Fewer hits? Good

 

On the schoolyard in the spring of 1977, there was no card I wanted more than the one of George Foster.

I was a Dodgers fan and on the lookout for Dodgers cards, but even a player on the Dodgers' chief rival at the time could not prevent me from coveting his card.

 

Foster was hitting home runs at a pace that I had never experienced before, on his way to 52 in one season. His card was the titan of the '77 set, bigger than airbrushed Reggie, bigger than prospects Dawson and Murphy (who?), bigger than Fidrych, bigger than Nolan Ryan.

Foster's card was a base card. Yet, it had major appeal.

That concept and sentiment is lost in today's hobby and vanished a long time ago. Foster's cool was replaced by inserts, first known as "chase cards," and then "hits" and then parallels and then short-prints. All detracted from the base cards, the cards that actually made up the set.

I was reminded of how much the hobby and collectors have changed again this morning after reading an article from Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News. Fagan is a friend of the hobby, a collector and good fun on Twitter. But it's obvious that he grew up in a different collecting generation than I did.

He grew up during the "junk wax era," as did so many collectors that I've met online. He likes pulling hits and shiny parallels but seems to enjoy base cards, too.

His article dissected the odds for pulling a hit or a parallel in 2023 Topps as compared with 2022 Topps. It's been noted that it's more difficult to pull those kind of cards in this year's flagship set than in last year's, and many have said that we're in a second junk wax era with cards being produced in such quantities that it's difficult not to notice that the odds of pulling something like a gold parallel have soared.

These are the odds on a 2023 Topps hanger box. Unfortunately I don't have a 2022 hanger box to contrast and compare. But Ryan did that for you in his story. (Odds listed on boxes was one of the weirder -- odder? -- things I encountered when I returned to the hobby in 2006).

He also writes in his story to not bother buying cards at retail outlets this year if you're interested in parallels and hits. It's clear that Topps/Fanatics have trimmed back that kind of stuff in retail product while keeping it in hobby product like jumbo boxes.

My response: Good.

This is not bad news as is inferred in the story, it's good news (this is where I throw up the disclaimer that I am only referring to my collecting experience with this blog, nobody else's, don't think that I'm speaking for anyone else, please). This is news that will keep flippers from clearing shelves. This is news that will hopefully lead to the end of the pack searcher. For someone like me, who wants to see the cards that complete a set and gets annoyed when a parallel of some Marlins player is replacing another card I could have used to finish the set, this is a benefit.

Hits and super-shiny parallels and SSPs should come out of hobby boxes so that the high-rollers can pay more and have their fun. Retail, well, yeah, it's for suckers and I'm a sucker, but it's also for those people who like to collect traditionally.

This is where my second objection comes in. The story terms hobby buyers and folks who buy a lot of product as "serious" collectors and those who buy retail as "casual" collectors. That's some word choice there. I have been collecting since 1975 and I think that, by any measure, means I am not a casual collector and also more serious than some flipper who is going to be out of the hobby in five years.

As for the rest of the article, this is really a millennial issue. Collectors who grew up at this time can't really relate to a Gen-Xer and my era of treating every base card as important, because they grew up in a time when inserts and hits were all the rage. They see this new 2023 arrangement as a problem. I don't.

Also, I am hearing "but what about the kids" for the 1,199th time when a change like this happens, as if kids will be deprived of something because all they can afford are retail packs. I think that's a bit dramatic. I have encountered kids in the card aisle maybe eight times in the 17 years since I've returned to the hobby. In an average trip to Target, there are far more kids in the toy section and especially the video game section than anywhere near cards. Also, if you want your kids to pull hits, go buy some hobby packs for them.

I'm not someone who worries about the "state of the hobby." The hobby is personal to me and I'm not on a mission to clear the way for other collectors. Narrow-minded? Sure. But this is just a hobby, nothing bigger than that, I will deal with it how I like.

Also, in a bit of coincidence, just yesterday I decided to remove all of the Dodgers relics that I have stored in a box for years, separated from everything else, and place the ones that fit into pages, with the other Dodger cards in my binder.

Like so.

 

That's kind of pretty.

The point is that over the passage of time, most relics have been deemed no more important than base cards and this isn't the year 2000 anymore.

The same can be said for foil sparkly cards from 2023. Sure, some inserts (and obviously autographs) from the '90s are elusive and go for lots of money, but the people placing prices and importance on that are probably folks who grew up during that time.

I didn't and I don't care about those. I also care very little for pulling a shiny insert if it's not a Dodger or something I can trade easily.

I still do care about this 1977 George Foster base card. Very much so. I'm really glad I own it.

 

Yeah, it's fun to come across a hit from time to time and I celebrate it -- I've done it on this blog -- but if that experience disappears, I'm not going to miss it much.

So, this "casual collector" will live. And be quite happy to see dozens of unmolested card boxes on retail shelves again.