What To Do When Your Favorite Player Gets Traded

Now that the trade deadline has passed, I think things have settled enough to talk about it.  Yes, I am a Tampa Rays fan.  I am not afraid to express my allegiances and never have been...even during the (s)Hit Show years and the failed experiments with aging sluggers (Canseco, Castilla, etc...).  Anyway, the trade deadline happens every year, yes.  Players get traded from team to team, yes.  Sometimes...like this friggin' year...your favorite player gets traded.

So, if you have a personal collection (or PC) of a certain player, what do you do with that personal collection if that player is traded?

I raise this point because David Price is my favorite player in baseball.  He was the best pitcher the Rays have ever had on the mound.  Ever.  David is a solid dude and treats the fans, teammates, and coaching staff with respect.  Plus, he's  a friggin' warrior.


But, now he's in Detroit.

I have just about every common card ever made by every company for Mr. Price.  Do I keep them?  Do I sell them?  What to do?

Let's get real here.  If David Price had not come up through the Tampa system I'm pretty sure I would not be a huge fan.  If Price had come up through the Padres system, I'm sure I would still respect his game but I would hold him in the same regard that I hold...Adam Wainright.  Great pitcher, but not a fan of the team.

With that one paragraph I answered my own question.  I am a David Price fan.  I will be no matter what team he plays for because he came up with US.  We watched him grow and become an ace and win the Cy Young.  So, my cards and my sweetspot ball I got in Spring Training from David (he really is a cool dude)...all of that will be staying in my house.

But...I am not one to tell others what to do.  If Pujols fans out there feel that they were betrayed when Albert took the money and moved to Bev-er-leeeeee (Hills, that is)...I feel it's perfectly reasonable for you to sell all your Pujols memorabilia.  If you support your team over individual players then I think you have the right to ditch the players memorabilia, burn the jersey...whatever.

But, me?  Naw, I'm gonna keep it all.

Hell, right now he's the only Cy Young winner in Tampa Bay Rays history.  I collect history.

Pat Neshek: Article From St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Hey all.  Normally, I like to write my own stuff.  But, my excursions around the interwebs have led me to St. Louis (in a virtual sense), where reliever Pat Neshek has created a little collector's revolution with the Cardinals.  Or, he's trying.  Either way, it's a pretty good article and Pat is the king of the hobby when it comes to professional athletes.  He's the real deal.  Check out his web site at https://www.eteamz.com/PatNeshek/.

And here's the article.  Enjoy your Sunday, folks.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/redbirds-neshek-is-a-real-card-collector-that-is/article_fa2d86da-38da-5a9b-a476-8e27ef1ae4b1.html

Waxing Philosophic on the Hobby

If I think really hard about the hobby, which I sometimes do, questions sometimes are raised in which I really don't have much of an answer.  This morning, it is early on a Saturday, I began thinking about why little pieces of cardboard with pictures printed upon them have any value, whatsoever.  The famous Honus Wagner card has sold for millions...for a piece of paper.  I have strongly considered paying many dollars for pieces of cardboard (and have).  So, what makes the collectors like us shell out hard-earned dollars for something, if you break it right down, just really isn't worth all that much.

I like to believe that collecting, autographs especially, has everything to do with connections.  If you collect cards of a player or team then you have a smidgen of a connection with that person or team.  Those connections are vital to human existence and collecting memorabilia taps right into that visceral need.  For example, sitting on my desk is a signed Ozzie Smith baseball.  The reason I love that thing, and it sits right in front of me every day, is that it is a very small connection between myself and the best defensive short stop who ever lived.  It sounds really stupid...and it kinda is.  But, that connection is important to me.

There is also the connection of collectors with their childhoods or points in their lives in which baseball was the most important thing within their universe.  For me, it was high school.  Before that, baseball was a passing thing...something that didn't really grab my interest.  Then I started to watch and quickly became enamored with players like Ozzie, Tony Gwynn, and Kirby Puckett (I've always had an affinity for hitters).  So, collecting really brings me to the periods of my life that were simpler.  I loved the simple times.

Collectors are also gamblers.  Even with the falsified notion that these cardboard rectangles are actually "valuable" or "scarce", collectors go out of their way to hunt down the next card that could be worth thousands or millions.  Granted, some collectors and dealers have made a fine living buying and selling pieces of paper.  It is a strange economic market...a little like the commodities market (which I don't really understand, at all).  The card companies have done a fine job in creating their own market in which buyers and sellers exchange cash for...paper.  Think about it for second.  It is kind of weird.

So, why do we collect valuable worthless items?  Because it is who we are.  It is something to do.  We may get rich and famous buying up tons of Taijuan Walker cards for pennies and turning around and selling them off when he becomes huge!  Gambling on who's going to be the next Greg Maddux or the next Mike Trout...these are some people's motives.  Mostly, I believe, it connects us with unreachable people and unreachable times in our lives.

Those connections, to me, are priceless.

Sticking It Out

For a month or two, I had seriously contemplated selling off my entire collection.  Getting out of the hobby, for good.  Throwing in the proverbial towel.  Quit.  Kaput.  Finished.

I was going to sell it all.  Except for a few family heirloom type things:  the Gretzky practice-used autographed stick, the David Price SS, and a few others.  Hell, I could use the money...times is tough these days.  At least the blog is free...thanks Google!

But, I reconsidered.  I'm still looking to downsize but I am going to remain immersed in the hobby.  However, I'll likely not be buying boxes of product any longer.  Getting a few packs here and there to review here on the site will be enough to keep me going with the blog.  I will probably amp up my TTM habit, though.  There's something about connecting with players...who, like it or not, are actual REAL people...and having them send a little something back to the fans.  That, to me, is the ultimate.  It may not be cool but I don't really give a shit.

I'm going to focus my collection.  My childhood favorites (NHL Oilers, Mets, and Miami Hurricanes) and my hometown team Tampa Rays will be mostly what I collect.  I may...MAY...do some prospecting.  But, that will likely be solely through the mail.

So, why stick it out?  Basically, this hobby connects me to a far simpler time in my life.  Children live in an idyllic world filled with role models and heroes.  The collecting hobby transports me back to that time as a kid...it's really what it should do for all of us.  Hell, this ain't a hobby to make money with.  Sure, sometimes you can get a few bucks for a card or signature or whatever.  But, really, is that what it's really about?  I contend that it is not.

The collection continues.  Much of it is for sale.  Contact me if you want to purchase.  Or trade for my favorites...I'll send you a list of "wants" if you ask nicely.

Keep the faith, people.