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Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became An American Obsession (2010)

by Dave Jamieson(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0802119395 (ISBN13: 9780802119391)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Atlantic Monthly Press

review 1: Jamieson is an excellent writer, certainly better than I was at his age. Yet, as the other reviewer pointed out, his first book is missing something. It appears as if Jamieson focused the story around those who would give him the most interview time, like the guys at the end who graded cards. While interesting, the same space should have been used to describe the halcyon age of baseball cards: the mid-1980s. Insufficient detail is provided to the explosion of the market with nary a mention of SportFlicks, "update" sets (before the next year), and other staples from "back in the day." Also, and this isn't the author's fault, no index? This book would have benefited from another 50 pages. It's too short to be the definitive history of baseball cards.Keep writing, Mr. Jamieso... moren. You've got a gift. I want to read more from you.
review 2: This is the book that I've been wanting to write - so much for the various articles I've stored in my "baseball card" file. Jamieson catalogs the history of the trading card industry, covering everything from tobacco cards to the formation of Topps to the strange world of collectors - including card art and Wacky Packs. Truly a well-researched and informed look at the history of the industry. Jamieson also captures the heart and soul of the collector: the pursuit of the missing card, the mystique of opening the first pack you purchased at the drug store, the passion for simply collecting - regardless of the price listed in Beckett.He even chronicles the dubious new industry of card and pack grading - and the potential for scan artists throughout the industry. In the end Jamieson calls the reader back to the glory days. Back to the times when a finding a common card to complete your set was as much a thrill as pulling a fresh Willie Mays from a pack. Back to the days when the industry wasn't so overloaded with product that collecting all the cards of your favorite players was actually possible. Back, indeed, to a time when collecting for collecting's sake was a hobby, and not an industry infiltrated with swindlers and investors trying to make a quick buck. less

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