Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuddjcal
Kids have to take the time to learn about the older players and even though it is so easy, they can't be bothered as they play Fortnite.
We learned about the older players though baseball cards. I hope I'm wrong as I have all the Aaron cards and they still make me feel happy  but I'm 57. Baseball card collectors are dying, not increasing, IMHO. |
I was in my childhood local card store the other day (while on vacation... none in my current choice of residency). And while they weren't buying baseball cards, there was a pile of kids in there buying basketball cards. I had never seen so many young kids in there. I asked the owner if things were turning around for him, and he said it all happened within the last year. Everything goes in cycles, and eventually, with Betts and Harper and Trout, kids will start hearing about the greats of the game again. They just haven't seen anything like the Sosa / McGwire home run duel. Or the Cal Ripken consecutive games streak. Or even the Three-peat of the late '90s Yankees. But something will come up, it always does. Records were meant to be broken.
I'm 33, and I can remember watching the 1999 All Star game and World Series when they introduced the best of the century team. The reverence that Ted Williams received from the players was unbelievable. It totally made me look at players in a whole different light.
The other issue is that in my neck of the woods, greats of the game aren't coming out for autograph signings anymore. When I was in middle school, there was a card store in Spokane WA that would bring in stars of yesteryear: Don Larsen, Gaylord Perry, Harmon Killebrew, Lou Brock, Maury Wills, Steve Garvey. The last autograph signing in Spokane was a longgggg time ago for Norm Charlton. Kids who don't meet the legends won't know the legends. Traveling to Seattle for an occasional signing is beyond many families' means. It's this way across the country outside major metropolises.