Why do you collect?

[bmattioli]

I have collected all my life. Like many others here you are born to collect..

[Eric72]

1. I have been collecting since I was 5. Although I have sold off everything several times, I've never stopped collecting.
2. I thoroughly enjoy the history of baseball. Cards connect me more directly with that history.
3. The different card designs offer a glimpse into America during the time when they were produced.
4. Quite simply...for the love of the game.

[Arazi4442]

Like a couple of people have said, my two main reasons are nostalgia and diversion. Every time I scroll a new auction, there's that chance they'll have one of the cards I've been waiting on!

Also, like most everyone, I got back into collecting later in life after collecting for years as a kid. My first goal was to not repeat the mistakes of my youth, which is to say, don't collect for 5-10 years and end up with 100 cool cards and 3 closets full of crap.

So, I made a list of 100 specific cards I wanted to collect. I tried to mix in expensive, cheap, easy-to-find, rare and that list quickly grew to 500 cards of all sports and even some non-sport. But has stayed at the 500 mark for a couple of years now, so I hope it doesn't grow too much. (Yes, everyone once in a while something will catch my eye that's not on my list and I'll buy that. What are you gonna do?)

[JollyElm]

My venture into the collecting world started with the first long, fun walk through the woods and neighborhoods (in the days when moms actually allowed their children to go off on their own) to finally reach the stationery store and buy a pack of cards with my older brothers, and has always stayed interwoven in my life, come what may.

I see the pursuit as a cardboard time machine, whether that involves marveling at cards that came out before we were born (and sending you off to read about those times and players) or remembering your childhood baseball card escapades with your friends or thinking about your dad launching balls high into the air so you can perfect your Willie Mays 'basket catch' skills. So, yeah, nostalgia.

[Exhibitman]

To paraphrase Terence Mann in Field Of Dreams:

“America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But collecting has marked the time. These items, they are a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”

Personally, I find that modern life is so frantic, so immediate, so consuming, and so impermanent that I long for something more. I want to reach that constant that baseball represented to Terence Mann (and yes, I am aware that he is a fictional character, but don’t let the facts obscure the point).

The mere fact that these things we collect are tangible sets us apart from the non-collectors. My wife often asks me why I want to keep a card when I could sell it for a profit. The non-collectors like her will never get the appeal these things have for us collectors; it is almost mystical. These things were made with great ingenuity and effort and care. They were meant to be enjoyed in the physical world. Some were meant to be cherished as heirlooms. Many were not, which makes their continued existence 100 or more years later all the more wonderful. Why would generations of someones save a scrap of paper through two world wars, two pandemics, depressions, natural disasters, and so on just so I could look at it 110 years later?

Pondering these questions is one of the things that gives me respect and, yes, love for old cardboard. I often think about the journey that items have taken. To me, it feels reassuring. Even though someone’s children or grandchildren just did not care about and would just as soon throw away the items, there are strangers who do care about these artifacts and will preserve them. That's what I find redeeming about the process: we collectors are the Memory Alpha for these people, both the subjects of the items and the people who cared for the items, just as other collectors will be for us after we are gone. Little Howie McCormick is long gone but his back-stamped T206 collection lives on through the collectors who have his old cards and actively trade and discuss them on card chat boards.

Now, excuse me while I go watch Field Of Dreams again.

https://youtu.be/Xq3hEMUeBGQ?feature=shared

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

TMy wife often asks me why I want to keep a card when I could sell it for a profit. The non-collectors like her will never get the appeal these things have for us collectors; it is almost mystical.

You've mentioned your wife's complete disinterest in your collections a number of times. What does she like then? Anything? Just spending money? Have you ever asked her whether you should channel your compulsiveness into being an alcoholic or drug addict instead? Would she be happier then if you had these more conventional adult pursuits?

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Pondering these questions is one of the things that gives me respect and, yes, love for old cardboard. I often think about the journey that items have taken. To me, it feels reassuring. Even though someone’s children or grandchildren just did not care about and would just as soon throw away the items, there are strangers who do care about these artifacts and will preserve them. That's what I find redeeming about the process: we collectors are the Memory Alpha for these people, both the subjects of the items and the people who cared for the items, just as other collectors will be for us after we are gone. Little Howie McCormick is long gone but his back-stamped T206 collection lives on through the collectors who have his old cards and actively trade and discuss them on card chat boards.

Good point! I've never really dwelled upon being a conservationist of history myself but it's well worthy of consideration.

[riggs336]

Because I always have and, to quote Van Morrison, it's too late to stop now.

[mrreality68]

I collect purely as an addiction

and mostly Ruth and Jackson and oddittie cards but many times my addiction has had me by what ever is the Shiny item in front of me that I think is cool

[Mark17]

1. To bring back, and retain, memories of my childhood.
2. To have attainable goals that I can make progress toward achieving.
3. To have events (auctions) to look forward to.
4. To acquire cool things now that will be increasingly scarce and valuable over time.
5. To diversify my assets.