Posted By:
Frank WakefieldWell I'm a state court district judge, been on the bench 13 years, so I guess that qualifies as "a lawyer" for some of you. Generally, non-attorneys dislike lawyers and don't think they know more than other folks, and being a lawyer doesn't impress other lawyers, either. It usually makes your parents and clients feel better about you, but that is about it.
Now, to be clear, and without intending to suggest that anyone is unintelligent generally, or in their collecting habits... the wisest, most sagicious baseball collector who collects graded cards does so at his own peril if he doesn't study the card instead of only the label. And if these brilliant, intelligent baseball card mavens would study the card itself and ascertain a return policy, then they would have fewer problems. I've never intended to suggest that collectors of graded cards are ignorant. I do recognize that some of you who think that was my intention have attacked me personally, and when I pointed that out it was acknowledged that I didn't personally attack back, and that the attack on me remained without appology. So it seems some slab collectors lack civility. Civility is something this board won't impart upon participants.
One of my favorite cards is worth about $4. If my house caught afire, I'd definitely want to carry it to safety, much more so than other cards that are much more valuable. I'd move it before my T200 premium. But I don't collect cards because of their value. They aren't an investment (and I don't want to get that crap started again). I collect cards because of their association with the history of the game. I find that more enjoyable than collecting a card because of some number assigned the card when it was slabbed by someone else. I don't "get" that, and I understand that some of you don't share my approach. In the entire scheme of things, folks starving in Africa seem a bit more significant that someone bleaching a T206, soaking it for a long time, gradually stretching out the borders, then trimming the edges so the card is still "large" but now with sharp corners, so the card can end up in a PSA 8 holder. And my $4 card is less important that that.
I don't lose my retirement savings in the Chicago commodities market because I don't do any investing there. I don't consider myself sufficiently informed to do that successfully. I do think I know a bit about old baseball cards, so I don't mind spending a few dollars there. I trust my opinions and knowledge about the cards MUCH more than I do any of the grading folks. I think that a lot of the old cards that have 7s, 8s, and 9s on them would not regrade that way if graded again and if the grader were to look for indications of bleaching soaking stretching recutting and the like. A well soaked, well stretched card is thinner, any of you use a micrometer lately on a T206? I have... but it is difficult to measure the thickness of a slabbed card unless you liberate the little fellow.
So I do appologize to anyone who thought I have ever suggested they were unintelligent because they collected graded cards. Sincerely.
And if some sort of commission or standard for grading-slabbing takes hold, then you guys need to send everything in to be regraded. Heaven help you, the only thing worse than paying to have a card graded by someone else would be to do it twice.