Would you be in this hobby but for the Internet?

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Posted By: Scot Reader

Peter's thread on the Golden Age of the hobby got me thinking. I think we are living in the Golden Age of the hobby because the public Internet has made more material available and on a more level playing field than ever before. Indeed, I became re-involved with this hobby because of the Internet--more particularly eBay. I wonder how many out there in Net54land would be active in this hobby if the public Internet did not exist. I daresay I probably would not.

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Posted By: Jim Dale

Without the WWW I wouldn't be into cards again - I quit long before the WWW due to the industries lousy products

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Posted By: R Duff

I collected as a freshman in high school but lost interest after that. The internet rekindled my hobby activities and I now enjoy continuing the search for my holy grail, the elusive Spider Wilson card.

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Posted By: Jeff Prizner

Grading and the internet got me back into the hobby. Damn you Joe O. and Al Gore!

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Posted By: jay behrens

Nope, I got dragged back into the hobby because of my brother's incessant questions about t202s and t206s. The internet is nice, but I already had plenty of contacts in the hobby that the internet wasn't really necessary for me to get back in and find the things I wanted. The only things the internet did was cause me to lose focus for awhile and collect Indian cards, which proved to be very lucrative

Jay

The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.

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Posted By: Darren

I've been in the hobby since 1976.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Back since 1981 myself. WWW is nice but I liked shows better, so I would be here no matter.

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Posted By: steve yawitz

I'm sure my story is typical: Collected as a kid and teen before drifting away from the hobby during the college years only to get back into it when I discovered eBay and PSA almost simultaneously in '98 or '99. I do kinda miss the old card show days, but certainly don't miss the feudal system that existed back then. Much of the appeal of collecting today is that the internet has been such a democratizing force in the hobby.

http://imageevent.com/yawie99

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Posted By: Scot Reader

Well put, Steve. I like your characterization of the Internet as a "democratizing" force.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Without the internet I would not be able to find anything and thus would probably not be collecting today.

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Posted By: JK

Like Steve and others, I quit collecting when I went to college. Discovered collecting again thanks to Becketts Magazine. Originally the modern autograph cards of older players that I once collected and the remakes of cards like the topps t206s drew me back in. Without Ebay and the internet, however, I never would have discovered vintage card collecting and quite possibly would still be chasing the glossy stuff.

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Posted By: paulstratton

Yes, but my collection would be smaller and have less variety.

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Posted By: Joann

I wouldn't even know the hobby existed but for the Internets.

J

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Posted By: boxingbaseballgolf33

The internet has made it possible for me to spend more time with my family and still enjoy my hobby and side business. Resources on the web are great and I have learned a lot about baseball history. I still do some smaller shows and a few of the larger shows and enjoy them very much. The costs of traveling and taking time off work can be a hassle, so the internet makes it a bit easier to keep me posted about the hobby and the direction it maybe going. Auctions have really increased the interest with vintage sports cards and other sports items and I feel the trend will continue.

Jimmy

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Posted By: MVSNYC

yes, i absolutely would be in the hobby, even without the internet.

i started collecting BEFORE the internet, going to mall shows, cards shops, and started building relationships with dealers and fellow collectors in the early '90's (jay wolt, levi, many dealers i would see at shows, etc)...

the internet has helped my collection and the hobby greatly, BUT, without it, i would still be digging in crates at mall shows...i miss that, actually.


Michael Sarno,
Collector

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Posted By: T206Collector

...shifted dramatically from shiny new crap, which I collected in droves up through 1998, to T206 cards, of which I had 2 in 1998, as a result of the internet and, more specifically, ebay.

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Posted By: Mark L

yes I would be in it but would have to spend more time driving to shows to buy a far more limited range of cards.

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Posted By: Joseph

The internet is the one of the most important inventions in the history of commerce.

It is THE most important invention in the history of the commerce of "collecting" because things that are collected are available in fixed supply and the internet facilitates trade
in such commodities in ways inconceivable 20 years ago.

The internet has enhanced my collecting experience, but I'd still be plodding along if it didn't exist.

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Posted By: John S

The internet has definitely helped to increase the size and diversity of my collection. I do, however, miss the "flea-market" atmosphere of shows that I attended in the 80's.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

the internet does take away from the elusive find through pure luck. It was fun to get Barry-Steve-Rotman- Wheat....even Festberg's stuff and hoping to have money and timing.

I remember the excitement from just getting a new t206 hof and looking at the name at the bottom. The lust isnt there but for the rarity I cannot usually afford.

I would never spoil or degrade anyones collection .We are all different.....we just sorta graduate.

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Posted By: Jason L

Exactly what Jim Dale said in the second post!!!

I was long gone from the hobby. Originally turned away by the crap of post-1988 supply of product, then due to financial constraints of schooling, crappy jobs, marriage, more schooling, first house, and then first child. Then came my discovery of Ebay and some discretionary spending money, and Voila! I am happily broke again, but more mindful of relative value and scarcity!!!

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Posted By: Paul S

In before the worldwide web.
Out but still curious before the worldwide web.
Back in because of the worldwide web.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

I started collecting in 1977 and started collecting vintage cards around 1979. I collected on and off after 1983 or so, whenever I found something interesting (which was not frequently at all).

I sold my best vintage cards in 1991 so that I could afford to eat, and promised myself that I would eventually rebuild my collection. I went to card shows fairly regularly throughout the 90s, and in the later 90s discovered the old Rotman auctions (the ones they had every other Thursday night), and began participating in the auctions they had where each lot opened at $5, just bottom-feeding.

Four years ago or so I started buying cards with more frequency, using eBay, the internet, and the major auctions, and selling cards via eBay whenever I upgraded something.

So if it wasn't for the internet, I'd still collect, but not to the degree that I do today.

-Al

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i have an interesting keepsake...that might be worth something?...

i was at the Live Guernsey's Auction @ MSG in January 1999, for the sale of McGwire's 70th HR Ball ($3M)...

at that auction, there was a new company called "eBay" that was handing out "press-kits" promoting their new website (i think they launched a few months earlier), i saw most people throwing these away...BUT, i have mine safe and sound in it's original folder...

who else has one of those?

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Posted By: Max Weder

Mike

I checked my account, and I have been an ebay member since February 15, 1997, and it had started at least a number of months before that.

As for the internet, I don't think I would have as many cards without the net as it has certainly increased my interest in cards, but without the net, I still would be rummaging around book and antique stores, looking for dusty baseball books and ephemera.

Max

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Posted By: robert a

I would still be involved a little, but not nearly as much. Which might be a good thing?

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Posted By: John Harrell

Everything card related in Montgomery closed about 10 years ago. With nothing
within about 200 miles or any consequence, suffice it to say I wouldn't be in
the hobby without the net. It was about 10 years ago I stumble onto the OBC
group on the web, and that was my lifeline to collecting for a long time before
Ebay cranked up full scale.

John

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Posted By: Joe Pelaez

It was the fun of finding a new card to fill an empty slot.

The fun of meeting collectors, and dealers in shows all over the country.

The fun of getting to know about vintage cards before the investors entered the hobby and made it a market.

The fun of putting together the majority of what I have, before the WWW. and slabbing took hold.

Best of all.

I still maintain the joy and fun as I did, when I first filled an empty slot in a set binder. ... prior to WWW.

WWW ... only made it easier ..... but I was already a hopeless collector.

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Posted By: Josh Adams

I would still be a collector if not for the internets, but I would imagine that collecting would be alot tougher!

Also, as Dennis said earlier, I remember the vast number of shows in the Chicagoland area every month. Those were some great times.

Thank you Al Gore!

Go Go White Sox
2005 World Series Champions!

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Posted By: Shawn Chambers

The internet definitely helped me re-discover the hobby and pursue a new direction.

Started collecting in the early 80s as a kid and continued up through the 90s. Started losing interest in modern stuff, but my area had NO old cards at any of the shops. So kind of gave it up. Even now, I live in a fairly decent sized city (300K people or so) and 2 shops closed this year (no pre-war in either) and maybe only one shop left that sells modern only.

The internet has made it possible for me to see cards I never knew existed and communicate and expand my knowledge in ways that my local community can't provide -- no matter how many card shows I attend (which are few, far between, and poor).

Just this board alone has increased my knowledge a hundred-fold in just the past six months. That is amazing to me! How brilliant to have access to the minds and collections of some of the best and brightest in the hobby at the flick of a switch!!

Shawn

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Posted By: MVSNYC

Max-

upon jogging my memory, i think they launched in 1997 and went public in 1998...so this was a press kit packet to promote the site & company for possible investors.

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Posted By: Mark

When I collected in the 80s, it was difficult to find people to buy from, or sell to, other than dealers.
Dealers would buy back a card they had sold for a mere fraction of the price. I recall many price guides of the day reflecting this, showing both a "retail" (sell) price and a "wholesale" (buy) price (typically half of the retail price). I would have never put any serious $$ into the hobby under that system.

In my opinion, the internet (mostly eBay) made it easy for non-dealers to buy and sell cards from each other. The result was a marketplace where cards are valued without a retail-wholesale distinction, so it's possible to buy a card with the expection that you'll get more than 50% of your money back.

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Posted By: Phil Garry

One thing is for sure, without the internet, I would certainly not have been able to amass the collection of HOF RC's that I have put together.

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Posted By: John Kalafarski

I think card stores and shows would allow me to collect, but it would be much tougher to get exactly what I want (and could afford). Prices would be lower, but I'd never own the Goudey yellow Ruth that looks like a master's painting.

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Posted By: barry arnold

I started collecting as a boy in 1959 but didn't really find vintage heaven
until i was near the end of grad. school in 1982.
I 'slowly' collected until about 5 or 6 years ago when WWW started to kick in
for me. Admittedly, as inept as I am at the computer, I am eternally grateful to it for helping me to find the majority of my beloved T206s.
I must say that the 'slow era' of the 80's and 90's was loads of fun as well,
as I rummaged through those great card stores, flea markets, and antique stores.

all the best,
Barry

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Posted By: Pcelli60

NO.

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Posted By: Tony Gordon

I began collecting cards in 1975 and never stopped. Along the way I've adapted to the changes in the hobby - Beckett/Eckes yearly price guides, the Beckett monthlies, the PVC scare with plastic sheets, toploaders, screwdowns, cardsavers, card glut, grading, and WWW. I still do all the things I've always done like search garage sales and flea markets for cards, buy and sell at local shows and now on eBay. I think eBay has enhanced the hobby, helped reduce some nutty prices and made the various price guides obsolete. The big loser in the internet revolution, however, has been the card store. I remember in the late '70s when Chicago had just one card store. By the mid-1980s card stores were everywhere but I rarely see them now. I stopped visiting the last few card shops in my neighborhood before they closed because the prices were nearly double of eBay or even the prices at card shows. All in all I still enjoy the hobby as much now as I did when I was knee high.

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Posted By: Bill Todd

If there were no Internet, yes I'd definitely still be collecting. Started in about 1980 buying from Wayne Miller, with Den's Collector's Den right down the street. Kept at it slowly but steadily on through the 80s. Got out of it for a while, but when I got back in I could still find plenty I wanted at a couple local shops and in the back pages of SCD. If the Internet hadn't changed things so much, I imagine I'd still be able to come across cards I need (of course, my wife says I don't truly need any cards) through those channels.

If there were an Internet, but I didn't have access to it? Definitely not. Good cards are still available--viz the National--but they're much less accessible without the Web.

Bill

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Posted By: bruce Dorskind

Whilst the worldwide web , E-Bay in particular, certainly play an important role in
facilatating the sale of millions of dollars of common baseball material, the truth
is that the very best material (with an occassional exception) emanates from a limited
number of sources.

We have focused on resources on collecting rare ultra high grade baseball cards
and other memoribillia since we began actively collecting 32 years ago.

The only major differences we see are

(1) decrease in the importance of shows

(2) The very best material is handled by five or six dealers
rather than 15-20 dealers

That is a function of the exceptional growth in the value and the need for
a successful auction house and/or dealer to have ready access to millions
of dollars in cash.

Less than 10% of the items in our collection were acquired through E-Bay.

The web, however, provides the world class auction houses with the opportunity
to provide on line real time bidding and update auction offerings.

Chat Boards like Network 54 enable one to contact collectors whom one would otherwise
not meet except at a national show.

In our view, the Internet has enabled more people to participate in the hobby and
also enabled collectors to obtain more accurate price information- i.e. Vintage Card
Prices.com

That said, if there were no web, we, like most other collectors of rare, high grade material
would still be in the hobby.

Best,


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

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Posted By: peter chao

Of course I would still be in the hobby, I would just be less informed. Thanks, guys.

Peter C.

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Posted By: Paul S

Bruce,

Who are the 5-6 best dealers? Or do you include the auction houses in that (as opposed to just those with "stores", online or otherwise)?

Paul

*edited for clarification