[Exhibitman]

You're not a hypocrite at all, just a fan who would enjoy sharing a piece of an item that someone he respected once owned. Way I look at it is that for a 'regular' collector like me I will never be able to afford a Babe Ruth jersey, so an artifact card is the closest I will ever get to having something that Babe Ruth used in a baseball game.

Philosophically speaking, I don't really mind that a jersey that would otherwise hang on some wealthy guy's office wall until he dies or sells to another wealthy guy will instead bring happiness to hundreds of collectors. It would be different if they were de-accessioning museum pieces or taking items away from museums and putting them into commerce, but let's be honest and admit that the jerseys they are cutting up are being acquired from private owners in competition with other private owners where they would simply serve as personal trophy pieces for their new owners, and not as public trust items in museums. Now, I realize the foregoing is not a popular opinion with some who view the card mfgs as desecrating relics of the sport's history, and I respect that view; I just don't share it.