Lack of interest in the history of the game

[orly57]

I don't think that the replacements necessarily have to come from within our own bloodline. We are a rare breed. As mentioned above, I didn't replace my father in card collection. He never collected. My 7 year old seems to have the gene. It is manifesting itself in Pokémon right now, but that's cool. Garbage Pail kids were my gateway drug.

[2dueces]

Guess after they’re done eating tide pods we’ll find out if they are collectors.

[orly57]

It's amazing how all those acid-eating, free-loving hippies of the 60s started making money and buying cards. It's almost as if life is cyclical.

[Rookiemonster]

Like I said in the money in the hobby thread. We will remember Ruth, Cobb etc but not lower level players in any sport. There will be to many to chase and to remember.

[ramram]

In the 1990’s I found out that my 1960’s/1970’s cards that I collected as a kid had value. I went to some card shows and sold my duplicates. Before long though, I started seeing how cool some of the early cards were at these shows. I loved baseball but didn’t know that much about the history. I did, however, remember hearing of Wee Willie Keeler so I bought his T206 for $20. Then I ran across a bunch of Old Judges and fell in love and bought several over the next few shows (but didn’t spring for either of the two Billy Hamiltons that the dealer had for $100 each ). Before long I was reading all I could about the history of the game and was hooked. I think the younger generation may take the same path - only interested initially because of the value of cards and eventually getting hooked by the history of the game....or so I hope.

Rob M

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

Like I said in the money in the hobby thread. We will remember Ruth, Cobb etc but not lower level players in any sport. There will be to many to chase and to remember.

The Monster Number thread seems to indicate the “set” hypothesis is valid and many collectors are buying cards of strangers they’ve never heard of nor would they pay 50 cents to see them play in a game.

Originally Posted by orly57

It's amazing how all those acid-eating, free-loving hippies of the 60s started making money and buying cards. It's almost as if life is cyclical.

I was not an acid-eating free-loving hippie in the 60s, but I lived with some. The current status of their card collections is unknown. Maybe we need a thread for them to chime in. I’m sure they have heard of the internet, but they may not be able to find it.

[bounce]

I actually think that history sometimes encourages collecting some of the vintage players.

As popular of a stat as WAR has become, check out the top 20. Of your current players, Pujols and Beltre are highest on the list. Just for grins - Mike Trout is 200-something.

Who knew without looking that Tris Speaker is top 10?
Frank Robinson is top 25 - that was a surprise to me, I knew he was really good but top 25 all time?

I think this generation will continue to be interested in the analytics part of the game, and while they may focus collecting on the current guys (same way I got started), the "education" they gain on the comparison likely opens up some other collecting interests. Sure did for me.

[glynparson]

Many kids in my daughters school buy cards, they buy football cards they buy pokemon cards and they buy baseball cards. I have several people i went to high school with that know i do cards, that will email me about there kids are now into cards and ask for advice. a younger friend from my old neighborhood is at the age where he has very good disposable income and has started a collection, he's in his late 30's still young enough to have many collecting years. I have been hearing it was going to die since i was 8 years old back in 1980 still waiting to see those types of prices again.