The inner debate

 

The cards I am showing here are the polar opposite from the ones I showed on the last post, and that's the theme here.

I'm conflicted.

I've written many times how I enjoy all kinds of cards and I prefer having a somewhat-open mind toward cards. I don't want to be an old crank who shuns the shiny, and I don't want to be a modern magpie, attracted only to cards of the last 20, 30 years. I try to find things I like in most cards.

However, I admit: the cards they're putting out these days? It's so much easier for me to find stuff wrong with those ones.

This is the conflict. Why am I collecting cards where the flaws jump out at me? Why not collect cards that make me feel warm-and-fuzzy at all times and always?

I battle with my desire to remain updated on the players on the field, especially on my favorite team, and the best way to do that for me -- it's always been this way -- is to collect their cards.

So I put on a good front, but actually I'm really not sure what I'm doing here some of the time.

Cards On Cards just sent me some very modern Dodgers and those feelings were/are in full force as I viewed/upload these cards. Let's see if I can show you why I'm conflicted with these cards while trying to say something nice about them at the same time.

This is a shiny version of Shawn Green's 2020 Allen & Ginter card, some sort of parallel, but I'm not entirely sure what kind. This is what I mean, how can I enjoy collecting these cards truly if I don't even know what I'm collecting? Also, I have not liked the idea of A&G parallels ever since it became a thing, minis excluded, of course.

Try to same something nice: Geez, I don't know, outside of it being a card I didn't have (isn't that always the "something nice" about a new card?), I always like Shawn Green cards.

A couple of cards from this year's Panini Donruss, one is a "holo purple" parallel. Even with the overwhelming design in this year's Donruss, I still notice the lack of logos. The number of parallels in Donruss -- in fact just about every current Panini product -- is insanity, impossible to collect and diminishes any collector's urge to complete the set.

Try to say something nice: It's still the best design that Donruss has come up with in the last 7, 8 years. Also, border colors are always nice, although the whole "holo" thing isn't' that interesting to me.

This is an insert from 2021 Panini Contenders in which the card tells you in tiny letters that Trea Turner plays for LOS ANGELES despite everything else you see on the card. This is something I grudgingly put in my Dodgers binders, like every other Dodger card in which the player is wearing the uniform of an inferior team. (My lack of enthusiasm explains why the image is blurry -- I didn't bother to retake the photo).

Try to say something nice: I really like the look of the Contenders cards. I'm happy that it moved from college athletes only to pro baseball players.

 

OK, here is the crux of modern card insanity. This a Contenders card, but it's an Optic Contenders card. It may also be an insert, too, I don't really know. Parallels on top of parallels on top of parallels will eventually make me run screaming to 1967 for good. It's only a matter of time.

 

Also, here's another weird aspect of modern cards. There is a QR code in the upper right corner. I thought it was just for show. But then a QR link showed up on my phone after I took a photo of the card. Against my better judgment, I clicked the link and was taken to:

 

An online clothes shopping site? Has Panini joined forces with Land's End? 

Try to say something nice: Well, it's a Clayton Kershaw card and I better not leave the modern cards behind before I hit 1,000 Clayton Kershaw cards!

 

 

Another Dodgers Albert Pujols card! This is from 2021 Topps Gallery. I've been campaigning for Gallery to not be a thing anymore ever since Topps resurrected it, but I guess it sells for who knows why.

Try to say something nice: These look nice, meaning the cards actually look like the player, because they're not really drawings, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of Gallery. ... Oh, yeah, something nice ... yay, Dodger Blue Pujols!!

Two more Dodgers needs from the massively delayed 2021 Big League. Out of all the cards in the mailing, these were the most traditional of the modern cards (except for one). The 2021 Big League design is pretty dull, probably the worst since Big League became a thing, and if it came out when it was supposed to I wouldn't have any urge to complete it.

Try to say something nice: These cards make sense to someone who has collected for more than 40 years. It could have come out in the middle of the 1980s and fit right in.

Not only is this a Chrome Update card from last year but it's one of those All-Star Game inserts, both are new developments that didn't exist 10 years ago. Don't really think either are needed and just contributes to the futility of being a team and set collector, but the key is to not think about those things and just collect blissfully. ... Also it took me five tries to get a picture that did not reflect my phone or my hand, etc.

Try to say something nice: Actually the All-Star cards should be inserts instead of extra cards in the set, I guess -- if you're not going to put the All-Star recognition on the player's actual base card, like in the glory days of the '70s.

This is my first look at one of the late '80s-style Big Baseball cards from last year's Archives. The cards are standard size instead of the Big Baseball size and they're foil for reasons I don't know. One of the best parts of the late '80s Big Baseball cards were the cartoon stories on the back, in the style of '56 Topps. Let's turn this card over to see ...

Oh.

Try to say something nice: Backs aside, I like the tribute. I'd like a '56 tribute more, but Topps is all about making late '80s collectors happy these days.

The last non-shortprint, Dodger-ish card that I needed from 2022 Heritage. Woo! As has been mentioned everywhere else, Heritage went with the current-player home run leaders rather than the all-time HR leaders because it doesn't have Barry Bonds under contract. Probably better anyway, who wants to see that guy?

Try to say something nice: It doesn't look like any of the cards above it.

Will I be collecting modern cards five years from now?

That's a good question.

I'm running out of space to put everything, and I'm sure not getting rid of my vintage cards or those cards from when I was young and full of life. So an end to modern-card purchasing is coming (So, too, could be an end to modern baseball viewing if the tinkering continues).

I will be sad when that happens and will probably have to pry myself away from some young Dodgers star to go through with it.

But that's not now. So until then, the inner debate continues ..