Do you worry about our hobby dying?

[drcy]

Also realize that the demand for 'past it' collectable genres such as Civil War, WWII, Presidential and political, Nobel Prize winners, history et al is very high now and will be for a long time. The Civil War ended almost 150 years ago and its ephemera is avidly collected today. Most of the veterans of WWII are dead now, but its as big a collectible area as it has ever been. Being historical (antiques) can make things more collectible with time and bring renewed interest.

People often ponder the future of baseball card collecting, wondering who in the future will be interested in collecting memorabilia of dead guys. Babe Ruth died before most of us were born and quit playing before my dad was born-- and his collectibles are as hot as ever. There might be higher demand for Babe Ruth memorabilia today than when he was playing-- and there certainly is you measure demand by prices.

Also, collecting areas are specialty areas-- niches, often far removed from the mainstream television going public. 1800s baseball is a specialty, historical area, a niche market and most people on the street of any age haven't heard of King Kelly or Kid Nichols. Yet, prices for the cards are (obviously) high. So it can be errant to compare a collecting area to mainstream public sentiments. Science Nobel Prize winner autographs, Civil War generals, rare books, Francis Bacon paintings are all small esoteric niche areas that most people don't know or care about about, yet their stuff sells for top dollar.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I certainly see the death knell coming. Whereas in my youth (during the 70's) we collected like crazy, always buying more cards with whatever nickels and dime we could rustle up. After we got our cards home and sorted everything into teams, the very first thing we'd do is trade with our friends, trying to get our favorite players and complete that year's set. Flipping cards was also the norm and yes, you'd put the scrubby players into your bicycle spokes to make that great noise. This is what summers were about and nobody, I mean NOBODY, cared about condition or centering. We would wrap our cards in rubber bands or put bunches of them in our back pockets.

Fast forward to today. A kid goes into a baseball card store, spends the money his mom or dad gave him on a ridiculously overpriced pack of cards. When he finds the ubiquitous insert, he immediately tilts it in the light, checking out the corners and what not and says to his friends, "This is definitely a 9, maybe a 9.5. Hand me that Beckett over there." Does he trade, flip or do anything else but care about the value of the card?? No frickin' way. And before anyone else even has a chance to touch that card, he has it in a soft sleeve and a top loader.

So it's tough to see how these kids will, as they grow older, develop an actual appreciation for the cards themselves. How they tie into the great game of baseball and the wonderment of their youth. They might as well just spend their money on gold instead, like William Devane is always yapping about in those commercials.

And another +1

Originally Posted by Leon

I don't care for MLB whatsoever but I love the game.

Agreed. I hate what MLB has evolved into. I would much rather watch paint dry than watch a MLB game.

Originally Posted by z28jd

If you want to help, buy some cheap box of cards and hand out packs during Halloween. You can buy a box of Donruss on ebay for as low as $10 and I'm sure other stuff from that era can be found around that same price or less. Give the kid cards that are 25+ years old, maybe you get them hooked on the hobby or their dad sees it and remembers collecting and gets back into it. Do your part. By reading this far, you agree to do this and if you don't, the penalty is a crease on your favorite card(non-negotiable).

Until you have some angry mom come knocking at your door wondering why you gave her kid 25 year old gum that made him/her sick

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

Until you have some angry mom come knocking at your door wondering why you gave her kid 25 year old gum that made him/her sick

Unfortunately, I can see that happening. So, I guess the trick is to only give out packs of cards without gum. The good news here is that many products from the overproduction era were issued without gum, including the Donruss offerings of the late '80s.

Best regards,

Eric

[Econteachert205]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Unfortunately, I can see that happening. So, I guess the trick is to only give out packs of cards without gum. The good news here is that many products from the overproduction era were issued without gum, including the Donruss offerings of the late '80s.

Best regards,

Eric

I had a 1986 topps wax break in my collectibles club at school last year. I explicitly told the 17 year olds not to eat the gum. They still did and I'm happy to report they did not get sick.

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by drcy

Also realize that the demand for 'past it' collectable genres such as Civil War, WWII, Presidential and political, Nobel Prize winners, history et al is very high now and will be for a long time. The Civil War ended almost 150 years ago and its ephemera is avidly collected today. Most of the veterans of WWII are dead now, but its as big a collectible area as it has ever been. Being historical (antiques) can make things more collectible with time and bring renewed interest.

People often ponder the future of baseball card collecting, wondering who in the future will be interested in collecting memorabilia of dead guys. Babe Ruth died before most of us were born and quit playing before my dad was born-- and his collectibles are as hot as ever. There might be higher demand for Babe Ruth memorabilia today than when he was playing-- and there certainly is you measure demand by prices.

Also, collecting areas are specialty areas-- niches, often far removed from the mainstream television going public. 1800s baseball is a specialty, historical area, a niche market and most people on the street of any age haven't heard of King Kelly or Kid Nichols. Yet, prices for the cards are (obviously) high. So it can be errant to compare a collecting area to mainstream public sentiments. Science Nobel Prize winner autographs, Civil War generals, rare books, Francis Bacon paintings are all small esoteric niche areas that most people don't know or care about about, yet their stuff sells for top dollar.

This is exactly what I tell people when they talk about the demise of baseball as a sport and it's popularity going forward.

As vintage baseball card/memorabilia collectors we are both collecting things related to a sport (baseball) and antiques. Not many niches in the antique market have direct correlation to modern times... which actually makes sports antiques unique in that there is a "built-in" gateway to potential future collectors. What we collect IMO has a brighter future than most areas of antiques and of all sports baseball is by far the most tied into its past as most sports have changed sooooooo much since their infancy that they barely resemble each other, then there is baseball.