Future of the Hobby/ Responses needed

[Jayworld]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Kids don't really buy baseball cards anymore, and few attend games or play on a regular basis. Baseball as the national sport is dying, and that does not bode well for the future of the hobby.

There will always be people collecting baseball cards, and vintage cards should certainly remain popular. But the collecting community is shrinking, and the rapid growth we witnessed in the 1980's and 90's was a one time phenomenon. We won't ever see that again. The hobby will survive despite it, but it will be smaller. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Many collectors were turned off by the frenetic pace and rapidly escalating prices, and would much prefer a more relaxed environment. It is what it is.

I really like this statement by Barry. My two sons could care less about baseball cards, and every time I take them with me to the local card shop (1 of 2 in the Dallas area), I offer to buy them each a pack or so of baseball cards. They always politely refuse and opt for a pack of Pokemon.

I miss the local Dallas shows, such as the ones in Garland and at the Twin 60s hotel in Dallas, and combing through boxes of cards to complete sets. I purchased my first pre-war card at a local show back in 1979. Now, as another poster stated, the internet is the "local card shop" in that you can go to our B/S/T section or eBay and find just about whatever you are looking for to complete your set (my, isn't that a relic term for today's "modern" collectors who don't collect sets but instead collect "best pulls"). I've tried the modern cards on-and-off the past 4-5 years, and mostly they leave me cold. The best of the new for me is the Panini 2013 Cooperstown cards; they are modern, yet depict pre-war and post-war subjects in glorious black-and-white.

I'll stick with my vintage "art" (non-photo) cards, such as the T205s, T206s, T201s, 1933 Goudey, and the 1950-51-52 Bowmans....

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Jayworld

...... I offer to buy them each a pack or so of baseball cards. They always politely refuse and opt for a pack of Pokemon.
............

Frankly I'm not worried about a 200 year old Cobb card being worth less than a 100 year old Pokemon card.

I'm also not worried about "rock & roll oldies" radio stations being replaced by "rap oldies" stations in 50 years.

Our type of card collecting is more akin to antique collecting than to anything related to Panini or Pokemon.

When there are no more art museums, archaeologists, wine collectors, historians, etc,,,,,,,,,, there will be no more card collectors.

Until then, the hobby may morph as it has in the past, but it will be around, unless of course we run out of money.