General Forum

No hard feelings at all Ron, I agree that your inclusion of women in the discussion is very valid and is one that also needs to be addressed. We as several societies are now blooming or coming out of a cacoon of sterotypes and assumed roles into a more inclusive and fluid people. There are some though that do not like this blending of ways. They will be left behind. =(

The comments above are very rich. They would lend themselves nicely to an edited collection! I'll have to spend more time going over them more carefully. But a few quick reflections:

1. Some mentioned that sports card collecting was an extension of their participation in team sports. For me (and I suspect others), it may have been just the opposite. I played tons of "pickup" games in the neigbhorhood (baseball, hockey, basketball, football), but never made the teams at school. So, sports cards may have provided a vicarious connection to sports--they may have helped indulge my fantasy of one day "going pro." In this regard, I think my card collecting is linked closely to my developing sense of masculinity as a very young boy through adolescence. 

2. Baseball/sports cards were my encyclopedias. I memorized stats and taught myself some basic math that has served me well to this day. But the names, and the hometowns, and the vignettes--provided a window into other worlds. I developed some basic French pronunciation through hockey cards and a general geography of Canada. Where was this Czechoslovakia and why did Stan Mikita move from there to Canada when he was 8? I was curious then, and I still am. The factoids on the back of cards sometimes provided clues regarding baseball history. This is before the internet, Ken Burns, and the tons of published sources on the history of sports. The lists of all-time record holders, especially, gave us that sense of sports history. 

3. I grew up white (still am) in virtually all white Chicago suburb, but black players were often my favorites. Dick Allen was the first in 1974. Payton, Baines and Artis Gilmore were subsequent favorites. I'm not sure what that means. Was I told that Allen was the White Sox star and so I valued his card most? Was I drawn to them as "exotics"? How did these cards shape my racial consciousness? Maybe they mitigated some of my racist impulses? That one is hard for me to nail down. 

4. In a crowded household (9) of mostly girls/women, card collecting provided me privacy. Something that could be just mine. My card collecting was largely a solitary act. Dad would often purchase cards for me--and my mother and father took some interest as they were both sports enthusiasts. But the cards were really my thing. That was good to have something to pin my identity to when nearly all else was shared--clothes, food, tight space, etc. I don't have strong memories of trading cards beyond 1974 or so. I think several of us at school realized we were all collectors, but I think a teacher put an end to the trading pretty quickly. We must have been a nuiscance somehow.  

Much more to say, but I've appreciated reading all of the comments above. 

I agree that women should be included in this discussion no matter their race. I have actually lost work accounts because I am NOT a female. There is bias in my field that women clean stuff better than men. After 20 years at my job, I can assure everyone that this is simply not true. Race and gender have no true bearing on how well someone can or will do ANY job or task. Only skill and determination of any individual will show how well or poorly they will do that job.

As a sanitation specialist (yes, I moved up to that level but most in our company are just considered "housekeeping, janitors or custodians" by the customers), I've worked with all types of people. I've trained a bunch of them, I've worked side-by-side with many on a daily basis and I've even told many with much more time in the field that they were not doing it right. Those who are older than me and some who "thought" they were older did not like hearing what I had to say. Just b/c you did it for longer does not mean you are doing it right. If you can't do it the way the company owner OR the customer want it done, you will not last long. Race, ethnicity and sex do not mean anything in my field. But there is still a bias from some potential employers.

I lost an account with a Christian Academy b/c they wanted a woman cleaning the bathrooms and floors in their buildings. Our company lost that account less than 2 years after I passed off my duties to a woman. She was not as thorough as I was and they were not happy. Her female replacement also did not make them happy. I refused to take it back b/c they disrespected me before and I knew they'd do it again. Oddly, all of their direct-payroll cleaning staff are men of various races! Those men did not clean any of the restrooms, but they were also taking care of issues with HVAC, plumbing, etc.. I came across one of those men a few months ago at the grocery store and he still works at the Academy.

Our company is small but is really about 65-70% men. There seem to be a lot of women that feel the job is beneath them or too disgusting or they only do it until something that might be better comes along. I've noticed a shift in our female employees over the past 4-6 years. It switched from older women who wanted to work just to fill some time in their day to younger women either using it as a part-time job after their normal job OR young women doing it to make money while going to school. The men are generally in it for the long-term, unless they can't produce what is asked of them and are fired or quit. I CAN say that there is not a single employee that has even half of my continuous time besides the owner. There was a young black man who got to 10 years with the company, but he lost his job when the Christian Academy dropped us. He was honestly my favorite co-worker ever in the company. We worked side-by-side 5 days a week for several years at 3 accounts each night. He was a great person and we influenced each other in ways you can't imagine. He was autistic, but a high-functioning autistic. I practically loved him like a brother. I still hate that he doesn't work for us anymore. Keep in mind that my actual brother does work for the company too. He's been with the company for a long time too, but in 3 different stints. My only break from the company since I started in 2001 was 6 months in 2006 when my brother and I went to the Gulf Coast of MS to help people rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. I came back to the company in July 2006 and have not left (or even had a 2nd job) since then.

And @ranfordfan... I'd like to see Gene's Star Trek vision come true sooner than later as well. I just don't expect any kind of 1st Contact scenario! I think we'll have to do it on our own as a planet of humans. But the humans need to get along on Earth before they can hope to expand the civilization off of this planet.

Spaz your comparison is the polar opposite of mine, for so long it was a male dominated profession but not anymore!! Women can and will be in construction from now on and this is a good thing, hands down.

Why:  I don't know. I liked sports.  Too old for Hot Wheels, but too young to drive to the mall and play video games. 

Gender:  It probably made me more likely to like sports. Especially the sports I collected.

Race:  Not really an issue.  My favorite sport was basketball, so I had more posters of black athletes than white athletes.  

Class:  Middle, I guess.  I got an allowance for doing chores around the house, so I had a limited income with which to buy cards.  

Region:  This was the mid to late 1980s in northern California.  Baseball was the easiest to find, followed by football, then basketball.  I don't even remember hockey being sold.  The nearest NHL team was something like 400 miles away. 

So yeah - I was a basic collector for a few years in the junk era.  Then I left the hobby for about 30 years.  Came back last year.  I think the two major differences this time around are the internet and my collecting goals are a lot more complicated.    

I can agree with you on that. I worked many types of construction jobs in my younger days and there was rarely ever a woman on the staff (at least not on the jobsite). While I haven't done any construction jobs in over a decade, our company does a lot of "construction clean-up" jobs and often while the construction team is still working. I have noticed that there are many more women working in the construction industry than there used to be. If they can handle that saw, nailgun, screwgun, paint roller, trowel, caulker, etc.: good for them and I'm happy to see it. I still don't see many working with concrete, brick-laying or roofing, but just enough to notice progress. I have noticed a lot more women getting into carpentry, sheet-rocking and painting. In my experience, all types of construction have always been diverse in the races/ethnicities of those doing the work but were still dominated by men. So it's good to see women stepping into the industry too.

Wait ... what?   Is "too old for Hot Wheels" really a thing?  (Thinks the late-40-something as he surveys the several hundred cars hanging on the wall above his desk.)

Still buying SW figures, cards, comics and so would love to get into hot wheels but ............ LOL I do have a ring on my left hand beside the pinky!! LOL

You have six fingers?

Too funny, Joshua!