BY TROY KIRK
I’m one of the dwindling number of people who collect baseball cards simply because I think they’re neat.
I’m attracted to the colorful designs used for the cards. I like the wild design of the 1972 Topps cards, the knothole design of the 1958 Hires cards, and the TV design of the 1955 Bowman cards. I’ve always disliked the oh-so-popular 1953 Bowman cards because they cheated me out of a front design. If I wanted to look at a plain photograph, I wouldn’t have bought a baseball card.
I like the way a baseball player’s entire professional life can be neatly packaged into a 2 1/2 by 3 1/2-inch piece of cardboard. I like reading his stats on the back, and I like any tidbits of biographical data that is provided. I especially like the funny bits of trivia about the players found on old Topps cards, and the Topps cartoon artwork on the backs of many cards through the years.
I like the way a baseball card set can document almost the entire world of baseball for a particular year.
I enjoy the effort that goes into assembling an entire set from wax pack purchases.
I enjoy hunting for cards at local stores and trying to find the stores in town that sell the cards for the lowest prices.
I enjoy ripping open wax packs and looking for players from my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers. I especially like finding cards of new Detroit players who have never been shown as a member of the Tigers on a card before.
I like the aroma from the bubblegum that comes out of Topps wax packs.
I get a perverse enjoyment out of throwing away the gum after opening Topps packs.
I enjoy card sets put out with new products, and like to see different company logos on the cards. I especially like the little package of hot dogs on the front of Wilson Franks cards. I like the drawings of Tony the Tiger on the back of one of the Kellogg’s sets. I like to see the Quaker Oats man on the fronts of the Quaker Chewy Granola Bars set.
(1909-11 T206 – Ritchey)
I like the old tobacco cards with their aura of mystery, picturing players from a bygone era, and featuring advertising from tobacco products that have long since passed into history. I like the back variations on the tobacco cards, with many different tobacco brand advertisements available for each card front.
I like getting an old card of a player I’ve never heard of, and looking him up in the Baseball Encyclopedia. That’s how I found out that “Stump” was the nickname of a player named Weidman on one of my few Old Judge cards.
I like the stories that abound about how collectors obtained their favorite cards, or how they made a spectacular deal for some cards.
I used to like to find old cards for low prices at garage sales, flea markets, and through local want ads. With all the recent media coverage and emphasis on high prices for baseball cards, this pleasure has all but disappeared.
I like to read articles in the hobby magazines with new information about different card sets, recent discoveries, and theories and facts about old card issues. I like to learn new things about the card companies, their marketing strategies, and their histories.
I like to look at the cards I collected when I was a kid and remember different things about them, like the trades I made, and how I especially liked certain cards because of the player pose, background or whatever. I still love the Bengal Belters and Tribe Thumpers cards from the 1967 Topps set.
I love seeing any new card sets for the first time.
• • • • • •
• Originally Published in Oct. 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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