Sharing the hobby with the next generation...

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by arc2q

I am really glad you raise this topic of passing on the hobby to children. I thought about this just last night as I looked at the shelves of thousands of virtually worthless cards I have from the 80s and early 90s.

As a kid collecting I always lamented that my grandmother supposedly threw out my father's old cards -- supposedly various cards from the 50s. Who knows what he really had but it haunted me. So I vowed never to get rid of any of my cards in case my sons wanted them some day.

Now, I have no doubt they may some day want and maybe even cherish the vintage pre-war cards I have (T206, T205, etc.), the good rookies and HOFers I have from the post-war era, and a select few big names from recent years. Well, maybe they won't, but I like to believe someday they will see value in those.

But will they care at all about long boxes full of 1000 random 1990 UDs or 1988 Topps? Doubtful. Should I even keep them or will it be an exercise in hoarding? I can't imagine in about 2023 my son is going to get excited as he shuffles through the likes of Damaso Marte, Ellis Burks, and Biff Pocoroba...

Then again, they don't take up much space if properly stored. When the time is right, though, I will try to teach the boys about vintage baseball card collecting. Maybe starting with the REA Catalog...

While I don't think cards from the 80's-90's will ever have any real value, I think years from now people will still want them because they were cards they collected as a kid. If you have no problem with storing them, why not keep them. Part of the good with those "worthless" cards is teaching kids how to take care of them. Better to learn on 1980's over-produced cards, rather than cards from the pre-war era.

I'm saving mine cards from then to keep me busy when I retire. Haven't looked through most of them in 20+ years, so having 125,000+ cards to look through will kill some time.

I'm also holding out hope that someone will organize a mass burning of piles of 1980's-90's cards, so the value of mine will go up. Might be a good idea for the national