I TOTALLY get the view that money has corrupted a child's pastime and part of me will always feel this way as prices skyrocket and people are priced out of cards.
But the logical part of me also has to acknowledge that this is not exclusive to baseball cards. This happens elsewhere in other "innocent" pursuits, including toys (check out these realized prices on old Star Wars figures:
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/...go-n09402.html), kids books (one of the first Harry Potter books sold for $37k:
https://www.abebooks.com/books/rareb...ns-books.shtml), video games (
http://mentalfloss.com/article/66183...ve-video-games) and more.
The positive spin, which I prefer, is that baseball cards are treated as an investment because so many of us find them fascinating and wonderful, giving us an emotional lift and reminding us of those more innocent times and pursuits of our past. And in my opinion, I much prefer how baseball cards have evolved and the future of collecting versus video games, toys and books.
And I hope that people do see the irony of any resentment over baseball cards being a commodity, considering their role in history to help sell tobacco, bread, gum, candy, etc. etc.