The Baseball Card Movie

Charming little video, reminding me of when I used to collect baseball cards as a kid. The video sums up why I don't collect anymore. In 2001, I briefly started collecting again, focusing on 1956 Topps and the 2001 Topps Heritage set. The Heritage packs were the only ones that still had bubble gum, but it wasn't nearly as crunchy and yummy as the gum back in the 80s, so I gave up on that.

The 1956 cards were fun to collect. Slightly larger dimensions than modern cards, and sturdy cardboard. I gathered a nice condition complete set of Brooklyn Dodgers players: Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, etc....all those boys of summer, fresh off Brooklyn's first and only World Series title.

I also purchased beat-up cards from that set...pin holes, devil goatee and horns drawn on the portrait, heavy fraying and creasing, White-Out applied to the corners, etc. Probably some genuine spoke thumpers, too. Fun stuff, and it was the only way to get those old cards at reasonable prices. My rule was that I wouldn't pay more than 56 cents per beat up card. I eventually had more than 100 or so of these beat-up cards before the Ebay market for them heated up and my 56 cent rule was impossible, so that was the end of that. I would revel in sifting through those cards, reading the biographic comics on back, not caring at all if I dinged the corners.

A few years ago, unemployed, I sold all those beat-up for around $1 each. It was a worthwhile investment at least, but I wish I still had them.

I kept one of them for fun: Johnny Groth, outfielder for the Kansas City A's. It was "wallet worthy" and I carried it there for a couple years. Now it is pinned to my cubicle wall at work. I added a couple extra pin holes to Johnny's pupils for added effect.

Occasionally I get the idea to start collecting old baseball cards again. Someday I'll buy a wax box of 1981 Fleer or something. Get a Fernando Valenzuela rookie card. See what 28 year old bubble gum looks and/or tastes like.