Question for people who began collecting in the early 1990s.

[JWBlue]

Did collectors chase mostly cards they were ripping from packs or were they also looking for stuff from the 1980s such as Clemens, Boggs, and Gwynn rookies?

When I began collecting in the mid 1980s i only cared about the cards from packs I was ripping.

[mferronibc]

The former for me. Collecting was no fun simply to buy the cards, but rather to spend about 3x as much on packs to try to get the card yourself (i.e. me and 89 UD Griffey)! I admired the cards of the earlier 80s - Clemens, Boggs, Ripken but would never buy them for $50-100 if I could spend the same amount chasing Kevin Maas and Phil Plantier RCs.

[Rookiemonster]

I started collecting in 1992. I didn’t even know what a rookie was. I only wanted cards from packs. I liked 1992 Topps and I chased the Gold cards. I liked most of the sets in 1992. Fleer and Donruss from that time had great inserts. So I would say I chased INSERTS of the player l liked.


When I finally learned about rookies and read a few Beckett’s I wanted specific cards Ripken rookie, Griffey RC, Frank Thomas , and of course mantle mays and a other guys I never heard of that were valuable .

[todeen]

I was 5 in '91 when my parents started buying me packs of Topps. They sold them at our local grocery store. I can remember them because of the 40th Anniversary logo on them. I had no clue who was good or who was bad, I just liked the action pictures. The most famous players were the players on the local farm team - Billings Mustangs. We went to the games and I got the team sets and tried getting autographs.

I remained a pack collector even as I learned more player names, started watching games on tv, etc. Eventually in middle school I added buying specific cards in addition to pack buying. I fell away from packs about my senior year of high school. In college I started collecting 1961 Topps, and then there was a phase where I didn't really care to collect cards very much. I started buying autographed baseballs for a time. When I was about 22, I donated most of my cards to the YMCA (It was like 50k - 70k individual cards from the early 1990s). I kept the Reds cards, rookie cards, and some sets I had been working on. I got married and bought a little bit here and there. Then about 5-6 years I go I became more heavily involved with vintage Reds collectibles, continuing the 1961 Topps set, and buying Wheaties backs. I no longer buy packs, and I no longer collect modern. Last modern cards I bought were in 2005-06. The Topps and Bowman Heritage sets.

I buy maybe 1-3 items a month now.

[bnorth]

I collected from around 87-91 the first time. Bought anything Wade Boggs I could find and opened many many cases of cards.

My second venture was from around 1995-2002. Still bought anything Wade Boggs. Only opened boxes to sell. I was on eBay from almost the beginning. I never lost $ on a single box I opened till around 1999. Then very quickly it went from never losing $ to almost always losing money opening boxes.

Got back into collecting around 2006 and still buy Wade Boggs. I have opened a few junk wax boxes for amusement only.

[Mike D.]

I started collecting in 1987 at age 11. I feel like it was at least a couple years before I ever bought an individual card that was published before 1987. It was all about buying packs (and eventually boxes). I can remember buying probably 6 wax boxes of 1990 Donruss that year. Blah.

Now, it's probably been 10 years since I bought a current-year pack.

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by mferronibc

The former for me. Collecting was no fun simply to buy the cards, but rather to spend about 3x as much on packs to try to get the card yourself (i.e. me and 89 UD Griffey)! I admired the cards of the earlier 80s - Clemens, Boggs, Ripken but would never buy them for $50-100 if I could spend the same amount chasing Kevin Maas and Phil Plantier RCs.

That was me...I was a Ricky Jordan guy in 89...hahaha....

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by mferronibc

The former for me. Collecting was no fun simply to buy the cards, but rather to spend about 3x as much on packs to try to get the card yourself (i.e. me and 89 UD Griffey)! I admired the cards of the earlier 80s - Clemens, Boggs, Ripken but would never buy them for $50-100 if I could spend the same amount chasing Kevin Maas and Phil Plantier RCs.

Same here, packs all the way. I also remember chasing John Olerud, Ben McDonald, and several others I'm sure.

[Tripredacus]

I seem to recall it was mostly cards from packs, but there were some sports card stores around to get specific cards. While I was collecting baseball back then, I wasn't doing anything in particular with them. For me, it was football mania, since the local team really picked up in 1988 and didn't fall apart for another 10 years or so.

[giants1249er]

When I first started collecting, it was opening those packs and hoping to get my team (Giants) players. Now that I have way too many cards, I've bought/traded for Giants cards only with a few exceptions.

[Extra Innings]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

Did collectors chase mostly cards they were ripping from packs or were they also looking for stuff from the 1980s such as Clemens, Boggs, and Gwynn rookies?

When I began collecting in the mid 1980s i only cared about the cards from packs I was ripping.

I began collecting in '88-'89. Starting out it was packs upon packs which evolved into building a team set and further building a base set. I don't think I started focusing on certain players until a couple of years later. I remember when a kid would have the latest of someone (i.e. Will Clark) it was more desirable than getting an older card of that same player. A kids mind at work I guess.