At one time, I had complete baseball sets from 1976 - 1990, with the bulk of them Topps (1976 - 1983, 1986 - 1987), then Donruss (1981 - 1984), then Fleer (1981), Score (1988), and Bowman (1989 - 90). Over the years, I sold all the sets I had except for 1970s Topps and 1981 Fleer, 1982 Donruss, and I tried to re-introduce myself into the hobby in 2001 after sitting out for 11 years, and my, how things had changed, with memorabilia cards, autographed cards, parallels, refractor, etc., etc.
I've tried at different times to buy new cards, such as Topps Allen & Ginter, new Topps regular series, special brands, etc., and other than 2014 Donruss, nothing really has appealed to me in the long run to continue collecting modern cards at all...until recently....
I started to collect modern Japanese baseball cards in addition to starting work on my "vintage" 1978 Yamakatsu set, and I am HOOKED, as I'm buying packs off eBay and through Rob Fitts, etc., and now modern day card collecting is actually fun again. Especially since collecting of Japanese baseball cards is a relatively new hobby (BBM did not start producing cards until 1991), especially here in the states, and it is ironic that the interest of collectors here in the U.S. has driven the sports card market in Japan, which was hit-or-miss in the 1960s - 70s - 80s with Yamakatsu, Calbee (still produces cards inserted into bags of potato chips), and others.
Because of this, I am now following Japanese baseball, and I have a favorite team and learning all I can about Nipon Baseball and the Central and Pacific leagues (think National and American leagues, respectively).
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