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The Upson Beacon
Thursday,
November 18, 2021
Page 4B
Baseball Cards
for Fun or Value?
I received a magazine in the mail yester
day that I look forward to each month. The
magazine is entitled Beckett Baseball and it
lists the value of numerous baseball cards.
Beckett Baseball has almost 200 pages of
baseball card listings telling the value of the
cards. The print is so small that I cannot read
it without my reading glasses so there are
thousands of cards listed. If you are looking
for a specific card, it can be very difficult to
find it. Take it from me, I’ve spent lots of
times trying to find a specific card.
Baseball cards are a big part of my life. As
a youngster, there was no greater thrill than
opening a pack of baseball cards and finding
a Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays or Ted Wil
liams or some other great player. This is what
we did back in the 1950s when we didn’t have
those video games that kids play today. We
just loved to collect the cards and never gave
any thought to what their value may be.
I wasn’t collecting in 1952 when the fa
mous and very valuable Mickey Mantle
rookie card came in packs of Topps cards.
Oh, it wasn’t that valuable back then, but
things have changed drastically.
A while back a 1952 Mickey Mantle
rookie card graded as a 9.5 on a 10 scale was
sold for $5.2 million. No, that was not a mis
take or misprint. It was $5.2 million!
An interesting story about that card and
other 1952 cards is that the Topps company
had an excess of the cards and didn’t know
what to do with them. They decided to get rid
of them by taking them out into the New
York harbor and tossing them overboard. So,
numerous cases of 1952 Topps cards were
thrown into the briny deep. Sad, sad, sad.
Baseball cards today come in so many
different looks that it is hard to determine ex
actly what you have. For example, you may
have a Freddie Freeman card. That same
exact card may also be printed with a blue
border, a pink border, a green border, a pur
ple, and so on.
Then there may be a short print of the
card with a stamp on it showing it as one of a
short print, such as 15 of 250. Then there are
the refractor cards that are very hard to dif
ferentiate from the regular base card. All of
these variations have more value than the
regular base card.
Then there are the autograph cards or
relic cards. Relic cards have a swatch of a
player’s uniform on the card. These carry
considerable value, especially those from
today’s star players like Mike Trout, Fer
nando Tatis, Jr., or Shohei Ohtani.
So, do we collect cards today for value or
just simple enjoyment? Even though it is
very hard to ignore the possible value of
cards, I still collect for the simple enjoyment.
It seems to me that collecting for value alone
will take the joy out of the hobby.
For me it’s always been for the fun and
not the money.
Jacob Stewart/Upson Beacon
The team took turns competing one-on-one in tug-of-war to challenge the players' strength and determination.
Luke Hawkins and Carlos Ordonez face off in the sand pit.
Coach Charlie Canady is Ready
to Renew the ‘Brotherhood’ at Upson-lee
Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
sporfs@upsonbeacon.com
Last season, Upson-Lee boys
soccer won three games, fin
ished just two games above last
place in the region, and were
outscored 28-3 in its five region
losses.
Just two years after the
Knights went 18-1-1 and were
one win away from taking home
a state title, Upson-Lee had its
second losing season in a row.
Now with a new coaching staff
and an experienced group of
veteran athletes, the Knights are
looking to put themselves back
on the map and into the state
playoffs.
“Do you want it?” new head
coach Charlie Canady re
peatedly asked his players dur
ing preseason conditioning day
last Tuesday. The players an
swered the way any player
would be expected to answer,
but there was a legitimate look
of determination in their eyes.
Before last season, the
Knights had rattled off five con
secutive winning seasons in
which they lost more than five
games only once, according to
MaxPreps. The 2019-2020 sea
son was cut short due to
COVID-19, but the Knights had
just won their first game on
March 10 to move to 1-8 before
the season was suspended. Last
year’s team, albeit still relatively
young, looked like a team with
out an identity; without a
“Brotherhood.”
“Our whole motto is ‘Renew
ing the Brotherhood’,” said Ca
nady. “We’re trying to build a
family. I’m not focusing nec
essarily on wins or losses this
year. We want them, but I’m not
focusing on them. I’m more fo
cused on the fact of us creating
good young men.”
The Knights are in their sec
ond week of conditioning and
Canady has been impressed
with the buy-in of his players.
He set a high standard of work
ethic and has seen the players
respond well. Canady is a highly
motivational person and his
players have already taken to his
hard-nosed style of condition
ing.
“I’ve witnessed how being
confident in somebody and let
ting them know you care about
them... affects people’s lives for
the positive, so I like to instill
that in every person that I come
across,” Canady added, when
asked about his motivational
personality.
Canady was immediately ex
cited to take over the program at
his alma mater and now holds a
new level of excitement after
seeing the response of his team.
“I’m more excited now that
we have started. From watching
these guys, watching how much
they want it, and how excited
they’ve been for it the past week,
it excites me more than any
thing for them,” commented Ca
nady, who raved of the unselfish
leadership that he’s seen from
his upperclassmen.
“You know a lot of times
when you do sports, you see that
one person that kind of leads,
but is leading because he thinks
he knows it all. But I have not
seen a single player act like
they’re better than anyone else
on this team... it’s a really big
encouraging team and they
work together. They want to be
one unit instead of a bunch of
players.”
The team is conducting a lot
of team-building workouts on
the field for conditioning. Just
two weeks in, it is clear that the
players have a no-quit mental
ity. Many of the returning
players have gotten bigger and
faster over the offseason.
The team is only in its sec
ond week of conditioning, but it
has the look of a team that is
going to be willing to take the
steps necessary to start winning
a lot of soccer games.
GHSA Proposes Region Realignment for 2022-2024
Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
sports@upsonbeacon.com
Last week, the Georgia
High School Association
met in Thomaston to realign
regions for the 2022-2024
seasons. In the first pro
posal, Upson-Lee remains in
Region 2-AAA along with
Mary Persons, Pike County,
and Peach County, which
have all been in Region 2-
AAA since 2020.
The new proposed ad
ditions are based out of the
Columbus area: Carver, Co
lumbus, Jordan, Kendrick,
and Spencer. The teams
moving out of the region
would be Americus-Sumter,
Crisp County, Jackson, and
Central-Macon.
This proposal will make
the region one of three in
AAA that holds nine teams.
Schools will be able to ap
peal the realignment and
the committee will meet
again on Nov. 18 to hear ap
peals.
2021 Upson-lee Cross Country Most Valuable Runners: Camden Bates and lexi Greene
Camden Bates (Right) and Lexi Greene (Left) both put together solid kicks to place well at the region championship.
Jacob Stewart
Sports Editor
sports@upsonbeacon.com
Upson-Lee cross-coun
try added two runners this
offseason that both turned
into extremely valuable ad
ditions to the team. Both
runners had never run
cross-country, but they
were large contributors
from the beginning.
Lexi Greene made a
statement at the Furlow
Fast Feet Invitational
when she placed second in
Upson-Lee’s opening race.
She went on to have two
more top-10 finishes and
earn a ticket to the state
championships as a fresh
man. Greene’s presence
challenges the veterans on
the team to continue im
proving.
Camden Bates immedi
ately turned heads at
summer workouts with his
natural stride and body
build of a distance runner.
He had a surplus of speed
but lacked the distance
base of the more experi
enced runners. After a few
months, he was able to
build up his aerobic capac
ity and started to excel in
the 5K.
Bates took over the
reins as the top runner for
Upson-Lee at the Grey
hound Invitational in late
September. Veteran Dylan
Boutwell reclaimed his
spot when he placed higher
than Bates at the region
meet; however, much like
Greene, Bates’ success
served as motivation for
the team to improve.
Both runners were not
extremely vocal leaders,
but they set examples with
their efforts at practice and
races. Along with their suc
cess at races, their ability
to provide a spark in the
program this season was
even more valuable.