Are your cards ===mint=== ???

[Paul S]

Arnie, your collection sounds a lot like my own -- pre-and-post-war vintage collection...and I'm a lifelong Yankee fan as well. I don't even bother to mention the subject to "outsiders". My dear friends know about it and are supportive even if they don't quite get my enthusiasm, and I hang out on the board with those who "understand".
Here's a couple Minty Ruths:

[brian1961]

Arnie----Hate to say it, but a lot of people aren't intelligent enough to appreciate the merits of vintage lesser grade cards. Don't give up. If you haven't already done so, arm yourself with a bit of quick history of the facts of cardboard life to convey:


-- the paper drives of two world wars
-- the millions of mothers throwing away their children's card collections--- unless the kid himself threw them away during adolescence
-- as millions of people moved to the suburbs in the 40s-50s, and really anytime, objects seen as junk were left behind or pitched. I lost half my childhood collection when my family moved to a different Chicago suburb in 1964.
-- that card preservation holders were not even invented until the 1980s
-- baseball cards were not perceived as valuable until the adult hobby began to organize in about 1969. Collecting Consciousness, whereby everyone started to save everything, began in the mid-1970s
-- long ago, when baseball cards were simply thought of as cheap boys' toys, boys handled them a lot as they loved them, looking over the pictures and the write-ups again and again--improving their reading, math and organizational skills. They played games with their cards--flipping and other thought-up games. They used them to enhance the sound of their bicycles. I remember reading a story in the magazine, Reminisce. Kids would take their collection of Goudey cards and, with a hole-puncher, punch a hole in a bottom corner area, then attach their stack of cards to a sturdy detachable ring. They'd wear their ring of cards around a belt or belt loop. Before and after a neighborhood game, they'd show off their cards, and perhaps work a trade. Yup, cards were loads of innocent fun.

This might help, emphasis on might. If not, throw it back at them with something they might relate to. Is the Barbie you played with as a girl pristine? Why not? Is the car you drive still pristine? And why not, bub?

You collect rare survivors from a time when cards were loved, but often, dis-carded. It is what it was.

--Brian Powell

[GoldenAge50s]

I have known Arnie for a few yrs now (from another Board) & believe me when I say he has the most extensive Yankee card collection of anyone I know--ANYONE would be proud to have put together what Arnie has-REGARDLESS of condition!

From the very old to some of the newest, I've seen ALOT of it and would be PROUD to own ANY or ALL of them!

[dabigyankeeman]

Thank you Fred, and thanks to all here who have said similar things to what i said. This is one subject that drives me nuts!

But hey, as much as i say this, its also nice to see a bunch of high graded cards, and Fred has them all!!!!! LOL. Seriously, Fred has an incredible bunch of great high graded old cards, but Fred, since yours are mainly not graded 10's i guess my friends would look down on your stuff too.

[GoldenAge50s]

I don't really have much of anyone to share my cards w/ either. My family & relatives know I have a basement full of stuff but don't really ever ask to see anything. My wife is very understanding but would rather have the basement cleaned out to neaten the place up!

She gets the most excited when I tell her I sold something!

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by dabigyankeeman

Thank you Fred, and thanks to all here who have said similar things to what i said. This is one subject that drives me nuts!

But hey, as much as i say this, its also nice to see a bunch of high graded cards, and Fred has them all!!!!! LOL. Seriously, Fred has an incredible bunch of great high graded old cards, but Fred, since yours are mainly not graded 10's i guess my friends would look down on your stuff too.

Arnie,

I'm with you all the way on low graded cards-- ESPECIALLY YANKEES!

From one Yankee fan to another, here are my Yankee greats whose collective grades don't even add up to two MINT 9s, let alone their collective cost is probably not even remotely near what one of them would cost in MINT 9...

[wolf441]

That's why we come here. When I try to convey the excitement of picking up a great vintage card, my wife's eyes just glaze over. I've stopped even mentioning the fact that I collect if we go out with a group of people, because I get the inevitable "yeah, I used to collect baseball cards too....when I was 12".

This board is like a safe haven!!

[MattyC]

Aside from net54, there is always Manchurian-candidate-style child-rearing. For example, my three year-old son can name every player on every card in my collection now.

He especially loves Shoeless Joe and Babe Ruth. His first word was "Mi-Ma," which is what he calls Mickey Mantle. I think he even has a stare like The Mick on his 52 Topps... I figure if he just doesn't sell my cards for a car or worse when I'm long gone, I'll consider it a win. The downside to brainwashing our kids to love older cards though is that their friends won't know what the hell they're talking about-- kinda like what we deal with!

Anyways having some picture/posting trouble here but got a great GIF of my boy struggling to say Shoeless Joe. Will try and get it up here right.

[RTK]

Hardly mint...

The majority of my cards were obtained after riding my Schwinn Sting Ray through a field to the local Convenient store, standing at the counter trying to decide how much candy versus how many packs of baseball cards I would buy. I opened the cards in great anticipation, hoping to get Cubs and White Sox players. I kept my cards separated by team and held together with a rubber band. Myself and the neighborhood kids traded cards after our trips to the store. I have no idea how many Mantles, Mays or Aarons I traded. The value of my cards for me is how they relate to my childhood, my childhood friends and endless games of sandlot baseball we played. I've bought a few cards over my adult years; Ted Williams, Mays, Duke Snider, Ernie Banks, all '57's. I particularly like '57 cards despite them being from a time before I was born in 1960. I buy them regardless of the condition, more based on players I like and price. I'll probably buy more over time but I'm not an investor or an accumulator of cards, I just like the old cards and what they meant at the time they were printed. The '90's era of card collecting; rookie cards and special cards is lost on me. I never got caught up in that. I'll take a '67 Don Kessinger with rubber band marks any day.

[dabigyankeeman]

Matt, great stuff, and no need for higher grades, those cards have super eye appeal. 5 on the true Mantle rookie is really great! Mine is a 1, but again, with great eye appeal. I find that if you look hard enough you can get really good eye appeal in lower grades. Your 52 Mantle with a 3 grade is really nice, again mine is a 1. Love your Sporting News card, thats one i need, even if Babe is in a Boston uniform! I have a part of my collection that i call "Yankee players when they were on other teams" and that card would go in there.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

The question I usually get is what is your most valuable card? Do you have a Babe Ruth? Luckily I can answer yes to the last question.

[Copa7]

Mint is a myth created by PSA to influence the hobby and line their pockets.

Mint is a matter of opinion.

Mint is a term used by dealers to degrade items of historic value.

Anyone collector who has compared PSA cards and their grading system can easily see the vast discrepancy in opinioned number values they are given.

In the end, it still one person's opinion.

Make you own choices and enjoy.

[dabigyankeeman]

Originally Posted by I Only Smoke 4 the Cards

The question I usually get is what is your most valuable card? Do you have a Babe Ruth? Luckily I can answer yes to the last question.

Me too, in fact I have about 14 cards of Ruth from his playing days, BUT THEY ARE NOT MINT!!!

Also, as many have said here, i constantly get asked how much is your collection worth. I hate that, i always say just that its got good value, but not great value due to the cards NOT BEING MINT!!!

But most of the time, their eyes just glaze over as Brad said, and they have zero interest in my collection!! Particularly after i say ITS NOT MINT!!!

chuckle chuckle snort snort

[BradH]

Arnie - I feel your pain, but I think this is common with a lot of things in life - people don't tend to show a ton of interest or appreciation for things they don't care much about or understand.

We took our kids back home to see relatives in northern Indiana at Christmas time and one night my brother-in-law was talking about an old car he'd recently finished working on in his barn. (Other than basic maintenance and how to change a tire and my oil, I don't really know squat about cars.) So I showed some interest and asked him a few questions about it. After he talked for a while I realized I was doing just what you're talking about. My eyes had to have been glazed over. Then he said something that caught my attention. He said the car was a '68 Camaro SS and that he'd "rebuilt it with matching numbers." This intrigued me and I asked to see the car. We spent the next hour in his barn as he showed me this unbelievably beautiful vehicle (Google '68 Camaro SS and you'll see what I mean).

He explained the pains and searching involved in doing a car with parts that have matching serial numbers. This is a whole sub-culture that I was never aware of and he just beamed as he explained all of this too me. Some of the parts took him years to find and I realized how important this was to him and I was glad that he got to enjoy showing it off to me. And while I was tempted, I never asked the "how much is it worth" question because I hate it when people do that with my cards.

I think I've somewhat educated my family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. about my collection. Now some of them actually seem to be interested when I have a new addition to my collection. Sometimes they actually like the stories behind how I found a card hidden deep in an antique shop or at a flea market. Or how I searched for a card for years and finally found it.

Anyway - most of us understand what you're experiencing.

[wonkaticket]

Personally I have never experienced this most folks eyes glaze over before the topic of condition ever comes up…..guess it’s all in my delivery or I’m talking to the wrong people.

[KCRfan1]

Brad, it sounds like there are some similarities between card collecting and your brother-in-law putting together his Camero. There is common ground, just different items ( cards and a car ).