Somehow I'm still doing this

 

I know, or have come across, several fans my age or older who are no longer interested in major league baseball as it's played now.

I've also read or written a good number of profiles on former players who say they don't watch the game anymore. It just doesn't look like the game they know and played.

Whether you think that is a closed-minded way of thinking or a natural reaction as people grow older, it's very apparent to me that those who play MLB now are different than the players who played in the '70s, '80s and even much of the '90s when I was younger and much more of a fan.

Just about every day -- especially now that it's the postseason -- the difference hits me in the face. As I'm scrolling through the limited number of photos available (a rant for another time) to use when I'm producing the sports section for my paper, I regularly see players screaming into the air as if they had just smote the enemy on a bloody battlefield. It strikes me instinctively as over the top. I can't even imagine being able to unleash that type of emotion ... for anything.

I don't think I ever saw a player do that, even in the World Series, throughout the '70s and '80s. A little bat flip? Sure. An instinctive leap or clap or "Yeah!"? OK. Piling on each other after the last out of the Series? You bet. But full-throated roars after your team turned a double play in the sixth inning of the ALDS? Yikes. Did Tiger Woods start all this?

There is a lot about the current game that I don't get/can't relate to/don't understand, and it shows itself most in the postseason. The Padres may be example A of modern-day baseball behavior though every team has it. There's too much drama and not enough baseball for my taste.

I also could go on about the 14 levels of playoffs, the domination of wild-card teams, the inability of any pitcher to last more than four innings, the gesturing every time someone gets on base, etc.

So why do I still watch? Why do I still collect?

 

Finally getting to the card at the top of the post, this Shota Imanaga card -- in the shopped jersey -- arrived from The Shlabotnik Report. It was the final card I needed to complete the 2024 Topps flagship set (Yeah, there's that second Shohei Ohtani card needed, but I just ordered one!)

 

For the first time since 2015, I have completed more than one set in the year in which it was issued. In 2015, I completed 2015 flagship and the Traded set as well as 2015 Stadium Club. This year I've completed flagship and 2024 Heritage. That's a very modern thing to do.

 

All of these cards contain players that play a game that I don't understand in a lot of ways. But I'm still here watching and collecting.

 

I still collect modern sets because I still find designs and card sets that interest me. They don't show up as often -- therefore nine years between doing this -- but you come up with a nice design and put ballplayers on it, then I'm interested. 

Also I've been able to do a good job of compartmentalizing when collecting and watching. I doubt I will ever be one of those older guys who just stops watching. I don't want to cut myself off from something that I still enjoy a lot. I'm still amazed by things that current players do -- Ohtani for example. And the actual plays in the field and much of the hitting remains the same. Let's just say there's enough for me to root for and root against, so the emotion and interest is still there.

I've addressed all of this in previous posts, but with the playoffs how they've been, I did look at the Imanaga card and scratch my head a little.

Will there be another year in which I finish two modern sets? I don't know. I suppose it depends on how many cards of players screaming are in the set (there are already too many).