What Happened to Card Collecting That I Knew?

[quinnsryche]

Times change, products change, people change. Just because you can't get a Mantle rookie for a dollar anymore doesn't make the hobby evil or broken. Sure, cards cost more, what doesn't? My parents bought their first house for $20K in the early seventies, mine cost $110K in the early nineties. My dad's first new car was like $1500, mine was $10K. The walk down memory lane is always lined with gold but there was plenty of dog-doo stepped in along the way (we don't like to remember that though, do we?). My son (11 yrs. old) LOVES new cards and couldn't give a hoot about vintage. Does that make him a bad kid, ignorant etc? No, life is lived in the present and everyone has their time in the sun. Look back fondly to the past, but don't overlook the joys of the present or the infinite possiblities of the future. The hobby isn't ruined, it's just different, and just as much fun as it was 35 yrs. ago (at least for me it is).

[bbcard1]

The hobby is the same it ever was. It involves the accumulation of cards you enjoy. The way the hobby is conducted has changed a lot. Kids don't collect much of anything any more and those who do have no interest in a low priced pack. That said, when you think about it the sustainability of buying a 50cent pack and pulling two $1 cards out of it (circa 1987) wasn't going to last forever. It was the real estate crisis without the government bailout.

I am sure I am in the minority, but I think the accessiblity of cards and the ease of which good people can make relationships outstrips the ability to pull a $5 Gooden rookie from a 50 cent pack.

[Jayworld]

Fred: To answer your questions about my avatar of Randy Jones:

I've been a Padres fan since 1974-75 (go figure; I've lived in Texas all my life). What first attracted me to the Padres was the very unique brown and mustard gold uniforms - unlike any other and very cool (with the coolest cap, in my opinion). I began collecting Padres cards along with the regular cards, and it grew from there. I have the Sports Illustrated 1976 issue with Randy Jones on the cover, and I got to meet him in person in 1994 on my honeymoon in San Diego. He was working his barbecue behind the left field stands at the Murph and was in full (albeit orange/navy) uniform. I got some pictures, he posed with me, and signed a ball and my program. Greatness to finally meet your boyhood favorite. I've corresponded with him on and off through email since, and recently he signed a Spalding brand (circa 1975) NL baseball for me. Randy is awesome, and represents the best of the brown and gold era to me. I've tried to collect all his Hostess and Kelloggs 3D cards. The neat thing is, he'll still sign cards through the mail when you send them to him in care of the team....

From others' posts, it does seem that cards did change in 1989 with Upper Deck coming into the hobby; more for sets; hologram backs of cards, tamper proof packs, Griffey Jr. rookie. Didn't Upper Deck start the "memorabilia swatch" cards as well? Kind of funny now that Upper Deck no longer has a license to produce MLB cards, in a way.

[Bill Stone]

I enjoyed seeing the reference to Richard Gelman's company. Yesterday I found a binder in the closet of a complete mint set of 1953 Mother's Cookies pcl cards which I bought from him.

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by quinnsryche

Times change, products change, people change. Just because you can't get a Mantle rookie for a dollar anymore doesn't make the hobby evil or broken. Sure, cards cost more, what doesn't? My parents bought their first house for $20K in the early seventies, mine cost $110K in the early nineties. My dad's first new car was like $1500, mine was $10K. The walk down memory lane is always lined with gold but there was plenty of dog-doo stepped in along the way (we don't like to remember that though, do we?). My son (11 yrs. old) LOVES new cards and couldn't give a hoot about vintage. Does that make him a bad kid, ignorant etc? No, life is lived in the present and everyone has their time in the sun. Look back fondly to the past, but don't overlook the joys of the present or the infinite possiblities of the future. The hobby isn't ruined, it's just different, and just as much fun as it was 35 yrs. ago (at least for me it is).

Bullseye Tony.

[David W]

I think one big difference between collecting in the 70's when I was a kid was about every grocery store, gas station, convenience store, and K Mart sold packs.

They were all the same - Topps - no confusion about multiple manufacturers.

Plus, cards were cards, we collected our favorite team, didn't care about other teams. If a buddy had Cardinal cards I didn't have, I'd trade him my Cub dupes. Steve Swisher for Lou Brock? No problem, even trade.

Now my son who is 9 doesn't even follow baseball much, he likes the NFL.

[leaflover]

The last game I went to was in Baltimore during the "National". Only one player in that game was wearing a proper(IMO)baseball uniform. Years ago, about 25, I used to go to Dodger Stadium every night. But no more, Never again! The only time I will go to a game now is when it is at a park that I have never seen before.

If I was the Baseball Commissioner, I would summon the umpires and order them to call the low strike on any player wearing long pants. And when the player turns around crying his eyes out simply tell him "Sorry sonny but I can't see your knees. Help me out." Then suggest that maybe they ought to start wearing a baseball uniform and forget about being a "Manny" look-alike!

Mike R

[Bigdaddy]

.....and he is us. Yes, the hobby has changed, and I can vouch that my kids don't hold their cards with the same esteem that I did. I'd buy cards in wax packs during the 1970's - seperate them into team sets - put a rubber band around them - insert the bound blocks of cards in to a shoe box - and go down the street and trade with my buddies. All without any regard for price, value, dinged corners, centering, gum stains, etc. All the things we look at (and even pay people to evaluate for us) closely now.

The hobby changed because of money. As long as kids (all of us at one time) were the lifeblood of the hobby, it was no more than pieces of cardboard with pictures of ballplayers. But then we became adults and remembered how much we liked those cards and created demand for them. And if anyone remembers anything from economics class, it's that as demand goes up, price will follow (with a fixed supply, such as previously issued cards). And if the demand goes up for future cards, supply will increase to match the demand - aka what happened in the 1980's. More companies entered the market (to grab a piece of the pie) and the companies produced record number of cards. All the while we kept thinking "Well if those cards of the 50's and 60's are worth so much now (25 years later), then the same will come of these cards" and we bought them as fast as the card companies could produce them. We now all know where that went. Same thing with Beanie Babies, the dot com stocks, and most recently real estate. Just a different number of zero's in the dollar signs for each of those markets.

We've come down from that unstainable growth, and the hobby has matured to a different level than it was in 'the good ol' days.' Better or worse, you make the call. I'm still in (though with a different outlook now). It's still a hobby for me, I don't have to make money or feed my family with proceeds from buying and selling cards. With apologies to Stephen Stills (Treetop Flyer): "I don't collect cards that don't make me smile"

[KenBoyerCollector]

My greatest memory is on Easter. My parents would buy a box for me and my brother and they would hide each pack around the house, easter-egg style. We would wake up and have to find all the packs. We would then open the packs and trade for the cards that we wanted. Thanks for stirring up this memory with this thread!

Andy