BY MARK A. LARSON
He admits he’s a baseball card addict. Now recovering, he says.
Today’s society seems to have people who are addicted to everything from drugs to food, so it shouldn’t be a surprising that there are baseball card addicts out there.
The self-confessed addict I spoke with is really no different from thousands of other sports hobbyists. He’s a 40-year-old member of the baby boom generation with a good, white-collar job and a wife and child. But he also had an obsession that almost ran wild.
He related his near out-of-control behavior when the subject of tampering with wax-packs came up in a conversation we had. My recovering card-addict friend filled me in on many of the tactics addicts, like himself, and just plain inconsiderate and dishonest people use to pursue their ultimate fix: finding that star or rookie card for only a penny or two.
I’ve maintained for a long while that ethics seem to fly out the window when it comes to accumulating (I refuse to use the word “collecting”) baseball cards at any cost. What really brought this to my attention was repeatedly seeing packs ripped open and cards strewn all over in drug and discount stores. Some merchants are literally forced to throw away dozens of packs that thoughtless people simply opened up before buying … leaving the ones that didn’t contain the desired cards in a heap.
So what is acceptable behavior and what is not? After a long discussion with my friend, we concluded:
• Looking at cello and rack-packs at stores to see if there are any stars on the top or bottom is fine. That was the original intent of this type of packaging.
• “Sifting” through rack-packs – moving cards around inside the pack – but not opening the plastic or damaging the cards would seem to be OK, although borderline behavior. The same would apply to looking through Score packs and sifting them to see names and/or numbers.
• Looking through – not under or around – wax or cello packs is OK. But as soon as one moves, removes, rips, cuts or scrapes the wrapper, that person has crossed the line into “tampering”, which is not acceptable. It’s wrong. It then should go without saying that re-sealing packs and/or replacing cards in a pack is unquestionably fraud.
1985 Topps “Cello Pack” …………. 1988 Fleer “Cello Pack”
1988 Score Regular Pack ………….. (Note: See-thru back)
• “Code-breaking” – picking out only racks or cellos you think you know have rookies or stars in them because you’ve figured out the card packaging sequence – would seem to be acceptable. After all, if the card companies can’t come up with truly random collation, that’s not the collector’s fault. Code-breaking, however, really isn’t in the true spirit of card collecting … the fun, innocent anticipation of not knowing whether you’ll get a Rickey Henderson or a near-worthless checklist.
• On the other hand, it is totally unethical for collectors or dealers to pull “good” (determined by breaking the sequence code – or by sight) cellos or racks from a box and then sell that box without informing the buyer it’s been searched.
• Some dealers have rules that customers can’t search their boxes of racks and cellos at their stores or shows, which is really the fairest for everyone. (As long as the dealer doesn’t search them either).
The bottom line is that piggy people … folks that have to have their card fix, or have to get the maximum for their money at any cost, ruin it for the honest collector and dealer.
The recovering card addict put it best: “What I was doing (searching packs, tampering, etc.) was not rational behavior because I was working hours to save nickels and dimes. That’s when I realized I was an addict. It’s the ‘something for nothing’ psychology. You waste an incredible amount of time doing it.”
He’s now mended his ways. But for those, collectors and dealers alike, who tamper or cheat people, read that quote again. If it doesn’t sink in, look yourself in the mirror and ask if you’re a hobbyist or just another crook/addict.
• • • • • •
• Originally Published in Feb. 1990 “Baseball Hobby News” •
THIS ARTICLE FROM “BASEBALL HOBBY NEWS” MAGAZINE IS REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF BOTH THE EDITOR/PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR. IT HAS BEEN RETYPED, BUT NO CONTENT HAS BEEN CHANGED (EXCEPT FOR VERY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS, CORRECTIONS TO TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND CHANGES TO GRAPHICS). COMMENTS OR INFORMATION IN THE ARTICLE MAY BE OUT-OF-DATE
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