In the past I've made the decision to omit cards of players from my player or team collections due to something that happened off the field. Early in the Carolina Panthers history, promising rookie wide receiver, Rae Carruth, murdered his girlfriend and hid in the trunk of a car trying to evade the police. He was a high draft pick and I had a good many of his cards. Today, they have been purged from my Panthers collection. Same thing for Greg Hardy. I think I only had one or two cards of him in the first place, but those ended up in the garbage.
Now I'm faced with this whole Hector Olivera fiasco. Charged with assault two weeks ago in Virginia while the Braves were in town playing the Nationals, Hector has been suspended from the team while his case is being investigated. While he was arrested, he hasn't been formally convicted of the crime he is accused of. If he is charged then there is a very, very good chance the few cards I have of him will be pulled from my Braves collection.
All of this just got me wondering if others have felt compelled to pull or sell cards of players you may collect when they run into serious off the field issues. Do you look the other way and keep the cards? Do you even want these cards in your collection or does it not bother you what players do in their personal lives? Why do you collect who you do and if you were in my shoes how would you react?
Milton Bradley is the guy who sticks out in my mind - however, since he was a notable jack@$$ before he came to Chicago, I can't say I had many to purge when he went off the rails again here and in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteFamiliar with the player, but not his actions.
DeleteIf there was a player collection for a guy that got in trouble like that, I'd quit collecting him, but his cards would stay in the sets or team sets that I had. It's not like they're making more or less money for you having their cards. They signed a contract, got paid whatever minor sum, and are done. Somebody somewhere is probably looking for those cards to fill out a set, so don't throw them away, just trade them away.
ReplyDeleteIt does surprise me that cards of guys with lesser offenses to the law (but not necessarily to the game) have remained valuable. Clemens, McGwire, Bonds, and others' rookie cards etc. have surprisingly not tanked in value. I would think their demand would fall after what we know about them now.
I guess I was looking at this more from a player collection perspective and not a team collection. I'd heard of Bobby's past, but nothing on Chipper. Hmm...
ReplyDelete