We’ve all faced this at least once. A favorite player gets traded or signs with another team, and we are left pondering how to move forward with a player collection. There are players, such as Albert Pujols, who have spent years with one team and then switched, leaving his collectors with the dilemma of continuing to collect him on a new team, or to jump ship and focus on someone else.
I’ve faced this issue once before with Tino Martinez, although I didn’t start collecting him until he came to the Yankees and already he had about six years worth of Mariners cards out there. After six seasons in NY, he signed with St. Louis and eventually made his way to Tampa Bay and then back to New York. I made the decision to continue collecting him despite playing for the Cards and Rays. I don’t pursue those cards as aggressively as his Yankee cards, but I don’t turn them down either.
I started a Jesus Montero collection not long ago, if you can even call it that. My collection is only 14-15 cards deep…that’s nothing compared to those of you have that hundreds of Pujols cards. I didn’t put a ton of resources into it, but I did make a few trades and actively search eBay and SportLots. Since he played all of one month with the Yanks, I have decided that I will not keep collecting his cards. No need, as all of his big league cards (minus 2012 Topps Series One) from here on out will be in a Mariners jersey. I’m not sure what I’ll do with his other cards that I own. I’m sure I’ll keep a few of them, especially his Bowman Chrome RC. The others, maybe I’ll trade or bundle as a lot and sell them once he hits 30 HRs his rookie year.
It’s also a lesson in prospect collecting. I love collecting propects. I’m not sure why. I like writing to them and collecting their TTM autos (I was about 0 for 100 on Montero). I like following their development. However, there is always the risk (especially with the Yankees) of being traded before they ever make an impact at the big league level (that is, if they ever make an impact at all). I’ve been humbled a little by this deal, but I won’t be stopped. I’ll keep collecting Gary Sanchez and Manny Banuelos and Mason Williams, knowing full well that at any moment they can and will be used as a trade chip.
I won’t be replacing Montero with an another prospect for now, unless someone like Jorge Campos, acquired in the deal, finds his way into a few minor league sets this year. That will be appropriate. For now, I’ll be removing Jesus from my “Current PC’s” page, and will continue to wish him well and the best of luck in Seattle. Just not when he plays the Yanks.
I go with my gut. I like the Royals. I really enjoyed David DeJesus, but when he left and hadn't brought anything special to KC, I let his cards go. I was just left feeling unsatisfied with what he gave KC. Greinke was a little harder. He'd earned a Cy Young. But I decided to let him go too. The players I appreciate are the ones that helped my team win. I'd rather have Hal McRae or Amos Otis over Greinke. Good post!
ReplyDeleteIn my book if a player is so special to you that you consider building a PC of that player you won't care what team he's on. I'm a Yankees fan yet the only PC I've always kept is my Jose Bautista PC who never donned pinstripes in his career so far (would be great if he did one day though).
ReplyDeleteAs for prospects, it's still fun to see a player you've got your eye on get better and better every year even if he changed teams IMO. I know a lot of people are looking at Pineda and Montero that way. Plus there's a lot of eyes on Bryce Harper too.
Hey, great post. I decided to keep my Beltran and Jose Reyes PCs despite them leaving last and this year respectively. I just really enjoyed watching them both play, but you are right it is a tough decision in many cases. It is even tougher when you build up a collection of a player like K-Rod (granted not a huge collection in my case) who relatively few people will collect because finding someone to give those cards a good home is nearly impossible.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from. I had the same decision to make with Russell Martin, but decided I really liked him as a player and he brought a lot to the team in the time he was here, so I've continued collecting his Yankee cards.
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda funny you bring this up AJ I was just thinking about that and my Prince Fielder collection. While I never went balls to the wall on collecting him, if I found a great card for cheap I always scooped it up. I never offically started a PC of him, but as Brewers fan I of course have a huge stack of his cards. And I decided hell him going to his daddies team and possibly making the Tigers a super power house next year ain't a bad thing and while I'll miss seeing the big guy in a Brewers uni, I was a fan of his dad so I'll keep on collecting him, hell it's probably time I made his PC offical on the old blog.
ReplyDeleteI decided to keep collecting Ted Lilly cards even though he went to the Dodgers. It actually feels more genuine to me to collect a player because I have some kind of connection to him rather than just the uniform he wears (no offense to team collectors).
ReplyDeleteI am (or will be) in the same boat. Although I primarily a team collector, Christian Friedrich is the one player that I collect. Even though he is on the 40 man roster now, it is looking like he will eventually be traded because he seems to be more valuable as a trade chip. I will continue mt PC of him just because I went to college with him. Ubaldo Jimenez, even though he was one of my favorite Rockies ever, is an Indian now and his new cards will not be part of my collection. I will still collect his older Rockies cards that I don't have, but any new ones belong with Indians collectors.
ReplyDeleteWhen my boys were like 6 and 9 we met Jim Thome at the car dealer where I worked at the time.We all still have cards he signed for us. I was already collecting Indian cards, but began to specialize in Thome. After he left Cleveland, I still save his cards from other teams if I happen to find them, but don't actively collect his non-Cleveland ones.
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