General Forum

Lately, I've gotten in the habit of checking the "In Memoriam" section here daily (almost always after confusing it with the "Born Today" section and briefly being shocked at the (mistaken and temporary) belief that some young current player has died). I now always go take a look at my collection gallery, if I have any cards of the deceased player. Not sure why but I think it's because, if I have a card or eight, that means that player had a tiny little influence on my life. Today, for example, Leroy Stanton is on the list. He's a nobody player, but I've got eight of his cards. And no player was a nobody. At some point in his career, thousands of people cheered for some silly thing he did, like catch a ball or hit one. And I touched and sorted and moved those eight cards around and now they sit lovingly encased in plastic sheets and I'll look at them all again pretty soon. And he was one of the first Seattle Mariners cards ever. 

I've said it before, but its those types of players that strike me most when I go back through the collection. The "minor" players. The "forgotten" ones. Because they all got those cheers at some point. And, just by owning the dumb piece of cardboard their pictures are on, they've got a slight connection to me. I mean, I won't be attending Mr. Stanton's funeral or anything, but he was definitely a miniscule part of my life because of this stupid hobby. 

Ok, I must be feeling philosophical today. Or I don't feel like writing an order upholding a suspension in another school discipline case, so I'm wasting time here, instead. One of those....

v3 

nice ramble, thanks for sharing

mark

I find myself looking and I feel the same way. It's probably why a common is valuable to me. Let's face it, anyone who has a card was probably a great amtuer and is probably a hometown hero to some extent and I have a hard time not thinking about how their cards are valuable to someone out there.

If thought maybe I was the only one.  It is funny to me how when someone posts something they do on the board thinking it to be crazy or unique, you tend to see a group of people with similar feelings, thoughts, habits, etc.  I’ve done it a few times expecting people to laugh and reply I should see a therapist, but instead, the replies seemed more like a support group.  There must be something on the DNA of a collector that leads us to do some similar but whacky things.

As Mark said, . Thanks for sharing. 

It's probably the first thing I do each day when I get on the site.  Sometimes I read about the newly deceased from other sources too.  I never knew Johnny Lam Jones was an Olympic gold medalist in track before his NFL days. 

Of course, I spend (arguably) more time than anyone else on the site hanging out in cemeteries too.  Found VP Schuyler Colfax's grave yesterday.  In fact, my second-ever blog post will be a summary of my weekend.  And yes, there were cards.  Four added to my collection, to be exact. 

I check the In-Memoriam section every single day (and the Born Today section too). I am always happy when no new names are on the In-Memoriam list. The only ones I've seen in the past month that I know anything about were wrestlers and/or actors.

 I check the Memoriam section too and also get shocked when I first glance at the births thinking it is memoriam.    Yes, it's the players you have forgotten about for years that makes the memories come back.

Let me make this seem as normal as ever. I do too, always without fail. Third site of my morning coffee.

Here I thought this thread had just died a quick death (intended), only to see it resurrected days later. 

Nice thoughts, gang!