Baseball cards sure have changed since I was a kid

November 21, 2011

When I was a kid, the back of typical non-star card included info about the players hobbies (“Tim likes to read”; “Bob hunts inn the off-season.”

Here’s one for former Major Leaguer Jim Piersall, who suffered from mental illness in the early 1950s and wrote about his experiences in the best-seller, Fear Strikes Out.

Was “colorful” Topps’ code word for “crazy?” And he hadn’t done anything worthwhile since 1953?

That was then; this is now:

On the one hand, its admirable that Kinsler is so forthcoming about his difficulties; one could see how he might be an inspiration to kids with the condition. On the other hand, whatever happened to privacy? How long will it be before we read something like “Albert has a perfect record: he’s been arrested five times with no convictions.”

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Tagged as: Fear Strikes Out, Ian Kinsler, Jimmy Piersall, Topps

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