baseball's falling popularity and its affect on our hobby

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

I don't think anyone is "on edge" about anything there's nothing to be on edge about. Mike perhaps you can explain "on edge"?

Don't talk about my hobby like that!!! Just the feeling I get when some people respond. Nothing personal...

How's the chocolate business going?

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[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by freakhappy

Don't talk about my hobby like that!!! Just the feeling I get when some people respond. Nothing personal...

How's the chocolate business going?

Attachment 130468

Still not following you Mike, If you're referring to the position that the hobby isn't going to fall apart in 20 years due to the short attention span of Americas youth or the decline of the shiny card business as an on edge response then I'm guilty as charged. Or as I see it it's just the counter offer to the gloom and doom hardly on edge.

Cheers,

John

P.S. Not in the chocolate business anymore I hear my neighbors kids like Redbull more these days so the chocolate business will fall apart 20 years from now.....

[mrvster]

THAT WAS GREAT! I'm dumping all my chocolate stock now to buy red bull stock

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Still not following you Mike, If you're referring to the position that the hobby isn't going to fall apart in 20 years due to the short attention span of Americas youth or the decline of the shiny card business as an on edge response then I'm guilty as charged. Or as I see it it's just the counter offer to the gloom and doom hardly on edge.

Cheers,

John

P.S. Not in the chocolate business anymore I hear my neighbors kids like Redbull more these days so the chocolate business will fall apart 20 years from now.....

Lol...not in 20 years, John...50-70 years! Like I said, this hobby is safe for the near future, but it's the long term that scares me...I hope this generation doesn't die in 20 years!!! I don't see this hobby completely dying out, but how can you deny that there is a strong possibility that it will not be somewhat close to what it is today?

Johnny...I love your enthusiasm and I hope I'm reading your comments on here for a long time I'm right with you on card collectors will always exist as long as there are a game to be played (or something like that). However...my view is not just considering that card collectors will exist, but what shape will they be in in the distant future. The evidence before us suggests that it will not be so merry like we want it to be...maybe I'm wrong, but how can anyone push this aside and just scoff at it? Either way I'm going to enjoy this hobby until someone or something pries it away from me.

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

P.S. Not in the chocolate business anymore I hear my neighbors kids like Redbull more these days so the chocolate business will fall apart 20 years from now.....

Ooohhhhh........U mad now?............that's cute.

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by MyGuyTy

Ooohhhhh........U mad now?............that's cute.

No just joking with you I thought that was what we were doing, having playful fun with each other since we seem to have different views on how the hobby pays out.

Did I miss something? Or are you taking this more seriously than I am?

I’ve been very straight forward and nice in my counters. You feel the hobby is going to crash and burn because kids today don’t collect modern shiny etc. I think the hobby is going to be fine because I don’t feel modern shiny and baseball attendance really impact peoples collecting of odd pre-war material.

Heck the last few national shows will show you that it's two different worlds. The people lined up for autographs and doing modern pack rips are rarely if ever the folks who swing by Leon and Scott’s table 15min later to buy a D381.

I also collect lots of non-sports cards as well how much of that subject matter is driven by current pop trends? Heck tobacco cards even. Cigarettes are so taboo now why would folks still collect tobacco items…I just don’t think it’s as simple as you paint it.

Then the demographics/economy. I do agree this may effect every day basic sales. However I don’t think economic changes will really impact the examples you presented. The folks that are spending millions to tens of thousands at every turn are most likely not effected by economic times like the rest of us may be.

Bottom line the hobby like all hobbies is driven by many people collecting for varying reasons not all are card collectors from youth who are die hard baseball fans living from paycheck to paycheck.

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

No just joking with you I thought that was what we were doing, having playful fun with each other since we seem to have different views on how the hobby pays out.

Did I miss something? Or are you taking this more seriously than I am?

These are baseball cards, how serious or personal can one take it? Lol.......now if you told me you were sleeping my wife.......you get it ............wait are you?

In all seriousness I surely do hope the hobby continues to grow, I just can't help but be concerned at the path this sport and hobby, that we enjoy, are projecting. It's not gonna stop me from buying what I need for my set, but the thoughts of looking forward will still be part of my mindset.

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by MyGuyTy

These are baseball cards, how serious or personal can one take it? Lol.......now if you told me you were sleeping my wife.......you get it ............wait are you?

Agree, second question is your wife hot?

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Agree, second question is your wife hot?

....smokin hot little Latina

Women are just drawn to guys who collect vintage!

With your collection Johnny, I'm sure you gotta have em lined up

[Al C.risafulli]

This is a great thread. I do have a couple of points to add.

I think the subject line, "baseball's falling popularity..." is a misnomer. I do not think that baseball's popularity is falling, and the numbers support me. Major League Baseball attendance in 2013 was its sixth best EVER. Using 2011 figures, Major League baseball was the top drawing professional sports league in the world for total attendance, and the fifth in the WORLD in terms of average attendance.

That's fifth in the world. The NFL is #1, growing an average of just over 67,000 per game - but I think comparisons between baseball and football are not apples to apples comparisons. I suspect that if baseball teams played in 80,000 capacity stadiums, 8 home games a year on days everyone has off, when the weather is cold and miserable, we might see different average attendance than we do when they play 81 home games, mostly at night, during the week, when the weather is more pleasant.

I think the same might be the case for television revenues.

In terms of collecting, my feeling is that the internet has taken its toll on a lot of different pastimes - including sports cards. That being said, I work with kids from 7 through 14 in two different youth baseball leagues and I'm impressed by the number of them that buy cards, as well as the number that seriously collect older ones. Frankly, it doesn't seem to be that much different, percentage-wise, than it was when I was a kid in the late 70s and early 80s. Perhaps since we're not kids ourselves, we're just not exposed to as many kids - and what they do - than we were when we were younger. Maybe it doesn't seem like kids collect because we aren't around kids as much as we were when we were kids ourselves.

To me, the card hobby seems to be big enough to sustain several manufacturers, who make multiple sets a year in multiple sports (and non-sports), and keep putting out new sets. It supports a secondary market that thrives on eBay and in what seems like a thousand different auction companies, three grading companies and three autograph authentication companies and umpteen message boards.

Ultimately, I think the sports card hobby will be just fine, for a long time. It may continue to change and evolve, it may experience rough patches, but I don't see it disappearing.

-Al

[Cardboard Junkie]

"Johnny"??......sounds like a bloody, budding, bromance.

[DerekMichael]

I found this thread to be very interesting, and just wanted to add one more thing, which is obviously just an opinion.

I am 27 years old. I am a great admirer of the T206 set. HOWEVER, I can tell you with absolute certainty that when I was a teenager or younger, that I did not give a damn about T206 cards, or any cards really. Sure, I liked them and collected VERY modestly, but the reality was that I wanted to see my friends and play guitars and have drinks and meet girls etc. etc. etc. etc. ... baseball cards meant nothing to me at the time, other than a way to have some fun with my Dad, who had not bought a baseball card since he was a teenager in the 60's. They just did not matter to me at that age.

In my opinion, collecting new cards and collecting vintage cards are two completely different worlds. I think "new" cards are dead by and large, for a wide variety of reasons, and that the younger generation is likely not to return to them. There are just far too many other things for them this day and age. However, as they get a little bit older, if they are anything like me, they will settle down just a bit, and look for something they can appreciate. I chose vintage baseball cards because I see them as genuine fine art for the baseball fan.

My point is that if people feel worried about the hobby in general because teenagers etc. are not interested in buying packs of new cards, that the hobby is in trouble, or will be. It just does not work that way. Even if they are not interested in pre war cards for example, it does not mean that they will not be somewhere down the line, it is just hard to have a genuine hobby at that age because so much is going on and it so, so hard to earn a living, or to be paying off student loans, or whatever it is.

Just remember, even if many people pass away, leave their cards to their kids who decide to "dump" everything, and there is a huge rush to the market, it only takes two people who really want the card for the prices to either remain strong or continue to grow, or whatever it is. ONLY TWO. So, who knows? ...

I do not mean this in an argumentative way, whatsoever. I found this to be a very interesting thread to read. I just honestly think people need to realize that by and large, the younger people (teens etc.) are not going to have much interest in this hobby for a variety of reasons, certainly not like it was in my fathers day. Still, it does not mean that they will not fall madly in love with at some point in their lives. There are just so many factors.

So, who knows? ... Not me!

Derek Hogue