Turn around
(bright eyes)
The wait for the new 2009 products is killing me already. Seeing the previews of various new sets over at Wax Heaven has gotten me itchy. So, to distract myself, and perhaps put a little salve on the infected area, I decided to look through the collection I’ve amassed since returning to the hobby. There is still a very noticeable gap between my childhood collection and my current collection. There is also a very large distinct difference in cards between now and then. It’s not just the technological advancements that were bound to happen. It’s the products themselves. Every pack of every box in every case of every series from every company has some gimmick to help drive sales. Were sales of baseball cards so terrible that the marketing brain-trust felt it necessary to "spice things up" in order to resuscitate a dying hobby? Was the hobby even dying at all? I know, I know. In the end it all just comes down to the mighty dollar sign. I just wonder, though, if all of the gimmicks stuffed into these packs are there because we want them? It’s kind of interesting to think about, though, because I sincerely doubt that without at least some of these gimmicks that I’d even care about getting into some of the new ‘09 cardboard. In fact, four of my top five favorite cards (so far) are of the non-base gimmick variety. I’d probably leave again if it were just as stale as things had gotten in the late 80s and early 90s.
Summer of 2007
That’s when I decided to pick up the hobby again. It all started while browsing a nearby Twins Pro Shop. I noticed a blister pack of ‘07 Topps Twins and picked up a couple. I figured I’d bust one open and keep the other one sealed. Now, at this time I hadn’t been anywhere near the hobby in well over a decade. I figured that the sealed team pack would be worth something in 20 – 50 years. Had I been paying attention to things in the last 10 – 15 years, I’d have known better.
I still find it amazing that the most exciting time to be a card collector in modern times was during the time that I decided NOT to collect. One of the reasons I got out of the hobby back then was because, besides the fact that it was no longer cool for my peach-fuzz ’stache to be associated with such childish hobbies, it was plain old boring. It got tiresome putting together bloated sets of nothing but base cards. Of course, fate is a funny thing. The moment I get out is the moment the cool things start to happen.
Dufex. Chrome. On-card in-pack certified autographs. Built-in game-used uniform swatches. What what what?! I don’t care what my teenage facial hair says, that sounds cool as hell! And where was I during all of this? I’ll tell you where I was. I was making sandwiches for a living and mourning the death of Kurt Cobain. I was pretending to be a rock star while searching for some unattractive identity in jean shorts, hiking boots, a fetch, sunglasses, and bicycle (drummer) gloves ALL WORN IN THE MIDDLE OF MINNESOTA WINTER. *shakes head in disgust* But damn, I sure could rock a killer Van Dyke goatee!
So anyway…
I crack open one of the packs of ‘07 Topps Twins. They’re a bit more slick than I remember, which was kind of expected after 15 some-odd years. At the time, I actually thought the 2007 design was really good. This coming from the guy who still LOVES the dopey 1987 wood grain look. I decided to do some more digging for cards. I was told by the Pro Shop to just march across the parking lot to a place called Shinders. Apparently they were the Twin Cities’ largest card shop chain. Of course when I first stepped foot inside of one in 2007, they were going out of business. That made me rethink rejoining the hobby. I mean, the largest card shop chain in the metro area going under? Upon further research, though, it turns out their new owner ended up allegedly being super shady. Allegedly.
Without Shinders available, I was on the hunt for other hobby shops in the area. Because Shinders was such a juggernaut here, they wiped out most of their competition–making finding any shops a real challenge. Well, I did finally find one. I went in and spent about a hundred bucks. I came back with hobby packs of Topps 07 Series 2, UD 07 Series 2, Topps 07 Chrome, and a couple packs of 07 UD Artifacts. The only reason I bought the Artifacts was because I was wondering why a pack of four cards was being sold for $10. The guy behind the counter said it was because each pack was guaranteed a piece of memorabilia. Sure as hell, I pulled jersey swatches from each pack. They are the first jersey cards I have ever pulled. Ironically, the guy was wrong. Artifacts did not guarantee a jersey in each pack. I just happened to get one in each of the two packs that I bought.
After all of that wax (or, these days, foil or celo) cracking and ripping I did in one day, I was back. I immediately got online and did some more research. I found out about all of the different types of cool collectibles that were out there. I got a subscription to Beckett for the first time since I was a kid and was completely overwhelmed by the massive amounts of products that were available. I also purchased my very first hobby box. It was a box of 2007 Topps Chrome. I knew after opening that box and pulling those two guaranteed autos and being totally blown away by the shiny newness of Chrome and all of its refractory goodness that I was going to be back in the hobby for a while. Can you blame me? Seeing Chrome and Refractors for the first time is a pretty cool experience. It totally beats out seeing Sportfilcs for the first time. Heh.
All of that gets me wondering. What happened to the hobby while I was away that necessitated all of these changes? Why were Topps and Upper Deck compelled to put their gimmick motors on overdrive? Did it have anything to do with the great Baseball Strike of ‘94? Are the gimmicks helping the hobby, or hurting it? Now with the news of Upper Deck canceling some of its product line, is the demand diminishing? Will this cause card prices to go up? Is the hobby slowly dying? Should I just get out now while I can?
If you took a cardboard hiatus, when did you come back? Why did you take a break? Why did you return? Will you continue to collect? What is your opinion on the state of the hobby as it is today? Finally, if it were up to you, what would you change about card collecting?
WERE THERE ENOUGH QUESTIONS FOR YA?
Hmm. Maybe instead of inducing migraines by thinking about all of this, I should have just shown you some of my collection. Perhaps my top five favorite cards? A-ha! (Not to be confused with that really cool 80s band with that really cool pencil sketch video with that guy that sings, like, 20 octaves and jumps through a mirror and wants you to take him on or something.) Maybe… just maybe… I’ll share those in the coming weeks leading up to my first break of ‘09.
Maybe.
