Future of the Hobby/ Responses needed

[brian1961]

Brianruns10 has written a right-on, well-written, thought-provoking reply.

I stand and salute him.

Forty years ago Lionel Carter and Frank Nagy helped me progress in the vintage collecting hobby. I've been at it off and on ever since. Once in a while I've given a few cards away. From the reaction pf the recipients, I felt almost as good as if I were the one getting some new cards.

Thanks again, Brianruns10. Bravo. Bravo.

--Brian Powell

[CobbvLajoie1910]

Originally Posted by brian1961

Brianruns10 has written a right-on, well-written, thought-provoking reply.

I stand and salute him.

Forty years ago Lionel Carter and Frank Nagy helped me progress in the vintage collecting hobby. I've been at it off and on ever since. Once in a while I've given a few cards away. From the reaction pf the recipients, I felt almost as good as if I were the one getting some new cards.

Thanks again, Brianruns10. Bravo. Bravo.

--Brian Powell

+1. Great post Brianruns10. Love your passion.

[campyfan39]

I agree, great post. I think it is especially enlightening coming form someone who did not/does not play or watch a lot currently.
However, you did have the connection with cards with your Dad as I did.
That is what gives me hope for my own three boys though only the youngest shows any interest at this point.
Great points all around guys thank you!

Originally Posted by brian1961

Brianruns10 has written a right-on, well-written, thought-provoking reply.

I stand and salute him.

Forty years ago Lionel Carter and Frank Nagy helped me progress in the vintage collecting hobby. I've been at it off and on ever since. Once in a while I've given a few cards away. From the reaction pf the recipients, I felt almost as good as if I were the one getting some new cards.

Thanks again, Brianruns10. Bravo. Bravo.

--Brian Powell

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

I agree, great post. I think it is especially enlightening coming form someone who did not/does not play or watch a lot currently.
However, you did have the connection with cards with your Dad as I did.
That is what gives me hope for my own three boys though only the youngest shows any interest at this point.
Great points all around guys thank you!

I think this is true of ANY hobby that you need someone to introduce you to it, to serve as a mentor. Because you won't get very far in most without someone to be a guiding force, at least, initially. In my case that was my dad, but it can also be an uncle or a family friend or heck just the neighborhood business owner or hobby club president.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Brianruns10

I think this is true of ANY hobby that you need someone to introduce you to it, to serve as a mentor. Because you won't get very far in most without someone to be a guiding force, at least, initially. In my case that was my dad, but it can also be an uncle or a family friend or heck just the neighborhood business owner or hobby club president.

Your first post is one of the best posts I have ever read on this board. Thank you.
On a few notes, I collect and absolutely love playing softball and baseball, and have for literally 45 yrs and running. I play in a very competitive senior softball league currently. However, my start was opening '67-'72 Topps as a kid. as I am now 52. My dad could have cared less. As for current MLB baseball, I can't stand it for all of the reasons you so eloquently stated.

BTW, the thread on the main board has some great posts too....

[David W]

Kids today do everything electronically. They text, not talk. They instagram each other when they are in the same room.

That does not mean the ways we communicated are better or worse, just that they do it differently.

So, on the matter of card collecting, my 11 year old son loves, follows, and plays soccer, basketball, and football. He follows them on his Ipad with his various "aps". I used to love the Sunday paper for the stats that were in it. I followed my favorite players that way.

He does not need a card to know the stats for Drew Brees, for Kevin Durrant, or D Wade. He has ESPN.

He does not need a card to know what they look like or who they play for. He has ESPN.com or Yahoo.com.

He knows all about his favorite players from Madden and other video games.

So he has a few cards here and there, mostly thrown in his closet. Give him a few packs for Christmas and he has fun opening them, and looking for Kobe, or Manning, or Matt Carpenter, but just like books are going the way of the dinosaur, and paper money is turning into plastic debit and credit cards, so is the "Hard Copy" of a sports card.

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by David W

Kids today do everything electronically. They text, not talk. They instagram each other when they are in the same room.

That does not mean the ways we communicated are better or worse, just that they do it differently.

So, on the matter of card collecting, my 11 year old son loves, follows, and plays soccer, basketball, and football. He follows them on his Ipad with his various "aps". I used to love the Sunday paper for the stats that were in it. I followed my favorite players that way.

He does not need a card to know the stats for Drew Brees, for Kevin Durrant, or D Wade. He has ESPN.

He does not need a card to know what they look like or who they play for. He has ESPN.com or Yahoo.com.

He knows all about his favorite players from Madden and other video games.

So he has a few cards here and there, mostly thrown in his closet. Give him a few packs for Christmas and he has fun opening them, and looking for Kobe, or Manning, or Matt Carpenter, but just like books are going the way of the dinosaur, and paper money is turning into plastic debit and credit cards, so is the "Hard Copy" of a sports card.

Have you tried giving him some vintage cards? Honestly, I think the modern stuff is sh*t. But when I show my vintage cards to people who know nothing about the hobby, they're always blown away by the colors and the design.

These items we treasure need not be discarded. Their meanings only change. The world isn't falling to bits, and in fact there is greater appreciation for the old now than there ever has been. I've got friends who collect vinyl albums, others who collect old books or by vintage clothing. It's all the rage.

And let me remind you, that for supposedly being a careless generation, we weren't the ones who had all our cards tossed out. The reason cards are prized today is because few thought or cared to save them way back when. They were just treated as a passing fancy, and tossed out. So the ignorance is not one-sided merely.

[David W]

[QUOTE=Brianruns10;1204235]Have you tried giving him some vintage cards? Honestly, I think the modern stuff is sh*t. But when I show my vintage cards to people who know nothing about the hobby, they're always blown away by the colors and the design.

These items we treasure need not be discarded. Their meanings only change. The world isn't falling to bits, and in fact there is greater appreciation for the old now than there ever has been. I've got friends who collect vinyl albums, others who collect old books or by vintage clothing. It's all the rage.

And let me remind you, that for supposedly being a careless generation, we weren't the ones who had all our cards tossed out. The reason cards are prized today is because few thought or cared to save them way back when. They were just treated as a passing fancy, and tossed out. So the ignorance is not one-sided merely.[/QUOTE

Oh, he likes looking at T Cards, and Stan Musial or Wilt Chamberlain cards, but they are 50 to 100 years in the past. He knows they are valuable, but he also knows the cards hanging unsold on pegs at K Mart or Wal Mart aren't.

And since he gets his info from E sources, and "aps" he looks at my ball card collection the way I look at my dad's antique radio collection - Cool and probably worth a bunch of money but who listens to AM radio on lousy speakers?