Why Do You Collect Pre-War??

[david_l]

Originally Posted by ronniehatesjazz

It's like taking a brief step back in time before all the nonsense and confusion of the world we live in today came into effect.

I hear what you're saying and agree about loving the history and pre war cards. That said, I see this sentiment very frequently, often in hobbyist contexts, and I just don't get it. For example, when T206s came out we were living in a time of Jim Crow and mass lynchings. McKinley had been assassinated less than a decade previous and the scars of Wounded Knee were still prevelant. Woman were still about a decade from even being able to vote. In sports, the greatest athletes were barred from playing with each other and the reserve clause guaranteed that the owners were rich and the players would be sent home (perhaps to the mines or some other intense industrial job) if they held out for their fair share. There was no pension in baseball and many ex players struggled to provide for their families after their career ended (often via injuries). Union busting/violence was prevelant and politics were just as corrupt, if not more so than now.

Nostalgia is fine but in no way was there "less nonsense" than today (unless maybe your were an aristocrat with "pure" European blood).

Sorry, I don't mean to get on you but I see this sentiment way too frequently and it always makes me shake my head.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by david_l

I hear what you're saying and agree about loving the history and pre war cards. That said, I see this sentiment very frequently, often in hobbyist contexts, and I just don't get it. For example, when T206s came out we were living in a time of Jim Crow and mass lynchings. McKinley had been assassinated less than a decade previous and the scars of Wounded Knee were still prevelant. Woman were still about a decade from even being able to vote. In sports, the greatest athletes were barred from playing with each other and the reserve clause guaranteed that the owners were rich and the players would be sent home (perhaps to the mines or some other intense industrial job) if they held out for their fair share. There was no pension in baseball and many ex players struggled to provide for their families after their career ended (often via injuries). Union busting/violence was prevelant and politics were just as corrupt, if not more so than now.

Nostalgia is fine but in no way was there "less nonsense" than today (unless maybe your were an aristocrat with "pure" European blood).

Sorry, I don't mean to get on you but I see this sentiment way too frequently and it always makes me shake my head.

I thought that were no politics allowed on this site.

[david_l]

Originally Posted by rats60

I thought that were no politics allowed on this site.

Are you confusing history and politics? I know the lines can be blurred but please.

[mechanicalman]

Like Rhett, my passion is the convergence of three things:

1) I grew up loving baseball and idolizing baseball players. And the pre-war heros, even though many of them are flawed, are unlikely to disappoint me at this point.

2) I love history, and, as a marketer by trade, I'm enthralled by the history of advertising and marketing. I think we forget that most of these pieces existed to get people to buy other stuff.

3) I have an appreciation for pop culture art. When it comes to T206, T202, Goudeys, Diamond Stars, and even 48 Leafs, I just love how the artwork captures the times. When I can show my non-sports-loving wife a card, and she thinks it's beautiful, then it hits this criterion.

[Kawika]

Originally Posted by david_l

Are you confusing history and politics? I know the lines can be blurred but please.

Agreed. I didn't read any politics whatsoever into what you wrote. I try not to let the realities of history interfere with my "good ol' days" nostalgia but the imagination requires a filter of gauze to ignore past troubles and the like. A big reason why I collect is to escape the present, to conjure a bygone world when the old people I knew were young, and to re-connect with the young lad I used to be. I remember buying Superboy comics from a news-shack on 86th and Broadway in 1959; the other day I picked up a few issues off eBay, all to please that ancient boy.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by david_l

Are you confusing history and politics? I know the lines can be blurred but please.

OK, stick with the history of baseball and keep your political views out of it. The majority of people in the country believe things are getting worse not better.

[ls7plus]

For me, the card (at least where the visual image is taken from a photograph) is a two-dimensional slice of an actual 3-dimensional moment in the player's life and career, created and preserved virtually contemporaneously. It thus becomes the history of the game I can hold in my hands! Plus, as Leon has not only noted but proven, if you apply some analysis to your purchases, over time, they may well be expected to appreciate substantially in value.

Happy collecting to all,

Larry

[Leon]

Originally Posted by rats60

OK, stick with the history of baseball and keep your political views out of it. The majority of people in the country believe things are getting worse not better.

If someone said that to you would you want to know their name? (kind of goes for David l too) Please be cognizant of the name rules.
And btw, to me, your statement was more political than his. But that is just me.

[ronniehatesjazz]

Originally Posted by rats60

I thought that were no politics allowed on this site.

+1

I really enjoy seeing why others collect and I'd rather just stick to that but David totally doesn't get what I'm saying and I'm the one shaking my head. It's just another example of someone twisting words so they have the opportunity to feel morally superior. BTW that time was far more than just lynchings, oppression, and sexism. There were a lot of terrific things going on but it's a lot cooler to focus on the atrocities. Tribal nature and anti-intellectualism at its worst. Sorry, I'll stop now.

[Billy5858]

Originally Posted by david_l

I hear what you're saying and agree about loving the history and pre war cards. That said, I see this sentiment very frequently, often in hobbyist contexts, and I just don't get it. For example, when T206s came out we were living in a time of Jim Crow and mass lynchings. McKinley had been assassinated less than a decade previous and the scars of Wounded Knee were still prevelant. Woman were still about a decade from even being able to vote. In sports, the greatest athletes were barred from playing with each other and the reserve clause guaranteed that the owners were rich and the players would be sent home (perhaps to the mines or some other intense industrial job) if they held out for their fair share. There was no pension in baseball and many ex players struggled to provide for their families after their career ended (often via injuries). Union busting/violence was prevelant and politics were just as corrupt, if not more so than now.

Nostalgia is fine but in no way was there "less nonsense" than today (unless maybe your were an aristocrat with "pure" European blood).

Sorry, I don't mean to get on you but I see this sentiment way too frequently and it always makes me shake my head.

+1
And

My Uncle gave me a bunch of Sports Cards as a kid. I was always a collector as a youngin..Stamps, Comics, Match Box Cars etc. must be in my DNA or something. I had to raise $$ to go back to school right around when EBay started. Duh into my treasures I went and sold everything.Ended up loving the graded Sports Card part of it. Started collecting the Monster. Nope!! Only graded T205 for me now. Maybe I can do in my lifetime? Took me awhile to find what I wanted to collect. Found it and love it now. But yeah the old innocent days blah blah don't mean nothing to me cos it wasn't

[dabigyankeeman]

I am a team collector. My focus is on New York City teams, mainly Yankees, but Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants too (just a smaller amount of them). I have been trying to put together team sets of Yankees from 1980 back, so this has me going after Goudeys, tobacco cards, etc.

The more I get of these old cards the more I like them. Such great history, such great artwork on so many of them, just such a great look to them. Its awesome to look at cards that are 70, 80 years old, and even older. Maybe i like them because they are actually older than me!!! Also i have learned the history of my teams too from cards.

I go after pre-war cards of Dodgers and Giants of course, and also Jewish athletes too. There is just something so neat about looking thru my pre-war albums, hard to explain why but I just love these old cards best, along with the cards from the 1950's. To me once you hit the 1960's its just not the same feeling even though I collect Yankees all the way up to cards produced now.

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by david_l

I hear what you're saying and agree about loving the history and pre war cards. That said, I see this sentiment very frequently, often in hobbyist contexts, and I just don't get it. For example, when T206s came out we were living in a time of Jim Crow and mass lynchings. McKinley had been assassinated less than a decade previous and the scars of Wounded Knee were still prevelant. Woman were still about a decade from even being able to vote. In sports, the greatest athletes were barred from playing with each other and the reserve clause guaranteed that the owners were rich and the players would be sent home (perhaps to the mines or some other intense industrial job) if they held out for their fair share. There was no pension in baseball and many ex players struggled to provide for their families after their career ended (often via injuries). Union busting/violence was prevelant and politics were just as corrupt, if not more so than now.

Nostalgia is fine but in no way was there "less nonsense" than today (unless maybe your were an aristocrat with "pure" European blood).

Sorry, I don't mean to get on you but I see this sentiment way too frequently and it always makes me shake my head.

ALoT of WHaT You HaVE SaiD
iN Some Form or Another
Thru the LaST 100 Years
THeSe Situations You Speak oF HaVe Occurred!

HoWEVaR, Baseball Has ALWaYs BeeN There!!!

Mr. Jones Nails iT!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SB16il97yw&t=4s

Why Shake Your Head & Be So Negative?
We Who Come Here Day iN & Day Out,
Love THiS Country For WHaT iT iS
& For the Opportunity Ta Make THiNGs BeTTar!!!

Please... By All Means, Relax My Friend...
No One Here iS Naïve