If you can change one thing in this hobby

[Lars]

Get rid of airbrushing in bowman products.

If you really and truly stopped to think about it, it is ridiculous. Keep bowman but show the minor league uniforms that you know they actually wear.

Doesn't really matter - unless it's an independent league team, the players belong to the MLB teams they are 'pictured' with, regardless of which minor league team they are playing with.

 

[RiceLynnEvans75]

Obviously, you're entitled to do what you want with YOUR collection.

But you and ever one else who wants to get rid of third party grading are missing two very important points.

First, Grading is also a great way to authenticate cards and expose Fakes or alterations. And second, the rise of grading is so that someone who can't see the card in-person can get an objective idea of its condition. Without grading, internet-based cards sales were virtually disappear.

I can't speak for others, but I certainly am not missing these points.

In regards to exposing fakes/alterations, I agree to a point, however we've all seen fakes/doctored cards make it into every companies slabs before. Personally, I believe it's better for people to do some research and learn about the product they are actually buying instead of blindly assuming that, because it's in a slab, it's legit.

On the second point, and again this is my own personal feeling, I'm not buying a card graded or ungraded unless I see it first or the seller guarantees a full refund upon return if I'm not happy with it which I did one time. I didn't have to return the card at all. I had found a dealer online who only posts scans of cards that he's selling at or over $300. I picked up a card from the '34 Goudey set sight unseen after talking with him about the card and him guaranteeing refund if I wasn't happy. The condition of the card was VG he said. I bought it, received it, and was more than pleasantly surprised. At the time, I did do grading and sent it to SGC and it came back as VG. Many of this guys cards are priced fairly high but I found this one that was selling a bit below ebay levels so I went for it. I've since purchased more from him and trust his grading estimates without question each time. I believe a dealer with a long history in the hobby possessing excellent product knowledge is much more valuable than any of the professional graders. I've seen quite a handful of professionally graded "gem mint" cards that are far from it, and that's without having to do an up close inspection.

While there certainly were not as many online sellers (ebay/dealer sites/forums) as there are today, there were plenty of card sales going on prior to grading taking off on the internet. All that was needed, and was typically there, was a scan of the card to get the objective idea of condition. If grading went away, MAYBE there would be a dip in sales, but I don't think it would be noticeable. Maybe the hobby would actually see an uptick in buyers who buy the card, learn about the card, and don't just worry about what the label says.

In any event, that's just me though. EVERYONE has their different reasons for whatever in this hobby and I like that aspect. It's what keeps it interesting. If everybody thought and did things the same, it would be really boring.