Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Wax (Philosophical) Wednesday and Mini Contest:

I assume one of these days I will outgrow this hobby.   Or maybe not.  But I at some point I will hand over the collection to my children and hopefully at least one of them will want it and will continue to maintain, improve and enjoy it. 
That said, for the most part, my collecting process is driven by collecting what and who I like, and not necessarily who I think 20 years from now will be “valuable” to the caretakers of my collection.  On the side, I do try to build cards of players of whom I think have long term value.   As you may have seen in my player checklist at the top of my blog, I list 5 players who fit this bill, in my opinion (Jeter, Ichiro, Pujols, Halladay and Mo Rivera). 
Clearly there are others.  So my question for you:  If you were to build a collection of 5 active players, solely for the purpose of passing along down the road, and you wanted that collection to be as valuable as possible, who are the players you would select to collect.  Select to collect… I’m a poet and didn’t know it.
To incentivize responses, I will ascertain which player gets the most votes in the comments, and randomly select a winner from the commenter list.  I will then send that commenter at least a couple of cards of the winning player.     However, you must have that player listed in your comments to win.  For example, if Eric from Manupatches and Chrome Scratches thinks he should list Luke Hochever as one of his 5 players for the ages, and somehow, Luke Hochever does not get the most overall votes but someone not on Eric’s list does, Eric is out of luck…. 
I will post the winner sometime this Sunday.  Also, please keep your list to active players only.  Retired players will not be counted, your comment will be stricken from the record and you will be banned for life from my blog.

13 comments:

The Lost Collector said...

Good plan. While I focus on Yanks, I always try and keep a few cards of guys I know will be valuable down the road or at least have good careers...at least to teach my kids (when I have them) about those players and so they have a more diverse collection.

I put a lot of thought into which five I would choose. Here is how I would answer your question:

Robinson Cano
Carlos Gonzalez
Bryce Harper (despite not playing a single game in the majors)
Jason Heyward
Ryan Braun

The Dimwit said...

I will go with Pujols, Ichiro, Halladay, A-Rod and Jason Heyward.

Wow... threats of blog banishment... that's pretty harsh!!! Haha...

Spiegel83 said...

Awesome question. I will say these five:
Ichiro
Pujols
Jeter
Braun
Chipper Jones

Captain Canuck said...

Chipper Jones
Jason Heyward
Albert Pujolies
Ichiro
Roy Halladay

Ryan G said...

It's interesting to see the comments that have already been posted. And I'm going to have to go with some of the same: I have great respect for both Ichiro and Pujols, and unless things change dramatically, their cards (especially autographs) should always hold great value. For future investment, I'd also try to grab some Jason Heyward and Tim Lincecum. If they continue to do well it should prove valuable in the end. The last one should be a Yankee with an enduring positive legacy, so I'll go with captain Jeter.

Wes Moore the former JBF said...

Tough one but I guess I would go this route:

Albert Pujols
Derek Jeter
Ichiro
David Price
Stephen Strasburg

4 and 5 are a reach at this point but I can really see both having insane career numbers when they are done.

Matt H said...

I'll go with:

Pujols
Ichiro
Stalin Castro
Tim Lincecum
Jesus Montero

Justin McLeod said...

Cub fan or not, I can't bring myself to say Starlin Castro. Instead, I'm going to go with:

Ichiro
Lincecum
Pujols
Halladay
Craig Kimbrel/Jonny Venters (I couldn't choose one over the other)

BA Benny said...

Based on who's cards should hold or raise in value I will go with 3 I collect because I like the players.

Ichiro
Jeter
Vlad Guererro
and 2 I don't collect but should remain high profile cards.

Pujols
Halladay

Dawgbones said...

Hell, is that all it takes to get banned?? too easy...

I'd have to pick:
Halladay
Braun
Lincecum
Hamels
and I'll go with
Daniel Nava
(that grand slam off Blanton last year from his first pitch in the majors was awesome)

Play at the Plate said...

I'll go with Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax...just kidding. I don't want to be exiled.

I'll say Pujols (original), Heyward, Joe Mauer, Ichiro and Josh Hamilton.

Matt Pederson said...

Pujols, Jeter, Halladay, Ichiro, A-Rod

AdamE said...

I have to say if expect cards to be worth lots in the future you are probably going to be disappointed.