in Major League Baseball, card collecting and blogging all dropped. He also felt the hobby was changing around him, with collectors and investors pulling in different directions.

Tom describes himself as a collector who missed opening inexpensive packs without chase cards, simply to build a set. He wonders whether set builders still have a place in the hobby. The question gets at a change many longtime collectors recognize: when the chase becomes the main attraction, the slow satisfaction of filling a set can feel harder to find.

He has kept his cards, including his Folder of Fun, Hall of Fame collection and Dan Vogelbach collection. The Hall of Fame cards are still kept up to date. When he wants the pack-opening feeling, he sometimes watches single pack rips on YouTube.

Teaching and baseball keep him busy

Tom is still teaching high school math, mainly Calculus and Geometry. After serving as math department chair for the last seven years, he has stepped back from that role for the upcoming school year. Baseball fills much of his free time in both fall and spring.

In fall, he coaches a sixth-grade team at a middle school in his district. In spring, he’s an assistant varsity coach at the high school. The teams have combined for an 86-23 record over the last three seasons, a run he says he’s proud of. Coaching gives him a way to stay close to the game, and he finds working with younger players especially rewarding.

Tom and his wife will mark 22 years of marriage this summer, and they still call P-town home. Their cats, Hugo and Holiday, have been with them since his years of full-time blogging. The pair make an appearance in one of the photos, with Hugo, the tan cat, and Holiday, the gray one, apparently reminding Tom that it’s dinner time.

New cards, familiar collecting instincts

One recent pickup shows Tom’s interest in following the next generation of Cubs players. He’s been watching Josiah Hartshorn, a switch-hitting outfielder and the Cubs’ sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft. Hartshorn received a two million dollar signing bonus to leave his college commitment, then made his professional debut in 2026. He has already been promoted to High-A.

Tom points to Hartshorn’s strike-zone discipline and power, while describing his defense as okay. He’s seen the young player compared to Joey Votto, but adds a measured “We’ll see!” That mix of curiosity and restraint suits a collector who follows a player’s development without treating a comparison as a conclusion.

The Vogelbach collection remains a focus, though the pace has changed since Dan Vogelbach stopped appearing on new cards. Vogelbach has retired and is now an assistant hitting coach for the Brewers. With fewer parallels to pursue, Tom has put his limited collecting budget toward filling gaps in his personal collection.

He has found only three Vogelbach cards that were new to him this year. The standout is the 2013 Bowman Sterling Canary Diamond Refractor dual auto with Anthony Rizzo, numbered 3/3. Tom suspects the other two copies may be with Rizzo collectors. For a card he’d sought for 13 years, finally tracking one down is a satisfying moment built on patience, not a sudden change in collecting priorities.

Beyond baseball cards

Tom’s collecting also includes cards of Ohn Scoggins, a star on the women’s disc golf tour whose positive energy and putting have made her a model for his own game. He’s played more than 180 rounds in each of the last two years, enjoys being outdoors and competing with friends, and volunteers as a spotter when the Pro Tour visits the Peoria area. He says he’s not a big thrower off the tee, but considers himself a strong putter. He has bought three Scoggins cards over six years, choosing them when one catches his eye.

There’s more on Tom’s schedule: he holds Bradley University basketball season tickets with his sister, has joined a bowling league, and says his coed foursome won the league championship twice in the last three years. He also led the league in average in each of the last two years. With teaching, coaching, family and hobbies in the mix, his slower pace of blogging makes sense.

Tom’s update is a reminder that a collecting life can keep moving even when a blog goes quiet. He still has the cards, follows players and makes room for the occasional hard-won addition. For readers who remember his posts, it’s a pleasure to hear what’s keeping him busy—and there may yet be another post if time and the urge to write line up.