Posted By:
Al C.risafulliA new card shop opened in my town last weekend. I went inside, just to welcome the owner to the neighborhood and wish him luck.
I wound up talking to the guy for about half an hour. The oldest card he had in his shop was 1985. Inside his display case were all sorts of cut signature cards, jersey cards, etc.
I've never in my life spoken with anyone who was more enthusiastic about cards than this guy. He was talking about sets I've never heard of, and showing me cards (really nice-looking cards, actually) that he pulled out of packs, and talking about current players the same way we talk about guys like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson.
It was a huge breath of fresh air. Never once did I hear the words "wrinkles", "trimmed", "altered", "grading", or "auction." It was just a guy who loved cards, who loved the hobby, who couldn't wait until the weather warmed up so that neighborhood kids would start hanging around and trading cards in his store. Free packs for kids if they got straight A's on their report cards, free pack for kids on their birthday. Regular raffles for autographed memorabilia. It was great. I wound up buying a whole box of shiny cards, and feeling really good about it. And it was really fun to open the packs.
So yeah, I think in 30 years, after we've seen the careers of today's players develop (and we know which ones will turn out to be Mickey Mantle and which ones will turn out to be Tony Conigliaro), there will be cards that we consider shiny crap today, that will be considered important cards. This being a hobby, where people collect what they like, I consider the shiny stuff to be just as legitimate as anything else.
-Al