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Things I like but you don't


There is something about this card that a lot of collectors don't like.

When I first heard about what they didn't like about it, I was baffled. I never gave something like that a thought. I was a bit offended, too, because I always liked what they didn't like.

And so we're at a variation of that fun quarantine game of "Things You Like But I Don't" with "Things I Like But You Don't".

I thought of doing the "things you like but I don't" list but, quite frankly, it's too easy. And I've covered much of it in past blog posts. I'm quite the contrarian and I don't mind pointing out that I don't care for what the masses like, and so I've done so many, many times.

Trying to find 10 things I like that you don't is a bit more challenging.

That's mostly because in the collecting world you can always find someone who likes something, no matter how wildly unpopular. So, even though I came up with 10 hobby things that most people don't like, I know it's just most people and I'm sure some will comment that they've "always liked" something that I just said people don't like.

But let's get to it: 10 Things I Like But You Don't



1. REPACKS

I know there are bloggers who flock to repacks. But there is a decided majority who don't understand why anyone would waste their money on them. They don't see anything of value in them, they don't line up with what they collect. I get a distinct "yeah, I've had a weak moment, too" vibe from people any time I announce I've bought a repack.

But repacks yield stuff like the above 1982 Donruss Ron LeFlore card that I pulled in one of my more recent repack purchases. The masses don't care about Ron LeFlore (pretty obvious from the clicks on my last post) and they don't care about '82 Donruss.

And to that I say: more repacks for me.



2. BLACK-AND-WHITE CARDS

I admit I've questioned black-and-white treatment on cards in the past. But that's mostly in scenarios when black-and-white is mixed with color, for example, 1963 Topps or the 1979 Topps rookie prospects cards.

Strict black-and-white cards -- SETS -- are marvelous.

Perhaps I think this way because when I was a kid a lot of publications were black-and-white. The newspaper was still black-and-white. Most magazines would have a color cover and maybe a color centerpiece presentation but the rest was B&W. Even Sports Illustrated wasn't all color throughout.

I dig black-and-white sets like 1960 Leaf and of course the Galasso Greats that I've raved about post after post. I think they're classy and distinctive. But most of the time when I dedicate posts to those B&W sets, it doesn't draw much of a response.

That doesn't bode well for my next post, which will be very black-and-white.



3. 2006 TOPPS

The 2006 Topps baseball set falls squarely into the "this set isn't great but I like it better than 2006 Topps" category for many people.

I get it. If you don't have an attachment to this set, what is it? The odd obsession with arches. The tired obsession with foil.

But I can't think that way because it is the set that brought me back into modern collecting. I bought more rack packs of this set than any other set in my life, accumulated a ton of the cards and actually did complete it, just by going to the store, for the first time in my life.

Every time I view it now, I get those old feelings of excitement as I re-entered the hobby, and it's very difficult to get feelings like that from a set if it doesn't come from my childhood.

That's why I'll always like 2006 Topps. It's pretty colorful, too. Oh ... and CARTOONS ON THE BACK!



4. DOUBLE-BAGGING PAGES

It doesn't happen that much now, probably because everybody knows I do it and there's no dissuading me, but any time it was evident that I double-bagged my pages, someone had to point it out as "different."

My answer was always the same: must be nice to have that kind of money.

I believe you've seen my card room. There is no shortage of binders in there. Eighty to 90 percent of them are double-bagged. I don't know where I'd live if you re-paged every one of those binders so none of the pages were doubled up.



5. HAVING EVERY TEAM REPRESENTED IN THE ALL-STAR GAME

I'm going to stray into a couple of non-card items here.

Every year when the All-Star Game approaches and it's time to vote, I hear people rail about the injustice of certain players being left off the team and every time they blame the practice of making sure every team is represented in the game.

I'm sure my opinion is based on when I grew up -- there was no cable, nobody got to see the Brewers play on a regular basis unless they lived in Milwaukee -- it was that team's once chance to shine on the national stage. It was cool to see who was going to represent each team when the lineups were announced before the game.

I don't want to lose that. But I'm sure we will. Someday. In the name of making things FAIR. Again. A whole lot of you sure where scarred by grade school gym classes.



6. BASEBALL PLAYERS WEARING THEIR PANTS DOWN TO THEIR SHOE TOPS

I don't understand the borderline religious devotion to stirrups.

I get that stirrups are unique to baseball and there was a learning process and a method and they had a certain style and showed the team colors and all that. But I always thought it was weird when I was a kid and even though I grew up during a time when it was a very baseball-y thing to do, I couldn't get over the one overriding thought: is this necessary?

Now we get cranky oldsters bashing players for daring to wear their pants down to their shoes. What? Like regular people walking down the street? Who cares? I have no problem with this. It looks fine. People think it looks sloppy. I don't know what they're talking about. I know sloppy, your sweatshirt with food crumbs is sloppy. Fix it and leave the baseball players alone.



7. 1988 TOPPS

I happen to think 1988 Topps is the best-looking set not named 1983 Topps in the entire decade of the '80s.

It's classy, simple, direct, easy to process, and has that cool image-overlapping-the-design thing that we're finally getting back to on baseball cards after too many decades away.

But over and over I hear that it's "boring." Which is a strange thing to hear from a baseball fan who likely has had to defend his sport from people who say IT is boring.

Consider 1988 Topps the BASEBALL of sets. That's why I like it.




8. FACSIMILE AUTOGRAPHS

 This is what I was referring to with the card at the top of the post.

The people who don't like these REALLY don't like them.

That's because they're autograph collectors. And the facsimile auto, at the very least, clashes with the actual signed photo. In some cases, it prevents the card from being a candidate for a signing. Or, eww, the player signs right over the fake auto.

None of that matters to me because I don't seek autographs. I am all about the card. As is. The composition of the card, how it looks as a collective work of art -- unscribbled on.

The first card set I ever collected -- 1975 Topps -- features facsimile autos. Several others from that time, too. So, for me, it's "what makes something a baseball card." If I had to make up a baseball card template, it probably would have a facsimile auto.

Besides, you think Cliff Lee is going to autograph your card "Clifton Phifer Lee" like the facsimile shows? That was always a cool part of those fake sigs.



9. CHECKLISTS

You may wonder who the heck wants checklists to come back into sets. But I know Topps receives complaints that physical checklists aren't part of the card set.

That's why Topps started to create those random cards you see in its flagship set now, of players celebrating or what-not, with a checklist on the back.

I want the checklist on the front.

I want the checklist on the front. I want the colors to be as bright and awful as possible. I want tiny little boxes to check. And I want a card number on the back so it's part of the set.

Yup, I know that even back in the day it was the worst thing to pull a checklist out of a pack. And I know it doesn't make any sense in today's online world to have checklists. I don't care.

There is something about a numbered checklist as part of the set that just seems so handy. You don't have to go searching for the checklist. It's right there on the card. ... Well ... OK ... so you have to collect six of 'em to get a look at the entire set.



10. TEAM PHOTOS ON CARDS

This may go along with checklists, but I don't even care whether there is a checklist on the back, I just want to see the team photos back.

The team cards that appear in Topps sets now -- usually wild celebrations with liquid flying everywhere -- do not say "Team" to me like a team photo does.

Seeing every player dressed in their players' colors, that's memorable. It's so pleasing to look back on these years later, trying to pick out players.

Topps had team photos in sets as early as a decade ago. But stupid legal crap got in the way and all of sudden nobody had a license to show bat boys or managers or umpires. A license??? You need a license to show a bat boy???? This out of everything that I just showed is evidence that the world has gone crazy.

All right, so that's my 10 things.

I probably missed a couple of items, but I struggled to get it to 10, which wouldn't have been the case if I did "Things you like but I don't." I'd have to rein it in at around 30.

Also, I did the "Things I Like But You Don't" on that popular social media site recently, just to break up all the memes and political crap.

No. 1 on my list?

Anchovies (*delicious*)

Comments

Dennis said…
Interesting list, Greg, and one I thought was going to be much different for you! I also agree with most of your list, other than the two Topps sets which I think are pretty meh. Do you feel like that many people dislike repacks? I don't buy any myself anymore since I buy almost zero retail, but I still think they're cool, partly because I see all the great stuff Doug posts on Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.
Very fun post and I find I like many of the same things as you do which is reassuring. I'm a repack Virgin; I like 1988 Topps; dig team cards; etc. etc. Have a nice night. I much prefer pants down to the shoe tops over pants at the knees.
Nick said…
I'm planning on doing a sequel post along these lines soon, and double-bagging pages is on the short list. I still don't know how or why people don't do this. It makes my binders take up WAY less space, for one thing, and if I wanna see the back of a card all I have to do is take it out of the page. Simple.

I also like having each team represented in the All-Star Game. It just seems fair -- and are people really crying that much that a borderline Oriole made it rather than the 8th dude from the Yankees? I hope not.

Only ones I don't really like on this list are #s 8 and 9. Checklists don't do anything for me, and I understand facsimile autos, but they just seem shoehorned into way too many designs for my taste.
OhioTim said…
I have to say that your list is one of the better ones that I have agreed with more on yours than others. I also like repacks of cards; I have gotten some really nice cards out of repacks. I also agree that every team should be represented at the All Star Game; I wish that was the way it is with the other sports. I also like team photos on team cards; Topps team cards are one of my mini collections that I do not mention to many others.
night owl said…
@Dennis,

I was actually thinking about Doug when I wrote the repack portion of the post. I think that most of the repack naysayers I've come across are actually not bloggers, although I have gotten "I stay away from those" comments on repack posts.
You're right, YUK (no anchovies for me).
Trevor P said…
Yes, double-bagging pages is the way to go. I also like 2006 Topps.
Brett Alan said…
I'm very much with you on having every team represented in the All-Star Game. I'll go you one further: I like it when veteran superstars are put on the team over guys who are having a great year. When I was a kid, I wanted to see Seaver, Schmidt, Stargell, Yaz, Morgan, Bench, and so on every year. It's the All-STAR game, after all. If Pujols and Miggy are hitting .220 and get voted into the game because they're Pujols and Miggy, I'm fine with that.

Also very with you on team cards. It's bad enough to have those stupid celebration cards in flagship, but they're REALLY out of place in Heritage. Is it really because they can't show the batboys and other team personnel? If they can't get a photo without them, can't they just Photoshop?

Most of your other items I'm kind of in the middle about, but I really would be quite happy to never see another new checklist card produced (front OR back), other than maybe in some oddball set somewhere. When most set checklists are a quick Google search away, they're outdated.

And I've come to love anchovies through Singapore food, where they're usually dried and known as ikan bilis. There's a chain of Indonesian barbecue places which has a spicy sauce made with them that's one of the best things I've ever eaten, and they're good in soups too. Unfortunately, they make my gout act up, so I can't really have them anymore.
There's a lot of things on here that I like too. I really miss cartoons on the backs of cards, but really really really miss actual borders on cards. All these full bleed photos are getting stagnant with me. I lovethe fascimile signatures and really like when a player signs their full name. This was a fun post.
Billy Kingsley said…
If I ever make a post about the cards that I was given that are totally destroyed on the backs because they were double paged you may change your mind on that one.

My local Target stopped carrying repacks, not a good thing. That was how I built up the majority of my NBA collection, which will hit 94,000 different cards soon. I wanted to build up my NHL collection that way but can't.

I don't like fake autographs...I don't like real autographs on cards not created specifically for them. It messes up the picture.
Rob said…
I was with you until checklists.

Checklists are the worst.
Jeff Laws said…
I double bag all my pages except for my autos and relics and that's usually because some of them are to damn thick! I can't imagine how many more pages I'd have to buy if I went to singles.

I like having every team represented in the All-Star game as well. I just wish they wouldn't start voting a couple weeks into the season because it just becomes a popularity contest instead of getting the best players in. The White Sox don't get a lot of love so there are a number of years I only had 1 person to root for in that game.

I read somewhere, don't know if it's true or not, that the facsimile autographs are copies off their contracts which is why some are so different.

The thing I agree with the most is the team photos on cards. I love those and wish more sets did it. They are one of the reasons I love vintage cards more.

Good post!
Elliptical Man said…
1. I have mixed feelings on repacks. The "hits" are never worth anything. But I've gotten some interesting cards.

6. I hated stirrups.

8. I hate the fake autographs.

9. Ha. I would throw out the checklist cards. Wouldn't even bother adding them to my trade box.

10. Not a fan, but I can see how other people would be.
Nick Vossbrink said…
I've avoided this theme because I don't like going needlessly negative with any of my posts or writing. Yes I'll critique things. But most of the time I see no reason to attack things other people love. So I very much appreciate you turning it on its head and going positive.

I'm with you on most of these except for 2006. That set I cannot handle.

I no longer double bag my pages but I kind of miss the density of it. I can say that ever since I stopped doubling them I've gained a lot more appreciation for the card backs.

I also don't like facsimile autos in general but I'm okay with them once in a while. Two sets in a row is annoying. Almost every other year like the 75-82 run is also annoying. But once a decade or even every 5 years? Nice to change things up. I've actually wanted Stadium Club to go the silver signature route for a couple years now.

And checklists. I totally miss them even though I always felt like I got ripped off when I pulled on in a pack. I have no idea why companies couldn't just treat those as those blow-in insert cards. Instead of Spring Fveer Baseball or Topps Copany Store or Topp.com adverts, couldn't we get a checklist mixed in for that extra card?
jacobmrley said…
You lost me at the double backing cards (Starting Nine 4lyfe!) and the long pants as opposed to stirrups, but 8 out of 10 is a solid B. e.g. I find the nadir of cards in the last 20 years to be 2008, not 2006.
Laurens said…
I’ve doubled bag my binder cards for at least the past five years - I’m afraid I’m not making the most out of a plastic sheet if there are only 9 cards displayed on it.

I do wonder about the durability of the pages and whether the cards will get damaged in some way.

Maybe double bagging isn’t as pure because someone out there told me you have to look and appreciate at the back of cards as well.

I’m not a set collector but any set would actually be stored 9 cards to a page.
Fuji said…
Love your list... mainly because it's true (at least to me) to the title.

I'm not a fan of repacks, 2006 Topps, double bagging pages, pants down to the shoes, or the 1988 Topps baseball card design, but I do like checklists, team photos, and b&w photos used on cards. I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to the A/S game thing and facsimile autographs (it just depends on the design).
When I first started putting my cards in binders backnon the 1980s (remember the stiff plastic pages with the red edge?) I double-bagged, because of the cost. But YOU CAN'T SEE THE BACKS! Also, even then I knew it was a bad idea because I could see I was jamming 2 cards in 1 pocket.

As soon as it was financially do-able, I singled-up.

Space for twice the binders? That's a non-issue because each yearly set fits in 1 binder, even with twice the number of pages.
Matt said…
I don't even have to do one of these blog bat around posts because so far I have agreed with the ones I have seen. Yours nailed it top to bottom.
bbcardz said…
I thought I was a contrarian too but now maybe not so much. I do like (3) the 2006 Topps set, (5) ASG representation, (7) the 1988 Topps set, (9) checklists, and (10) team photos. And I can do without the rest. I would also add managers/coaches cards to the list of things I like that most others don't. It's too bad Topps/MLB/MLBPA don't have what it takes to bring them back, perhaps with a charity aspect to it?
Commishbob said…
Cranky oldster checking in. Stirrups look sharp. Pajama pants look sloppy. /crankmode

I like team cards. I especially like the old ones that had the previous season's staff record against the rest of the league on the back. I'd study those endlessly.

I kind of got burned out on repacks.

B & W sets? I'm there with ya!
Jafronius said…
I'm also a big fan of the every team gets an All-Star player. Every team has to have a good player, right?

Panini cards must be designed for the double bagger in mind
GCA said…
Great list.
I don't mess with repacks because I probably have 80% of what's in there in my duplicates. I could MAKE repacks. I look at a lot of posts about them and say "I could have sent you that and ten others from that set!"

I can think of several designs much worse than 2006. 2004 & 05 were too close to each other, so '06 is a relief by being more colorful.

I don't double bag, and have converted all that I did before. But I buy sheets several boxes at a time because I have no life otherwise.
I want to see the backs of every card at a glance.

Stirrups just look cooler.

'88 is better than '87, (I'm gonna catch hell for that), and just edges '85 and '89.

Faux autos are fine, but I do skip them when picking cards to get signed.

Definitely hate the action photos on checklists and team cards - and would extend it to league leaders and record breakers too! Bring back the close-ups like the '70s - and the team photos. Or even just logos.
Adam Kaningher said…
"your sweatshirt with food crumbs is sloppy."

Genuinely laughed out loud at that. Thanks for putting this list together.
Old Cards said…
Every team represented on the All-Star team. Don't like it. Too close to everybody gets a trophy.

Agree with GCA - stirrups look cooler.

Any autographs to me are worthless. So they scribbled their name on something - so what! Collecting autographs makes no sense to me. Collecting cards I like!

Team photo cards are a waste of a card. They are too much like those action shot cards with multiple players in it. You have to pick out a player from a very small picture of a group.
Chris said…
I do like repacks. They're empty calories for sure, but they're a nice way to acquire cards from the early '80s that I'd missed. B & W cards are okay, I can live with them. Same with 2006 Topps.

I never double-bagged pages but if I have two copies of a set (1993 Leaf baseball, 1995-96 Parkhurst hockey) I will insert both cards into the same pocket facing the same way.

Every sports league should do everything possible to have an All-Star for every team. Almost impossible for basketball, but I definitely like that baseball has kept the tradition going. Of course there will be years where the Marlins are represented by a .230 hitter or a reliever with a 5 ERA while Paul Goldschmidt or Eugenio Suarez are snubbed. But that's the most fun thing about the ASG - discussing who got snubbed.

1988 Topps was a huge part of my childhood. I will never have anything bad to say about it. Team photos are great. Not just two guys and a Gatorade shower. The whole team. And bring back manager cards while we're at it. Some players have multiple League Leader cards, a highlight card, one (or two) base cards and another miscellaneous card in the same set. Take that fifth Cody Bellinger card and put Dave Roberts on it instead.
bryan was here said…
Great list.
1. Repacks are pretty cool, but they were better in the 80's. Back then I got 60's and 70's cards and I could even get them by team as well.
2. I dig the aesthetic of B&W cards. They break up the colour wheel somewhat.
I like the Topps Chrome Sepia parallels for this reason.
3. The 2006 Topps set is meh in my opinion. Add to it that contrived Alex Gordon fiasco and it's not a winner.
4.I am a worshiper at the Church of Double Bagging. Always have been. Why have only 9 when you can have 18 in a page?
6. I always thought George Hendrick's '84 Donruss card where he wears his pants down to the shoetops was an outlier. Who knew Joggin' George would be a fashion trendsetter?
7. LOVE LOVE LOVE me some 1988 Topps. Easily my favourite 80s set.