Ignorance is bliss, because knowing takes the fun out of it

I did not set out to have my ignorance about certain baseball-related topics shatter into a million pieces.  I did not set out to have two completely different venues shatter my rose-colored view of my baseball ways.  But, it happened. And, I was all the better not knowing any of it.  Allow me to explain.

Last weekend, my wife and I went shopping and stopped by Books-A-Million to see what they had (in general, but also for my son who has required summer reading for school).  On the dollar rack, I saw "Bases Loaded" about the steroid era.  It was a buck, so why not?  The book sat in my home office doing nothing for a few days before I started reading it.  In the meantime, I finally broke down and started entering hundreds of cards into TheCardCollector - to see if I needed them or already had them.  By "hundreds," I mean more than 2,400 cards in 800-count boxes. I am down to one 800-count box and a box of cards and items I thought I had already done. That should be fun (insert sarcastic eyeroll here).

 
During a break from collecting, I started to read the book. I hate it. It tells me all the things I knew were going on, but was blissfully ignoring.  And that was all of the first 20 pages. I quit reading it. Frankly, I don't want to know what I don't know. I'd rather not know which of the baseball "heroes" I looked up to took part in the juicing, the womanizing, etc.

While entering cards, I discovered that some of my sets were showing as having inventory (that is, I had the cards already in my collection), but the names of the players were stricken from the system for those sets! AUGH!  Now, I have several sets that show I own cards but they have no names. For example, my 1994 Conlon Collection cards.  Now, in some sets, this is not a big deal. I can look up the card numbers and names either online of in the few Baseball Almanacs I have.  But, the Conlons are different.  See, in the program, the cards are listed from 1-whatever.  However, the ACTUAL cards are numbered starting with about 600 and going up.  So, the card with ID# 51 might actually be card #723 in the set.  The program "handles" this because the people who made the program preface the cards with their actual numbers.  So, Card 51 might look like: Card 51 #723 Robert Feller Qty Owned 1 - That is, when everything was still there.  Now, the program joyfully shows: Card 51 Qty Owned 1.  Lovely.  What actual CARD NUMBER is #51!?  I have no idea.

This means I now have to go through the database looking for missing names, then hit the binders and look up the actual cards to re-enter the names into the database. AUGH!

 Oh, I know, it sounds like I'm whining. I suppose I am a little, but I am very exasperated.  Many of the missing names belong to sets that I added myself because they were not originally in the database program.  Well, after the company ADDED those sets, it unceremoniously deleted the player names from the sets I had created.  I am just very lucky that it kept the inventory tracking.  Otherwise, I'd be looking at starting all over again and building up to my now 10,250+ cards and items.

Having said that, I am curious about those that keep their cards in a spreadsheet - or their own database.  Would you mind sharing the file or the layout?  I figure I better have a backup plan in case this turns into a "start over from scratch" situation.

So, there it is... I now know more than I wanted to about the "behind-the-scenes" of baseball, and I am fully aware that my card database may no longer be valid.  I want my ignorance back. Thanks.