Thursday, March 12, 2020

Corona Cardboard


Dug through my White Sox misc/tradeables section before work this morning and found this trio of cards hiding out. I'd forgotten I had that Mega Box Mojo Refractor. According to current COMC prices, this is a $100+ lot of cards right here. Nice! I think I also might have a couple more of those Bowman (paper) cards from a "recent" (months ago) card show that still haven't been sorted yet.

Luis Robert is pretty hot right now. After tearing up the minors, the White Sox gave the 22-year old a big contract extension this offseason and he hasn't even played his first MLB game yet. After a solid spring, looks like he's going to begin the season with the big league club.

But when exactly will that be? The big news is baseball has suspended upcoming games for now, with Opening Day being delayed at least 2 weeks. Yikes.

And I bet my local monthly card show (scheduled for Saturday) will be canceled. Bummer. After sitting out last month's show, I was anxious to dig through some boxes and score some cool cards. Maybe I'll do a "virtual card show" shopping spree on an online card selling site.

Oh man, what if the USPS suspends mail delivery?! Now that would be rough. Gotta have incoming cardboard to brighten my days. Oh well. Just have to spend more time on sorely-needed sorting, I suppose.

As I mentioned a couple posts back, I most likely have a move in my future.. so I should be tightening up my collection in preparation for packing up everything. We're looking at homes to buy, but with the recent interest-rate drop, seems everything in our price range has been getting snatched up very quickly. Not to be flippant about it, but I wonder if the virus will ultimately end up causing more houses to become available if a chunk of the population dies.

And I wonder if there will be an effect on sports cards. Especially vintage cards. Chances are many collectors over a certain age will be hit with this. Vast collections could be flooding the market in the coming months, possibly causing prices to dip on big cards. I wonder what's the average age of collectors who own a '52 Topps Mantle... or how about the Honus Wagner? Probably not many under the age of 50, right?

Sorry if I'm being too dark here. Just thinking about my hobby and how it relates to this historic moment in human civilization we're going through right now.

My (local) family includes 2 elementary school teachers (my sibling-in-laws) and two people who work in medical clinics (my in-laws), plus I take public transportation to work everyday. So I'll be surprised if I don't eventually get it, honestly. But then again, I am a bit of a low-key germaphobe and already wash my hands more than the average person. If (when?) my work encourages me to stay home, I will happily do so. 2020 has already been a rough year for me healthwise, as I got a bad stomach flu in January and then a (regular) flu in February (which was the worst flu I've had in many years). Geez. I'm not too worried about myself, but of course I'm concerned about my folks down in Arizona and my in-laws up here. My father-in-law just had a triple bypass last year, so he could be vulnerable, and my folks are both in their 70s.

Hopefully things cool out before long and we start getting back to normal soon. That first pitch of the season is going to be extra sweet this year.

Crazy times indeed. All the best to you and your families staying safe and healthy! Enjoy the little things and be kind.



We all get the flu, we all get AIDS

We've got to stick together

12 comments:

  1. I already called dibs on all those 52' Mantles.

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  2. Ouch. I'm disappointed this post only got one comment. :(

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  3. Two comments now! (Your blog posts are usually part of my following morning reading!) Even if the market gets flooded with Mantles, they'd probably still be out of my price range! Hope you and your family stay healthy!

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  4. I have had similar thoughts about the mail stopping, and about the passing on of the older generation. Hopefully it doesn't have an effect on either . . .

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  5. Comment #6 :) Sorry bud... I'm always a little behind in reading posts. Anyways... my friends and I (and of course the students) are just waiting to hear when the district will shut down school. A week ago, we didn't think it would happen. A lot has changed in a week. Crazy times indeed Gavin.

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  6. If you really want to get yourself down, start thinking about fifty years (or less) from now when everything that we as collector's hold dear, is no longer of interest to anyone, and subsequently has little to no value. Today's kids don't care about, and are barely learning, history, most of them aren't growing up collecting anything, so who's gonna want to play caretaker to bunch of old stuff? Personally, I see a lot of our treasures ending up in landfill's, and that is very depressing to think about.

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    1. Yeah, that's a thought that creeps in from time to time... along with advancements in 3D printing and whatnot that'll make counterfeiting easier. I predict card grading companies will someday begin doing age testing on vintage cards to verify it's truly old paper.

      But bottom line is I just remind myself that in the long run, nothing really matters and this is just a hobby that brings me joy and that's what it's all about. You can't take it with you, and it might not be worth anything one day, but if it brightens your life.. right on.

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  7. Nice finds in the trade box! Hope you and you family stay well.

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