Baseball fan or just a collector?

[bk400]

Are you a baseball fan and a card collector or just a card collector?

[SyrNy1960]

Originally Posted by bk400

Are you a baseball fan or just a collector of baseball cards?

Diehard baseball fan and collector!

[BioCRN]

Both...also needs a 3rd option..."I sell baseball cards because people buy baseball cards."

There are some extremely knowledgeable people in the hobby that collect green pieces of paper rather than pictures of baseball dudes on paper.

Nothing wrong with that. Some of the more ambitious ones dig up cards from people that ordinarily wouldn't properly be brought to market.

[z28jd]

I feel like my answer could be different soon as I lose more interest in current baseball. Don't read any longer if you don't want to hear a rant based on inside knowledge of the game and current coaching...

I covered minor league baseball for years and talked a lot to the players throughout their career. Around 2017-18, there was a real change in the mindset of the coaching to get as much velocity as possible from the pitchers and combat it with swinging as hard as possible, setting up the game we see now, which is a game of a few high points spread throughout game and not much else. They are trending towards a nine-inning game of home run derby.

The skill level in the minors in 2024 is a far cry from how good it was in 2019 and before. I covered games in person for three levels of play (Low-A, High-A, Double-A) and you pretty much know what a normal Double-A game looks like. What to expect when you watch each level. I watched a lot of Low-A games in 2022-23 and they were worse skilled than the rookie league games just 4-5 years earlier. This year watching Double-A games felt like I was seeing Low-A players at work. This all-or-nothing approach to throwing hard and swinging hard is leading to an awful brand of baseball for the future.

I don't think anyone who has watched baseball for 20+ years thinks the MLB game you're seeing today is the best ever. It clearly isn't. That's partially due to the fact that they use so many big league players each year now (average of almost 1,500 over the last four years), coupled with the dying off of baseball as a participation sport for youth in the U.S. compared to the past. It's also the newer mindset of coaching. Sure these guys throw hard, but that makes the coaching of hitters even worse. The focus on power through swing speed and launch angle. That's going to lead to much worse contact rates than taking a direct path to the ball and shortening your swing, yet the mindset has not changed one ounce. It also won't change because MLB is completely fine with the product on the field now.

I quickly lose interest in current games if my team isn't involved, and even if they are involved, watching the lack of baseball skills and smarts is annoying to say the least. I can't see me remaining a current baseball fan for much longer.

HOWEVER, I have the same love for baseball history that I have always had since a little kid. Yesterday I was schoolgirl giddy over finding the first picture I've ever seen of a guy who played six big league games over a nine-year span. Jim Gray played three separate seasons for the Pirates franchise. I wrote about him in one of my books and spent a lot of time trying to find even a drawing of him. Happiest I've been in a long time over a piece of baseball research.

[BobbyStrawberry]

I'm still a baseball fan despite the worst atrocity ever inflicted on the game: the ZOMBIE RUNNER.

[Rhotchkiss]

I haven’t been a real baseball fan since the early 1990’s. But I am a rabid fan of baseball cards, and have been my whole life.

[Exhibitman]

I would no longer characterize myself as an active fan. I still enjoy attending games with friends, but I haven't really sat through a game on TV since the Yankees teams of the late 1990s in the Series, except at a party. If the Dodgers can get into the Series, I would watch that; I kind of follow the team in the local news. Nothing against the players, not a slam on their skills, I've just gradually lost interest in most spectator sports and events (I don't sit through the Oscars anymore, either; it used to be a viewing party for my family). I'm more inclined to want to attend a sporting event that is also a spectacle beyond the actual contest; for example, I would love to attend the Monaco Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

Collecting cards, on the other hand, are something I am probably going to do until I am dead.

[Eric72]

I am, and always have been, a fan of baseball.

Like nearly everything in life, the game continually goes through changes. As a result, baseball is no longer identical to the game I grew up with. However, it still strongly resembles what I played as a youngster. Similarly, my childhood game was a bit different than my father's...and his father's...and so on.

To me, that's one of baseball's most endearing attributes. No matter how much it (and the world at large) happens to change throughout the decades, baseball has an unchanged core identity. Across generations, we can discuss to game with our parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren. We can talk about the game with friends and strangers, aged five to a hundred and five.

As silly as it may seem to include them all in the same conversation, we can discuss Ted Williams, Mitch Williams, and the San Diego Chicken. We can talk about multi-purpose stadiums, Yankee Stadium, and Sick's Stadium. We can discuss a range of topics from a minute ago to a century ago and beyond.

We can do all of this and more because of baseball.

Am I a fan? Absolutely.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I'm still a baseball fan despite the worst atrocity ever inflicted on the game: the ZOMBIE RUNNER.

You're very wrong. It's the DH that's the worst atrocity because it flies in the face of the underlying premise of the game.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by z28jd

Around 2017-18, there was a real change in the mindset of the coaching to get as much velocity as possible from the pitchers and combat it with swinging as hard as possible, setting up the game we see now, which is a game of a few high points spread throughout game and not much else. They are trending towards a nine-inning game of home run derby.

Meanwhile my interests have evolved in completely the opposite direction. I've acquired an increasing fascination/interest since the turn of the century in knuckleball pitchers and base stealers. Therefore I fully share your distaste and antipathy for how the game has evolved.

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by z28jd

I feel like my answer could be different soon as I lose more interest in current baseball. Don't read any longer if you don't want to hear a rant based on inside knowledge of the game and current coaching...

I covered minor league baseball for years and talked a lot to the players throughout their career. Around 2017-18, there was a real change in the mindset of the coaching to get as much velocity as possible from the pitchers and combat it with swinging as hard as possible, setting up the game we see now, which is a game of a few high points spread throughout game and not much else. They are trending towards a nine-inning game of home run derby.

The skill level in the minors in 2024 is a far cry from how good it was in 2019 and before. I covered games in person for three levels of play (Low-A, High-A, Double-A) and you pretty much know what a normal Double-A game looks like. What to expect when you watch each level. I watched a lot of Low-A games in 2022-23 and they were worse skilled than the rookie league games just 4-5 years earlier. This year watching Double-A games felt like I was seeing Low-A players at work. This all-or-nothing approach to throwing hard and swinging hard is leading to an awful brand of baseball for the future.

I don't think anyone who has watched baseball for 20+ years thinks the MLB game you're seeing today is the best ever. It clearly isn't. That's partially due to the fact that they use so many big league players each year now (average of almost 1,500 over the last four years), coupled with the dying off of baseball as a participation sport for youth in the U.S. compared to the past. It's also the newer mindset of coaching. Sure these guys throw hard, but that makes the coaching of hitters even worse. The focus on power through swing speed and launch angle. That's going to lead to much worse contact rates than taking a direct path to the ball and shortening your swing, yet the mindset has not changed one ounce. It also won't change because MLB is completely fine with the product on the field now.

I quickly lose interest in current games if my team isn't involved, and even if they are involved, watching the lack of baseball skills and smarts is annoying to say the least. I can't see me remaining a current baseball fan for much longer.

HOWEVER, I have the same love for baseball history that I have always had since a little kid. Yesterday I was schoolgirl giddy over finding the first picture I've ever seen of a guy who played six big league games over a nine-year span. Jim Gray played three separate seasons for the Pirates franchise. I wrote about him in one of my books and spent a lot of time trying to find even a drawing of him. Happiest I've been in a long time over a piece of baseball research.

I think these sentiments just about describe EXACTLY how I feel. I am losing my love for the current game and solidify my love for the games history and more specifically, the time frame in which i grew up watching and falling in love with the game.

[Balticfox]

I'm a baseball fan but that's not why I collect Baseball cards. I collect Baseball cards because I collect cards. I have no interest in acquiring any of the other ephemera associated with the game, i.e autographs, record setting baseballs, game used jerseys, etc.

[OhioLawyerF5]

I watch as close to 162 Reds games per season as I can. Baseball is my true passion, and collecting is a way to enjoy the sport even more while at the same time connecting me with my childhood.

[Chris-Counts]

I used to assume that anyone who would collect cards loves the game of baseball and follows it with great devotion — like me. But I've met a couple collectors over the years who seem to have little interest in the game, but still collect cards. One has a beautiful type card set, while the other collects T206 portraits, and even showed me a Plank.

[BioCRN]

I hate the Yankees. I don't care about Cleveland.

I feel bad for people not being a fan of the current game and missing this game right now.

[Chris-Counts]

I was in heaven over the Tigers' run until Cleveland beat 'em. Now I'm rooting for Cleveland, and I'm hoping they can keep it going against the dreaded Death Star. Tonight's game was a beauty.

Originally Posted by BioCRN

I hate the Yankees. I don't care about Cleveland.

I feel bad for people not being a fan of the current game and missing this game right now.

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I was in heaven over the Tigers' run until Cleveland beat 'em. Now I'm rooting for Cleveland, and I'm hoping they can keep it going against the dreaded Death Star. Tonight's game was a beauty.

Tigers had 1 guy hit more than 20 HR (24).

They only had 2 regulars with a .330+ ob% and 3 guys hitting better than .250 avg, the highest .262.

They had 1 starting pitcher throw more than 112.1ip and they would have had a second if they didn't trade him away mid-season.

10 games over .500 and almost made it to the ALCS, losing a 3-2 series. I dunno how, but they got that far.

[sbfinley]

Love the game. I probably watch at least parts of ~200 games a season on TV. It helps that my wife and kids also love the game. If my wife’s Reds, my Cardinals, or my son’s Braves are on they are just as happy to watch that as any other TV show. Sunday nights are family game night and we’ll sit and watch Sunday Night Baseball and play board games or Spades. Over the past couple of years as our kids have become teens our house has also turned into a defacto hangout for both my son’s and daughter’s friends group since we’re on the centrally located in main neighborhood and it’s a 5-10 minute walk for 75% of the school. I’m pretty sure I feed more kids on a daily basis that aren’t mine then are mine… But the kids all know I have MLB.TV so I’ve noticed an uptick of kids knocking on the door asking if they can watch certain games during the summer.