[prewarsports]

I (like most people who currently collect Photos) started with Baseball Cards in the 1980's and just got bored! I get the same thrill on a daily basis from vintage photography as I used to going to a card show 20 years ago and finding weird type cards I had never seen before. With the Internet, those days are gone. With few exceptions I have seen just about every Baseball Card ever made and it simply has lost its appeal to me and something like T206 miscuts and rare backs are flat out boring as all hell.

What makes Photo collecting fun is its closeness to art (whether you like it or not) and for each collector to have his own likes and dislikes. Some people like the portrait photos and the "definite" shots, while others like the weird and seldom seen stuff. There is no right or wrong answer and that is the beauty of it.

I've probably handled as many Babe Ruth photos as anyone in the World (or at least close to it) and for me, I LOVE that Braves photo and personally would put it at the top of my list for beauty and aesthetics. It is in the "top 50" Ruth photos of all time using an objective poll with value as a factor? Probably not which is what Ben's point is, and that's perfectly fine.

To each his own, and that is what is GREAT about this area of collecting.

(BTW, Writing 6000 item descriptions a year gets really cumbersome and the only thing that makes it somewhat interesting is trying to find accentuating details about each photograph to describe them. In isolation a large portion of these photos we sell IS "iconic" or "tremendous" or "important", the problem from the perspective of the bidder is that they ONLY SEE the "best of the best" whereas I dig through a Box of 2000 photos for hours and hours to find 2-3 that are Auction Quality. From my perspective these are the top 1% the hobby has to offer and I describe them as such. From the buyers perspective it is "just another Ruth" or "Just another Mantle". having said that, if anyone truly has an issue with my descriptions, please e mail me and I will change the wording around. My intention is never to try and sound "used car salesman" but Facts are boring and can be looked up, people trust my experience and most importantly my opinion and I try and give them that.)

Rhys Yeakley