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Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Howard W. RosenbergWithout further ado, here's the link: <a href="http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1453" target="_new" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=1453</a>

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Al C.risafulliWait. Is this thread about a card, or a book? -Al

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: warshawlawWell, screw you too, Mr. Reviewer.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: MikeA silly hobby ??? I beg to differ.....

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Steve MurrayCollectors are elusive subjects. They describe their obsessions like a genetic inheritance or a contagious disease—something that chose them—which doesn’t help outsiders understand their urge to amass. Baseball card mavens sometimes talk about trying to reclaim their childhood, but fortunately, in the thin but far-ranging The Card, the pursuit of old scraps of cardboard is easier to comprehend. Old baseball cards are simply valuable, no mawkish tales required. In what aficionados call “the hobby,” nothing is more storied or expensive than the 1909 Honus Wagner card showing the ruddy batsman looking uncomfortable in a Pittsburg [sic] Pirates jersey buttoned up to his Adam’s apple. Wagner famously stopped the printing—one legend has it that he objected to using his name to sell tobacco—making the card a wildly expensive souvenir of baseball’s early modern era. Of the 50 or so surviving specimens, most are in poor condition. The flimsy apex of them is high quality and was once owned by Wayne Gretzky; it sold for more than $2 million in February. (The sale came off despite credible speculation that the card has been “trimmed,” meaning it was cut out of a sheet of cards, a practice that would normally devalue a card.) The history of baseball cards can be divided into two main chapters. First, there was a time when they were worth nothing. Then their owners grew up. Michael O’Keeffe and Teri Thompson of the New York Daily News’ investigative sports team write about the early days of baseball and sketch an admiring portrait of Wagner, aka the Flying Dutchman, a nice enough guy and among the top players of his time. A crack shortstop with a lifetime .329 batting average, he was one of the first five inductees to the hall of fame. However, their red meat is the charlatans and chumps who have crossed the card’s path since. Of the former owners, the most intriguing is Michael Gidwitz, a wealthy Chicago collector whose minimalist apartment houses a world-class collection of Alfred E. Neuman paraphernalia. Gidwitz is both charming and disingenuous: After becoming the first person to sell a baseball card—the card—for more than $1 million, he distanced himself from the hobby for its shady practices. The authors jump on auction houses paying shills to raise bids and card appraisers who have a more forgiving eye for their best clients’ material. Other memorable characters are John Cobb and Ray Edwards, two black men who quixotically spend years trying to prove to the insular and white card-*collecting world that their Wagner is authentic, though it may not be. The book also dives into the less appealing aspects of the baseball memorabilia business. Baseball cards can be “doctored”—corners sharpened, colors brightened. The memorabilia trade is even more absurd. A mass-produced item such as a bat or a glove derives value from being used by a great player or during a memorable moment; Mark McGwire’s 70th home-run ball of 1998 sold for seven figures. When trying to prove the provenance of a 40-year-old baseball, the potential for abuse is as limitless as the number of suckers out there. O’Keeffe and Thompson have written an engaging book about an American artifact, but The Card’s most important legacy may be further draining the credibility of a silly hobby. Sports fans and general readers will find plenty to enjoy. Anyone who doesn’t might have a card to sell you.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: barrysloateLooks like another hobby black eye!

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Brian Weisner"Other memorable characters are John Cobb and Ray Edwards, two black men who quixotically spend years trying to prove to the insular and white card-*collecting world that their Wagner is authentic, though it may not be." Hi Barry, This sentence must drive you nuts..... Be well Brian PS I'm ready to buy some cards.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: barrysloateThose two characters drive me nuts, but I can live with that sentence. What does drive me nuts is that O'Keefe is not sure if their Wagner is real or not. If we're sure, why isn't he?

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: peter chaoMaybe O'keefe really doesn't know that much about the card that he owns. Peter

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Dan BrettaO'Keeffe doesn't own the card Peter. He also doesn't know much about baseball cards either.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: peter chaoDan, I stand corrected, how about this guy Thompson, does he know anything about baseball cards. Peter

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Dan BrettaI don't think Teri Thompson is a guy. I think she's just an investigative reporter from the same tabloid that O'Keeffe writes for.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: howardPerhaps O'Keefe does not pronounce judgment on the fake Wagner for legal reasons. Could he open himself up to a lawsuit if he proclaims it a fake without proof?

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Brian Weisner Hi Barry, My point exactly!!! The card is bogus, period. Be well Brian PS I guess we are the "windmills"....

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: dstudebaThat is truly painful writing. Sounds like it came from the Jefferson High School Weekly.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: barrysloateHoward- the Gretzky Wagner is not fake, merely enhanced. The one owned by those two clowns is fake. You have no legal liability when you tell the truth.

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Jason LI have at least one good book in me... easy comps, as they say on the Street!

Something Not Off Topic! Article on Honus Wagner Card Book

Posted By: Scot Reader I wonder how the reviewer would feel if someone referred to his fatuous book review as "further draining the credibility of a silly profession."