Don blames LE's ... again ... when the facts are that it is LE chips which have attracted most new chip collectors into the hobby over the past several years. Can't have it both ways folks. Those who complain that the hobby isn't growing fast enough or large enough each year, then criticize the very thing that keeps bringing new chip collectors into the fold.

Baseball card collectors collected virtually every card that was made for virtually every player in the game, no matter which team he played on. Multiple cards of the same players were made by several different card manufacturers. As major league ball players were traded from team to team, new cards were immediately made by several card companies for that same player wearing a new uniform. A player striking a pose with a bat produced a new card. The same player fielding a ball produced a new card. The same player winning a batting title, or MVP, generated even more cards.

There were no official governing boards in baseball card collecting, such the various State regulated and administered Gaming Control Boards as we have in chip collecting..., which must approve and authorize each chip issue in advance before it is released to the public.

Generally speaking, $5 & $25 LE's are made in relatively small numbers. (1000 or less in most cases) Unlike baseball cards, where SPECULATORS did not care what team a player was on, or what league ... all they cared about is how much the card was worth no matter where it was from. Conversely, collectors of Las Vegas chips (as an example) do not generally care what a valuable Atlantic City chip is worth, and vice-versa.

Chips have a stated face value ... and with few exceptions can be redeemed for that value anytime a collector tires of the chip hobby. Try that with common baseball cards that simply get tossed in the trash or sold for a penny or less each.

There are close to 3000 CC & GTCC members ... and lots more independent chip collectors who do not belong to any organization; sometimes by choice ... other times because they simply don't know about CC & GTCC yet. I'm not aware of a similar hobby organization that existed for baseball card collectors where club members influence the collecting habits of other collectors and through their monitoring peer pressure, keeps this chip hobby pretty clean. Word gets around real fast who the cheats and fast-buck artists are in the chip hobby... especially with today's internet society that did not exist in the heyday of baseball cards.

Chip collectors pretty much know who's who in the chip collecting fraternity across the country. Most baseball card collectors didn't know many fellow card collectors outside of their immediate circle of collecting friends.

Catalogs in the chip hobby are produced primarily by individual collectors, as opposed to publishing companies in baseball card collecting.

In conclusion ... I personally see no comparison with the downfall of baseball card collecting and "the-sky-is-falling" position taken by some in the chip hobby.