[mcap100176]

I don't think "the tainted era of baseball" will have anything to do with cards. 75 million people went to MLB games in 2009, and how many more went to the cheaper minor league stadiums. I would wager that only a small portion of the baseball following public cares about steroids/PEDs.

I am 33 years old. I am at age where all my friends are having or have had kids. Guess what? All the boys play baseball, all the boys collect cards of today's players. All their dads are teaching them the history of the game. If they stay interested in cards, they'll find the vintage stuff.

Concerning what the future holds....
1. Commons are called commons for a reason. Nice to have but when my friends are over and I pull out my Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, etc., eyes open wide. Not just my friends, but my father's friends have asked me to bring over vintage stuff.

2. The internet has been a godsend.
A. Cheap and easy way to trade and buy.
B. Without the internet, we wouldn't be having this discussion
C. Opened markets where there wasn't a market before

3. The future
A. Big names will always sell
B. Rare items will always sell
C. High grade will sell
D. The internet is the future, no more store fronts
E. Shows will continue to happen just not as often
F. Card will be viewed as a commodity for today's "older statesmen." Today
it's a collection & hobby, tomorrow the commodity will be sold off for
retirement, to pay for medical bills, etc.
G. Something will come along to replace Ebay as the main sales venture.

To add:
I am not concerned about going to a store. I would rather sit at home, and compare prices and have something delivered. Search Ebay and use VCP to find what I want and if I don't like the price, wait.

This isn't a generational thing any more. This year at Christmas I had 3 people come up to me at family parties saying they did all their shopping online like I do (We talked about it the year before) and they will never go to a store again.

PS. I also play video games.