Community Voice Responses (June 26, 2018)

From the June 1 Numismatic News E-Newsletter:

Will coin collecting get a boost from new baseball medals?

Here are some answers sent from our e-newsletter readers to Editor Dave Harper.

Hopefully, with the baseball medals, the hobby will get a boost. Gold and silver will make a difference. Brass/copper will be a good thing for sale at the stadium shops, especially if sold in sets.

Gary Kess
Sherman, Texas

Nope, no boost here. Very creative but way overpriced. Colorado Rockies fan here, so the only one that would be of interest to me would be Rockie Nolan Arenado. Not gonna play this game. Don’t even know half the guys on the list, American Leaguers no doubt. The gold and silver coins [sic] are players that are great guys and top players, but most of us would not give a rip about collecting them. So go ahead and count me out.

P.S. Will buy Nolan Arenado coins for $3 each delivered!

Max Stucky
Colorado Springs, Colo.

No, I do not think those baseball medals will boost our hobby. They will be mostly bought by people who are interested in baseball and who could care less about coin collecting. One and done. Maybe a very few will develop an interest in the broader spectrum of sports medals and we will welcome them, but there will not be enough of them to have an effect.

Bob Fritsch
Nashua, N.H.

I would love to say that this will help coin collecting, but I am afraid that after the hunt is finished, then these will fall by the wayside as well. It is a unique concept that I hope will help kick start collecting again. I am interested in this because I have the largest selection of copper rounds listed on eBay, just passed the 500+ count, and since these are actual one-ounce copper coins, I do know of lots of people who collect these coins or “medals” as you call them. They are not the “new silver” as was pushed a few years back, but still there are people who are collecting them. This mix of baseball and coin collecting is a good idea, and I hope it catches on. Only time will tell.

Ken Davidson
Address withheld

No. Will be a worthless series. Good luck to anyone who buys this. Each “copper coin” medal will be worth maybe $2 tops in the after market. Sadly, many people will think that this is an “investment,” but its resale value will be like many other of these types of “limited edition” series.

Robert Matitia
Address withheld

Waste of copper. This is another nail in the coffin of baseball collectibles. These are not coins, and coin collectors will not buy them. Just like what happened to baseball cards in the 1980s and Washington quarters. They make too many of something and it becomes just another dead collection. I would venture that anybody buying these in order to get a silver one will eventually be about to just buy the silvers ones direct. Terrible idea. Make enough of anything or to many varieties of something and it can kill a hobby.

Name withheld

Are you kidding me? Mookie Betts, Jose Altuve; can’t wait to see who the other “lucky” players are. This doesn’t sound like a viable way to continue the collecting market. Just another dumb idea from someone looking to make a fast buck. The baseball collecting market died years ago when every company thought it would be a good idea to make ten cards of each player.

Name withheld