Really good documentary on Baseball Card Collecting today

[tschock]

Originally Posted by Leon

Mr. Mint actually makes a lot of sense

Especially with his somewhat crass but none the less accurate comparison to stamp collecting as a (dying) hobby. Lots of other insightful comments as well from the other interviewees.

Thanks for sharing!

[conor912]

I actually forgot stamp collecting was a thing. If you think the future of the CARD business is bleek.....

A fun watch, though. My 4 yr old daughter liked the "kid parts" but sighed and walked away every time an "old guy" came on.

[Piratedogcardshows]

Nicely done documentary.Thanks Leon for sharing.

[bender07]

Great watch. I love how the shop owners lament the post Internet world. Their monopoly was taken away from them.

[LEHR]

Originally Posted by bender07

Great watch. I love how the shop owners lament the post Internet world. Their monopoly was taken away from them.

I've always wondered why the guys with the "brick and mortar" card shops don't embrace the Internet and use that as an avenue for additional sales as opposed to sitting around complaining about it.

[ReefBlue]

Originally Posted by bender07

Great watch. I love how the shop owners lament the post Internet world. Their monopoly was taken away from them.

I had this exact discussion a couple weeks ago.

Speaking of new inventory that gets the new collectors into the hobby:

I got into this in 1988, probably the worst time to ever look at a baseball card that humanity will ever see.

Every dealer had stacks of the same inventory, they'd all charge the same prices (which were high) and no one would budge on anything. You'd have 10 dealers at a show lined up next to each other just like I described.

I wonder what all these dealers did with their 1988, 89, 90, etc Topps factory set cases they were asking hundreds for . . . I guess they could make a good step stool? Backstop for a shooting range?

"Ebay killed the card market!!"


Ebay didn't kill the card market, you dealers did.

I don't know what a cord of wood costs, but pound for pound couldn't be much more than cases of junk wax.

[oddball]

Thanks for posting!

[Leon]

Here is a facebook page about it

https://www.facebook.com/TheLastAmericanHobby

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by ReefBlue

I wonder what all these dealers did with their 1988, 89, 90, etc Topps factory set cases they were asking hundreds for . . . I guess they could make a good step stool? Backstop for a shooting range?


I don't know what a cord of wood costs, but pound for pound couldn't be much more than cases of junk wax.

Priceless!!!

I guess it's called evolution.

Regards to all,

Larry

[Exhibitman]

Interesting video, well worth the watch.

The "demise" of the hobby is less a death than an evolution. What is dying for sure is the old-school way of doing the hobby, especially nasty old men in brick and mortar stores reluctantly selling stuff to those pesky kids. The stores that have moved with the market and add value that cannot be replaced on Ebay--like box breaks and contests--are doing OK.

If anything, the technological changes have made it easier to collect than ever before, and easier to be a dealer too. Just the other day when I returned from my vacation I had packages come in from Argentina, Australia, Canada and several states, all with cards. I am way more active now than I was 30 years ago simply because I can buy, sell, trade and talk cards 24/7/365.

Rosen and the others are absolutely right about the modern card makers shooting themselves in the foot. Their business model has taken a major hit for many good reasons that are articulated in the video. It did remind me of something I thought when I was walking around the show floor at the National and seeing all of those essentially interchangeable booths filled with shiny stuff: what is their business model and how do they make real money?

As for shows, well, I think there is a collector base out there that will support local shows because the one thing you cannot get online is the fun of hanging out talkin' cards with your fellow collectors. The National has become more about renewing connections with my friends and fellow collectors than about the stuff I find. I can't even recall the last National I went to where I left for home broke, and my bankroll the last few years has been 1/3 of what it was in 2006. I wish all collectors could attend the National but given the logistics and expense, it isn't realistic for more than a fraction of the collecting community to be there, which is a shame. Again, I think local and regional shows have to evolve or die. When the shows are expensive to attend and hard to be involved with, they will die because the stuff is available online--people are going to say the heck with it and stay home. I hope that the shows Anthony, Jason and I are promoting reflect our thinking on the evolution of the hobby. Believe it or not, before we undertook the first show we did a great deal of brainstorming about what was right and wrong with the hobby and what we thought we could do to improve on the show model. Our 2nd Culver City, California, show is October 5th and we are following the same formula as for the first one: one day, no expensive autograph guests, free admission and parking, $95 vendor tables so a weekend warrior can come down, set up, and go home with minimal time and expense commitment.