Notes from the National

[MattyC]

So if a collector prefers a 52 Mantle or the like to a CJ Pratt or other rare, relative common, then he's not a "collector?" Says who-- maybe I missed the memo that specified what cards constitute a collection over a mere portfolio.

If I track down a Frederick Foto Ruth I guess I'm a collector-- but if I add a PSA 9 Schmidt or PSA 10 Brett, where do I go to forfeit my collector badge?

Some guys like both cards that are tough in any grade and cards that are just pricey in higher grade. Some guys enjoy spending money on a common player that other guys would have trashed right out of the pack. Some guys collect plastic holders and grades and don't compare the cards within said holders, just choosing the uglier yet higher graded specimen. Some guys will only buy from one TPG and blind themselves to great cards. Some collect to compete with other collectors over arbitrary GPAs of sets on a website. Some like to buy unopened. Some like freakish errors even if the player featured was a scrub. Some just like the most popular images of the most accomplished players ever.

Some of that seems very silly and foolish to me, some is the way I go, but I say live (collect) and let live (collect). If a guy is happy no need to rain on any parades. Almost always, there will be others out there somewhere who likes what another guy likes, so there will be a group of some size to appreciate any card and make a market for it.

Above all I'd hazard the opinion that collectors of cards-- no matter what cards-- have more in common than not, and should therefore be collegial toward one another as opposed to catty (like chicks). Reminds me of how silly it seems when sports fans of rival teams pummel each other in a brawl; meanwhile these combatants are probably both passionate fans of their sport, and would likely help each other if caught in some crisis. But perhaps that's the human condition, to look for reasons to divide rather than come together.

Hence my constant, raging misanthropy

[travrosty]

He was just collecting numbers, not cards.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by travrosty

He was just collecting numbers, not cards.

And you know this how? Maybe he's collecting his favorite cards in the best condition he can find...nobody here knows his motive for collecting. The guy can afford to best so he buys the best.

[nolemmings]

I never said Kendrick was not a collector. I couldn't care less if he collected 1889 Old Judge or 1989 Donruss. As I stated, more power to him, particularly if it gives him satisfaction. He can call himself a collector all day every day for all I care.

By the same token, I do not have to be impressed at all by his collection, much less to the same degree as someone else. It is nice and I am somewhat impressed, but points about it containing no real scarcities other than through high-grade are valid. Such points are made all the time on this forum--some just couldn't care less about the slabbed grade and/or aren't impressed by what they consider mainstream sets/cards. C'est la vie and to each his own. To turn this into a discussion about how some are just jealous of other's money misses the mark, IMO.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by travrosty

He was just collecting numbers, not cards.

And why would that bother anyone even if they did? It's their money. Heck they could buy the cards, crack them, throw the card away and keep the empty holder and flip and collect those, who cares?

[CharleyBrown]

Originally Posted by Leon

And why would that bother anyone even if they did? It's their money. Heck they could buy the cards, crack them, throw the card away and keep the empty holder and flip and collect those, who cares?

+1

Well said Leon.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Leon

And why would that bother anyone even if they did? It's their money. Heck they could buy the cards, crack them, throw the card away and keep the empty holder and flip and collect those, who cares?

I would care if someone was throwing away mint condition 52T Mantle cards.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I would care if someone was throwing away mint condition 52T Mantle cards.

If they own it then they can do what they want. I wouldn't really like it because it would be destroying part of history.....but it would be their call. (and I was just saying, really, who cares how others collect?)

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Leon

If they own it then they can do what they want. I wouldn't really like it because it would be destroying part of history.....but it would be their call. (and I was just saying, really, who cares how others collect?)

I hear ya...I should have put a smiley on the end of my post.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by MattyC

If I track down a Frederick Foto Ruth I guess I'm a collector-- but if I add a PSA 9 Schmidt or PSA 10 Brett, where do I go to forfeit my collector badge?

)

Conor will take it from you and give you a fetish badge to replace it.

[Peter_Spaeth]

To Gary's point, as I recall Jim Crandell got a lot of grief for not being a "true collector" despite his 20,000+ cards because he collected high grade ones.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

To Gary's point, as I recall Jim Crandell got a lot of grief for not being a "true collector" despite his 20,000+ cards because he collected high grade ones.

Jim Crandell got a lot of grief for a lot of things and deservedly so for many of them...I don't agree that he is not a true collector though, his passion for collecting is pretty obvious. I think there is some bias against the registry guys because a lot of people don't view collecting as a competition. I still don't think it has anything to do with their wealth.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Conor will take it from you and give you a fetish badge to replace it.

[CharleyBrown]

Originally Posted by MattyC

So if a collector prefers a 52 Mantle or the like to a CJ Pratt or other rare, relative common, then he's not a "collector?" Says who-- maybe I missed the memo that specified what cards constitute a collection over a mere portfolio.

If I track down a Frederick Foto Ruth I guess I'm a collector-- but if I add a PSA 9 Schmidt or PSA 10 Brett, where do I go to forfeit my collector badge?

Some guys like both cards that are tough in any grade and cards that are just pricey in higher grade. Some guys enjoy spending money on a common player that other guys would have trashed right out of the pack. Some guys collect plastic holders and grades and don't compare the cards within said holders, just choosing the uglier yet higher graded specimen. Some guys will only buy from one TPG and blind themselves to great cards. Some collect to compete with other collectors over arbitrary GPAs of sets on a website. Some like to buy unopened. Some like freakish errors even if the player featured was a scrub. Some just like the most popular images of the most accomplished players ever.

Some of that seems very silly and foolish to me, some is the way I go, but I say live (collect) and let live (collect). If a guy is happy no need to rain on any parades. Almost always, there will be others out there somewhere who likes what another guy likes, so there will be a group of some size to appreciate any card and make a market for it.

Above all I'd hazard the opinion that collectors of cards-- no matter what cards-- have more in common than not, and should therefore be collegial toward one another as opposed to catty (like chicks). Reminds me of how silly it seems when sports fans of rival teams pummel each other in a brawl; meanwhile these combatants are probably both passionate fans of their sport, and would likely help each other if caught in some crisis. But perhaps that's the human condition, to look for reasons to divide rather than come together.

Hence my constant, raging misanthropy

+1

[CharleyBrown]

If he has the money, then I say by all means get the cards he enjoys. I don't see why so much animosity/hate is being directed at Kendrick. To me, it seems like there is some serious envy going on here.

In all reality, how do you know that all he has are those generic cards?

TBH, I can understand him and ML displaying those cards because they are the most widely recognizable. Someone who doesn't know pre-war that well is not going to stop in awe at an unrecognized card. They want to see the Ruth, the Joe Jackson, the t206s. Sure, they could have mixed in a few oddball issues, but how do you know ML didn't come out and say, we'd like to display these specific cards?

Generic or not, I'd love to own a '52 Mantle, a Ruth RC, a t206 Plank, etc.

[MattyC]

I enjoy looking at any card a collector is excited to own; I have learned tons and been put onto cards that became favorites that way. To dismiss what another collector likes is to limit one's own potential knowledge and darken one's own collecting horizons.

That's why I was always amazed at how, on the CU boards, some would inevitably hate and spew bile (cloaked envy) whenever guys shared their pickups or collections-- seeing others' cards and dialoguing about them at best turns us onto new cards we want, and at worst expands our knowledge or makes a new friend.

I do agree: it is very challenging, fun, and deeply rewardingto have to hunt down an affordable low-grade examplewith eye appeal, as compared to having bottomless pockets that make every grade a possibility. But then again-- with a mere ten 52T Mantles grading MT or better, even a billionaire will have a challenging time finding the one he wants and reeling it in. Especially since there are more super rich guys who want the card than there are cards out there.

Personally, I always face palm when I see a fellow collector pony up for a grade over eye appeal, but ultimately-- if when a guy's balls are being royally broken by life, wife, work, money, health, etc., if looking at his cards makes it all melt away for a while, if the cards take him to a place of pure enjoyment and unbroken balls, that's what it's all about.

I guess what I'm saying is:

Cards mending balls = awesome.
Card collectors acting like catty broads = lame.

[x2drich2000]

It seems to me that Mr Kendrick as a collector is being questioned simply due what items in his collection PSA had on display. Does anyone know that Mr Kendrick does not have any rarer, less mainstream issues in his collection that may be in lower condition? It wouldn't really surprise me if he did have some other items that aren't as popular or well known. I also wouldn't be too surprised if PSA asked him specifically for those cards. After all, for PSA's purposes they would want the highest graded items. It would not make much of a display to have a poor condition 52 Mantle or an authentic CJ set on display.

DJ

[packs]

No one starts out collecting high grade cards and no one finds out about the cards Kendrick has without being a collector. Even if you only casually knew what a 52 Topps Mantle is, you would have to be a collector to know anything about PSA, slabbing, or grading scales. I don't see how anyone could say otherwise. Ask a wealthy guy walking down the street what SGC is and see if they can tell you.

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by MattyC

So if a collector prefers a 52 Mantle or the like to a CJ Pratt or other rare, relative common, then he's not a "collector?" Says who-- maybe I missed the memo that specified what cards constitute a collection over a mere portfolio.

If I track down a Frederick Foto Ruth I guess I'm a collector-- but if I add a PSA 9 Schmidt or PSA 10 Brett, where do I go to forfeit my collector badge?

Some guys like both cards that are tough in any grade and cards that are just pricey in higher grade. Some guys enjoy spending money on a common player that other guys would have trashed right out of the pack. Some guys collect plastic holders and grades and don't compare the cards within said holders, just choosing the uglier yet higher graded specimen. Some guys will only buy from one TPG and blind themselves to great cards. Some collect to compete with other collectors over arbitrary GPAs of sets on a website. Some like to buy unopened. Some like freakish errors even if the player featured was a scrub. Some just like the most popular images of the most accomplished players ever.

Some of that seems very silly and foolish to me, some is the way I go, but I say live (collect) and let live (collect). If a guy is happy no need to rain on any parades. Almost always, there will be others out there somewhere who likes what another guy likes, so there will be a group of some size to appreciate any card and make a market for it.

Above all I'd hazard the opinion that collectors of cards-- no matter what cards-- have more in common than not, and should therefore be collegial toward one another as opposed to catty (like chicks). Reminds me of how silly it seems when sports fans of rival teams pummel each other in a brawl; meanwhile these combatants are probably both passionate fans of their sport, and would likely help each other if caught in some crisis. But perhaps that's the human condition, to look for reasons to divide rather than come together.

Hence my constant, raging misanthropy

Matt,

Couldn't help but notice your continued obsession with the Frederick Foto Ruth...call me when you're ready to pull the trigger....LOL!!!!!

Joe T.