BAM1984

Hey everyone,
I doubt people read my blog, but I will continue to voice my opinion on issues and topics of the hobby, as I see fit.

Oh, and like always, smok'm if you got'm.....

I have been collecting for 18 years, at first it was football, then baseball, then basketball..... but now I have settled on just collecting baseball. My thing is that in thse 18 years, I, like many other collectors, have seen the dramatic changes that have occurred since the start.

During the late-80's, cards were a dime a dozen and value was limited to nothing more than the stick of gum in the pack. During the 90's, inserts and ##/##'d were introduced and I jumped all over those cards with optimism. During the late-90s and 2000's, GUs and Autos were revealed and everyone was all over them. Now, I am not going to say that I don't mind pulling a relic or auto, but what happened to the insert?

I have been witness to people in card shops just ripping through packs looking for the "Hits," and what do they do with the rest of the cards......... THROW THEM AWAY! I used to walk into the LCS in PHX and ask the owner if I could look through the trash and get those base/inserts out of there. It wasn't that I was cheap and didn't want to buy a pack of cards, in fact, I would always buy packs and singles to show that I was not trying to get free cards.

Since joining the Army in Jan 2005, I have been able to buy more cards and enjoy the hobby more. I was home in PHX in 2008 and was witness again to the horrors of throwing cards away. I, once again, looked in the "wrapper pail" and saw an entire box of base/inserts and was allowed to take them in return, I had to buy at least one pack. Not too bad I thought..... Well, in the cards that were thrown away, I found a 2008 Topps Rudy Guiliani/Red Sox ERR and about 10 Gold Border #/2008 cards. When did we as a hobbyist lose sight of what the hobby really is?

It seems that inserts, #/#'d and base are just pack fillers for the "Hits." I have binders and binders of inserts that I have pulled and traded for in the past 18 years. I guess I am one of the few that are excited to see a card #/500+ because so many collectors seem to be in it like a lottery.

Anyways, if you made it through this.... tahnx for allowing me to vent. If you are offended and want to voice your opinion, PM me or reply... either way, I will be more than happy to discuss this. If you think that I am stupid and don't know anything, that is ok too..... I don't care what people think of me.


-BAM