Nostalgia or history
A post that got into discussions comparing pre and post-war cardboard got me thinking.
It seems to me that there are two major forces that compel someone to collect older items (leaving aside people buying for investment reasons etc.)
The one that (from what I have seen) gets talked about a lot is nostalgia. People remember collecting certain cards when they were kids and now that they are older and have expendable cash, they want to find those cards that they had (or maybe the ones they wished they had) when they were kids. For older players it may be the player that your Dad used to speak about reverently when you were growing up. Maybe you went to games with your Dad back in the 60's and saw Mantle and Maris, but Dad spoke about Gehrig and DiMaggio, and that has sparked your passion in those players.
On the other hand there are others who are simply fans of history. Maybe they never had any personal connection to any of the players, but they love the history of baseball and that draws them to a specific era, event or set.
People often talk about the impact of nostalgia, which is something that as time passes and people pass, will likely fade from the older players. The second though, can continue to grow over time.
I definitely fall into the second category. No one I grew up with was really a major baseball fan, and yet I find myself gravitating to events and items from long before I was born. For me the items are generally those that have an interesting historical link (Japan Tours, WWII, Jackie Robinson/Integration items).
I'm somewhat new here and don't post all that much, but I'd be curious to hear where others fall on this split.
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