1954 Topps Hank Aaron vs 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle

[brian1961]

Guys, as I re-read my post, I know it sounded dire. I know in the future there will be card collectors, and very serious card collectors. We all would agree our hobby has retracted to an unpleasant extent. Looking back 30 years ago, everything was BOOMING. We can name some of the significant signs, easily: the dwindling number of brick and mortar baseball card shops, the scant number of card shows, periodicals that have ceased publication, combined with others, or shrunk.

However, on the plus-side, and it is a significant plus-side, we have a plethora of on-line hobby outlets. We happily have Net54baseball.com, providing us with a great outlet to voice our joys, sorrows, concerns, and remembrances. We have a very strong cadre of auction houses, from which we can buy, and sell. If said auction houses were not selling well, they would have switched to what was selling well. Most of my purchases have been on eBay; thus, the brick and mortar has evolved to on-line, making them a veritable highway of card shops.

As far as most kids today not knowing Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron, well, that's really understandable. In my day, they knew who Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were, but probably not Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Ted Williams (by the time he retired from managing), and Stan Musial. The passing parade does a lot to slowly drain the memory of the once-famous.

There's probably a lot more younger card collectors and fans of the past than I think there are. Still, there are more choices today that were unavailable in the past. In my time there was no fantasy football. I hear in some quarters that is quite the rage. As I wrote before, for many youngsters of a generation ago, their happiness was derived from their video game enjoyment. Those that loved collecting cards then were driven by the hobby periodicals that told them, in no uncertain terms, that they were holding onto gold, and their cards would all be worth a fortune some day---rookie card mania in the extreme. Sellers sold bricks of 100 Greg Jeffries, and other names that you could come up with in a flash. Years later, when those trusting young collectors tried to sell.......

Take heart, me buckos, collect what you love, and maybe someone else will want to buy it from you down the way. The major sports aren't going away; look what happened with all the frenzy over Aaron Judge last year; then too, look what happened to the frenzy over that pitcher, Stephen Strasburg (is that his name? Spelling?) I'd like to edit, but gotta go.

In a nutshell, the hobby changed in ways it had to, with professional grading, and a strong on-line presence. Some collectors could not, or would not, change with the times. Some have grasped it and flourished.

Bye. ---Brian Powell

[CxG Seven Dust]

For one, hobby related, the internet (auction sites such as eBay, etc) killed the hobby in a sense (card shops, etc...).

It's harder for kids to collect mainly because they can't log into PayPal and use their credit card to buy cards online.

In return, they are driven to what's easily accessible (Pokémon, games, comics and toys). There are several toys shops and Gamestops in any local mid sized town. Card and coin shops, not so much.


Back to the topic.

Mantle--- Bigger fan base, all american white athlete in a HUGE sports town.

Aaron--- Smaller sports market/town, black American athlete, breaking the most hallowed record of all time resulting in more hatred and even escalating the "racism" factor even more as well.

Millions of people did not want Ruths record to be broken, especially by a black ball player so lets be realistic. Sad yes, but it's the truth.

In my opinion, it is about timing. Had Mantle and Aaron played today, I feel their collectable status would be different. They played in the 50's-70's. Not too many collectors from that era still around these days.


I can go on and on, but I'm typing from my phone and it's kind of annoying lol.

These are just a few things that crossed my mind in regards to the topic.

PS: I will say this. Society and technology has evolved since they played the game. Usually people tend to go with "what's hot" or with "what's trending" and with Marvel and DC movies killing it in the theatres nowadays, COMICS and TOYS have become more popular than anything else. More so than a typical teen or young adult going after that 1957 Topps PSA 4 Mickey Mantle with great centering lol.


David

[rats60]

Originally Posted by CxG Seven Dust

Millions of people did not want Ruths record to be broken, especially by a black ball player so lets be realistic. Sad yes, but it's the truth.

In my opinion, it is about timing. Had Mantle and Aaron played today, I feel their collectable status would be different. They played in the 50's-70's. Not too many collectors from that era still around these days.

Strongly disagree with both of these. People thought Willie Mays would break the record and saw Aaron as a lesser player and not as worthy. It also didn't help that Aaron played in the most home run friendly stadium and then the Braves moved fences in in 1969 to help Aaron break the record, then moved them back in 1974 as Aaron's production was declining.

Mantle still played in New York and Aaron didn't. 12 World Series for Mantle, 2 for Aaron. 7 World Series rings for Mantle, 1 for Aaron. 3 MVPs for Mantle (probably 6 or 7 today), 1 for Aaron. A superstar in pinstripes is going to out sell one in another jersey. Just look at Derek Jeter.

[irv]

Originally Posted by rats60

Strongly disagree with both of these. People thought Willie Mays would break the record and saw Aaron as a lesser player and not as worthy. It also didn't help that Aaron played in the most home run friendly stadium and then the Braves moved fences in in 1969 to help Aaron break the record, then moved them back in 1974 as Aaron's production was declining.

Mantle still played in New York and Aaron didn't. 12 World Series for Mantle, 2 for Aaron. 7 World Series rings for Mantle, 1 for Aaron. 3 MVPs for Mantle (probably 6 or 7 today), 1 for Aaron. A superstar in pinstripes is going to out sell one in another jersey. Just look at Derek Jeter.

I wasn't aware of that? Was the fence move made obvious or did they disguise it as a necessity for some reason?