A kind gesture on top of many kind gestures

 

Twitter, I don't need to tell you, emphasizes the negative.

I think it comes with the territory. It's a social media forum that broadcasts people's thoughts and views indiscriminately. My grandmother often said, a long time ago, that "fools names and fools places often appear in public places," and that was uttered way before the internet. But she was so on point.

Obviously, I'm one of those fools. I try to be nice and I try to be positive, and I often fail. I also try to be honest and I think I do a better job on that than the others. I see a lot of dishonesty online and on Twitter in particular and it bothers me quite a bit.

Twitter has been filled with hobby dishonesty lately. There is the flipping mentality and the folks who try to tell you there is nothing wrong with it. There is the NFT craze with folks trying to convince you that you'll get rich off of digital images. There is so much dishonesty in that, and that's when I fail at being positive and nice.

Twitter is so filled with that stuff, in fact, that Sooz, the former card blogger/former Beckett writer/former Topps employee who is back in the hobby again, geared her popular Twitter CardChat feature toward hobby positivity this week.

 

Her questions included: What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you in the hobby? What is the nicest thing you have seen someone do in the hobby? What collectible company has been the best at spreading kindness in the hobby? Who is the kindest collector you have met (physical meeting not necessary)?

 

I didn't have a lot of answers for these questions, I admit. I felt guilty about that because when it comes to one of the CardChats where it invites critical answers, I'm all words.

 

I need to work on that. But also, I think I was stumped for answers on the kindness questions because I know the Blogging hobby. I've known it for a dozen years. Twitter likes to think that it has the kindest collectors and, yes, there are plenty of them. But Twitter has no idea. Blogging kindness is off the charts and is a tradition unmatched by any other medium when it comes to collecting. I might add that some of the most well-known Twitter card kindness folks were/are also card bloggers.

 

So, when Sooz asked, "What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you in the hobby?" I thought, "my gosh, how in the world do I answer that question?" There have been SO MANY. Hundreds. Yes, hundreds. Literally hundreds of kind hobby gestures for the writer of this blog.

 

My blog is full of those stories. If anyone wants to see hobby kindness, read up. It's all there. Somebody sent me a '56 Koufax just because. Somebody sent me a '56 Yogi just because. Somebody sent me a '56 Feller just because. Somebody sent me a '53 Bowman Color Pee Wee Reese just because. Somebody sent me two entire card albums full of cards just because. Somebody sent me a Yasiel Puig rookie when he was the biggest, hottest star on the planet just because. Somebody accumulated cards for an entire year and then sent them out to anyone who asked just because. During the peak of the pandemic, bloggers decided to offer up free cards on Fridays just because. Several people sent me cards after my parents died and I can't think of a kinder gesture.

 

That is just off the top of my head. There is so much more -- I feel stupid for leaving it all out because it's so crazy it needs to be recognized.

 

This hobby is full of kindness, that's been established. But hobby blogging kindness? You can't match it.

Some of those kind folks have moved on. A couple have even passed on. Then there are those who keep showing their generosity like clockwork, at least a couple times a year.

Dave has sent me wild cards beyond my imagination dozens of times. He did it again a couple of weeks ago. He sent me the 1956 Topps Pirates team card because it was one of the last cards I needed in the chase for that set.

But he didn't stop there.

The package included three 1952 Bowman Dodgers off my want list. This is hobby generosity right here, Twitter! This is my example, CardChat!

The '52 Bowman set is just beautiful. I wasn't aware it was so packed with Dodgers cards. I thought I've done pretty well with this set and there are still seven to go!

 

Dave wasn't done. Here is a high-numbered card from the '67 Topps set I am allegedly collecting. These are not easy to find for reasonable cash quantities, let alone receiving one for free.

 

Then there is this. A bunch of prime-condition 1976 Hostess cards for my set completion quest. It doesn't seem to matter what set I'm collecting, Dave pops in on queue with cards tailored for my particular mission.

 

He didn't forget some other collecting pursuits either, like Dodgers and night cards. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I've lost track of where my night card binder is.

I was looking to see if the above two cards made the frankenset (the Polanco damn well better) and I couldn't find the binder! I've recently shifted around some binders to eliminate a couple of overstuffed ones that I've had. That caused me to move the placement of some binders. And that was enough to confuse my brain!

 

Dave is always good for some Bills and Sabres, too. I ignore late '80s football as if it's done me wrong, but it's not so bad. These '87s are all new.

I think he sent me the entire 1991 Topps Sabres set, too (this isn't all of them). This is right when I knew every single Sabres player, which hasn't been the case for many moons.

 

The best part of the '91 Topps hockey set are those gleaming backs:

 

Hockey card collectors were so lucky. Baseball was stuck with those dull gray backs in '91. Yeah, I know that's what we liked back then, but I sure would've gone for something like this on my baseball backs at that time.

So, there you are. That's just another example of good in the hobby. Dave doesn't blog (at least that I know of), but blogging does attract that kind of generosity.

Twelve years later, I am still citing examples and maybe I can't come up with them when Twitter asks me a question but that doesn't mean I'm not grateful.

It means I've just won an award and I'm at the podium in front of crowd of my peers, holding my Oscar and now I'm trying to think of everyone to thank. It's a bit overwhelming.

Thanks again for participating in the best part of this card hobby. The blogging part.