Dear Abby-ner

Since the discovery of my long, lost collection from my youth, I have been pondering those things that deserve to be pondered upon. Like, what do I do with all these baseball cards? Or, where am I going to put all these baseball cards? Or my new favorite, should I start to collect baseball cards again?

That last one has been at the forefront of my mind for a while now. As I mentioned before, I, like many before me, deserted baseball for greener pastures years ago. The last time I actually paid enough attention to know who players were and where they played, steroids were only for professional wrestlers and race horses. I guess it all boils down to the answer to one question. Do I or don't I?

If the answer is no, then everything becomes fodder for trade, just like much of my football has become. With the exception of sorting by team and listing, my work is essentially done and I will move on to bigger and better things. If the answer is yes, then it begs the follow up questions, what do I collect and how?

PLAYER COLLECTING?...

Again, since I have been out of the baseball mind frame for so long, I can't say I have a favorite player. My first inclination would be to rekindle what I once had with my favorite collections as a kid. As I discussed in a previous post, all my childhood heroes have since been indicted, either in a court of law or in the court of public opinion. Is that what I want to pass on to my kids one day? An all "Cheater" collection? So I guess player collecting is out.

TEAM COLLECTING?...

As for collecting a favorite team, I grew up a Pirates fan. The Buccos haven't fielded a winning team in 17 years. 17 YEARS!!! The team that, according to their Wiki, introduced the baseball world to the pullover spandex uniform jersey can't even break .500. Even the Cubs can't say that. Do they even make cards of Pirate players any more? No really. That wasn't rhetorical. Other than a few prospects or rookies now and again, I can't remember the last time the Pirates caught my attention on any level other than that of utter dismay or indifference. Since I have relocated to the Chicagoland area, it would make sense to then collect Cubs or White Sox cards. Their stuff can be found everywhere and it would be easy to begin amassing a collection. The only problem is that I have a general disdain for all teams hailing from the Windy City. So I guess team collecting is out.

SET COLLECTING?...

Maybe set collecting is the way to go. I would have to go after either Topps or Upper Deck because I really don't like the Donruss sets of the early 80s and early 90s and the Fleer sets seem to be too hard to come by. Or maybe, I can target the vintage, pre-80s era of cards. I know the shows that periodically appear around where I live are loaded with dealers that focus on vintage.

Or maybe I will just pack them all back up and put them in my attic and dig them back out in another 15 years.

Signed,

Confused In Cooperstown

(Oh, and welcome to number 14...Nick. That's all I know. His (or her) name is Nick. Welcome Nick!)

Hidden Treasure, That Was Already Mine

All of us that collect anything have heard the story before. Everyone has a tale of some golden gem of a card they had when they were kids that could mint them a fortune if they had it now. But, alas. It became bicycle spoke fodder or was flipped against a brick wall so many times it was now shaped like a shoe horn.

For those of us that didn't abuse our childhood cardboard the tale becomes similar in many ways. Like the stash of cards in the parents attic that somehow got given away at the church bizarre. Or the endless boxes and binders that were hidden away in the basement, only to succumb to the numerous floods and pump failures throughout the years. Any way you slice it, I think many of us have "those cards I used to have".

Well I was in the same boat. Until yesterday.

For my sons 6th birthday, my mom, step-dad, brother, and sister-in-law all decided to drive the 9+ hours from Pennsylvania to surprise my son. Mission accomplished. He was thrilled beyond believe and we had a really good time while they were here. Before coming out, my brother had told me he was bringing me something he had found while moving some stuff out of the house. When they arrived, he walked in with two Rubbermaid totes, obviously heavy since it took him and my step-dad to carry them. Not recognizing them, I only wondered what was inside.

After a full day of having some fun with the kids and the family birthday party, the evening was devoted to opening the totes. And there they were...6 monster boxes of my old baseball cards and a bunch of complete sets. I thought anything that I didn't get rid of was destroyed in the basement flood about 11 years ago. Apparently, as my brothers were growing up, the cards got moved up stairs and then eventually into the attic. Now that the house is being sold, they were discovered during cleaning. They are now back in the hands of their rightful owner.

In perusing a few of the boxes, I found all sorts craziness. Most of the baseball is from between 1981 and 1994 (when I stopped collecting baseball). The most intriguing thing was a 3" binder filled with non-sport stuff. There are some really weird cards in there that I don't remember having. I also found a 300 or so count box filled with Coors Brewing Company cards. Where they came from, I don't know. I gave them to my brother to put in his man cave in his new house.

So now the dilemma. I've now just increased my card inventory by, what I can only assume, is about 20,000 or more. 90% of it is baseball. I don't collect baseball. It is probably going to take me a few weeks to sort through all of it. I think I might post anything that I feel needs to be posted. If any fellow bloggers out there would be interested in maybe trading for some stuff too, I'm all ears. I think I might either try to break this up into players (which most of it already is) and teams.