22 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER Student Body * MARCH 1989
22 U. THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
Student Body MARCH 1989
By Chris Roush
The Alligator
U. of Florida
"My mother hadn't thrown the cards
away," said David Ostroff, 41, now a U.
of Florida telecommunications profes-
sor.tThetcards his mother saved are now
worth at least $10,000, leaving Ostroff
not only his childhood memories of San
Francisco, but also a nest egg to fall
back on.
"I was always a big baseball fan as a
kid," said Ostroff, who remembers his
first card - a 1956 Jackie Robinson. "In
1957, every spare penny I had was going
into baseball cards."
Ostroff collected seriously for the
next three years, but by 1960, high
school and girls were in the picture.
But he was struck twice again, once in
1967, when he was a playground direc-
tor and gave cards away to kids as
prizes in contests, and again - this
time for good - in 1980, when he was
teaching at Bowling Green State U. in
Ohio.
"It's a funny thing," Ostroff said. "You
start opening packs and it's like
peanuts. It's like the way it used to be."
Except now baseball cards and other
baseball-related memorabilia aren't
just cute to look at - they're invest-
ments. IBM stock portfolios are rivaled
by stacks of old Mickey Mantles.
Four companies now produce base-
ball card sets. Started as inserts to
cigarette packs, now cards are more
commonly paired with the likes of card-
board-tasting bubble gum.
Topps, a candy company, has pro-
duced cards since 1951 and held the
monopoly on cards until 1981, when
Donruss and Fleer, also candy makers,
entered the market. This past year,
another company, Score, admitted
cards were the focus and sold packs of
cards without gum.
The prices of these cards have fluctu-
ated greatly, much like the stock mar-
ket, depending on the economy. The
C ARD G AMES
Some of the biggest baseball trades
are made by people outside the game
The current craze in card collecting is to
have and hoard rookie cards.
Topps 1950s and 1960s cards bring
handsome prices, with a 1952 Topps
Mickey Mantle in mint condition selling
for $8,500, or roughly the cost of two
Yugo automobiles.
And this is a mere drop in the bucket,
considering the most expensive card in
history, the 1910 T-206 Honus Wagner,
has been sold for around $100,000.
Seems Honus had a thing about
smoking, and the Piedmont tobacco
company that released the card had to
stop printing it. Only 12 cards, at most,
exist.
The current craze in card collecting is
to have and hoard first cards of super-
stars, and therefore, future Hall of
Famers.
Speculators hope - because of the
current market for early cards of Man-
tle, Mays, Aaron and others - that in
20 years, cards of current young stars
will command the same high prices
these Hall of Fame cards now get.
But speculation on rookie cards each
year is a risky venture at best, consider-
ing for every Mike Greenwell, the Red
Sox outfielder, and Cub first baseman
Mark Grace (both cards are already
bringing in $3 for their Donruss rookie
cards), there is a Sam Horn or Joey
Meyer - two American League flash-
in-the-pan sluggers whose 1988 card
prices have dropped from $1 to 50 cents.
These cards often go begging at that
price too, leaving the investor who
bought 5,000 Meyers out half of his
money if Meyer doesn't pan out.
And when someone feels the need to
have 5,000 Joey Meyer 1988 Topps
baseball cards in their possession, the
hobby's in trouble. It's no longer a hobby
- it's a game.
Maze of relaxation A new procedure
called the relaxation maze is being practiced by
students who want to release pressures that school
and eseryday its bring them. The relaxation maze,
developed by Millersville U. Protessor hr. Harold
Harris, is a tee- to five-minute prscess where
pariciponsate led through the moze blindfolded so
they must trust the personleading them through. The
maze, which involves all the senses except vision,
was made possiblebya state grant 15 years agotfora
deterrent to drug and alcohol abuse: "It is a reward-
ing experience," said Harris, "the maority (of the
participants) love it, and want to come backand help
the others.". Janice Hustis, The Snapper,
Millersville U., PA
Sam
Big fat benefits ... It might seem unlikely
that a doctor would recommend a higher concentra-
tion of fats in one's diet - especially if the patient
has diabetes. But the U. of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center in Dallas has found evidence that
more monounsaturated fats, like thosefound in olive
oil or sunflower oil, could be helpful to Type It
diabetics. People who are Type 11 diabetics have a
resistance to insulin. The American Diabetes Asso-
ciation recommends a diet high in carbohydrates
and low in fats, but Southwestern's Dr. Scott Grundy
developed a diet with less carbohydrates and up to
50 percent monounsaturated fats. Southwestern's
Dr. AbhimanyuG aGg said both the currently recom-
mended diet and the one studied at Southwestern
lower harmful cholesterolIlevels, but the latest diet
has additional benefits, including lowering the risk
of heart disease. U Sheryl McMaster, The
Shorthorn, U. of Texas, Arlington
Bare necessities ... Men sometimes say
using acondom is like taking a shower in a raincoat.
Bob Greenwald, president of Anthl Laboratories,
Inc., thinks he asan answer to this complaint. His
company, a Chicago-booed research irm, has de-
veloped an abbreviated condom that covers only the
head of the penis. Anthl's promotionatliterature
claims its so-called Microcondom is "the world's
tirst marketed condom which does not impede user
pleasure." The Food and Drug Administration ha
approved the Microcondom for marketing as a pre-
gnancy prevention device, and Greenwald hopes to
have it in stores by January or February. The com-
pany developed the condom with the U. of Chicago
ooer the lost two years. Greenwold expects his con-
dom, which he calls "revolutionaory,"t be especially
popular among college students. Lisa Scott,
The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern
U., IL
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Depression
Continued From Page 1
activities, crying, pessimistic of the fu-
ture and occurring thoughts of suicide.
Although many people may suffer
from some of these symptoms, diagnosis
as clinically depressed would depend
upon the frequency, the duration and
the severity of such symptoms.
Emotionally, the most prevalent fea-
ture of depression is loss of self-
confidence, according to Reighter.
Many feel that they have lost control of
activities and daily routines.
What follows in many cases is the fear
of how they are reacting. Physically and
emotionally, they are not functioning as
they normally should.
Dr. Paul Pickett from the Psycholo-
gical and Family Service added there
are periods that last a day or two, or
even a couple of weeks, where the per-
son is normal. But the problem with
depression is the casual use of the word.
"Depression is a convenient catch-
all," Pickett said. "I'm very careful ab-
out what that means to that person."
Pickett used the term "anger turned
inwards" to describe depression. "Peo-
ple become depressed when they can't
express those things that upset them
You need to express it and validate it."
However, many people turn these
frustrations on themselves. Pickett said
many people ignore the problems and
throw themselves into their work.
"There's something about the social
environment that allows them to treat
themselves," Pickett said. "People try to
medicate themselves to avoid the pain
that they're in." People create strategies
to avoid what is bothering them. But if
the problem is not dealt with properly
and affects normal activities, the person
needs to seek help.
But counselors agree many people
have valid reasons for being depressed
and many times a person must go
through the depression stage. "At
times, depression is appropriate, and
it's useful to go through the motions of
feeling sad," Reighter said. "Instinctive-
ly we want to cheer up people who are
depressed. But at times, it's better for
them to feel sad."
Reighter suggested that because of a
person's financial problems or problems
with family members, many people
have good reasons for feeling depressed,
including unfulfilled expectations.
"Society views the family in an ideal
light," Reighter said. "And personal
struggles are accentuated as society im-
poses a picture of the family as ideal."
When coping with depression it is im-
portant to step outside and view it as
objectively as possible. "Take some time
and recognize the positive things going
on in your life," Reighter said. "It's easy
to accentuate the negative."