Can You Imagine?

[mintacular]

How even more obsessed you'd be with your pre-war cards if you actually grew up collecting/owning these cards & watching these players on tv or dareIsay in person? Actually, opening cigarette packs with Ty Cobb's etc, inserted in them?

I collect mostly vintage 50s-70s bb and love them to death yet didn't even grow up watching these players. Instead I watched Barry Bonds and Griffey Jr during the mass production of cards + steroid era...

Scary thought to think how obsessed I'd be on cards if I actually watched Ty Cobb, et al not to mention busting his cards out of cigarette packs as a boy. Yikes

[RGold]

+1

[milkit1]

I think that's mostly why vintage unopened packs are so pricey. Its the closest thing to a time machine that we can buy.

[dstraate]

I think it's safe to say I'd be dead of a heart attack, as I would undoubtedly have been a chain smoker

[steve B]

Or... Would the oversaturated media presence of those players make us just as jaded towards them as we are towards todays players. The earlier players are special because getting to watch them was special. Today we can watch nearly every game, and the playoffs and World series are on DVD. We can watch them anytime.

Another factor is how the press treated the players. Prewar many reporters travelled with the team at the teams expense. The team got good and regular PR, the papers got low cost articles for the sports section. The reporters were often friendly with the players, and at the very least had to get along with them on the road. So some stuff that would be a hotly reported scandal today was let slide (It also may have been considered less scandalous by the reporters)

There are some guys today who have been a bit lost in the shuffle of repeated scandals. In The SI article about Manny they showed the recent home run leaders (I can't recall exactly, but I think it was the 500+ homer guys since 2000 or something like that) Of the 7 there was one that hasn't been linked to steroids. Jim Thome, who has put up big but not gaudy numbers apparently without chemical help. And who hasn't gotten as much publicity as he probably deserves.

Steve B

[LanceRoten]

Man, it's bad enough that I have vivid memories of the 80's when quality Koufax's, Clemente's, Mays', Aaron's, etc were around and available for decent prices. I'd shudder at the thought of trying to rebuild a collection that once had Cobb, Big Train, Mathewson, etc

[ls7plus]

Even though we weren't there, it's still the history of the game you can hold right in your hands. The card, through the image the player left behind for just an instant of his playing life, connects you to him, and takes you right back to the time, for all of us with that last little bit of kid remaining deep inside. I take out my 1907 Dietsche Batting and Fielding Cobbs, and can almost see that old rascal lining an outside fastball to the opposite field in left for a double, and making a great running catch! Now if only the wife understood and appreciated what that meant to a baseball lover!

As always, best to all in your collecting.

Larry

[Matt]

This is precisely why I believe there is going to be a huge dip in market values for cards from the 50s and 60s as the generation with the strongest attachment to those players continues to age.

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by ls7plus

Even though we weren't there, it's still the history of the game you can hold right in your hands. The card, through the image the player left behind for just an instant of his playing life, connects you to him, and takes you right back to the time, for all of us with that last little bit of kid remaining deep inside.

That's a wrap, sportsfans.
+1