(Even) Better Know a Blogger: n j w v (Better Late than Never!)

A few weeks ago, I spent a couple of weeks posting interviews of fellow bloggers for my (Even) Better Know a Blogger week.  For some reason, Nick (from n j w v) and I had a hard time connecting with his interview - he'd email it to me and it would constantly get lost in the electronic ether that is the internet.  Thanks to some quick thinking - and a lot of Twitter tweets, Nick was finally able to get his answers to me...and by extension, to all of you! 

I hope you enjoy this "better late than never" (Even) Better Know a Blogger interview!

1.       Your name (or alias if preferred):  Nick Vossbrink

2.       Your blog website:    Main blog (covering everything).  Just the cards/collecting posts are at the link.  I'm also the co-chair/co-admin of sabrbaseballcards.blog.   My posts there are here.

3.       Your social media handle(s):  Twitter @vossbrink

4.       What are your favorite sport teams?

• San Francisco Giants
• Stanford Cardinal
• FC Barcelona
• San Jose Sharks

5.       What kind of collector do you consider yourself to be (team collector, player collector, set collector, etc.).  Why do you collect that way?

Primarily team. I collect the San Francisco Giants franchise and am currently trying to focus on the New York portion of their history. I also collect cards/memorabilia of guys who played for Stanford Baseball and in the Majors.

I like the team/college approach because it's the right combination of being focused while also being somewhat open to multiple products. I don't feel like I have to get *everything* while still having cards that are interesting in multiple products. I'm also not a got-to-have-it-all team collector. I like getting the base flagship sets but everything else I'm fine just having a sample.

6.       What is your favorite item in your collection?

Probably my 1917 Del Baker Zeenut. One of the only baseball items I ever found at my grandmothers house and I love that it's of a local team and is a player who actually has real post-war Topps cards as well.

7.       If you could add any one card to your collection (that you don’t currently own), what card would it be and why?

Hehe. With money not being a concern I guess I'd go with the T205 Christy Mathewson. It's a beautiful card of a Giants Hall of Famer and retired number. It's also a card of one of the first superstars of the sport who created the image of what a baseball player *should* be.

8.       Thinking back to when you first started collecting, how have your habits changed (if at all)?  Any ideas why?

Totally changed. I started collecting in the late-80s when "getting it all" was a viable goal. Not that I ever got "it all," but I could stay on top of all the products and collect a bit of everything. After taking a 20-year break I came back to a hobby which had segmented along target markets and I had to figure out what kind of collector I was and as such, what market of cards was targeted at me. Nowadays I rarely even rip packs and instead am buying team sets or into group breaks so as to better focus my spending. I miss the days of just ripping packs and bindering everything but that's neither affordable now nor is it as enjoyable. Too much chaff in packs now, just give me base cards and stop marking the packs up to cover the cost of the chase cards I don't even want.

9.       If an alien being came down from the stars and forced you to describe yourself using no more than three cards as talking points, how would you do it?  

1906 Liebig Chromolithography. I'll pick card #5 because it shows the print process but the whole set is fantastic since it's a trading card set which describes how it was manufactured and even includes the printing progressions on the cards themselves. As a print geek this is the perfect card for me. Yes there's a massive post about this card and the rest of the set it belongs to.  (Editor's note:  click the above link to read Nick's post.)

Autographed 1987 Topps Atlee Hammaker. Notable because it's my first autograph on the first set of cards I collected and depicts my favorite baseball team.  More importantly though Atlee is a player who I've come to appreciate as an example of representation that I wish I had been aware of as a kid. I didn't grow up seeing many mixed-race adults in my life. Other kids yes but in terms of examples of grown-ups, especially grown-ups in mass culture that I was paying attention to, not so much. I wish I’d known Atlee was one such example. 

1991 Topps Walt Weiss. While I was properly amazed by 1988 Score's photography, 1991 Topps is the first time I really realized how much photography matters. Between action photos like the Weiss card and the posed photos like Benito Santiago or Roger Clemens, much of my subsequent interest in photography can be traced back to my spending my formative years literally devouring photographs of baseball players.

10.   If you could give any of the major sport card companies one piece of advice about something you’d like changed (or perhaps simply continued) what would it be?

Not sure if "advice" is the right word but if I were king of Topps I'd emphasize that Flagship is literally the card of record for the past 68 years of baseball and focus on creating sets that uphold and enhance that legacy. Instead of the increasingly-cynical marketing tricks I'd like to see Topps do one set each year with an eye toward creating something that will be a joy to look at in a decade and remember the season it came out.

11.   Where do you live?  What is your favorite local food?

New Jersey and my local food options are pretty slim but proper Water Ice is good.

12.   If someone were to visit you, what place (within an hour of travel from your residence) would you suggest someone be sure to check out?

I always point people toward the Martian Landing Site

13.   What is your profession?  How did you end up there?  

House-husband/stay-at-home parent.  I was working as an engineer (for a color printer manufacturer hence all my printing-focused blog posts) while my wife was in grad school. When she graduated she was charged with finding a job that was either local (we were living in Silicon Valley at the time) or paid enough that it was worth it for me to quit my job and switch places with her as primary care-giver. So she did the latter and found her dream job as a professor.

14.   Do you have any hobbies besides card collecting?

Photography and Art Museums (both of which also feature on my blog)

15.   Tell me something interesting about yourself that hasn’t been covered in the first 14 questions!

In addition to working at a print-base engineering company I've also worked at actual print shops doing pre-press and production art. It's how/why I get deeply into the weeds of card manufacture. My youth job was also at the local wastewater treatment plant so I'm still perhaps too in touch with what happens after you flush the toilet.

--------------------

A huge thanks to Nick for his perseverance in terms of getting his answers to me.  With the care and thought he put into his answers, I'll say the wait was definitely worthwhile!  

There's a lot of greats stuff to comment on here but I'll try share just a couple of thoughts.  First, I've never heard of the Martian Landing Site though I do know of the tale of the H.G. Well's War of the Worlds and the chaos that ensued.  Oh, and before you say "boy, people sure were stupid back then" I'd like to remind you that we probably have more people living right now that believe the Earth is flat than we have had in hundreds of years (despite all our photographs, technology, planes, etc. which should be more than enough to prove otherwise to anyone).

Switching gears, Nick also joins a long list of bloggers who can list education as part of their household's profession.  As a professor myself (albeit one without a Ph.D. I'm interested in what your wife teaches, Nick).  

Finally, I have to say that I love how Nick is able to marry his love of baseball cards, photography, and printing in his blog posts.  His blog is a must read for anyone interested in any of three topics...and even more of a must read if you like more than one of those topics!

Thanks again to Nick for the great answers - and now I think this feature is done (as far as I know there are no more interviews coming back to me that haven't yet been posted to my blog)!