Is there an item in your collection that you just hate looking at for some reason?

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

Have dozens of barry bonds rookies and 100's of bonds other cards. Ugh- i guess i dont need to explain y i hate looking at them

I have a feeling that you need not feel too bad about Bonds' cards in the long run (hopefully they include a stack of his 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany rookies in "9" or better, though, which had a print run of 5,000). My prediction is that the HOF will soon elect at least one player who will indisputably later be discovered to have been a heavy steroid user. There is no mechanism in place for ejecting such players from the Hall once they are in. Then, enough people will buy into the notion that if these guys are in, there is no justification for keeping the likes of Bonds, McGwire and Sosa out. Might be best to hang in there long term with Bonds. Just a feeling I have.

Best of luck,

Larry

[Sean]

The Cobb I bought, sight unseen, from a dealer in 2002, when I was just beginning to collect. It's obvious to me now that its trimmed.

The Westlake was part of the Harris collection. I wanted a piece of that set, but now I think that this one is also trimmed.




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[ls7plus]

With respect to the initial question posed by this thread, I have a 1947 Tip Top Bread Johnnie Mize that fits that bill. I am a Mize fan, and a lot of baseball fans don't realize how truly good he was. I personally consider Bill James' stat of runs created per 27 outs, compared to league average, on a career basis to be the best yardstick to measure a player's offensive ability. By my recollection, only seven or eight pre-steroid era players have produced more than 200% of the league average runs created for their entire careers: Williams, Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, Cobb, Jackson, and Hornsby are the ones I recall. I believe Musial to be next at 193%, then followed by Mize at 188%. In addition, had he not missed 3 years of his prime due to service in WWII, he would have likely ended up with somewhere around 450-480 career HR's, and a .315-.320 batting average (as it was, he ended up at .312). Also, his OPS+ was 156 (equal, I believe, to Willie Mays), and his lifetime on-base percentage was .398. I wanted the '47 Tip Top badly, because it represents his best power season: 51 HR, 138 RBI, and 137 runs scored, with a .302 average.

However, the card is in poor condition, with a couple of wrinkles and vertical lines (not quite creases) where the paperboard has begun to separate (perhaps due to prolonged sunlight exposure?). Although the ebay scan accurately depicted the condition of the card, I pulled the trigger anyway, as I had had a saved search for more than one year for it, and this was the only one that had shown up. I really wanted one in graded VG or better, but PSA has only graded a total of 5, and just 4 of those were in that category. Not knowing how long it would take for a more suitable example to appear, I bought it. Since it truly appears to be a tough card, at times I decide to just appreciate it for that and the achievements it represents with respect to Mize's career, but at other times, the decided lack of eye appeal really gets to me, even to the point where I consider it an embarassment to my collection. Sometimes I rationalize that I am giving it a good home, a la Brad above, but at others, really would like to simply get rid of it. It has, however, solidified my approach to collecting with regard to rare "beaters"--don't buy them unless they are really, really rare!

Interesting post,

Larry

[Runscott]

I just received an early 1930's pool cue today which reminded me of a cue I used to have that I absolutely couldn't stand to look at.

The cue belonged to Babe Didrickson who was the greatest female athlete in the world and probably played every sport EXCEPT baseball. She was a world-class billiard player. The pics below show her cue and a similar-age cue that I refinished.

I hated looking at her cue because the old yellow finish combined with the purple wood to create a grey-brown look. But what was so painful was that I knew all it took was a quick refinish to make it blazing purple again - exactly like the one shown in the picture. But you just can't do stuff like that with history.

[clydepepper]

I got a decent price for it, though it was still a lot, and it came back from PSA as having been altered. UGH!

[dabigyankeeman]

I have an early 1920's strip card of The Babe that I badly creased right across the center, almost made two cards out of one when I stupidly tried to move it out of a pocket in a 15-pocket sheet and into another one to get a few Ruth cards together, and since its The Babe I wont get rid of it and its too expensive to replace, but I do get aggravated every time I look at it.

I no longer move cards around in my sheets.

[SMPEP]

My 1963 Pete Rose.

I just realized a couple weeks ago that it is a fake that I bought before I knew better!

Ugh. I guess we've all been burned at some point or another.
Patrick