tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657985600764530650.post1056552418857627539..comments2023-12-11T03:37:10.895-08:00Comments on This Card Is Cool - My Life in Baseball Cards: Quote of the DayRyan Ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12670458381967699663noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657985600764530650.post-3822396285126086532011-07-27T07:23:13.640-07:002011-07-27T07:23:13.640-07:00continued......
I still received a complete set e...continued......<br /><br />I still received a complete set every year but these were left sealed and quickly placed into deep storage for my future fortune. Instead, I chased the hot players and hot rookie cards. I busted packs that now resembled metal more than wax and quickly checked high-range "prices" (why would anybody go by the 'low' prices anyways?!?) to see which cards deserved a top-loader. Usually, if a card registered over the $1 mark - it was carefully penny-sleeved and top-loaded. Ready to show! Didn't matter who it was, I was getting rich.......<br /><br />Bleh. Oh well. If I could go back and talk some sense into myself, I don't know if I would. Sure, now I would encourage 'me' to hold off on $3/$4 packs of Fleer Ultra, Finest or whatever and save up to complete my favortie player's '84 rookie card collection or enjoy some of those great vintage cards at the back of my LCS's display case. I would also encourage little me to build some older sets.....but I can't, and that's okay because I STILL had fun!<br /><br />Depending on what age group you define as a "kid", I would keep the worth/price/value aspect of the hobby away from youngsters as long as possible. Their immersion into the sport, whether it be playing the game in Little Leagure or as a fan checking the sports page, Sports Center and Sports Illustrated - could very well be tainted if the business side plays too big of a role. I'm not saying that it will ruin the experience but it will have an effect. <br /><br />Baseball cards, when not treated as potential dividend checks, are a great way to supplement a person's love for our national past time. Particularly when looking back upon days gone by. The two can go hand-in-hand in that regard. <br /><br />On the flip-side, the game of baseball can't supplement a kid's money-hungry approach to the hobby. Players will get hurt, teams will have bad years and hot rookies don't pan out. These are facts of life and will affect baseball cards' "value/worth/price" accordingly. When this happens, if the pure love of the game and a certain team(s) or player(s) is not there to sustain the passion for that young kid through a hard-hit "card portfolio"......there's a recipe there for a loss to the hobby and perhaps even the sport. And there's nothing fun about that! <br /><br />Sorry for the long post - passionate and sentimental subject matter + slow morning at work = novella :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657985600764530650.post-32873796405695738052011-07-27T07:19:07.021-07:002011-07-27T07:19:07.021-07:00Great post, Ryan - and a great question.
Looki...Great post, Ryan - and a great question. <br /><br />Looking back upon my childhood, I can easily say that I made the transition from collecting for fun to collecting for "worth" in just 5 quick years in the hobby. I started in '87 and I can still remember building team sets in this gigantic and awkwardly circular card case that resembled a giant baseball. I'd go through them every day, memorizing names and matching players with box scores in the daily sports page. I'd celebrate a new Yankee, Brave or Oakland A....but Doug Corbett from the Angels had his own spot, too. My collection grew quickly and I was forced to jam too many cards into too small of a space. I damaged the cards but I didn't care because I was having fun. <br /><br />Then Christmas hit and Santa left me a complete set! It was sealed and wrapped in plastic for about 5 seconds that morning. I shuffled through all of those cards over and over and over......I kept the set together (I think), but I sure didn't care about enjoying them. I think I even took them out of the factory box and placed them into my team-organized case before realizing they wouldn't fit and then transferring them BACK into the factory box. (laugh) As a father now.....God, that cracks me up. <br /><br />Fast forward to about '90, '91 or so - you know, the purest of junk wax years! I had a Beckett subscription (duh!)and COULDN'T wait to pull it from the mail box every month to check the HOT LIST and see how my collection's numbers had improved. <br /><br />"....'84 Mattingly, 18 bucks and going UP! Greg Jeffries, 4 bucks this month - WOW! I need to trade for Jared's Kevin Maas soon before he goes up anymore! Dale Murphy just isn't panning out. What happened to Jerome Walton and Chris Sabo?! Out of the top loaders and back into the common box, boys!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com