The next five years- what do you see for the future of the hobby?

[Wite3]

In five years the blue old mill will turn green...

[freakhappy]

Originally Posted by Wite3

In five years the blue old mill will turn green...

And worth $100,000! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

[CharleyBrown]

I don’t necessarily agree with the notion that the lack of stories being told by parents/grandparents will tarnish the value of the non-iconic players of the 1870s-1930s..

I think that as long as there are people interested in baseball, and literature is out there, people’s interest will be there.

When I grew up, the stories I heard were of Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio, and Ted Williams...

It wasn’t those stories that influenced my collecting, but rather reading about baseball history. One only needs to read about Mathewson, Walter Johnson, etc. to be intrigued about them and find an interest in collecting them.

IMO, as long as the high rollers are still interested in collecting, be it for investment or pleasure or both, prices/values will remain strong.

[GregMitch34]

I doubt any comeback for postwar, and I'm glad I sold almost all my '50s cards two years ago...there are just too many of them that came out of the woodwork when grading came into vogue. Who knew? Now, as the great Leonard Cohen put it, Everybody Knows.

[Yankeefan51]

Whilst the future is not ours to see, the hobby's history tells us
that prices for the rarer issues are in large part determined by the
number of "whales" who compete in a given auction.

Apparently, the big whales from the early years of this decade, with a few
notable exceptions. have been beached Some just quit collecting, some found themselves in a difficult divorces and one or two found their way to that great stadium in the sky.

Logic states that extraordinary prices for PSA 8.5. 9 and 10 cards is subject to a great deal of risk. How many 52 Mantles can command a 6 figure price?

I think there will be some serious investigations into the grading firms, and the results will impact prices.

I also wonder what will happen to the 19th century cards as the baby boomers turn 70 and retire.

At the end of the day, while everyone of us cares deeply about the value of our respective collections, the real value emanates from the pleasure we receive from collecting.

I once authored a paper, "When It Was Hobby' . It is my sincere hope that the hobby lives on. Hopefully, we will be able to attract sophisticated collectors, promote the joy collecting and remember the wisdom of Bill Mastro who told me back in 1977- remember it is only Old Cardboard.

Happy Collecting to all

Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

[barrysloate]

Bruce made many good points, and the one that I've been thinking will have a big effect is the aging of the baby boomers. There will always be younger collectors coming in and taking their place, but they may not collect in the same way, or with the same fervor, as the generation of collectors who came of age in the late 1970's-early 1980's, and set the engine in motion for the hobby explosion that followed. Today, it's more like business as usual. Plenty of collectors, lots of buying and selling, but certainly not the meteoric growth that their predecessors experienced.

[packs]

I'm a younger collector (27) I have maybe seen one other person my age looking at the cards I do at a show. I don't think there is a lot of interest from my generation and even if there is an influx of new collectors, they will most likely be after new cards. Which is great for me.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by GregMitch34

I doubt any comeback for postwar, and I'm glad I sold almost all my '50s cards two years ago...there are just too many of them that came out of the woodwork when grading came into vogue. Who knew? Now, as the great Leonard Cohen put it, Everybody Knows.

Agreed!

Cheers,
Blair