Close Encounters

There have been moments in my life where I almost got to meet some great ballplayers. 

When I was in high school, my mom had to go to St. Louis, Missouri for work and she took me with her. While my mom was working, I hung out with a family friend who lived in the area. My friend worked as a tennis pro at a club there and someone had given him tickets to Opening Day. He couldn't go, so he gave them to me. It was 1980 and the Cardinals were opening the season against the 1979 World Series Champions Pittsburgh Pirates. I had never been to Busch Stadium before, so I had no idea where my seats were. When I finally found the seats, I couldn't believe it. Six rows back, right behind the Cardinals dugout! 

Before the game started, the co-MVPs Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pirates were given their awards right in front of the Cardinal dugout. As they are giving the guys their awards the announcer introduces two Cardinals legends...Stan Musial and Lou Brock. They are sitting together one row ahead of me and about four seats down. I was awestruck. I wanted to go meet them, but I was a shy teenager and not very self-confident, so I had to work up my courage to do it. As the second inning was coming to close, I had convinced myself to go talk to them. As I stood up to make my way down the row of seats, they both stood and walked up the aisle. They didn't come back. I missed the chance to talk to Hall of Fame legends. Ever since then, both of those guys have had a special place in my love for baseball. I have a few of their cards and have my eye out for a few more.      

        

Nolan Ryan is one of my heroes. I've never met him, but I came really close one time. My brother-in-law used to work for the FAA and every time the Rangers had a fly over, someone had to be on the ground at the site for communication if there was an issue. Well, that meant he got tickets for the game. It was Opening Day at the Ballpark in Arlington and somehow we both ended up on the field right in front of the Rangers dugout. People were milling around on the field as the stands were filling up. I glanced down the tunnel and saw Nolan Ryan heading my way. I started edging closer to the dugout and as he is coming up the steps to the field, I step in his direction and...someone called his name and he turned and went back down in the dugout. Before he made is way back to the field, we were gone. So close. Being in Texas my whole life, I can say that I'm tempted to drive down to Alvin and see if I can run into him. Who knows? Two of the Nolan Ryan cards that I don't have, but one day hope to own are his rookie card and his 1969 Topps card.        

    

 I have had the opportunity to meet a few MLB players. When I was in high school(a long time ago), I worked at a card shop that once a year put on a card show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Most of the time I covered the table selling card supplies, wax packs, plastic sheets. etc... Other times, I got to hang out with the players who were there to sign autographs. 

One of the first players that I met was Brooks Robinson. There were several adults around him and me, just being a teenager, I was kind of shuffled off to the side. I did get to talk to him and shake his hand which I thought was pretty cool. I don't remember anything about the really brief conversation we had, but I do remember him being a friendly guy. He signed a picture for me.

I have a few of his cards from the '70s, but there are couple of his vintage cards that I'd like to own one day.

  

I was also blessed to meet and spent a short time with Gaylord Perry and Fergie Jenkins at a different show. Those guys were great. Telling stories about their time playing, laughing, joking. The funny thing is, I don't remember anything about that conversation either. I wished I could have stayed and just listened to them talk. I know that when I walked away I thought they were really cool guys who enjoyed talking baseball. I did get a couple of autographed balls. 

Both Jenkins and Perry pitched for my Rangers, so I think the cards I want, but still don't have, will be with them both in Ranger uniforms because, that's how I'll always remember them.

    

I think my all-time favorite Major Leaguer that I had the privilege to meet has to be Enos Slaughter. This goes back to the days of working the card shows and watching the sales table. 

Our table sat near the entrance of the show. It was late in the day and the crowd had thinned out. The next thing I know, up walks Enos Slaughter. To be honest, I wouldn't have known it was him if I hadn't seen him earlier in the day signing autographs. He asked if it was alright to to pull up a chair and sit while he waited for his ride. He began asking me questions about myself and we talked for a few minutes. The talk quickly turned to baseball and he began to tell stories of his playing days. Before you knew it a small crowd had formed around him. He was talking to all of the little kids that had sat on the floor around him. Every now and then a dad of one of the kids would ask a question and he'd laugh and start on some tale to answer the question. He was like everyone's granddad. I really wished I knew more about the era that he played in so I could have asked some questions. 

He told one story that stuck with me that to this day I can picture him doing it. Here's the story. 

It was a hot summer's day and things weren't going well. Enos was playing in the outfield and the manager had just called time and was heading to mound. Slaughter said that he looked down and noticed what looked like a trap door in the outfield. He opened up and saw that it was where the water valve was for the field. He said that's a pretty big box down there and he thought he could fit in it. So he climbed down in the box and lowered the lid. Just as he lifted the trap door just enough to see out, and to his surprise, he saw the pitcher throw a pitch to the batter. The batter swung and lifted a high fly ball in his direction. He popped out of the box, made the catch for the third out and jogged off the field. He laughed a big laugh and said he always wondered what was going through that pitcher's mind when that ball was hit to the outfield and there wasn't anyone there.

 I don't own an Enos Slaughter baseball card, but that signed picture is mine that I got at the last card show I went to. I'm looking for the right card of Slaughter and I'm leaning towards the '53.

I know why I love baseball. It's not just the skills of the players being able to hit a round ball with a round bat, thrown so fast and with movement that defies logic. It's not just the amazing plays in the field or throws from the outfield to home plate to get the runner. All great reasons to love the game, but there's more. It's the stories. My stories from my childhood playing ball. My stories from my days coaching my boys and now coaching high school. My stories from the games that I was able to attend. The stories of the those who played the game at the highest level. Stories of Satchel Paige, Willie Mays and Enos Slaughter to name a very small few. The stories that are to come.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31 

To Grade or Not to Grade

 When I really got back into the hobby I had no idea about grading cards and the different grading companies. Like most Americans these days, I turned to Google, which led me to YouTube, which led me to watching, I don't know, how many different videos on grading. 

Like the majority of collectors, not seen on YouTube, I am on a very fixed budget when it comes to collecting baseball cards. I don't do this for a living and after my original attempt to make a buck(see my first post!), I collect because its fun and something that keeps me involved with baseball, its past and I can share it with my sons and grandsons. So, spending a good amount of money to get cards graded doesn't make sense to me. Also, buying graded cards costs a lot more and that doesn't make sense to me either. 

Now as I understand it, there are three reasons to get a card graded. First, to authenticate the card as real and unaltered. Second, to give the card a grade that everyone can agree on and third, to protect the card in a case. Let's take these one at a time.

Authentication. 

This one makes sense. Especially with all of the people out there willing to cheat someone to make a quick dollar. I get this one. Now, I recently read the book Spotting Fakes by Ryan Nolan. I only read the baseball card portion because, I only collect baseball cards. I thought this was a well written and very informative book and I highly recommend it for collectors. Now I'm not saying that I can recognize a fake from an original, but if I'm spending big bucks on a card I'm telling you I'm checking that card out really good. I'm also telling you that I'm not buying that card online. I want to see it for myself. I have even watched videos where cards that have been graded and then regraded come back as altered or fakes. I do believe that this is a rarity though. All of that to say, this is the one reason I see to get a card graded. 

Card Grades

This one I don't get. I'm the one who's acquiring a card, so I'm the one that gets to say if I think the "grade" of the card is a 10 to me. Even the guys I've watched have said the grades don't matter if you like the look of the card anyway. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard on YouTube videos people complaining about the grades of the cards when they get them back(which, by the way, takes way too long as best as I can tell!). Even better, they are going to resubmit it to another company to try and get a better grade...even more money spent. It's all about eye appeal to the one acquiring the card and not about some number some person who you don't know puts on the card. 

Protect the card

This one doesn't make sense to me either. For a whole lot less money and a lot quicker time, I can get a case to protect the card. There are all different cases to choose from too. I have even seen videos of people cracking the cases without much effort to get the card out in order to resubmit to another company. 

One last thing and I kind of already mentioned it, is the cost. I have never submitted a card for grading and at this point I don't see it happening. The main reason is the added cost. I'd rather spend that money on more cards! 

I didn't write this to bash those collectors who are into getting their cards graded. The great thing about collecting cards is you get to do it your way and you don't have to conform to everybody else. I do hope someone reads this and can share their opinion on grading cards to teach me something that I don't know. I'm open for discussion!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

How I got started collecting baseball cards

 I decided that I needed an online place for my baseball collection and the opportunity to to talk about baseball, baseball cards and life. 

I've tried this blog thing before and wasn't very successful with it. I'm pretty sure that it was only read by about 3 people. This time I don't have any expectations about who reads or doesn't read it. This is giving me a chance to talk about my views on card collecting, cards I like, baseball and whatever else comes out on when I sit down to type. My goal is to post something at least once a week. This is something that is pretty new to me, so I hope that over time, my writing gets better and the content is something that might actually benefit someone else. 

Okay, enough of that...Let me tell you about about my baseball card collecting! 

It all started many, many moons ago back in 1980 when I got a job working at a card store in Dallas, TX. The store was in an old mall that had reopened as a bazaar type place. The store was owned by two great guys who taught me a lot and not just about baseball cards. Being a baseball fan, I was fascinated by the cards, the players and the people I met who collected. As I was learning about collecting, I didn't get any cards until the new release of cards in 1981. Wow, was that a release. Not only was there Topps, now there was Fleer and Donruss. The biggie at that time was Fleer, but not because of the new cards, but because of the error cards and the release of the corrections too. The card that everyone wanted was error "C" Graig Nettles card. 

                              

It was selling for $10-$15 right out of the pack. Me, being the budding 18 year old entrepreneur, hit the streets in search of Fleer cards at every 7-11 or convenience store I could find. I don't remember what the trick was, but there was someway to tell if the packs were the first release and when I found them, I bought them in search of that $10 Nettles card. I drove all over East Dallas looking for those packs. I opened countless packs and ended up with two. I kept one and sold the other for a lot less than it cost me to find. Needless to say my venture into quick money as a baseball card investor came to a quick and relatively painless demise. However, I was hooked! Topps, Fleer, Donruss, I had to have them all. I completed the Fleer set, all of the error cards and all of the corrected releases, and I had boxes and boxes of Topps and Donruss. I never finished those sets. College came and I was still collecting, but really had no direction in what I wanted to collect. I really liked the 1975 Topps set, so I set my sights on getting that set.    

                              

I finished the '75 set and it was a nice one. When I graduated college, I got married and God decided that I needed to grow up and become a Dad. I wasn't making much money, and with a baby on the way, I decided that it was probably important to put food on the table, so I sold the only thing in my collection worth anything(Still hurts a little today LOL!). 

Anyways, I kept buying packs of cards here and there as I had an extra dollar or two and found them in the stores. I actually accumulated quite a number of cards, but still had no direction in what I was doing. Finally, it happened...I quit buying cards! I went on hiatus for a few years. As my kids grew and their love for baseball grew, I started looking at my cards again and that old itch came back. I started looking for cards at stores again. Next thing you know I'd buy a pack or two, or three and I was off again getting into the collecting again. I was still just rambling through with no direction, no plan, just getting cards. Then one day, I decided enough was enough and I needed a plan. 

So, this is what I came up with...being a huge Texas Rangers fan, I decided that I would collect the Topps base sets from 1972(The year the Rangers began in Texas) to present. I would also collect any players that I really liked and I would collect Texas Rangers team sets. I have a long ways to go to completing all of those sets, but like I've heard on several youtube videos, collecting is a marathon and not a sprint. Currently, I'm focused on two of the vintage sets I need, replacing my 1975 set and the 1978 set. Of course I collect the current set when it debuts. 

I don't just buy sets. I still go out looking for packs, maybe a box or two from a card store, and start putting the sets together. I know that its not the most cost efficient or easiest way to do it, but half the fun is in the chase! 

My first grandson was born in 2019 so I decided that not only would I collect my set, but I would do one for him too. In 2020, grandson number 2 came on the scene, so I do a set for him too. Collecting 3 sets for the current year can be a lot, but I really enjoy it. I can't wait till the boys are old enough and that will be something that they can do with their Papa.

Well, I think that gives a pretty good history of my card collecting. There are a ton of stories and thoughts to write about, but that will be for another time. If you're a collector and happen to come across this, I would love for you to comment and share how you got started collecting!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31