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Posted By: Chad

Like most Americans and especially Americans who grew up poor, I have an affinity for the underdogs which is why I collect Negro league players. In a way, I think collecting the cards of great, but forgotten players like Johnny Davis and Oscar Levis and Esteban Montalvo and Lefty Lamarque and Terris McDuffie and Nip Winters keeps the memory of them alive. These guys weren't hall of fame caliber, but they would have been multiple all stars if they'd played in the majors adn they don't deserve to be forgotten just because of the color of their skin. An offshoot of this is that I like to collect cards of early Japanese baseball, obscure minor league teams, Venezuelan cards and Federal League cards. The more forgotten and marginalized the more they fascinate me. In a way, I think we use cards to recreate the time and place of the beaseball and era the cards represent. That's the fun of it for me, at least. The one set of cards that doesn't exist that I really, really wish did exist, would be a set of cards from the team the Dominican dictator Trujillo put together to win the Dominican baseball championship and help keep himself in power. Still, sometimes, I think I should be using this money to use for my other passion--SCUBA diving. It's tough sometimes.

--Chad