For a while now, I’ve been trying to put a thread I guess on what I’m trying to imply by the subject of this post. I realize that there are likely psychology books out there on the subject of all manners of “collectors” and why we do what we do, (and I might be scared to open a can of worms by ever reading them…)
But it got me to thinking about the journey, why we continue - and along the way - exactly WHY is it that most of us find such perpetual joy in hoarding away old pieces of cardboard with pictures of men in uniforms on them?
Do you / did you enjoy or possibly treasure cards like this 35 years ago?
If you did but maybe don't so much now - why?
That may be a bit rhetorical; I assume all of us who have made it to N54 and stayed here as grown people at some point discovered actual vintage cards, found them to be extremely captivating, and launched upon a journey to want more and more of them, and increasingly nicer ones and more expensive ones. I was fascinated by some of the TCMA history cards, and any image of Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb or characters like that on cardboard when I was 10 years old, but quickly came to learn that these were not "real" cards issued when they were playing, and in some cases hadn't even been issued when they were alive. Case in point for me and what "does it" for me these days? - yeah you guessed it, stuff like this:
I guess what I'm kind of curious about is your thoughts as concerns the possibility of paradigm shifts. Do you like or value at all "Non-Playing Days" cards? For me for the longest time I couldn't understand why anyone would want a card like this:
The example here is Yogi, but there are lots of others with the same point to be made in the '67 Venezuelan set, including a very recently retired Sandy Koufax. One and most obvious to me as a kid - Yogi Berra was retired by 1967. He was what, a Mets coach by then? Having caught his last few games for them in 1965. Two, this is a terrible black and white picture. Three, even as if I didn't know, you are splashing out the fact that he is RETIRED (or "Retirado") in bold red letters under his picture. What in the world? Why would I want that? You might as well write in spanish "OLD AND NOT COOL" on the bottom. (A footnote here that of course now at age 46, I understand that these cards are both super condition sensitive and rare, and their value from a dollar perspective makes more sense to me. I just think it's interesting that judging from any criteria I would have carried as a kid as to both what made a vintage card cool and valuable - I would have shunned these all day long).
The triggers to seize upon here are more related to hobby history (the scarce '67 Topps Vennies...) and not so much the player and when he was active. Right? To note also the same point, though the cards are not as valuable - the 1940 Playballs that feature retired players like Wagner and Shoeless Joe, etc.
If you collect cards like these - question for you: Do you get more enjoyment out of the fact of the card being rare or the set? Or the player it pictures? Or both? Or design or something else? Curious really just as to thought process here and what makes something "treasured" in your mind for your collection?
For starters - when we were kids, at least those of us who grew of age with cards BEFORE social media, or YouTube videos, or maybe even before a monthly subscription to Dr. Beckett’s magazine - how did you start with cards? What initially gave you joy / satisfaction about those cards? Was it the cards for the cards themselves and the glee of owning them? Was it the tie to the game of baseball (or basketball or football or hockey or whatever) itself and the players or teams because you were familiar with them? I’ll give you a stumper, I started as a card collector at age 9 not with sports cards - but with these things. I'm not sure what attracted to me to them other than they made me laugh and were visually cool, other than the fact that everyone at school was collecting them:
Here are some other things I briefly jotted down that I thought might be interesting to explore. If you've lost my plot here, it's kind of "how do I get enjoyment out of different things perhaps" (cheaper would be nice, but not necessarily the only requirement) by broadening my horizons? These points might not answer that question directly, but could lead to discussion that would:
* Topps wax at the 7-11 vs. the “Hygrade Collectors Kit” (there were also others) at the mall bookstore. What types of cards were you exposed to first?
* Impressive, high-dollar vintage vs. screw that, here’s what does it for me personally. What voices are in your head - do they conflict?
* Fantasy cards, cards that never were, Topps Archives and Heritage concepts. Junk or really cool?
* Baseball nostalgia, then nostalgia for "the hobby" itself. (Which yes, the organized hobby itself is old now...) When you look at your collection where does your head go?
Thanks & Happy Friday!
