Posted By:
Chuck RossI've really enjoyed reading this thread. I read often here, post rarely. I began collecting baseball
cards in 1967 and was obsessed with them to the same extent that I was obsessed with everything associated with baseball in those days. I bought, traded, flipped thousands of cards over the next few years. In the early 70's I began to have some paper route money and began getting price lists from dealers in the back of the Sporting News. Bought some vintage cards, mainly because I loved baseball history. One of the sets that really stood out for me was the '53 Topps set (more on that later). As I moved toward college age I gave up on baseball cards as most people did back then. When I regained interest as a gainfully employed yuppie in the 90's, I concentrated on finishing one of the sets of my youth, the 1970 Topps. I then began work on the '53 Topps. I had always figured this would be impossible, but I found that eBay makes all things possible. When I finished the set, I began to look around for something else to work on.
As I began to look at the various baseball sets out there, I finally had a realization about my connections with the cards. Over the years, with free agency, players changing teams constantly, etc, I had really lost most of my connection with baseball. The things that attracted me to the '53 Topps were the historical connection to a bygone era and the beautiful artwork. Looking back at the majority of baseball card sets that I could potentially be working on, what I saw was an endless stream of photographs of the same players over and over (OK, I'm exaggerating a little). How many portrait photos of Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron did I need?
It was at this point that I discovered the R cards of the 1933-1942 period (R1-R200, that is, the non-baseball variety). These cards had some features I could connect with: great, great artwork, historical context and they were also from the period in which my dad was a kid, so collecting them was a way of connecting to his memory as well. I have since become a pretty advanced collector of these cards, and I connect with them on a daily basis in the same way that many of you have discussed regarding your cards above.
The other things that turned me off of baseball cards have been hinted at in some of the posts here.
It seems very easy to begin to treat these things as commodities, about as well-loved as a pork future. When you can't actually touch the cards, in fact maybe they're all in the bank and your collection is only a set of images on a disc....are you a collector or a futures trader? The reason that I enjoy reading this board is that many of the posters here DO love their cards, appreciate the history, enjoy talking about the nuances of the sets, etc. These are hobby attributes I can appreciate. Even though many of the cards here involve black and white photos, I like them much more than the photo cards of later eras. The artwork on T206s, though not as varied as that in the era I collect, is quite beautiful. The main things that keep me out of collecting this era are (1) the price and (2) the paranoia over trimming, forgeries, etc.
Anyway, I've rambled on too long. For those of you who really appreciate your cards and everything about them, more power to you...I hope you enjoy your hobby for years to come. If you have the sneaking suspicion that for you the emperor has no clothes and that you are just hoarding pieces of cardboard, I hope you'll take the time to look around and find something to collect that really brings you pleasure regardless of its monetary value.
Chuck Ross
04-27-2004, 07:01 AM
does anybody really connect with what they collect??
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