Posted By:
Dustan HedlinI'm one of the younger collectors out there who used to collect the shiny stuff. I'm 27. I started collecting in 1990 when I was 8, and collected nothing but modern until about 2 years ago. As companies kept churning out the exact same product year after year, and as packs got into the $100 range with a chance for a Jason Bay autograph in every pack, I slowly got out of modern. I still do collect some modern cards, but it's mostly Ken Griffey Jr. because he was my favorite player when I was a kid. I used to have over 2300 different Griffey cards, but now I am down to about 40-50, mostly autographs.
When I got into pre-war (mostly T206's) I knew it was going to be more expensive than the modern stuff I was collecting. While I am not collecting pre-war for an investment, it was a way for me to continue with the hobby I loved, and not worry about everything that I buy being worthless because of overproduction. When you get into the kind of money it takes to build a decent sized pre-war collection, money has to be some sort of a factor. Pre-war provides me with the enjoyment of doing something that I love, while knowing that I'm not just setting my money on fire every time I buy a card. I see that as a very nice balance. It has also given me a chance to learn a lot more about the history of baseball. That is something that I was already learning a little about, but the T206 set has really opened up my eyes to some great stories about the game.