I Love Collecting

My “In Defense Of” post garnered quite a bit of attention for the site.  Chris Olds and Susan Lulgjuraj from Beckett, VOTC – c0-host of Cardboard Connection Radio, a couple card blogs and various twitterers all picked up on the article and helped promote and discuss the issue.

When all was said and done we received about 350 views over a three-day period, which is much greater than our normal 30-50/day average we normally see.  It may not be a nationally recognized, Yahoo promoted piece, but that’s still very impressive for a niche hobby blog.

I want to say thank you to everyone for promoting, reading, replying, and discussing it.  There were two important takeaways from the experience that I’d like to share.

1) We treated each other with respect and like adults.  That’s something that can’t be said about the commenting public on those more recognized viral articles.  I hope I didn’t come across as a jerk in any of my replies, but I don’t feel like I did and I certainly have a great deal of respect for everyone involved.  That leads me to point #2.

2) Everything that was said, all the page views and tweets, comments, replies, etc came from a place of passion.  Sure, some of you may have read it out of curiosity, but my belief is that if you saw it, you’re likely heavily involved in card collecting and that it means something to you.  We can debate and argue and discuss for hours and days, and maybe neither of us will be able to express our points in a way that will be understood by the other.  But at the end of the day, the important thing to remember is that we all love the hobby and we want what we feel is best for it.  As long as you can realize the person on the other side feels the same way too, the discussion is that much more satisfying.

We love collecting.  That’s really all that matters.

Now, because I love my readers, I’m going to warn you that the rest of this is going to turn into a trade post.  I understand if you don’t want to stick around, but certainly appreciate it if you do.  After all, trades are a key component of card collecting.  I love trading.

And I’m behind in recognizing people who have traded with me.  I’m getting better, though. This trade with Pat from Hot Corner Cards came through around mid-December.  I sent him all of my Tigers from my 2012 Topps Mini boxes.  Here’s the collecting love he threw back my way.

Saddled with this RC picture forever

I love pictures of jumping middle infielders.  I love rookie cards of the players I collect.  I love the way Castro’s legs are parallel to the swoop.  I don’t love the goofy face, but that’s okay.

0-1 in the 2012 ASG

I love All-Star cards.  I love them more as insert sets instead of subsets, but still.  I love that Starlin has already been selected as an All-Star twice.  I actually really like the 2012 All-Star logo, too.  I would love it if the All-Star game made it’s way to Wrigley Field for the stadium’s 100th year anniversary, but I don’t think that’s actually going to happen.

Awkward swing alert

I love that this card isn’t photoshopped.  I know people hate the mis-matched logos and pictures, but I prefer the untouched look.

Frank still loves Black & White more than Blue and Silver

I love Allen & Ginter cards.  It’s what largely got me back into collecting in late 2009.  I also love Gint-A-Cuffs. I love that we’ve been able to sponsor that contest for coming up on three straight years.

Ain't nothing square about these four corners

I love the team oriented cards from 1993 Upper Deck.  I love the photography.  So seemingly straight-forward.  I don’t love that Fred McGriff isn’t getting much HOF love.

Make sure you leave plenty of bat room

I think just about everyone loves 1989 Upper Deck.  As I kid, I couldn’t afford to love it, but I wanted to.  I love that I still get the same feeling today getting it in a trade package as I would have as a 9 year old kid pulling it from a pack.

Patting himself on the head

I love art cards.  I love this take on team checklists.  I love that these probably led into its own product line of Collector’s Choice.

EmBIGgin

I love the oddball stuff.  I love the paint stroke nameplate.  I love the homage to 1955 & ’56 Topps with a more modern (at the time) twist.  I don’t love that I’m losing my hair as evidenced by yet another scan.  Grays are starting to hit me heavier now, too.

These need to happen again

I love cards from the bottom of wax boxes.  I wish the companies still did this. 2009 Upper Deck OPC brought it back, but regular old Topps could easily do it, too.  I love batting donuts.  I love that Tony appears to have a picture of himself on his wristband.  I love the baby blue border.  I love that you can tell the card was cut with about as much care as you would expect from a kid in 1988.

Mets hat alert

Again, I love All-Star cards.  I love stand-up cards.  I love the Metrodome, even though most players didn’t.  I love the slap bunt.  I don’t love needing a special page to house the card, but I’ll deal, because I love that this card is older than my first pack.

See?  Isn’t trading great?  So much to love about cards.  I don’t need to tell you that.  You already know. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.

Still, I invite you to spread the love and send some of your unwanted Tigers cards off to Pat.  You’ll be glad you did.

2 comments to I Love Collecting

  • Stealing Home

    Congrats on getting some great “air” for your well-written article. I agree that our comments and debates here in the blogging community are much more civil than the outside world.
    I always appreciate reading your takes on the hobby. Keep up the good work, Jon.

  • I love collecting too… especially oddballs. Those Donruss Pop Up cards from the 80’s were pretty cool. And box bottoms? Don’t even get me started on those. I just started collecting those again last year.

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