What defines your collection? Why is baseball different?

[wagnerj03]

I collect cards that have historical significance and remind me of events. So, I’ll collect all the 1919 White Sox banned players, but I’ll also get a 1974 Tommy John because that’s the year of the first surgery. I want my cards to remind me of some event, or make me lookup why I have a 1969 Curt Flood.

[Exhibitman]

This sums it up pretty well



Terence Mann: The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

https://youtu.be/Xq3hEMUeBGQ?feature=shared

Well, I beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We're born again, there's new grass on the field
A-roundin' third and headed for home
It's a brown-eyed handsome man
Anyone can understand the way I feel

Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine
Watching it from the bench
You know I took some lumps
When the Mighty Casey struck out
So say, "Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio"
Don't say it ain't so you, know the time is now

Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield

You got a beat up glove, a homemade bat
And a brand new pair of shoes
You know I think it's time to give this game a ride
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun
It's a-gone and you can tell that one goodbye

Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, I can be centerfield (yeah)

Oh, put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Put me in, coach
I'm ready to play today
Look at me, gotta be centerfield

Or as the great Vin Scully said:

“There’s a high drive into deep left-center field, Buckner goes back… it is gone!”

“What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.

“And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron, who was met at home plate, not only by every member of the Braves, but by his father and mother. He threw his arms around his father, and as he left the home plate area, his mother came running across the grass, threw her arms around his neck, kissed him for all she was worth.

“As Aaron circled the bases, the Dodgers on the infield shook his hand, and that was a memorable moment. Aaron is being mobbed by photographers, he is holding his right hand high in the air, and for the first time in a long time, that poker face of Aaron’s shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the last several months. It is over. At 10 minutes after nine in Atlanta, Georgia, Henry Aaron has eclipsed the mark set by Babe Ruth."

[Luke]

For me I'm not sure I have a lot of principles involved. It's just that I fell in love with the history of the game at a young age. Field of Dreams and then Eight Men Out and then my parents took me to Cooperstown and bought me an old Encyclopedia of Baseball (I didn't care that it was 10 years old because I just wanted to memorize all the stats of the Hall of Famers.

I fell in love with the T206 set and it's just been a lifelong fascination with it. I'm sure the players I collect come in a wide range of good and not-so-good men, but it's really just about the baseball history part for me. Although I did recently realize that I didn't enjoy it when I bought a Cap Anson card. The stories of him walking off the field and refusing to play a game of baseball against a team with black players on them are just too sad to me. I also wish it was easier to collect cards of Negro Leaguers. I'd love to own an Oscar Charleston card but I'd have to sell half my collection to afford one.