[jingram058]

Originally Posted by packs

Another thing I think about in terms of modern collecting today is the thrill of opening the packs. Like I said, there is a lottery or dream home opportunity attached to almost every product that gets released now.

You just aren't going to find that kind of excitement in pre-war. Potentially if you're one of the lucky ones who stumbles upon something at a flea market. But for most of us the thrill is buying cards we love for as low a price as we can find, but often accepting that we'll really pay whatever we have to. There isn't the same kind of magic in pre-war vis a vis the unknown.

When I was growing up and opening up packs I wasn't opening them in search of a lottery ticket. I just liked baseball and I liked the Yankees and I wanted Yankees cards. That led me down the path of vintage. I wanted cards of Yankees players my dad talked about. I wanted cards of Babe Ruth. I wanted cards of Lou Gehrig. But I never wanted them because they were valuable. And I think that is a major shift in today's modern collectors. There are probably still collectors who just like collecting sets. But I think there are far more modern collectors in the hobby that just want to chase.

Could not agree more with this. This should be required reading by anyone involved with cards...really separates the wheat from the chaff. There are still collectors out there, some of whom post here on net54. And then there are the investors. They post too, but to them it's all about the grade, and that's it. They don't give a hoot for the stories of old baseball, just the grade and how much it is then worth and how the card speculation is going.