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Donny MuthI'm 33 and bought my first vintage card when I was maybe 11 years old. It was a 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle... got it for $33. By the time I was out of high school, I had made my first two T206 purchases - a Big Jeff Pfeffer with Sweet Caporal back in poor condition from a class mate for $5 and a Mordecai Brown in "Cubs Shirt" from a dealer at a local card show for $110.
When the insert and card grading craze started coming on, I got very disillusioned with the hobby and slowed down my card buying. I continued to work a little on building my collections of T206s and 50-60s HOFers/stars though. I also decided to try to complete the '59, '62, and '65 Topps sets. Still working on those... I picked up various other vintage cards just to have a type... two T205s and a T207 while at the National in Atlanta... a Caramelo Deportivo off eBay...a '33 Goudey of Mickey Cochrane, etc. I also started collecting Hal Lanier and Mickey Vernon cards as Hal was a college friend of my dad's and Vernon was my dad's favorite player growing up.
After another multi-year hiatus, I have returned to collecting and am focused on two main areas: 1) completing basic sets from the 80s and early 90s that I had started when I was a kid and 2) vintage, vintage, vintage - whether it be completing vintage sets, getting more HOFers, or getting a few types that interest me.
I think I will stick with vintage. I am guessing the current issues with MLB will probably continue to get more collectors, both young and old, interested in vintage material too. I've gone so far as to separate out players who have been tarnished to some degree in my mind. I put them all in a separate red covered album. Daryl Strawberry (my favorite player growing up - picked a real winner didn't I ??!!), Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Keith Hernandez, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds... I wonder how many red albums I'll need in the end?
So, I wouldn't worry too much about the vintage market drying up. People like old stuff anyways, and given the impact of the modern era bad apples, I think demand will continue to grow for vintage cards. That really only leaves us with one question - what should we buy now, while we can still afford it?