How strong do you think our hobby will stay?

[homerunhitter]

I ask this question because for example in regards to HOF players, most of this generation that collects meaning the younger collectors, know and collect mike trout, ronald acuna jr , albert pujols, bryce harper, yadier molina, justin verlander, etc but some dont even know who hank aaron, willie mays or nolan ryan are! (true story) of course we all do, but the new generation can care less about a booby doerr autograph or a bob feller autograph or a luis aparicio autograph, they want a trout or harper autograph! so do you think for those that collect HOF autographs there will be much of a market for them in the future as there seems to be less and less of the younger collects that collect them like we do. what do you think?

[maniac_73]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

I ask this question because for example in regards to HOF players, most of this generation that collects meaning the younger collectors, know and collect mike trout, ronald acuna jr , albert pujols, bryce harper, yadier molina, justin verlander, etc but some dont even know who hank aaron, willie mays or nolan ryan are! (true story) of course we all do, but the new generation can care less about a booby doerr autograph or a bob feller autograph or a luis aparicio autograph, they want a trout or harper autograph! so do you think for those that collect HOF autographs there will be much of a market for them in the future as there seems to be less and less of the younger collects that collect them like we do. what do you think?

When I was a young collector in the 90's I only cared about Frank Thomas and Ken Griffey Jr. As I got older and matured I of course still cared about those players but grew to have an appreciation for the Ruth's, Mays, Aaron's, Koufax's etc.
I think thats the way it will always be.

[mrmopar]

"Booby" is weeping in his grave right now...

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

the new generation can care less about a booby doerr autograph

[theshleps]

I have also posed the same question. The non HOFers will lose interest. I do not think there wil be many 1954 Bowman set collectors for example. In general collecting is down. How many of the young folks collect stamps and coins? There will be some HOF completist collectors but overall numbers may drop. mantle, dimaggio, jackie, willie, babe etc will hold strong. Not sure about Doerr, Marquard, Rousch etc. Only time will tell

[Case12]

It's the same thing for Hollywood autographs or football autographs - you can get a Jim Brown for cheap, arguably the greatest football player ever. But Tom Brady is expensive. Point is that it's not just baseball, or sports only. It seems to be a progressive shift of generations.

[JimH5]

I think autographs as a hobby will remain popular, and even obscure ones can retain interest if they are displayed well.

A 3x5 in an authentication slab is ok, but that same signature, framed and matted with a period photo can be beautiful and interesting.

[Topnotchsy]

I've tried to come up with some sort of logic on this. There are things that one can point to such as players who you saw live, players your parents saw and may have spoken about fondly etc, but can't really figure it out. I know some have looked at trends for other hobbies such as stamp and coin collecting (both of which I know almost no one who has any interest in... though that just be the people I know).

Obviously, I think time will tell. I do find that as people get older many collectors of newer cards or items start to appreciate the older stuff.