baseball's falling popularity and its affect on our hobby

MyGuyTy · #1 01-27-2014, 03:32 AM

Quote:

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 · #2 01-27-2014, 10:38 AM

Quote:

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 · #3 01-27-2014, 12:16 PM

Quote:

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 · #4 01-27-2014, 12:23 PM

Quote:

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 · #5 01-27-2014, 12:28 PM

Quote:

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

wonkaticket · #6 01-27-2014, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MyGuyTy

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

I wish I can�t afford the divorce.

Besides I haven�t met a check yet that digs baseball cards where are you finding these girls?

Cardboard Junkie · #7 01-27-2014, 01:07 PM

Take it from me....you can't afford NOT to get divorced. (3X)

MyGuyTy · #8 01-27-2014, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Besides I haven�t met a check yet that digs baseball cards where are you finding these girls?

Now if I told you that, you'd just steal em all away from me......

Alright maybe I'll tell you, but you gotta promise not share it with Leon.......then we're both screwed......and not in that sense

Al C.risafulli · #9 01-27-2014, 12:33 PM

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 · #10 01-27-2014, 12:43 PM

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

MyGuyTy · #11 01-27-2014, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardboard Junkie

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

Shhhh........we don't need any of this getting out. Let's keep it professional

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