Lovely Day (fellow prewar card aficionado's),
Buster Olney had a column the other day ranking the Dodgers bankruptcy as one of the "10 worst chapters in Major League Baseball history.”
That got me to thinking...........hmmmm, what are the top "five" worst and best moments in baseball card history??? Perhaps, we can reach some sort of Net54 consensus (yeah right!).
Okay, let us start the rankings. I'm sure (some of) you ivy league guys can come up with a way better list, but here is my best shot after five minutes of pondering. On a side note, I had an easier time coming up with "bad things" that have happened in the hobby as opposed to "good things" and on another side note, all of the bad stuff is from recent history and most of the good stuff is quite old. (guess the world is going to end afterall....).
DARKEST
1. The Maestro fiasco/betrayal.
2. T206 Museum / Patrick Chan and his OLD MILL overprint deception.
3. Demise/extinction of baseball card shows & stores.
4. Over supply of baseball cards (1980's, 1990s, 2000s...)
5. The words "investment" and "baseball cards" in the same sentence.
honorable mention (Barry Halper, high prices, card doctors, and the Topps 1963 Pete Rose counterfeit rookie cards).
BRIGHTEST
1. Decision to put cigarette picture cards in tobacco products.
2. Grading companies
.
3. Decision to pull the T206 Honus Wagner card from distribution.
4. Creation of Net54 and its predecessor Full Count.
5. Ebay
.
Honorable mention (National Convention, Hobby pioneers, publication of Trader Speaks, and Topps 1952 high numbers in the Hudson River).