What modern has come to

[mrmopar]

I think that most people who collected in a simpler time are a bit put off by all the splashy, flashy stuff that is being put out now. When it was a rare for creativity in the 90s, there were some really neat items made with different materials, die cuts, foils, dufex, acetates, etc. Clearly, it just kept going until everyone was sick of just about every type of material or flair you could give a card.

I have no issues with new stuff. It can be very confusing if you are not actively keeping up with it. I am definitely not a fan of the unlicensed stuff w/o logos and teams, but that is an unfortunate reality of the market today. I have some of this stuff, but not a lot.

What I really notice is that a lot of newer collectors really get into the new stuff and some can/do appreciate the older "boring" stuff as well, but are a bit overly protective of the new stuff when anyone tries to bash it.

Case in point. I saw this on Pee Wee Reese cut on ebay and thought how a group on facebook called sportscard nonsense might appreciate the poor execution of what would otherwise have been a pretty neat card. I never said people wouldn't collect the card, but it's just an awful looking card! Perhaps the way I worded it could have been better, but it was said in jest (i suggested that the employee who thought this card was fine for release to the public as seen should have been fired, as finding 8 suitable Pee Wee Reese autographs in the early 2000s should not have been that tough). I expected at least the majority to agree that this was a FAIL on the part of UD.

However, after seeing the majority of people who commented thought NOTHING was wrong with this card, in fact many spoke to it's greatness in their opinion, i couldn't take it any longer. I had not been getting much out of this group anyway, but after that experiment, I just left the group. Clearly, we are not collecting the same way and that is fine, but I don't need the distraction of this group anyway.

I have always collected what interested me, with little regard for value. This has helped me in some cases and left me with gaps in my collection in other cases. I think others can collect what they like, but that doesn't mean we can't poke fun at things either from time to time.