Baseball fan or just a collector?

[BobbyStrawberry]

I'm still a baseball fan despite the worst atrocity ever inflicted on the game: the ZOMBIE RUNNER.

[Rhotchkiss]

I haven’t been a real baseball fan since the early 1990’s. But I am a rabid fan of baseball cards, and have been my whole life.

[mordecaibrown1]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I haven’t been a real baseball fan since the early 1990’s. But I am a rabid fan of baseball cards, and have been my whole life.

+1

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mordecaibrown1

+1

+2...I think I was out at the 1994 strike.

Only cards for me though I like the game of baseball and might go back to softball at some point.
I figured it would be even more lopsided in the poll though.

.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Yeah, I was continually losing interest in the 4 years leading up to the strike, then that's what truly ended it for me.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Leon

Only cards for me though I like the game of baseball and might go back to softball at some point.

I keep wondering how a MLB team would fare in a fast-pitch softball game against a champion caliber softball team. Even if you gave the MLB team a crackerjack softball pitcher, I think the MLB team would be in trouble. They'd struggle at the plate for several games because their judgement and timing would be thrown off completely with the pitches coming from a different release point and angle.

[Hankphenom]

Haven't been much of a fan since my D.C. team was stolen almost 65 years ago, followed by a terrible expansion franchise, then no team for 34 years followed by a totally depleted franchise. Of course, the great Nationals teams of 2012-2119 revived my interest, and this year, mostly due to the pitch clock, I have enjoyed watching the playoffs even though my team's not in it. I do agree with most, however, that almost all the new rules other than that are some of the dumbest anybody could ever have conceived of, starting with the DH, of course, and devolving in stupidity from there.

[Casey2296]

-
Put me down for both, big Baseball Fan, even though some recent changes are kind of dumb I still get excited to watch a good game, especially the playoffs.

My card focus is 1909-1914 which is my favorite era of baseball, that and the 60's for the sheer amount of talent in that era.

And a card for the thread.
-

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by hankphenom

...and this year, mostly due to the pitch clock, i have enjoyed watching the playoffs even though my team's not in it. I do agree with most, however, that almost all the new rules other than that are some of the dumbest anybody could ever have conceived of, starting with the dh, of course, and devolving in stupidity from there.

+1

[Exhibitman]

I would no longer characterize myself as an active fan. I still enjoy attending games with friends, but I haven't really sat through a game on TV since the Yankees teams of the late 1990s in the Series, except at a party. If the Dodgers can get into the Series, I would watch that; I kind of follow the team in the local news. Nothing against the players, not a slam on their skills, I've just gradually lost interest in most spectator sports and events (I don't sit through the Oscars anymore, either; it used to be a viewing party for my family). I'm more inclined to want to attend a sporting event that is also a spectacle beyond the actual contest; for example, I would love to attend the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

Collecting cards, on the other hand, are something I am probably going to do until I am dead.

[Eric72]

I am, and always have been, a fan of baseball.

Like nearly everything in life, the game continually goes through changes. As a result, baseball is no longer identical to the game I grew up with. However, it still strongly resembles what I played as a youngster. Similarly, my childhood game was a bit different than my father's...and his father's...and so on.

To me, that's one of baseball's most endearing attributes. No matter how much it (and the world at large) happens to change throughout the decades, baseball has an unchanged core identity. Across generations, we can discuss to game with our parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren. We can talk about the game with friends and strangers, aged five to a hundred and five.

As silly as it may seem to include them all in the same conversation, we can discuss Ted Williams, Mitch Williams, and the San Diego Chicken. We can talk about multi-purpose stadiums, Yankee Stadium, and Sick's Stadium. We can discuss a range of topics from a minute ago to a century ago and beyond.

We can do all of this and more because of baseball.

Am I a fan? Absolutely.

[jingram058]

I collect and I am a fan. But I am a fan of the game as it was before all of the idiotic rules changes and big money ruined it. And that is why I collect old radio and TV broadcasts from the time before that happened.

[Johnny630]

Love them both!!

[HOF_Forever]

I'm a huge fan of the game. I still play in a men's league. Playing will always be most important to me, followed by researching the history of the game and following the Cleveland baseball team. Cards bridge the gap across generations of the game and intersect nicely with collecting. I mostly stick with cards because I don't have the money or space for an extensive game used memorabilia collection.

[mortimer brewster]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I collect and I am a fan. But I am a fan of the game as it was before all of the idiotic rules changes and big money ruined it. And that is why I collect old radio and TV broadcasts from the time before that happened.

Same here. I traded old broadcasts with people all over the country before Youtube killed the hobby.

[Fred]

I'm going to have to guess that most people that collect baseball cards had to have liked the game at some point unless they're purely in it as a business.

It would just seem a bit odd (arbitrary) to just decide to collect baseball cards for no reason. I can see collectors losing interest in the game and continue to collect but in my mind, there had to be a reason to start collecting in the first place. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and decide it'd be fun to start collecting frog figurines, it'd probably be a lot cheaper.

[Butch7999]

z28jd said it all for us in post #5.
Well, almost all. We woulda gone on for pages about
how much and why we hate every rule change since
the adoption of the DH. And yet we still love the history,
and somehow we still watch and attend and follow...

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I am, and always have been, a fan of baseball.

Like nearly everything in life, the game continually goes through changes. As a result, baseball is no longer identical to the game I grew up with. However, it still strongly resembles what I played as a youngster. Similarly, my childhood game was a bit different than my father's...and his father's...and so on.

To me, that's one of baseball's most endearing attributes. No matter how much it (and the world at large) happens to change throughout the decades, baseball has an unchanged core identity. Across generations, we can discuss to game with our parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren. We can talk about the game with friends and strangers, aged five to a hundred and five.

As silly as it may seem to include them all in the same conversation, we can discuss Ted Williams, Mitch Williams, and the San Diego Chicken. We can talk about multi-purpose stadiums, Yankee Stadium, and Sick's Stadium. We can discuss a range of topics from a minute ago to a century ago and beyond.

We can do all of this and more because of baseball.

Am I a fan? Absolutely.

Did you try out for the James Earl Jones role in 'Field of Dreams'?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I'm still a baseball fan despite the worst atrocity ever inflicted on the game: the ZOMBIE RUNNER.

You're very wrong. It's the DH that's the worst atrocity because it flies in the face of the underlying premise of the game.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

You're very wrong. It's the DH that's the worst atrocity because it flies in the face of the underlying premise of the game.

And the zombie runner doesn't? One of the premises of baseball is that you have to reach base before you can score...(and that when you are out, you don't get magically brought back from the dead in the next inning.)

[Balticfox]

The DH is still worse because it's a travesty that starts in the very first inning so we're subjected to it in every game. Plus the DH has been around for several decades now so the total annoyance factor has had the time to really accumulate.

But in no way am I in favour of the abomination of zombie runners. MLB and TV executives may be opposed to twenty inning games but I'm not. I rather like seeing players have to earn their salaries.

And of course I despise shoot outs being used to decide hockey games. That's just not real hockey.

[perezfan]

When you're a Reds fan, it's hard to be both. Many many lean years have turned me into 80% collector/20% fan. But if the Reds could get it together or if Manfred were to leave, I suppose I could get back to 50/50.

[Yoda]

For better or worse, Ohtani certainly has jacked up interest in the DH this season.

[JollyElm]

Baseball card collecting is a nostalgic man's game. That is a huge part of it for me.

As an old man yelling at sky (there are no clouds in California), the game of baseball has changed so much that it is almost unrecognizable. I can get past the ridiculous celebratory pageantry of home run trots, but it's the smaller things that annoy the living h*ll out of me.

One example:
In watching my Mets in the playoffs, every single pitch is ridiculously framed by the catcher. EVERY PITCH. Their mitts are never still, and are always in motion!!! The pitch comes in, and with a quick wrist movement, he obviously and fraudulently moves it inside the strike zone.
A ball is two feet outside, NO PROBLEM!! A snap of a wrist flip and it's in the strike zone...held there waiting for the ump to call it a strike (thankfully, it doesn't ever seem to falsely sway him).

I want just one umpire to say to a manager, "Every time your catcher tries to frame the plate, I will call it a ball. If his mitt moves after the ball hits it...BALL!!!"

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by perezfan

When you're a Reds fan, it's hard to be both. Many many lean years have turned me into 80% collector/20% fan. But if the Reds could get it together or if Manfred were to leave, I suppose I could get back to 50/50.

Preach it brother; the last time the Reds were in the Series, I was a year out of college. I'm now retired.

Still a fan, though my ability to sit through a three hour game on TV is not what it used to be.

[bmattioli]

In order:

Redsox

Baseball

Cards