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Paul SI regret that I didn't take better care of my cards throughout the years, the pre- and post-war purchased as a kid, long before the shiny stuff hit the market.
It's a double-edged sword, because I don't regret one moment of handling them (in fact, I still handle them -- Egad!, such a crime...I LOVE IT!, I'd sleep with them if the wife wouldn't have me committed -- and still they are not graded with no regrets.) Yet, during the couple of decades they were socked away they have lost some "quality" due to some corner knocking, slight rubber band marks here or there, climate change, etc., by not being properly stored. Now, of course they are all in toploaders/penny sleeves. I'm not whining about the current financial value of many is not what it might have been, because really, I got them for a song back then, so who can complain?
My biggest lament among them all is that a once beautifully intact 1921 Exhibit display machine dispenser piece ("Base Ball Stars Insert 1 Cent") -- intact with sixteen cards, almost half of them HOFers, including Ruth, is, alas, nowhere near what it once was. I bought it for $5(!) about 1968. At the time my dad said, 'Hey, that's really neat. You should get it framed." I should have listened to him -- he was ahead of his time.