Shout out to the Milwaukee Brewers on their World Series win! I can't say that I've really followed the Brewers this year, but what an awesome season. They've got some really good young talent; Cooper Pratt, Sal Frelick, Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio and Jacob Misiorowski to name a few. That's the kind of talent that can make for a good run.
I'm interested to see if Misiorowski can repeat what he did this year. Skenes struggled trying to repeat. Seems like these new power pitchers have a hard time repeating it like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson did.
I'm especially a fan of Brice Turang. I first really noticed him in the World Baseball Classic and became a fan. I didn't really follow him too much, but that man can play some baseball.
Let's get to some questions from the dugout!
What's something better about card collecting now than 20 or 30 years ago?
For me, it's accessibility. There's Ebay, Facebook and more websites than I can count to find cards. There are multiple card shops everywhere. Every time I travel(which isn't too often), I try to find a LCS to visit and there is almost always one in the area. I picked up my Kershaw rookie doing that.
Plus, the number of card shows now is crazy! When I first got into collecting there was one, maybe two shows a year in the area. Now, there's a show within driving distance almost every weekend. This opens the door to finding those cards, in person, that I want for my collection.
What’s something about card collecting that was better 20–30 years ago?
There are two things that I think were better about card collecting back in the day than today. First, it's the obvious elephant in the room, grading. I'm not spending too much time on this because you've probably already read it here before. I remember being in the card store or at a show and people using their own eyes and their own opinions on cards and negotiating with the owners if there was a conflict on it's condition. Collectors still do it now just on comps and eye appeal. I still don't see what was wrong with mint, near-mint, excellent, very good, good, fair and poor tags for the condition of the cards.
Second, the total disregard for common cards these days. I've seen people open packs at a store and leave the commons on the counter when they leave. Some breakers don't send the commons, only the hits on their breaks. People who open packs are always asking what to do with commons and the responses are always the same...give them to elementary schools, throw them away, use them for kindling, etc... I've got a friend who's 3 cards away from completing his 1972 Topps set; he needs 664 Bobby Knoop, 692 Curt Blefray and 781 Jim McAndrews. None of them are big names and other than being high numbers are just common cards, but I'm willing to bet those cards aren't common to their families. Their not just common cards to my friend either as he chases them down.
Which baseball player deserves a better-looking rookie card?
I have two players on my list who deserve a better-looking rookie card. First, Pete Rose.
One of the best players ever and his rookie is the floating head shot? It's terrible. A much better rookie card would have been the '64 Topps card.
Now that's a good looking card! I have several Pete Rose cards in my collection, but if ever decide that I want a vintage Pete Rose card, this is the one I'm getting.
The second player that deserves a better rookie card is Johnny Bench.
This one isn't as bad as Rose's rookie card, but it's still not a good one. A better looking card would be his 1969 Topps card.
Once again, the second year card is way better than the rookie. Same as Rose, I have several Bench cards in my collection, but this is the one I'll add one day.
That's it for the questions from the dugout. I hope you'll answer the questions in the comments. I love it when card collectors can dialogue about the hobby!
Peace,
Michael
Isaiah 40:31
