CBS Baseball card collecting story "It's gonna die... "

[kmac32]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! LOL

[mintacular]

This conversation reminds me of the Mark Twain quote that goes something like "the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"

[obcbobd]

I think that even though the piece could have been a lot more thorough in its analysis, especially with regards to pre-war cards, that the general premise might be true.

I think there are a lot more guys 30-60 years old collecting cards than 10-30 years old. In 20-30 years the collecting community will begin to lose a large percentage of collectors to old age for the first time, as the generation who are in their 70s/80's now did not have a lot of collectors either. For the first time the # of collectors is likely to decrease, and in 20 or so years that decrease is likely to be dramatic.

Supply stays the same, demand goes down = lower prices. Gee I wish I were 20. I think there will be a lot of bargains in the future.

[Orioles1954]

Oh please, I've never been to a card show (even during the late 80s/early 90s peak) where certain dealers WERE'NT bitching and moaning about how much the show sucked. From a a whiny dealer perspective, every show in the history of the hobby has been horrible.

[Taxman]

There was another board member seen in the show...Dick DeCourcy aka Uncle Dick could be seen in the background. He is UD on the board.

[ullmandds]

Apparently I'm in the minority...but I agree with BOB!

[zljones]

Fear not, not all collectors are middle aged. I am only 31 years old and I have been spreading the word to as many people as I can that cards are still not dead and they are still worth something. I am also going to work on my fiancee's son he is 13 and very popular in school, if I get him hooked then he can get his friends hooked then it can spread. Now if only they could make cheap packs of cards.......

[obcbobd]

Originally Posted by zljones

Fear not, not all collectors are middle aged.

There ARE exceptions, but the majority are I think.

Here's an example. I am a member of OBC (www.oldbaseball.com), a trading group of pre 1980 BB cards. I just downloaded our directory and did some very quick excel manipulations.

We have 158 members
average age is 51
0 people born in the 90s
5 people born in the 80s
21 people born in the 70s
65 people born in the 60s
43 people born in the 50s
24 people born in the 40s

I would be very interested to see similar numbers, assuming they could be obtained from Net54. But I think the numbers above show the future will have a lot less BB card collectors. Not a bad thing, times change, and that means more BB cards for those of us who still collect.

Either way I'm still having fun and hope you are too!

[Leon]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

There ARE exceptions, but the majority are I think.

Here's an example. I am a member of OBC (www.oldbaseball.com), a trading group of pre 1980 BB cards. I just downloaded our directory and did some very quick excel manipulations.

We have 158 members
average age is 51
0 people born in the 90s
5 people born in the 80s
21 people born in the 70s
65 people born in the 60s
43 people born in the 50s
24 people born in the 40s

I would be very interested to see similar numbers, assuming they could be obtained from Net54. But I think the numbers above show the future will have a lot less BB card collectors. Not a bad thing, times change, and that means more BB cards for those of us who still collect.

Either way I'm still having fun and hope you are too!

We have done a poll on age previously, on Net54baseball. Understanding we are a bit older crowd our average age is 43-44 yrs old, from what I recall. Personally I turned 50 approximately 6 mos ago. But.....I think it's time for a new poll as we have a lot of new members whose age has never been asked....

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

Oh please, I've never been to a card show (even during the late 80s/early 90s peak) where certain dealers WERE'NT bitching and moaning about how much the show sucked. From a a whiny dealer perspective, every show in the history of the hobby has been horrible.

I am a whiny dealer/collector and I have never been to a poor show. IT's all about perspective I guess. I actually think the vintage hobby will be strong for the foreseeable future. I realize the new card hobby needs to get better but it doesn't sound like there has been an answer to that yet.

As for the CBS article, it's the same thing O'keefe and I spoke about 4-5 yrs ago when he quoted me in an article. It's easy to look at the bad and overlook the good. For me there is a ton more good in the hobby than there is bad. Anyone that attends the Net54baseball Dinner at the National will probably agree, between cold ones!!