Nonsense Newsletter No. 174: Role models, Top 20 MLB rookies of the recent past and more!
Welcome to a Saturday edition of the Nonsense Newsletter! In this week’s newsletter, John Dudley tackles a look back at the last five years of MLB rookies. Meanwhile, I delve into the importance of mentors in the hobby. And, of course, the Quick Hits section is off the chain. So, on this holiday weekend, let’s kick back and enjoy a special Saturday edition of the Nonsense Newsletter!
By John Dudley
To figure out if the Topps MLB 2024 rookie class is the best since 2018 (a common claim online), I decided to rank the rookies of the last 5 years in terms of hobby appeal. Last week, I featured the bottom half of this list. Now, it’s time to check out the bigger names in the hobby with the top 20.
11-20
20. 2023 Adley Rutschman- Adley is sliding down this list quickly as his hitting has progressively worsened each year. Even with the decline, he’s still a likely All-Star catcher for years to come. He’s ranked ahead of Contreras and Raleigh due to hype.
19. 2023 Mason Miller- I’m big on Miller. He might have the best stuff in the majors and has the baseball savant page to prove it. 99th percentiles for good things and 1% for bad. He’s a reliever, though, meaning it will be hard for collectors to notice him. Still, he’s the highest hobby upside reliever in years.
18. 2023 Eury Perez- Perez has electric stuff, and it’s not hyperbole to compare him to Skenes in terms of talent. He’s coming back from injury, but he’s only 22. He was about to take off in the hobby before his injury, and a few good starts will see him prepping for lift off.
By John McTaggart
We all stand on the shoulders of giants, no matter how high you soar in the hobby or in life, for that matter.
Someone, somewhere along the way helped to either encouraged you, teach you, mentor you or put you in a better position to succeed, to be happy, to find peace.
The hobby needs more of these people.
Men and women who are willing to show young and new collectors what the hobby is really about — the etiquette, respect and appreciation for it.
The hobby needs more authenticity from its ambassadors, more truth.
I watched a group of kids, three of them, who couldn’t have been much more than 11 or 12 year old, stroll into my local LCS and begin to mimic some of the social media influencers almost verbatim. Rambling on about percentages and comps and calling the shop owner “bruh,” over and over again.
Quick Hits
Hobby News- 2025 Donruss Baseball comes out on May 28. While Panini is facing licensing woes, they’ve managed to still cobble Donruss products that have been fairly well-received in terms of their fun factor and overall value, given the low box prices. This year’s also looks fun. The 1997 Donruss Signature design is making a comeback and should prove popular.
Vintage- I admittedly, and very proudly have an Expos jersey that I still wear to this day. Not only is it one of the coolest logos in history, I happen to really like the team when I was a kid. If you feel the same way, then you will really like this article on Sports Collectors Digest. Check it out here.
Hobby News- While the collectorate continues to wait for 2024 Topps Dynasty (seriously, when is it too late to release last year’s products?), Topps is releasing 2025 Topps Sterling Baseball, which is always a very attractive and classy affair. If the Downton Abbey upstairs characters collected cards, they’d be Sterling. Each box/pack comes with only two cards. Each is an autographed relic numbered to 25 or less, unless one of them is replaced with a 1/1 unique relic. The boxes will undoubtedly be pricy, but one has to pay for class.
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.