Pat Neshek and his Shohei Ohtani trading card remorse
By Rick Soisson
The Problem
However, there was a problem. All the card companies involved simply produced too many cards, and all collecting is at least somewhat dependent on rarity. The glut of the product available undercut the long-term value of even the most prominent stars’ cards.
Worse, prized rookie cards were no longer single items. (Griffey’s card, however, actually is unique; Upper Deck was the only company to produce one in ’89. The others included him in the ’90 sets, some of which were dated ’89.) Each company issued its own RC, and sometimes multiple RCs. Any price assigned to any RC became debatable if several existed from the same year.
As Winn noted, when Derek Jeter made his debut, he got eight rookie cards. Ten years later Albert Pujols had 43.
To understand it all, a Ph.D. in rare objects seemed needed. People simply gave up. Once again baseball cards were consigned to the attic or basement, just as they had been when their adult collectors had originally discovered girls, decades earlier.
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It feels as though some sort of reference to one of the Toy Story movies should be inserted here. You probably remember the kid in those films who sadly outgrows Woody, his cowboy doll.
The Pushback against Time
Neshek told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki he was going to use his Ohtani profit to…buy more baseball cards. This is what makes him, at least momentarily, a fascinating figure. Here is a major league pitcher who collects major league baseball cards.
He’s like a big kid. Not only does his pitching motion make him look like the kid on your Little League team who never learned to throw appropriately, but he is also cheerfully pushing back against the sadness of passing time.
He even pointed out to Zolecki Aaron Judge’s cards “kind of revitalized the whole baseball card industry. They had their best year in 20 years last year.”
Next: Carlos Martinez’s unique glove represents heroism
So, no, I won’t trade you my Aaron Judge rookie card. That will belong to my daughter.