Hello fellow returnees!
My story is pretty similar - I collected from about '86 to '93 as a kid, and then a combination of too many sets/chase card craze (seems quaint now, huh?) plus being 16 made my interest drop off.
It didn't totally go away, though, it was more of a dormancy. I remained a baseball fan. I would "check in" with the hobby from time to time, reading the occasional article or blog. I even remember thinking it would be cool to own an original Babe Ruth card and checking out prices a few years ago. Turns out that would have been a nice purchase...sigh.
Early on in the pandemic, I went down some YouTube rabbit holes of people opening vintage wax boxes, which I had always wished I could do as a kid (even then I was into older cards). Then I found out about a product called Repacked Wax, where a guy in Ohio buys collections and makes wax packs mixing new and vintage cards. I decided to order a few packs and pulled a Rickey Henderson rookie*...and that was it. Instantly hooked again.
This time around , realizing I can afford (some of) the vintage star cards I loved as a kid, I've decided I have three interrelated goals: (1) at least one card of every HOFer from their playing days; (2) complete HOF runs of as many Topps sets as possible pre-1986 (realizing that I will never complete '52); and (3) complete career runs of as many HOFers as possible. Focusing on mid/upper-mid grade raw, and realizing that graded cards are probably a necessary evil for the more expensive prewar cards.
I'm having a blast so far, although having been traumatized by junk wax, in the back of my mind I fear I'm buying at the wrong time along with so many others. I'm not trying to invest per se, but I don't want to end up with a bunch of worthless cards again. The wonderful and horrible thing about the internet is that the card shop is always open, and I don't have to beg my parents to give me a ride anymore - so let's just say I have a lot of padded envelopes on their way to me if and when our local post office ever decides to start, you know, delivering mail again (seriously:
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/11...ing-for-bills/).
Anyway, nice to meet you all!
* Unfortunately, the Repacked Wax product seems to have dropped off a lot in quality since his first few runs (predictably, I suppose). The vintage cards I got in my last couple boxes were mostly commons.