OBC - Old Baseball Cards (collecting club)

[jchcollins]

I was an OBC member for probably about 3 steady years in the early 2000's, and then off and on again for another year or so before finally deciding to give it up shortly after finishing grad school a decade ago.

If you are concerned purely about the cards and the condition, OBC is not for you. I was actually very much concerned about these things, but joined OBC at a time when I was actively buying and selling mid- to higher grade cards through other outlets as well. OBC for me was a way to expand the comraderie aspect of the hobby as well as meet some folks online and get some different perspectives. The "random acts of kindness" I did find to be more or less true. I had come to know of OBC from another online club (VCT) where trades seemed to be arranged in more detail in advance, so some of this took a while to get used to. In the end I thought it was more or less fair, though I did find some difficulty occasionally when I actually tried to arrange a trade rather than just shipping cards off without worrying about it. In the end, I left OBC because I had just changed jobs, was starting a family and had less time and money for the cards in general, much less the ability to spend the proper time looking through the want lists of others to be able to send stuff out and pull my fair weight in the club. There were no rules as such or certainly any formal tabs on keeping up and doing your share, but I felt bad about it - and rather than just continue to sit back quietly and take cards without doing anything in return, I quit.

If you are looking for true fellowship among hobbyists, OBC is a great place. People literally do become lifelong friends there. I could never step it up quite that much. I will say if I were still single, less busy at work, or just had just a ton of time on my hands otherwise that would likely get plunged back into the hobby - I would consider rejoining OBC. I do think to really do it justice it does require a certain dedication of time, though.

-John