All Grown Up

Many times you will hear pro athletes say "We play a kids game for a king's ransom"

I sometimes think of this with card collecting, we're all just big kids.  And we want the cool cards, so in order to get what we want, we're going to have shell out some cash to do so.

ESPN's Dick Schoenfield wrote recently (to check it out click here) that all the card collectors have grown up and essentially the industry has lost out on later generations.  Many factors contribute to this: less cards per pack, more money per pack, Short Prints, "Base Sets", relic, autos, "hits", Topps only Baseball, etc.

I would be one of these "grown up" collectors, I am that guy Schoenfield talks about returning to the hobby and I do find myself not so much collecting current product, but to the 1980s and the baseball icons I admired.

All kinds of great memories building sets, buying packs, trading cards, card shows and the list goes on.

So where is the hobby headed? Are my kids going to enjoy this as much as me?  Is it really worth it to buy a $3 pack for 8 cards?

I don't know the answers, I have not been back in the hobby to make a case. I have seen others online discouraged.  I do know that  you have to know what you like and want to collect and not worry about all the rest. I do know it's not what it was back in the 1980s and 1990s, but I do know what makes anything strong are the people that are behind the cause, and in about 4 months of actively pursuing the hobby, I can say I have quickly found great people to keep it going for me.



Keep it hot on the corner, pat.