A Moral Dilemma of Sorts...

For the last week or so the Houston Astros scandal has been all over my Twitter feed. Lately even Braves fans are getting in on the discussion with Brian McCann's continued silence of his involvement. I've watched a lot of different YouTube videos on this topic as well as read several different articles and I still don't know what to believe. It's sad. It's frustrating.

I feel as if baseball's reputation continues to be soiled with scandals like this. The 90's strike didn't help the image of baseball, then there was the steroids scandal. I thought that baseball was gaining steam and getting to a better place and then the news of the Astros hits. Oy vey.

How this affects me. One of the guys I passively collect is Jose Altuve. He's part of my "Faith Brothers" sub-collection of Christian athletes. I've read some very cool interviews with Jose where he publically talks about his faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. I love adding new guys to the collection when I read things like this...so you can imagine my frustration w/ Altuve over this cheating scandal...especially with him being one of the players at the heart of all the discussions.

Now please hear me out...I'm no way perfect and I fall short of Jesus every day air fills my lungs. It's not my place to judge...period. However I've been thinking if Altuve's cards should stay in my collection with this whole cheating scandal going on.

This also got me thinking about other players I have cardboard of that have done egregious things. I ultimately kept the cardboard of those guys in my team collections...guys like the Carolina Panther's Rae Carruth. This dude killed his pregnant girlfriend and hid in the trunk of a car...and I still have his RCs and base cards in my Panthers collection. 

Hector Olivera was accused of beating a woman shortly after the Braves acquired him from the Dodgers...and I still have cards of him in my larger Braves collection.

In some ways I would feel hypocritical if I were to kick Altuve out of my collection and in other ways I would feel my actions would be justified. I only have Altuve cards because of the faith he and I share where as the other guys I mentioned are part of my collection because of the team they play(ed) for. Make sense? 

I know this is my choice and my choice alone to make. I also understand that to some my "dilemma" may seem silly...but don't we collect teams and players for certain reasons. Plenty of collector's may drop a collecting a player if they are traded or leave their favorite team. To me this is the same thing. This whole cheating scandal has been a good reminder that these guys are human just like the rest of us and that we really should place them on a pedestal like some may do. They are going to make mistakes like the rest of us...for me it just hits a little harder when certain guys I follow/collect make mistakes that contradict the things they profess.

Player Collections - Trials and Tribulations

Most collectors have at least one player they collect. This player or players may be collected for a myriad of reasons - hometown team, childhood idol, shares your birthday, etc. Many of the players I collect I admire their talent on the field, but I collect some of these players because of their impact off the field or for who they are as a person.

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?