What Happened to Card Collecting That I Knew?

[Fred]

Jay,

I've got to ask... what's up with RLJ as your avatar? That's brings back memories of his better 1975 and 1976 seasons. Any particular reason you use him in your avatar?

Yup, the hobby's changed a lot since the 70's. Enter the early 80's and things were still not so twisted. Around 1984 things started going nuts with the rookie card craze and the 1984 Mattingly rookie. It just got worse from there when Donrus, Fleer and Topps started to compete for everyone's hobby dollars - enter the "chase" and "SP" cards and the crazy people shoveling hout $$$ to get those cards.

Enter Upper Deck in 1989 and the other card companies had to conform to the nice glossy photo style/stock cards. Here was the start of the crazy rookie cards with everyone trying to get that Griffey Jr. 1989 UD rookie card.

Then came grading - now everyone was looking for the "10" and throwing huge amounts of cash at the cards. Then came those stupid OPC cards (I think it was about 1991) that were pre-selling for huge bucks for a case. Then came the greed and the big burns when people presold cases for lower amounts of $$$ and then refused to sell the presold cases because they could get 4x the presold price for them on the "new" inflated market. Greed, $$$, greed, $$$.

Then the crash.... ah, it was funny to watch all those crazy prices come tumbling down.

Anyone remember "Big Bob - the biggest in the business"? The 90's was a crazy time for the hobby. I never really got caught up in the rookie card or chase card craze. I always liked the "old stuff". I remember picking up some pretty neat stuff in those days because a lot of the hobbyist didn't care about the "old stuff". Unfortunately prices since the 90s have really escalated and the grading thing has helped the hobby (in some respects) but it has also turned it upside down. Give me numbers, give me high numbers, no, I don't want any qualifiers.

I figure if you stick to collecting what you like then you'll enjoy the hobby. If you're collecting to make a buck on the stuff then it may not be as enjoyable unless you can continually turn a buck and get enjoyment from that.

[HercDriver]

I distinctly remember going to the gorcery store and racing down the aisle of Hostess cakes with my two brothers. We would grab every box off that shelf looking for a Rick Monday, Jose Cardenal, Rick Reuschel, Bill Madlock, or Steve Swisher! We'd each get to throw a box in the cart, and when we got home, meticulously cut the Cubs off the panel and throw the extras into our baseball card drawer. The Cubs went in a rubber band on our dressers. The rest of the cards were ammunition for "leaners" against the wall at school...

Take Care,
Geno

[judsonhamlin]

Jay - Really good thread.
I started about the same time as you did, but I hit up Renata Galasso in '77 for 500 cards and even got the '76 traded set as a throw in. We lived just a couple of miles from the Hostess Factory Store, so every week I would convince my mom to take me and let me get some cards I needed for the set that year - Big Wheels, Twinkies, Chocodiles, etc...
Throw in trips to Burger King for Yankees cards and various and sundry Kellogg's cereals and I had all the basic food groups covered.

I think the moment that the hobby jumped the shark came a couple of years later when KMart issued their All Time Great set. From there on, the number of companies ballooned and the print runs must have skyrocketed at that point. I believe that the monthly price guides started (with the up and down arrows tracking card prices like futures) around then as well, which, as someone commented in (I think)the 'best and worst' thread, was a large part of the move from hobby to business.

[vintagechris]

I miss being able to go to Antique shows or Flea Markets and finding 25 year old cards from the 50's in coke crates or just stacked o tables.

I still remember going to an outdoor antique show in the early 80's and seeing a seller there with stacks and stacks of football and baseball cards from the 50's that looked like they just came out of packs for a quarter each.

[Big Ben]

Originally Posted by Fred

Jay,

I've got to ask... what's up with RLJ as your avatar? That's brings back memories of his better 1975 and 1976 seasons. Any particular reason you use him in your avatar?

Yup, the hobby's changed a lot since the 70's. Enter the early 80's and things were still not so twisted. Around 1984 things started going nuts with the rookie card craze and the 1984 Mattingly rookie. It just got worse from there when Donrus, Fleer and Topps started to compete for everyone's hobby dollars - enter the "chase" and "SP" cards and the crazy people shoveling hout $$$ to get those cards.

Enter Upper Deck in 1989 and the other card companies had to conform to the nice glossy photo style/stock cards. Here was the start of the crazy rookie cards with everyone trying to get that Griffey Jr. 1989 UD rookie card.

Then came grading - now everyone was looking for the "10" and throwing huge amounts of cash at the cards. Then came those stupid OPC cards (I think it was about 1991) that were pre-selling for huge bucks for a case. Then came the greed and the big burns when people presold cases for lower amounts of $$$ and then refused to sell the presold cases because they could get 4x the presold price for them on the "new" inflated market. Greed, $$$, greed, $$$.

Then the crash.... ah, it was funny to watch all those crazy prices come tumbling down.

Anyone remember "Big Bob - the biggest in the business"? The 90's was a crazy time for the hobby. I never really got caught up in the rookie card or chase card craze. I always liked the "old stuff". I remember picking up some pretty neat stuff in those days because a lot of the hobbyist didn't care about the "old stuff". Unfortunately prices since the 90s have really escalated and the grading thing has helped the hobby (in some respects) but it has also turned it upside down. Give me numbers, give me high numbers, no, I don't want any qualifiers.

I figure if you stick to collecting what you like then you'll enjoy the hobby. If you're collecting to make a buck on the stuff then it may not be as enjoyable unless you can continually turn a buck and get enjoyment from that.

I absolutely loved the times when a person could trade the newer rookie cards for the "old stuff" as the dealers could move the newer rookies much faster and were willing to unload the old cards via trade. 1998 was a great year for me. I was out of the hobby for the most part and sitting on 20+ Mcgwire rookies that I had got on the cheap. Unloaded all the Mcgwire rookies for 1950's hall of famers that were collecting dust at the local shop. The steroid era was very very good for me!

[Vintagedegu]

-

[rustywilly]

I can't step into a Target store and leave without buying a few packs - Topps Heritage - or, other vintage-looking modern cards. It brings back the memories of the good ole days.

[barrysloate]

For me the hobby was most fun when I was collecting all the really great vintage sets and memorabilia for the first time. I'll never forget my first vintage card purchases, the excitement of buying my first T206, and later T205 sets; my first CdV's and cabinet cards, etc. When it was new it was thrilling.

Then after seeing the same things again and again and again, it wasn't so much fun anymore. And it became far too much of a business over the years- there are too many dealers, too many auctions, too much of everything. The industry is in overload right now. Hey, what can you do? Things change, that's life.

[53Browns]

I was a member of probably the last generation that truly got to enjoy the wax packs. I was 12 in 1981 when Topps, Fleer and Donruss were pouring out cards to the public. It was awesome. 3 sets to collect! I remember I used to cut a neighbor's grass for about 12 bucks, go to the corner store and buy an entire box of Topps (still had enough left over for a bottle of Coke and a bag of penny candy), then go home and bust the packs. And yes, I used to color in the boxes on the back of the checklists as I obtained the cards. That's what they were made for! One of my most fond memories is when I managed to put the entire 792 card set of 1982 Topps together, all from wax packs and a few key trades from other kids on the block. Collecting new cards died for me when Upper Deck came out with the tamper proof packs and packs that were over $1 each. Thanks Upper Deck for ruining a great childhood hobby for kids everywhere!!

[quinnsryche]

Times change, products change, people change. Just because you can't get a Mantle rookie for a dollar anymore doesn't make the hobby evil or broken. Sure, cards cost more, what doesn't? My parents bought their first house for $20K in the early seventies, mine cost $110K in the early nineties. My dad's first new car was like $1500, mine was $10K. The walk down memory lane is always lined with gold but there was plenty of dog-doo stepped in along the way (we don't like to remember that though, do we?). My son (11 yrs. old) LOVES new cards and couldn't give a hoot about vintage. Does that make him a bad kid, ignorant etc? No, life is lived in the present and everyone has their time in the sun. Look back fondly to the past, but don't overlook the joys of the present or the infinite possiblities of the future. The hobby isn't ruined, it's just different, and just as much fun as it was 35 yrs. ago (at least for me it is).