Don’t Waste Your Baseball Cards

When I was a kid, all my favorite 1976 Pittsburgh Pirate Topps baseball cards were ruined when water leaked into the house through a compromised seam on the roof. I had learned first hand that ‘treasures’ are easily destroyed. Then in my twenties, when I had the money, I was able to attend some baseball card shows, and over time I had replaced all of them. I spent time and money rekindling my love of the hobby and of the game.

After a couple years, I heard a sermon from a nationally-known pastor and author that shaped my thinking as he told this story:

I’ll tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest what a tragedy is. “Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.”

That’s a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you: don’t buy that dream. The American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did: “Here it is Lord — my shell collection! And I’ve got a good swing and look at my boat! God — Look at my boat, God.”¹

Having a young and impressionable mind, I stopped collecting baseball cards. If God didn’t like seashell collections, how could He possibly be impressed with my cardboard collection.

Fast forward two and a half decades…

In a somewhat ‘random’ discovery, I found that a small number of cards in my collection were worth thousands of dollars and so I began some research into getting them graded in order to sell them for top dollar, turning useless cardboard into financial gain. Who needs all that stuff laying around the house anyway and risk getting them wet again? So the research commenced, including a visit to one of the top baseball card shows in the country to interview dealers on how to get the cards graded.

And while I still plan to liquidate my most expensive pieces in my current collection, I realized a couple things:

God doesn’t hate seashells. He created them. He is a God of beauty, and some people, like Bob and Penny, appreciate beauty. Maybe they saw something in the shells that provoked them to worship their Creator. This is the problem with shaming Bob and Penny: we don’t know anything else about them. It’s possible that they were financially generous to their church. Maybe Bob was a long time elder and mentor. And Penny could have taught a few generations of children in Sunday School. It’s doubtful they saw their seashells as their ticket to impress God.
God doesn’t hate baseball cards. I’ve grown enough in my faith over these two and a half decades that I don’t need to be guilted into abandoning a hobby that I enjoyed.

During my research, I watched a video on YouTube of a young man with a learning disability. The one and only thing that helped his memory was collecting baseball cards. He had learned to memorize players and their statistics by reading the backs of the cards; something every red-blooded, sports-loving American kid did back in the day. To him (and to his parents), these weren’t merely worthless pieces of cardboard.

Also during the baseball card show part of my research, I took note of the attendees: many fathers spending time with their sons walking together from table to table trying to find their sports heroes. Old retired codgers reliving the time of their youth with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, regaling to all of us about what it was like before big contracts and big egos. And then there was me, along with my wife, looking through the dollar bins for my favorite 1970’s Pirates. The dads, the sons, the codgers, my wife and me — we all had one thing in common. We were having fun together. In a world filled with trouble, pain and sorrow, we were, for a brief moment, enjoying our humanity together. There was a camaraderie and unity permeating the venue that, quite frankly and sadly, doesn’t exist in many churches. I’m starting to think that God doesn’t hate baseball cards.

As I continued my research, I found many players who personally autograph cards along with inscribing a Bible verse. Now my investigatory work took an unexpected turn. I had to learn about these players to find out what sort of person would write a Bible verse on a baseball card. The results of that investigation are fascinating (and I plan to share the stories in future posts). A person who gets one of these signed cards might look the verse up, like I have done. Maybe it is the encouragement they needed that day. Maybe the verse causes them to contemplate their condition before a holy God. Maybe, just maybe, someone gives their life to Christ… not because of the card or the autograph, but because God used the Bible verse to draw them to Himself. No, God doesn’t hate baseball cards.

All the Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Nolan Ryan cards in my collection will indeed burn up someday. But so will every tool I’ve stored away in my garage. So will my collection of theology books. So will my guitars, fine art, family photos and vintage jewelry… and so will my seashells.

God is able to use seashells to accomplish his purposes. Since that is the case, he’s also able to use cardboard with pictures of baseball players. So the questions I must ask:

How do I view my possessions? (My thinking)
What did I do with these things while I had them? (My actions)

Here are a few Bible verses that give some guidance on this topic:

Matthew 6:19-21 (NASB) – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Proverbs 3:9 (ESV) – Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.

Ecclesiastes 5:19 (ESV) – Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

Colossians 3:2 (ESV) -Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

This version of the account was from a Passion Conference, similar to what was written in “Don’t Waste Your Life”, John Piper, Crossway Books, Wheaton IL, 2003, p.45-46 ↩︎