Quote:
Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector
in the old sets we all loved every card in a set...now its just certain subsets...the level of love is much thinner.
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The card manufacturers themselves are to blame for that. Pre-1980 a baseball fan and card collector needed only to complete one (admittedly huge) set per year and he had basically from April to September to do it which wasn't really difficult because the cards were on every convenience store counter at basically affordable prices. And perhaps a food issue or two (e.g. Post Cereal, Salada Coins, Hostess, Kellogg's) which still wasn't that tough because a kid needs something other than bubble gum at times.
But since 1990 or so anyway the amount of product has exploded with several releases per year. And with all the manufactured scarcities, building a master set is generally impossible. In fact even
defining a master set is difficult. Is a Jersey card with a red fabric an altogether different card than one with a white fabric? And Patch cards are all completely different of course. Moreover since when is every autograph exactly the same?
Therefore concentrating on certain specific subsets ends up being the viable fallback option for many/most collectors. Other fans resort to collecting only certain players although that to me seems bizarre for an adult anyway. It strikes me as hero worship.
