baseball's falling popularity and its affect on our hobby

[steve B]

Originally Posted by MyGuyTy

Why did it take this hobby until the 1980's/1990's to start bringing in ENORMOUS prices for vintage items??? Because the interest in (over) paying silly prices for cards was non-existent despite the fact that there were in deed many "collectors" in this hobby. It was actually about the hobby itself and the love of the game. The 80's roared in with a cultural, economic and direct financial boom and these professionals who were baseball card collecting kids in the 50's and 60's decided it's time to start spending some serious money on old baseball cards to rekindle that passion. A "passion" that is quickly fading away with today's kids.

A big part of the hobby becoming bigger in the late70's to early 80's was the group of early dealers. There was also a huge surge in all popculture stuff at the time.

The early hobby was somewhat underground. People collected but it wasn't easy finding other people collecting the same stuff. Sports stuff was a small sideline to general ephemera, and if it turned up at all it was usually with an antique dealer who was more interested in other things. Then a few people started advertising in more mainstream publications like the sporting news. The ads I remember were ones offering something like 1500 for a Wagner. that got the idea into peoples minds that those old cards might be worth something.
I think another thing was growing interest in the sport because of Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Mays faded, but Aarons getting closer to Babe Ruths record attracted a lot of attention from non-fans. And the record being older attracted interest to earlier baseball. (SABR and a few other things helped too)
Antiques as a pursuit had become a bit stuffy, Stuff had to be old enough, Usually 100 years and everything else was just "modern junk" But a lot of that modern junk was actually very solid aesthetically. And since there wasn't a whole lot of stuff from before 1880 besides furniture, paintings and china/pottery.
So there was a building interest in the other stuff. Especially small stuff that was interesting and had a potential theme to it. Baseball cards fit that really well. Lots of memorabilia didn't. Even into the early 80's - My first game used bat was only nine bucks, and everyone thought buying it was a bit nuts.

There was a lot of other stuff that could have become just as big. Records, postcards, toys, .........But while all that stuff took off too, it didn't have the elements that cards had.
collecting most of those things isn't finite. There are millions of different postcards, and even if you only collect one city there are always "new" ones you've never seen before. And there were no checklists, and few or none that were "special" Meaning they had the three huge elements that make an iconic item - Rarity but not TOO rare, a subject that crosses boundaries, and a great story.

Baseball cards had a lot going for them. They were small. The heavy lifting of making lists of what existed was largely done, making it possible to collect a particular group - maybe just t206 southern leaguers, maybe just bell brand, maybe just your favorite team. So there was a specific goal possible. People love a "complete" collection. And there were already a few "special" cards. The Wagner, Plank, maybe Magie and a couple of the T207s. The Wagner rose to the top because of the great story. And that drove interest.
(Just like the upside down airplane stamp, and the 1955 and 1972 double die pennies - None are truly rare, but they all have fascinating stories, the coins less so. Maybe the 1913 liberty nickels or 1804 dollars would be better examples for the story but the 1913s are truly rare.

ALL pop culture stuff got "big", but baseball cards had what it took to become HUGE.
Of course there's a potential for it to fade. But I've been hearing the "the hobby is doomed" since maybe 1981. I'm sure the guys who have been doing it longer heard it earlier.
I've seen articles from the 1890's proclaiming the end of stamp collecting.


Steve B