The difficulties of getting kids to collect

[steve B]

My youngest picked up a small box of baseball cards yesterday, just a small late 80's boxed set.
"Hey daddy, what are these?"
"Baseball cards"
Disappointed tone " Oh, I thought it said waspball" Puts it down and walks away.

She's almost 6, but if I can't even get my own kids interested.........

And now I want to invent waspball. It could be a big hit on cable tv.

[Johnny630]

It seems like today’s youth under 30 are way more interested in living in the moment, spending their hard earned money on experiences rather than collectibles.

[commishbob]

Originally Posted by steve B

And now I want to invent waspball. It could be a big hit on cable tv.

You may be on to something there

But as to the subject at hand....

My sons got into collecting when they were young. They had lots of cards, pennants, SLU figures, etc. They saved all their publications, chased autographs, etc. I took them to cards shows and card shops. But as they got older high school stuff, playing sports & video games became a priority. The next thing you know they are married and I have boxes of junk wax collecting dust in my hobby room.

I was at the Houston TriStar show this past weekend and there were very few young people in sight.

I'm not sure what the answer is when it comes to getting younger blood involved.

[steve B]

She collects, but at the moment it's mostly my little pony, and five nights at freddies figures. But only sister location, the new series with lots of teeth are "too creepy" But the non-toothy homicidal animatronics aren't?!

They might get into pokemon soon, they've gotten a few cards but treated them about like a 5 and 7 year old treat most things.

[JustinD]

Mine flipped around sophomore year of high school to girls and cars. I am hoping he does the same thing as me and comes back to it after college...we'll see.

He starts Michigan State in August and I will admit college girls are better than cards, so he has a point.

[stevecarlton1972]

Obviously kids have so many more things to do then we did as kids (Ipad, Phones, video games, etc). But the one thing that got me into Baseball as a kid which eventually got me into collecting Baseball Cards was reading the Sports Section everyday and being obsessed with box scores.

Statistics/Tradition was the one thing that Baseball had over the other major sports, and that is sort of lost in the internet/post-Steroid era these days. I used to love getting cards of older players who had been in the league and you could look at their 15 year career of statistics on the back of the card. I loved comparing the backs of a Nolan Ryan with Steve Carlton and Tom Seaver in the early 80's when they were approaching 3,000 Strikeouts, 300 wins, etc.

Stuff like that just doesn't appeal to kids these days like it did when we were kids, and that is probably why the NFL is so appealing to them because it's all about THE moment. Keeping score at a baseball game, reading the box scores everyday in the newspaper, and following who may break Roger Maris HR record are all just gone now as the lore of the Baseball isn't the same. The advent of the Wildcard, interleague play, etc just cemented Baseball as just another sport. I think those things reflected in card collecting too and why we love them.

[clydepepper]

Well, I'm 62 and as long as there are plenty of 40-year-olds willing to purchase from me - I will try not to worry about how they will resell them.

[brett 75]

For the most part kids have no interest in what we are doing with our baseball (sports cards) in general. 26 ,15 and 11 none of them collect. All I ever get is what are you going to do with all those cards? Most of the time I tell them they are going to have to deal with it when I'm gone! This is an old mans hobby and I'm reaching that age. I recently quoted my father Enjoy what you collect and don't worry about it.
Brett

[Slinger]

I left in my teens.

I came back 7 months ago at 38.

I feel this is a common/usual cycle perhaps. Not to worry.

[savedfrommyspokes]

My two boys have the same lack of interest in cards...my older son's interest peaked in 2014 when he got a Jeter auto, but since then, his interest has greatly declined. My younger son, loves baseball but could care less about cards....he would rather be playing baseball outside, or if that is not possible watching or gaming baseball inside. Two springs ago, I used the Topps website to generate cards for them....they could have cared less. They both went through a Pokeman phase, but that passed a year back.