Sportscards and Inflation

[glynparson]

As they get older and their kids move out and they have more disposable income I think many will look back to cards. I do not feel that they only have a 10-15 year window. Heck I hope to be around a lot longer then that. I'm 37 so I'm one of the 30 somethings I just never left the hobby like many of my friends. But what's funny is I have some friends who have started getting back into cards, one of whom made a fortune in the stock market and now has decided to start rebuilding a collection he started as a kid. So I see the future as having possibilities. I agree many kids dont collect sports cards but MANY collect nonsport and gaming cards meaning this is a segment (vintage non-sport) which is currently seeing some growth and may have even more opportunities going forward.

[tbob]

I wish I were as sure about the future of the hobby as many of you. The problem I see is that I realize there will always be the investment guys buying cards but as we get older (and a lot more of us are in the 50-75 range than you might think), you have a decreasing pool of guys who bought baseball cards as kids because they simply loved collecting cards of their heroes on the field. The popularity of baseball, as opposed to the NFL and college football, has been steadily decreasing and with the youth of America favoring a game of more violence, more action and more glitz, I have to wonder. I've been surprised at the number of collectors here on this board in their 20's and 30's but I have a real question about the future of the hobby because it seems based a lot more on investment and value with the kids than it did with collectors who collected cards when they were young in the 50's and 60's and gladly traded their doubles (even if they were future HOFers) even up for commons they needed but couldn't find.

[barrysloate]

There's no question that young kids today do not collect baseball cards the way the baby boomers did. Buying nickel packs and ripping them open was a rite of passage for kids of my generation.

However, I do think the future for vintage cards is still good. There is something about the old cards that appeals to many people, and I think any generation can appreciate the history of the cards and the game, and develop a love for hundred year old collectibles. Even adults who did not collect cards as kids can still love a nice tobacco or candy card. Things are always changing, but their is a permanence to old cardboard.

[Northviewcats]

I've been thinking a lot about this subject lately. While it is true that kids don't collect baseball cards like they used to, they still love baseball. There should always be a group of fans who love baseball and as they grow older will drift into purchasing old cards. I never could afford to buy old cardboard until my kids were independent. First, I collected the cards of the players that I idolized as a kid, but as I became more interested in cards I became fascinated with prewar cards and the history of baseball. Obviously, I've never seen any of these players, but I think about them when I look at my cards.

I know of at least five people who have seen my collection and have started collecting cards.

Also, as baseball expands to other countries, so will collecting. Eventually people from all over the world will be exposed to the pleasure of collecting old cards. The Internet makes it so easy for collectors to share their love for the hobby and trade in cards. Ebay, for all of its faults, has made it easy to get almost any card you want. Our Net54 Website site and others like it will fuel the fire. Collecting will be different than in the past, but I don't see a drop off in the prewar market, unless there is a catastrophic collapse in the economy.

Best wishes,

Joe

[M's_Fan]

I just think that baseball cards' value is tied to the nostalgia of the collector. Less kids collecting means less adults collecting.

There was something magical about finding a quarter and buying a pack of Topps or other brand with a stick of gum in it. You could pick a set and easily collect all the players. Just about every collector feels that nostalgia for their yout when they collect as adults.

Even if baseball cures its ills, the adults of tomorrow will never have that nostalgic feeling that will pull them into collecting cards. Some may still collect, but less will.

That said, I'm 31, and I sort of feel like I was a part of the last generation of baseball card collecting kids. After 1989, the card companies overproduced and killed themselves, thats why they say that the Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck is the last iconic baseball card. So I feel like I have another 70 years of collecting, so let's not get ahead of ourselves, vintage cards will continue to grow in value for a long time!

[Exhibitman]

I started collecting as a little boy in 1970-1971. About the only influence my childhood collecting has on my collecting now is that I am happy picking up cards from that era even though they aren't rare or expensive (I mostly buy them raw at the National and try to stay under $2 a card). I haven't bought a pack in years and don't even bother with modern (post-1980) cards except the occasional autographed insert I find on the cheap for a player I like, such as the Pride of New York series of cards covering Yankees from the 1970s and thereafter. My real collecting effort is in cards that predate my existence by decades and that effort did not really take off until about 20 years ago when I got out of school and finally had disposable income to devote to it.

Nostalgia is a funny thing; it doesn't necessarily spring from a direct association with the items as a child. Nostalgia can be for a perception of America in "simpler" times, or of baseball when the grass was green, or of baseball when the athletes were working slobs like everyone else, or pre-drugs and steroids (I know...), or before the DH, or before postwar expansion diluted the game. Or it can be based on the perceived beauty of the items in question. Or you can simply have a collecting "gene" that leads you into all sorts of hobbies (visit a postcard show and see the crap (from our POV) that people collect; they've got the same bug we do). My point is that whether a kid buys packs today doesn't necessarily predict whether he spends thousands of dollars on vintage cards later. I think a lifelong love of baseball is far more likely an indicator of future interest and I see little leagues booming and attendance at MLB games at over 75 million people a year. As for other sports, if they lead that kid to later collect football or hockey or boxing cards, hey, great, to me they are the "gateway drugs" to baseball cards.

[barrysloate]

Adam nailed it. Maybe our love of baseball cards began when we were kids opening packs. The next generation may not get their first taste of collecting until they are adults. It doesn't matter when you start, as long as the passion is there.