Two things you love about the hobby & Two things you hate

[ullmandds]

Thanks Jason...what he said!!!!!!

Likes:
Net 54
Great friends I have made in the hobby

Dislikes:

PSA( and really any other grading company)
Dishonest dealers.

[zljones]

Love:

1. The beauty of some of the issues of cards and being able to indulge in such a fun hobby.

2. fulfilling my dream card wants from my childhood.

Dislike:

1. super high overinflated prices from greedy dealers wanting 2x-4x the value.

2. My credit card debt from buying cards LOL

[Tobacco&Gum]

You make great points, and I agree with you guys to a degree. I think any system that is in place will have it's flaws. I also think the system that we have now is better than no system at all IMO.

There is good money involved in the hobby, and that will always bring out the scammers. Some of them will be good enough at their craft to fool even the most seasoned graders. Doctored cards will sometimes slip through (any grading company), but I think the overwhelming amount of time they will be caught, and rejected. At least by the major companies.

I don't use grading as a security blanket, and I certainly would never buy a card just because of the PSA or SGC label. I think too many collectors do buy the label not the card, and unfortunately (for them) always will. I look at the graded cards as just a guide, not the end all be all.

I don't collect with intention of resale value, but there is no denying what getting my cards slabbed has done for the value of my collection when and if I do decide to let some stuff go.

[RUSH2112]

Likes:

The old days when cards were graded to Charleton standards and ungraded cards were plentiful. Those days are long gone.

The Charleton standard catalog of hockey cards.

Dislikes:

Graded cards.

Letters like "OC" on a slab to tell a buyer that the card has 90 / 10 centering.

[Edwolf1963]

Like:

1. Friends I have made in the hobby
2. Getting a card back graded at or above what I hoped for (rare)

Dislike:

1. PSA's Customer Service (DMV lines are friendlier and more helpful)
2. Qualifiers and/or BCCG cards

[dstraate]

+

I've liked cards since I was a kid. Seeing a card of one of the greats that I hadn't yet seen is always a great moment.

-

Crooks.

[tachyonbb]

1. Today I received a bunch of cards from a fellow Net54 member. When I opened the package I could smell the bubble gum. Not really as the cards are 52 years old but just seeing them set my olfactory senses off.

2. Sharing my collection with my daughters who enjoy baseball cards and looking forward to sharing this hobby with my grandson.


bad
1. The incredible amount of fraud in the hobby.

2. The fact that cards produced today are never going to have real value. I watched kids opening packs the other day and they just threw away the cards looking for the inserts.

[ethicsprof]

I do love the camaraderie of friends in the hobby and the scholarly research
offered by quite a few.
I do not like the erratic ad hominem comments which are hurtful, sometimes unmercifully so.

all the best,
barry

[Exhibitman]

I will skip the whole TPG good/bad debate and focus on other things:

Likes:

--Collecting is, as Burdick put it, "a magic carpet that takes you away from work-a-day cares to havens of relaxing quietude where you can relive the pleasures and adventures of a past day--brought to life in vivid picture and prose"; the collecting impulse is "the stuff that dreams are made of", as Sam Spade labeled the Maltese Falcon.

--Meeting so many good people all over the world and getting to hang out with them virtually and in person.

Dislikes:

--The bulk and weight of slabs. It is really hard to store, carry and enjoy a large slabbed collection. When I was a kid I had a photo album with my best cards in it and I could easily take it out, enjoy it, and show it to others. I feel like I need a forklift to move my cards now.

--Overemphasis on money, especially when trading difficult to value cards. I miss the days from my childhood when trading wasn't always subjected to a level of financial scrutiny worthy of a stock market. If you wanted my Rocky Colavito card and I did not want to trade it except for your Willie Mays double, neither of us would hesitate to pull the trigger just because the "book" on one card was higher than on the other.

[WWGjohn]

Likes:

All the great friends in the hobby I've made over the past 25 years.

Getting into antique bats as well as vintage cards.

Dislikes:

Slabbing and what it has done to how we view cards and slabs.

The demise of the local card shows and the pleasure of looking for that hidden treasure, as well as the periodic get togethers with the nice people involved with the shows.