I'm Sick And Tired

[Gorditadogg]

James is still with us. He's at the Watercooler right now.

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[Jewish-collector]

This one of the threads that sometimes you just gotta say, "WTF"

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[theshowandme]

Cards can be fun. Don't let it get to you.

[Yoda]

One of the positives of TPG'ers is the case itself, preventing potential catastrophes of all sorts to our special angels. I will refrain from telling about when I sat of a nice E90-1 Tris Speaker which I had stupidly left on the sofa.

The other point is the grade received has become the price point for buying and selling cards via the SMR and VCP etc. Before it was the 2 parties arguing about the price and the grade, sometimes requiring arbitration.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Yoda

One of the positives of TPG'ers...

Sorry, but nothing that the opinion sellers have brought to the hobby qualifies as a 'positive' from my perspective.

Doug

[jchcollins]

I have a love / hate relationship with grading. When they screw up too often or offend my OCD, I don't submit for a while and sing the praises of raw cards.

I would agree with those who have said there is plenty of room in this hobby for you to do you. For me lately that has included low grade raw vintage, high grade slabbed vintage, and an entirely too-expensive jumbo hobby box of '23 Topps Series 1.

[Mountaineer1999]

I get where the OP is coming from. Many have been priced out of cards they want. One may have to alter their collecting habits to a "cheaper" version of collecting. However, this many times is not the answer as one has to try and create a passion for certain sets or grades, and that usually falls flat. Baseball cards have become more of an investment than a hobby. Personally , I would love to see a huge correction so I can finish off my 1953 Topps set (mantle, robinson, mays). Not going to hold my breath.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer1999

I get where the OP is coming from. Many have been priced out of cards they want. One may have to alter their collecting habits to a "cheaper" version of collecting. However, this many times is not the answer as one has to try and create a passion for certain sets or grades, and that usually falls flat. Baseball cards have become more of an investment than a hobby. Personally , I would love to see a huge correction so I can finish off my 1953 Topps set (mantle, robinson, mays). Not going to hold my breath.

People can always try to cast a wider net. While I would love to someday collect prewar HOF'ers, I largely haven't since getting back into the hobby about 8 years ago because most of the stuff I would want there has gotten so stupid expensive. I can get one beater marquee HOF'er from Goudey or T206, or I can get several nice, upper midgrade HOF'ers from the 1950's or 60's for the same price. To me that's a no brainer, I'm always going to choose the larger collection over only having just a few super pricey cards. So, with that situation - I could choose to be ticked off at what I can't afford (or more likely what I don't want to move to afford certain things), or I could just find other things to collect that still hold my interest.

In doing the latter, I've realized that there is still enough stuff postwar, 1950's - 70's that I don't have that I'm still interested in that I can probably stay busy for at least a couple of decades to come. So instead of worrying about pricey prewar, I'm going to finish my '72 Topps set, and maybe get to work on something fun and cheap like a '73 Kellogg's set. I guess some people get fed up and don't want to do that, but if you are open to casting a wider net and figuring out more stuff that you like within your budget, I think most collectors would be surprised at what they can make happen. But each unto their own.

[egri]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer1999

Personally , I would love to see a huge correction so I can finish off my 1953 Topps set (mantle, robinson, mays). Not going to hold my breath.

I'm working on the set as well, and I was rereading some old emails between me and another collector about it. I can't count all the times I mentioned passing on a card I still need at prices that seem quaint now.

[Rad_Hazard]

I primarily collect 19th century cards and what I've found to be a fun, and much cheaper, is to create starting lineups/teams with the cards. I've been able to research a lot of non-HOF players who've had amazing careers with the bonus of putting together a solid mostly non-HOF team.

Forgotten stars like Dave Foutz, Adonis Terry, Mike Tiernan, Chief Zimmer, Oyster Burns, and Mike Griffin.

[toledo_mudhen]

I have found that mass quantities of Tequila seems to "dull" the pain of all of this.............

[puckpaul]

In the immortal words of Sergeant Hulka, “Lighten up, Francis!”.

[G1911]

I got this T207 in today, it was a whopping $7 plus shipping on eBay. You can collect cards with a tiny budget; you just can't go for the top .1% of investing cards. There's ton of great stuff for the collector who doesn't care about money that can be enjoyed on a budget or no budget. I spent last weekend in the backyard opening 2 boxes of 1990 Topps football looking to make a set of disclaimer backs from them that cost like $10 total or something and had a blast. Enjoy it, invest in it, whatever people do it can't ruin the fun for someone else. That I buy cards for fun and to keep doesn't ruin things for investors, that they buy slabs with their 401K's they've drained doesn't ruin the fun for me.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by G1911

I got this T207 in today, it was a whopping $7 plus shipping on eBay. You can collect cards with a tiny budget; you just can't go for the top .1% of investing cards. There's ton of great stuff for the collector who doesn't care about money that can be enjoyed on a budget or no budget. I spent last weekend in the backyard opening 2 boxes of 1990 Topps football looking to make a set of disclaimer backs from them that cost like $10 total or something and had a blast. Enjoy it, invest in it, whatever people do it can't ruin the fun for someone else. That I buy cards for fun and to keep doesn't ruin things for investors, that they buy slabs with their 401K's they've drained doesn't ruin the fun for me.

Make sure the T207 doesn't end up in the fire along with those football cards.

Brian

[G1911]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Make sure the T207 doesn't end up in the fire along with those football cards.

Brian

Instructions unclear, I now have half a T207 with a crispy border.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

This one of the threads that you just gotta say, "WTF"

My 83 year old mother thinks WFT means 'well that's fantastic'

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

My 83 year old mother thinks WFT means 'well that's fantastic'

Here it means "Want to Trade For"...

[raulus]

So if you’re leaving the hobby does that mean you’re selling your collection?

And if you’re selling, do you plan to grade anything first as a means of maximizing your proceeds?

Just curious!

…and maybe a little snarky….

[abothebear]

I am poor. Thirteen years ago I got back into the hobby I loved as a kid. I wandered into a card store and discovered I could buy the cards from the 80s, 70s, and 60s I wanted but rarely saw back in the day, and for less than they would have cost me in 1992. I spent $5 a week building a collection of stuff that meant something to me for nostalgic reasons or because of the team I followed. If I skipped a week, I had &10 for the next. I got complete sets of 84, 85, and 86 Topps for $2 a $5 each. i soon discovered a Gold Medal Foods Ducky Medwick on eBay for $15. I couldn’t believe that someone as poor as me could acquire a pre-war HOFer. This led me to Net54 and a whole new world I never dreamed of having access to. Then I found a Ty Cobb without the Cobb price tag, and a Sisler, and a Ruth. And I eventually put together the whole Gold Medal WS set. It was great fun for a while. Now, all that stuff is 10x what it was ten years ago. Which is good for the stuff I already have, but bad for the $5 a week budget. I’d like to say my situation has also improved ten-fold and a $50 per week budget would be nothin to me. But unfortunately I can’t say that. Instead, what I’ve tried to shift to is trading. And that has been a blast. The trouble is that it is very time consuming. I often have to take extended breaks. Why do I write all this? I don’t know. Maybe just to recognize the OP’s frustration about how the hobby changes and that there are consequences - and that it is kind of lousy when you are in a groove with it and it all makes sense for you and then it gets turned upside down. If you are limited in how you can enjoy the hobby, and the hobby changes on you and messes with your limits, then you’ve lost your hobby, and the loss is real. But sometimes there are ways to pivot and discover a new angle to take and still find a similar enjoyment. I liked what that 60s Post Cereal set collector is up to (not for me, but I like the idea).

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

My 83 year old mother thinks WFT means 'well that's fantastic'

Please respect her enough to tell her the truth.

WTF means Where's The Food? (or sometimes Why The Face?)

And LOL means Lots Of Liquor.

[Exhibitman]

"WFT" means her grandson is dyslexic.