Do biographies or historical books enhance your card collecting enjoyment?

[thatkidfromjerrymaguire]

I recently finished reading "Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend" by James Hirsch. And while I wasn't surprised that I liked the book, I WAS surprised how it made me enjoy thumbing through my 1952 Bowman collection even more. It seemed like flipping through my card album, many of the cards I own had a new meaning to me. Obviously my Mays card takes a new meaning as I learned about some of the hardships he had to overcome, but learning more about Monte Irvin, Leo Durocher, Al Dark, Don Newcombe, etc., etc. It's almost like my baseball card album was an illustrated companion to the biography. Pretty cool.

Obviously, Willie's bio is a post-war book, but my guess is that when I read "The First World Series and the Fanatics of 1903" by Roger Abrams, I would have found an ever deeper enjoyment of the book (and my cards) if I could review a bunch of pre-war cards of players in that game (Wagner, Cy Young, Patsy Dougherty, Bill DeNeen, etc.). I don't really have many pre-war cards (and certainly no Wagners or Youngs)...but should I ever decide to wade deeper into that side of the hobby, I'll be sure to grab some biographies to go with it.

Next on my list is likely a bio of Mantle or Clemente.

Has anyone else experienced the enhanced enjoyment of our hobby due to good biography?

[luciobar1980]

Definitely! Read a DiMaggio bio which made me want to start collecting him, although I only have a 39 Play Ball so far.

[Writehooks]

Absolutely. I'm primarily a boxing collector, so reading biographies of fighters ranging from world champions and contenders to "forgotten" pugs definitely enhances the experience. I particularly enjoy regional releases by university presses, which are usually very well researched and contain cross references to sources such as local newspapers.

[Fred]

Read Ball Four, then try to not buy a Jim Bouton baseball card.

[ramram]

Yes, I enjoy learning more about whatever I collect. Researching and digging into a good book only enhances that joy. However, until I hit the lotto, I avoid reading about Babe Ruth for that reason.

Rob M

[nat]

This question deserves an emphatic "yes". Learning about the players, the teams, the pennant races, etc., is half the fun of collecting. For the past six months or so I've been collecting Japanese baseball cards and reading enough about the players to write (very) short biographies of them. (The bios are on the post-war side of this site.) I've had a great time with it, and it's learning about the players (and etc.) that's made it so much fun.

[WillowGrove]

Originally Posted by thatkidfromjerrymaguire

Next on my list is likely a bio of Mantle or Clemente.

Has anyone else experienced the enhanced enjoyment of our hobby due to good biography?

Absolutely! I read all the popular bb books as a kid in the late 70s early 80s; Glory of Their Times, Baseball When The Grass Was Real, Ball Four, Eight Men Out, Baseball As I Have Known It, and others. These books fueled my overall passion to start collecting vintage cards.

But the first book I remember devouring and then going out and buying cards based on it was: The Great American Baseball Flipping Trading and Bubble Gum Book. If you don't know this book and like collecting old cards, please find it. You will love it. Written by 2 dudes who grew up in the late 50s - they show many cards and write their memories about them, make fun of the players, etc etc. My friend and I became hooked on picking up cards that were "in the book". 58T Whammy Douglas anybody?


CobbSpiked, I'm reading Crazy '08 now and I absolutely love it.


OP for your Clemente book I would very strongly recommend this:

https://books.google.com/books/about...page&q&f=false


Thanks for asking!

[Topnotchsy]

For sure. One major area of my collection is Jackie Robinson and Integration and I have quite a few books on the topic. Items I come across often inspire me to do research, which in turn opens my eyes to new areas of collecting.

[bgar3]

Peter, totally agree on Great American book, one of the funniest I ever read, also.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by thatkidfromjerrymaguire

I recently finished reading "Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend" by James Hirsch. And while I wasn't surprised that I liked the book, I WAS surprised how it made me enjoy thumbing through my 1952 Bowman collection even more. It seemed like flipping through my card album, many of the cards I own had a new meaning to me. Obviously my Mays card takes a new meaning as I learned about some of the hardships he had to overcome, but learning more about Monte Irvin, Leo Durocher, Al Dark, Don Newcombe, etc., etc. It's almost like my baseball card album was an illustrated companion to the biography. Pretty cool.

Obviously, Willie's bio is a post-war book, but my guess is that when I read "The First World Series and the Fanatics of 1903" by Roger Abrams, I would have found an ever deeper enjoyment of the book (and my cards) if I could review a bunch of pre-war cards of players in that game (Wagner, Cy Young, Patsy Dougherty, Bill DeNeen, etc.). I don't really have many pre-war cards (and certainly no Wagners or Youngs)...but should I ever decide to wade deeper into that side of the hobby, I'll be sure to grab some biographies to go with it.

Next on my list is likely a bio of Mantle or Clemente.

Has anyone else experienced the enhanced enjoyment of our hobby due to good biography?

With vintage card collecting, you literally have the history of the game right there in your hands. As one of my collecting friends and I agreed in the early '90's, "the card connects you to the player, and takes you back to the time!" IMHO, the reason that is true is that while non-collectors may scoff, the vintage card (at least one with a photo-derived image) is essentially a two-dimensional slice of a 3 dimensional moment in the player's life and career, taken and preserved virtually contemporaneously with the time. Reading about significant times in the game's history serves to enhance both the reading of the book and your appreciation of the cards from the time. You literally have a "piece of the action!"

May your collecting continue to bring you joy,

Larry

[BosseFieldBoy]

I would say that reading biographies has been the biggest influence on my card collecting. About 12 years ago I read Stump's hatchet job on Cobb and I was obsessed. I've read about every Cobb biography out there and my collections has grown over time.

I've noticed that my collecting preferences only really change when the book has a huge influence on my opinion (one way or the other) about the player. For example, I read biographies on Walter Johnson, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams and I've been obsessed ever since. The Glory of Their Times was an enormous influence - read the sections about Sam Crawford, Hans Lobert, Specs Toporcer and Chief Meyers and try pass over a good deal on one of their cards.

On the hand, I've read biographies about Joe Jackson and Babe Ruth and really wasn't that influenced. Both were well-written; I just didn't find myself intrigued by the players. More than anything, they just confirmed things I always suspected.