Sports Card Addiction Is Slowly Coming Out of the Shadows Article

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't feel like this happens to "collectors". I feel like this is only a problem for "gamblers" who find their attention momentarily on sports cards. I'd be willing to "bet" the same people who are "addicted" to sports cards have had other fads they were similarly addicted to in the past.

I disagree. I am sure they are guys who have been checking ebay while their wife is in labor or during their daughter's dance recital to see if that rare Polar Bear back they have been chasing has been listed by any chance. Or even at a funeral home.

You can be obesssed chasing money and you can be obsessed just chasing things.

[packs]

I don't think browsing is a sign of addiction. People who like to watch Texas Hold Em aren't gambling because they're watching.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think browsing is a sign of addiction. People who like to watch Texas Hold Em aren't gambling because they're watching.

Allow me to suggest that if your mere browsing is interfering with your ability to enjoy and be present for every other aspect of your life, then it's probably gone too far.

[packs]

Originally Posted by raulus

Allow me to suggest that if your mere browsing is interfering with your ability to enjoy and be present for every other aspect of your life, then it's probably gone too far.

No disrespect but I think you're talking about having a phone at all and not baseball cards.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by packs

No disrespect but I think you're talking about having a phone at all and not baseball cards.

You're definitely right that smartphones are a big part of the problem.

[darwinbulldog]

Free markets are going to produce addictive products. That is, unfortunately, a reliable path to profits, and the addictiveness of the products on offer "improves" more with each successive year than the human brain's ability to resist them improves with each successive millennium. Baseball cards are one such product for a very small segment of the population, but there are thousands of others that have the same effect on the dopamine channels of much larger numbers of people.

[Orioles1954]

I remember getting a consignment from the family of a man who had accumulated over a million cards in his house. After his death, his children loaded up a couple of U-Hauls and brought his collection our way. One of them told me, "he didn't give a damn about his kids or family...he put every part of his life into these cards. I'm glad they're gone." Unfortunately, I have seen this happen multiple times.

[Snapolit1]

People can spend their hours/days/months/years doing whatever they want. Always worth keeping in mind that that obscure card you've been chasing for 11 years probably will mean very little if anything to folks 2 minutes after you die. Will be sold by someone who likely will have a small fraction, if any, of the feelings you have for said piece of cardboard. So if you are buy now to flip, or buying now to hoard until someone else eventually sells, I don't see the big difference. Fulfilling some kind of psychological need. I don't see one as being better or more impressive than the other. I hope my kids are impressed someday with the goodies I leave them. And I hope they turn around and sell it all and use it to travel and do cool stuff.

[hcv123]

It seemed like it was largely pointed at the ultra modern chase card gambling - buying and ripping packs looking for the big win similar to playing the state lottery or other game of chance. I can see the addiction overlay there. While I will not say "never", I see the probability as a lot lower for vintage collecting.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by hcv123

It seemed like it was largely pointed at the ultra modern chase card gambling - buying and ripping packs looking for the big win similar to playing the state lottery or other game of chance. I can see the addiction overlay there. While I will not say "never", I see the probability as a lot lower for vintage collecting.

I agree. Dealers sell unopened and do breaks because the odds favor the dealers; it is far more profitable to a dealer to sell boxes or break slots than to actually shuck the cards out of the packs themselves and sell the good ones at retail. If the opposite was true, the dealers would just do the latter. Yet people still spend a ton on breaks, despite empirically bad outcomes. Another example of magical thinking in the hobby.

[luciobar1980]

NEWS FLASH:

A person can be addicted to almost ANYTHING.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think browsing is a sign of addiction. People who like to watch Texas Hold Em aren't gambling because they're watching.

Though I imagine people have figured out a way to gamble on the outcome of Texas Hold Em tournament broadcasts.

Brian

[G1911]

Racking up debt to buy cards is a bad thing? The boards advice was to go take out loans from the bank and to empty my 401K to buy more cards!

[x2drich2000]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I disagree. I am sure they are guys who have been checking ebay while their wife is in labor or during their daughter's dance recital to see if that rare Polar Bear back they have been chasing has been listed by any chance. Or even at a funeral home.

You can be obesssed chasing money and you can be obsessed just chasing things.

100% agree with this. Addiction comes in many different forms. Addiction doesn't mean just ripping packs looking for the big hit. It also doesn't need to be expensive or financially draining. It could be a shopping addition by winning cards, browsing auctions/ebay, or even this site. It is just a need to be doing something with an adverse effect.

[packs]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

100% agree with this. Addiction comes in many different forms. Addiction doesn't mean just ripping packs looking for the big hit. It also doesn't need to be expensive or financially draining. It could be a shopping addition by winning cards, browsing auctions/ebay, or even this site. It is just a need to be doing something with an adverse effect.

I would call that obsession and not addiction. And I think as collectors we can all relate to obsession. When I buy a Ruth I've been eying for a long time I feel a sense of relief for my obsession. But I don't feel an immediate need to buy another one. I have been satisfied, which I think is the difference.