Nick from
Dime Boxes started what is evolving into a
Bat Around about your top ten things about the hobby or the game of baseball that most people like, but you don't.
This was interesting in that it is definitely easy to confuse it with things I hate that everyone else complains about too, or things I like that no one bothers with (though it wasn't as easy to come up with as much on that list as originally theorized). And I'll expand the concept slightly into "things that collectors that believe the hype like" vs. some of us old-school bloggers who don't necessarily follow the trends. I also tacked on a couple things about the game in real life when I ran out of card concepts toward the end.
#1 - Rookies
Yes, I call myself the "Anti-Collector" sometimes because the hobby is driven by the latest "Hot Rookie", and I could care less. Star rookies are generally the last few base cards I need to complete a current set, and when (not if) I don't pull them, I count on generous traders to send them to me so I don't have to pay $3 each otherwise. When I sorted my sets in the 80's, the rookie cards went in the back of each team. Makes no sense to me that a base card of some young dude with potential can be valued at ten times that of an accomplished veteran player who has broken records or been on multiple All-Star teams.
This also strikes down the appeal of several other things:
- most high end product (rookie saturated hits)
- short prints at the end of sets (rookies you'll almost never find cheap)
- many insert sets
- Buying things from dealers at shows who cater to the masses
#2 - Bowman
You could say this was #1a, since they go hand in hand. But Bowman cards aren't just players I've never heard of, they're also a confusing mixture of what should be different products. There are veteran cards, and then there are "1st Bowman cards", which would be OK, but then there are also Prospects, and (or?) Draft Prospects. And then, mixed among all that is Chrome Prospects, which are not inserts in the Chrome set, but in the
regular set! And there is a separate Draft product, which also has Chrome inserts, but they're all autographs. And the Chrome set has Elite inserts, and ... Oh I give up.
#3 - Shiny
It would probably help if Chrome wasn't so dang expensive. Some designs lend themselves to shiny, but not all of them. But you can probably find them that way somewhere. Shiny is just not that much of a selling point to me. And retro shiny is just the dumbest thing ever. It's such a contradiction ~ let's take an old school design and apply a new-fangled technology on it as part of a tribute set. Uh....Why?
This also kinda ties into glossy parallels, especially those in football sets like Score or Donruss Classics. They're just one more card you have to hunt for while at the same time finding some ambitious collector who wants the glossy versions. No thanks. Instant trade bait.
#4 - Online Exclusives
Most of the lists that I've seen so far on this Bat Around agree that online exclusive cards have no appeal, but someone keeps buying enough of them to sell out immediately all the time. Shops and dealers are falling by the wayside, and meanwhile, you companies keep pushing stuff that has to be bought direct. Most of it is the same Hype Machine players in recycled designs, or oversize copies of other stuff for way too much money. I'm just glad my player collections don't show up too often. Not that I check much anyway.
#5 - Social Media Trading
OK, maybe Blogger is considered social media? So I'm not trying to be hypocritical by disparaging social media on a form of social media. But since I'm not on any other form of it (except Instagram, but not for cards), I can claim no participation otherwise. I've asked many time before whether I'm missing out of great trading and exchange of information abuot the hobby from Facebook, Twitter, and the like, but I've never had a satisfactory answer that would lead me to want to join any of them.
#6 - Book Value
I still deal with the occasional trader or dealer that continue to validate "book value". I understand if you want to make a trade more or less equal, so you use the book as a far-reaching reference for everything. But there are also still dealers who consult Beckett to set pricing at their show tables. Now if they look up a price and then quote me 60% off or more, than I'm OK with it. When I'm quoting current cash value, however, I prefer to see what COMC and SportLots or eBay have to say. A collector friend still subscribes (mostly to keep his consecutive streak going, even though he's lost a few to natural disaster) and likes to read the high values of stuff we've pulled from the latest packs. I always tell him to check the low column and take a discount from there, because that's about what I can probably find it for.
#7 - Grading
 |
| Why?? |
"Mojo". That's what I say to myself when I walk by a table full of graded card slabs with the usual young dudes wheeling and dealing the current Hype Machine fodder to willing buyers. I've said it many times.
A Gem mint 10 Graded card should not be worth any more than High raw value. (Though see #6 above.)
Grading is a mechanism where buyers can get an idea about the condition of a card that they can't hold in their hands. They are allegedly measured against universal standards and rated according to objective interpretation of those standards. Now whether that happens in real life without influence from how much volume an individual submits etc. is another debate.
Also, it is completely irrelevant to me how many people have arbitrarily decided to send in the same card for grading. Therefore "low population" should have no bearing on value either.
#8 - Basketball
Hoops is low on this list. I don't hate it. I just don't follow it. I recognize most of the names that are mentioned on the ESPN shows (while I'm waiting for them to talk about football). But basketball is the one sport that I don't even completely understand. Still can't get my head around what a "foul to give" is, or what the "possession arrow" means. Nor do I know what the different positions are, or who plays what, except maybe Center. Can't even tell you many of the teams that the stars play for. You know, LeBron, Curry, and Jordan were easy, but these other guys, I got nothing. It's just not my thing.
#9 - The Strikeout K
This one's from a bit deeper. But my conviction is strong. When scoring a baseball game. The symbol for a strikeout is a letter "K". But there are two possibilities - a batter can
swing and miss -
moving the bat in an arc through the strike zone. That symbol is a
regular letter K. When the batter
does nothing - does not move at all - the symbol is the
backwards K.
This is totally contradictory to logic.
When there
is movement - the symbol is normal (
doesn't change). When there is
not movement, the symbol
changes to backward. Now do you see?
I say a
swinging strike should be signified by a
swinging K. And a batter caught looking - still standing there normally, should be recorded by a normal K. Therefore the "swinging K" is for a "swinging strike". The K is like a gate, and swings around the vertical post when the bat does. Seems perfectly logical to me. Don't know how they've gone so long with it wrong.
#10 - Pitcher's Intimidating(?) Mannerisms
Scraping the bottom with this one. There aren't many guys that do this, but these two are famous for it. Jonathan "Pucker Boy" Papelbon always looked in for the signs with his face clenched in what I can only describe as an expression like he was going to spit out an egg at any moment. Craig Kimbrel poses in this "flapping vulture" configuration to get his instructions. I guess they think they're intimidating batters or something with their intensity, but to me it's just ego-driven theatrics. And they look stupid. Kids, don't try this at home.
To each his own. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of anyone else in authority in this hobby or any sport in general. My apologies to Jay Bell and basketball fans everywhere.
