The Change Of The Times

Lately on Twitter I feel I have turned into the old man with a hose trying to hose the kids off my lawn when it comes to talking about the hobby.

The hobby is no longer what it once was as it has transformed from a hobby to business. We all can see it. Fanatics is leading the charge.

There have been some comments on Twitter that seem silly to me recently, so I drag out my hose and spray those comments off my lawn. I have taken to defend my stance that I will never change with the new hobby evolution of being on the business side. 

NEVER.

I plan to keep collecting and enjoying the hobby like I always have since the good ole days. Which speaking of which, someone made a comment about guys like me that I didn't take lightly and I quote "I get the sentiment about seeing a few dealers at The National who are just old guys w/ stacks of junk cards. I've seen them. There's a few there, but not a ton. But it's wise to remember that many of those old guys were in the hobby ages before the hobby blew up to what it is now." Okay, here's the kicker part that got me....."Whether we like it or not, they were the ones who kept the hobby going when there was no excitement, no crazy chases, no 1/1's. We stand on their shoulders. They more than deserve a seat at the hobby table" (@joshjreynolds). 

NO excitement? No crazy chases? No 1/1's? First off, if we weren't having excitement in those days, why did we keep on collecting. It was very exciting and fun. Something that today's hobby, well business lacks. No crazy chases? There were plenty of crazy chases. Remember trying to pull a Ken Griffey Jr rookie out of 1989 Upper Deck? I do and never did. No 1/1s? Well, we didn't need those. Every card we added to our collections were a 1/1 to us and still is.

Why does everything about the hobby now have to do with money, big pulls and flips? Even Fanatics is making it obvious. At Fanatics Fest, they had celebrities going around buying cards you know they were paying to do so. There was even pyramid scheme level. Fanatics pays celebs to buy or pull cards. Celebs make the market go up by influencing it grabbing people to buy in because of it. Fanatics sits at the top even richer. Seems like a triangle/pyramid to me.

I will continue to step on my soap box and stand up for the hobby as a hobby. Can you imagine how fast everyone would leave if the bubble popped? But, guess who would be standing, you got it, us. The collectors. The ones who are a dying breed but still trying to hold on by threads.

Fortunately for us, we may not have the stacks of cash I see pictures of on Twitter being used on cardboard, but we have unity and we like to help each other out with RAK's (random acts of kindness) and trading. Yes, trading does exist still. It's not like it once was as it's getting harder and harder to find people to do it, but it's there.

Trading is a simple act of sending cards you don't need for yourself to someone who would appreciate it more and reciprocate it back to you. There is no pyramid scheme to that.

I recently sent the legend Night Owl Cards some cards I thought he would enjoy and then he did the same for me. Here they are,

Is there a single card here to flip for profit? Not a single one. But do you know what there is here though, cards for me that I really like. Cards I am collecting which came from someone who knows me well and knew I would enjoy them like I am.

What a concept to introduce to those who may not know this.

The change of the times is here and there is no going back to the hobby we once knew. But, for the small number of us still chugging at it like we used to, we still have each other to enjoy our part with.

I don't plan on changing my course. I don't plan to adapt with the times like others commented on Twitter. I am me. This is a hobby for me. This is something fun I do. Whether I own a card worth .10 or a card worth $500, every card is valued equally in my collection. I am not going to sell cards. I am not going to flip them. I am going to collect them. Hoard them. Enjoy them.

Thanks, Greg, for the awesome cards. That was a nice surprise in the mailbox and also a nice reminder of what the hobby is for me.

Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Mail Days Make It All Better

I knew going into yesterday's basketball game, it was going to be a tough one.

I just didn't know how tough was going to be.

It was painful. Two girls took over the entire game and shut us down. They had more AAU players than us and had more 4th graders playing. Experience will always dominate.

But, through the pain of a loss like that, there are still some highlights.

For one, we made some great defensive plays once we shifted things around, we had a girl make two of her three free throws which was a drastic improvement, and once again most importantly, we had another girl make her first shot early on in the game and another was so close. That now makes 8 out of 10 girls who have made a shot with two games left.

This was the first loss as a coach I felt harder than the other I have. I think it hurt more because of the girls that sat there with glum expressions on their face with more questions than answers that I couldn't even give them. But, what I did offer them was hope. That even though we fell and fell hard today, you can only go up from here. We will rise again. You just have to believe it. I know I believe it. 

We have two practices to turn this around this week before we play a team we already beat in the first game in the year. I know these girls really need a boost and hopefully I can keep practice upbeat this week and that we will have positive momentum moving into the Saturday's game.

But, even though I am feeling kind of glum myself today because I feel how they do, I have a fun mail day to share from the blog Legend Night Owl Cards that makes things better.

 

Greg sent me an incredible variety of items starting out cards from my favorite era, the mid to late 90's. No other cards will ever hit me the way these do.

No card company even comes close to these now-a-days. It's all focus on autographs and jersey cards. Give me these any day.

I may not collect today's baseball cards as much as I once did, but I can never turn down a shiny card especially one with a fun photo as well.

One of my favorite non-sport sets. I am still around 8 away from completion.

I watched a ton of horror growing up. I don't own a single Jaws 2 card so this is awesome. I used to avoid water because I was afraid a shark would snag me.

NEW GRIFFEY ALERT!! 90's throwback and all, it's a beauty.

T'hen came two non-sport relic cards from Allen And Ginter I always welcome regardless of who they are.

Stand up comic Brody Stevens who I guess starred in the first two Hangover movies and passed away a few years ago. RIP.

Malcolm Gladwell is an author, something I always dreamed of being so this is a really cool addition.

This was a great mail day. One that takes away some of the glum.

Thanks Greg! I have more Dodgers to send your way soon!

As always I will keep you all updated on how our next game goes. This is a busy week ahead, I have family up from Nashville who still haven't gotten their power back from that storm, I have basketball of some form every night, and I will be in week 2 of college second semester and still trying to navigate my way around the new classes that require more. I am hoping for at least one more post this week but I will see what time will allow.

Thanks for reading! Have a great rest of your Sunday and week!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

The Unicorn Of Bloggers

The Unicorn; Informal definition, "the term unicorn is used to describe someone or something that is very rare and almost impossible to find".

I consider myself that when it comes to being a sports card blogger.

About 99% of the blogosphere is built up of baseball card collectors, a sport I don't dabble much into anymore other than Ken Griffey Jr, 90's inserts and a couple of NY Yankees players. I guess that makes me the other 1%.

So, when it comes to exchanging cards with fellow bloggers in the mail, things can get a bit more complicated since I don't have "that baseball team" like the other bloggers.

Despite the challenge, my latest mail day from Night Owl Cards showed that these types of exchanges can still take place despite me being that unicorn.

Just check out what he sent,

I think I made a comment about this Mondesi in one of his posts. Great 90's insert back when creativity was top shelf. These were found 1:30-1:36 packs depending on hobby or retail.

This is a nice tribute to the 1998 insert, I will take it. Volpe has also shown some bright spots.

I have the Griffey, the Frank Thomas and now own the Piazza. Such a cool looking insert. I am thinking it's set chase time. These fell 1:12 packs in 1997 Fleer.

I got quite a few of these from my father and surprisingly did not have this Piazza version. Each player has nine cards in the set.

Own The Game is a tribute to a past Topps insert line, they look really nice in hand. Nicer than the pictures I posted or ones I have seen online. I also won't ever turn away Aaron Judge cards. Love his story and his game.

Mining For Gold fell 1:12 packs of 1996 Metal Universe. It's shiny, gold nugget goodness.

I like inserts outside the usual; this is one of them. Once again, inserts in the 90's will always rule over today's stuff. These fell 1:8 packs.

 

I have always been a big Fleer Metal fan, this 1:8 insert falls into my category of a keeper.

Thanks again for the mail day Greg!

I was really happy with everything you sent and sorry for my unicorness (if this is even a word) which made your search a little harder.

I have more many Dodgers to send your way soon, just for a heads up.

Don't forget you can start to nominate cards for the 2025 Coffee Card Hall Of Fame!! Cards don't have to be autographs, patch cards, super star cards. It can be whatever you think is Hall Worthy! Find details and current nominations HERE.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*