BY TROY KIRK
Whenever someone writes a newspaper or magazine article about baseball cards for the general public, the subject of money inevitably becomes the focus of the story. Money is the primary reason for the involvement of many people in the hobby, especially most dealers and investors. Yet baseball cards really have little to do with money, and a lot to do with history.
Take a close look at one of your valuable baseball cards and see what you really have. You have a small piece of cardboard with a picture and some writing on it. It can’t be eaten, it can’t be used to keep you warm, it can’t be used for anything. Just about everything else you can buy has more importance in your day-to-day life than a baseball card.
Baseball Hobby News writer Mark A. Larson likes to point out that a toothbrush has more real value than a baseball card, since you can use it to help maintain your teeth.
Baseball cards were not invented to be valuable investments. They were meant to be collected and enjoyed by anyone with a love of baseball. They weren’t printed on gold or on other precious metals, they were printed on flimsy cardboard to make them affordable for everyone. Baseball cards were never meant to be hoarded and traded by the rich, they were cheap entertainment for the masses.
The only reason baseball cards have any value at all is that people like them. They like baseball, and they like to see what the players look like. They like to read the statistics of the players, and to visualize the players hitting a home run or striking out an opposing slugger. They like to look at a card of a hometown hero, or a famous superstar. They are curious about a utility shortstop for a team that plays a thousand miles away, or an up-and-coming player from a tough rival team.
And as they look back on baseball cards from previous years, they get swept away in the wonder, excitement, change, and continuity of the beautiful game of baseball that has captured the hearts of Americans for over a century.
Take a look at your cards from even a few years ago. You’ll see players such as Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Rod Carew. These are players who have disappeared from present-day cards, but have certainly not disappeared from the hearts of baseball fans. Your cards are historical records of these great baseball players from the years they spent playing the game. As time marches on, the historical importance of these cards will be magnified.
As you look further into the past, you’ll see cards of players like Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Brooks Robinson, and Sandy Koufax. Even if you never saw these men play the game, their baseball cards capture their essence. Maybe your father or grandfather followed these players in their active days and can reminisce with you about some of their feats.
Baseball cards go back even further, picturing players that nobody alive today ever saw. Every baseball fan has heard of the Cy Young Award, but how many fans even know what Cy Young looked like? The chances are good that Young’s baseball card poses are known to more people than any other pictures of him.
Looking back to the very early years of baseball, the more than 2,000 different Old Judge cigarette baseball cards from 1887 to 1890 provide the best pictorial record available of baseball in those years. Without the Old Judge cards, we probably wouldn’t know what some of the players from that era looked like.
The players who never made it to superstar status probably emphasize the historical importance of baseball cards even more than the superstars. It’s easy to bring to mind the image of a great player like George Brett or Hank Aaron. It’s a little more difficult to remember the players who performed at a slightly lower caliber. Players such as Dick McAuliffe, Jim Lonborg, Vada Pinson, Jim Ray Hart, Johnny Callison, Carl Furillo and Don McMahon had some great years and performed adequately in others, but never quite attained a superstar status. Because of their baseball cards, these players will never be forgotten.
Even players with brief major league careers have been immortalized with baseball cards. Sparky Anderson played only one season in the majors, but there are baseball cards of him as an active player, cards that have become more important because of his long and successful managerial career.
Bob Uecker cards are highly sought because of his successful career as a comedian, actor and broadcaster. Mark Fidrych was the top gate attraction in baseball in 1976 before injuries quickly ended his career, and his baseball cards bring back fond memories to many fans.
Without baseball cards, who would remember players like Rich Murray, Frank Leja, Billy Conigliaro, Bombo Rivera, Dom Zanni, John Pacella and Julio Becquer? It is good that baseball cards preserve their brief moments on the diamond. Baseball is more than just a bunch of stars, and these players deserve to be remembered. If only the stars were allowed to be on baseball cards, baseball card sets would get boring very quickly.
So the next time you pass that bin of commons, take a closer look. While the card prices might be inexpensive, and the chance of a financial killing very small, these cards are important pieces of Americana. When you think about it, does it really matter if your baseball card collection makes you rich? Buy that card of Tommie Agee or Phil Regan and you are buying a slice of American history.
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• Originally Published in Sep. 1993 “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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