11 Card Collectors Who ANNOY Us!
No matter how happy the hobby is, there are still a couple handfuls of people that just drive us crazy.
Each “Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter” pack has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets – like me!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights! –
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 11 CARD COLLECTORS WHO ANNOY US!
⚾ SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS!
📰🏆📰FOUNDING MEMBER SHOUT-OUT!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 REMEMBERING THE BEST ROOKIE CARDS FROM 2005 IN EACH SPORT!
As a member of the eBay Partner Network and an Amazon Associate, I earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Here’s a link to my Amazon storefront where I link to all my favorite card-collecting supplies. Thank you for supporting our affiliations by making purchases through us! Also, all sports card images come courtesy of BuySportsCards.com.
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 11 CARD COLLECTORS WHO ANNOY US!
If you’re on this newsletter or my YouTube channel, you’re most likely a fan of a happy hobby. What I mean by “happy hobby,” which is basically our motto around these parts, is that we believe in positivity and cheering for each other. We’re not crazy about calling out the bad actors in the hobby, the thieves, the scam artists, the liars, the pump-and-dumpers, etc. We don’t get mad when someone else gets something good, rather, we cheer and congratulate them!
But even among the good people in this hobby – or at least the non-bad people – there are some horrible card collector traits that just drive us crazy. Today, I’m a griper.
1. The Guy Who Rains on Other People’s Excitement
Whether you’re on Reddit or Facebook or [insert latest social media], you’ve likely seen someone post an image of a junk wax rookie card that brings back wistful memories of their childhood. The first comment in reply (why is it always that first comment!?!) is some jerk-faced jerk telling them there were 55 million of those cards produced and they might as well throw it away. Do you feel better now, buddy?
2. Millionaire Card Chasers Sifting Through Cases
You might have seen some of these people on social media basically flying through packs and boxes of cards in search for whatever chase du jour has them excited. I imagine they use the discarded commons as kindling, lighting up their expensive cigars with Jackson Chourio base cards, and setting their snifters of brandy down on Paul Skenes base card coasters. Are we jealous? Maybe. But I feel like we’re more embarrassed. Kind of like when you see bratty rich kids complaining about getting the wrong new sports car as a gift.
3. Base Card Snobs
I use a corny hype horn on my YouTube channel when I hit rookie cards of guys we’re chasing. Every now and then, I’ll get someone who comments that I celebrate garbage cards that aren’t worth anything. It’s true, they are just base cards, and 10 years from now, it’s unlikely they’ll be worth more than $5 each. But we have fun on our channel, and what’s more fun than hitting the first card of a possible future All-Star!?!
4. Those Who Ship Cards with Little Protection
You might remember the video I did of the Justin Verlander rookie card I bought off someone on Twitter. The guy sent the card in a Card Saver that was tucked into a manilla envelope. That’s it. No reinforcing cardboard on it, no toploader, no one-touch, nothing. By the time I got it, the card had a bad boomerang bend to it! I really, really, really, don’t care how you protect your cards. But please, try to protect my cards.
5.Those Who Ship Cards with Too Much Protection
This sounds very ToppsGoldilocks of me, wanting everything just right. But have you ever gotten a package of cards and the shipper encased them in so much tape, bubble wrap, carboard cutouts, steel plating, Mission Impossible retina scanner, and every other sort of security and protection, that you nearly damage the card by the time you pull it out!?!
6. The “How Valuable is This?” People
I’m not talking about someone who pulls a weird card they’ve never seen before, or someone who got an old vintage card from some Bread Company no one knew existed. I’m more griping about the people who do zero research, expect everyone to just know off the top of their heads, and price out their entire collection.
For some reason, I get a lot of these kinds of messages through my Facebook page. They’ll send tons of pictures, too, even after I explain how their cards are from a fun era, there just isn’t much monetary value. Then they’ll explain that they have a Gregg Jefferies rookie card that I might not have seen.
The least someone can do is say, “I looked on eBay, and here’s what I found. Am I wrong?”
7. “Fantasy Waivers” Flipper
I’ve been in over 350 different Fantasy leagues at different times in different seasons, and there’s usually one of these “Fantasy Waivers Flippers” in each league. These people will scan the waiver wire, find some decent talent available, pick a few players up and immediately package them together, trying to convince you to trade one of your stars for them in a 3-for-1 deal.
They do the same with cards – piling together some relatively common players and try to convince you it’s worth your numbered card.
“You mean, you went through the trash in the street, found some shiny empty cans, and you want to trade that for my steak dinner!?! Oh, thank you!”
8. Inheritance Babies
This sounds like I’m jealous of the people who inherited awesome cards from their parent(s). But really, it’s just painful to think of how much the parent(s) likely loved that collection, and those cards are now only seen as dollar signs to their next owner.
I understand that these people are necessary, and the parent(s) really don’t care, they would be happy for their children to benefit financially from their collection. But still… It’s sad.
9. Mint Condition Maniacs
It usually takes some time for new collectors to understand that their collection of cards they’ve held onto for 35 years in two shoeboxes are likely not in mint condition. I don’t mind the initial excitement they have, but after you explain how centering/corners/rarity/HOF-ness affects a card’s value, they still insist their cockeyed, off-centered, fifth-year Andrés Galarraga cards with the rounded corners are at least in “near-mint” condition.
10. I Caught a Fish Thiiiiiiiis Big
When a former card collector tells you all about the cards they used to have “before my [insert bad person] got them.” We all collected cards when we were kids, and those of us who have renewed that love recently wish they had loaded up on some rookie cards more than others. But when someone hears you are a card collector, they can’t wait to tell you about:
Their sister’s boyfriend, who stole all their cards, including a few no-name Frank Thomas RC cards.
Their little brother, who traded their stack of Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards (in mint condition) for some candy.
Their mom, who threw out all their Mickey Mantle cards, along with a stack of thousand dollar bills.
My guess is that 97% of the stories start out true, but that 5% of what they really lost is true. Color me skeptical!
11. PSA 9 Snobs
A PSA 9 card is – by definition – mint. It’s right on the label!
“Mint” is – by definition – an aromatic plant!... Wait… OK, “mint” can also mean “unmarred.” And yet, the lure of a gem-mint PSA 10 has many in the card-collecting world turning their noses up at a “mint” PSA 9 card.
I’d rather date a gorgeous woman with a mole than no gorgeous woman at all.
Let us know in the comments what other bad card collector traits get under your skin! Then we’ll all go back to being Happy Hobbyists!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – and you could win this card!
What was the first set of baseball cards to use color photographs?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 1970 Topps Jim Palmer! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, November 8.
We had TWO winners in the past week for our past two trivia questions!
Previous Question No. 1: The 2024 World Series pits both league’s Home Run leaders (Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani) against each other for the first time since when and who were the sluggers?
Answer: 1956 – Mickey Mantle (Yankees) vs. Duke Snider (Dodgers)
Prize: 1975 Topps MINI Most Valuable Players 1957: Mickey Mantle & Hank Aaron!
Winner: Jason McGuire! One of our Happy Hobby Founding Members!
Previous Question No. 2: Joe Theismann, one of the more notable quarterbacks from the ‘80s, had his rookie card come out in 1975 Topps Football, along with Dan Fouts. Which Topps year should Theismann’s rookie card have come out, if not for a contract dispute with the Miami Dolphins?
Answer: 1972 Topps
Prize: 1976 Topps Reggie Jackson!
Winner: Kevin Schaefer! He’s a Diamondbacks fan who came back into the hobby after collecting cards as a kid. He said he’s specifically trying to piece together the 1998 Metal Universe cards he loved in the ‘90s.
🏈 ⚾ 🏀IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS: #15 of 23
Imhoff breaks down all the moves Fanatics should make, just two years away from when they unify the baseball, football and basketball card licenses in 2026. He shared his first move in our June 20 newsletter, and he’ll continue to share more of these going forward.
No. 15 – BUILDING NEW INTEREST IN THE HOBBY
To try and generate new interest in collecting, I would tap into the Fanatics apparel side of the house. Depending on the amount of money spent on apparel (hats, shirts, jerseys, etc.), we would include retail packs of cards in the package. These would not be high end, but rather, older products that never sold.
You can subscribe to Patrick Imhoff’s Substack Newsletter here, and get his Thrifty Thursday picks!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 SHOUT-OUT TO FOUNDING MEMBER: SCOTT HEDRICK
We’re taking some time out to shine a spotlight on one of our Founding Members! (When you become a Paid Subscriber, you can choose to be a Founding Member, which costs $100 per year. You will then be guaranteed to have a spot available to purchase in our Happy Hobby Buddy.
Scott Hedrick is one of our Happy Hobbyists from way back (2022?), and his love for the University of Arkansas and the St. Louis Cardinals helps shape his card collection. He’s a frequent commenter on our YouTube channel and this newsletter, and he has written two newsletter features for us:
We’re super proud to have him as a teammate!
Click on the button below to see how to become a Founding Member, guaranteeing your spot in our Happy Hobby Buddy Breaks!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 REMEMBERING THE BEST ROOKIE CARDS FROM 2005 IN EACH SPORT!
In 2005, the Sith was Revenging in movie theaters, the Black-Eyed Peas warned you not to Phunk With Their Heart, and Michael Scott was the World’s Best Boss at Dunder Mifflin! Here are your top sports rookie cards from 2005!
Baseball:
Series 1: Ian Kinsler – 302
Series 2: Billy Butler – 668
Updates and Highlights: Nelson Cruz – UH206
Basketball:
Chris Paul (ROY) No. 224 – View on eBay!
Football:
Troy Polamalu (HOF) No. 174 – View on eBay!
Reggie Bush (vacated Heisman) No. 359 – View on eBay!
DeMarcus Ware (HOF) No. 375 – View on eBay!
Frank Gore No. 418 – View on eBay!
Aaron Rodgers No. 431 – View on eBay!
Hockey (Young Guns!):
Sidney Crosby 201 – View on eBay!
Corey Perry 204 – View on eBay!
Zach Parise 206 – View on eBay!
Henrik Lundqvist 216 – View on eBay!
Duncan Keith 230 – View on eBay!
Alexander Ovechkin 443 – View on eBay!
Ryan Getzlaf 452 – View on eBay!
Coming Next Week!
🏀2024-25 BASKETBALL CARD RANKINGS-PALOOZA!
⚾ SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
🏈 ⚾ 🏀 IF PATRICK IMHOFF BECAME CEO OF FANATICS!
🏀 CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY!
***Important Card-Collecting Articles on DavidGonos.com***
Connect with David Gonos on:
Email me: mailto:gonoscards@gmail.com
Have a #HappyHobby!
Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
Wow, 2005 is a Pittsburgh fans dream come true: Sid, Cutch, and Troy, three of the best to ever do it in their respective sports. I still wonder if Cutch is a future HOF guy, a lot of people say Joey Votto is but not Cutch, despite having very similar numbers and playing in very similar markets
So, to keep your Top 11 list going, I have a few more:
12. Selling cards on eBay that are worth under $2 yet charging $8 for shipping. Throw those in a PWE and mail them off for under $1. (I understand eBay used to only charge fee's based on listing price and not shipping, but that changed to include shipping a long time ago)
13. The Make an Offer Option: Two parts to this. Part 1, if you are making an offer, don't ask for more than %50 off, that is just insulting to the seller. Part 2, if you are the seller, don't tell us we can make an offer if you aren't willing to accept an offer. I have had sellers counter my offer with the exact price of the listing before, I was dumbfounded. If you are using this option, you must be willing to at least take %10 off.
14. Athletes who buy all their cards: I am all for when an athlete see's their card on a post on social media and reaches out to make a trade for it, that is cool and connects the collector to the athlete. Where I think it gets bad is when the athlete buys up every numbered card and their are none left for the collectors of the world.
Airing of the grievances complete, now on to feats of strength!
Wow, what a shoutout! Thanks so much, David! It’s absolutely my pleasure to be around this awesome Happy Hobby Community that you’ve created!
What a great article about those ever-present hobby rascals! Had experiences with every single one on the list, and I agree! I really enjoyed the quote about the gorgeous lady with the mole!
Looks like a really good year all around for rookies in 2005!
Well done, thanks!