Remember when our fathers used to tell us stories about how they used to tie some of their most prized baseball cards to the spokes of their bicycle tires and ride around while the noise of the clanking cards impressed their friends? I suppose it was cool back then to have the most baseball cards simultaneously attached to your bike while riding around the neighborhood. What was also fun for our fathers was the actual collection of the baseball cards with the infamous claim that their entire collection of Mickey Mantle’s, Jackie Robinson’s, Bill Mazeroski’s, Joe DiMaggio’s, Hank Aaron’s and Willie Mays’ cards were simply thrown away by their mothers in attempt to simply rid the house of junk.
“If only I had kept that Don Larsen or Sandy Koufax rookie card,” says my father.
“What if Grandma hadn’t thrown away your Mickey Mantle rookie card,” I reply.
The rumination about Koufax is interesting since the current value of a mint condition card is $4,000. But I digress. I bring up the collection of baseball cards because it was such a popular way to have a piece of your favorite hero on the baseball diamond, a hobby that I believe has greatly diminished and been replaced with newer, more technologically advanced hobbies like playing video games, watching television and surfing the internet.
So, in an attempt to feel the same thrill that my father once felt when he opened a pack of baseball cards, I bought a pack of Topps baseball cards at the Yankee Stadium Store on 5th Avenue in New York City. Of course, my father used to tell me a pack of baseball cards was only five or ten cents and it came with a stick of Topps chewing gum. On this day in April of 2009, I paid $3.50 for my one pack of twelve baseball cards.
The satisfaction I got out of opening that pack of cards was extremely short lived, even as I was amazed to find a certain outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers contained amongst the other relatively unknown baseball players in my deck. Manny Ramirez was my best card and I didn’t even respect his card for his lack of hustle and sour attitude as a member of the Boston Red Sox. If I don’t respect Manny as a person, than how can I expect to savor his baseball card with the same kind of affection that my father once felt for his baseball cards. I wonder, if our generation’s lack of appreciation for baseball cards as to do with our lack of respect and admiration for the athletes whose pictures are featured front-and-center.
Or, it may just have to do with the fact that we no longer wish to spend our money on small, laminated collectibles that were once such a part of the childhood of our fathers.
3 Comments
April 22, 2009 at 2:39 am
[...] The Big Apple According to Andy added an interesting post today on Does Anyone Collect Baseball Cards Anymore?Here’s a small readingRemember when our fathers used to tell us stories about how they used to tie some their most prized baseball cards to the spokes of their bicycle tires and ride around while the noise of the clanking cards impressed their friends? I suppose it was cool back then to have the most baseball cards simultaneously attached to your bike whiling riding around the neighborhood. What was also fun for our fathers was the actual collection of the baseball cards with the infamous claim that their entire co [...]
April 22, 2009 at 5:00 am
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April 22, 2009 at 6:16 am
[...] andybailer added an interesting post today on Does Anyone Collect Baseball Cards Anymore? « The Big Apple …Here’s a small readingRemember when our fathers used to tell us stories about how they used to tie some their most prized baseball cards to the spokes of their bicycle tires and ride around while the noise of the clanking cards impressed their friends? … [...]