Paying it forward--Schmidt happens

The future of this hobby is anything but certain.  The Toppsopoly is limiting creativity and design (in my opinion) and I don't think Topps has figured out how to draw younger collectors into the hobby.  I don't completely blame Topps for that because basic supply and demand dictates what they do.  The collectors with money, those over the age of 20 for the most part, will buy some Opening Day, but they're not buying cases and cases of the stuff.  Most kids can't afford to buy anything else unless they're hard working and have a job or they have parents who are generous enough to fund the habit.

I think it's up to us older collectors to get kids involved with cards.  I do everything I can to interest my older son in the hobby.  He loves it when he gets a Ranger "hit" for a good report card or as a special treat.  He's just one kid though.  The hobby won't survive if I just influence one kid so when the chance arose recently to help another kid who was interested in cards, I jumped at it.

Doug over at Baseball Cards, Sports and Life and his son attended a card show and little Doug (I'm sure that's not his real name) told dad he wanted a Pudge Rodriguez jersey card and he wanted to start a Pudge Rodriguez collection.  That's all I needed to hear.

I rounded up a stack of Pudge cards and sent them over to give his new collection a little boost.  I'm not saying everyone has to do stuff like this, but I think this is one way we can interest the video game generation in this hobby we all love so much.

Doug sent over a very generous thank you package.

I haven't checked what Doug sent against my want list yet, but he hooked me up with 1984 Topps, 1984 Fleer and 1980 Topps.

Buddy Bell was one of my two favorite Rangers as a kid.

Jim Sundberg was the other.

The Rangers just wrapped up a three game series with Houston (we needed that sweep!).  The Saturday game was a throwback uni day and they wore the 1986 uniforms.  The logo in the bottom right corner of this 1984 Fleer Jon Matlack card was painted on the field just behind the plate for the three game series.  I like retro days and seeing the older logos takes me back to a time when the worries of adult life were not even on my radar.  How do you feel about teams wearing the throwback unis?

Doug hit a little new...

...and a little old with this package.  These two cards couldn't be more different and I'm glad to have both in my collection.

Doug thanks for the great cards.  I'm sure I'll have some more Pudge cards for you before too long!