Conflicted feelings...

[mintacular]

A s a collector of primarily vintage baseball cards (50s-70s + a few pre-war) I am currently having conflicted feelings about condition. As a child of the 80s and coming back into the hobby during the mid-2000’s one of my largest priorities was on NM or better condition cards (4 sharp corners, centered, focus/color, etc.).

Recently, I showed my dad my ’57 baseball set which is pretty nice if I must say myself. (Ironically he sparked my obsession with this set as he gave my brother a small batch of this set that he bought from a struggling seminary student—back when Ken Griffey Jr and junk wax cards were our favorites). Well, his appreciation was for the players on the cards (ex: Roy Sievers whom he remembered fondly--now considered a “common”--) and anything Washington Senators.

This was of much more curiosity to him than me pointing out certain cards that were in great condition. As he handled the binder somewhat haphazardly, (inside I cringed) --I wished I had more appreciation for the players/pose depicted on the cards than the condition/value of said cards.

So I guess my question is, do condition-sensitive collectors miss the big picture (pun intended)? Is their appreciation of a cards' condition an equally honorable hobby pursuit to those that collect the player/pose on the card? Did TPGs in the 90s ruin card collecting with their attention away from the subject of the card and towards condition attributes?

Thanks for sharing your opinions. (P.S. Was Roy Sievers really that good? )