A collecting theory: the wife test

[Exhibitman]

Mine:
Ruth
Jeter
Jackie Robinson
Hank Aaron
Fernando Valenzuela (L.A. Native)
The guy who got kicked out for betting on his team (Rose)
The guy who's wife was on Regis (Garvey)
JRod (A Rod and J Lo)

[Troy Kirk]

My wife:
1. Ty Cobb
2. Tony Gwynn
3. Tatis Jr.
4. Nolan Ryan
5. Babe Ruth

Daughter (23 years old)
1. Babe Ruth
2. Ty Cobb
3. Tony Gwynn
4. Tatis
5. Cabrera (Miguel)

Mom (84 years old)
1. Lou Gehrig
2. Babe Ruth
3. Joe DiMaggio
4. Dom DiMaggio
5. Whitey Ford

[Exhibitman]

My wife knows very few modern players because I am not an active fan of baseball today so I rarely watch it, and I don't collect shiny crap.

[tiger8mush]

Asked her to name the first 5 MLB Players past or present that came to her head, she very quickly replied:

Mo Vaughn
Mark McGwire
Bo Jackson
Big Papi
Derek Jeter

[Mike Eisenbath]

I'm really proud of my wife's recall of some great names. Yes, she's married to a former baseball beat writer as we as longtime collector and baseball history addict/SABR member, but she retained some great names after going through the (she said) obvious of Babe, Cobb, Mantle, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Willie Mays, Aaron, Jackie, Pee Wee Reese (she enjoyed"42"), Pete Rose... then rattled off...

Somebody Chapman and Carl Mays (she loved The Pitch That Killed)

Shoeless Joe

Eddie Cicotte (she wants them in the Hall)

Brummer, the catcher who stole home for the Cardinals

Stan Musial

Lou Brock

Joe Torre

Whitey Herzog

Red Schoendienst

Eric Davis

that jerk Bonds (yup, wife of a guy who covered him)

Mark McGwire

Mike Matheny

She wanted to keep going when I told her how well some other wives did!

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[steve B]

My wife is a baseball fan. (football and a bit of other sports too)

So this wouldn't work for me.

When we started getting serious, we discussed teams we like. And found a great compromise!
Now I get to root for
Red Sox
Patriots
Bruins
Celtics

AND when they're not playing the above..
Orioles
Redskins/W/Commanders...
I forget what hockey team, neither of us have watched much in years.
And the Bullets/Wizards.

So I got like 3 1/2 new "favorite teams"

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Separation then. No amount of other qualities could make up for not knowing baseball. Not knowing football, I could forgive, but we are talking about BASEBALL.

I'd hope you knew about the lack of baseball knowledge going into it.
Unless it was one of those "I did what?!" Vegas marriages....

[Exhibitman]

So, when you told your significant other about collecting cards? For me, it was kind of like confessing to having an addiction. Hoped she'd accept but expecting to be kicked to the curb.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

So, when you told your significant other about collecting cards? For me, it was kind of like confessing to having an addiction. Hoped she'd accept but expecting to be kicked to the curb.

My collecting cards was sort of obvious. I had a smallish apartment, and boxes tucked away all over. Plus stacks I was sorting out on tables.

she actually surprised me and showed up to visit a day early. To get to see what my place was actually like... We were both a bit on the older side, and I was well past the "omg what will she think" phase, more like the "this is me and if you don't like it that might be a problem"

She was ok with the cards and other stuff. As long as I was ok with her books. (A whole new batch of new reading material! and free, and actually better than the local library... )

[scooter729]

I'm lucky to have a wife who really loves baseball.

Our 3rd date was to a Red Sox game in 2003. I didn't know about her love of baseball at this point. She started cheering when Bill Mueller was coming up to bat. I asked (probably obnoxiously), "What's up with Bill Mueller, you think he's hot or something?" She replied, "No, he's hitting like .326 and has over 40 doubles." I think I nearly dropped to a knee on the spot.

Many years later, I had the pleasure of getting to know Bill Mueller a bit. I shared this story with him. He suggested we FaceTime my wife right then. It gave her a shock and a thrill when he repeated the story to her!

[Andrew T206]

A very odd mix from my wife with commentary (in order, took about 2 minutes).

Sandy Koufax (pronounced Sandy Kolfax)
David Ortiz (Something Ortiz)
Matt Olson (Used to be on the A's and is now somewhere else)
Tim Lincecum
Mookie Betts
Mike Trout
Randy Arozarena (The rice-a-roni guy...Arroz)

[jackwesq]

Hi everyone. The Ms. went with ...

1. Babe Ruth
2. Mike Trout
3. Shohei Ohtani
4. Albert Pujols
5. Jose Canseco

[horzverti]

In order, after just a split-second hesitation:

Carew
Ripken
Big Papi
Koufax
Victorino
Geoff Jenkins
Braun
That guy who shakes his hips (Youkilis)
Old time a-hole…name starts with a B…you have his book (Cobb)
“Oh, and Derek Jeter!”
Fidrych
Aaron
Jackie
At this point the names were coming fast and I called it.

I am proud of her.

[timber63401]

Babe Ruth
Mickey Mantle
Albert Pujols
Yady Molina
Jamie Garcia

[t213]

My wife

Jackie Robinson
Babe Ruth
Stan the Man
Hank Aaron
Johnny Bates - it's a deep cut and a long story

Andy

[brad15]

I asked my wife to name the first eleven baseball players that she could think of. Here are her answers: Albert Pujols Yadi Molina Babe Ruth Nolan Arenado Hank Aaron Pete Rose Shoeless Joe Jackson Stan Musial Adam Wainwright Tyler O'Neil and Aaron Judge.

[Jeff_cvc]

No wife here, so I asked a girlfriend of mine who isn’t a baseball or sports fan. She happily played along. I was surprised she got the players she did and she had fun trying to recall the names. Bonus points to her for the good attitude.

Hank Aaron
Jackie Robinson
George Brett (she grew up in KC)
Bo Jackson (ditto)
Dottie (“from that girl movie, ummm, League of their own!” Followed by, does Madonna count?” Sorry, she didn’t really play baseball)
Yogi Berra (she said, “the one that everyone quotes” before pulling this name out)
Babe Ruth (I told her she was missing the biggest name in baseball lore. She asked for a hint, I responded, “big, fat dead guy who played for the Yankees” Boom, it rolled right off her tongue.)

Great thread, we had fun doing it!

[brob28]

Great thread, I finally got around to asking my wife, I have a display in my office of '33 Goudey HOF cards & she is very supportive of my hobby, but she only got one from that group.

1) Jeter - didn't know his first name
2) Randy... "the tall guy that looks like Rusty" (her friend's husband) I helped with his last name (Johnson).
3) Babe Ruth - this one may have saved her picks in my mind.
4) Mark McGwire- "didn't he get a lot of home runs?"

In between 4 & 5 "I can name a lot of wrestlers" & "who was Field of Dreams about?"

5) Jose Canseco

What I learned is I better finish my list I have promised her of which cards to send to major auction houses when I "go" and which ones can go to local or smaller auctions.


Update: As we got ready for bed last night, out of the blue she says "Ty Cobb & Willie Mays" which improves her list drastically!

[StraightRaceCards]

My wife absolutely nailed it. She doesn’t know many, but she is supportive and has been willing to be educated in the hobby

Her list

1) babe Ruth
2) Joe Jackson (from her hometown)
3) Aaron Rodgers, I mean a rod, I mean Alex Rodriguez
4) Christy Mathewson - my favorite player
5) Tris Speaker- my latest pickup and Texas born!

[jb67]

The Mrs. came up with these.

Jose Canseco
Babe Ruth
Jackie Robinson
Willie Mays
Nolan Ryan.

[Popcorn]

it’s a long story here in Detroit but the wife rattled off:

Juana Berengure (our shops mascot, we have his cards everywhere)
Barry bonds
Mickey Mantle
Ty Cobb
Miguel Cabrera
Peewee Reese

Surprised she didn’t mention Gehrig, our local dance team my daughter is in has raised almost 100k for ALS.

[NiceDocter]

Babe Ruth Ty Cobb Cal Ripken Mickey Mantle Roger Maris. She stood in line and got autographs for me from Mantle and Ripken at shows we went to. Thanks Mary!

[David W]

Johnny Bench

Willie McGee

Ozzie Smith

Pete Rose

Hank Aaron