Junior Mint: The enduring popularity (and ubiquity) of the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card.

Nice piece from Darren Rovell on Slate. I'm sure many of you were collecting around this time as well, so this was both interesting and nostalgically fun to read for me.

4 months ago rolub Comment 13 comments 0 recs |

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I never got cool baseball cards back when I bought them. I always got dudes I’d never heard of.

(Actually, I do still buy them, but just for my own personal recollections of minor league teams I follow. Because I’m a weird kid.)

Hard truth: Your eyes lie.

by AngG on May 29, 2008 3:11 PM EDT 0 recs

Of course the time when I got into hardcore collecting was at exactly the same time the card manufacturers decided to flood the market, thus nullifying any ‘investment’ effect the cards would build up over time. I enjoyed collecting, but I don’t deny that there was a “sell them later for $$$” aspect to it.

I have the UD Griffey. And a lot of the near-worthless highly-sought cards of that era.

I tried to make Paul Reuschel my Avatar, but he didn't fit into the box.

by emd2k3 on May 29, 2008 3:35 PM EDT 0 recs

What fascinates me is that then everyone jumped on the comic book collecting bandwagon (see the jillions of Rob Leifeld collectible alternate covers from the mid-90s). In both cases, there is a false rarity of really old cards, not just because people didn’t value them as they do now, but also because of the issues with paper during WWII resulting in a lot of cards and comics getting recycled and junked pretty quickly.

The whole thing is remarkably interesting. You know, if you’re a nerd. Which I am.

Hard truth: Your eyes lie.

by AngG on May 29, 2008 3:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

Have you read The Card? I’ve got a $10 Amazon credit that expires Saturday, and I’m looking for something to waste it on.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on May 29, 2008 3:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’ve not. Most of the reading I have done on the subject of collectibles comes from the comic books side of things. (I’m pretty much a Roy Thomas fangirl.) That book looks really cool. Might add it to my to-read list.

Hard truth: Your eyes lie.

by AngG on May 29, 2008 4:04 PM EDT up 0 recs

The same Roy Thomas who did the Marvel Star Wars books early on? Wow.

Time keeps on slippin slippin slippin into the future.

--
Have to wake up bats!

by vbc3 on May 29, 2008 5:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Don’t know if it’s the same guy, but he used to write for Charlton comics, was editor in cheif at MArvel in the 70s, then moved to DC, and pretty much single-handedly wrote the entire Earth-2 line from 1980 until the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He’s also pretty heavily involved with the Alter Ego magazine, iirc.

Hard truth: Your eyes lie.

by AngG on May 29, 2008 5:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

Roy Thomas was a hack.

by Jay on May 29, 2008 5:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

Your opinion is bad and you should feel bad.

Hard truth: Your eyes lie.

by AngG on May 29, 2008 6:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

It’s HSC and their endless pipeline of crap that’s to blame! No really, I always had an idea that these wern’t good investments, or I learned it the day I gathered a thick stack of cards listed in the beckett at $0.10 a piece and trade up for a blue chip. Competition drove me into collecting a little in my youth, but it sucks to finally be master of your local card universe right as everyone is exits the hobby. The winners curse. Run away from the pack and you’re all alone. I guess these things are still currency at cardshows… but, you know… I’d have to go to cardshows to find out.

There were paper shortages in WW2? In this country? I’ve heard of cotton shortages in the World Wars that resulted in paper being used for bandages.

I always thought that mom’s, moldy basements, and neglect killed the card and comic collections of the world.

I still have mine somewhere, but most of my collection is tarnished by the steroid thing anyway.

by jhon on May 29, 2008 5:40 PM EDT up 0 recs