Do you worry about our hobby dying?

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

I don't think it's a secret that baseball continues to lose fans to the NFL, NBA and Soccer. Is there a possibility that long term card prices decline as there are less and less people interested in the sport and as a result card collecting as a hobby. Is the finite supply of pre-war cards a blessing or a curse in attracting new collectors? Would love to see some data on the health of the hobby over the last 20-30 years and future projections....

[Louieman]

I'd hold off on baseball's obituary because of the problems the NFL has, as well as the ref problem in basketball. Baseball was so weak in 1994, and its bounced back big time since then. America is a football nation, don't get me wrong. But I think baseball has been around for too long to fade into nonexistence. It's part of our cultural identity at this point. I think the memorabilia that goes with it will hang around just fine, even if the country itself falls down. Cards and other stuff like that are already treated like museum pieces, imagine what it will be like tens or hundreds of years down the road.

[Econteachert205]

I wonder about collectors outside the us, baseball being a global game and all.

[insccollectibles]

According to the players contracts, which in part is a reflection of advertising dollars the game is doing fine.

[ksabet]

Not sure about what will happen to baseball...but I don't worry about it.

[ATP]

I wouldn't have any worry at all about the next thirty or forty years at least. There are a lot of folks in their twenties and thirties who collect...and finally now have the expendable income. They grew up collecting in the eighties and nineties...likely got out of the hobby for a little while around high school and college age, then come back to it when life settles down a little more.

A lot of people I talk to are in their thirties and they assume they must be part of the younger group, but that group is actually quite large.

Collectors typically collect until life no longer allows them to, so there are quite a few good decades left from that group alone. There are also a lot of people in their teens who collect modern, and occasionally drift to vintage. Beyond fifty years or so who know what people will be doing, but I don't think most of us here will have to worry about it dying out during our lifetime.

[Sean]

I'm a lot more worried about me dying than I am about the hobby dying.

Baseball games televised nationally have been steadily losing ratings, but ratings for local broadcasts and attendance are up over the last 20 years.
I don't know which specific sets will do well, but vintage cards in general should continue to be popular, IMO.

[Ladder7]

Don't worry. ARod'son the way back!

[bigtrain]

Are you a baseball fan to the exclusion of all other sports?
I am not and I am guessing that few are. Considering the growth
Of the US population, I would guess that there are
more baseball fans today than ever. I have no concerns about
baseball or the hobby going away.

[Al C.risafulli]

Not at all.

More than 73 million MLB tickets were sold in 2014. Just north of 30 million were sold in 1974. This past season, the team ranked lowest in attendance - Tampa Bay - drew 1,446,000 fans. That would have ranked them 7th in 1974. This past season, 11 teams outdrew the #1 ranked team in 1974.

None of that factors in all the heavy cable TV contracts, 24-hour sports news networks, sports talk radio, and big money transactions in our hobby that make news on a regular basis. I think there's more awareness, exposure, an interest in our hobby than ever before, and as people get older and want to reconnect with nostalgia, I think that's only going upward.

-Al

[JollyElm]

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

[Mountaineer1999]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

+1 spot on

[Brian Van Horn]

Just perusing the comments.

If we are talking about baseball, no problem.

If we are talking about card collecting, and in particular before WWII card collecting, there is a problem.

For the hobby of Pre-WWII card collecting to continue-not so much flourish-you need new blood. You also need a combination of historically curious combined with baseball enthusiast. That mindset has been shrinking and to an extent dying. It's not a large group these days. Just hoping for some new fans of old collecting.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

+1

Then all the scammers are getting much better at what they do. I do not think it will be long before even the grading companies can not tell the difference between real and fake. Even graded cards now are a crap shoot, SGC and old PSA slabs are super easy to crack and put in a reprint, trimmed, or lower end card and then you have the guy in Mexico from the PSA scam.

[tschock]

I think it also depends on what is meant by the hobby dying. The only way it will guarantee to die of is if NO new blood comes into the hobby. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

Even if the new blood is only 1% of what it is now, I seriously doubt that pre-war cards will just "disappear". Someone will buy them up. Now that could mean that you might only get $100 for a card you spent $10K on years ago, but it won't mean the hobby of COLLECTING cards will die off. Unless your heirs plan on burning the cards for fuel rather than getting $0.01 on the dollar.

So if you mean the hobby as card COLLECTING, then no. If you mean the hobby as a business or means to make money, then maybe.

[Section103]

If it would hurry up and die, then I'll be able to buy a lot more cards for a lot less money.

[sbfinley]

The hobby isn't going anywhere. I was talking with an old dealer a couple weeks ago and he complaining about the falling sky and how the hobby would be dead in 50 years. The whole "90's Bubble/Remember When/We're all dying off" story.

Sorry, but the hobby isn't dying. It's changing. Just because show attendance and brick n' mortar sells are down doesn't mean the hobby is. Pre-War and vintage cards are at an all time high and something is always pumping value wise. In modern issues companies push and sell anything from $1 packs to $800 boxes and they are all popular in some respect. Heck, a card shop out in California buys up graded cards and memorabilia and repackages it as mystery product and charges up to $8,000 a box for the stuff and it sells out almost instantly. The hobby is as strong as it ever has been. It's just different.

Is baseball the most popular sport in America now? Nope, and it likely won't be a long while at the least, but attendance remains strong in most baseball cities and from a earnings standpoint the franchises are exceptionally well off. It has become a regional sport with loyal fan bases who will sustain it for the immediate future. Importantly to MLB, the popularity of college baseball continues to grow incrementally it seems each year, which will increase MLB popularity in the future as fans with college allegiances will follow alumni in the pros. The length of time spent in the minors will dampen this fascination somewhat, but more and more prospects are MLB ready faster then in the past. Plenty of kids in baseball cities, and outside baseball cities, collect and more and more often adults are driven to the hobby even if they didn't collect in their youth. Many of these collectors start with modern issues and work their way back to vintage issues.

[Centauri]

I agree with whoever said the next 30-40 years are solid. I worry about the kids who are 10-15 years old right now.

I started collecting in 1986 because everyone else I knew also collected. We would get together and trade, discuss, try to build sets, etc. I think much of the hobby today is made up of my generation still buying the new cards, but now it is like buying scratch off lotto tickets - open a pack not aiming for the set, but the inserts, and the REALLY RARE inserts (hurl).

My son is 12, plays 4 sports, and I haven't heard or seen him or any of his friends talk about cards. Right now the hobby has leveled off from a steep decline, led by people like me who collected as a kid but now have some disposable income to chase their dreams from childhood. I plan to collect for a long time yet. But 40 years from now, who will be the buyers?

[mrvster]

+1...

baseball here to stay .

I see the future of card collecting to go toward vintage once the younger population develop....they will realize the actual "history" of these cards...

just will be evolution...

[chipperhank44]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

I think there are a number of younger collectors on this board (myself included) who obsessed over perfect corners, serial numbers, shiny refractors, and strong sub-grades. But sooner or later the allure of owning something that is actually rare and not just manufactured to create the appearance of rarity takes over and vintage collecting is the next step. Also, getting burned by a few can't miss prospects or dealing with the inevitable depreciation of modern cards eventually turns collectors eyes to the appealing predictability of the vintage market. Then, once you buy your first vintage card, you experience the history and the work of art you are holding and it's hook line and sinker. IMO, as long as there is a modern card market, there is a pipeline of new vintage collectors.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by Section103

If it would hurry up and die, then I'll be able to buy a lot more cards for a lot less money.

+1 Hopefully I can outlive the hobby. But I doubt it.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by bigtrain

Are you a baseball fan to the exclusion of all other sports?
I am not and I am guessing that few are. Considering the growth
Of the US population, I would guess that there are
more baseball fans today than ever. I have no concerns about
baseball or the hobby going away.

This. Tom nails it. The idea that baseball is losing fans to football, hockey, basketball, soccer, etc is flawed. I love football, though I do admit that I've lost interest somewhat recently because of rule changes, and the scandals going on with some of the players. I also think the NFL Commissioner is an idiot that needs to step down. But, I've been a die hard Green Bay Packers fan pretty much since birth. I think my first word was Lombardi. I will love the Packers until the day I drop dead, and therefore, I will support the NFL, too. But I have loved the game of baseball, and the Brewers, for nearly as long. I love going to baseball games. I love watching it on television. I love reading about it, watching documentaries about it. Seeing old clips. And, of course, I love collecting baseball cards.

Baseball attendance in 2014 was about 74 million people. That's the seventh highest in the history of the game. Viewership of baseball might be down, but I think it's because there are so many more choices now. The game itself is not hurting at all. In fact, I would say that it's thriving.

I'm not worried about the hobby, either. I see new people joining the forum, and a good portion of them are much younger. That's encouraging. They're not only getting into the hobby, they're expressing an interest in the history of the game, and the vintage and pre-war periods. And if these new members are having fun, they're telling their friends, and some of them will join, too. When they come here, I will welcome them. I will offer to do whatever I can to help them. If I can provide advice, or education to help them make smart decisions, I will do that. I encourage people to send me messages with questions they might have. I will spend all the time needed to help them, and if I don't know an answer, I will work with them to find that answer.

Life is too short to worry about something that is beyond my control. I will enjoy the hobby as much as humanly possible while I am here. I will do everything I can to help my fellow hobbyists of all ages do the same. For my part, I will treat the people I meet with respect. I will deal with them honestly. I will do everything I can to set a good example, and I will report people I see that are trying to cheat, or steal from other hobbyists. That is all I can do. If everybody on this forum pledges to do the same, then I think our hobby will continue on for a long time. Baseball is always going to have a following. And naturally, there will always be people who want to learn about the game's history. And as long as there are baseball fans interested in the game's history, our hobby will continue on.

[MattyC]

I agree the whole "losing fans to NFL" logic is specious. They are not mutually exclusive. Not to mention the problems plaguing the NFL at the moment. In fact, my broader circle of friends and I have grown disinterested in the NFL in our 30's and more interested in MLB and NBA.

The "hobby future" thread seems to surface every few months in one form or another. There are enough passionate collectors out there to sustain it for many, many years. America's pastime, its fans, and the collectors of its historic memorabilia will be doing just fine in the decades to come.

And as someone else above said so well, our own health and well-being is much more likely to encounter problems-- so we better enjoy our cards while the getting's good.

[dru724]

Here's an interesting article on ESPN about how the decline/ death of baseball has been written about for about as long as the game itself:
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/th...line-articles/

[BearBailey]

Not really, I think there has been an uptick in the last 5 years, I know it will never be what it once was with shows every weekend and shops in every town but the shows I do go to Philly and the National seem to be better than they had been since the mid to late 90s.

[ValKehl]

"IMO, as long as there is a modern card market, there is a pipeline of new vintage collectors."

Trey, I think you hit the nail on the head!
Val

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I agree the whole "losing fans to NFL" logic is specious. They are not mutually exclusive. Not to mention the problems plaguing the NFL at the moment. In fact, my broader circle of friends and I have grown disinterested in the NFL in our 30's and more interested in MLB and NBA.

The "hobby future" thread seems to surface every few months in one form or another. There are enough passionate collectors out there to sustain it for many, many years. America's pastime, its fans, and the collectors of its historic memorabilia will be doing just fine in the decades to come.

And as someone else above said so well, our own health and well-being is much more likely to encounter problems-- so we better enjoy our cards while the getting's good.

Well said as usual, Matt. Funny, I almost used the same mutually exclusive wording, but I reworked my post.

When I was a kid, I loved basketball. I used to go see the Bucks at the old Mecca Arena in Milwaukee. The Bucks were really good then. But they always seemed to get knocked out by the Celtics in the playoffs. But now the game just isn't as good as it used to be. It's like fundamentals are a thing of the past.

With football, the rule changes are ruining the game. You can't even fart around the quarterback without a penalty being called. And on a deep ball, the cornerback has no room for error whatsoever. The refs call defensive pass interference at the drop of a hat. I know the league wants higher scoring games, but it's ridiculous right now.

I've decided to start watching hockey again. I've always loved it, and I need something else to get into. So, I'll follow the Penguins again, and I guess the Stars.

[EvilKing00]

I don't worry about that at all. Although most here love the game, some here do not, and just love collecting. And as far as the game relating to collecting im not sure it does. Im a huge met fan....sadly. I haven't been to a game now in a few years as the ownership is depressing. Even though I even get free season tix from the wifes job. Though I do read a met blog all the time.

But, in the last few few years I have bought more cards then I ever have, found net54, started collecting prewar & babe ruth cards amongst other things. So even though im not paying the attention to the game as I once did, im more into the hobby then ever.

I also think its more about collecting "old stuff", owning rare pieces of history if you will.

I know the main question is, will the 15-20 year olds now get older and start collecting? My answer would be yes. When I was that age I was in school, paying attention to girls and getting into trouble, the money I had was spent on that not a $500 piece of cardboard. but once a collector settles down, stops the fooling around hes got to collect something!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

I don't worry about that at all. Although most here love the game, some here do not, and just love collecting. And as far as the game relating to collecting im not sure it does. Im a huge met fan....sadly. I haven't been to a game now in a few years as the ownership is depressing. Even though I even get free season tix from the wifes job. Though I do read a met blog all the time.

But, in the last few few years I have bought more cards then I ever have, found net54, started collecting prewar & babe ruth cards amongst other things. So even though im not paying the attention to the game as I once did, im more into the hobby then ever.

I also think its more about collecting "old stuff", owning rare pieces of history if you will.

I know the main question is, will the 15-20 year olds now get older and start collecting? My answer would be yes. When I was that age I was in school, paying attention to girls and getting into trouble, the money I had was spent on that not a $500 piece of cardboard. but once a collector settles down, stops the fooling around hes got to collect something!

I agree with this. I don't care for MLB whatsoever but I love the game (and play softball this evening, in a weekly league). I think our hobby is fine. With the advent of the internet I think it actually grew exponentially. I also equate it more to collecting antiques, but with more purpose, than I do collecting cards like we (us old guys) did as a kid. Today's new card collecting is pretty much nothing like what we did. (as far as I remember ).

[z28jd]

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

[ATP]

That reminds me, a few years ago I gave away Ken Griffey Jr. Bobbleheads at Halloween. The nice, full size ones that you bought at the stadium (I had hundreds left over from when the All Star Game was in Seattle and they were just taking up space in my garage). For the first hundred or so kids, I gave them the choice of a piece of candy or a bobblehead. I only gave away one bobblehead for every ten pieces of candy approximately, less than a dozen total. The kids only cared about candy. Next time if I try it with cards I won't give them the option :-)

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by z28jd

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

Actually a great idea!

[insccollectibles]

Originally Posted by z28jd

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

Great idea! I'm handing out packs along with candy.

[Bosox Blair]

Every month or two somebody starts a post wondering about the future of the hobby. These posts usually start with some assumed premise that we are all meant to accept. My problem is that most of these are untrue.

The 2014 MLB season had the 7th highest attendance of all time. The last 10 years have been among the best attended seasons in history.

So by this measure baseball is not losing fans.

Then we get the "card collectors are all old guys" premise for the hobby dying. Yet every poll on Net54 shows that pre-war collectors average only about 40 years of age.

Based on the actual facts, there is nothing wrong with the health of baseball or the hobby.

Cheers,
Blair

You don't have to be an avid modern day baseball fan to rampantly collect vintage baseball cards. The two things do not necessarily go hand in hand and are not dependent on one another. I loved the game as kid and am a casual fan now, but I love collecting vintage cards.

[darwinbulldog]

I agree that being a fan of MLB and of the NFL or NBA are not mutually exclusive, but I'm not sure that makes the rise in popularity of other sports relative to baseball irrelevant. I have roughly equal interest in following MLB, NFL, and NCAA football, somewhat less in NCAA basketball and professional tennis, and very little in any other sports -- but over 95% of my sports cards are baseball cards.

If I were slightly more interested in the NFL and/or slightly less in MLB, that could perhaps tip my collection to 95% NFL instead, even though I would still be a baseball fan. Baseball has the advantage of having much more pre-war material to collect than the other sports, so the question I would want to ask is how much of our collecting interest is accounted for by interest in history/antiques/lithography and how much is accounted for by interest in baseball itself. If it's mostly the former I would expect the hobby to remain strong for the next several decades; if it's mostly the latter I wouldn't expect there to be a similarly large group of us 50 years from now, even if there are a hundred million people still around at that time who consider themselves baseball (or beisbol or yakyu or...) fans.

[auggiedoggy]

Originally Posted by Sean

I'm a lot more worried about me dying than I am about the hobby dying.

Baseball games televised nationally have been steadily losing ratings, but ratings for local broadcasts and attendance are up over the last 20 years.
I don't know which specific sets will do well, but vintage cards in general should continue to be popular, IMO.

I don't worry about the hobby or myself dying. My wife might worry about me dying or at least, she's putting on a convincing act that she's concerned.

[The Nasty Nati]

I think the concern for the hobby is less in whether people are interested in baseball and more whether people are interested in collecting sports memorabilia, particularly cards.

I'm 28 and I'm definitely on the cusp age-wise where kids just stopped collecting cards. When I was young I collected baseball and basketball cards and that was in the mid to late 90's. Even then there wasn't a whole lot of kids in the neighborhood collecting. Then come around the early 2000's, no one was collecting cards. I have a younger brother and he collected because of me, but none of his friends did. If they did collect cards they were Pokemon.

I think to get people hooked on collecting you have to get them while they're young. And I just don't think hardly any kids born say after 1997 ever collected cards as a kid.

I may be wrong in this assumption though. But I'd be curious to see the age study in about 10 years. There's a fair amount of people in their 20's collecting because we are literally the last generation that collected when we were kids. Kids any younger just never grew up collecting cards, they grew up collecting Pokemon on their Gameboys. Card stores still use to be everywhere when I was a kid, now they're nowhere.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair

The 2014 MLB season had the 7th highest attendance of all time. The last 10 years have been among the best attended seasons in history.

So by this measure baseball is not losing fans.

Not to mention record setting minor league attendances as well.

[bn2cardz]

I know my kids are interested. My 20month came in my room and woke me up this past Saturday saying "b-ball b-ball" he says this for both baseball and basketball. He was pointing at an auction catalog on my dresser. So I got it for him and he flipped the pages very happily. Since the catalog never got put back my 2 year old started looking through it.

Yet they are kids of a collector and they are too young to know if it will stick.

I do also teach Sunday School to the youth at my Church and 3 kids have mentioned being collectors (and are sure they have more than me and their collections are worth more, I just laugh).

[drcy]

Also realize that the demand for 'past it' collectable genres such as Civil War, WWII, Presidential and political, Nobel Prize winners, history et al is very high now and will be for a long time. The Civil War ended almost 150 years ago and its ephemera is avidly collected today. Most of the veterans of WWII are dead now, but its as big a collectible area as it has ever been. Being historical (antiques) can make things more collectible with time and bring renewed interest.

People often ponder the future of baseball card collecting, wondering who in the future will be interested in collecting memorabilia of dead guys. Babe Ruth died before most of us were born and quit playing before my dad was born-- and his collectibles are as hot as ever. There might be higher demand for Babe Ruth memorabilia today than when he was playing-- and there certainly is you measure demand by prices.

Also, collecting areas are specialty areas-- niches, often far removed from the mainstream television going public. 1800s baseball is a specialty, historical area, a niche market and most people on the street of any age haven't heard of King Kelly or Kid Nichols. Yet, prices for the cards are (obviously) high. So it can be errant to compare a collecting area to mainstream public sentiments. Science Nobel Prize winner autographs, Civil War generals, rare books, Francis Bacon paintings are all small esoteric niche areas that most people don't know or care about about, yet their stuff sells for top dollar.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

And another +1

Originally Posted by Leon

I don't care for MLB whatsoever but I love the game.

Agreed. I hate what MLB has evolved into. I would much rather watch paint dry than watch a MLB game.

Originally Posted by z28jd

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

Until you have some angry mom come knocking at your door wondering why you gave her kid 25 year old gum that made him/her sick

[bigfanNY]

First to stay OT Baseball card Collecting as a hobby is definitely here to stay and has always and will continue to change and evolve. My son was born in 1986 and both my Dad and I put away stuff from that year when he was born. He started coming to shows around 1990 and was a full participant on both sides of the table by 1996. When he got to high school that participation dropped like a Rock.
But both he and My daughter two years younger really liked going to live games. They both have lots of friends who are big sport fans. Many of those friends see my stacks of cards and are drawn to them "Got any Griffey Rookies" is a common first sentence. Because 1989 UD was a big moment in baseball cards and that shockwave is still felt by a generation that has not yet fully embraced card collecting.
Will it be different for my grandkids YES... Will I like it as much NO but everything changes and when I am open I find enjoyment.
I did give away wax packs for Halloween a couple of times. First time in 1988 I gave away that years Topps wax packs and was the hero of the neighborhood. last time I had to include a piece of candy or I got a frown from kids. But their Dad's liked it and they will pass their love of cards along to those kids so we are OK.
PS 1986 Fleer Basketball and Topps football made up for worthless baseball vending and he made it through college just fine.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Until you have some angry mom come knocking at your door wondering why you gave her kid 25 year old gum that made him/her sick

Unfortunately, I can see that happening. So, I guess the trick is to only give out packs of cards without gum. The good news here is that many products from the overproduction era were issued without gum, including the Donruss offerings of the late '80s.

Best regards,

Eric

[Econteachert205]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Unfortunately, I can see that happening. So, I guess the trick is to only give out packs of cards without gum. The good news here is that many products from the overproduction era were issued without gum, including the Donruss offerings of the late '80s.

Best regards,

Eric

I had a 1986 topps wax break in my collectibles club at school last year. I explicitly told the 17 year olds not to eat the gum. They still did and I'm happy to report they did not get sick.

[kamikidEFFL]

From my experience I basically started my collecting in the 90's. It basically was a bunch of 99cent packs of cards and looking for the hot rookie card 89 UD Griffey oh was that the card to have. Anyway I watched the hobby change from looking to collecting the sets n hot rookie cards or inserts to trade with friends. Then it went to game used memorabilia cards and autographs. Very tough cards to pull, something like 1:150,000 packs haha. It was fun but now seeing the new hobby all people care about are the 3 color patch autograph rc #'d to 5 to be worth something. I could see the new stuff pricing themselves out. My opinion obviously.

Anyway, I wish I listened to my uncle when I was real young and focus on the vintage stuff nope I was a stupid kid. what I'm trying to say is I changed my train of thought and figured go back to where things were simple and easy. I think we may see the same thing. Plus I have been to a few shows and see a bunch of young kids interested in the 50's stuff and even earlier. If you have a small amount of young ones interested and fathers/mothers showing their own kids the hobby it will continue to move forward. We can only hope.

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by drcy

Also realize that the demand for 'past it' collectable genres such as Civil War, WWII, Presidential and political, Nobel Prize winners, history et al is very high now and will be for a long time. The Civil War ended almost 150 years ago and its ephemera is avidly collected today. Most of the veterans of WWII are dead now, but its as big a collectible area as it has ever been. Being historical (antiques) can make things more collectible with time and bring renewed interest.

People often ponder the future of baseball card collecting, wondering who in the future will be interested in collecting memorabilia of dead guys. Babe Ruth died before most of us were born and quit playing before my dad was born-- and his collectibles are as hot as ever. There might be higher demand for Babe Ruth memorabilia today than when he was playing-- and there certainly is you measure demand by prices.

Also, collecting areas are specialty areas-- niches, often far removed from the mainstream television going public. 1800s baseball is a specialty, historical area, a niche market and most people on the street of any age haven't heard of King Kelly or Kid Nichols. Yet, prices for the cards are (obviously) high. So it can be errant to compare a collecting area to mainstream public sentiments. Science Nobel Prize winner autographs, Civil War generals, rare books, Francis Bacon paintings are all small esoteric niche areas that most people don't know or care about about, yet their stuff sells for top dollar.

This is exactly what I tell people when they talk about the demise of baseball as a sport and it's popularity going forward.

As vintage baseball card/memorabilia collectors we are both collecting things related to a sport (baseball) and antiques. Not many niches in the antique market have direct correlation to modern times... which actually makes sports antiques unique in that there is a "built-in" gateway to potential future collectors. What we collect IMO has a brighter future than most areas of antiques and of all sports baseball is by far the most tied into its past as most sports have changed sooooooo much since their infancy that they barely resemble each other, then there is baseball.

[HalChaseCollector]

I am 16 and think I can say in confidence that we have no interest in baseball cards. I do but I have never met a single other kid who collects modern or vintage. Also most kids don't even care about anyone who played because 1950 unless their name is Babe Ruth or Ted Williams. None of my friends know who Tris Speaker is or Walter Johnson! They think why have a baseball card when you can look up everything on the Internet? Also modern cards are kind of seen as a little kid thing. 6 and 7 year olds collect but give up when they get older. I'm starting to ramble but here is my general message- my generation doesn't appreciate cards and that is bad for the future of the hobby.

[Goudey]

Originally Posted by z28jd

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

As probably the youngest collector on this forum I think that I can speak for the amount of collecting at my age (High School). The hobby is fine right now, but in the future I can't agree and say it will be popular or even still around. I can think of maybe 3 kids in my school of 1500 that collect memorabilia. Maybe 2 of those kids collect cards and both like only new stuff. Vintage isnt interesting to them because they dont know the players.

[Rollingstone206]

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