Lack of appreciation for baseball's history - My rant

I know that I am not the only collector here of HOFers and other great players from baseball's past, but it sure seems like there are fewer and fewer of us.

I posted a thread both here and on Blowout about a couple of recent HOFer Auto pickups. Several people here have shown great appreciation for the items and that makes me proud, but not nearly as many as I would have expected.

On Blowout not a single person has relied to my thread. Now if I had posted some Bowman Chrome auto of a player that hasn't even sniffed the bigs and will most likely amount to somewhere between jack and squat in baseball, I would have gotten a dozen responses!! Collecting players who have actually contributed significantly to the game is much more satisfying than trying to pick the next big prospect.

I think the collecting public is waaaay too skewed towards the "Never-Will-Be's". It is a travesty that Bryce Harper and Addison Russell autos are more expensive than Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays.

I do find FCB to have significantly more collectors who have an appreciation and respect for the finer things in baseball, but still far too few.

My rant is over. Now I can take my lumps from all of the prospectors out there and the people who say "let people collect what they want."

I agree that people are free to collect whomever they want, but I just wish more appreciated the greats of the game. To me it is a shame.

What's you user name on Blowout. I'll go over there and give you the pat on the fanny you so desperately
are looking for. :lol:

Don't take it so personal man, some people don't appreciate others collecting passion.

Sent from my Desire HD using Freedom Card Board mobile app

No different than most other facets of life sadly.

From the slew of falsely attributed quotes and memes running through Facebook to the overall lack of understanding of history in general. Then again, people are more interested these days in the quick flip and the "latest and greatest" - not the legends.

When I pulled my Mathewson 1/1 cut, someone said..."Wow, just think, it could have been Ruth," yet as you know, Mathewson is significantly more tough to acquire and more rare than Ruth.

I agree. Its really sad that some kids dont know alot about baseballs history because "its boring" (atleast kids I talk to)

So true Mike. I think if I pulled a Matthewson 1/1 cut I would crap myself. Way better than a Ruth (although that would be pretty crap worthy too).

200lbhockeyplayer said:

No different than most other facets of life sadly.

From the slew of falsely attributed quotes and memes running through Facebook to the overall lack of understanding of history in general. Then again, people are more interested these days in the quick flip and the "latest and greatest" - not the legends.

When I pulled my Mathewson 1/1 cut, someone said..."Wow, just think, it could have been Ruth," yet as you know, Mathewson is significantly more tough to acquire and more rare than Ruth.

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I don't take it personally. I just don't get it.

FYI...on BO I am Moyni.

Pine Tar said:

What's you user name on Blowout. I'll go over there and give you the oat on the Danny you so desperatly
Or looking for. :lol:

Don't take it so personal man, some people don't appreciate others collecting passion.

Sent from my Desire HD using Freedom Card Board mobile app

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It's also possible people appreciate it without posting about it, I know I take the time to look at stuff and I think to myself how cool it is, but if I posted on everything I saw that I appreciate, it would just get too much. There are people out there that know and love their history of the game, but just because we don't post on everything doesn't mean we aren't out there.

I care much more about your Irod and your Juan Gone collection that "Clark Griffith" and "I Don't Even Remember The Guy's Name After 15 seconds"... That's a lot to ask of someone who enjoys collecting to go back and appreciate the history. I love the history of the game, don't get me wrong, but obviously only things that are interesting to me. Mostly it's baseball as it applies to my lifetime...and the connections from my lifetime to the past. THerefore, your "I Don't Even Remember The Guy's Name After 15 seconds" notecard auto means as much to me as an Addison Russell autograph: not much. I wouldn't comment on either one.
To each his own!

If I post a Tony Gwynn card, I don't do it to get responses. And I would NEVER expect a newer collector to even care much about an overweight, high-average hitter with not much power that retired 10 years ago... I do like to hear from people though, but I would never expect it.

Too many people in this hobby aren't collectors, and they aren't interested in the history of the game, or even the game itself. Its all about the money, how quickly they can flip one thing and sink that profit into the next profit-maker. I can go on COMC right now and buy a George Kell auto for $3.49; yes, it's a Panini Century sticker auto, and he's not in the upper echelon of HOFers, but that's less than a lot of washed-up ex-prospects who are already out of the game. It would be great if MLB could somehow encourage collectors and fans to know more about the history of the game, but instead we end up with 85 Bowman products and one Panini Cooperstown.

I post to the audience.

If I have something vintage, I do that over on net54.
Modern stuff, here.
Trolling, blowout.

Since you referenced Joe D.


A little mixed media piece I did a while back

I am on both sides of this. I used to have a massive ken griffey jr collection in the 1990s. I chased every single card and inserts were the thing. Well when the value of most that stuff went through the floor I decided I would only collect rookie cards. So now I have at least one of every Griffey rc I'm a psa 10 and I'm bored because I don't want to chase newer stuff. Plus I am a fan of baseball again after staying away for about 10 years. I like following current players and chasing down their rare rcs and 1/1s. It's fun to pull stuff and acquire stuff from guys you can watch about any day of the week play baseball. I just started dabbing in prospecting this year and it has been fun but it is pretty risky too.

On a side note I am also building a 75 topps mini set all psa 8. I'm a big george Brett fan and have a few 8s and 1 9 in that set so I decided to build the whole thing. That's about as vintage as I get. I have been tempted to pick up some mantle stuff but haven't yet.

First off, awesome pipickups.

I couldn't help but ask a totally troll question over there though

DeliciousBacon said:

Too many people in this hobby aren't collectors, and they aren't interested in the history of the game, or even the game itself. Its all about the money, how quickly they can flip one thing and sink that profit into the next profit-maker. I can go on COMC right now and buy a George Kell auto for $3.49; yes, it's a Panini Century sticker auto, and he's not in the upper echelon of HOFers, but that's less than a lot of washed-up ex-prospects who are already out of the game. It would be great if MLB could somehow encourage collectors and fans to know more about the history of the game, but instead we end up with 85 Bowman products and one Panini Cooperstown.

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Thanks, my first thoughts as well. Its certainly not that the minor leagues don't carry any weight, they're just clearly of limited (minor!) importance compared to everything else in baseball in a general sense.

Frankly I'd add too many people have to sell because they can't stay in the hobby otherwise... but I'm getting off track here.

I may be a prospector, but I most definitely respect the history of this great game. A while back, I created daily threads on this board, entitled "*** Days Ago Today", in which I linked to a story featuring a notable event in history. Sadly, it never really received many replies, so I discontinued it.

MrMet said:

It's also possible people appreciate it without posting about it, I know I take the time to look at stuff and I think to myself how cool it is, but if I posted on everything I saw that I appreciate, it would just get too much. There are people out there that know and love their history of the game, but just because we don't post on everything doesn't mean we aren't out there.

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I'm on the same boat as you. I love looking at threads showcasing member pickups but refrain from posting unless I have something useful to say. I don't want to go around posting "Congrats!" everywhere.

madbull34 said:

I'm on the same boat as you. I love looking at threads showcasing member pickups but refrain from posting unless I have something useful to say. I don't want to go around posting "Congrats!" everywhere.

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I get that. I too see tons of stuff that I like and respect, but do not always reply. So I really do understand. It is not about responses to threads as much as a general commentary about the "Prospect-centric" nature of the hobby today.

And there is nothing that is going to change that BTW.

"There should be an asterisk next to Babe Ruths name because he wasn't allowed to play against black or latino players. You think Babe Ruth would have the same stats if he had to face CC's 94 mph slider?

I think we as fans deserve the greatest athletes that science can create."

Unfortunately, I think as time goes on, future generations will become even more dissociated with the history/origins of this great game. As a few have already said, the modern collector's mindset tends to gravitate toward the here and now, future potential, a quick flip, etc... rather than a genuine appreciation for retired stars and how important their accomplishments really were in the annals of baseball history.

Given the fact that most of the greatest stars from the Golden Era (50s-60s) are gone or are senior citizens, they aren't exactly at the forefront of the sports world's conciousness. You aren't going to hear about their exploits during last night's twinbill in the morning segment of ESPN. "And in our top story, Ernie Banks almost hits for the cycle vs. the Braves as their venerable ace Warren Spahn was battered early, ultimately surrendering a pair of singles, a standing triple, and a 3 run shot to left center to the great Cubs shortstop". Hey, we can all dream, right?

How can we expect today's generation of fan/collector to want to learn about the legacies of players who their grandparents idolized as kids? In fact, as older family members of today's young fans pass on, there's even less opportunity to have that history/knowledge imparted on them, barring an exceptional level of initiative on their part. In 2013, there are simply too many other attractions jockeying for the attention of this generation.

As big of a baseball fan as I am (aren't we all on this board), I'm an even bigger fan of baseball history. I have a deep appreciation and reverence for all of the game's stars, scoundels, and primadonnas. It doesn't matter what era, I love it all. The game will never die, but the passion for any aspect of the game other than the present is in jeopardy, no doubt.

Fast foward 25 years: how many fans could tell you anything about Steve Carlton, Reggie Jackson, or Bob Gibson if you asked them out of the blue? It seems laughable now, but it might not be so ludicrous in 2040...when Hoot would be 105, Carlton 96, and Reggie 94!

We think alike. I just posted a similar message in the "things you don't like about FCB" thread.
I love looking at scans of vintage cards and reading about them.

Unfortunately, I'm also guilty of thinking how awesome it is, or admiring the story about an old player, but then I don't respond in writing, so I should do that more often and not be a hypocrite.

I also need to post more often about my collection, especially my large collection of autographed vintage cards.

MrMet said:

It's also possible people appreciate it without posting about it, I know I take the time to look at stuff and I think to myself how cool it is, but if I posted on everything I saw that I appreciate, it would just get too much. There are people out there that know and love their history of the game, but just because we don't post on everything doesn't mean we aren't out there.

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I third this notion. when i click on HOF threads and the like, I usually get the "oh now that's sweet" thought in my head but rarely post.

I almost never click on a thread that has the words "prospect" or "insert latest and greatest here". I'm sure i'm missing out on some cool stuff, but i'm sure more than 50% of them will go the way of the guys that were the latest and greatest when i got out of collecting in HS (Gabe Kapler is the mind that jumps out immediately). Not that I don't appreciate those collector's hits or purchases, it just doesn't do much for me.

Actually in the middle of a project to re-organize the collection to get all of my HOFers in one spot in efforts to get to know the history of the game better.