• Back when I was younger, there was hardly a hobby that I enjoyed more than collecting baseball cards. There was nothing like taking your $1+ to open up a pack of ten. You never knew if you would get that special Bip Roberts card or a sweet-looking number that disappointingly featured Chris Hoiles on the front. When I think of the reasons why I quit collecting, a couple things stand out. When I started, you had your basic companies: Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck, etc. But now, you have all these special editions. Topps Stadium Club, Upper Deck Steroid Collection, Leaf Corked Bat Crew, etc.
In the end, though, I think the thing that drove me away were the pictures. These days, you get all these exciting action poses with guys doing cool things. Way back when, you'd get a picture of guy who had bad nose hair or profanity on his bat and they'd still go to the presses with the picture anyway. Here are some of my favorites: