Priced Out?
 

With many people cashing in and certain card prices being too high for the average collector to actively compete, how do we stay relevant and happy as the baseball collecting world continues to evolve? Where does this leave those that don't want to be on the sidelines? Time to put a low to mid-grade set together? Time to gravitate toward other types of vintage memorabilia? What is the next wave that we can consider riding for a bit before we are priced out again?

few options:

sell some cards in your collection that you may not be too attached to and buy what you want at the condition level you want.


move down in the grade condition.

The best thing would be quit buying the silly(to me) slabs and just buy cards free from imprisonment. You can own the exact same card for a fraction of the price.

Add some Art Cards like these? I admit I cannot resist buying them every once in a while....

Get into premiums, team issues, etc.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ize/img435.jpg

There are a wide variety at various entry points. Or photos. Vintage snapshots are card-like and can be had for a fraction of the cost of a card. Some were even made by professionals with field level access:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20Hartnett.jpg

Jimmie Foxx with the Cubs

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ap%20Paige.jpg

Satchel Paige

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...nd%20Weiss.jpg

Marshall Goldberg, college AS game, 1939

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ll%20Cousy.jpg

1961 Chamberlain, Russell, Cousy at the 'Gahden'.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20snapshot.jpg
Jack Dempsey sparring with Bill Tate, Toledo, OH 1919. Had to slip in a boxer ;)

There's always something to play with, you just have to be creative.

I think a lot of guys spent the run-up scrambling to get cards they'd had their eyes on, knowing they'd soon be out of reach. I'm in the middle of a couple sets that are going to be painful to finish now, but I'm in too deep to bail.

The last two years have pretty well burned me out. I both made and paid extraordinary sums of money for cards. I'm mentally exhausted and taking a break. I have a trip booked for Chantilly in April and won't be buying anything until then. I've been enjoying the time away have been thinking about my next project. I have several ideas that I'm excited about. They'll undoubtedly shift between now and April but that's ok, too. My point being that I'm always shocked how much clarity some time and space can bring.

Pursue trades and lower-grade pickups. Build lower-grade sets and collections. Avoid graded, over-priced cards.

This thread needs a couple of low-priced, really nice cards. "Arky" Vaughan has to be the single most underrated ballplayer in the HOF.

Personally, I think if you are a collector you're still going to collect. It might mean that you are buying 1 card every 3 months instead of 1 card per month. Or it might mean moving to a different, less expensive set or type of collection. Personally, I'm still looking to complete the sets I'm working on, but definitely feeling like some sets might not be completable based on current prices...at least not in the foreseeable future.

As a long time collector I have a hard time relating to these types of posts. I have always been priced out of certain segments of the market, yet have no problem finding affordable areas to collect. Too many good options IMO.

Last few years been focused on set runs and raw cards with great eye appeal.

Shhhhh!!! Don't listen to him. Nothing to see here ;)

Ben, James, and Matt have it... don't spend money on high condition graded cards. Paying someone for a card is one thing; paying someone else for their plastic opinion of that card is another. They're right.

It's an unfortunate mess.

Sell it All besides your favorite 10 cards. Save the money and wait for a 20% correction to invest in all in the S&P 500.

+1 agree

Buying less cards but buying more strategic so the collection will grow just a bit slower.
And if the strategy fits you can downgrade as some mentioned to free up funds for other cards

We've seen a number of these threads pop up within the past couple of years, my two cents is as follows:

I'm happy our Hobby is doing well, I'm happy there is interest in it, and I'm glad that those who make a living off the hobby are doing well for themselves. It does sting a little bit when you see some of these prices if you're on any sort of fixed income though.

I think another point that isn't addressed enough concerns the time each of us have in the Hobby. In my opinion, it's very easy for someone who collected in the 1970's to say how the rising prices are just the nature of things, when Ruth's, Gehrigs, Cobbs, Wagners, Mantles, Mathewson, etc I can go on, were available for penny's on the dollar in comparison to today. For argument's sake lets say a 33 Goudey Ruth, literally any one of them, was 100 Dollars in 1975, if you adjust for inflation, that card would be $700 today. We all know that isn't the case with the current prices.

I wasn't alive in the 1970's or 80's for that matter, unfortunately. So I can't say "well I regret not hoping on that ship" because that's impossible. I love card collecting, I love this hobby, I will continue to do it for a long time, but it's disheartening at times. I can't help the fact I wasn't physically living when the prices on these cards were a bit more reasonable for the average Joe.

Try to put together the 1988 Donruss set with the most eye appeal. Stay focused, make sure every card is gem mint.

When you're done with that, sell it on ebay for $20 and start on 89's.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

This. Does the sharpness of a corner really make you not enjoy a card? There are tons of cheap but cool cards out there, if one stops caring what a card is worth and just enjoys them for what they were when they were made, there is still a ton of cheap fun to be had in the hobby

One adapts...or one dies in the wild! I've lived the hobby since the late 70's...took a break from 86-91. I've never been able to afford any card I wanted in the hobby. So in that regard nothings changed?

My collection has appreciated handsomely and if I want a certain card I may have to sell others to fund it...and I've come to peace with this.

And also to repeat the hobby is much...much more enjoyable when you take the slab out of the equation!!!!!

James, Pete, good points. I'm more in Pete's position; been a collector since I was kid with breaks but continuously active since 1988. Over time I've gone out and amassed cards I wanted when I could and I've never sold off, so I have a lot of cards that are worth a lot more than what I paid for them. That said, I know if I sell off a Ruth I am not going to get another one to replace it unless the market craters, and I know I am not going to get a new Ruth unless I get rich or it slips through the cracks somehow. So there's a bit of frustration too. Best I can hope for now is to expand with trades. Which is a lot of fun too.

You bring up a good point, I'm sure there were factors that made it difficult, even back then. It's much easier for me to say the Hobby was easier back then, because of all the context we do now. I also do agree, take slabs out of the equation and the Hobby is much more enjoyable, it's however a difficult task to say the least. Unless it was from a trusted seller on here, there are some cards that I wouldn't be able to take the chance on.

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆 Ben nailed it on the head. I would add to Only buy graded when it’s for resale or is a big ticket item that is best protected by a slab.

This is my third go-round in the hobby over roughly 50 years. Which of course tells me sports cards are in a bubble. I just use current values to sell nice 70s cards and put that into a handful of older grail cards, so boom/bubble prices don't hurt me and are at best a sideways trade. I never intended to keep everything anyway. If cards didn't "go up," it would be very hard to justify any serious collecting.

Every card gets sold sooner or later, whether you are alive to see it or not. And I don't mind leaving room for the next guy to make money, either. Plenty to collect at all levels. I still enjoy messing with junk-era cards where there is no money.

My opinion here is that you have to continue to buy cards that you love. If you buy stuff you don't like just to pickup stuff, you'll likely regret it as the hobby will just become a grind. If you don't find anything you like, just go on pause until you do. Hopefully, you'll be able to find something else within your hobby budget that you can enjoy. There are so many types and ways to collect, so you might find your niche in that area.

I think the one thing about the rise in prices, however, it's led many of us to find different collecting interests, or approach something we wouldn't before.

For an example, being of Mostly, Italian descent, and hearing stories in my childhood, My great uncle would always tell stories about Carl Furillo. He was a hardcore Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and Furillo was his favorite player. I've recently started slowly buying Furillo cards and really enjoying the little project I'm putting together.

That is cool. I can't remember his name but we have a big time Carl Furillo collector on here. I had some Carl Farillo home/family pics I sent that collector for free a few years ago I got in a lot from GreyGhost.

I like this advice. I had several friends who put all of their savings into the S&P over a 10-12 year period and all of them retired between the ages of 38-42. They then moved out of the country and traveled the world. They never married or had kids which helped, but the power of the US markets is unbelievable. Its a boring, non-sexy investment style but it works.

Yeah, kids will do you. I figure mine has cost me about half a million dollars, post-tax, including college and grad school. Wouldn't change a thing but it will keep me working an extra 20 years to make up for it. Plus I had to liquidate a lot of cards and not buy others when it looked like medical school was on the horizon, which probably cost me six figures in missed appreciation during the run-up. Fortunately, she did some clinical volunteer work and discovered she's a misanthrope like her old man, so a 'caring' profession involving four years of school at $70K per wasn't in the cards.

"Once my kids leave the house, I'll finally be able to do what every man is supposed to. I can watch TV. I can... well, I don't know but it doesn't matter. It's still better than having a screaming, crapping, money-sucking little vampire bobsledding me to the graveyard."--Al Bundy

235. Too-Too Clock
Although everyone is (rightfully) complaining about how expensive cards are getting these days, the simple truth is cards have always been way ‘too’ expensive since the beginning of time. Even when Mays and Mantle cards could be gotten for $5 apiece, that was considered a ludicrous price.

Always love these collectorisims you come up with, gives me a chuckle whenever I see one.

Love his 53 Bowman color. GM had a really nice one last month and I just didn't go high enough on it. I guess my dad wasn't the only BK Dodgers fan!

This is exactly right. It's always been relative, but always expensive.

I try to follow the principle of "Hitting them where they ain't" to collecting (not just cards but everything, I have a lot of collections on the go).

Avoid the stuff everyone is going after and try to find things that have these two qualities going for them:

1) They aren't being actively pursued much by people with money so the prices are low; and
2) They have some innate quality which makes them of interest, suggesting that the reason they aren't being pursued is just because the market under appreciates them and not because they suck.

The problem with this strategy is that eventually the market catches up with you and starts plowing money into the neat under-appreciated things you were buying up cheaply and suddenly you find yourself priced out of the market and forced to move on to something else.

Which is what is happening now of course.

I had been on a mission to complete the Topps sets I remembered and loved from 1957 to 1979. Over the past decade I'd made good progress with just a few sets still to complete. But the crazy prices I faced when dealing with the '67 high numbers over the last year or two had me rethinking that original goal.

I've turned my attention to building my publication collection (Baltimore Orioles, Colts and NY Rangers programs), finding wire service photos of players I collect, and piecing together some fun non-sports sets I's been slowly building over the years.

I still have a hand in the baseball/football card market. When attempting a set I almost always started with a single purchase of 100-200 commons in a lot and there were usually some stinkers mixed in. With some patience and perseverance I've found that there are nicely conditioned commons still to be had a good prices.

So I'm staying active in the hobby but it seems unlikely I'll do another set chase any time soon.