Nonsense Newsletter No. 151: Top 50 MLB Players Part 1, The Hobby is for the Kids, breakfast cereal and more!
Yo! In this week’s edition of the Nonsense Newsletter, John Dudley starts to break down the MLB’s Top 50 players! I, on the other hand, lament about how the hobby was intended to be for kids and has now morphed into a business for mostly middle-aged fat guys! And then, of course, the Quick Hits is a dee-light! So, you know the drill, sit back and enjoy this week’s edition of the Nonsense Newsletter.
By John Dudley
Who is hot in the hobby? Glad you asked, because this is my Top 50 Names in the Hobby (Baseball Edition)! Each year I like to look at the past season and rank the top 50 guys in the hobby. It’s not a list of the best players, but rather a list of their importance in the hobby. Ketel Marte is one of the best players in MLB, but he can’t crack this list.
One big caveat: Only players that have a Topps rookie card are eligible for this list. No Bowman darlings here.
Tiny caveat: This article is two parts and the top half of the list will be released next week. I’m betting you can guess the top spot though.
By John McTaggart
omeone asked me via Instagram just the other day whether or not I thought it as a good idea to get their 10 -year old grandson into the hobby.
“He’s a huge hockey fan, and loves baseball, too,” he added. “And I was a collector for a long while until about 20 years ago when I put the brakes on.”
My knee-jerk reaction was to enthusiastically encourage him to get this kid into the hobby lickety-split — the more kids we can get excited about the hobby, the better, right?
Then it occurred to me to me — this is not the same hobby it was when I was 10-years old.
There aren’t any more convince stores selling packs for a buck, and decent local hobby shops are much harder to come by these days.
Quick Hits
Hobby News- Topps Update is out and is making waves as the hunt for Skenes is on. Jumbo boxes are selling for well over $200 with some pushing the $300 range. It looks like everyone is having a blast, but I’m just bummed not to have Team Color parallels which inexplicably seem to have gotten the ax. -John Dudley
Vintage- Are you old enough to remember when baseball cards use to come in some cereal boxes? I am. If you are, then take a look at this article highlighting one of the iconic cereal sets.
Hobby News- GameStop continues their bid to become a player in the trading card industry with the announcement they’ve partnered with PSA to be a drop-off point for grading. Details here. The GameStop experiment gets joked about a lot, but if they can become a place where people can easily buy and sell cards it would mean serious gains for the hobby. -John Dudley
The Sports Card Nonsense newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors and contributors. They are for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation for purchases or of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any assets.