I think for me I got back in to it when I realized I could now actually obtain what had once been "unobtainable".
I collected cards as a kid with limited means in the 1980's. But since baseball cards in the 1980's were extremely abundant, I could collect cards of all the current stars relatively cheaply (Bo Jackson was my favorite players, and even in his prime, you could pretty much buy any Bo Jackson card for less than $10.00). But the vintage cards listed at the FRONT of the Beckett price guide, guys with names like Ruth, Cobb, Mays, and Mantle had all those EXTRA ZEROS at the end of their prices. They became sort of sacred in my mind because I figured I would NEVER be able to afford cards of those guys.
Fast forward 30 years and I was browsing the magazine section at Barnes and Noble and came accross a Beckett Vintage magazine, and I thumbed through it. Yeah, those guys all still have extra zeros (even more then when I was a kid) but life has been good enough to allow me enough disposable income to buy some of those. So I dove back in, and have enjoyed owning some of those IMPOSSIBLE cards from my youth.
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