Are Baseball Cards Destined to Slowly Diminish in Value?

[Bicem]

I think cards will always have their place as a piece of American history and thus there will always be demand. To what degree compared to today I have no idea.

Stamp and coin collecting still exists, and I would think kids have much less interest in these things than baseball.

People just like to collect things.

[Matt]

I believe anything post WWII is due for a correction as the generation who saw those players leaves us and takes their market demand with them. There will still be demand as Mantle, Mays and Aaron are classic players, but the market demand will be smaller.

[DixieBaseball]

Are Baseball Cards Destined to Slowly Diminish in Value?

I would answer no (pre-war stuff). As long as folks have disposable income, and there are humans with collecting genes, this hobby will survive. I do believe it is cyclical to some degree, as when times are robust, the hobby has growth spurts, then settles down a bit. Of course the very scarce to rare market for cards to me has never been stronger. (They ain't making anymore of it!)

[Mark]

Let me begin by pointing out that all human things are bound to pass away. Having said that, I don't think that baseball card collecting is necessarily going to fade away soon. As to the sport's popularity, it really depends on where you live. It remains huge in the northeast USA. Where I live, the southwest, baseball is clearly the most popular participatory sport for kids under 12. It's really thriving in places like southern Calf., Nevada, and Arizona. It is true that card collecting is not so popular, but it is bound to remain attractive to substantial numbers of people because, as was said, people like to collect stuff, and because baseball cards are readily collectable.

[vintagecpa]

With pre-WWII cards, the economy helps or hurts their value more than demographics. Nearly every person will have some type of appreciation for a Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth card. I think you already see a softening of the cards in the late 50's and 60's. With many of those sets, the Mantle and the hi # series are the only cards with any type of demand. I would suspect that 30 years from now, my son would be more inclined to want to own a Cy Young instead of a Sandy Koufax. Much of the demand for the 50's and 60's stars is from the aging baby boomers that grew up watching them. I am curious what the 1952 Topps Mantle will sell for in 30 years when most collectors would have never seen him play.

[CharleyBrown]

I truly believe people will still collect. Heck, if you asked me 3 years ago if I'd start collecting again, I'd say you were crazy... and yet here I am more interested in the hobby than ever.

As a HS teacher, I have found that 95% of my male students are very much into baseball, and all sports in general. I asked them about baseball cards, and a majority said they collected when they were younger. One expressed to me that he would love to one day own a Ted Williams RC.. another mentioned Lou Gehrig...

The interest is out there... its just very different than our generation (I'll be 30 this month) in that baseball card shops and even shows are not as common, and the internet seems to be the major marketplace.