Is any of this Strasburg hype helping build interest in vintage cards?

[Doug]

Here's an interesting story about some guy traveling 1800 miles to the National to get a Topps Heritage Stephen Strasburg promo card http://yhoo.it/c32vWl and it makes the claim that he's getting people talking and buying baseball cards again. Is all of this hype helping the vintage card hobby? If it can get a person to travel 1800 miles to the National, they are going to get exposed (and hopefully attracted) to vintage material while they are there. Is there any chance this brings new collectors to vintage or do you suppose it will just spark the new card market for a while with people hoping to hit the manufactured rarity lottery and pull a 1/1 card of the next hyped up rookie?

[Matthew H]

There was similar hype in '01 for Ichiro and Pujols. I saw people at my local shop who probably never considered the hobby, trying to pull an Ichiro rookie.

If anyone noticed a boost in vintage cards around '01-'02, it was probably due in some part to that. If so, then maybe it'll happen again. However, I feel that pre-war cards are expensive enough so I don't know what kind of boost you want.

[ullmandds]

If it's encouraging people to talk about baseball cards...or buy them...then it will definitely help the hobby as a whole...especially with the plethora of modern issues ripping off the vintage card designs and names!!!

[Doug]

I think it's a good thing for the hobby to have something positive going on to draw in new collectors. I'd hate for it to be portrayed as some kind of lotto where you buy a pack of cards and hope to pull some 1/1 card that you can turn around and sell for $20k on eBay. It also doesn't help if it brings in more people paying $20k for said card so they can add it to their "investment portfolio" that used to be called a collection.

[4815162342]

First came collectors. Then came investors. Next came gamblers.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

First came collectors. Then came investors. Next came gamblers.

See, that's why the national would be perfect in Vegas.

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

See, that's why the national would be perfect in Vegas.

If the National were held in Vegas, the Pawn Stars pawn shop would see a huge influx of cards.

[timzcardz]

Submitted for your consideration . . .

Does interest in the vintage market benefit from The National? Is The National not the single largest showplace for vintage cards?

If so, would there be a National without the "shiny new stuff"?

If you look at the square footage of The National taken by Topps, Panini, Press Pass, Dave and Adams Cardworld, Blowout Cards and the dealers that are mainly newer material, I would venture a guess that The National would not be financially sustainable without the "shiny new stuff".

So, whether directly or indirectly I will maintain that the Strasburg hype, or any modern card collecting hype, helps build interest in vintage cards.