Why do we love Net 54? Why do we all keep coming back?

[Eric72]

I have been collecting baseball cards on and off since I was five years old. Even during the times when I wasn't collecting, my love for the game never wavered (although the strike in '94 ticked me off a bit.)

I suspect that I will continue to have a passion for the game all the way up to the moment when my days are done and I finally visit that great ballpark in the sky. As an aside, am I required to become an Angels fan at that point?

Anyway, for me, baseball has a way of connecting all of the various dots in my life. And, away from the field itself, as spectator and amateur player, baseball cards are the part of this game that I enjoy the most.

As for your original question, I keep coming back because I firmly believe that Net54 has the greatest group of hobbyists I ever had the pleasure of encountering. Their overall respect for the hobby is refreshing, their collective knowledge is peerless, and I have learned more about baseball cards in the past year from them than I did on my own in the forty that preceded it.

Thanks to everyone here for making this site all of the great things that it is. You are truly appreciated.

Best regards and happy collecting.

Eric

[Samsdaddy]

I have been collecting on and off since I was a kid. I have said this before in other threads that I have gone from having thousands of cards to having just a small collection as I do now though working on growing it when I am employed again.

Eric, on the previous post said it best:

"As for your original question, I keep coming back because I firmly believe that Net54 has the greatest group of hobbyists I ever had the pleasure of encountering. Their overall respect for the hobby is refreshing, their collective knowledge is peerless,"

I second this. And, I love when you all post pictures of your cards, especially from the 1960s as that is my favorite era of card collecting.

I also really admire the professionalism and good humor of many posts. I have yet to come across people who are crude or posts/threads that are inappropriate.

During this dry time for me in terms of acquiring anything, looking at the vast collections of everyone as well as just learning more about the hobby sustains me and makes me look forward that much more to a time when I can collect again.

So, thank you to everyone.

[Steve D]

I guess I keep coming back because I don't have anything better to do

Plus, I've learned quite a bit from the local denizens, and I hope to learn more!

Steve

[steve B]

For me it's the sort of thing I looked for for a long time.

I'm in other hobbies, and there are boards and mailing lists for those too, but only a couple I really like.

As far as cards go this feels more like when I started hanging around a card shop in high school. The owners knew a lot, and some of the customers knew more about some areas, and hanging out talking about cards or baseball or any sport sometimes even non-sports was totally ok. A great education about what was a fringe hobby at the time.

Later on, it got so there were shops everywhere, most run by guys who only knew what was in Beckett. The smart ones sold around 91-92, the rest took a big hit with the strike. The rise of the internet took out the ones who couldn't figure out how to use it. All that led to a sort of "scratch ticket" mentality, and not much interest in anything older than a couple weeks. Nearly no technical knowledge, not even an ability to ID a less known set. (Never mind figuring out M101s or anything like that) It was literally a hobby that never grew up.

For me 96-09 was a period of relative inactivity. I still collected, but went to fewer shows and focused on other stuff. I helped go through a collection in 09 and found information about a few cards I'd never seen before over on the NS side. And finally checked out this side. And it felt like home. Even really obscure topics like unlisted varieties of modern sets got some respect. At worst an online version of the blank stare I was used to, without the obligatory derision follow up. (Ok, sometimes but typically a polite silence if the subject is one that bores people into a coma)

And some of the posters are people who I'd never met, but knew their names from ads etc.

Pretty cool.

I think my intro to the harsher side was mentioning I had some blank back T206s and basically getting a polite "put up or shut up" - Posted scans and all was well. Yeah, this can be a harsh crowd, but in some cases it needs to be.

Steve B

[Section103]

1. Unsurpassed knowledge
2. BST
3. Exposure to cards not easily found (share your...)
4. Dick-swinging contests

[Gradedcardman]

Originally I thought I would like the board to meet some good people with similar interests. I found that the knowledge I have gained is the best. Yes there are a good core of people but damn there sure are some douchebags on the board that are legends in their own minds.

[grainsley]

Because we are addicts.